I was thinking of getting a name in chinese or japanese lettering but how can i know it it's correct? I've been doing searches but haven't found anything reliable that's free. any suggestions?

It's pretty gay getting a tattoo that you can't even understand yourself.

seconded.


also chinese symbols are so fucking 1997

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you'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking

yea, and, unless you live in a chinese or japanese community, most people won't understand it either.. so then it doesn't really matter if you've got it right or not. but if you do decide to get one still, then ask around some chinese friends and even then, don't bank on it. majority of my chinese friends can't write their own name in chinese, so yea.. you really won't know.

unless you have a chinese or japanese name, you can't "translate" a name. your name is still your name, regardless of what language it is. the best they can do is phonetically transcribe it - i.e. if your name is dorothy they might choose zha-la-shi - at which point they'll pick characters that have that pronunciation, regardless of meaning. so continuing with the above example, you might end up with:



which could easily be translated as "fry the spicy feces".

still think it's a good idea? i don't speak chinese, but i still wouldn't want to walk around with that on a part of me.

also what thumbscrew said.

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get someone who speaks chinese or japense to translate it for you? My friend got a guy at work to check her idea before getting it done. But im not a fan of chinese symbols anyway..not that you asked for my opinion.

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check out this site and see the horrible mistakes in translating...or the outright "fuck non-asians trying to get tattoos when they don't know the language"

Hanzi Smatter 一知�解

im very 1997 in fact. im so totally 10 years ago. i guess i should pay more attention to fads and base my decisions on what's cool! thanks guys!

If that was a shot at sarcasm, it wasn't very good. i don't think they were "so 1997", but getting an asian symbol tattoo is the biggest fucking cliche ever, alongside tribal patterns...

how about a bit of originality?!

i don't really understand why you'd be willing to tattoo your name on yourself in any language. why not english? do you often forget your name and need a reminder? i don't get it. the same thing applies to words. what's the purpose of getting a word tattooed on you in a language you don't understand?

if you absolutely insist on doing it, at least get it in katakana, the japanese script used to write non-japanese words. i don't know what your name is, but you're going to have to spell it out phonetically in regards to the japanese sound system.

also, a quick google search would tell you that chinese doesn't have "letters".

ultimately get whatever you want. if you want to walk around with "spontaneous horse fucker" in chinese or hindi or whatever, no one's going to stop you.

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When I had my Kanji tattoo done (yes, laugh...I was only 18 ) I asked someone I knew who spoke Japanese to write the words out for me, then had it checked by someone else.

I've had Chinese/Japanese people shout the words at me when they've seen it, so I know it's right

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before: hope that the tattoo artist has a better grasp of the written word than you (see title)

after: you won't get japanese people pointing and laughing at another stupid foreigner.


ditto. They have every right to be pointing and laughing, really!

Well, I have to admit, when I was 18 and jonesing for a tattoo, I got a kanji symbol on my back (lame, I know....but oh well. It's small and not too noticable). Anyway, my sister and I both got them at this very respectable tattoo shop; it has a great reputation and we figured we were safe. One day, my sister (who got the word "Grandmother") met this women who was originally from Japan, and when she saw my sister's tattoo, she complimented it, and starting asking her questions about our grandmother. So that was confirmation that it was correct. Try to find a native speaker.

Ugh, yes. My friend's boyfriend got a totally random tribal tattoo done recently. I was like "you are not in a tribe. You live in Weston-super-Mare". Betting he'll regret it by the time he's 20 (he's 18 at the moment).