Showing posts with label name. Show all posts
Showing posts with label name. Show all posts

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Can you read our names or Hepburn system writing?

(posted; Etymology page)
I'm linking this post to  Our World Tuesday, hope this post fits the idea of the site.

     I wish you can get the sound of Japanese from my Hepburn writing in my posts.

When Japanese children become third grade of elementary school, they should be able to write Hepburn system (one of Roman Alphabet; you can get the idea from the link), so that foreign people can pronounce their names as the same way with us.  That's how we tell them.


The letters in the bluish color in the chart is "hiragana" character one of our three characters. We have one of 5 vowels for the last of each sound of the word.    
      My name "みやこ;  mi-ya-ko"      I wish you can pronounce :-)                  
                                         Hepburn system 

It's been a wonder for me how much this way of writing can help you to pronounce words same way with us...   From checking through pc; I found that there are some cases that cause big differences. There are 2 major reasons causing the wrong image of the sound.  One is the "e" at the end of the word and the other is the way how you separate "syllable" in one word.

* "e" which comes last of the words*
We have vowel-based language, so each syllable has "a/i/u/e/o" sound at the end. Whereas in English, you don't pronounce the last "e" of the word.
          rope, lake, side, strike, cake   unpronounced
    As for the example,  you might know the baseball player Daisuke Matsuzaka.
       His name "Da-i-su-ke"  must be sounded like  "Dice-K" for you. 
       In English; the last "ke" pronounced "k, like cake".
       In Japanese; last "e" is pronounced like 'e' in "egg".  It is a vowel.

*How you separate "syllable"*
If the word has same kind of spelling with English, it may cause trouble for separating the syllables and pronunciation. 
     As for the example,  you might know the car company called "Toyota"
            Toy-o-ta  ←  You may separate this way because there are a word "toy"
            To-yo-ta   ←  This is how we (Japanese) separate this word.
                     This cause big pronunciation differences as well.

Hopefully, my name Mi-ya-ko may be pronounced like we do from you(*^_^*)


Extra; As a teacher, I've noticed that this way of writing really makes children confused to learn how to write English. 

If you kindly read this long post, thank you SO much.
I know you may not be able to understand my explanation.  However, if you have anything you realized related with this post or questions, I'd really appreciate it and I will reply every comment from you here.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Does your name have any anecdote behind it?

The Chinese character "都・miyako" means "capital city" in English, my father once told me that he named me wishing my prosperous, flourishing future. Does your name (first, second whichever) have any lovely story or meaning behind it?  If you kindly share your little anecdote with me, I will be so happy and appreciated.  As I loved "Carpenters", I remember my fresh surprise finding "carpenter" means one of the occupations when young p;)  And I wish to reply for your comments here.  My struggle with comment form trying to have 'reply' haven't worked before(^^;) 
I'll reply you writing your name like "To, ~~~".
  
Here is the story about the flower, I'm pasting from Nov. 2011 post below, so please skip reading my dear old friends♡♡♡  
Flower Pictures, Scraps, Images and Comments

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My name is "Miyako Yamada" in Western order.  And in Japanese style, it is written in opposite order like 山田 都; "山田family name. 都 given name).  My family name comes first and my given name is "Miyako".   The name of "forget me not" is called "都忘れ, miyakowasure".
The origin of the English name of the flower was that they are supposed to ensure those wearing it should never be forgotten by the people who love them.
            Haha, my bloggie friends "Please forget me not"
I will try to be the person who has true love in my heart for others as well.

*This is Japanese version of the origin of the name*
According to the PC-site, it is connected with an old story that Juntoku retired Emperor (13th century) who had been exiled to Sado-Island called a white chrysanthemum blooming in surrounding field "Miyakowasure 都忘れ" (meaning that the flower is quite beautiful so that he could forget about the capital or city he roled) and loved the flower.  I've been confused with the English name (forget me not) and the Japanese name (forgeting miyako, capital city) was the one reason to check it; 
Quite opposite, aren't they?  Now I'm happy to be able to figure out the puzzle, haha.    (Posted in Etymology link-page)

Visiting you soon, friends and Wishing you all are going to have a wonderful coming weekend with all of your family♡♡♡


Sunday, November 13, 2011

Please "Forget Me Not"

(posted; Etymology page)
The name of the flower has the same Chinese-Character in my name♪

Flower Pictures, Scraps, Images and Comments

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My name is "Miyako Yamada" in Western order. And  in Japanese style, it is written in opposite order like "山田family name. 都 first name).  My family name comes first and my given name is "Miyako".  Like I wrote here before.
The name of "forget me not" is called "都忘れ,miyakowasure".
The origin of the English name of the flower was that they supposed to ensure those wearing it should never be forgotten by the people who love them.
Haha, blogger friends "Please forget me not"
I will try to be the person who has true love in my heart for others as well.

PS> I wish to write the Japanese version of origin of the name.
According to the PC-site, it is connected with an old story that Juntoku retired Emperor (13th century) who had been exiled to Sado-Island called a white chrysanthemum blooming in surrounding field "Miyakowasure 都忘れ" (meaning that the flower is quite beautiful so that he could forget about the capital or city he roled) and loved the flower.
Being confused with the English name(forget me not) and the Japanese name (forgeting miyako, city) was the one resaon to check it;
Quite opposite, I thought.  Now I'm happy to be able to figure out the puzzle, haha.    (Posted in Etymology link-page)

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Japanese Name Order

Today, I'll introduce my confusion for the "Japanese Name Order"
My name is Miyako Yamada (first name, last name),  in Japan the order is opposite Yamada Miyako (last name, first name). Normaly we call each other with family name (close friend or nickname base relationship; exception)
 
 I took these pictures from the scool textbooks I am using now and I used before,
      Sato Takao (last name, first name) new book                      Keiko Tanaka  (first name, last name) old book
Western style order has been taught in the textbook of junior-high school students (for 12years old) for a long time until recently. When you use English, using its style might be natural. However, recent textbook started using Japanese style (last name, first name order). I thought this sitehere is interesting having the same opinion with me. I'm afraid this new instruction may cause unnecessary confusion if western people still use the “old” name order for us when introducing each other orally.

Let me add one thing;  as for the reason of our name order,
In Japanese culture,  a male child will supposed to take over the family and family is imprortant to succeed. It is only my supposition but it might represent our patriarchal system.