# Dead Marvin



## hollowdeath

Hi! I've got some kind of an art project and one of the things it includes is some writing in Japanese. I know how complicated the language is and that the order of the letters and such things may change the meaning of everything written. So i don't want just google translete it, you know, it would be embarassing to have something completely different from something you imahine being wrotten on your products. So, ehat i need is the phrase 'DEAD MARVIN'. I'm pretty sure that Marvin is マーヴィン, but what do i need to add to make the phrase complete? Thank you very much in advance, i hope you can sort me out.


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## 810senior

Hello, I guess the transliterated one is the best: デッド・マーヴィン_deddo maavin_.
If you want to have it mixed with a Japanese-native word, you can also say 死んだマーヴィン_shinda maavin_, 死せるマーヴィン_shiseru maavin_ or 息絶えたマーヴィン_ikidaeta maavin_.


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## hollowdeath

Thank you very much 810senior! I wonder would the letters デッド・ that you transliterated have some valid information in japanese. Does that combination of letters mean something in japanese beside sounding the closest to the english word "dead"? Thank You!


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## hollowdeath

I also very like the 息絶えた ikidaeta version, it looks very elegant and i like the way it sounds. Could you please elaborate on the exact meaning of the word? What's the slight difference between the ikidaeta one and those offered before it?


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## karlalou

If it's a title of something, the simple transliteration is what often officially done by contemporary translators in Japanese to make it appeal to the audience however often times the meaning of it does not transmit very well. You don't want to be too explanatory in a title, so that's the solution for many occasions. 

If the transmission of the meaning is more important than the sound or look of it, then the most direct and simplest translation of "Dead Marvin" is 死んだマーヴィン. Though in Japanese, this alone could sound and look pretty abrupt, so the two alternations given in #2. We need more context to know how it's appropriate or not.


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## hollowdeath

Alright, thank you for the reply. The 'Dead Marvin' represents the name of the musician. I think i'm looking for a balance between the meaning and the sound/looks of the phrase. I definately want the name marvin sound close to the word 'marvin' but when it comes to the 'dead' part i'm a bit confused. So, it's like a title but a title with a meaning in it.


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## karlalou

OK. So, it's a proper noun. 
You don't translate a proper noun. It should be デッド・マーヴィン or Dead Marvin.


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## hollowdeath

Hmm, that's an interesting point. Do i have to count it as a proper noun though? Like if we take some of the popular musicians, say, Ice Cube, Earl Sweatshirt, would their names count as a proper noun in Japanese as well and would those words be transliterated rather than translated? Thank You.


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## karlalou

Yes. Definitely. If it's in Russian, it must at least try to be in the original pronunciation.


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## hollowdeath

No, it's in English, but i got your point. Thank you very much for your assistance in this, i'm glad you helped me to figure this out. The last question: the "dot" sign here デッド・マーヴィン, is it a single letter or some kind of a punctuation symbol? Oh, yeah, and as i asked before, does the transliterated phrase 'DEAD MARVIN' デッド・マーヴィ mean something beside sounding the closest to the English version?


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## karlalou

Happy to be of help.

In Japanese, Western artists' names are usually converted into _katakana_ (unless the artists themselves have their ideas, I think).

The dot in the middle, ・, is usually added between each words for the Western compound words including person's names. The Grateful Dead, for example, is グレイトフル・デッド. 

デッド・マーヴィン in Japanese doesn't mean anything. It will be considered as a proper name.


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## hollowdeath

Thank you all very much for the help!


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