online dictionary for Japanese names?

[semantic nuance]

Hi,

Does anyone know if there's any online dictionary (better if with prounciations) for Japanese names? I googled without finding any that meets my end. By the way, is there anyone who knows how to pronunounce 心美 or 光希 in Japanese?

Thank you very much.

Edited July 19, 2008 at 08:21 AM by semantic nuance

[atitarev]

Japanese names and their pronunciation are pain in the %$%^^... because people make whatever pronunciation they like for the names. The names can be read as combinations of ON-yomi and KUN-yomi, many of them can't be figured out, you have to know how to read those names.

Possible variants:

心美: Kokoromi, Shinbi, Kokomi, Kotomi, Konomi, Hatomi, Manami, Munemi

光希: Kouki (=Kōki), Miki, Mitsuki, Mikiko, Mikiho

I use the EDICT name dictionary that comes with NJStar Japanese WP.

Edited July 18, 2008 at 09:33 AM by atitarev

[roddy]

Skylee gave me this link, which is a kanji to romaji converter, about two years ago when I had the same issue. However reading atitarev's post makes me wonder how much you can rely on it.

[atitarev]

Roddy, it does a pretty good job for a normal Japanese text but there may always be errors, which would have to be fixed by a human. As I said, personal names are a special case in Japanese, which don't follow standards and may have more than one reading.

For words, which have more than one reading (with the same meaning):

故郷: "furusato", "kokyō", only one may be given.

non-standard readings are no problem, if they exist in the dictionary

You just need to know or check the dictionary to find out that 煙草 is pronounced "tabako".

--

I just tested your link on the names, it doesn't convert the first name correctly (心美: こころ び Kokorobi), unfortunately but worked OK with a basic text without names.

Actually, "Kokorobi" could be another reading for 心美, which I haven't listed.

[roddy]

Ok thanks. When I do come across Japanese names that I have to translate (thankfully rarely) I can often find them online as they tend to be relatively well-known - politicians, businessmen, etc. If that doesn't work I do what I can with a converter and add a note for the client.

[semantic nuance]

Thank you, atitarev, and roddy, for your links and explanations.

That's the problem I have encountered, too. The same kanji 漢字 with different pronunciations baffled me a lot to figure out what pronunciations I should take.

[Lili 「麗麗」]

It depends what Kanji is being used if you are speaking it, and there are many readings and fewer reading for each Kanji. As for 心美, it is probably　こころ　み　(kokoromi), and it means beautiful heart or mind. 光希 is probably みつき(mitsuki) and mean like "rare light", the "light" being the Child or person. And another common Mitsuki is 美月「みつき」 which means "beautiful moon".　

[atitarev]

I used this tool again today (http://nihongo.j-talk.com/parser/index.php). It is pretty good. A few things I always need to change manually: letters は and へ (normally "ha" and "he") are pronounced as "wa" and "e" when they are particles. Particle を (o) is pronounced as "o" but is usually romanised as "wo" and also entered in the computer as wo. All verbs endings are separated, (often even breaking the roots) from the verb, so one has remove the unnecessary spaces, e.g. tsutsuma re masu -> tsutsumaremasu

There was question mark (on 就任) and one phonetic error: 取り組む - torikumu

My today's listening:

http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/ann/news/web/soci_news_w1.html?now=20080806101607_56k

Here's the romanised article with the original:

(I edited the automatic conversion.)

63回目の広島原爆の日　過去最多55カ国代表が参列

Rokujuu-san kai me no Hiroshima genbaku no hi kako saita 55 (gojuu-go)

kakoku daihyou ga sanretsu

63回目の原爆の日を迎えた広島では、4万5000人が参列して平和記念式典が行わ

れました。

63 (rokujuu-san) kaime-no genbaku-no hi-wo mukaeta Hiroshima-de-wa, 4 (yon)

man 5000 (go-sen) nin-ga sanretsu shite heiwa kinen shikiten ga okonawaremashita.

　平和記念式典は、爆心地に建てられた平和公園で行われました。式典には、就

任後、初めて福田総理大臣も参列しました。

　heiwa kinen shikiten-wa, bakushinchi-ni taterareta heiwa kouen-de okonawaremashita.

shikiten-ni-wa, shuunin-go, hajimete Fukuda souri-daijin-mo sanretsu shimashita.

　(福田康夫総理大臣)「国際的にも、平和都市として名誉ある地位を占めてい

ます。被爆地として、平和の尊さを世界中に訴える努力を続けてきた賜物と考え

ます」

　(Fukuda Yasuo souri-daijin : ) 'kokusaiteki-ni-mo, heiwa toshi toshite

meiyo aru chii-wo shimete imasu. hibaku chi toshite, heiwa-no touto-sa-wo

sekaijuu-ni uttaeru doryoku-wo tsudzukete kita tamamono to kangaemasu'

　今年の平和記念式典には、オリンピック開催を控えた中国からも初めて式典へ

の参列がありました。海外の代表の参列は、これまでで最も多い55カ国でした。

　kotoshi-no heiwa kinen shikiten-ni-wa, Orinpikku kaisai-wo hikaeta Chuugoku-

kara mo hajimete shikiten-e-no sanretsu ga arimashita. kaigai no daihyou-no

sanretsu-wa, kore-made-de mottomo ooi 55 (gojuu-go) kakoku deshita.

　広島市・秋葉忠利市長「長崎市と共に、また世界の市民と共に、核廃絶のた

め、あらん限りの力を尽くし、行動することをここに誓います」

　(Hiroshima shi. akiba tadatoshi shichou: ) 'Nagasaki shi totomo-ni, mata

sekai-no shimin totomo-ni, kaku haizetsu-no tame, aran kagiri-no chikara-wo

tsukushi, koudou suru koto-wo koko-ni chikaimasu'

　平和宣言で、広島市の秋葉忠利市長は、国際社会に真剣に核兵器廃絶に取り組

むよう求めました。被爆地・広島は、夜の「灯ろう流し」まで、6日一日、犠牲者

を悼む深い祈りに包まれます。

　heiwa sengen-de, Hiroshima shi-no Akiba Tadatoshi shichou-wa, kokusai

shakai-ni shinken-ni kakuheiki haizetsu-ni torikumi muyou motomemashita.

hibaku chi. Hiroshima-wa, yoru no ' tourou nagashi '-made, 6 (roku) nichi ichi

nichi, gisei sha-wo itamu fukai inori-ni tsutsumaremasu.

--

ou stands for long "ō', uu for long "ū"

If you are not familiar with the Japanese Rōmaji but know Pīnyīn:

shi = xi

chi = qi

ji = ji

ra, ri, ru, re, ro (approx.)= la, li, lu, le, lo

--

Interesting that Chinese representatives attended the Hiroshima memorial for the 1st time this year. It's a good sign of improving relationships between China and Japan.

Edited August 6, 2008 at 02:40 AM by atitarev

[semantic nuance]

Here's the romanised article with the original:......

Thank you for the listening link. However, I cannot find what you posted from that link. Could you please tell me the link to the original article. Thanks!

BTW, are there useful websites that focus on teaching people the accent, i.e. 0, 1, 2, 3, etc. I have difficulty in memorizing accent. Or, can you share your learning experience about accent? Once again, thanks!!

[atitarev]

They update articles every day. So you have new ones now.

Not sure about your second question either. Are you talking about Chinese or Japanese? Japanese doesn't have 0, 1, 2, 3 accent. What is it?

My experience is just to keep listening Whatever the language. With me it works mainly with texts I am familiar with - for practicing, after becoming comfortable I listen to to unfamiliar texts.