Tinaaa Posted October 5, 2008 at 08:29 PM Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 at 08:29 PM Hey there! When I was doing a short Chinese program last year in Beijing, my Chinese teacher gave me (I'm called Martina) a corresponding Chinese name - namely "ma dì nà". She told me that this means something like "Pearl Girl" or "Girl of Pearls". Then, however, I met some Chinese people and when they asked me about my name and I told them they laughed...so now i'm a bit irritated... could anybody of you help me and tell me the "real" meaning of "ma dì nà" and in case that this translation is indeed a weird one - suggest me an other Chinese name that sounds like "Martina" but really makes sense ;-) ?? Thanks a lot in advance! Cheers, Martina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atitarev Posted October 6, 2008 at 01:05 AM Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 at 01:05 AM I don't know about the reason for giggles (or rather I won't make any assumptions) but here's how I have seen Martina transliterated into Chinese (e.g. for Martina Hingis - tennis player): 玛蒂娜 Mǎdìnà Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philee Posted October 6, 2008 at 11:59 AM Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 at 11:59 AM If it is 马蒂娜 ma di na as the translation by pronounciation, there is really nothing amusing. 马 is a common family name for Chinese. 蒂means stalk of flowers or fruits. It's very common to name a girl with a plant or flower name simply showing good will towards her. 娜 is for girl's name meaning slender and attractive figure, a widely used character for girl. I guess, meaning no offence, maybe you pronounced them incorrectly. For example, you may pronounced it somewhat like ma ti ne which means where is the horse hoof? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renzhe Posted October 6, 2008 at 12:01 PM Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 at 12:01 PM Ma di na could correspond to a number of characters, and nobody will know unless they see the characters themselves. What atitarev posted is a standard transliteration, used to write "Martina" in Chinese publications and the like, and the meaning is secondary. The first character means agate, the second is stem of a fruit, and the last one means "elegant". The name itself doesn't really have a meaning as a whole, it's a combination of characters used for transliterating, chosen primarily for their sound, but also for a nice meaning. In the absence of other information, I assume that this is the name given to you. Why people laughed, no idea. Maybe the way you said it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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