User blog:1caiser/Correct Japanese

'Disclaimer'' : Two pages will be criticized. I humbly apologize for the damage that I will deal. This also applies for all applicable pages that also fall under the "failure to follow the rules of Japanese".'''

Greetings, my name is Kai, a somewhat-new editor to the SAO Fanon wiki. I will be discussing Correct Japanese.

Overview
As I explore this wiki, I have to say that I see many people who are illiterate in the realm of Japanese Language. I will admit that one only needs to select a Japanese Kanji to make a correct name, but some fail at the task.

No offense, Sero.

And your real name be my guinea pig.

Make sure it is not a verb
This is exactly what Sero, or "Vex Hart" did. The verb 「苦しめる」 means "to vex, to annoy, to afflict" rather than the noun "affliction", written「罹災」 (Risai), or another pronunciation of choice. Having verbs as names is just a "no".

Set the character's nationality
And stay with it.

Unless you have a mixed background of Japanese and another, make sure your name is a single language and that only.

If your character is going to have a Japanese name, do not translate it. In a name, a Japanese word's translation is stripped away and only serves underlying purposes.

A great example of this is Silica, whose real name is Ayano Keiko (remember, surname before given name). Keiko may be written as 「珪子」, but it is not taken as "Silicate Child", but as "Keiko". Again, the meaning is stripped away.

For example, take the name "John". It is not translated as "God has been gracious" in Hebrew, but that is its underlying meaning. A "John" would not be listed as "''God has been gracious'" on his official documents.

I'm looking at you Sero. Your name is "Kurushimeru", not "Vex". Try 「ベックス」 or 「ヴェックス」, and you're good to go.

Romanizing the name
Romaji is the form of Japanese writing using Roman lettering, or the English Alphabet (which isn't true, since many other languages incorporate it). Yes, this wiki misspelled it--"Romanji" is wrong.

However, most of those here seem to think that Romaji is the English lettering to the English spelling, but only with the "alphabet" that the Japanese have (Katakana, used for names of non-Japanese origin). Here is one such mistake (I used the Random Page function).


 * «Anubis and Osiris (アヌビス アンド オシリス)»
 * The Katakana translates into, in English pronunciation, "Aw-new-bee-su aw-n-dou o-she-ree-su". "O-she-ree-su" is not correct. Anubis is an alright translation, though I would prefer 「アヌービス」 (Anūbisu) for the stress on the "nu" syllable. Osiris is supposed to be pronounced like "Oh-sie-riss". The closest, and thus best, Japanese pronunciation is 「オサイーリス] (osaīrisu).

Getting a good name
These are only for character names only.
 * Use a Japanese dictionary. I use Jisho as my main source for Japanese expressions and words. Note, this does not work like Google Translate.
 * Google search "Japanese names". This helps a lot for a good sounding name. However, you may not find what you are looking for, and should just stick with Jisho.
 * Mix and match the pronunciations. Though generally not recommended, you may get a good name by mixing and matching. Just make sure it is written in Katakana.

Pronunciation
I'm guessing why many amateur Japanese-learners are not grasping pronunciation is because of the lack of formal study. I was taught Japanese in a school setting, while some others participated in classes.

Missing Syllables

 * "Si" (pronounced as "yes" in the Spanish Language)
 * Anything starting with V. These are all mitigated by using ヴ (vu). Then, add a small Katakana to match the 5 basic pronunciations ァ, ィ, ェ, ォ (a, i, e, o) right after ヴ (for example "Va" would result in 「ヴァ」. But the v- pronunciation is usually preceeded by バ, ビ, ブ, ベ, ボ (ba, bi, bu, be, bo).　However, the V pronunciations are still viable.
 * Some others I can't list at the moment.

The Correct Pronunciation
あ/ア, い/イ, う/ウ, お/オ are not pronounced as English users would pronounce them. え/エ is the only exception, with pronunciation "eh" as in " e gg".

However, the K, S, T, N, H, M, Y, R, and W Hiragana all follow their standard English pronunciations.
 * Note:There is no yi (replaced with い/イ) and ye (replaced with え/エ).
 * The same goes for wi (い/イ), wu (う/ウ), we (え/エ). Though these W pronunciations used to exist in the Japanese language, but have since been superseded.

The "Lessons"
I have since made lessons on the SAO Wiki as blog posts, a while ago. And since this is kind of a gateway lesson, read those to almost fully understand Japanese.
 * Lesson 1
 * Lesson 2
 * Lesson 3

Closing Thoughts
I created this blog post for the majority of weeaboo (I don't see one in Fede (maybe), or Ishi (definitely not Japanese-illiterate) that lurk here: those that generally have no prior Japanese knowledge, and create an anime character. Sero is a great (and I mean great) example of a failure of a created (real) name. «Anubis and Osiris» was a great example of a failure to follow Japanese pronunciation.

'As for those authors that created those pages and read this post, I do humbly apologize for using your pages as guinea pigs. I mean no offense to those pages, and I am just using them as examples on "how not to make a Japanese name".'

This concludes the «Correct Japanese» blog post, and Intro to Japanese Lesson, which I will dub «Week 0». Thank you for reading the walls of text, and I shall see you later in the SAO Fanon Wiki.

-1caiser, aka Kai Socrius (SAO Fanon Profile) (SAO Wiki profile)