Do you know what ur western name is in Japanese?

oh nicee... :D .. yayyy !! i searched my actual name .. :) this is a nick .. something is better than nothing :D .. hehe !

just spell it out phonetically and then find the characters here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana

that's true. doesn't change my first name but it does change my last name (which i'm not posting lol)

Mine is most commonly written as ジョイス but it seems that phonetically it can also be written as ジョイセ.

^Yehp

i would describe it as:
メ=ma in may
ア= ah like when you open your mouth and say "aaahh"
リ= this is the hardest one. some people say that the "r" in japanese is like a mixture between r and l. "i" sounds like "ee" in "see."
ー= this sign just means that you extend the vowel sound that it followed, in this case it's "i." I find it easiest to think of it in terms of music: if "ri" is a quarter note, then the "ー" is like another quarter note. Together "リー" is a half note.

pronunciation guide http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38MJW2q6Vp0&feature=related
there's a part 2, 3 and 4 and a bunch of other lessons but this one is the basic kana

Kikoro wrote: actually just found this, might be more helpful, talking hiragana/katakana chart, just mouse over the character and it gives you pronunciation :D

it looks like u forgot to add a link with this post.

fcazi.v80 wrote: Mine is most commonly written as ジョイス but it seems that phonetically it can also be written as ジョイセ.

i totally miss read that. :( i thought it was joey or jose or josie. maybe i'm dyslexic in japanese. lol