Asian name translation to our characters

[WinkOsmosis]

Why are Asian names translated to Latin characters that have no corelation to their pronounciation? Like in that funny name thread. The girl whose name was Yung had to write it "Dung". And the obiquitous "Nguyen". Why not spell these names "Yung" and "Win"? Who decided to write them this way?

This thread has turned into a ridiculous flame-fest.

AnandTech Moderator

 

[radioactiveballpoint]

I did. I decided they should be written that way.

 

[ggavinmoss]

Originally posted by: radioactiveballpoint
I did. I decided they should be written that way.

Well that clears that up.

-geoff

 

[ed21x]

immigrants get to choose their own american last name in coming here.

 

[silent tone]

At least they don't start making up symbols like Prince

 

[her209]

I know a guy who is named, Mee Phuck Yu.

 

[Beau]

Originally posted by: her209
I know a guy who is named, Mee Phuck Yu.

No you don't.

 

[ddwbi0]

nguyen isnt pronounced "win"....

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: ddwbi0
nguyen isnt pronounced "win"....

But is it pronounced Nuh-guyen? "Win" is as close as we will get.

 

[ddwbi0]

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209
I know a guy who is named, Mee Phuck Yu.

No you don't.

i hate it when ppl make crap like this up. when have you ever heard of someone with the last name Mee

 

[IGBT]

What ever is the most effective "affirmative action" compatible name is selected.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209
I know a guy who is named, Mee Phuck Yu.

No you don't.

i hate it when ppl make crap like this up. when have you ever heard of someone with the last name Mee

Hello, Mee is a first name dumbasses.

 

[ddwbi0]

Originally posted by: Jellomancer

Originally posted by: ddwbi0
nguyen isnt pronounced "win"....

But is it pronounced Nuh-guyen? "Win" is as close as we will get.

The closest YOU might ever get you mean. The g is silent, and the n is pronounced. Is there an N at the beginning of "Win"?

 

[gopunk]

i wouldn't say there is no correlation.... the -ung and the -en in your examples seem to fit pretty well with the pronunciation.

they make sense to people who speak those languages btw

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: Jellomancer

Originally posted by: ddwbi0
nguyen isnt pronounced "win"....

But is it pronounced Nuh-guyen? "Win" is as close as we will get.

The closest YOU might ever get you mean. The g is silent, and the n is pronounced. Is there an N at the beginning of "Win"?

Na-win. With the 'na' part being really short.

 

[ddwbi0]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209
I know a guy who is named, Mee Phuck Yu.

No you don't.

i hate it when ppl make crap like this up. when have you ever heard of someone with the last name Mee

Hello, Mee is a first name dumbasses.

If its an asian name, the last name comes first. Like mine would be Lee Te Ming, and not Te Ming Lee. "Yu" is a common last name though.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: Jellomancer

Originally posted by: ddwbi0
nguyen isnt pronounced "win"....

But is it pronounced Nuh-guyen? "Win" is as close as we will get.

The closest YOU might ever get you mean. The g is silent, and the n is pronounced. Is there an N at the beginning of "Win"?

The people I know named "Nguyen" pronounce it "Win". Why would there be a silent letter in any case?

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209
I know a guy who is named, Mee Phuck Yu.

No you don't.

i hate it when ppl make crap like this up. when have you ever heard of someone with the last name Mee

Hello, Mee is a first name dumbasses.

If its an asian name, the last name comes first. Like mine would be Lee Te Ming, and not Te Ming Lee. "Yu" is a common last name though.

Are we in China, or in Asia for that matter? No. So its first name, middle name, last name.

 

[Beau]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209
I know a guy who is named, Mee Phuck Yu.

No you don't.

i hate it when ppl make crap like this up. when have you ever heard of someone with the last name Mee

Hello, Mee is a first name dumbasses.

If its an asian name, the last name comes first. Like mine would be Lee Te Ming, and not Te Ming Lee. "Yu" is a common last name though.

Are we in China, or in Asia for that matter? No. So its first name, middle name, last name.

Asia or not, it's still the way they structure their names. No changing that.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209
I know a guy who is named, Mee Phuck Yu.

No you don't.

i hate it when ppl make crap like this up. when have you ever heard of someone with the last name Mee

Hello, Mee is a first name dumbasses.

If its an asian name, the last name comes first. Like mine would be Lee Te Ming, and not Te Ming Lee. "Yu" is a common last name though.

Are we in China, or in Asia for that matter? No. So its first name, middle name, last name.

Asia or not, it's still the way they structure their names. No changing that.

LOL, are you telling me how to spell my name? Fvck off.

 

[Beau]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209
I know a guy who is named, Mee Phuck Yu.

No you don't.

i hate it when ppl make crap like this up. when have you ever heard of someone with the last name Mee

Hello, Mee is a first name dumbasses.

If its an asian name, the last name comes first. Like mine would be Lee Te Ming, and not Te Ming Lee. "Yu" is a common last name though.

Are we in China, or in Asia for that matter? No. So its first name, middle name, last name.

Asia or not, it's still the way they structure their names. No changing that.

LOL, are you telling me how to spell my name? Fvck off.

Not telling you how to do anything, just making a statement. sheesh......

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: ddwbi0

Originally posted by: Beau

Originally posted by: her209
I know a guy who is named, Mee Phuck Yu.

No you don't.

i hate it when ppl make crap like this up. when have you ever heard of someone with the last name Mee

Hello, Mee is a first name dumbasses.

If its an asian name, the last name comes first. Like mine would be Lee Te Ming, and not Te Ming Lee. "Yu" is a common last name though.

Are we in China, or in Asia for that matter? No. So its first name, middle name, last name.

Asia or not, it's still the way they structure their names. No changing that.

LOL, are you telling me how to spell my name? Fvck off.

Not telling you how to do anything, just making a statement. sheesh......

Fvck you. And to tell me that I don't know this person. Fvck you in the ass.

 

[QueHuong]

The people I know named "Nguyen" pronounce it "Win".

Well "win" is just the half-ass pronunciation with the accent dropped. In the real pronunciation, there is a hint of a 'g' sound to it: "ng." Then the pitch and tempo varies which I have no idea how to describe. I hear a lot of different pronunciations for this: "new-yen" "new-win", then there's "win."

 

[arcain]

With Chinese, the romanization is standardized and the system is called Pinyin.

With Vietnamese (which seems to be the language of your examples), I expect it to be somewhat similar in concept, the characters have specific a pronunciation, sometimes similar to English, sometimes not. But as long as you know the system you can pronounce the word. Unfortunately, Vietnamese and Chinese are tonal languages so it would be impossible to match all sounds as English just simply doesn't have the sounds.

Pinyin also (pretty much) doesn't have any "special cases". Take your example "win". If you did not no how that was pronounced, there would be 2 possibilities - with a long i or a short i. With Pinyin, "i" is always pronounced as "ee" (long e) which is actually similar to Romantic languages. So if you're familiar with the basic rules of the system, you could actually read the text phonetically and (kinda) sound like you're speaking the language.

 

[Beau]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: BeauNot telling you how to do anything, just making a statement. sheesh......

Fvck you. And to tell me that I don't know this person. Fvck you in the ass.

Alright, now you've gone a made a mess out of this. Grow up. I was calmly, and innocently, making a statement from what I knew to be true of how chinese structure their names... no need to get offended and start going off the handle. Chill out or get out. Your kind is a menace around here. If you would like to prove me wrong, then do so constructively. If I'm wrong, then I have no problem admitting it, but you have to show me that I am first.