Translation of names

H@r@ld · Post by **H@r@ld** » 13 Jan 2006 22:56

Hello all,

in this forum I have seen several requests for name translations.
I know that through the history there are different words for the same meaning (name),
in my example there are
- Harald (as I call myself, or better as my parents named me),
- Harold,
- Herold,
but I would call them variants, not translations.
A name is something unique and should not be changed, like in the history for YaHweH,
Jehowa, God, Dieu without any similarity between
(... just saw the 10 commandments threat).

A special case is transliteration into another alphabet with all the problems of missing
characters (eg. Greek and Russian have no "H") or too much meaning in one sign (eg.
Japanese syllables).

It's a bit phylosophical. - What do you think?
CU, H@r@ld
--
harald --DOT-- zappe --AT-- gmail.com

Fuokusu · Post by **Fuokusu** » 13 Jan 2006 23:00

Japanese can transcript foreign names.It does not need any ideogram to unlike Chinese.

Harald => ハラルド - hararudo.
Harold => ハロルド - harorudo.
Herold => ヘロルド - herorudo.

Maïwenn · Post by **Maïwenn** » 14 Jan 2006 03:37

I agree on the fact that names shouldn't be translated. I certainly wouldn't like it if people wrote Marie-Blanche in French or White-Mary in English, when talking about me. French has a long history of translating and adapting names though, but it's changing.

Now, about this forum. If people want to know how to say their firstname in other languages, why not...

Maïwenn

PS : never leave your address on a forum without blurring it before!

H@r@ld · Post by **H@r@ld** » 15 Jan 2006 07:39

Hi back,
thanks so far, and sorry for the last post: I didn't find the "O" in
Hebrew ... for Jorge...

but Marie inspired me before to translate her "simple" name to Chinese:
In Chinese the family name comes first:
部瑯社 - 麻日
/bù/láng/shè/ - /má/rì/
/part (of) white cornelian - group / sesam,surname - day /
In traditional Chinese it should be only three parts, so let's take "white"
in Chinese, which also means "bright", and we get:
白麻日 (bái má rì), or "bright (sesam) day" ...

Ok, Chinese is a very special case in transliteration, because there are
often douzends of symbols with the same pronounciation but different
meaning and sometimes none. I have tried to choose the "nicest" and
most matching. - For the English Mary you can find other transliterations.
Ok, so far,
CU, H@r@ld
--
harald.zappe (at) gmail.com

H@r@ld · Post by **H@r@ld** » 15 Jan 2006 07:49

oops..., *G*,
I have to excuse, Maïwenn,
nevertheless it was a nice exercise ...
H@r@ld

Maïwenn · Post by **Maïwenn** » 15 Jan 2006 08:00

H@r@ld wrote:oops..., *G*,
I have to excuse, Maïwenn,
nevertheless it was a nice exercise ...
H@r@ld

I'm glad you enjoyed the exercice

But I didn't need my firstname translated into Chinese

ElieDeLeuze · Post by **ElieDeLeuze** » 15 Jan 2006 14:30

H@r@ld wrote:白麻日 (bái má rì), or "bright (sesam) day" ...

麻 : Sesam in chinese

it means hamp in japanese (in other words: canabis)

About names : Translation is mostly used about names when transcription or translitteration is meant, in languages using an other writing system. Others want to know what form their name has taken in other languages, following the history of an ancient name.

I can't see any other meaningful applications of so called "name-traductions"

pc2 · Post by **pc2** » 16 Jan 2006 19:38

H@r@ld wrote:Hello all,

in this forum I have seen several requests for name translations.
I know that through the history there are different words for the same meaning (name),
in my example there are
- Harald (as I call myself, or better as my parents named me),
- Harold,
- Herold,
but I would call them variants, not translations.
A name is something unique and should not be changed, like in the history for YaHweH,
Jehowa, God, Dieu without any similarity between
(... just saw the 10 commandments threat).

A special case is transliteration into another alphabet with all the problems of missing
characters (eg. Greek and Russian have no "H") or too much meaning in one sign (eg.
Japanese syllables).

It's a bit phylosophical. - What do you think?
CU, H@r@ld
--
harald --DOT-- zappe --AT-- gmail.com

that's true, Harald - a name is a unique thing, but adaptations (like Aphabet or Euphony) have to be done in order to give a name. for example, our names:

Paulo Marcos & Claudio Marcos. they come from Latin "Paulus Marcus et Claudius Marcus". but the original writing would be "PAVLVS MARCVS ET CLAVDIVS MARCVS", in capital letters with the words separated by dots in the middle.
our last name, our Jewish Family name "SEGAL", is a Hebrew acronym for "Segan Leviyah" (that was a cast in the Hebrew Levi tribe), and it was written in Hebrew with the letters Samch + Giml + Lamd, or S + G + L. it's just the root, without the vowels ommitted.

the names need "versions" for other languages, but ONE name of ONE person is unique, and it's not to be changed in other languages. for example, if we were in Poland, the people wouldn't call us "Pawel i Klaudiusz".

Comment: Jehowah and YaHweH come from the same Hebrew root, YOD + HE + HE, or in other words, Y + H + H or J + H + H, but as there was a time in which Hebrew wasn't written with vowels, and people didn't pronounce the name of God, the vowels in this name was lost.

in Portuguese, your name would be "Haroldo".

best regards,

michka · Post by **michka** » 17 Jan 2006 18:30

pc2 wrote:the names need "versions" for other languages, but ONE name of ONE person is unique, and it's not to be changed in other languages. for example, if we were in Poland, the people wouldn't call us "Pawel i Klaudiusz".

I do agree in part with you. Yet there are situations in which it might be practical to use a translation. E.g. in France there are only a few friends who call me by using my Italian name. Otherwise - especially when working - I'll rather be called Michel. I do prefer so. Customers have to make less effort and can remember your name instead of saying "May I talk to your collegue, the one who speaks with a petit accent?". More, the French are so good at finding out new fanciful ways of pronouncing my name... After all the times I have been called Mickey, I should apply for a job at Eurodisney. I believe, I prefer the translation.

H@r@ld · Post by **H@r@ld** » 18 Jan 2006 19:17

Thanks to all,
seems, I was right:

H@r@ld wrote: It's a bit phylosophical. - What do you think?

For my own name I already did it:
http://www.harald-zappe.de/me/writing.html "Writing systems"
Of course not complete (Old Egypt is in preparation... but not in Unicode)

Please, continue.

CU here,
H@r@ld
--
harald --dot-- zappe --at-- gmail.com

pc2 · Post by **pc2** » 21 Jan 2006 22:28

H@r@ld wrote: Thanks to all,
seems, I was right:

H@r@ld wrote: It's a bit phylosophical. - What do you think?
For my own name I already did it:
http://www.harald-zappe.de/me/writing.html "Writing systems"
Of course not complete (Old Egypt is in preparation... but not in Unicode)

Please, continue.

CU here,
H@r@ld
--
harald --dot-- zappe --at-- gmail.com

salutations,

there are many other writing systems out there. you could include your name written in the Inuktitut (Inuit language of that we are learning grammar) syllabary.

here is your name written in Inuktitut (Unicode). it should be displayed correctly if you have an Inuktitut Unicode support (e.g. a TTFont), but if you don't have, you can send us a private message (MP - Message Privé, PM - Priavte Message) and we will give you a TTFont.

Harald Zappe - ᐊᕋᓪᑦ ᓴᑉᐱ.

best regards,

LokaNova et Freelang