Japanese Names in Chinese Languages
In Chinese speaking communities, Japanese names are considered in the form of Chinese characters, but not pronunciation. When referring to a Japanese person, the characters in his name will be spoken as in the Chinese language used. For example, in a Mandarin speech, 山田 太郎 (Yamada Tarō) will become "Shāntián Tàiláng", while 鳩山 由紀夫 (Hatoyama Yukio) will become "Jiūshān Yóujìfū". As a result, a Japanese person without adequate knowledge of Chinese would not understand their name when it is spoken in Chinese.
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Famous quotes containing the words japanese, names, chinese and/or languages:
“I will be all things to you. Father, mother, husband, counselor, Japanese bartender.”
—Mae West, U.S. screenwriter, W.C. Fields, and Edward Cline. Cuthbert Twillie (W.C. Fields)
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“As for your high towers and monuments, there was a crazy fellow once in this town who undertook to dig through to China, and he got so far that, as he said, he heard the Chinese pots and kettles rattle; but I think that I shall not go out of my way to admire the hole which he made.”
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“The very natural tendency to use terms derived from traditional grammar like verb, noun, adjective, passive voice, in describing languages outside of Indo-European is fraught with grave possibilities of misunderstanding.”
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