What's my name in Japanese? (make requests here!)

[dungnt05457298]

Natsukoさん、ありがとう。
I have a Japanese friend and he calls me "ZUN" (it's very hard for him to pronounce my name in Vietnamese )
"Zun", I think that sound funny

はじめまして、わたしはズンです。

[community.japanese]

ズンさん
パーフェクトです！

I know; when I checked the possible pronunciation for your surname, I doubted how it's written.
How exactly should Dung be pronunciated? Is it more like [du n] or [dyu n]?
Well, if you can tell us how to read your name, I can try to figure it out better!
For now, ズンさん、またね！

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[Zelg]

こんにちは。
Just thought I'd request a couple names pronunciation if you dont mind
My user name Zelg and my real name Neil.

ありがとうございます。

[mmmason8967]

Just thought I'd request a couple names pronunciation if you dont mind
My user name Zelg and my real name Neil.

I'll show you how I work out Neil, and then you'll probably be able to work out Zelg for yourself.

Starting with the L at the end of Neil: apart from ん there are no standalone consonants in Japanese, so I've got to use a consonant-vowel combination. The ra, ri, ru, re and ro sounds are closest to L, so I'll use one of those. When you need a standalone consonant, the best ones to use are the ones that end in 'u' because the 'u' is the least-voiced sound. It doesn't work with T or D, though, because the 'u' sounds are tsu and dzu, so I'd use to and do instead. Anyway, the final syllable will be ru.

The starting sound will be one of na, ni, nu, ne or no. The best one is going to be ni. But niru sounds like 'nil', so I want a longer vowel sound, which I can get simply be adding an i. So the final result is niiru.

Of course, you'd write your name in katakana, which is ニール. The ー is used in katakana to mean the vowel sound is doubled; it's equivalent to writing ニイル.

ありがとうございます。

I don't think you can use this to mean 'thanks in advance'. ありがとう means something like 'it is difficult to do again', meaning that what the person did was outstanding enough to be virtually unrepeatable. Since it's a comment on something nice that's been done for you, I don't think it works if the something nice hasn't happened yet.

Maybe よろしくおねがいします would work better in this situation--I'm not sure because I'm not entirely clear what よろしく means, although it seems to be something like "be kind to me", "I place myself in your hands", and so on.

マイケル

[Zelg]

マイケル

Thanks for the run down. I was kind of leaning towards ニル last night and then I was watching the last episode of this anime Amnesia and suddenly this character comes into the store named Neil and they pronounced it ニル as well but I hadnt thought of doubling the vowel sound, so thanks.

For Zelg I was thinking something like ゼルグ　or ゼルゴ。 Not too sure.

Would どうも be more appropriate for just saying thanks. Now that I think of it I seem to recall seeing in my anime the girl saying よろしくおねがいします a lot and I THINK it was mostly used in a thank you sort of way. I'd have to go back and watch again though.

[ericf]

Hi Zelg,

I'd go with ゼルグ for the reason Michael gave; the 'u' sound being the least voiced.

[community.japanese]

Zelg-san, マイケルsan, エリックsan,
kon'nichiwa!
I also agree with マイケルsan and エリックsan about Zelg being ゼルグ from the writings.
As to Neil, I think ニール is the most probable... is your name pronounced more like [nil]? ニル is more like [nil] than
[niil].

It's really nice of マイケルsan mentioning よろしくおねがいします as I found the explanation was perfect!
When you ask a favour (like here), the best way is to say full sentence よろしくおねがいします。 since you're asking
a favour to someone you actually don't know (you know only on the internet). Being too casual is not the best thing.
Also どうも is rather casual "thanks", so after someone has done a favour, you might use it if you're friends.
Just to let you know, the casual version of よろしくおねがいします is よろしく

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[Zelg]

Zelg-san, マイケルsan, エリックsan,
kon'nichiwa!
I also agree with マイケルsan and エリックsan about Zelg being ゼルグ from the writings.
As to Neil, I think ニール is the most probable... is your name pronounced more like [nil]? ニル is more like [nil] than
[niil].

奈津子さん
こんにちは。
I suppose it sounds more like　ニル, without the extended イ sound. Though I guess the best way I can put it is the "Ne" part of it is like　ニ in japanese and the "il" part of it, the i sounds like the i in "it" or "Italy" or "illness." ニル does seem like a better fit but I have no idea:D

It's really nice of マイケルsan mentioning よろしくおねがいします as I found the explanation was perfect!
When you ask a favour (like here), the best way is to say full sentence よろしくおねがいします。 since you're asking
a favour to someone you actually don't know (you know only on the internet). Being too casual is not the best thing.
Also どうも is rather casual "thanks", so after someone has done a favour, you might use it if you're friends.
Just to let you know, the casual version of よろしくおねがいします is よろしく

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

So If I have this correct, if I ask someone (outside of my close friends) to do something then I would use よろしくおねがいします to thank them? Is it appropriate to use in a "thanks in advance" way like I used ありがとう above?

If someone does something for me without being requested to do so would ありがとう and ありがとうございます be appropriate?

[mmmason8967]

I suppose it sounds more like　ニル, without the extended イ sound. Though I guess the best way I can put it is the "Ne" part of it is like　ニ in japanese and the "il" part of it, the i sounds like the i in "it" or "Italy" or "illness." ニル does seem like a better fit but I have no idea:D

Is it pronounced like this Very Famous American?

So If I have this correct, if I ask someone (outside of my close friends) to do something then I would use よろしくおねがいします to thank them? Is it appropriate to use in a "thanks in advance" way like I used ありがとう above?

If someone does something for me without being requested to do so would ありがとう and ありがとうございます be appropriate?

One of the interesting things about Japanese is that the answer to the question "How do I say XXXXXX in Japanese?" is often not the same as the answer to the question "What would a Japanese person say in this situation?" even when we're talking about something as simple as "please" and "thank you". This is a summary of how I think the Japanese please/thanks expressions work:-

おねがいします　(onegaishimasu) means very roughly "it is my wish" so it's very close to "please". It is also used in situations where an English speaker would say "thank you"--especially when expressing gratitude beforehand (i.e. thanks in advance).

よろしく　(yoroshiku) is a word I don't really understand. It seems to mean something like "I rely on your kindness". When used with おねがいします I think the meaning is something like "please do me the kindness of…", with おねがいしますbeing "please" and よろしく being "do me the kindness". That might not be very accurate, but at least you can see that dropping the おねがいします makes the request a lot more casual.

ください　(kudasai) is actually a command that means "give it to me". It is a very polite command, telling an honoured person to give something to your lowly self (a bit like the "Grant us, O Lord" in English prayers). You can only use it when you're asking to receive something, although this can include actions as in ちょっとまってくだしあ (chotto matte kudasai, "please give me a little waiting" or "please wait a moment").

ありがとうございます 　(arigatou gozaimasu) is really a comment on the kindness someone has shown you. It's a bit like saying "it is very kind of you". Because it's a comment on someone's actions (and not on your feelings of gratitude), you can't use it before those actions have been done.

ありがとうございました 　(arigatou gozaimashita) is the past tense of ありがとうございます. It is a bit like saying "it was very kind of you". Again, it's a comment on someone's actions, and in this case the actions are in the past (so it's not the past tense of "thank you"). When a TV host says "thank you for watching the show", he or she will say ありがとうございました because the audience has finished watching.

すみません (sumimasen) means "it is not over" in the sense of "I owe you". It's a wide-ranging apology that also covers situations where English speakers would say "thank you". I think it's expressing thanks for the trouble someone was put to rather than for the thing they did (but I'm not at all sure) as that fits with the "excuse me"/"I'm sorry" meaning of すみません.

マイケル

[community.japanese]

Zelg-san, マイケルsan,
wow, thank you very much for the great and detailed explanation, マイケルsan!!

Yes, マイケルsan is very right and I totally agree: "One of the interesting things about Japanese is that the answer to the question "How do I say XXXXXX in Japanese?" is often not the same as the answer to the question "What would a Japanese person say in this situation?" even when we're talking about something as simple as "please" and "thank you".

Let's say, you can say ありがとう（ございます） "in advance" only when you're talking with them directly and the other(s)
already gave you "yes" to do something for you. You can thank, in such cases, for giveing you "yes"
In writing correspondance like this forum, on the other hand, it usually doesn't work like that. You ask some question
(asking for answers or replies), and before anyone says "okay, I'll help you", you have to close your "speech".
And usually, people give you answers or replies straight forward.

The only possible case I can think of (in our forums) where you can use ありがとう（ございます） before you get answers
would be if you have technical problems and I cannot answer or give you proper help/support.
You ask for a help, I'd probably reply to you with a short message telling you that our technical team will help you
(because I can't solve your problem), and that's when you would write ありがとう to me regarding my message, not
for proper help. If you want, you can also add よろしくおねがいします as I'll talk to tech team for you.

Hope this won't confuse you...

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[Zelg]

マイケル-san, 奈津子-san.

First, yes my name is pronounced the same as that very famous american, so ニ一ル appears to be the correct way to write it.

Secondly, wow. Thanks for the wonderful explainations. I Think the biggest thing to click in my head was to not only think about how to say say xxxxx in Japanese but to also think about how a Japanese person would say the thought that I'm trying to convey. Just that little bit kind of clears up a few things I noticed while watching an anime and the various uses of すみません,　よろしく,　おねがいします, ください that i had recognized but realized they were all used in varying situations. Mostly I noticed how すみません was used most often and now that you've explained its use, it makes a bit more sense as to why it was used in so many varying situations.

I suppose right now I'm slightly confused on how I would close out my post here on the forum after having asked for questions to be answered and them being answered. Would ありがとうございました be better than saying すみません? Or the other way around? Or am I just confused out of my mind?

ニ一ル

[community.japanese]

ニールさん、
you're very welcome
It's understandable that you have difficulties to understand all those "very Japanese" expressions soon,
but glad to know you got the most important parts (it seems)

The best word to conclude the forum would be ありがとう(ございました) as it's an appreciation for what's already done
(hence ございました, instead of ございます)
(You don't have to "apologise", so you don't have to say すみません )
Seems you got it right

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[whindysek1464]

Hello!

Anyone who can tell me how to say and write my name in Japanese?

My name - Lucia
and surname - Luková

Arigatō !

[community.japanese]

Lucia-san,
kon'nichiwa!
How should your name be pronounced, please? We simply transcribe phonetically foreign names, so
we need to know how names should be pronounced.
For instance, is Lucia pronounced like [lu chi a] (like Italian name) or [lu ci/si a] (similar to Lucy)?
Those would be;
ルチア [ru chi a] (with [chi] pronunciation)
ルシア [ru shi a] (with [si] pronunciation)

Your surname should be ルコヴァ [ru ko va].


Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[whindysek1464]

My name is pronounced like [lu ci a]

Thanks for reply !