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HelpWDYT of New German Translation
Howdy, y'all! I was translating some English copy to German the other day, and I came across the phrase "My name is Dylan" (which comes into German as "Ich heisse Dylan"). Now, it could just be me, but Dylan sounds terribly out of place in German, and is quite cumbersome to pronounce! So, I endeavored to assimilate it into the language (not in the translation, of course!). In case you don't already know, "Dylan" comes from the Welsh elements "dy", great, and "llanw", sea. I decided that the simplest method (seeing as German has few names that are truly its own, and most all of those are merely early tribal names) would be to translate those two elements into German, and then corrupt them into a phonetically simple word. Dy becomes great becomes toll. Llanw becomes sea becomes Meer. The result I chose is "Tolme". The correct pronounciation of this (in broad transcription via IPA) is [tolmɐ], but I see no reason why [tolmi] and [tolm] shouldn't be acceptable, if desired. (Sorry about the characters, I'm not sure how BtN's board handels IPA :p)
I guess I'd just like to know what you think, or if you'd 've done anything differently.
I guess I'd just like to know what you think, or if you'd 've done anything differently.
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Thanks guys, I'm glad I was able to get some German feedback on this, and glad you think it's an interesting name :D
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Addendum
Quick addendum:
Just to clarify, Tolme isn't meant to sound German or imply German descent, just to flow better in German than its Welsh counterpart.
Quick addendum:
Just to clarify, Tolme isn't meant to sound German or imply German descent, just to flow better in German than its Welsh counterpart.
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Wow. I could have never thought this up on my own ;) But anyways, I'm German, living in Germany and I have no problems pronouncing it. It's pronounced the same way here as it is in English-speaking countries. I'm not so sure what you mean with German not having a lot of names on its own, because the same would be true of Britain, the US and generally all countries which languages come from Germanic / Western Germanic language family (which would be basically half of Europe). But we were discussing Dylan :) Dylan is a name that is used by Germans for their sons, as are other "Neo"-English names, like Tyler. Since there is a name law in Germany that says that names have to be approved by a registrar, you won't find a lot of butchered spellings or "created" names, or generally names that will make your child's life hard, although sometimes it makes me wonder what they allow and what not.
Tolme doesn't sound German to me, even though it's impressing how you came to that result. I can't really comprehend how Dy becomes toll and Llanw Meer, but since you're occupying yourself with the topic, you will know why you chose those :)
If I met someone named Tolme, I would never think it was German, and even when I knew how it was created, I would still think of it as a newly invented name, sorry.
Tolme doesn't sound German to me, even though it's impressing how you came to that result. I can't really comprehend how Dy becomes toll and Llanw Meer, but since you're occupying yourself with the topic, you will know why you chose those :)
If I met someone named Tolme, I would never think it was German, and even when I knew how it was created, I would still think of it as a newly invented name, sorry.
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I'm from Germany too, and I would probably think he's from Denmark or something along those lines :-)
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Neat work! Tolme's a nice sounding name, even though I doubt it will catch on in Germany more than Dylan already has, lol. But I'm with you in being surprised when I find Celtic/Welsh/English names used in non Celtic/Welsh/English countries in Europe. For a couple years in the mid-90s, Kevin was actually the #1 name in France! Weird...
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IchHasseBern
Wow. Impressive. A very scientific and intellectual system.
But personally, if a name translates into another language, I prefer the old fashioned, illiterate medieval peasant method. There's nothing like people with no surnames or concept of geography trying to make sense of a new name. This internet thing makes it too easy -- like photographs instead of painting. :-)
Seriously, I have associations with names and their sound that just don't translate that well. Sorry.
Wow. Impressive. A very scientific and intellectual system.
But personally, if a name translates into another language, I prefer the old fashioned, illiterate medieval peasant method. There's nothing like people with no surnames or concept of geography trying to make sense of a new name. This internet thing makes it too easy -- like photographs instead of painting. :-)
Seriously, I have associations with names and their sound that just don't translate that well. Sorry.
This message was edited 5/17/2006, 10:53 PM
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