Michael Jackson

Question

So, Michael Jackson. Why do names have translations? Like why can't Michael stay Michael, not Miguel? And does this apply to most proper nouns? Thanks-

Person in Distress

Answer 1

Names do not have translations. Some names in some languages have corresponding names in others.

Michael Jackson's name is Michael Jackson and most certainly not Miguel Jackson. If your name is Michael, Spanish speakers might call you Miguel, but your name is really, truly, Michael, and they know it.

Other proper nouns are trickier. Spanish speakers who say "Michael Jackson," and not "Miguel Jackson," mostly say "Nueva York." In the same way, English speakers say "Antonio Banderas," not "Anthony Banderas" (or "Anthony Flags"), but say "Mexico City" and not "Ciudad de México."

If you truly find this distressing, I recommend deep breathing.

Answer 2

Too profound of a question to be answered lightly. Specially to someone in distress.

Sí, a mi me da pena. - annierats, Nov 3, 2015

:) - chileno, Nov 3, 2015

Answer 3

I asked a question similar to this about a month ago on spanishdict and this was the answer I received from someone on this website.

"You never translate your name. You say your name just as you do in English. If the person you are speaking to has a hard time understanding it you can say it slowly and spell it in Spanish. I don't know if young people get this idea from their Spanish teacher, but there seems to be a conception out there that names can or should be translated.

Some names have equivalents in Spanish only because Christian (and to a certain extent Jewish) names are often associated with the Bible or saints. I will give you some examples but this is not to be used in the sense of translation: (Spanish are bold and English are italics)

María Mary

José Joe or Joseph

Diego or Santiago James, Jim, Jimmy

Juana Joan, Jane, Jean, Jeanne

Miguel Michael, Mike, Mitchell

Marta Martha

Carlos Charles, Chuck, Charlie

It is common in Spanish to add -ito to a name like we add -y or -ie:

Spanish: Carlito, Miguelito, Luisito, Juanita

English: Charlie, Mikey, Joey, Janey"

Answer 4

I completely agree with Chileno.

If you focus on translation, you will never speak another language correctly - you will miss the feeling, nuance and culture or in short, the complete experience of that language.

Answer 5

Julian:

It is on the contrary. You have to focus on translation.

Else, how are you going to understand the other language?

My comment is not about language learning in its infancy but rather after one starts to actually speak - 005faa61, Nov 4, 2015

Answer 6

This makes me remember when Lebron James said in a twitter to my national soccer team captain James Rodriguez something like congrats for being one of the most valuable players in the soccer worldcup (because of your name) but James Rodriguez is pronunciated as "hames" pronunciating the "ha" sound like in hammer.