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Mandarin: tones in foreign names? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5697 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 1 of 7 04 November 2010 at 12:45am | IP Logged |
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I was just imagining how I would introduce myself in Chinese: "Wǒ jiào Jinx." The first time I said it aloud, I found myself pronouncing "Jinx" (my name) with a first tone – no idea why. I said it again, this time putting a fourth tone on "Jinx." Both ways sounded fine to me, but I think if I was actually in a conversation it would feel most "right" to say my name with a first tone.
That got me wondering... Imagine you're a native English-speaker in China, and you're introducing yourself (in Chinese) to some Chinese people you've just met. No matter how you say your English name, it's probably going to end up having a certain amount of similarity to one or another of the five tones in Mandarin. If, when you first introduce yourself to a Chinese person, you happen to put a certain tone on your name, will he or she usually tend to pronounce your name the same way (i.e. "with the same tone") in future? Or will s/he usually pronounce it more "neutrally," whatever that might be? Does anyone have experiences to share here? If you live in China, do you find yourself assigning certain tones to your name? For another example, the name "Michael" could theoretically be "translated" as having a first tone on the "Mi-" followed by a fifth tone on the "-chael." A note to clarify my position: this might not be an issue for everyone, but if I'm speaking any foreign language and then insert an English word into my speech, I usually end up pronouncing that word in the accent of the language I'm speaking. That's why I'm wondering if the habit of speaking in tones would "leak over" into English words in this case. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5963 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 7 04 November 2010 at 3:34am | IP Logged |
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You can give yourself a Chinese name that does not sound at all like your English name.
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| jasoninchina Senior Member China Joined 5235 days ago 221 posts - 306 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Italian | Message 3 of 7 04 November 2010 at 5:50am | IP Logged |
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This is a very interesting occurrence, one that I have noted myself. First off, many English names already have a Chinese transliteration. For example, Michael(Mike) is 麦克 (mai4 ke4). With your name(awesome name btw), jinx could be something like jin ke si.
Regarding the tones, I personally use a fourth tone when inserting English words. However, I have noticed that many Chinese will use a first tone. For example, when my teachers use numbers and letters, they apply a first tone: A1, B1, C1, etc. Furthermore, I have noticed something interesting when I teach English. When I have my students repeat vocabulary, they mimic my intonation exactly. If I say book1, they say book1. Every now and again, just for kicks, I'll throw in book3 to see if they notice it. And yes, tones leak over into English all the time. I have no idea how to pronounce it in Chinese, but my wife(when speaking English) insists on pronouncing ebay as e3 bay1. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| CheeseInsider Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5126 days ago 193 posts - 238 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin* Studies: French, German | Message 4 of 7 20 November 2010 at 10:31am | IP Logged |
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For me, I feel that your name, said with English pronunciation should be fourth tone: 4Jinx. But if you were to change it to Mandarin pronunciation, it would probably be 1Jing 2ke 4si.
But that's just going by feeling... :P 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5177 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 5 of 7 04 December 2010 at 7:35am | IP Logged |
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Actually the direct translation of 'jinx' is 扫把星. But I really wouldn't advise you to
introduce yourself as such. Personally, I favor jing1 si1. Feminine names tend to favor lighter tones. Maybe something along the lines of 精斯. That would be a pretty nice name. 精明的精跟斯文的斯。It represents sharpness of mind and genteelness. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6474 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 6 of 7 04 December 2010 at 11:24am | IP Logged |
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"jin ke si" strikes me as a bad idea, "ke si" means "may die" and the Chinese are usually
very superstitious about things like that. jing1 si1 is neat. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5697 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 7 of 7 18 December 2010 at 3:44am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for all the suggestions, folks, this is awesome! I love learning languages that are different enough that you get to basically pick a new name for yourself...
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