Help Translating Names | Page 1 | Learning Japanese | Guild Forums

yourswerty4

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Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 9:23 pm

Okay, so I was on this website that was suppose to translate English names into Katakana or Kanji (I'm not sure which they used) and am not sure if it was done right.

These are the two names written in English:

MiKayaa Nari Sinoray

and Kelly Nicole Riverman

Here are the translations they gave me in Japanese:

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and

Are they correct or not? And if they are wrong, do you know where they are at fault?

Sorry if there is already a thread for this. There's just SO many pages to sift through . . . and I didn't really find the exact topic I was looking for.

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:52 am

Thread you're looking for? Right here. Please use it next time.

as for the name, that really all depends, are you going for meaning or pronounciation?

Koiyuki
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Vakruz

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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:28 am

As a general rule, when asking if a program that does automated translations translates correctly, the answer is almost always "no".

If you want the short version of my opinion... I don't know what process this site you're talking about uses to translate names, but looking at the "translations" it gave you... even though I'm not actually familiar with most of those kanji, I'm not inclined to trust it at all.

If you want the long version...

Japanese pretty much invariably renders foreign names in katakana. What you've got there is kanji.

Now, you could say that you're going more for the literal meanings of the names than for the names themselves (which kanji WOULD be more suited for)... but only under two provisions: 1) that the program could be trusted to divine the correct meaning from the names, and 2) that translating this way instead of just mimicking pronunciation is even necessary or practical. Neither of which I believe to be the case.

For instance, if it were me, I'd translate "Kelly Nicole Riverman" as "ケリー・二コール・リバーマン";

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:19 pm

I believe what you want is something called ateji. Ateji are readings for chinese characters for words that normally don't have kanji for those words in Japanese. A century or more ago, ateji was used along with katakana for a various number of words (particularly with country names), but now katakana is used more for borrowed loan words and names than ateji. Foreign names can be rendered in chinese characters by first having their phoentic spelling known in Japanese (to do this in Chinese, it is the same way just using Chinese pronunciation). Then, using a kanji dictionary (or a really good Japanese friend), you can find kanji that equate to those sounds in your name. This is where the "meaning" comes from (kanji have both readings and meanings, unlike the English alphabet). You can choose whatever kanji you may have in your name and by the ones you pick, it determines their meaning.

I don't think there's a website that can do this for foreign names......yet.

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Inobliss

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Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:07 pm

h, interesting, but i don't know. sorry.

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 11:04 am

It's really something that requires the human touch. I came up with 光田高地 ("Kouda Takachi") myself based on my nickname; I know that the given name and family name are switched but it just worked out that way and I don't mind. "Kouda" sounds like "Coda" (it means "light field", the kanji is usually read "Mitsuda" but "Kouda" is an alternate reading) and "Takachi" means "high ground" (or "land").

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roku-kun1

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Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 11:19 am

this might be hanzi(chinese writing). usually, if its a foreign name being written in japanese, it would be in katakana. If its going to be in chinese, then its in their writing system.

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