Started by polnareef · 6 Sep 2002 · 2,027 replies
kokuou wrote:
'Rei' is also fine, but it sounds a bit old.
The only place you really hear 'rei' for 'zero' is in things like —ë“x (0 degrees C), and —뎞 (midnight; sometimes noon).
If you are just referring to the number '0' in general, most people say 'zero' or 'maru'.
HTH,
š‘‰¤
Anime Dad wrote:Is it acceptable to write someone's name in Hiragana, if you don't know the Kanji they use or don't know Kanji at all? As in if you're writing an email etc.
4Qbmr wrote: Hmmm, that's a tough one. Right off the top of my head, I would say no. Sometimes I'll see magazine articles and it will show the person's name in Kanji and then below it or off to the side it will show it in hiragana. Almost as if to say, "O.K. for you dummies that don't know your Kanji, here's how you pronounce his name" [/list:u] Edit: but then you've got people like Odagiri Joe, he spells his name in Katakana!!! :bonk: [/list:u]
kenjilina wrote:
i would say it's fine. between friends it certainly is ok and if you're writing to someone you don't know, then they will know that you're not japanese and will be happy and impressed that you're making the effort. :victory:
A name written in kanji may have more than one common pronunciation, only one of which is correct for a given individual. For example, the surname written in kanji as ”~“c may be read either Umeda or Umeta. Conversely, any one name may have several possible written forms, and again, only one will be correct for a given individual. The character ˆê when used as a male given name may be used as the written form for "Hajime," "Ichi," "Kazu," "Hitoshi," and many others. The name "Hajime" may be written with any of the following: Žn, Ž¡, ‰, ˆê, Œ³, ”£, ‘n, •á, Šî, Æ, Œ[, t, –{, Œ¹, “Œ, ‘å, –Ð, or j. This many-to-many correspondence between names and the ways they are written is much more common with male given names than with surnames or female given names, but can be observed in all these categories. This can make the collation, pronunciation, and romanization of a Japanese name a very difficult problem. For this reason, business cards often include the pronunciation of the name as furigana, and forms and documents always have spaces to write the reading of the name in kana (usually katakana). At restaurants in Japan it is common to wait to be seated by writing one's name on a list and waiting to be called, and at the top of the list there is usually a request to write one's name in katakana, rather than kanji.
A few Japanese names, particularly family names, include old-fashioned versions of characters. For example the very common character shima, island, may be written as “ˆ or ›¸ instead of the usual “‡. Some names also feature very uncommon kanji, or even kanji which no longer exist in modern Japanese. Japanese people who have such names are likely to compromise by substituting similar or simplified characters.
An example of such a name is Saitō. While there are over 100 kanji that can be read as sai and over 200 kanji for tō, in this case, there are two common kanji for sai. The two sai characters have different meanings: Ä means "together" or "parallel", but Ö means "to purify". Confusing the two characters would be an embarrassing mistake.
Family names are sometimes written with idiosyncratic characters, called ateji, that relate indirectly to the name as spoken. For example, ŽlŒŽˆê“ú would normally be read as shigatsu tsuitachi ("April 1st"), but as a family name it is read watanuki ("unpadded clothes"), because April 1st is the traditional date to switch from winter to summer clothes.
Most Japanese people and agencies have adopted customs to deal with these issues. Address books, for instance, often contain furigana or ruby characters to clarify the pronunciation of the name. Japanese nationals are also required to give a romanized name for their passport. The recent use of Japanese media using katakana when referring to Japanese celebrities who have gained international fame has started a fad among young socialites attempting to invoke a cosmopolitan flair who use katakana names as a badge of honor. All of these complications are also found in Japanese place names.
Not all names are complicated. Some common names are summarized by the phrase tanakamura ("the village in the midst of the fields"): the three kanjis: “c (ta, rice field), ’† (naka, middle) and ‘º (mura, village), together in any pair, form a simple, reasonably common surname: Tanaka, Nakamura, Murata, Nakata, Muranaka, Tamura.
Despite these difficulties, there are enough patterns and recurring names that most native Japanese will be able to read virtually all family names they encounter and the majority of personal names.
tabana wrote:
Utada hiraku uses katakana for her first name too. I don't know why. Perhaps to look cool or something.
The recent use of Japanese media using katakana when referring to Japanese celebrities who have gained international fame has started a fad among young socialites attempting to invoke a cosmopolitan flair who use katakana names as a badge of honor.
Julieh wrote:I think he said something of the lines of "suma na". Suma means sorry, just a more informal way of saying it. Like shortening sumimasen -> suma.
Maybe :P Hehe...
chiba wrote:Minna, if you watch Gokusen, when Yankumi's grandfather apologizes, he said 'Tsumanda' or something (I'm not really sure how to spell it) instead of the ordinary 'Gomen'..Can somebody explain this to me?Arigatou
aisya_chan wrote:hello minna, may i ask, why there are katagana, hiragana & kanji in japanese writing. all i know is katagana is borrowed words but why do i found katagana in many japanese words? when is the right time to use katagana or hiragana or kanji?
arigatou!
K.T.Tran wrote:
Say....Hamburger for ex. Hamubaga is probably how its spelled with the katakana.
obentou wrote:Is there a significant difference when you add "no koto" to the subject? Like when you say "aitsu no koto ga daisuki", is it different from "aitsu ga daisuki"?
a-nesuto wrote:ive heard them both used :)
Hamubaga and hanbaaguu
tabana wrote:
Actually they are different things.
ƒnƒ“ƒo[ƒK[ (hanbaagaa) is a regular hamburger with a bun.
ƒnƒ“ƒo[ƒO (hanbaagu) is hamburger without bun. a.k.a. Hamburger steak.
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