An Importers Guide To Japanese

[Earl]

Wow, great guide guys. I actually started to learn Katakana a day before I saw this. Perfect timing.

Just going through the table with Kirby and it's amazing how much you can pick up. Picking up one or two words in a sentence really helps out with objectives. It opens up the game a great deal more.

Someone else mentioned it's very rewarding and I can definitely see it. I got a great deal of satisfaction from translating my first word and was actually a bit shocked that it worked. I'll defintely work on it in the next few weeks.

[xtremeboat]

This is gonna be a great reference tool. Great work guys!

[kid_s]

it's a good article for showing that japanese is not that uber-hard it appears to be at first sight but it's far from being great and i had expected somewhat more professional from ntsc-uk people.

first of all the vocabulary list is incomplete and contains some mistakes and typos:
the katakana for "seebu" reads "hiipu" (heap)
"aitemo", correct: "aitemu"
"kogeki", corect: "ko(u)geki" in hiragana
"shuuryou" means rather "done" or "finished"
"tatakau" is not written in kanji
"on" and "off" can also stand as "on" and "offu" in katakana
"settei" also appears often in kanji or katakana

i suppose you took the examples from one or two games wich doesn't make it really representative.

you also deliberately change forms of transcription (it's either "shu" or "syu", choose one and stick to it) which doesn't really make it easier for beginners to learn something.

two more points regarding the content. it's true that there are tens of thousands of kanji in the language but you really have to now about 2000 (jouyou kanji) to be able to read a newspaper, and even less to be able to understand an RPG. also don't tell a Chinese it's impossible someone can memorize 20-30.000 characters 'cause they do. and what is that comment "(...) like many things in Japan, [the language] follows a tight structure and recognisable pattern (...)"? is that supposed to be a starter for a discussion on "patterns of Japanese society"?

to sum up, the article could have been a lot better. i'll give you 5/10 for sloppiness.

[Tom Salter]

Hi kid_s;

Since the writers (me and half-pint) are learning the language ourselves, and our knowledge is hardly stellar at the moment, there were bound to be more mistakes. Our main problem is that it was very hard to double-check the article, with so few people being able to check up on it.

Thank very much for the comments though, we only get better by criticism And the errors will be rectified soon.

On a side note, it was meant to give non-japanese speakers the opportunity to gain a little bit more insight into their games, rather than a definitive guide to speaking/reading the language, and on that side it appears we were successful. If we learn enough though, we might just delve into a more in-depth article, or a series of them? Would these be any help, or was the original a little too heavy for readers?

[kid_s]

i didn't mean to be too harsh in my criticism as i see the article indeed as a good starting point. more would be welcome. i was thinking of a growing list of genre specific vocabulary. drop me a line if you need some assistance in the future. at least i could provide someone to doublecheck.

[Tom Salter]

That's okay, harsh criticism is welcome, and it's totally understood seeing as we got it wrong. If we do choose to expand into a series, we'll get in touch

[Square]

I found the guide to be very useful, and I would definately welcome a series of articles. Well done guys!

[sam1981]

Just had a good read through this article and it is great lads.

I think I'll print it off and have it by my consoles so I can practice memorising the symbols.

Dunno if it's just me, but I cannot find the last character from this word in your guide. All I can translate is 'rari'...

[Tom Salter]

Japanese doesn't have an L sound. So RARI = RALI = Rally.

Say "Rari" quickly, it almost sounds like Rally.

Hence the emphasis in the guide of saying everything out aloud.
EDIT::

Oh sorry, didn't quite read what you said.

the "-" character just elongates the last sound. But it's also the Kanji for the number 1 (ichi). It's a funny old language

[TheOnimusha]

Thank very much for the comments though, we only get better by criticism And the errors will be rectified soon.

On a side note, it was meant to give non-japanese speakers the opportunity to gain a little bit more insight into their games, rather than a definitive guide to speaking/reading the language, and on that side it appears we were successful. If we learn enough though, we might just delve into a more in-depth article, or a series of them? Would these be any help, or was the original a little too heavy for readers?

A more in-depth article / series would be very welcome! 8)

As for your earlier question on what might be useful to add? Well a dictionary, that could be expanded and updated might prove useful too, though I realise that is a big effort. I had a look in my library yesterday and found plenty of dictionaries but none that cover video games / console language

Even more, I doubt if I could find the meanings of words found in games like Onimusha, and believe me I have searched the net too and come up with nothing

Yes, mystical/magical/horror words would be a useful addition to your articles, that way games like Onimusha, Otogi, Magatama, Silent Hill, and so on, that feature zombies, magic and so forth might be more understandable

Cheers!

[kinsukejpn]

Yes, I also think it's a good job, though some mistakes are in it.
I can assist you, if you need it.

[Sketcz]

Woot! Its KinsukeJPN!

Good to see you joined the site old buddy.

As a character reference, I can say that he is has a wealth of knowledge on Japanese games and most things collectable, he also has done some excellent FAQs for Japanese games.
He also has an amazing collection of Sega Saturn games, so if you have a question you know who to PM.


Welcome to the site Kinsuke.

[Darwock]

Ok, can someone tell me why the katakana for 'cast' in Dreamcast is -kyasto and not kasto? Likewise for kyaribaa (calibur)?

[kinsukejpn]

Ok, can someone tell me why the katakana for 'cast' in Dreamcast is -kyasto and not kasto? Likewise for kyaribaa (calibur)?

Yes, we Japanese call DC "Doriimukyasuto" or "Dorikyasu," because SEGA announced so.
Although I do not know whether it was related to the name,
"Kasu" means "dregs" or "scums" in Japanese.

>otaku84

Hello, thank you for your invitation