There's a Web site that sells t-shirts with Japanese text on them. Two of
their designs are custom orders, with your name in katakana. One is in the
traditional "seal" (Hanko) style, the other shows your name in katakana,
with mostly hiragana following it which apparently says "...is my name."

Along with the descriptions is some well-written explanatory text which
also points out that similar Chinese (Han) renderings of names are likely
to look like gibberish to a Japanese reader, and are less phonetic.
(Hmmm... I'd wonder about transliterating "Przybysz".) The instructions
are even so well-written that they recommend a phonetic rendering in case
a name's pronunciation is uncertain. (Miss Przybysz and her family settled
on "Prizbee", btw.)

It's interesting to speculate what might happen when a customer has not
learned the phonetic character of the Latin alphabet. Such people, some
highly intelligent, are not rare in the USA. Apparently, they read and
write by methods more akin to those whose native script is CJK.

As well, the process involves approval of the artwork before the blank
shirt is marked; it's done well.

Of course, I'm not promoting the Web site; furthermore, the parent site is
rated PG ("parental guidance"), and often finds fun in off-color usage of
words in Romaji, mostly in Japan, that would not appear in polite society
in English-speaking countries, or nations where some significant
proportion of the population is fluent in English and knows social customs
of English-speaking countries. (It's interesting to speculate whether
anyone in the Eurocentric world wears t-shirts marked with CJK
obscenities.) {While it might seem that I'm striving for sentence lengths
of Victorian dimensions, that's not really my intent, btw. :) }

<http://www.j-teez.com/> Use the very-long right arrowhead to scroll all
the way to the right end of the designs.

Please don't consider this as a "put-down" of Asian culture; it is surely
not meant to be that. I was in Japan, on shore leave/liberty from 1955 to
1958, while in the Navy, and saw, firsthand, a phenomenal nation
recovering from WW II. Probably during my first trip ashore, I looked up
at a billboard, and saw CJK, but also "コロンビヤ" (ko ro n bi ya). Up to
that point, I had been quite ignorant about Nihongo in print, and this was
such a surprise (and a pleasant one) that I still remember the occasion.
It's hardly surprising that Columbia Records had a Japanese subsidiary.

I was so surprised that, iirc, I wrote down what I saw, and gently asked
around in the shops until I found somebody who knew a little English, and
had my life's introduction to katakana. Have loved it, ever since, but I
must be setting some sort of record for laziness -- even now, I recognize
every character, but have never learned to read it. At least, sometimes I
can make a good guess. As to Hebrew, I'm even more shameful :); recognize
almost all letters, and can't read it. (No, I'm not proud of this
ignorance.) At least, I did make myself a credit-card-size basic reference
for katakana, did single-pixel editing, and had it laminated. It's still
in my wallet.

During the 1992 recession, after fruitlessly and daily searching for a
job, I spent a good amount of time while on "middle-class welfare" in the
Waltham public library reading a free Japanese ad-supported regional
periodical. Had a lot of fun with the almost-ubiquitous katakana (e a kon;
pasonaru konpyutaa --> pasokon, etc.), but realized it might make sense to
try to learn about that kanji that always followed "Massachusetts" in
katakana. Well, I got hooked -- addicted to -- the Nelson dictionary, and
even photocopied the lookup sequence images. I cut and taped them into a
scroll, whick I kept rolled inside an emptied Old Spice stick deodorant
container. Scroll smelled nice. Btw, "e-a-kon" is a typical short form of
"e-a kondishionaru", air conditioning.

With lots of time, and living only maybe 100 meters or so from the
library, I decided to try translating some selected Japanese sentences,
naturally withthe help of the Nelson Dictionary. I discovered how much
"implication" there is in kanji, as well as the great importance of
context and cultural knowledge. Even with the whole sentence translated, I
still sometimes was far from sure which of several interpretations was
intended. Oh, yes; on average, not knowing any Japanese, it took me about
half an hour per sentence to translate. It was a good time...

This is Bcc: also to a very few people, hence a bit of embedded
explanation that might also help some Qalamites who don't know much
Japanese. (For the Bcc: people: "CJK" means "Chinese/Japanese/Korean",
referring to what we usually call Chinese characters. The Koreans,
apparently, have pretty well phased out their use.)

Best regards,

--
Nicholas Bodley /*|*\ Waltham, Mass. (Not "MA")
The curious hermit -- autodidact and polymath
Feeling calm, this morning.