Problem with names

Hi everyone!

I have some questions about writing names in Japanese. I think that when you write in Romanji, there is no trouble, since you don't modify it(correct me if I'm not right). For example: Watashi wa Laura desu.

But when I want to write in hiragana or katakana, I don't know how to do it. I know that Laura = Rora(ローラ), but I don't know how to write Ander(there's not any 'r' syllable, is it writen "あんでる"?) or Andrea(how is 'dr' writen?).

I will thank you if you help me with that kind of names.

ありがとう ございます!

PS: Sorry for my bad english :s

How is the R in "Ander" pronounced? Is it with the tongue clearly rolled, or just swallowed like in the ending of the word "under" in English? For comparison, the English family name Anderson is written as a-n-da-a-so-n, so アンダーソン.

"Andrea" would be a-n-do-re-a, so アンドレア.

Laura may very well be written ラウラ in katakana, depending on how it is pronounced. Katakana represents pronounciation: no more, no less.

Thus, in written language when pronounciation is unimportant anyway, I think you should write your name as it is supposed to be written: in Latin characters (no "romanji", please). If people ask how your name is pronounced, you can use katakana to indicate its pronounciation.

And the name of the Dutch writer "Andersen" is a-n-de-ru-se-n, so written アンデルセン. The sounds that can be expressed in either romaji or kana that is closest to the way the name is pronounced originally are adopted.

@AK Don't you mean "Danish"? ;)

Whoops, my bad. yes I meant to write Danish!

Thanks a lot for answering!

My name's r, since it's a basque one, is pronunced as a spanish 'r'. (not like in "haré", but like in "Hacer" or "Arrojar")

And @Firas, do you mean I can write "私は Ander です"?

If the R in "Ander" is pronounced like in the Spanish verb "hacer," a "rolled R" then it would be "a-n-de-ru," so アンデル.

And @Firas, do you mean I can write "私は Ander です"?

Of course.

Yeah names are kind of tricky.

As for me, one way I quickly overcome this is to join some meetup groups in Tokyo, there I can quickly grab a native speaker to help me out...plus give me some tips so that i can remember faster.

This is the group I go to....i think its pretty useful. Hopefully this can help others too....just my 2 cents.

http://www.meetup.com/Tokyo-Japanese-Chat-yurika/

Basically, Japanese uses only kata-kana for foreign words. We usually try to represent the original sounds, but there is no specific rule for that. And some words do have certain forms in historical reasons.

Specifically, Spanish is one of the easiest language to translate their names in Japanese. These two languages have almost the same vowels. Consonants are rather different, though. Some person utilize hira-gana to distinguish such as Spanish r with Spanish rr, but it is rare. One of the most debating issue would be the use of cho-on kigo 'ー'. Raul should be ラウール in the sound base, but in most cases ラウル would be used. This shorting seems to be used in a longer word.

Barcelona should be バルセローナ, but バルセロナ like in the above. Sevilla should be セビージャ, but セビリア by a rather historical issue.

So @Luisjp, is 'ー'[/ used for short vowels or for long ones?

Thank you all! :D

My previous post might be somewhat misleading. The baseline would be that there is no strict rule for this issue.

If we see "ー", we just try to pronounce the previous sound longer. The "ー" is mainly used for foreign words with kata-kana. Tokyo should not be expressed as "トーキョー". "とうきょう" is OK in a kindergarten, but nothing more than "東京". Europe should be "ヨーロッパ", by some historical reason.

English Henry is usually written as "ヘンリー" to express the long vowel at the end, but "ヘンリ" could be used, especially in a long expression "ヘンリ8世" (Henry VIII). This one is curios, because French Henri as "アンリ" and German Heinrich as "ハインリッヒ", somewhat hiding the similarity among them. Spanish Enrique "エンリケ" is already lacking the H, though.

Some people uses the "ー" to express the stress of a foreign word. Japanese do not have stress, so it is a kind of some (secondary) approximation. And that was the point in my previous post.

OK, I have a new question...

Yessica, how can it be written in hiragana or katakana? Because, as far as I know, there is no ye syllable, so I cannot do the je diphthong...

Is Yessica pronounced like the English name Jessica with a J (jay as in the word bluejay) sound, or is it Y as in the word "yes"?

JEssica with J sound would be: ジェシカ
And
Yessica with Y sound would be: イェシカ