Thread: Sergei...in English?

Originally Posted by saibot

Is Serj also an Armenian name? I have a friend whose family is from Armenia, and everyone calls him Serj, including me. Is this short for Sergei too?

No, Sergey (Serj) is a Russian name, but Armenians could use it as well.

Sir Gay, what a funny joke!

Если вы хотите, чтоб имя звучало по-русски, но не как "Господин Гей", то лучше говорить Сергий. Это старославянская форма имени, хоторая до сих пор широко используется в церковном обиходе.

А вообще, таким образом исковеркать и испохабить можно любое слово, не только имя.

Vladimir Putin - what did he put in?
Билл Клинтон - кого же это он бил?
Пол Маккартни - половина(1/2) Маккартни
Ринго Стар - Ringo is old

Если обо всём этом думать- свихнуться можно. Особенно причудлив китайский язык. Не знаю, что означает имя Ху-Яо-Бан, а по-русски, если произнести быстро, звучит как отборная матерщина.

So the conclusion is: the puns are unavoidable.

Есть вполне приемлемый английский вариант - и нечего голову ломать: Sergius.

Originally Posted by saibot

Is Serj also an Armenian name? I have a friend whose family is from Armenia, and everyone calls him Serj, including me. Is this short for Sergei too?

It's russian name but Armenia used to be part of USSR, so there is a lot of things there left from Russians. I would dare to say that almost everyone there still speak russian like they used to. Correct me if I am wrong.

Есть вполне приемлемый английский вариант - и нечего голову ломать: Sergius.

Segius Maximus!

Anyways my Dads name is Sergei, Americans usually pronounce it Serj.

Originally Posted by emka71aln

I have a friend named Sergei (he's Russian) and a lot of his American friends call him Serge (Serj). Is this common?

Nothing is wrong with the name - I have colleagues and friends called Sergey/Sergei (whatever spelling). The most common abbreviation is Serge (not Serj) to match the French spelling, although it's pronounced Serzh (Сэрж) in French, Serge, in English should be pronounced Serj, not Serjy (I heard it many times by English speakers). As for Sergey/Sergei (Сергей) - yeah, it is pronounced as Sir Gay or Sirghey in English - I wouldn't worry about the pun, the historic meaning of "gay" is merry, not homosexual. My friends called Sergei/Sergey never complained about being teased or something.

When Sergey is pronounced as one word, it sounds OK. I wouldn't worry about changing or accommodating the name (a Russian habit). Americans call him your friend Serge because introduces himself this way or because he is sick of correcting them.

I taught everyone around me to pronounce my name correctly - Anatoli. Compared to Europe (e.g. Anatole is a common name in France) Australians are not familiar with many male Russian names, they have to be taught.

Originally Posted by vy

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Если обо всём этом думать- свихнуться можно. Особенно причудлив китайский язык. Не знаю, что означает имя Ху-Яо-Бан, а по-русски, если произнести быстро, звучит как отборная матерщина.

The syllable HUI (ХУЙ) in Chinese is very common, has many meaning (pronounced with different tones but sounds like a swearword to Russians - it means "dick".

One common meaning is can, be able to or meeting - written as the same character. (4th tone - falling)

Wo hui shuo Zhongguohua - Во хуй шо Чжунгохуа. - I can speak Chinese.

Ni hui-bu-hui shuo Zhongguohua - Ни хуй-бу-хуй шо Чжунгохуа? Can you speak Chinese?

Hui jia - Хуй цзя. () To return home. (hui is pronounced with 2nd tone - rising)

Etc, etc.

Well, Russians just need to get used to it, if they learn Chinese, otherwise too many phrases will sound like swearing.

By the way, Russian "типа" ("нового типа") - sounds as the same swearword to Chinese (spelled "jiba" in pinyin but in fact, sounds like "типа").