Name translation - found two versions

[florin83]

I want to transalate a european name (Catalina) in chinese and i found two versions on some online translators.

Can you tell me which one means CATALINA?

thanks!

[imron]

Neither of those mean Catalina, however both of them sound vaguely similar (Ka da li na, and Kai te lin na). As for the meaning, it's just a jumble of different words that mean nothing when put together.

Have a read of this thread and this thread, to get a better understanding of why you can't just translate a european name into a Chinese name.

[renzhe]

I have to say though that the second one uses characters with nicer meanings, which are commonly used in names.

But you could come up with a hundred ways to transcribe "Catalina", and they would all be different, and none of them would sound exactly right. It's always an approximation.

[florin83]

ok, i understand.

But you could come up with a hundred ways to transcribe "Catalina", and they would all be different, and none of them would sound exactly right. It's always an approximation.

can you tell me some version that sounds closer to catalina?

thanks

[renzhe]

The first one you poster (Ka da li na) sounds almost like it.

You could substitute a character pronounced as "ta" for the second one. For example, one of these: http://hmarty.free.fr/hanzi/pinyin.php?py=ta

[florin83]

thanks for the link!

Catalina is written with tǎ, and i manage to make this:

how this sounds? it's like Ka tǎ li na ?

[Lu]

It sounds like Ka-ta-li-na alright. I don't know what exactly that ta means, but from the looks of the character it's a kind of fish. Not offensive or anything, but not very elegant either.

What do you need this transliteration for?

[florin83]

I need for an tatoo..

can you tell me an character from the link posted by renzhe that looks elegant?

[renzhe]

I'd recommend against it, for reasons stated in a million similar threads.

You'd be tattooing "truck, a kind of fish, profit, elegant" on yourself, because when you read them out loud in some foreign language, it kind of sounds like somebody's name.

And if a Japanese person or a native Cantonese speaker or a Korean sees it, it won't even sound like "Catalina" to them, they'll really think it's "truck, a kind of fish, profit, elegant" and will assume you just got tricked by an evil tattoo guy.

BTW, none of the characters pronounced as "ta" mean "elegant", or even anything nice. Your choices are "despair", "collapse", "tread on", "wet", "otter", "negligent", etc. This is exactly why your original transliteration used "da" instead of "ta"

[skylee]

And if a Japanese person or a native Cantonese speaker or a Korean sees it, it won't even sound like "Catalina" to them, they'll really think it's "truck, a kind of fish, profit, elegant" and will assume you just got tricked by an evil tattoo guy.

I can assure you that it sounds like "Catalina" to a native Cantonese speaker. Cantonese speakers speak in Cantonese, they are not stupid.

That said, it is a very bad idea to have that transliteration tattooed. The fish character is particularly funny.

If I were Catalina and had to have a tattoo in Chinese about the name "Catalina", I would choose to call myself 凱 德 (Kai De) or simply 小凱 (Xiao Kai meaning little Kai) because a) the characters 凱 and 德 convey good meanings; B) they are commonly used in Chinese names; c) they sould like the first 2 syllables of the name "Catalina" (sadly I am unable to find good characters for the 2 syllables "ka" and "ta"); and d) the use of 2 characters conforms to the usual format of a Chinese name.

Of course these are only my humble opinions.

[yonglin]

I like 凱德 a lot. If you really want a tattoo, that would be like a zillion times better than them four-character nonsense thingies.

I'm just worried that neither you nor the tattooist would have a sense of what good Chinese calligraphy is, so it might end up looking quite bad anyway.

[florin83]

thanks for your opinions..

i like 凱 德 (kǎi dé), but doesn't sound like Catalina and i want something closer..

If someone ask me to translate what can i tell? i have to make combinations of the meaning of the two characters (1. victorious 2. triumphant - 1. kindness 2. kind 3. morality 4. virtue 5. Germany 6. goodness 7. ethics 8. favor 9. character )

[skylee]

If someone ask me to translate what can i tell? i have to make combinations of the meaning of the two characters (1. victorious 2. triumphant - 1. kindness 2. kind 3. morality 4. virtue 5. Germany 6. goodness 7. ethics 8. favor 9. character )

For 凱德, it is simple. You can explain, "The first character means that I will be successful in life. The second character means that I am a virtuous and kind person."

Now please tell us if someone asks you what "Catalina" means how you would explain it.

[Lu]

If this is the name of your girlfriend, I'd advise you to do as suggested in another post, pick a nice font in roman letters and just write Catalina.

If this is your own name, perhaps you could instead pick some character traits or goals you have in your life and ask us to translate those in Chinese. It'd be more meaningful.

[renzhe]

I can assure you that it sounds like "Catalina" to a native Cantonese speaker. Cantonese speakers speak in Cantonese, they are not stupid.

I wasn't suggesting they were stupid, but many characters will have a different pronunciation in Mandarin and Cantonese and you can't be sure that what you've tattooed will be pronounced exactly the same way in different Chinese dialects. It will probably sound roughly similar, but he was looking for something that sounds exactly the same as "Catalina".

I remember reading the newspapers in Hong Kong and most of the foreign transliterations had me stumped and guessing what on Earth they could stand for (I was trying to pronounce them in Mandarin).

[florin83]

ok, i understand. I want some characters that pronounce Catalina. Doesn't matter what they means.

So this are closer in pronouncing (ka-ta-li-na) ?

[imron]

Would you ever consider getting a tattoo of random words in English? Why would you want to do the same in Chinese? You might as well just get 我是个傻瓜 tattooed. It would have the same effect.

[renzhe]

So this are closer in pronouncing (ka-ta-li-na) ?

Barring tones, yes, that's what it sounds like.

Still, I think that wearing that will make you look silly, for the reasons stated.

[skylee]

Our members are much nicer and milder nowadays. Do take a look at this classic thread -> Hi...

which features this classic tattoo the OP did on my suggestion ->

[Lu]

In the picture you have now, the ta is in a different font than the rest of the characters. Make sure you get everything in the same font before getting a tattoo.