What's in a Name?
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.
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