tiffsmith Posted August 22, 2007 at 08:58 PM Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 at 08:58 PM I plan to learn Chinese. As a fun little project I thought I could write some family names in Chinese and become familiar with them. I would like to make sure that there isn't anything derogatory associated with any of the terms. 阿迪孙 佳德 萨姆 蒂法妮 Thanks in advance for your help!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rootfool Posted August 23, 2007 at 12:31 AM Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 12:31 AM Most foreigner's name are translated by pronounciation,so they haven't any meanings.Don't worry about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiffsmith Posted August 23, 2007 at 01:03 AM Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 01:03 AM Thats good to know. Thank you! 谢谢 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted August 23, 2007 at 01:19 AM Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 01:19 AM Are the names Edison, Samuel, Jade, Tiffany? The Chinese names you quoted are tranliteration. Sometimes we would use more beautiful / meaningful characters to make them more beautiful / meaningful. I think the characters used in your case are ok, although some people might find the last character in the first name, i.e. 孙, a bit odd in a name. The character itself is a surname, but it means grandson, and if someone who is not your grandparent calls you grandson it could be an insult. But I am probably thinking too much. 佳德 has a very good meaning -> good virtue The Jeweller Tiffany calls itself 蒂芙尼 in Chinese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiffsmith Posted August 23, 2007 at 02:46 AM Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 02:46 AM Hello Skylee, thank you for your response! The first name should be Addison, the other ones are spot on. Do you know of a better way to say Addison or anything very similar without 孙? How about 阿迪森? Its nice to know that Jade means "good virtue". Jade will be pleased to learn that. Thanks again! 谢谢 Tiffany Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted August 23, 2007 at 09:52 AM Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 09:52 AM 阿迪森 is ok. Jade is a piece of fine stone. 佳德 (Jiade) means "good virtue". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiffsmith Posted August 23, 2007 at 12:55 PM Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 12:55 PM Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyraSafia Posted August 23, 2007 at 04:58 PM Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 04:58 PM although names are translated by pronunciation, but for some of the names there are fixed translations. I think Samuel is often translated as 山姆, for it's simpler, and "山" is used more often than "萨" Tiffany is always translated as "蒂凡尼" , be cause of the famous movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" however, I think "佳德" is a very good translation, cause it has both similar pronunciation and good meaning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiffsmith Posted August 23, 2007 at 06:58 PM Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 06:58 PM Thank you CyraSafia, I like the translation of Samuel and Tiffany you gave. It looks like it will be a little easier to write. I start Rosetta Stone next week, so thats when I really get into the language, but I am having a lot of fun writing and becoming familiar with the characters! 谢谢 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheukMo Posted August 23, 2007 at 08:35 PM Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 08:35 PM tiffsmith, May I ask what book or program you are using as the introduction? Is it about writing? 謝謝你, 卓武 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiffsmith Posted August 23, 2007 at 10:26 PM Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 10:26 PM I started out reading literature about the Chinese culture. After that, I moved on to some common greetings. I have been using free resources provided on the internet, now I'm pretty hooked. I hope Rosetta Stone can offer me a fun learning experience and get me to the point where it feels a bit more natural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheukMo Posted August 23, 2007 at 11:27 PM Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 11:27 PM I was a Spanish teacher and I would say that Spanish grammar is much more difficult than Chinese. With the tones (I'm learning Cantonese which has six) Chinese pronunciation is more difficult. It's great to hear that you are teaching your kids other languages. I think every kid should be at least bilingual today... Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiffsmith Posted August 23, 2007 at 11:48 PM Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 11:48 PM Thanks for wishing me luck, I'm going to need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thph2006 Posted August 23, 2007 at 11:55 PM Report Share Posted August 23, 2007 at 11:55 PM Here's another name request. Virtually no Chinese person I meet can pronounce my last name without great pain so I was thinking of adopting a sort of phonetically abbreviated Chinese version. I thought maybe something like Han (韩???) might work since it's almost like a super compressed version of Harrington with sounds from the beginning middle and end of the name and it's single character like most Chinese surnames. Of course, I'm sure there are even better suggestions out there. Oh, also please let me know if it's a cultural no-no to alter my name for Chinese consumption. In that case I'll just live with all the mispronunciations. Anyone care to give me a name? Cheers, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiffsmith Posted August 24, 2007 at 12:10 AM Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2007 at 12:10 AM Would this work? I don't know much yet AT ALL but wanted to give it a whirl and am interested to see if I came close... 哈林东 or 哈琳顿 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted August 24, 2007 at 12:27 AM Report Share Posted August 24, 2007 at 12:27 AM Consider 韓領東 (Han Lingdong). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyraSafia Posted August 24, 2007 at 06:45 AM Report Share Posted August 24, 2007 at 06:45 AM Mulan is a good story, I love it and I like your way of teaching,tiffsmith Harrington might be translated as "哈林顿" considering Harry Potter is "哈里 波特" and Clinton is "克林顿" I think if you want to get some translation, www.google.cn might be helpful(however, it is a Chinese site) search the page only in simplified Chinese, you may get the translation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiffsmith Posted August 24, 2007 at 01:02 PM Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2007 at 01:02 PM Mulan is a good story, I love itand I like your way Thank you CyraSafia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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