These Japanese Brands Are Translated Completely Differently in Mandarin!

[@ChinesewithJessie]

Don't forget to check out Rosetta Stone! Here's the link to the discount ($179 from $299 for the Lifetime Subscription, unlimited access to all languages!) tryrosettastone.com/chinesewithjessie-1

[@dj_laundry_list]

It's interesting to note that the opposite is not often the case - chinese names are generally transliterated into Japanese rather than using Kanji. For example, ramen is usually written as ラーメン rather than 拉麺. There are some exceptions for common chinese foods like 小籠包, 回鍋肉（ホイコーロー), but it makes chinese food menus a bit difficult to read in Japanese

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

Often, but in some case, Japanese also read Chinese names in Japanese Onyomi. Do you know how Japanese call characters in Journey to The West or Romance of Three Kingdom? Did you know Xi Jinping is called Shu Kinpei in Japanese media?

[@dj_laundry_list]

@@faustinuskaryadi6610 your examples are all proper nouns - do you have any examples that aren't? You're right to point that out. I guess Journey to the West would be saiyoki or something, but I usually just say doragonbouru

[@yumi_christina_masaki]

This was so interesting for me as a Japanese! Thank you for an informative video. 日産might have meant “Made in Japan” back in the day, but now we just say 国産 (kokusan, “made in the country”) when we wanna say “Made in Japan” in a context where the conversation is taking place in Japanese, in Japan. If a bunch of Japanese people got together overseas and wanna differentiate between the country where they’re at and Japan, they’d use 日本産 (nihonsan or nipponsan, “made in Japan”).

[@brighthorse6981]

Regardless of "日產" or "日本產", they all have the same meaning in the Chinese context, that is, made in Japan😄

[@AQuietNight]

Matsushita used National as their brand name. Panasonic was developed for the American market as the name National was used by a variety of companies in the U.S. Later all National product was renamed Panasonic in order to create a unified image for Matsushita's products worldwide.

[@yahyalaouici9749]

National was used for the local(japanese) market and Panasonic for international markets

[@roberttaylor5997]

In Taiwan National was/is called 國際牌 (guoji pai).

[@jspihlman]

This was very informative and something I had no considered. When I was learning Chinese, our teacher told us some companies that enter the Chinese market and do not already have a Chinese name can sort of come up with their own name/characters, but she told us it's sort of cautionary, because some companies have picked bad names, either they sound bad (sound like another word/character that has a bad meaning) or they choose bad characters (with negative connotations) and that it can almost lead to them being ostracized by the Chinese people because of it.

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

For Japanese case, it's not translation rather the change of Kanji pronunciation like Hongkong is Cantonese name but it's Xiangkang in Mandarin.

[@shubinternet]

Always interesting, entertaining, and educational! Thank you!

[@lazygamer1225]

👍💕

[@erimugichoco5476]

I remember asking my Chinese coworkers (one Mandarin speaker, another Cantonese speaker) how they pronounce the kanji we use in Japan cause I was curious if any of the words had similar pronunciation😀 And interestingly depending on the word it can sound pretty similar to both! If it sounds very different in Cantonese then the Mandarin ver might sound quite similar and vice versa✨ But of course not always the case😅

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

Some Japanese Onyomi pronunciation is closer to Hokkien and Shanghainese instead Cantonese and Mandarin. For Kunyomi, it's completely native to Japanese language and sounds nothing like its Chinese counterpart at all.

[@panorama7654]

All the pronunciations except kunyomi derives from middle ancient chinese,so they're all somehow different from each other and similar to each other at the same time.

[@huimintang8365]

Wow! I've learned a lot from your video. It was so much fun! I'm very surprised that you are able to make the explanation so concise, informative and get to the point as well! Thank you! I'm looking forward to more of your videos.

[@Cherodar]

Great compilation! I actually just got a Nissan, so this is perfectly timed. I did just want to respond to what you mentioned at 2:19 about in Chinese the last name being said first: it's the same in Japanese. Honda's full name is 本田宗一郎 in both languages, pronounced Honda Soichiro in Japanese. Writing or saying it in Western order as Soichiro Honda is just what's done in English--for a variety of reasons, there's a long tradition of reversing Japanese name order when English or another Western language is being used, but in Japanese the order is the same as in Chinese. With the Kenzo brand you mention near the end, Kenzo/賢三 is actually his given name, his personal name, and 高田 (Takada) is his surname--in flipped/Western order, it would be Kenzo Takada. it would be like calling Honda cars Soichiro cars instead!

[@ChinesewithJessie]

Thanks for correcting me!

[@Cherodar]

@@ChinesewithJessie You're welcome! I've always found it really weird how in sports (for example), Chinese and Korean names are usually listed in Asian order from what I've seen, but Japanese names aren't. There's recently been a push by some Japanese people to try switch the English convention back to match how it's done in Japanese, but not everyone wants that.

[@Octodactylpus]

@@Cherodar I think that's a really interesting topic to consider. On one hand, it's how they're used to seeing their names and all people have the right to be addressed in the manner they wish. On the other hand, Western conventions for addressing people (and even parts of the syntax in a sentence) are totally flipped so you could argue it makes sense to flip the names as well? It will be cool to see how the situation evolves over time as more people become aware of and understand each other's cultures better.

[@gregorybown]

Jessie your new glasses look great, the shape compliments your face and eyes

[@ChinesewithJessie]

They are actually the old ones haha

[@gregorybown]

@@ChinesewithJessie ah, we'll you had good style back then too!

[@HomerNarr]

Actually, since i once was kind of audio fan... Matsushita was very well know to me, as it has quite some very well known brands Technics, JVC, Sanyo, most impressive. Like Yamaha, doing stuff from motorcycles to synthesizers.

[@mikecaetano]

Nissan cars went by the brand name Datsun in the US back in the seventies. Panasonic was the brand name Matsushita used outside of Japan for its audio speakers -- "pan" - meaning "all" - and "sonic" - meaning "sound" -- going back to the 1950's.

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

Actually it was founded as DATSUN first, later changed to Nissan.

[@RuliMatsumoto]

As a Japanese speaker I was always amazed on how different the Chinese pronounce the name of places and names. Now I understand why. ❤

[@clif_plays]

I am learning Japanese and found this to be very interesting. I am fascinated by how Chinese characters can be understood by speakers of many different languages. Im even finding that if I see a kanji/Chinese character I’m unfamiliar with, I can sometimes guess its meaning if it’s similar to kanji I already know, but I would still have no idea how to pronounce it 😂

[@teddychen8634]

That's so true! I'm a mandarin speaker, and I feel the exact same way when I see Japanese kanji.

[@MrDdz]

Well Japan borrowed Chinese to make its language, and so no surprise there.

[@lyhthegreat]

if it's an onyomi kanji, i can roughly guess the pronunciation of the word bcos i speak chinese(works 50% of the time for me), if it's a kunyomi one then i'm outta luck..

[@redhongkong]

i heard in the old day, japanese could write whole page with kanji only and able to communicate with chinese thru written documents. but its kind hard for everyone to learn from. so they developed a "simplified version" where peasants, kids or lowborn ppl would easily learn without much education. modern mandarin also have similiar thing to help you learn.

[@davidsanders5652]

Brilliantly interesting. Thank you for posting.

[@paranoidhumanoid]

If the character is a personal name, place, or business, normally the Japanese reading is used (there are exceptions). Toyota could be read 豊 (hou) 田 (den) but it's a family name so the Japanese reading 豊 (Toyo) 田 (da) is used. Most characters have at least 2 - 3 readings. Some have as many as 12+ different readings that sound nothing like one another, as in the character for "sun/day": 日 hi 日日 hi(bi) 日産 (Nis)san 日曜日 (nichi)you(bi) 昨日 saku(jitsu) or ki(so) 三日 mik(ka) 一日 tsui(tachi) (or ichi(nichi), or ip(pi)) 明日 ashi(ta) or a(su) 明後日 asat(te) 明日香 A(su)ka 今日 kyou or kon(nichi) 春日 Kasu(ga)

[@danielantony1882]

Good one. All right except for the second reading of 昨日. It's actually Kinou.

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

The meaning of 任天堂 become leave one's luck to heaven is based on the way Japanese language translate 漢文 or 文言文 to native Japanese grammar, so 任天堂 become 天堂に任せ that mean "leave it done by the heaven", but I am pretty sure the founder of Nintendo didn't name his company based on this translation system. It's just asumption of fans that Nintendo named after Japanese pharse 天堂に任せ.

[@SwetPotato]

Interesting back story

[@AlexKS1992]

Whenever I hear Fengtian or Feng Tian I think of the Fengtian Clique in Manchuria during the Warlord Era.

[@Hidden-Force]

One time I came across a character that I didn't recognize. When I went to look it up in my Chinese dictionary (both physical and online), I couldn't find it. I showed it to a Chinese friend, and she said it was Japanese. It seems like Kanji characters are usually the same as their Chinese origins (traditional, not simplified), and sometimes they use the simplified version. It also seems that sometimes Kanji characters use a combination of both traditional and simplified within the same character, or have a Japanese-simplified version with a different radical than the original Chinese character of the same meaning (although I have not verified this to be certain), which is why I wasn't able to find the unfamiliar character in my Chinese dictionaries. I'm sure someone who can read both Chinese and Japanese can verify or (more likely) refute this.

[@musAKulture]

you are correct though. there are simplified versions of chinese characters in every region where chinese characters are used. hk and taiwan use MOSTLY the same character set with very few differences; mainaldn and singapore simplified differ from japanese simplified. all regions (incl korea and vietnam back then) use mainly the traditional characters.

[@zhen86]

ok, a simple answer: each region simplified the Han zi/kanji differently. Taiwan did not simplify(there is a reason) and Hong Kong never simplify too but they created words to suite their Cantonese. 冇(mou) is only used in HK. Singapore tried doing their own way and in the end just used China version. example 𫔭 and 开. Same as Japan who did it their way but retain their way.

[@zhen86]

@@musAKulture Vietnam used to have their own version of Han Zi.

[@teddychen8634]

That's so true!!! 每次跟外國人講到日本名字時，我都要去查一下它的原文，不然真的很多時候是知道，但不會講也不會聽。 ps：我不知道這是不是大陸和台灣的用語差異，但有時候我們會叫Panasonic 為“國際牌”。不過我不確定這只是俗稱，還是真的官方翻譯，因為我看到它的廣告都只說Panasonic 。

[@ChinesewithJessie]

应该是因为它以前的品牌名叫National，后来才改的Panasonic。那台湾会说“松下”吗？

[@teddychen8634]

@@ChinesewithJessie 原來如此，謝謝。 不會欸，都講Panasonic 或國際牌。我是第一次知道大陸的講法和創辦人的名字。

[@chuitung621]

@@ChinesewithJessie 香港叫樂聲牌

[@kent0955]

Panasonic 這品牌的名字比較跟語言沒關，歷史沿革比較有關係。剛查到有人說台灣國際牌是台灣人創立，早期也生產電器，最後就代理松下電器，國際牌就在台灣人心裡深根蒂固，現在Panasonic 就統一整合叫松下。網路查到，不一定正確。

[@zhen86]

@@kent0955 台灣Panasonic集團底下子公司都有松下比如：台灣松下多層材料股份有限公司，台灣松下電腦股份有限公司

[@hanng1242]

"Nissan" was an early Japanese stock exchange abbreviation for Japan Industries (日本産業). Thus, 日産.

[@lyhthegreat]

that's because some japanese words are pronounced using Kunyomi(native japanese language) instead of onyomi(chinese pronunciations), if you specifically listened to the words that are read using onyomi(mostly 2 kanjis together without any hiragana) then you would feel that they actually sounds alot closer to their chinese counterparts.

[@o0...957]

Even more so in case of dialects.

[@lyhthegreat]

@@o0...957 exactly..when i say chinese, i dont mean mandarin, i am actually referring to all the chinese dialects under the chinese language tree.

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

Nissan and Nintendo is Onyomi, probably it will sound closer to Shanghainese pronunciation of 日産 and 任天堂.

[@marcellodominic112]

​​​​@@FriendlyandKind Mitsubishi is in Kunyomi. In Onyomi it would've been pronounced like San Ryou But yes, Honda is in Onyomi

[@yorgunsamuray]

Jessie, straight hair suits you more than that perm you have in your short sketch videos.

[@yuhyi0122]

Damn Rosetta Stone! that takes me back, I learn japanese with it too ahahaha🤣🤣🤣 I already forgot it all tho

[@greenmachatea]

Lol Nissan. Thanks i learnt something new today.

[@crazyape515]

Wow! What timing! Just 2 days ago, my wife (chinese born and raised in Beijing) and her friend (born and raised in China) were driving with me in the car. I remembered from Chinese class, years ago, that Nissan was ri something. They said it's just called Nissan. Pfff its 日产 I knew it!

[@toitoi2019]

In Chinese, there are two ways to call it. One is "尼桑" （ni sang) Its just a transliteration

[@matt04eldorado76]

Your japanese pronounciation is good! But I'm Italian so

[@MyChevySonic]

Little did he know, changing his name to Toyota put the crossroad there anyway.

[@ambird7591]

Japanese names also say surname first. The order for names is the same.

[@charliefckinmarr1188]

Omg she is so cuteee! ❤❤❤

[@natalietai6011]

Shes pretty.

[@kiritawhai7488]

Where did you get your glasses I love them 😭

[@ChinesewithJessie]

I actually got them when I was in high school, recently got new ones but still feel nostalgic 😭

[@predragbataveljic859]

Jessie can you review Murdoch mysteries season 3 episode 2? Thank you, love the channel

[@ChinesewithJessie]

Thanks, I'll give it a look!

[@uamdbro]

Always kind of weird when you watch stuff from Japan dubbed into Chinese and the names are completely different from everywhere else. From Detective Conan, for example: Edogawa Conan = 江戶川柯南 （/江戸川コナン）= Jianghuchuan Kenan, Mori Kogoro = 毛利小五郎 = Maoli Xiaowulang, Suzuki Sonoko = 鈴木園子 = Lingmu Yuanzi, etc.

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

Because most pronunciation of Japanese name is based on Kunyomi. Onyomi based Japanese name will sound closer to its Chinese pronunciation of its Hanzi.

[@dutchrobinson3922]

Can you make a video on the phone call scene from the movie “Arrival”? I’d love to know what the Chinese meaning is :)

[@ChinesewithJessie]

Will do! It's on my list!

[@musAKulture]

just listened to it. might as well be gibberish. the only word i can hear is "general", and nobody really would use just the word "general" to address a general in chinese. you'd need the person's name and rank like "general li"

[@lyhthegreat]

man i always thought nissan meant big brother lol

[@danielantony1882]

Nii-san ≠ Nissan

[@sinoroman]

Excellent translations

[@peterlee9691]

Chinese characters are difficult to remember and therefore learn, only plus-side is, you don't need to know how to speak Chinese to read it. It might not make total sense but recognising some characters helps gets you around. That's why when the Japanese or other ethnic mainland, minority adopted it, it sounds totally different.

[@winters4960]

Kind of blurry ya? The lens

[@manofsorrows69]

great video, but maybe you should've inlcuded brand names written in japanese so people could get an idea that kanji are read differently in mandarin, i feel like it can be very confusing for people who have no idea about kanji/hanzi readings and stuff

[@crabapple.]

Did you mean Kana or Romaji?

[@tonysofla]

Nice glasses, enhances your pretty face.

[@mauinisikawa1808]

No, the kanji are the same. Just they using the Chinese pronunciation. (Well the kanji is simplified tho)

[@antonc81]

I think Nintendo started as a playing card company.. so I suppose in the context of card games or gambling “to leave one’s luck to heaven” is plausible.

[@Black_Sun_Dark_Star]

Only the Westerners pronounced that the name first and family name last. Japanese always say it the way Chinese people call others, family name followed by given name.

[@jamilhussainbarbahuiya90]

what is your full name?

[@gumonmyshu]

Chinese writing is basically proto math. Everyone speaks in their own native tongue but can read the same formula.

[@elifardianto]

Are Japanese movie/anime/manga characters also translated to Mandarin in China?

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

Every Japanese name even Prime Minister's name is translated to Chinese (Mandarin and any Chinese dialects including Cantonese) for Chinese speaking audience. Abe Shinzo is called An Bei Jin Shan in Mandarin language media. But, in reverse, Japanese also translate name of characters in Romance of Three Kingdom, Journey To The West, and name of Chinese polticians and Emperors to Japanese for Japanese speaking audience. Did you know Xi Jinping is called Shu Kinpei in Japanese media?

[@KinLee919]

​@@faustinuskaryadi6610 and i think the funniest: mao zedong 毛泽东 is mou dakutou in Japanese.

[@geoffreyherrick298]

A Toyota's a Toyota

[@GlitchoneNew]

4+4=8 8+8=16 16-3=13

[@cy369]

Some Chinese name because pronunciation from Cantonese. E.g Nissan, Nintendo

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

More likely Shanghainese. Japanese Onyomi is closer to Shanghainese than Cantonese. Not every Chiense words other than Mandarin should be Cantonese. I am pretty sure Nissan name in Cantonese start with Yat which is actually make Mandarin name of Nissan closer to its Japanese name. But I am pretty sure Nissan name in Shanghainese is the closest to its name in Japanese.

[@nickyliu8762]

@@faustinuskaryadi6610 in Hakka it's Ñitsan (or Ngyitsan), which is pretty close, too Nintendo would be Ñit'tientang

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

@@nickyliu8762 Yeah, some Japanese words would sounds like Hakka, but In Japanese dictionary, their Chinese based reading are classified into: 呉音 唐音 漢音 明音 But most Japanese Kanji pronunciation according to Japanese itself are based on 呉 and 唐 , and 明 is the rarest. So, possibly Wu dialect like Shanghainese is closest thing to Japanese 呉音 while for 唐音 according to my experience as Japanese L2 speaker mostly resembling Min Nan. But of course some Hakka words can sound like either Shanghainese or Hokkien depending on the word itself. Japanese read 麒麟 as Kirin and very close to Hokkien Kilin, and Kirin is famous beer brand in Japan.

[@nickyliu8762]

@@faustinuskaryadi6610 I did hear that it was during the Tang dynasty that the Japanese imported many Confucianist and Buddhist scriptures from the mainland. I have also heard an argument that the court tongue during the Tang was Hakka, a conclusion derrived from analyzing the poems of Tang dynasty, so that's where I connected the dots. Of course all of that is just hearsay, and I often hear that most people say, that Japanese-Chinese-reading compares to Shanghainese or Hokkien the most, just as you said.

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

@@nickyliu8762 Some Hakka words like the name for Vermilion Bird of South sounds like Hokkien, so technically there is no single Chinese 'dialects' as source of Japanese Onyomi. Pronunciation wise the name of Japan in Shanghainese and Hakka is close enough to Nippon日本, while Hokkien reading sound closer to Jippon (you can force 日本 to be read as Jippon in Japanese but it's unconventional) and actually some Hokkien literary reading are resembling Hakka (possibly borrowed by Hakka that settled in Fujian Province, yeah and also become the rise of Hakka-Hoklo conflict).

[@luisortunosantanacabrera1001]

Hehehehe jie jie😂😂😂🙃🙃🙃😄😄😄

[@liew_mou_ren1607]

我记得nissan就叫尼桑啊

[@Marc-.]

东风日产：？

[@princessattitude]

u look like joy from red velvet

[@aranerem3767]

Hello

[@陈天雄-i6w]

北京 Hokyo🐮🍺

[@Yo_Kelz]

you the cutest

[@myousafsulliman6659]

Wtf how dose the name changes😂

[@roselylez]

Parasonic 怕了索尼哥 笑死

[@Liora1995]

Jessie老师你今天很漂亮，是不是换了个发型 没有留刘海

[@ChinesewithJessie]

谢谢欧娜～ 刘海太长了就拨到一边了，不过有卷一下头发嘻嘻

[@Big_Dai]

What a beautiful creature

[@gsurtos6588]

Cantonese > mandarin 🫣🤭🤗😋😘😉😊🙂

[@jamilhussainbarbahuiya90]

I will marry you

[@jamilhussainbarbahuiya90]

I love you

[@AziaXtremeNFinity]

do similarities with Mandarin and Tagalog (the primary native language of The Philippines)

[@lyhthegreat]

doubt there are any similarities, but i heard malay and tagalog shares alot of similarities though..

[@xygog2408]

@@lyhthegreat probably loan words from Hokkien like pancit etc.

[@Alozhatos]

@@lyhthegreat I’m as a Malay speaker, similarity considered “yes” due to same Austronesian family language but mutually unintelligible language. It’s like a completely different language family.

[@SouRi1Two3]

I still can’t get over how cute she is

[@AmelieZh]

Toyota=偷油的

[@kinggiftson8024]

I love you 😘❤❤❤

[@user-Chinxi]

埼玉は？

[@musAKulture]

qi yu.

[@musAKulture]

qi yu.

[@Moiez101]

Why would anyone care how chinese people pronoumce japanese brands/companies?

[@musAKulture]

if it's not important to you then why bother commenting? this is a chinese learning channel....

[@lyhthegreat]

@@musAKulture yeah what an idiot...

[@siphu]

@@musAKulture Some people have more time than sense.