Tan Tin Wee wrote:
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Canon inc. the company originating from Japan, derives its company name from transliteration in latin characters of the Japanese pronunciation of Ka'non the Taoist/Buddhist deity Goddess of Mercy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Yin.
A check of the Kanji characters of Canon as incorporated in Japan will verify this.
It is therefore not an English word, just as my name has nothing to do with suntan or tin cans or anyone's wee wee -just a transliteration of the phonetics of a southern chinese pronunciation of the chinese name Chen Dingwei.
Bestrgds
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Tan Tin Wee (family name Tan!)
Dear Tin Wee,

I know the 觀音 and the different pronunciations in pinyin: Guānyīn, Japanese: Kannon, and Korean: Gwan-eum - but I would be happy to know also the original "Tan Tin Wee" in Chinese characters  :-)

Just a personal, not a brand name question.

As far as this problem is concerned:

Tan Tin Wee (family name Tan!)

I hope that the organizations who supposedly foster multi-cultural and multi-lingual diversity,  will also slowly learn to use different input masks for  different  language cultures. This does not only relate to Chinese (or other East Asian) names.

I remember that, for example, President José López Portillo of Mexico was, in the Western press, "President Portillo" though "Portillo" is his father's FamilyName, and his own FamilyName was López (or López Portillo), but to use only Portillo was just wrong.

I know also that many people who have different name orders from English or German say: "Forget it, we are used to the fact that 'foreigners' do not understand it,  or worse, they do not care." I think in the context of ICANN, we should, over time, be more respectful.


Norbert

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