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| English: Table of katakana characters, and the kanji from which they derive. Français : Évolution des katakana à partir des kanji. Русский: Таблица символов катаканы (слева) и исходные иероглифы, из которых они развились (справа). (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| English: Japanese "alphabets" in Diderot Encyclopedia (18th century) -- actually syllabaries, (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
To understand the following, I have to explain a a little something about Japanese.
The Japanese language uses basically 4 different character sets:
* Chinese characters
* Japanese alphabet for native terms (called hiragana)
* Japanese alphabet for foreign terms (called katakana)
* roman alphabet
Facebook requires everyone to provide his/her REAL name. That is my case (I am a German) naturally written in roman alphabet.
However, facebook also asks, whether you (anybody) would like to display this name also in a different language. For me here this would be Japanese.
For me that would be Thomas (first name)
-> rendered in katakana 「トーマス」
Here the syllable for "tho" is extended to match the pronounciation.
BUT ... and I had the same problem before with NHK = the national TV station - facebook tells me: oh no, there is no name that would be pronounced "thomas" (with a prolonged "tho" instead of the short form used in English).
I ***MUST*** use a rendition of my name that simply is NOT(!!!) my name.
The same applies to my family name.
So, what is it with these facebook idiots.
On the one hand they demand that I provide my real name,
but on the other hand they force me to use a fake name.
That is, what it comes to: a false name! NO (!!!) official document related somehow to me would be recognized/accepted with the forced (Japanese) spelling.
How stupid!
