What’s the first thing you do when you come across someone
you haven’t met before? That’s right, you shake hands—or in Chilean culture,
kiss cheeks—and offer up your name. Seems simple enough. That is, until you
have a name that is spelled, and sounds, completely foreign to those Spanish
speakers around you. Then it becomes a back and forth game of repeating your
name a minimum of seven times until you gradually inch towards something that
sounds close enough. Most introductions go something like this:
