Translating names

[SucceededKiller]

Whats your opinion of translating names to make them 'English'?

Personally i hate the whole idea :mad:.
I dont see why names should be changed to something they are not..just to make them 'English'? now whats the point in that... :s
Sure...maybe your name is hard to say in English but does that mean you must change it? :s If someone really wants to know you they will try to learn your name...not ask you to change it to better suit them :mad:
The world seems to revolve more and more around the English language...for whatever reason...and in my opinion people are losing their identity as a result :mad:

But thats enough from me and my hatred towards the idea..now its your turn...

[HellSpawN]

I dont see the point in changing the name to make them English.. Names are the identity of people.. i would never change my name into Brian or smth just to fit in english.

Thats maybe a self esteem issue.. lol

[Selena]

I can't see how anyone will lose their identity from changing their names?

I've been unable to say my girl's name correct for like two years now... Why? Well, it's funky, I don't really know what "language form" I'm going to use (Norwegian hard letters? Japanese sazzy ones? Straight English?), as her name comes close to a potentially insulting term in my own tongue, thus I feel the need to alter how I say it to remove it from the negative connotations I personally feel.

A name gets stuck to a lot of history, so it can actually be quite refreshing to change it, and then of course personal taste enters the picture.

I think, each person will evaluate how they feel and act accordingly. It takes a long time to learn new sounds unless you have a skill for languages or you're fairly young. If your name can hardly be said by other people, let them call you some short of it that doesn't make someone feel like they are breaking their tongues pronouncing it... Then, in time, they will take an interest and try to get it right. A lot of people don't want to make a fool out of themselves trying and not accomplishing the task.

English isn't the only language that has trouble with other languages. Naming French and Chinese here as major languages whom also have a great deal difficulty adapting to other languages.

Hold out your feelings for those people who matter for you. And if some stranger don't get your name right, just let it go. :sunny:

[Defeater]

I was just wondering bout the name Willem It's a Dutch name and I don't know how to say it in enlgish, So I though, it was easier to say William.

[HellSpawN]

Well, if you put it that way.. Yeah, in some cases thats acceptable... but changing names just for style or whatever, I see no sense in it, but its just my opinion :)

[Tim]

Yeah some time it's uncomfortable for me to pronounce certain names as Selena mentioned, unless someone says it then I pick up on it pretty well. Some people just "go by" a certain name to make it easier for others, or just their own preference.

[Hidroncs]

1st of all what is this tread about, what you want to talk about SK? Small changes like Defeater said: Willem - William? Or who is fully change it?

Well if there is a reason for it, i can accept not only the small changes, but the full change too..

I mean for example my friend, who work and live now more then 3 years in England. His name is Szabolcs... How do you say it ? :) Be sure, not how you have to. So as it was annoying for him to explain it in every shops, office, working place etc, he picked a simple english name and use that.

On the other side btw its quiet funny the hungarian law. If you want to give your child a non original hungarian name, then you have to change that name's writing to hungarian, and he / she must use it only like that. For example if you like the name Jessica, you can give it to your daughter, but in her identity card, and signature there will be Dzsesszika.

[Nicoleise]

I think it's fairly common that you have to change the pronounciation of your name in another language. My forum nick is actually fairly obvious ;

Nicoleise. In danish pronounced [Nico-lai-ce] basically. So it has much more of an "a"-sound and the last "se" is also pronounced. However, mostly anyone here says [Nico-liis] with the end sounding like the word "lease", meaning the final e is silent and there's not much of an "a"-sound. Fortunately most people call me "Nico", and I'm happy with that as I'm not exactly known to be the bastion of formal manners ;)

So you could say that online, my name is changed for me. :p

In real life, my real name Nicolai works fine in english, although I have to change the pronounciation slightly, and people always make biblical references to my name, which leaves me clueless since I never read the book! :D Apparently there's a Sct. Nicolai in it though.

I wouldn't change my name on my birth certificate to anything else, and if I moved to another country, I would only change it if I thought it was a real issue, like if my name was Achmed the dead terrorist, then I'd probably change it to Achmed the living terrorist to stop people from constantly burrying me alive. :p

[SucceededKiller]

Ok, after talking to Def later i realised what i try to say and what it gets interpreted as is...kinda different :p and...although ive tried to write what i mean again to clarify it, ive failed and it ended up meaning the same thing :p So you can interpret this how you want :D
But please note its nothing against Defeater at all :p It just came up in a conversation between me and him and as our names were on hand they were the logical choice :p

[Nicoleise]

On a side note... Your first post looks like it should be in the RAAAAGEZZ!!!111oneoneeleven thread :D But that's cool mate ;)

[Doc]

I dunno why people translates their names into english, but for me its...dummy :p I like my name in french and polish only :D

[Sierra]

There are names which are the same in other languages, and the ones that are totally different with no equivalent. Now the question is if someone doesn't like even to make the translation of the "proper" one. In your case for example Doc, it's Krystian - which is Christian in English. And in some others. It's the same name. I don't see the reason why someone wouldn't like to follow that. I do see it however, if there is no equivalent.

[XmarksTheScot]

In my opinion my name is David, i was named David spelled this way and wouldn't change that for anyone its my name after all and i dont see why someone should have to for anyone else, ofc if you name is hard to say then a nick name would suffice, but still i wouldn't change my name to suit others more than to make it easier to pronounce

[KeeRIeS]

Hmm.. My name is Krzysiek. And almost all of you can't even read it correctly I think ;P But when somebody is learning to read it it's funny so I wouldn't change it for Christopher or just Chris ;P for example last time wallz even didn't understand me when I was learning him how to say 'siema Krzysiek' it's 'hi Christopher' in PL ;P but he can say 'siema' now ;P 'Krzysiek' will be the next step xdd