Had this done last week (doh).

[rdwadsw]

Hi, Can anyone please confirm that this tattoo actually means 'Elizabeth' if not does it mean anything?

[xiaojiang216]

The name Elizabeth is commonly translated into Chinese as 伊丽莎白 Yi1 li4 sha1 bai2 (Queen Elizabeth's name is translated that way).

Your tatoo says 依利莎伯 Yi1 li4 sha1 bai3, which phonetically is identical except for the last characters. I presume that this is just another way to write Elizabeth, provided that there are several "versions" of names when translated phonetically into Chinese.

An interesting discovery: I found 依利莎伯 as a 港译 translation for Queen Elizabeth

[skylee]

I presume that this is just another way to write Elizabeth, provided that there are several "versions" of names when translated phonetically into Chinese.

An interesting discovery: I found 依利莎伯 as a 港译 translation for Queen Elizabeth

I am glad that you have discovered it. [Next time I think I might single out all those 大陸譯法. hmmm ....]

[madizi]

The last character (伯) is not bai3, but bo2. Yi1 li4 sha1 bo2.

[skylee]

The last character (伯) is not bai3, but bo2.

There are more than one pronunciation for 伯 - bo2 and bai3 and ba4.

I've watched some Taiwan TV series where 伯伯 is pronounced "baibai".

[madizi]

I know, but isn't it so that when transliterating foreign names, the first pronunciation is used (as in this case, bo2)?

[skylee]

Who decides which is the first pronunciation?

I guess you mean some pronunciations are more common than others, and thus should be adopted in transliteration, right? I think there is not a standard, so it is really flexible. French director Francois Truffaut is known as 杜魯福 in HK, 楚浮 in Taiwan, and 特呂弗 on the Mainland. And they are all ok. So if I transliterate "Elizabeth" to 依利莎伯 and pronounce it yi1 li4 sha1 bai3, I think it is ok. (Actually the name is pronounced Yee Lei Sa Bak in HK and I think it is ok too.)

[h.way]

commomly we translate Elizabeth into 伊莉莎白，just the way we call the queen Elizabeth

yi 1 li4 sha1bai2

There are several pronunciation for 伯:bo2 bai3 ,when we overlapping it ,it sounds like bai1bai(in a extremly softy voice,which we means 轻读）

[madizi]

I see. Maybe I'm attached to explanation of one of my teacher at sinology who said that in transliteration of foreign names the first pronunciation of character is used. But as it seems, this isn't so.........

[chenpv]

There are more than one pronunciation for 伯 - bo2 and bai3 and ba4.

Add one more, 伯 is generally pronounced as bei2 in Shaanxi dialect. However when it comes in pairs as 伯伯, the first character slightly changes into the third tone, thus reads bei2.5bei2.

[trien27]

I know I'm off-topic, but chenpv, what's

"Mit vier Weisheitszähnen gezogen bin ich ja schon dumm gewesen" from German into Chinese or English translation?