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Writing Names In Chinese | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| epingchris Triglot Senior Member Taiwan shih-chuan.blog.ntu. Joined 7029 days ago 273 posts - 284 votes  5 sounds Studies: Taiwanese, Mandarin*, English, FrenchB2 Studies: Japanese, German, Turkish | Message 17 of 19 28 August 2005 at 9:23am | IP Logged |
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When translating foreign names into Chinese, regardless of the dialect, it's a nightmare. David probably would be translated into DaWei, but you can write it as 大衛 or大維 or something else (the tones of those two are different, by the way). Canada is translated into JiaNaDa instead of KaNaDa, which is closer. Chinese translation of foreign names are completely arbitrary and illogical(probably like Irish; I tried my hands on it several years ago and failed miserably^^); to add insult to injury, there's nearly no way to translate foreign names into dialects of Chinese other than Mandarin.
For famous people, there is a consensus about how the name should be translated, at least in a region (China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong). Everyone in China would probably say that President Bush's name is 布什(Bushi), but people in Taiwan will tell you that it's 布希(Buxi). For the Jet Li question, Li Lian Jie and Li Nin Kit are the same name. their characters are both 李連杰, just pronounced differently. So that has nothing to do with translating. Personally, I think the best way for a foreigner to choose a Chinese name (if they plan to fully assimilate into Chinese society) is to use surnames and characters that have similar sound with their original names, and that have good enough meanings. For example, Frank Richardson can have a Chinese name as 李弗蘭 (Li Fu Lan, the Li corresponding to Richardson and the Fu Lan corresponding to Frank). This name really doesn't mean anything, but at least it sounds nice. Edited by epingchris on 28 August 2005 at 9:24am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Monox D. I-Fly Senior Member Indonesia monoxdifly.iopc.us Joined 5136 days ago 762 posts - 664 votes Speaks: Indonesian* | Message 18 of 19 18 January 2016 at 5:48pm | IP Logged |
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Ummm... Sorry to necro-post a 10-year old thread, but I am curious, how to write my name (Faizal Yunus Ibrahim) in Chinese?
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4445 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 19 of 19 20 January 2016 at 8:44pm | IP Logged |
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Even for Chinese names, there are various translations in English. The last name 暺 in Pinyin is "Huang". You may find some people with the same last name in Taiwan & S-E Asia spelled "Hwang" with a "w" instead of a "u". In Hong Kong it is spelled "Wong". The last name is normally "Li" in Mandarin. In Hong Kong people tend to use "Lee".
Some people who moved to China adopted nicknames as their official names. The actor "Mark Rowswell" from Canada living in Beijing goes by the name 憭批控 (Big Mountain). The singer "Steven" from W. Africa adopted the name 憟賢 (Good Brother). An American singer like Prince Roger Nelson got his name shortened to just "Prince". The actor Gregory Rivers in Hong Kong originally from Australia adopted the name 瘝喳璁. 瘝 is the Chinese for River. The other part 璁 was taken from a famous Hong Kong pop star 撘萄璁 (Leslie Cheung) and have no phonetic relationship to his first name Gregory. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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