Even in languages that have a pictograph based written form, rather than an alphabet based one, such as Chinese! I once asked a friend of a friend what the translation of her Chinese character tattoo was and she told me it was her son's name - Jamie! The characters may be prounounced in a way that sound like something vaguelly resembling Jamie, but God (and the Chinese!) knows what it actually MEANS?
2006-09-05 13:27:14 · 10 answers · asked by Friz 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
So, Goddess of S - Your name is Densha? Or Denwa? I always got those two mixed up!
2006-09-05 13:36:38 · update #1
I'm not calling on a world-wide ban on all translating and translation based activities! I'm merely pointing out that it is, in many cases, impossible to translate proper nouns, such as the name of a person, directly into another language.
I am the first to admit that my Japanese stinks, but I'm quite confident that your name doesn't mean train. I wouldn't normally be so petty and mean as to point that out, but you were kinda making a big deal about it.
2006-09-05 13:43:37 · update #2
I completely agree that for the most people tattoos are simply aesthetic, which is something I've done myself. That's not something I'm criticising.
I just wanted to say that you often can't translate names into another language. That was my only point!!
2006-09-05 14:12:20 · update #3
Told you my Japanese was rubbish!!!
2006-09-05 14:13:26 · update #4
Just be nice and teach without attacking people for not knowing all you do. you can't teach if you are rude to your pupils
2006-09-05 13:42:10 · answer #1 · answered by thecharleslloyd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For Japanese, it makes sense because of the katakana alphabet. (While I do not know the Chinese alphabet, I do find it annoying that people want their name as a tattoo. Many tattooists lie and one guy--a while back--asked what his tattoo meant and, as it turned out, was "faithful old woman".)
Also, yes, "kisha" does mean train; albeit a steam one which I'm not even sure still exists in modern Japan anymore.
(Denwa means phone and densha is an electric train.) However, since it would be written in katakana and have a san attached to it, there really is no point in saying "my name means such-and-such in such-and-such language!"
My name means "pure", but that doesn't mean that if I were to go to Greece people would call me "Pure" instead of my real name? No. A name is a name, afterall, in any language.
But people don't get tattoos for spot-on accuracy, they get them because they look nice and they have a meaning to them. Go to Japan and you'll see shirts, posters, and stores with bizarre English on them. Why, are the Japanese stupid and can't figure out proper English?
Most of the time it's because it sounds pretty to say. Same with them getting tattoos of English words and Westerners having shirts with Japanese and Chinese. It looks pretty; who cares if it's actually correct or not?
2006-09-05 14:07:20 · answer #2 · answered by Belie 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Having once been lost in the town of Lüttich, I asked a passer-by the way to Liège. He laughed and asked me where I was heading for. I told him Ostend and he gave me directions. Lüttich and Liège are the same place. I've always been opposed to translating names. When living in Hong Kong, one of the Chinese newspapers wrote an article about Mrs. Thatcher's visit to the, then, colony. They attempted to represent the names of her entourage in Chinese characters. This resulted in the amazing statement: 'Mrs Thatcher will be accompanied by 'a large male organ'.
2006-09-05 19:29:34 · answer #3 · answered by cymry3jones 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I know these people (unfortunately)..they came from Syria to USA. They are related and all have the same last name, But if you look at thier id cards, each one has spelled thier last name differently. They all pronounce it the same though. What I dont understand is why everyone who comes to USA thinks they need to have an 'American' name. For example, instead of mohammed...they will change thier name to Joe. They have all done that. Chinese poeple do this too. *whatever* If I ever moved to China, i wouldnt change my name to Ching So...know what I mean.....
2006-09-05 13:39:15 · answer #4 · answered by batsey99 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my name translated into Japanese means "train" ha! i had my name writen on a paper fan in Japanese when i was little.
its even spelled exactly the same. "Kisha" is my name and usually i always see it spelled "Keisha"
who cares if it doesnt translate directly? there are lots of words in the English language that do not directly translate to exactly what its meant. there are lots of words in lots of languages that there isn't an exact translation for. so what is it you want exactly? for everybody to stop translating unless they can translate directly? your ridiculous.
2006-09-05 13:34:23 · answer #5 · answered by ASLotaku 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I read in a newspaper a funny story about a Chinese guy who arrived at Manchester airport and went to immigration. His name in his passport was Fuk yu tu...it made the immigration officers day!!!! hahaha
2006-09-05 23:02:58 · answer #6 · answered by Josef H 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in the journey that your mothers and fathers have been russian, and that they needed to call you samantha, the russian call for samantha is camatha. yet once you went to russia and informed them your call, they could call you samantha. wish this helped =]
2016-11-24 23:33:57 · answer #7 · answered by pere 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, that problem is easy, from now on we just say, Hey,YOU!!!!
2006-09-05 13:32:26 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
god knws everything
2006-09-05 13:32:24 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Who Flung Dung.................... i don't like him much.
2006-09-06 00:30:01 · answer #10 · answered by aldo67uk 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋