标题: 鮑勃 [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 12-11-2014 12:15 标题: 鮑勃 Bob Davis, From ‘Mr Clothes’ to ‘Baobo’: An Expat’s Quest for the Ideal Chinese Name. blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/12/10/from-baba-mahley-to-baobo-an-expats-quest-for-an-ideal-chinese-nickname/
Note:
(a) “When my wife and grown daughter joined me about 10 months later, Kersten again played Ellis Island. My wife Debbie became Dai Nuo and Joanna became Dai Mei.”
The legend says immigration officers on the Ellis Island gave European newcomers American names, especially those with names difficult to write and pronounce.
(b) "I switched on my own to 'Baba,' after hearing that Bob Marley was known in China as 'Baba Mali.' * * * 'Baba' means 'Daddy.' * * * Not Baba Mahley, I finally figured out; Baobo Mahley 鮑勃·馬利. Hard to hear those small differences in Chinese pronunciation. * * * But why not simply ‘Bob’? Isn’t that a simple enough sound in Chinese or any language? Chinese are used to at least two sounds for a name. A one-syllable name doesn’t cut it.”
(c) “"A Chinese friend, Zhang Junting [张君婷; Yolanda Zhang; 作家, 曾供职《华尔街日报》北京分社和外交部], who calls herself Yoli, had a baby girl she named Yang Xiaomian 杨. But many Chinese like to adopt Western names too. * * * She recently has published a book 女北京 whose English title is ‘Beijing is a Bitch,’ which probably gives you a sense of her.”
(d) “Miriam sang a victory song after Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the sea.”