Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Apparently my name confuses many people.
What is your real name?
My real name is Cerisse Anne. I am aware that cerise is the French word for cherry, but nope I don’t think my parents were. I have no idea why they chose that name. I like it though.
Where did you get that cute nickname?
My grandmother chose it, and even I don’t quite understand the story of how she came up with that name. I think it’s a dog’s name…
Also, my nickname is not that cute actually. My parents spelled it “Cheewee”, which was really lame and really long, so when I started to learn how to write Hangul (Korean characters), I learned my name is spelled “Chiui” in Korean characters. From that moment on, I changed the way I spelled my own nickname.
Which name do you prefer to be called?
I’ve had problems with this recently. Back in the Philippines, everyone called me Chiui and just ignored my real name (except when I went to a different school once. Everyone called me Cerisse). When I moved to Canada, I tried to use Chiui when introducing myself, but then people here tend to prefer a Canadian-sounding name. It’s even a (misspelled) French word, and I figured most people like it. So now, I introduce myself as Cerisse, and then when certain people become a bit more like a friend I invite the person to call me Chiui instead. Now that I think about it, it’s like building some sort of a barrier…
I think I’m overanalyzing myself.
Your siblings’ names are Denisse Anne and Anne Clarisse. Why do you all have -isse’s and Anne’s on your names?
It’s a Filipino thing. If you’re curious about Filipino names, I recommend reading this amusing article written by Matthew Sutherland called “A Rhose by Any Other Name” which was featured in Bob Ong’s book “Bakit Baliktad Magbasa ng Libro ang Mga Pilipino?”
2. People are also curious about the languages I speak.
What languages do you speak?
Tagalog, English, Korean. I am currently studying Korean and Japanese. Yes, I do say I can speak Korean because I am around the intermediate level.
Wouldn’t say the same for Japanese. But I’m improving!
How well do you speak English?
I’m better at written English, quite bad at spoken. I can’t say I’m bad at listening when it comes to English… because my hearing skills are just really poor I’m also bad even at listening to someone who speaks Tagalog! And, I’m not sure about my accent. Most people say I don’t sound like a fob (which I am. I’m a magical fob you guys), but I’m pretty sure everyone has an accent. I’m saying that because I study Linguistics, hehe.
Most people don’t know how bad I am at spoken English, but I recently I found out that almost always, only white pplz would notice~ How bad am I? I pause a lot to think of the proper word. Learning 3 languages (Eng*, Kor, Jap) isn’t as easy as it looks.
*Yep, constantly learning English.
How good is your Korean?
I can read and write hangul, I can understand everyday spoken conversations, I can tell if someone’s being polite or impolite. I can’t respond in Korean when spoken to, I usually answer in English. My pronunciation is pretty good according to Koreans I’ve spoken to. I started studying Korean 4 years ago.
What other languages do you want to learn?
French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Italian.
&&&
I’ll stop at number three.
3. Interests, etc.
You seem to be such a lonely person because you are always tweeting. What else do you do aside from going online?
You are right, I am a lonely person and that is why I fell in love with the internet. But yes I do have other hobbies aside from Tweeting my ass off everyday: reading, writing, singing, taking photos, learning languages, watching movies.
Is K-pop your favourite genre of music?
Right now, yes. My tastes in music change a lot. I also listen to different other genres. Some people are surprised that I listen to screamo songs. Someone once said I look like the R&B kind of girl.
But actually, screamo (anything screamo… punk rock, heavy metal) is my second favourite. R&B is a genre I’m not really into.
~
Well thank you for reading this.
