The (apparently) same sequence of symbols in an Aikido diploma results in weirdly different translations in Google Translator. Can someone explain?

Question

According to the posting guidelines, this is a bit off-topic: I'm not learning Japanese. But I have two Aikido degree certificates where the part that seems to describe the degree results in different translations for the (apparently) same sequence of symbols, and one of them is really weird and doesn't seem to be related to the context in an obvious way.

Here is the "1st kyu" (that's how English-speaking folks refer to this degree):

Google Translator translates this as "1st class permission possible". This makes sense to me, something like "the holder of this certificate has permission to call themselves a student 1st class" or similar.

Experiments with Google also seem to indicate that the top two are the degree, and the bottom four are the "permission possible" part, also alone translated as "you can do it" by Google.

Now here is the "1st dan" or "shodan" (again that's how English-speaking folks refer to this degree):

The bottom four symbols seem to be the same as before, and Google translates them alone as the same "you can do it". But all symbols together are translated as "1st dan masturbation". I can't draw a context line from this to what (I think) it should mean.

I know that this is Google Translator, and it may be anybody's guess what it does. But maybe someone can explain how the combination of symbols and contexts work here to create this translation?

Thanks for any insights.

Answer 1

First thing's first: Don't trust Google Translate with Japanese. It's notoriously horrible.

Next, 允可. This means "permission/compliance". Since you're not studying Japanese, I won't try to explain in too much detail, but 允可ス is simply the verb form "to permit/comply". The ヲ points to what is permitted/complied (direct object), which is the thing preceding it (Japanese grammar uses a different word order than English).

So that brings us to 一級 vs 初段.

• 一級: 一 is "1", and 級 is grade/level/rank. So 一級 is "Level 1".
• 初段: 初 means "first", and 段 is degree/level/class/rank. So 初段 is "First degree".

I don't know all the nuances of 級 vs 段, but their meanings and usage can overlap in many contexts, but not in others. Clearly in the martial arts world (or at least Aikido), they do.

So the whole thing translates to "_____ permit Level 1/First Degree". One thing to note (as shown by my blank space) is that there is nothing here that explicitly lists the "doer(s)" of the "permitting" action. Japanese will often omit the doer if the context is clear. So this means that the doer(s) would be understood to be like the head master(s) ("Sensei"s?) of the Dojo, or possibly the Dojo itself personified, or maybe even a higher governing board of Aikido—whoever has the authority to confer the rand & certificate to the individual.

Not sure how "masturbation" got thrown in the mix. 😂 But that's why we never trust Google Translate.

Hope that helps!