1. Then the examiner will say: “What can I call you?” (Or, “What shall I call you?”)
With this question, the examiner is indicating that he or she would like to address you in the test with some name that is shorter and friendlier than your full name. This is a sign that the test will not be very formal and serious but will instead, to some extent, have some of the features of a friendly chat.
However, as I mentioned above, it is better to wait for the examiner to indicate this, with this second question, than for you to make the decision on the formality level of the test by saying, "... but you can call me ....". Let the examiner be in charge of the test.
· You don’t need to use an English name! But if you do use an English name, make sure that it is simple and easy for the examiner to understand the first time you say it. It’s probably best to use a fairly commonly used name. For example, no English speaker chooses to be called, “Apple”, even as a nickname. This kind of name could cause the examiner to ask you to repeat your name because he might not be sure he heard it correctly.
· If you do choose to say an English name, make sure that you can pronounce it correctly! Mispronouncing your own English (nick)name is an unnecessary mistake and would not give the examiner a very good impression. For example, if your English name is Harry, don’t say, “Just call me Hairy.” (See here for the meaning of "hairy".) Or, if your English name is Justin, don’t say, “Just call me Justine.”( Justine is the female form of Justin and is pronounced differently).
· Occasionally, a candidate says something like, “Just call me by my English name, Yuki.” But Yuki (and Suki) are Japanese names, not English names. And ‘Pierre’ is a French name (meaning, Peter). You won't lose points in the Speaking test by making such errors but you won't impress the examiner with such basic errors of fact (not errors of English). If you use a name other than your Chinese name, find out if it is in fact an English name or not.
· Most examiners in China are (or should be) used to candidates saying, “Just call me Xiao Wang” but, to be on the safe side, it might be better if you said, “Just call me Wang.” or, “Just call me Jianfeng.” without using the word “xiao”.
· If you have a two-word name such as Liu Xiang and if this is what you would like to be called, don't say the name in exactly the same way as you said it in your answer to the first question. For example, for the first answer, you should say something like, “My name is Liu Xiang”, with the emphatic stress on your name. But for the second question, you should say something like, “Just call me Liu Xiang”, with the stress on the word “just”, not on your name this time because it is not something new.
· If you use the word, ‘just’, don’t pronounce the ‘t’ – the ‘t’ is 95% silent (except when it is the last word of a sentence).
· Many candidates say something like, “You can call me Stephen.” That answer is ok but you should not pronounce ‘can’ as ‘k?n’. Instead, you should pronounce it as ‘k?n’ or even, “k’n” – it should be pronounced in a quick, short way, not long as in ‘candle’ or ‘Canada’. (Hear the two ways to say, "can" here.)
‘Can’ is pronounced as ‘k?n’, a) when we ask a question – “Can you help me?”, “Can you swim?” and, b) when we want to emphasize, for example, when we say, “Yes, I can.” However, it is pronounced as ‘k?n’ or even, “k’n” when we speak sentences such as: “I can speak English”, “I can drive a car” and “She can play the piano.”
Some examiners will not notice the pronunciation of this word but even those who don’t notice will still feel that your English sounds natural if you say, ‘k?n’ or sounds a little unnatural if you say, ‘k?n’.
· Don’t say, “You may call me Stephen.” because ‘may’, in this kind of situation, is used when giving permission to, or speaking to a person of inferior status.
· Some candidates say: “You can call me by my English name, Stephen.” That’s acceptable but the examiner knows that Stephen is an English name, so why say it? Certainly, you should avoid the mistake of saying, “You can call me my English name, Stephen.” – this is a grammatical mistake – you must use the word, ‘by’ in this expression. Similarly, “You can call my English name, Stephen.” is incorrect.
· Another acceptable answer is: “Please call me Stephen.”
· Only say something such as, “All my friends call me Stephen” if it is true! Do your Chinese friends really call you ‘Stephen’? You want to avoid giving the examiner the impression that you learned answers like that from an IELTS book.
· If you feel that it's suitable and interesting to tell the examiner where you got your English name or why you chose a certain English name, then it is quite natural to add a small comment about that. Examiners are interested in learning something new from candidates and they would like a naturally stated piece of extra information. But keep it very short. (The fact that your high school English teacher gave you your English name is not interesting enough to say in this situation.)
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