random question

[sutekikanojyo]

i seem to have a lot of these ^.~' but how would you say the name wayne in rouma-ji? i just figured out i have enough hiragana characters in my notebook ((a grand total od 45 lol)) to write my name ((plus searching for "be" in a jcc class ^.~')) and i wanted to surprise my bf with his name in hiragana any help? ^.~'

[JockZon]

Well, you should use katakana when you write a foreign name as Wayne. I am not 100% sure how to write it though. Maybe you could write it like this:

ウェーン　or ウェイン
(うぇえん/うえいん)

[sutekikanojyo]

hey ^.~' so sorry to be picky/needy, but my computer is old and messed up, so i can't read asian text yet. is there a way you could show me the katakana without typing it out? perhaps you can put it into a paint program ((if you have windows you can use ms paint and just put in a text box)) and save it, then e-mail it to me. or you could just hit prnt scrn when ur comment is in view and paste it into an image program and then save that. idunno if that's confusing, but all i see are little boxes ^.~' i'm so sorry!!!

[Belton]

I favour ウエイン (uein) (#3 below) as a solution myself.
I looked up Wayne's World on Amazon JP and they use both ウィイン (wiin) (#2)　and ウエイン (uein).
here's those as a gif for you. as katakana. (File may not be up forever, gomen)



I also have a book that has kanji ideas for Western names. I'll see if Wayne is in it and get back tomorrow.

[sutekikanojyo]

omg thank you so very much! ^.^ i'll save the file so i don't lose it. doumo arigatou gozaimasu!

[Belton]

dou itashimashita.

I checked the kanji book of western names. No entry for Wayne.
(kanji for western names is only a bit of fun anyhow. katakana is best if not as pretty)

[sutekikanojyo]

hey ^.^ logging on from baton rouge louisiana on my way to texas for a week-long family vacation!

yeah, i noticed that the katakana isn't as pretty as the hiragana lol ^.~' before i had used the e symbol in the third spelling as we and then just used the i and n hiragana... but since i got those corrections, i redid it with katakana. i also spent some time and put my whole family's names into hiragana! lol it took some time but i got it done... and i posted it on the fridge like a proud kindergartener ^.^ hehehe but anyway, thanks again for all the help! my bf loved it ^.~'

is katakana a totally different writing system than hiragana, or is it just hiragana tailored for western sounds? like for my name, i jused ma-a-ta-a ma-ri-a to-be-na-su in hiragana, but i had to get katakana for wayne. does it matter that i mixed them up or is there some sort of special differentiation?

[lucasburns]

The best way to think of katakana is for 'borrowed' words. Words that have come from other languages/cultures (note - not just English. This can be confusing when you are trying to work out what something says and then you eventually realise that it is German, and you didn't know the word anyway!). It is also used for some Japanese words, but usually in advertising - to make the word/company name/product/etc stand out from the rest of the ad. So our 'foreign' names shoudl be in katakana.

In VERY old Japanese, everything was kanji, and was written by the men. Hiragana began to get used in Japanese and was used by women. Over time hirogana was used by both men and women.

What I don't get is why tobacco is written as ta-ba-ko in hirogana! Did the word tobacco come from Japan? I don't know!

[Jason]

hey ^.^ logging on from baton rouge louisiana

You should've been there about a month ago. I would have been down there.

[Jason]

Hiragana began to get used in Japanese and was used by women. Over time hirogana was used by both men and women.

Actually, I read that katana was the first of the kana systems to be developed. Both hiragana and katakana are derived from simplying certain kanji.

What I don't get is why tobacco is written as ta-ba-ko in hirogana! Did the word tobacco come from Japan? I don't know!

No, it's not. There's actually kanji for it, 煙草. So I imagine what probably happened was that it was imported before it was common to use katakana for loanwords. Perhaps the kanji fell out of usage before that as well and it just stuck that way. I have seen it written as タバコ as well. When I type it, the katakana version if the IMEs first suggestion conversion for "tabako."

[lucasburns]

I think you are right Jason about Katakana being developed first.

Re Tobacco - I am just going by the signs outside tobacco shops and also combinis etc that sell tobacco. It has puzzled me for a while!

[Jason]

is katakana a totally different writing system than hiragana, or is it just hiragana tailored for western sounds? like for my name, i jused ma-a-ta-a ma-ri-a to-be-na-su in hiragana, but i had to get katakana for wayne. does it matter that i mixed them up or is there some sort of special differentiation?

Yes, it is a different system. Like I already mentioned, it was developed before hiragana. It wasn't until fairly recently (I don't know the exact date) that it became standard to write foreign words with it. IIRC, it seems that I read that hiragana was developed, at least partly, by the fact that some people didn't like how sharp edged and "boxy" katakana was.

If you're not Japanese, you really shouldn't write your name in hiragana, unless you don't know katakana. If you do, then there's not really an excuse.

[Jason]

Re Tobacco - I am just going by the signs outside tobacco shops and also combinis etc that sell tobacco. It has puzzled me for a while!

Well, my explanation is just a guess. i don't know if that's how it got imported. But it would seem to make sense.

[sutekikanojyo]

thanks lucas for your explanation! it really helped.

hey ^.^ logging on from baton rouge louisiana

You should've been there about a month ago. I would have been down there.

aw man!!! that woulda been awesome to meet you! sorry i missed it.

is katakana a totally different writing system than hiragana, or is it just hiragana tailored for western sounds? like for my name, i jused ma-a-ta-a ma-ri-a to-be-na-su in hiragana, but i had to get katakana for wayne. does it matter that i mixed them up or is there some sort of special differentiation?

If you're not Japanese, you really shouldn't write your name in hiragana, unless you don't know katakana. If you do, then there's not really an excuse.

can you recommend any good katakana/hiragana learning books? i do wanna invest in this language... it's always interested me ^.~; thanks!

last post from baton rouge... dad's in the car and mom's calling for help, so wish us luck! jsut 5 horus to houston!

[Jason]

can you recommend any good katakana/hiragana learning books? i do wanna invest in this language... it's always interested me ^.~; thanks!

The best way to learn them is really just write them over and over again. There are printable practice charts in the learning center.

Let me know if you're ever in the area again.