6 ms·

Well can't be worse than Russians with a surname of Mankovich having to introduce themselves in Japan as マンコビッチ

asveikau 6y ago
Having no Japanese language skills I pasted that into Google translate. Then inserted spaces between glyphs until one part of it (vich) translated as "bitch". Aside: there are a lot of languages where /b/ and /v/ move around. Eg. Romance languages during the vulgar Latin period. Today in Spanish these are pronounced identically.
- Arnavion 6y ago
  マンコビッチ == MA-N-KO-BI-CCHI manko is slang for vagina. bicchi is borrowed from English "bitch", but is used more like English "slut" That said, those Russians could've used ヴィッチ WI-CCHI, such as in https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9E%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A3%E3%83%83%E3%83%81 https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3... So why does Mankovich use BI but Markovich uses WI ? Because expecting katakana spellings to make sense is already too much to ask for, let along expecting them to be consistent. (Bonus: sandwich uses neither BI nor WI. It uses I. SA-N-DO-I-CCHI)
  - orthoxerox 6y ago
    I wonder if Russia's ever offered Japan a better, more central location for their embassy. In Yakimanka district.
- james_s_tayler 6y ago
  You shoulda pasted it into image search. マンコ is pussy and ビッチ (bitch) is slut. So, it's like "nice to meet you, I'm pussy slut" and then handing someone a business card. I remember seeing it come up as example of unfortunate foreign names in Japanese when watching some variety program once. I cracked up pretty hard at that one. Though I've encountered a doozy in real life too, though it escapes me exactly what it was now.
  - blaser-waffle 6y ago
    That's Arkady Pussy-slut, thank you very much
    - james_s_tayler 6y ago
      Which im sure some poor soul will mishear as "Pussy-Slut Academy" once the names are reversed and Arkady is put into Katakana and it's late into a night of drinking at the mandatory after work drinks. Hahaha.

Having no Japanese language skills I pasted that into Google translate. Then inserted spaces between glyphs until one part of it (vich) translated as "bitch". Aside: there are a lot of languages where /b/ and /v/ move around. Eg. Romance languages during the vulgar Latin period. Today in Spanish these are pronounced identically.

Arnavion 6y ago
マンコビッチ == MA-N-KO-BI-CCHI manko is slang for vagina. bicchi is borrowed from English "bitch", but is used more like English "slut" That said, those Russians could've used ヴィッチ WI-CCHI, such as in https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9E%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A3%E3%83%83%E3%83%81 https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3... So why does Mankovich use BI but Markovich uses WI ? Because expecting katakana spellings to make sense is already too much to ask for, let along expecting them to be consistent. (Bonus: sandwich uses neither BI nor WI. It uses I. SA-N-DO-I-CCHI)
- orthoxerox 6y ago
  I wonder if Russia's ever offered Japan a better, more central location for their embassy. In Yakimanka district.
james_s_tayler 6y ago
You shoulda pasted it into image search. マンコ is pussy and ビッチ (bitch) is slut. So, it's like "nice to meet you, I'm pussy slut" and then handing someone a business card. I remember seeing it come up as example of unfortunate foreign names in Japanese when watching some variety program once. I cracked up pretty hard at that one. Though I've encountered a doozy in real life too, though it escapes me exactly what it was now.
- blaser-waffle 6y ago
  That's Arkady Pussy-slut, thank you very much
  - james_s_tayler 6y ago
    Which im sure some poor soul will mishear as "Pussy-Slut Academy" once the names are reversed and Arkady is put into Katakana and it's late into a night of drinking at the mandatory after work drinks. Hahaha.