Help me translate my name into as many languages as possible!
July 13, 2010 3:21 PM Subscribe
Help me translate my name into as many languages/alphabets/character systems as possible!
So I have a great idea for a background image for my website, but don't have the language skills to make it happen the way I would like.
I am looking for as many ways to say my name (which is the same as my username) in as many different languages and alphabets as possible.
So far I have it in Russian (Чад) and Greek (Τσαντ) but would like more.
I would really like to see how it would be rendered in Japanese, Mandarin, Hebrew, Arabic, Vietnamese, Thai, and pretty much anything else.
Even with the "T" at the beginning, you say it like "Chad".
So how would your language write it? If you could, name the letters you are using so I can pull them up in a font.
Thanks, guys! I am so excited to see what this will look like!
So I have a great idea for a background image for my website, but don't have the language skills to make it happen the way I would like.
I am looking for as many ways to say my name (which is the same as my username) in as many different languages and alphabets as possible.
So far I have it in Russian (Чад) and Greek (Τσαντ) but would like more.
I would really like to see how it would be rendered in Japanese, Mandarin, Hebrew, Arabic, Vietnamese, Thai, and pretty much anything else.
Even with the "T" at the beginning, you say it like "Chad".
So how would your language write it? If you could, name the letters you are using so I can pull them up in a font.
Thanks, guys! I am so excited to see what this will look like!
It might look cool in Elvish.
Or Hieroglyphics perhaps?
posted by NoraCharles at 3:44 PM on July 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
Or Hieroglyphics perhaps?
posted by NoraCharles at 3:44 PM on July 13, 2010 [1 favorite]
In Japanese, it'd be チャド, I suppose. But that's just one way (katakana) to do it. In kanji, there's a number of possibilities, though I guess they'd all start with 茶 (the character for "tea", and, at first glance anyway, the only character pronounced "cha"), followed by another character. Rendering a "western" name in kanji has always seemed a bit over the top to me, but I know it's done. I don't have time to go into how it works now (gotta run to work); presumably it can be googled, or someone else will weigh in.
posted by segatakai at 3:49 PM on July 13, 2010
posted by segatakai at 3:49 PM on July 13, 2010
Spelling in Hebrew would be a little wonky since the "ch" (as in church) sound is not naturally in the language. צ with an accent is what Hebrew speakers use to write transliterated English words with the "ch" sound.
So that gives you צ'אד
posted by rancidchickn at 3:50 PM on July 13, 2010
So that gives you צ'אד
posted by rancidchickn at 3:50 PM on July 13, 2010
Farsi: چد
It wouldn't really work in arabic as there is no Ch sound. It would probably be replaced with a j sound so it would be: جـد
posted by azarbayejani at 3:51 PM on July 13, 2010
It wouldn't really work in arabic as there is no Ch sound. It would probably be replaced with a j sound so it would be: جـد
posted by azarbayejani at 3:51 PM on July 13, 2010
An interesting (though imperfect, I'm sure) starting point might be to go to the Wikipedia article for Chad, the country, and change the article language via the sidebar on the left. And right off the bat, the English page gives us the country's official rendering in Arabic: تشاد
(Those letters, from right to left: tā, šīn, alif, and dāl.)
posted by cloudburst at 3:55 PM on July 13, 2010
(Those letters, from right to left: tā, šīn, alif, and dāl.)
posted by cloudburst at 3:55 PM on July 13, 2010
Korean: 채드
Korean's a little funny in that you won't get a perfect transliteration of your name since it doesn't fall neatly into the constraints of the Korean alphabet and its pronunciation system. Thus, your name is not pronounced "Chad" so much as it is "Chae-duh." Only certain consonants can end a syllable in Korean, and voiced ones like "d" have to use their own syllable, otherwise you get "Chet". So between "Chet" and "Chae-duh", the latter may be more accurate. But in case you did want to go by "Chet", it would be "챋."
posted by holterbarbour at 4:09 PM on July 13, 2010
Korean's a little funny in that you won't get a perfect transliteration of your name since it doesn't fall neatly into the constraints of the Korean alphabet and its pronunciation system. Thus, your name is not pronounced "Chad" so much as it is "Chae-duh." Only certain consonants can end a syllable in Korean, and voiced ones like "d" have to use their own syllable, otherwise you get "Chet". So between "Chet" and "Chae-duh", the latter may be more accurate. But in case you did want to go by "Chet", it would be "챋."
posted by holterbarbour at 4:09 PM on July 13, 2010
Japanese is like Korean in that western words often don't fit into the syllabary. Segatakai's チャド is as close as you're going to come, but it's pronounced chah-do. Even so, for a background image for your web site, that's probably good enough.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:38 PM on July 13, 2010
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:38 PM on July 13, 2010
Depending on how you pronounce it, in Japanese it might be チャッド, which has kind of a glottal stop in the middle - pronounced like "chad-doh."
posted by illenion at 5:24 PM on July 13, 2010
posted by illenion at 5:24 PM on July 13, 2010
Well, Chad the country is 乍得 in Chinese, so maybe 乍德 which is pronounced the same (zhàdé) but distinguishes you from a geographical entity, has the character 德 which has good meanings combined with 乍 which is one of the few to get you that sound without something odd or offensive, and Google confirms 乍德 has been used to transliterate the name.
posted by Abiezer at 7:40 PM on July 13, 2010
posted by Abiezer at 7:40 PM on July 13, 2010
Yes, in Japanese both チャド and チャッド are used, but チャド has a higher profile.
Chad the country and Chad Smith (from RHCP) are both チャド. Actors Chad Everett and Chad Christ and the character "Chad" in Cellular are チャッド.
posted by No-sword at 8:16 PM on July 13, 2010
Chad the country and Chad Smith (from RHCP) are both チャド. Actors Chad Everett and Chad Christ and the character "Chad" in Cellular are チャッド.
posted by No-sword at 8:16 PM on July 13, 2010
For a background image for your website, why don't you start with Google Translate? For instance, Japanese: 穿孔くず, Arabic: تشاد? May be small inaccuracies, but should be good enough for your purposes.
posted by jacalata at 10:07 AM on July 14, 2010
posted by jacalata at 10:07 AM on July 14, 2010
穿孔くず in Japanese gets you chad as in the infamous "hanging chad," but would be pronounced "senkoukuzu," very much not-chad. As others have said, チャド or チャッド would fit your purposes better.
posted by you zombitch at 10:39 PM on July 14, 2010
posted by you zombitch at 10:39 PM on July 14, 2010
Response by poster: Well, I got the prototype up. If you want to see what you guys helped me do, you can click on the website link in my profile. It is the first draft, and some of the fonts didn't render properly (esp the Indian and Arabic ones kept shifting between text files and the CS3 files) nevertheless it is a start. The site isn't done yet, but the name images are up for the time being.
You guys are really great!
posted by Tchad at 12:36 AM on July 29, 2010
You guys are really great!
posted by Tchad at 12:36 AM on July 29, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ocherdraco at 3:22 PM on July 13, 2010