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In English, my name is Ari Williams. I think I have figured out my first name, (アリ) but I’m not sure about my last name… As an American, do I even say my last name? Do I pronounce it like English? I’m still very new to Japanese and TextFugu (Season 2).
As far as how it would be, it’s probably ウィリアムス, since I’m getting many results on google for it.
I’d probably say ウィリアムズ, but I’m not sure the difference is too vital.
You would, incidentally, still use the regular first name surname order – so, アリ・ウィリアムズ. Or ス, whatever. I’m not entirely clear on why being an American would mean that you wouldn’t use your surname. Unless you’re a famous musician, or something? =P
Thank you. I just wasn’t sure if for example your last name didn’t translate very well into romaji you just drop it. Ah, so my name is アリウィリアムス! Yay! Wait.. Do I space it, like アリ ウィリアムス or just アリウィリアムス? The space between リ and ウlook just the same when I do.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 7 months ago by
アリ.
That’s where the「・」comes in.
Like I did above, it’s common to mark spaces in katakana phrases with bullet points, though I expect they’re not called “bullet points” when they’re used for this function. アリ・ウィリアムズ
They’re also used in place of commas sometimes to separate items in lists of kanji nouns.
Edit: Bah, ninja-posted. I did find out what it’s called, though, which I should have remembered: an interpunct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation#Interpunct
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This reply was modified 11 years, 7 months ago by
Joel.
As I said, I’m new here -_- Thank you!
Joel, why did you have to go and edit your post before I got the chance to see it? I was all ready to burst in here and be like “Interpunct, it’s an interpunct!!” :P
On topic though, the easiest way to find the correct spelling was to look up the Japanese Wikipedia article on Robbie (and Robin and Serena and Tennessee) Williams, for which they’ve all used:
ロビー・ウィリアムズ
ロビン・ウィリアムズ
セリーナ・ウィリアムズ
テネシー・ウィリアムズFeel free to burst in anyway. Don’t let me ruin your fun. =P
Looking up the spelling of famous people honestly never occurred to me, though.
I was actually wondering what my name would be too and if I would be expected to present myself first name last name or last name first name? My name is Khiana (Key-a-na) Harris so I think it would be something like キーアナ· ハリス but I’m not 100% sure. There’s also the option of doubling the consonants or elongating the vowels depending on how I want it pronounced. Is there a standard way of doing this?
Common names tend to have a standard transliteration. For example, Joel is always transliterated as ジョエル, even though in English I pronounce it to rhyme with “mole”. Khiana, on the other hand, is not exactly a common name, so you’ve got some leeway. キーアナ seems fair.
Harris is a common enough surname, though, and ハリス is the usual transliteration. =)
You’d be expected to introduce yourself as first name last name. They understand that particular custom well enough in Japan.
It’s hard to say without actually hearing how you pronounce your name, but I would have thought just キアナ would be fine; there’s nothing in the spelling to suggest an elongated vowel is necessary.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 7 months ago by
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