Foreign Minister Taro Kono to ask media to switch order of Japanese names

Post by zapzupnz » Tue, May 21, 2019, 9:18 PM UTC

jasonjei wrote: post #135

zapzupnz wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But still, as you notice, in the right order. Transliteration doesn't really come into it. Of course the Japanese would write スティーブ・ジョブス (but emphatically not ジョブス・スティーブ) rather than Steve Jobs, just the same way as we write Abe Shinzo rather than 安倍晋三.

Right. I am not disagreeing with you. I am pointing out that Chinese/Japanese both adopt Western name ordering for Western names in an effort to demonstrate that Chinese or Japanese name ordering should be adhered in English. Would you kindly inform me what I said is wrong?

Post by Torwald » Tue, May 21, 2019, 9:21 PM UTC

gibolt wrote: post #142

xxpor wrote: post #2

English should adopt the French convention of capitalizing the family (last) name. For example, this would make it ABE Shinzo, which would remove ambiguity. When encountering East (thanks for the reminder) Asian (or Hungarian, for that matter) names in emails for example, I'm usually worried about if their "last" name in the directory is their given name and what they should be addressed by or their actual last name.

Any suggestions for surnames with only one letter? They exist, and would still be ambiguous :)

Post by zapzupnz » Tue, May 21, 2019, 9:23 PM UTC

lmm wrote: post #94

RandallBrown wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend who is (I guess) Japanese-American. Someone like his great-great-grandfather was Japanese and the family name has been passed down, but for all intents and purposes, he's a white American. How would his name be written?

The same way he orders it - whether in Japan or in America. Japanese people don't flip the order of the names Americans call themselves. We should extend them the same courtesy.

Post by zapzupnz » Tue, May 21, 2019, 9:31 PM UTC

frosted-flakes wrote: post #132

zapzupnz wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would make the English rendering of Japanese names consistent with … well, themselves. 安倍 (Abe) 晋三 (Shinzo) will be Abe Shinzo, not Shinzo Abe. The Japanese don't reverse Western names, so Steve Jobs is never Jobs Steve.

> The Japanese don't reverse Western names, so Steve Jobs is never Jobs Steve. Do the Japanese write Western names in the latin alphabet ("Steve Jobs"), or do they transform it into their own script based on how it sounds? If it's kept in the latin alphabet, of course they don't reverse it, the same way we wouldn't reverse it if we kept "Shinzo Abe" in Japanese script ("安倍 晋三").

Post by ip26 » Tue, May 21, 2019, 9:36 PM UTC

mises wrote: post #117

johnchristopher wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Factoid: reminds me of a strip in a recent superman comics, I quote a villain getting his message broadcasted on every devices of the planet: "You really should settle on a common language or you'll never achieve anything significant as a specie".

I think we're pretty close with English, or it's at least the best candidate. Most of the knowledge recently produced (since WWII) is in it, and the world's largest economy uses it. It's also taken a little something from every one. With that said, I think national pride will prevent such a thing happening. As an American, I wouldn't want to learn someone else's language as a "common tongue", though have no objection…