Are Japanese people aware of the Chinese meanings of Kanji?


I'm not sure if I've got the right wording in the question, but it comes from
playing around with translate.google.com.

I was aware that Japanese and Chinese have similar (if not identical)
characters (I'm a Westerner, so again, I apologise if this is all just wrong).

So, for a laugh, I entered my name in English and translated it to Chinese.

I then took that Chinese translation and told Google it was Japanese and then
translated it back to English.

Some names were just non-sensical. I also think some of the translations have
improved over time.

For example, my name Richard, is translated to Chinese as 理查德. Treating that
as Japanese, it becomes Ri-sense back in English.

A couple of years ago, it was management (or middle management - I can't quite
remember).

I was demonstrating this to my work colleague Joe. Joe didn't do anything as
there seems to be no translation of 乔 from Japanese to English.

But when I tried his full name of Joseph, ... well ... embarrassment all
round.

In Chinese, Joseph translates to 约瑟夫. If this was Japanese, translating it to
English is a quite an offensive word.

Is this a fluke?

Are there any rules about what characters are used?

I suppose one rule is don't get a Chinese tattoo of your name and visit Japan
if your name is Joseph!




To native speakers of Japanese, 理查德 and 约瑟夫 mean nothing. To me, they are just
some random kanji, most of which are unfamiliar. (Japanese people only use 理
and 夫.) I don't even know if it's a proper noun, a full sentence, or complete
gibberish. All I can say is that they are kanji, and may or may not mean
something for Chinese speakers.

I also tried Google Translate to translate "约瑟夫 as Japanese" to English, but I
have absolutely no idea why they showed this word. You should know Google
Translate is not a grammar/spell checker. It almost never complains. Even if
you entered complete gibberish, it often shows something that may look
meaningful.

As for the _Chinese_ rule of choosing characters for westerner names, perhaps
this question at Chinese Language SE helps:

  * [mandarin - How do we choose the correct characters for a westerner name? - Chinese Language Stack Exchange](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/242)

Regarding how such names would look to Japanese people, it's very unlikely
that such Chinese-Western names happen to mean something in Japanese. Usually
they only strike us as unfamiliar characters which are "presumably Chinese".




To native speakers of Japanese, 理查德 and 约瑟夫 mean nothing. To me, they are just
some random kanji, most of which are unfamiliar. (Japanese people only use 理
and 夫.) I don't even know if it's a proper noun, a full sentence, or complete
gibberish. All I can say is that they are kanji, and may or may not mean
something for Chinese speakers.

I also tried Google Translate to translate "约瑟夫 as Japanese" to English, but I
have absolutely no idea why they showed this word. You should know Google
Translate is not a grammar/spell checker. It almost never complains. Even if
you entered complete gibberish, it often shows something that may look
meaningful.

As for the _Chinese_ rule of choosing characters for westerner names, perhaps
this question at Chinese Language SE helps:

  * [mandarin - How do we choose the correct characters for a westerner name? - Chinese Language Stack Exchange](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/242)

Regarding how such names would look to Japanese people, it's very unlikely
that such Chinese-Western names happen to mean something in Japanese. Usually
they only strike us as unfamiliar characters which are "presumably Chinese".

