One of the fun parts of having studied seven languages is that I look for patterns within the languages I’ve learned. I am always fascinated when I come across an unusual phrase like, “It’s raining cats and dogs.” But I am even more fascinated when I see similarities in languages that don’t seem to have any apparent connection. I would have never guessed that Japanese grammar would turn out to be similar to Turkish grammar.
A few months ago, I noticed that the way we introduce ourselves differs from language to language. Here’s a sample using the languages I can speak:
Turkish: Benim adim Karen.
Literal Translation: My name Karen. (In Turkish, the “is” is implied in this type of sentence. The most correct way to say the above sentence would be “Benim adim Karendir.” the “dir” representing the “is” verb, but it is never really used.)
French: Je m’appelle Karen.
Literal Translation: I call myself Karen.
Italian: Mi chiamo Karen.
Literal Translation: I call myself Karen.
German: Mein name ist Karen.
Literal Translation: My name is Karen. (Though I must admit I don’t know if that’s the common introduction in German since I haven’t spoken it in years.)
Japanese: Watashi no namae wa Karen desu.
Literal Translation: My name Karen is. (When I was there, this was one of the ways people introduced themselves. I’m sure it’s not the colloquial way, tho.)
And in Sign Language one would say “My name Karen.” What’s interesting to me is that while the way we introduce ourselves is quite similar in languages that don’t appear correlated like Japanese, German, and Turkish, the romance languages seem to have a different method for the same, simple task. I wonder how this evolved and why the discrepancy? I also wonder if there are other ways in different languages that I don’t speak or if these, “my name is…” and “I call myself….,” are the only two variations on formal introductions.
If you speak languages I don’t, please feel free to share and let’s see if there are other forms.
Came across your language site … since you asked … just wanted to add:
In Tagalog (one of the 100+ languages in teh Philippines — yes, languages … they are NOT dialects, but distinct languages) … Tagalog: “Ang pangalan ko ay Rolly.” (Literal Translation: “My name is Rolly.”) or you can say, “Ako si Rolly.” (I am Rolly.)
In Chamorro (language of native speakers in Guam) “Guahu si Rolly.” (“I am Rolly.”
Basically the same forms…
P.S. — I found your site when I was searching for “Da Vinci Code” … I’m not reading it now, but listening to CD audio books. I konw you’re a wide reader, so I’m not sure what you have to say about audio books — but I’m enjoying my listening to the Da Vinci code … the reader is very dynamic.
🙂
Hm well the basic ones for Spanish are:
“Me llamo Amy.” (I call myself Amy.)
“Estoy Amy.” (I am Amy.)
“Mi nombre es Amy.” (My name is Amy.)
I have two languages to share:
Spanish: Me llamo Karen. Like other Romance languages (French, Italian) it literally translates to “I call myself Karen”.
Korean: Na nin Karen e ragu habnida. There are other, less formal (and thus, less complicated) ways to introduce oneself but the closest literal translation I can come up with “I am Karen referred to as”, but it’s not very accurate, as the verb “hada” and its form “habnida” more frequently mean to do . And it’s common to not use the “I am” part.
Another way to introduce oneself in Korean (among adults, anyway) is to not use your name, but use a mutual acquaintance as a focal point. For instance, if you have a son named David, you would introduce yourself to his teacher as “David’s mother”. And when speaking with you, she or he would address you as “David’s mother”. As in, “David’s mother, could you please pass me that box of crayons on the table?” The name Karen isn’t even used at all.
(Oh, and I learned “Mein Name is Karen” too. If it’s not commonly used in German-speaking countries, we can blame our language teachers. 🙂
Me again. Your post inspired me to do some research this afternoon–and your surprise about Turkish and Japanese grammar being similar? Turns out that some (but not all) linguists believe that those two languages (and possibly Korean, also) should belong in the same language family (specifically, the Altaic family).
This is by no means a universally accepted theory. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of empirical evidence to show Japanese is really related to this family–and there is even less evidence that Korean is (although Japanese and Korean have influenced each other plenty over the years). Most linguists who make this case base their argument on the similarities between morphology (word structure).
Since I don’t have a formal background in linguistics (just a love of languages), I couldn’t get too deep into this stuff without confusing myself. I hope I offered some new insight, though, however small it may be.
Oh, and the thing I said in my previous comment about “hada” and “habnida” disrupting my literal Korean translation? Forget it. In this case, my hunch is that it’s a helping verb (much like haben is the helping verb in the sentence “ich habe mit Karen gesprochen”) and should not change the meaning of the sentence in the event of a literal translation.
Hi Karenika, I’m from Germany and I recently discovered your Homepage. So I just wanted to say, that your German translation is perfect and is commonly used. You can also say “Ich heiße Kilian” which means translated as much as “I’m called Kilian” but like the English “I’m Kilian” – “Ich bin Kilian” is possible as well. Thanks for all the work you put in your page. I like it very much. Kilian