Question Translating Japanese Names

Discussion in 'Translator's Corner' started by yujuank, Dec 3, 2019.

  1. yujuank

    yujuank Active Member

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    I'm currently translating a Chinese novel and the characters are going to Japan, so... a lot of Japanese names. Which I suck at. Can someone tell me how they're read?

    濯雪清宛 (name of an inn)
    清原 谦行 (male)
    青泽 (male, though I’m not sure if it's a Japanese name, so tell me if it’s not common)
    忌部 瀞 (female)
    淞芳 (male)
    淞贤 (male)

    Thanks for the help. I'm especially at my wit's end for the inn's name...
     
  2. Amaruna Myu

    Amaruna Myu ugly squid dokja (●´∀`●)

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    throw it into google translate set at Japanese.
     
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  3. yujuank

    yujuank Active Member

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    I've done that, but it usually just shows the characters or some gibberish. I even tried text-to-speech, but some sound pretty unintelligible. So I'm here for a second opinion.
     
  4. pokeito

    pokeito Well-Known Member

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    According to google 清原 谦行 is Kiyohara Noriyuki?
     
  5. ali3rd

    ali3rd Well-Known Member

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    throw them into google translate, but 1 character at a time, take the possible pronounciations and just choose the most likely, usually Japanese names have furigana (pronunciation) when introduce because they literally be pronounced however they want. Yagami Light 夜神月 (yagami raito)
     
  6. Hasr11

    Hasr11 [Cat] [Fujoshi] [JP TL in Hiding]

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    濯雪清宛 : Takusetsu Shin’en? (I’m fibbing this one and frankly nobody in Japan would name an inn this lol)
    清原 谦行 : Kiyohara Kengyou (謙 is the kanji I found coz the one given here isn’t jap)
    青泽 : Seizawa ( once again one of the characters isn’t jp, so switched it with the trad cn variant)
    忌部 瀞: Imawabe Kiyoshi/Sei (Kiyoshi is a male given name tho)
    淞芳: Shouhou
    淞贤: shouken (once again second character isn’t jp)


    My take is switch the characters to traditional cn then put it through GT or in my case jisho (not that you’ll need it that much)
     
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  7. yujuank

    yujuank Active Member

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    Thanks! @Hasr11 The simplified cn is totally my fault, sorry. I only have the simplified keyboard on my laptop.
    A lot of websites translate 瀞 as Toro, though? Or is Sei better?
     
  8. Hasr11

    Hasr11 [Cat] [Fujoshi] [JP TL in Hiding]

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    Upto you, toro is the literal meaning of the character, you call that kunyomi. It’s usually used in verbs so I avoid it for names, but you can use Toro, Sei, Shou, Gyuu or Kiyo for that character...sei is just more common for me
    (Was I too technical?)
     
  9. yujuank

    yujuank Active Member

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    Nah, that was pretty interesting. Again, thanks for your help!
     
  10. nachte

    nachte Well-Known Member

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    I would suggest Shizuka if you’re after a woman’s name. That was my first intuition, and I also found the reading at weblio.jp.