Japanese Name Query - 荒井

[roddy]

How should I write the name 荒井 in an English translation? Is there an online resource which will tell me? A google finds someone called 荒井由実 (Arai Yumi), so I'm guessing Arai is right, but wanted to check with cleverer people . . .

Roddy

[Mugi]

Yes, Arai is correct. Don't know of any online resource, but there is a book by P.G. O'Neil called Japanese Names that is useful.

[roddy]

武藤和浩, anyone?

And really, what's the best way of finding out how a Japanese name should be written when you only have the Chinese characters? Is there an online dictionary that will work?

[HashiriKata]

武藤和浩, anyone?

It should be read as Muto Kazuhiro.

what's the best way of finding out how a Japanese name should be written when you only have the Chinese characters?

The book referred to by Mugi is the best I know of. Sorry I don't have any idea what is available online for Japanese.

[roddy]

Thanks, much appreciated. Hardly ever have to do this though, so can't really justify the purchase of a book . . .

[skylee]

This will be helpful to you -> http://www.j-talk.com/nihongo/

[roddy]

That's what I needed! And it gives the exact same answer at Hashirikata, but with an extra 'u' for free.

[skylee]

Not that it matters, but the extra "u" tells you that it is a 長音.

[HashiriKata]

mutou kazuhiro

As skylee's said, the "u" there is only to tell you that the "o" is a long "o" (as opposed to a short "o"). For people who don't speak Japanese and don't know the convention, adding that "u" to the word may mislead rather than help.

[atitarev]

Funny that those who learn Chinese get interested in Japanese and vice versa

That's right. むとう かずひろ should be romanised (if following Hepburn Rōma-ji (ローマ字) standard) as Mutō Kazuhiro. The macron on top of a vowel makes it long.

Syllables with "o" are made long by adding an u (う) but sometimes an o (お).

Syllables with "e" are made long by adding an i (い) but sometimes an e (え).

All other syllables are made long by adding the same vowel (a, u, i)

In katakana the ー prolonged sound mark is used (becomes vertical in vertical writing).

Excellent link, Skylee!

I also use offline resources - NJStar Japanese Word Processor. Unlike its Chinese version, it has extensive downloadable dictionaries, one of them is a Name dictionary.

(The dictionary expires after 3 months or 90 start-ups, need a little medicine (sh) )

www.njstar.com