He said that they find Chinese words that sound like the name, and combine them. He thought for a minute, and thought of Chinese words that sounded to me like 'jin', 'kar', and 'lok'. He told me what the words meant, but I forget, except that one meant a small dish used for offerings to idols. He wrote it on the blackboard, and I asked him to teach me how to write it.
He told me to first see each stroke in my head, then write it with a quick, chopping motion. I memorized it, practiced it, and wrote it on a small slip of paper so that I would not forget it.
About a week later, a couple of engineers were in my office, and we started talking about languages. I told them that I knew a few words of German, Greek, and Latin, and that I could write my name in Chinese. They said that they could believe me about the German, Greek, and Latin, but about the Chinese, I was a bragging liar.
I protested, "no, I really can". I wrote it on the blackboard with quick, confident strokes. They still did not believe me.
They said, "It LOOKS like Chinese, but it is fake. We can prove that you are a liar. We will go get an expert." They left the room, and a minute later came back with their 'expert'.
As they entered, I saw that the 'expert' was my Chinese friend. He gave me a quick smile when they were not looking.
"Don't say one word", they warned me. Then pointing to what I had written on the blackboard, they asked the expert, "What does that say?"
He answered, "It means Jim Clark", and their mouths dropped open. Then my Chinese friend and I laughed, and we explained how he had taught me a week ago.
Unfortunately, I have lost that small slip of paper with my name written in Chinese.
Does someone know Chinese well enough that they can tell what "Jim Clark" looks like, as my friend probably told me?
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