According to Japanese Wikipedia, that's how you spell my name in Japanese: カイル マクドナルド - Actually it works out to "Kairu" Makudonarudo, but that's as close as you're going to get Kyle MacDonald in the Japanese alphabet - or whatever one of the three types of Japanese alphabets that happens to be. I have no idea which one of the three types of Japanese alphabets that is, just that it's one of the three. I'm not being ignorant, or making fun of Japanese alphabets, I'm just being lazy. Far too lazy to search for the name of that sort of Japanese lettering. Also, instead of asking good old Google, I wanted to provide an opportunity for a smartypants to give us all a far-too-in-depth insight about Japanese alphabetization and get all the credit. Google gets far too much credit as far as I'm concerned. It's time to fight back against Google getting all the credit. You know, stand up for the little guy. Starting now.....by me being lazy. VERY lazy.
In other international fun, my mom, dad and brother are in Shanghai right now. Why, you ask? Why, to take pictures of Chinese KFC storefront banners and email them to me with hopes of them appearing on this blog of course:
Yes, that's right. China has their own version of Colonel Sanders. That's pretty much the
second coolest thing I've ever seen. Not the coolest thing I've ever seen, but the
second coolest thing I've ever seen. I bet that before this exact instant you never cared what the coolest thing I ever saw was, did you? But you probably can't wait to find out, right? Okay, I'll tell you: the coolest thing I ever saw was....no, wait. Hold your horses. I can't tell you - it's a secret.
Abruptly changing the subject (but not really), does anybody have any ideas what Chinese Colonel Sanders's name is?
I've got an
amazing name idea for Chinese Colonel Sanders, but I'll tell you later - after all, it's a secret too.
Have fun - Kyle
Having taken a whole year of Japanese in university I can with confidence tell you that the characters are "katakana" which are the japanese characters for foreign words. And if you are in need of more semi useful information the other two are "hirigana" which is for purely japanese words and "kanji" which are detailed chinese inspired characters which can either represent a full word, a name or even a concept.
ReplyDeletechinese colonel sanders is pronounced, "y-ong her dar wang" thats the best i can do for a translation. one red paper clip is the most amazing thing i have ever seen. weird bizare but unique and cool at the same time. go for it mate.
ReplyDeleteI spend some time in Shanghai as a student and although I'm not sure of the official name, we always called it KF-Mao (despite a lack of resemblance to the late Chinese leader). They serve pretty decent fast food.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to his glasses? Drop them overboard on the trans-pacific cruise?
ReplyDeleteThat picture of the Colonel Sanders rip-off was taken in 2007!
ReplyDeleteyeah, though everyone just calls it 'yong he'. it's basically a chinese fast food place, but we always called him the 'chinese colonel' when we were there :) they're a huge chain all over china, and is a great place to get cheap breakfast.
ReplyDeleteYour name is written in katakana. The other two types of Japanese alphabets are hiragana and kanji. Katakana is used to transliterate foreign words into Japanese mora. BTW, there is no "L" sound in Japanese. That's why you have "R" substitutes.
ReplyDeleteThe 'Chinese Colonel Sauders' is actually called 'The Noodle King' How do I know? My partner and I have eaten in one of his many chains around China. Cheap dishes, but you are better off eating fresh food in the hustle of a proper food market. - TopCat
ReplyDeleteThose pics of the Chinese KFC is making me hungry...
ReplyDeleteEnglish is hard for me...
ReplyDeleteカイル! Could you trade your English sense for me?(Is my English OK?)
Second time I see a pic of the colonel yong he in a blog. The other one is at pincheschinos.blogspot.com. It´s a mexican blog with the better -or worse- examples of chinese dudes stealing ideas -and breaking every copyright law known by human race-. That´s about it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your task of getting a house, Kyle. BTW, would you mind the location of the house? Let's say Thailand? How about Irak?
Hola Kyle,
ReplyDeleteI see that him these happening very well...
Gaby from Chile
I think the translation of 'yong he da wang' is somewhat unimportant, but if you are curious, it means 'eternal and great king'. There are a lot of nicknames it has acquired, including a phonetic one: "ken de er ji," ji meaning chicken.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't the Chinese Colonel Sanders be General Tso, famous worldwide for his own special chicken blend?
ReplyDelete...why not...
ReplyDeleteHi, Kyle.
ReplyDeleteI happened to know your wonderful project by a Japanese TV programme you were on.Since that, I am sometimes visit and enjoy your site from Japan.
About spelling your name in Japanese, I think, カイル マクドナルド(Katakana）is very normal.
When you are a very small kid, your name can be spelled by "Hiragana" as かいる まくどなるど.
Hiragana is the first alphabet to learn in the language.
Hi Kyle, saw you on Japanese T.V. last week. Was so impressed with your story I decided to try it here in Tokyo, not with a red paper clip, but with 70 red rubber bands that I managed to accumulate and did't want to throw away. I think it is a good way to encourage people to recycle.
ReplyDeleteWow man -- you are almost at 3 million hits... Hey everyone -- lets boost this site over the top... email all your friends, lets make a bulge...
ReplyDeleteKairu-san,;-) saw you on TV in Japan and when I looked on your site that night, you had already made 2 more trades! Hope things keep going well for you guys. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHello Kyle,
ReplyDeleteYour "Chinese KFC colonel sanders" is actually a very well-known breakfast chain from Taiwan. The first 2 characters "Yong Her" is the city (near Taipei) where the chain originated from.
Nevertheless, it's quite cool that you started the comparison. I've never thought the logo looked like Colonel Sanders.... Now you mentioned it, yes they do look alike ;)