Quick and Dirty Japanese Q&A (5 minutes or less)

Post by **SonicTempest** » Wed May 17, 2006 14:34

I honestly...have no idea. I actually made a thread about this at old ON, and Gojira suggested it was probably just a style decision. Oddly enough, not only are their names not written in kanji, but the order is first name - last name rather than the usual Japanese last name - first name.

NB: In Buriki One Ryo's surname is actually spelled in in kanji, but his first name is still spelled in katakana, and the two are in the correct order:
坂崎リョウ

Perfect Stranger · Post by **Perfect Stranger** » Thu May 18, 2006 05:04

That's an easy one. It's because Takuma made love to Blue Mary, and Ryo was the result. Hence, Ryo's name is written in Katakana, to reflect his caucasian accent.

I mean, how else do you think Ryo came to be a natural blonde?

*loves Bluebird's old comics*

*was also joking, in case people are taking him seriously*

Gojira · Post by **Gojira** » Thu May 18, 2006 08:26

Well, they are American (since South Town is implied to be in America) so they usually use American naming conventions. I believe the official spelling of their respective first names is actually the romaji (like with Terry and Andy), and the katakana spellings are only a guide for pronunciation. The family name can go either way. Sometimes it will be written in kanji and come before the first name like Japanese tradition, but if it's written in katakana, the family name will come second like in America. So you'll either see　坂崎リョウ　or　リョウ・サカザキ　but never サカザキ・リョウ.

...probably. Actually I haven't researched this much, so the katakana name with family first could have been used somewhere I forgot.

In the end I still conclude that it was a style decision. That's just the more detailed answer.

khdu · Post by **khdu** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:54

螺子之人

1. What does that mean in English?
2. Does it read as "Neji no hito" or "Nejino hito"? Which one is more accurate?

Perfect Stranger · Post by **Perfect Stranger** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 04:41

Sorry, forgot about that question.

Anyway, err, I've never seen/heard that term before, and I've actually asked native Japanese speakers about it, and they've said the same thing.

Strictly speaking, according to the dictionary, 螺子(neji) is a screw, so the rest of the kanji suggests "A screw person".

Note that the third character, 之, while indeed existing in Japanese, is not often used (this hiragana character の is used most of the time instead. That said, even if this phrase were actually Chinese, which I suspected for a while, it doesn't seem to make sense to me either.

And yeah, it should be neji no hito.

Gojira · Post by **Gojira** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 05:53

True, when I put it into my edict I get screw or spiral.

When I break down the kanji seperately though, it seems like it could also stand for a baby mollusk. Are you sure it's pronounced "neji"? Was there furigana to show the pronunciation?

khdu · Post by **khdu** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 11:16

Thanks for that one. How about this:

虧兎に告ぐ

The kanji to romaji converter I found somewhere can't romanize the first two characters. People say it's "Kito".

Perfect Stranger · Post by **Perfect Stranger** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 15:16

, I finally figured out ( thanks to a friend) where' you're getting those weird kanji from.

Google is your friend~ XDDD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asaki

(It's supposed to be Kiusagi ni tsugu, apparently)[/url][/list]

khdu · Post by **khdu** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:47

It's because I typed that one, since someone told me it's "Kiusagi".
Everyone else uses "Kito", and the singer must have said "Kito" in the respective song, so...

*just edited it, waits for verification*

Perfect Stranger · Post by **Perfect Stranger** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:08

To be honest, the kanji is far too obscure for me. ;p Sorry to disappoint. From the meanings of the individual kanji, it seems to mean Moon Rabbit (which makes sense from a Japanese cultural point of view), but as for the reading? I'm afraid you've got me there.

If everyone else uses kito, hey, why not go with the flow?

Sorry I'm not much more help.

khdu · Post by **khdu** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 10:32

There goes a difficult kanji to read. (It seemed to be "Telling the hare" in English)

Thanks for trying to help anyway.

Fuu · Post by **Fuu** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 15:25

優雅に舞う大君

please translate :3

Perfect Stranger · Post by **Perfect Stranger** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 17:05

Fuu wrote:優雅に舞う大君

yuuga ni mau dai-kun

Dai-kun, who dances elegantly. (I think it's Dai-kun - "Dai" is the most common way of pronouncing that character in a name)

Anti-K' · Post by **Anti-K'** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 06:50

How do I use the particles "ni", "ga", "o", and "de"? I always misuse them in past tense sentences. (Please reply! Midterms are on Tuesday!)

Post by **SonicTempest** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 07:01

Er

...pretty loaded question. Particle usage can vary quite widely depending on context.

So er....in what context do you want to see usages of these particles?

"o" is pretty straightforward though - it denotes direct objects. For instance:

パンを食べました。
Pan o tabemashita.

In this case "o" acts as the particle showing that "pan" is the direct object in the sentence.