{"id":6499,"date":"2020-10-15T07:19:12","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T07:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=6499"},"modified":"2021-04-06T21:27:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T21:27:11","slug":"who-am-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/who-am-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Who am I?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, my students are trying to write their names in Katakana.\u00a0 As I was helping one student write his name, I asked him \u201chave you thought about your name \u2013 how it sounds before?\u201d\u00a0 He laughed as he had never thought about it.\u00a0 What Japanese native speakers hear is very different from what non-native speakers hear.<\/p>\n

Take my name for example\u00a0<\/u>(\u4f8b\u3048\u3070).\u00a0 My name is Eriko.\u00a0 Simple to pronounce\u00a0<\/u>(\u767a\u97f3\u3059\u308b).\u00a0BUT\u2026 unintentionally, I was given a new name by friendly strangers.\u00a0 When I meet a stranger, I introduce myself, \u201cmy name is Eriko.\u201d\u00a0 The stranger usually says \u201cOh, Erika.\u201d I said \u201cIt\u2019s Eriko.\u00a0E-R-I-K-O. With O.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cOh, OK.\u00a0 Erika.\u201d\u00a0After about 2nd try, I usually give up\u00a0<\/u>(\u3042\u304d\u3089\u3081\u308b).<\/p>\n

This happens all the time in Japan, too.\u00a0 I was stunned to hear a Japanese news anchor say, \u201cKurt Coburn of Nirvana.\u201d\u00a0 What?\u00a0 She meant \u201cKurt Cobain?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The anchor was not the only one.\u00a0 Everyone on TV, except for those who host music programs, says Kurt Coburn.\u00a0 Where did the R sound come from?\u00a0 ko\u028ab\u0259rn vs k\u0259\u028a\u02c8be\u026an.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Image by Eriko Yatabe Waldock<\/p><\/div>\n

I had a theory on this.\u00a0There was a popular actor named James Coburn in the 70s.\u00a0\u00a0 So maybe somebody who remembered the actor unintentionally\u00a0<\/u>(\u7121\u610f\u8b58\u306b) called Kurt Cobain as Coburn as the names looked like each other and the name Coburn was more familiar.<\/p>\n

There is also the opposite of the Kurt Cobain case.\u00a0 Uma Thurman, an American actress, is called Yuma in Japan.\u00a0 Her name, Uma, came from dbu ma chen po, a Tibetian Buddhism idea according to Wiki, and her name is pronounced as \/um\u0259\/.\u00a0\u00a0 Why is she called Yuma only in Japan?<\/p>\n

Again, I have a theory on this.\u00a0 Uma in Japanese is a horse.\u00a0 So someone decided to use Yuma instead of her real name.\u00a0 But can someone change your name from Uma to Yuma?\u00a0I would have been so insult<\/u>ed (\u4fae\u8fb1\u3059\u308b).<\/p>\n

Finally, the most enjoyable name change in Japan goes to Matthew McConoughey.\u00a0 Japanese pronounce his last name as McConoughee.\u00a0 I have no idea why.\u00a0 But you cannot help but\u00a0<\/u>(\u301c\u3057\u306a\u3044\u3067\u306f\u3044\u3089\u308c\u306a\u3044) get some chuckles out of American friends when they hear it.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Image by Pixaline<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Your name is your identity\u00a0<\/u>(\u30a2\u30a4\u30c7\u30f3\u30c6\u30a3\u30c6\u30a3).\u00a0 Well, that was what I thought!\u00a0 It is quite OK for you to insist on your foreign friends and acquaintances to call you in the right name.\u00a0 But some names are difficult to pronounce such as Ryosuke or Arlyn.\u00a0 So relax and learn to enjoy your new name on the Starbucks cup as many people do.\u00a0\u00a0 It is regarded as a special \u201cservice\u201d in Japanese Starbucks. I cannot be responsible for\u00a0<\/u>(\u8cac\u4efb\u3042\u308b\u3001\u8cac\u4efb\u3092\u53d6\u308b) what your name will become.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

This week, my students are trying to write their names in Katakana.\u00a0 As I was helping one student write his name, I asked him \u201chave you thought about your name \u2013 how it sounds before?\u201d\u00a0 He laughed as he had never thought about it.\u00a0 What Japanese native speakers hear is very different from what non-native…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":6507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8935,274839,191816,505767],"class_list":["post-6499","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-kurt-cobain","tag-name","tag-starbucks","tag-uma-thurman"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6499"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6914,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6499\/revisions\/6914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}