Question Please help me about name problem in chinese language

Discussion in 'Translator's Corner' started by YES Loli NO Touch, Jul 10, 2018.

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  1. YES Loli NO Touch

    YES Loli NO Touch Well-Known Member

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    I'm confused to translate chinese name.
    here's the raw : 卢子信
    i'm currently traslate it as Lu Zixin, but my friend telling me its Luzi Xin or Lu Xinzi or Lu Xin and Zi as noun suffix.

    Please help me. T_T
     
  2. null

    null Procrastinate Lv MAX

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    Lu Zixin
     
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  3. YES Loli NO Touch

    YES Loli NO Touch Well-Known Member

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    Thank you nullu nullu senpai . . .
    @You Soar Shine help.
     
  4. Playful Devil Miki995

    Playful Devil Miki995 [Happy go lucky~]

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    Erm~ have they said that person’s family name? Like 卢家族 or 卢子家族?If it is the former, then Lu Zixin. But if it is the latter, then Luzi Xin. From what I know Chinese name are opposite to English names, the surname of the family is first and the given name is later. I’m sure of that as my Chinese name works that way ~ I’m not sure if there’s other ways of names formation but this is what I know and how I translate names in the novel I am doing.

    I believe that how you name things isn’t too critical but you have to stay consistent in how you name the characters so that you won’t confuse the readers. Like ohh this person names it differently, but I understand how he lays out the name. This is solely my opinion so I may be wrong xD
    Cheers~
     
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  5. YES Loli NO Touch

    YES Loli NO Touch Well-Known Member

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    His father name is 卢岳 or Lu Yue.
    so what is his right name ?
     
  6. NikkiSpores

    NikkiSpores Well-Known Member

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    If his dad's name is Lu Yue, then the family name is Lu.
    The son's name is Lu Zixin
     
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  7. YES Loli NO Touch

    YES Loli NO Touch Well-Known Member

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    What a relief, so that i don't need to change the mc's name.
     
  8. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    卢 is a relatively common surname, so it was likely going to be the family name anyways. As a rule of thumb, if you suspect a compound surname, it'll probably show up on this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_compound_surname

    If it doesn't show up here, then it's probably not going to be a compound.
     
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  9. Playful Devil Miki995

    Playful Devil Miki995 [Happy go lucky~]

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    Nikki is right~ glad you that you don’t need to change it!
     
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  10. YES Loli NO Touch

    YES Loli NO Touch Well-Known Member

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    thanks for your help, senpai tachi
     
  11. YES Loli NO Touch

    YES Loli NO Touch Well-Known Member

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    But senpai, the mc's friend calling him using this 卢子 ?
    (Raw : 他偷空回复道:“卢子?你要创业?真的吗?”)
    so what the right name ?
    Luzi Xin or Lu Zixin ???
     
  12. YES Loli NO Touch

    YES Loli NO Touch Well-Known Member

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    But senpai, the mc's friend calling him using this 卢子 ?
    (Raw : 他偷空回复道:“卢子?你要创业?真的吗?”)
    so what the right name ?
    Luzi Xin or Lu Zixin ???
     
  13. NikkiSpores

    NikkiSpores Well-Known Member

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    Hmmm I think sometimes 子 is added to a name as a sign of respect, so his name would still be Lu Zixin. It just happened that his name has 子 originally in it too.

    Not 100% sure though
     
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  14. YES Loli NO Touch

    YES Loli NO Touch Well-Known Member

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    What a troublesome name.
     
  15. tides

    tides Well-Known Member

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    卢子信 = Lu Zi Xin

    chinese names don't follow first name + last name + middle name. chinese name is just the characters.
    the first character is the surname (but there are family names with two characters such as gongsun)

    Zi Xin = given name. people address him by Zi Xin. Lu is surname. don't flip it around and call him Zi Xin Lu because it's is disrespectful and it's wrong and people get pissed if you do it.

    it's fine to call him ZiXin or zixin as it doesn't become some weird word when put together like pet king's MC which became Zian...
     
  16. Playful Devil Miki995

    Playful Devil Miki995 [Happy go lucky~]

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    Lu Zixin will be the right name since his dad had set up his surname. If Luzi is appearing for the first time, just use Zixin instead of Luzi everytime the call out of Luzi appears. But if you already used Luzi, just keep on using Luzi all the way. This is my suggestion haah~
    In my opinion, translation does not need to follow what the author did to the dot, but of course what you translate should have its meaning as close as possible to what the author did. I understand that it can annoying sometimes as to how authors do things or phrase things at times. Good luck with your translations!
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2018
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  17. YES Loli NO Touch

    YES Loli NO Touch Well-Known Member

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    Thank you for your help Akuma-senpai.
     
  18. tides

    tides Well-Known Member

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    子can mean boy or son.
    some people from the older generation will call you (surname) + 子

    it is similar to the senpai/kun/san in japanese

    today only old people use it and they use it on other people grandkids

    if it doesn't happen often, i'd suggest you to just replace it with zi xin as it's weird that a high school kid will call his junior surname+ 子 .
     
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