How should westerners with Chinese last names write them in Japanese?

Index » General discussion

  • 1
 
Reply #1 - 2013 January 28, 9:31 pm
hituiuc New member
Registered: 2013-01-26 Posts: 6

If an American had a Chinese last name, should katakana and kanji be combined when writing his/her name? Or, is the convention to keep everything in katakana?

Reply #2 - 2013 January 28, 10:08 pm
vonPeterhof Member
Registered: 2010-07-23 Posts: 376

If even Japanese-Americans have their names written entirely in katakana, I believe the same applies to Chinese Americans, unless they naturalize in Japan.

Reply #3 - 2013 January 28, 10:38 pm
JimmySeal Member
From: Kyoto Registered: 2006-03-28 Posts: 2279

Prominent Chinese political figures will usually have their names written in their original characters, and read with on-yomi:

毛沢東 - もうたくとう
胡錦濤 - こきんとう

On the other hand, celebrities (especially those using a westernized given name) usually have their names written in a katakana-ized version of the original pronunciation - ジャッキーチェン,　ジェットリー, チョウ・ユンファ, チャン・ツィイー.

So maybe the typical thing for an American with a Chinese last name would be to use katakana for everything.

Advertising (register and sign in to hide this)
JapanesePod101 Sponsor
 
JapanesePod101
Reply #4 - 2013 January 29, 2:09 am
yudantaiteki Member
Registered: 2009-10-03 Posts: 3619

hituiuc wrote:

If an American had a Chinese last name, should katakana and kanji be combined when writing his/her name? Or, is the convention to keep everything in katakana?

In my experience, Chinese-Americans use katakana whereas Chinese use the kanji.  But I've gotten different answers from native speakers on what should be done.

  • 1