The Unexpected Discovery

JUST when I thought I was over and done with about the name issue in my previous post, lamenting how much I wanted to get rid of my Chinese name because it was given to me by a complete stranger and the name in Chinese holds no meaning at all, I had the most unexpected discovery in my life last night through a random conversation with my Japanese language teacher.

My Chinese name is 黄就凌 pronounced as Huang Jiu Ling. Note that I say pronounced and not written. When I transliterate it to English, it is a totally different spelling from how one pronounces it. Hence, I shall not disclose it 'cuz I still want to maintain some privacy in my life.

When these same characters are read in Japanese, it becomes Kou TsuRyō (黄  就凌). The best thing about it in Japanese is when you transliterate it to English, it is written exactly the same as you'll pronounced it. Note the difference in spacing between these Chinese / Kanji characters. Chinese names do not have a space between each character, but for Japanese, there is a spacing to differentiate family name and given name.

Lo and behold, the name when read in Japanese has a meaning!

黄(Kou) in Japanese has the same meaning as 黄(Huang) in Chinese, which is, Yellow - as in the colour. So it doesn't hold much meaning. This is unfortunate and something I have to live with because it is the family name, unless I choose to overhaul it which is possible with a Title Deed through the lawyer's.

就(Tsu) in Japanese is from the word 就く. It means the ability to get whatever job I want, such as a position of a Director, or a teaching profession - this was shown to me by my teacher in her electronic dictionary.
就(Jiu) in Chinese has no meaning at all because it is used as a particle to connect sentences in the Chinese language.

凌(Ryō) in Japanese means the ability to overcome anything. 凌(Ling) in Chinese has no meaning. 

This 凌(Ling) in Chinese came about after having it changed from the original 玲 (Ling) that was given to me. Most people told me the latter means a bell - as in a doorbell. After researching both simplified and traditional Chinese, that 玲 (Ling) doesn't even belong to the character that says doorbell in Chinese. Still, both are devoid of meaning in the Chinese language.

Put together my given name, 就凌, read in Japanese as TsuRyō, it has the meaning that totally embodies my character and the path I've lived thus far. How's that compared to 就凌 (Jiu Ling) in Chinese that has zero meaning?

I mean, I spent the past decade secretly holding dear to my plans, working my ass off and finding ways to get myself to Japan. Why I love Japan so much is something I cannot describe in detail because it was something already in me since I was a teenager. I love the whole culture of politeness and consideration towards each other, its interesting subcultures, and of course the food, television programmes and music.

I believe there are some people that appear in various points in your life to help you through to the next step or give you that 1 chance you needed most, and these people you should never forget. I also believe its very important to have like-minded friends to be there for you in your darkest times, to offer you various perspectives, who support you and tell you things as it is, rather than to bring you down with negativity all the time or to sugar-coat things every time, and to be happy for you rather than to envy you.

But at the end of the day it is your internal motivation and tenacity to overcome anything that gets thrown in your path. Those who have worked with me both in the corporate world and in university will know me best on my work ethics and how much I expect from them to succeed, as well as how much I've put in because there is only a small allowance that I allow myself to fail in anything I do. Guess only my parents will know how hard I've worked staying up till 3-4am every day researching, reading, consolidating, typing, editing & re-editing reports, projects, assignments etc for the past 8 years.

There were some people who said to me, "So good, you're going to Japan", DON'T... ever say that to me again. Those who know me well, will know I didn't have an easy path to where I am now. By saying that sentence, it gives me the perception that you're discontent with your life and current situation. If so, quit complaining and whining and go do something about it, because I don't believe in having to

"What to do? *shrug* I just have to live with it".

So after going through all these and to suddenly discover after 3 decades of my life that my Chinese name actually has a meaning but only when its read in Japanese... was kinda overwhelming.

All I can say is... いい名前です！ Some of my classmates from Japanese class said it's fate, while I joked that I'm probably a Japanese in my past life and something is leading me back there... I guess it would have been easier if I'm born a Japanese, then again things will be immensely different.

But really, I gotta thank 先生 for making my day yesterday... I think more so than we tried to make her day yesterday by giving her a birthday surprise.

先生、本当にもう一度、ありがとうございます！これからも　よろしくお願いします！- because I think I'll still have to trouble you with more questions about moving to Kansai.

みんなさま、私は黄  就凌です。ようろしくお願いします！

Ladies & Gentlemen, I'm Kou TsuRyō. It's a pleasure to meet you. *bow*

*Update - Saturday, Jan 14, 2012

My 先生 read the post and told me when used in names, it's pronounced as ShūRyō. 

The character 就 (Shū) is a noun and the verb is 就く (Tsu-ku). When used in a name, the meaning doesn't change. Hence its Kou ShūRyō. ようろしくお願いします！