Names translated into Japanese

[Arthur68]

How are names that are foreign to the Japanese translated and pronounced.
What are the rules of knowing how to pronounce a name to where it is understood while speaking Japanese and where a Japanese person can pronounce it themselves.

My name is Arthur. Would if still be pronounced as Arthur?... Arthur-san? How about a female name like Julie?.....Julie-san? Mr Smith-san?



Thank you for any help.

[AJBryant]

The word isn't "translated."

It's "transliterated."

(Just being picky.)

"Arthur" becomes "Aasaa" (アーサー) and "Julie" is "Jurii" (ジュリー).


Tony

[LukeSettle]

Im not sure if there are any rules for "transliterating" it. But i kinda came up with my own way. :relief:

In the case of Arthur:
Since Arthur has an 'r' [consonant] between the 'th/sa' you would elongate it, same with the ur.
so it ends up being 'aasaa'.
Im not sure how accurate this is. [I MADE THIS UP]
Anyone have a webpage with set rules for transliterating foreign names?

[nice gaijin]

Transliteration a name is just pronouncing or writing it under the phonetic rules of a foreign language.

In Japanese, there are very few syllable-final consonants, so syllable-final /r/ sounds will usually be replaced with vowels.　There is also no "th" [θ] sound in Japanese, so it is often replaced with [s]. アーサー [a:sa:] is a reasonable transliteration of 'Arthur.'

The "san" on the end is an honorific title, but you wouldn't use it when saying your own name. It would be like calling yourself "Mr. Arthur."

[Datenshi]

How about the following names?

CB.
Sigi
Sebastien.
Sigourney
Jessie
Conny

Can you translate them to romanji & kanji, hiragana or katakana?

[nice gaijin]

Translation approximates meaning, and will most likely sound nothing like the original word (and probably won't make any sense either).

Transliteration approximates sound, and will depend on how the name sounds in its native language. Transliterated names are not written in kanji or hiragana.

I'm guessing you haven't made any attempts on your own?

[AJBryant]

Can you translate them to romanji & kanji, hiragana or katakana?

1) Transliterate. As I said.

2) There is no N in "rômaji."

Tony

[Elizabeth]

Transliteration a name is just pronouncing or writing it under the phonetic rules of a foreign language.

In Japanese, there are very few syllable-final consonants, so syllable-final /r/ sounds will usually be replaced with vowels.　There is also no "th" [θ] sound in Japanese, so it is often replaced with [s]. アーサー [a:sa:] is a reasonable transliteration of 'Arthur.'
Believe it or not, another less common varient is literally アルトゥール... but who would say it ? Even for an English speaker this is quite a bit more clunky and straining to pronounce only to finalize closer to "Artowa-ru." :blush:

[undrentide]

Believe it or not, another less common varient is literally アルトゥール... but who would say it ? Even for an English speaker this is quite a bit more clunky and straining to pronounce only to finalize closer to "Artowa-ru." :blush:

アルトゥール is used when it is a French name.
Most Japanese would not recognize that both names are spelt the same in Roman alphabets. ;-)

[Devian]

Guys can you please transliterate my name - Vadim or Vadym (It prounance Va- like Vanila, dim or dym- like deem). I was unable to find any variants of transliteration on web. Thanks.

[undrentide]

Guys can you please transliterate my name - Vadim or Vadym (It prounance Va- like Vanila, dim or dym- like deem). I was unable to find any variants of transliteration on web. Thanks.

It's either
ヴァディム (va-di-mu)
or
ヴァジム (va-dzi-mu)

Some may transliterate it as
ワジム (wa-dzi-mu)

[Devian]

Thanks. Yesterday i wrote to the kanjizone. com/names.aspx?letter=V and today they have added my name to their list. It differnts from your transliteration, who's more accurate now?:-)

[Datenshi]

Translation approximates meaning, and will most likely sound nothing like the original word (and probably won't make any sense either).

Transliteration approximates sound, and will depend on how the name sounds in its native language. Transliterated names are not written in kanji or hiragana.

I'm guessing you haven't made any attempts on your own?

No, not realy.
I'm learning Japanese on my own.

I still have a lot to learn.


Anyway. Thx for the reply.



Greets Datenshi

[LukeSettle]

Thanks. Yesterday i wrote to the kanjizone. com/names.aspx?letter=V and today they have added my name to their list. It differnts from your transliteration, who's more accurate now?:-)

Are you intentionally being rude?
Or are you asking which is accurate?
If it's the latter then you'll have to tell us what you got from kanjizone.

[AJBryant]

Luke, he's not a native English speaker, so I'd cut him some slack. It's just as likely he's asking who's more correct, and putting in a smiley. There's no need to assume sarcasm.


Tony

[Devian]

Are you intentionally being rude?
Or are you asking which is accurate?
If it's the latter then you'll have to tell us what you got from kanjizone.


No, not intentionally. Sorry, if it looks like this. i didn't mean that.
Just want to know which of transliterations more correrct or they both are?

[LukeSettle]

Devian:

Oh okay!
Well, I checked the kanjizone website and what they gave you looks right, but its really a matter of personal preference I'd say. Im actually not sure how much the pronunciation differs between the two.

Tony:

Point taken.

[Devian]

Thank you! i like both variants :)

[undrentide]

＠Devian

I should have replied to you much earlier, I'm sorry.
:p
As Luke said, it's up to your personal preference.

If I add some explanation:

ヴァディム (va-di-mu): or
ヴァジム (va-dzi-mu)

Originally there's no "di" pronounciation in Japanese (same goes with "ti"), so in the past "di" was written デ or ジ, which are comparatively close to the sound of "di".
If you talk with very old people in Japan, some people say
テー not ティー for "tea", for example.

Thesedays, however, there are a lot of loan words from foreign languages and there are more people who are learning English (and other languages), and we try to make the pronunciation and writings as close to the original language as possible.

So strictly speaking ヴァディム might be more "accurate" pronunciation-wise.

ワジム (wa-dzi-mu)

I believe that V in Russian language (В in Cyrillic alphabets) sounds a bit softer than V in English, and the name Ivan is traditionally transliterate as
イワン, not イヴァン.

Titles of some famous books in Japanese for example.

イワンのばか Ivan the Fool by Leo Tolstoy
イワン・イリッチの死 The Death of Ivan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy
イワン・デニーソヴィチの一日　One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

And Вадим Викторович Бакатин (Vadim Viktorovich Bakatin) is known as
ワジム・ヴィクトロヴィッチ・バカーチン.
(Sorry if it is not a very nice example...)

*I hope you're not offended by my mentioning Russian names - I know Ukraine is an independent country and is different from Russia, but I've heard that Ukrainian language is very close to Russian. (Actually I've been to Kiev once and heard so from my Ukrainian colleague...)

[Devian]

I'm shocked. you made lot of work. It's really pleasant. so much attention to this post.

＠Devian

I believe that V in Russian language (В in Cyrillic alphabets) sounds a bit softer than V in English, and the name Ivan is traditionally transliterate as
イワン, not イヴァン.

I think V sounds same in English as in Russian but definitely not softer.


And Вадим Викторович Бакатин (Vadim Viktorovich Bakatin) is known as
ワジム・ヴィクトロヴィッチ・バカーチン.
(Sorry if it is not a very nice example...)

How did you find him? i mean is he known? It's good example:-)


*I hope you're not offended by my mentioning Russian names - I know Ukraine is an independent country and is different from Russia, but I've heard that Ukrainian language is very close to Russian. (Actually I've been to Kiev once and heard so from my Ukrainian colleague...)

Absolutely not! Names are same in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine because we all are Slavic people and languages also closed. Half of Ukrainian population speaking Russian (South and East of Ukraine). I live in Odessa and i'm also speking russian. If you ever be here i hearty welcome you.:wave: