Japanese pronunciation of western first names

[Riven]

I read that when a foreigner go to Japan, one of the first "problem" he has to meet is his first's name pronunciation. Of course this kind of thing don't only happen in Japan.
Sometimes it leads to some funny situations, and you have to take the habit, not to be called by the first name your parents gave you.
eg : The French first name Xavier is turned into something like Gusabieru :mad: :D

I wanted to know if other people on this forum had any other exemples, or lived things like that (quite funny thing i think).

By the way, I have never been to Japan, yet. I would be curious to know what it would be with my first name : Jean-Louis.
I have a little idea tough...

One more little thing : Can someone write my first name in Hiragana or Katagana if possible. Thanks in advance.

[Mandylion]

There is trouble with almost any consonant pairs, "rd" is a though one for example. Anything envolving the "R" or "L" sounds and consonant/vowel pairs that don't exsist in Japanese. On a side note, apparently Chinese people have the same problem when coming to the west. I know of many people who have adopted a completely western first name rather than have their real name slaughtered by unknowing people.

[jeisan]

i guess i got lucky with my name, jason, which works very well compared to others like patrick (paturiku) or travis (turabisu). even my middle and last names come out fairly unscathed. yeah ive know several asians, not just chinese, to take up western 1st names rather than having people stumble over their real one.

[kisu]

=P mine is easy to say in japanese too "Kia"

~kisu

[Sekabin]

ジャンールイ。

(The middle one is a hyphen, not lengthening the sound) :)

[Picardo]

hahaha, i´d relly want someone to write how to pronunce my name, my name is Christoffer. so that would relly make it difficoult for them to pronunce, and then my middle name Anders and lastname Virtanen.
this is going to be hilarious. :D

[jeisan]

hmm in not expert or anything, so correct me if im wrong, but i think it would go something like this:
chiisutafa andasu birutanen

[Sekabin]

Hmm, I think it would be 'kurisutofaa andaazu vaatanen'... any other suggestions? :D

[Riven]

Thank you so much Sekabin (hope it doesn't mean something like "baka desu" :p ) :happy: Domo Arigatou !!


Well, I am not an expert too ... but think it would be "kurisutofaa andaasu birutanen"

My family name is Spotti (Italian name) ... Would make something like "Supooti".

[Maciamo]

Originally posted by Picardo
hahaha, i´d relly want someone to write how to pronunce my name, my name is Christoffer. so that would relly make it difficoult for them to pronunce, and then my middle name Anders and lastname Virtanen.
this is going to be hilarious. :D

I don't know whether Finnish pronuciation is regular and how "r" are pronounced, but given it's like German or Dutch (not like English), your name would rather be :

kuristofaa anderusu birutanen