Questions tagged [orthography]
正書法. The standard way of writing the language.
3
votes
1answer
115 views
How to write こたえ: 答え or 答?
In the microsoft IME keyboard, and my cellphone's as well, when I write こたえ it is suggested 答え. However, in the Genki I textbook, I've seen it written as
答{こたえ}
Are both of these valid? If so, ...
11
votes
1answer
282 views
Why using です in katakana?
This question might sound stupid but it got me thinking for some hours. A friend bought me this gel pen from a Japanese store in my country, and it is written in the pen:
かわいいデス
instead of かわいいです ...
5
votes
1answer
119 views
What does 囚えよう mean in this book?
I'm currently reading a screenplay regarding to Oda Nobunaga.
In one of the character line, it is written that
あなたは死して尚、この僕を囚えようというのですか？
Base on my search, it seems that the kanji 囚 is associated ...
1
vote
0answers
32 views
Why are certain terms sometimes written in hiragana and sometimes in katakana? [duplicate]
I was typing something up and when I went to type apple in Japanese, the Microsoft IME on the computer I was using defaulted to リンゴ in katakana. But from what I remember seeing online and out in the ...
0
votes
1answer
75 views
How would I write this for a graphic design?
I'm a graphic design student and one of my designs is a pink 桃色 rose 薔薇 = (桃色薔薇). I read that Japanese is read right to left and also horizontally?
I want the design's first line to pink and under ...
0
votes
1answer
114 views
Is this translation very loose for the word 生き甲斐?
I'm a fan of the Japanese concept of ikigai and finding my ikigai has been an important and rewarding journey for me and I'd like to get a very simple kanji tattoo of it but I wanted to make sure that ...
0
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0answers
94 views
Why are some words (e.g., 処方箋) sometimes partially written with hiragana? [duplicate]
Some words with complex Kanji are sometimes written in a mixture of Hiragana and Kanji. For example 処方箋 (prescription) is often written as 処方せん in pharmacies. This is used by native speakers that have ...
-2
votes
1answer
164 views
Allographic Differences of れ
I'm doing some research on Japanese streets for an art project. I've been looking at pictures of streets and trying to figure out what the characters are,
I'm able to find the first two - to and ma, ...
2
votes
1answer
151 views
Why use the kanji 伸 for “no” instead of the hiragana の, and the kanji 手 for “te” instead of the hiragana て?
In an anime opening song, at 0:08, I read the following sentence:
omokage no naka te wo nobasu no
おもかげのなか 手を伸ばすの
Please, can you tell me:
for "no", why is the kanji 伸 used instead of the ...
3
votes
2answers
230 views
How should I write my name with an American first name and Japanese last name?
I generally understand that proper Japanese uses Hiragana and Katakana is for slang/foreign words. Given that, my first name is super American but my last name is Japanese. Would I then make my first ...
11
votes
1answer
252 views
Why are equal signs used to substitute an English hyphen?
I was reading an article about Idlib and the groups that were there on Wikipedia, and hovered to the language setting to gloss at the title translations. For Japanese, I saw something unusual in its ...
6
votes
2answers
119 views
Marking figurative meaning of word
In English figurative meaning of word usually marked with quotation marks like this:
The motherboard is sometimes considered the "brain" of a computer.
I know that in Japanese quotation marks ...
1
vote
1answer
121 views
When a kanji term is listed as outdated, is it for specific words or all of the words that use it?
I read jisho a lot and I run into words with outdated kanji. Does this mean that the kanji term is outdated for a particular word or all words that use it?
0
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0answers
144 views
How many of Japanese text can be written using only kanji?
With many frequent words normally written in kana having their rare kanji (looking at ‘ya, 一寸待{ちょっとま}って!), one starts to wonder of an exercise: is it even possible to rewrite any complete text using ...
6
votes
1answer
185 views
Use of kanji when writing 言う
I've been reading more novels in Japanese recently (かもめ食堂: recommended!), and have noticed that it's unusual for 言う to be written in kanji. Not just in set phrases like という and とはいえ but in ...
2
votes
1answer
69 views
‘から’ と‘ですから’ と、どちらが正しいですか。
例えば、あのレストランは料理も美味しいし、雰囲気もいいから、大人気です。
疑問は以下: このフレーズの中で、どうして“いいから”を使ったんですか。“いいですから”を使うのではないですか。そうだったら、“大人気だ”になりますか。
教えてください。
7
votes
1answer
143 views
What does the へさうな mean in “逢へさうな”
I've come across this phrase (逢へさうな) and don't really understand what's going on grammatically. It's in the context of haiku poetry, I'm assuming the kanji reading is just "a" as in "逢う", but I can't ...
5
votes
1answer
289 views
Is writing the “wa particle” as は a modern convention?
Recently, I was given a copy of Complete Course of Japanese Conversation-Grammar by Oreste and Enko Elisa Vaccari. As it dates back to 1967, I was expecting at least a few things to be a bit old-...
7
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2answers
427 views
Attempts to distinguish English “L” and “R” sounds using (extended) katakana
Katakana can represent many foreign sounds that do not exist in native Japanese words, either by using special characters such as ヴ or by using special katakana combinations such as フュ. They are ...
1
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1answer
168 views
Can Japanese words with kanji and hiragana in them start with hiragana characters? If so how common are they?
Pretty much every word I've seen so far that contain both kanji and hiragana, always starts with the kanji character(s) first Like 大きい, 見る, 乗り物 and 話す. The only exceptions I've seen so far are お金 and ...
3
votes
1answer
175 views
Is it correct/appropriate to write a word using katakana and hiragana at the same time?
For example:
I noticed what the name of the game Nekopara (ネコぱら) is half-written using katakana(ネコ - neko) and half-written using hiragana(ぱら - para). I'm wondering why so. Сould you explain this to ...
11
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2answers
2k views
Is it acceptable to use kanji and hiragana in the same word if a kanji character is unknown?
I have come across this issue a number of times. I am studying Japanese at High School, so I only know about 200 kanji. When I write words that consist of more than two kanji characters, I am unsure ...
1
vote
2answers
88 views
Combination Characters
So I'm in the beginning stages of learning Japanese, and I'm a little lost on combination characters such as kya, sho, ryo, or even the voiced characters such as gya, jo, and byu.
My question is: ...
0
votes
1answer
142 views
How are scientific names (binomial nomenclatures) written in Japan, if they are?
I assume that they would use normal roman letters, but is there a way that scientific names for plants and animals to be written other than the Latin script?
8
votes
1answer
225 views
Why is こおり spelt with an お rather than an う?
I thought that syllables with an "お" sound get lengthened by an "う" rather than another "お".
I've seen this question asked on hinative, which mentions 遠い（とおい）, 大きい (おおきい), 多い (おおい), 通り (とおり/どおり) and ...
0
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2answers
354 views
Writing a date range in vertical format
How would one write a range of dates in vertical format? For instance, 2017-18 or 2017-2018.
2
votes
1answer
171 views
Language Encoding difference in Chrome
I'm facing some Language encoding problem in Ubuntu 15.04 Chrome 60.0.3112.90 (Official Build) (64-bit) and I use ibus-anthy as my IME (added as this blog). I have faced similar incidents previously.
...
5
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3answers
503 views
Is this use of 「こみ」 instead of 「ごみ」 in 「ごみ収集ステーション」 accidental or a variation?
In this question on the Travel SE OP is asking about こみ収集ステーション that he has seen, and provided this image of a notice on one of those from Higashidori, Aomori:
The pic is blurry, but not so bad ...
4
votes
2answers
378 views
Is 別れる the intransitive form of 分ける?
I'm studying kanji right know and I found this verb with the kanji 別 and its: わかれる. It is an intransitive verb and it means to be divided. Then I found out that to divide is 分ける but it has a different ...
4
votes
3answers
1k views
Difference between the usage of 君 and キミ
From what I read earlier, 君【きみ】 can be used for you. But in many instances over the internet, I have seen キミ being used instead of 君【きみ】. What is the usage difference between the two?
If I take the ...
8
votes
3answers
525 views
Is top-to-bottom, left-to-right writing order common in Japanese calligraphy?
My understanding is that Japanese was traditionally written in a top-to-bottom, right-to-left order (縦書き{たてがき}), and that modern Japanese is sometimes written in a horizontal left-to-right, top-to-...
4
votes
2answers
387 views
Usage of Donojiten (々)
Are there any hard-fast rules on when to use or not use the donojiten (々)? I find that it is used for repeating the previous character (e.g. 人々).
Other than helping me distinguish whether a text is ...
3
votes
3answers
556 views
To Kanji or Not To Kanji for うまく・上手く?
I picked up the following phrase to say "I hope you are well":
うまくいきますように!
Looking this up in a dictionary, it seems it could become:
上手く行きますように!
Is this correct, or is it better to leave out ...
3
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0answers
118 views
Phonetic Mapping of the Hiragana System Used in the Okinawan Omoro Sōshi
The classical Okinawan poetry collection the Omoro Sōshi is written (mostly) in Hiragana, but the phonetic mapping of the characters to sounds seems to be different to their standard mapping.
For ...
5
votes
1answer
910 views
What are these Okinawan kana-like characters?
I was taking a look at Wikipedia's page on the Ryukyuan languages when I came across the following picture:
The billboard on the left features three kana-like characters that I have never seen before,...
1
vote
1answer
118 views
Why is ふい written in hiragana?
I reckon that ふい is a kango word (不意), but I usually see it written in hiragana, even in print. Neither of the two characters are hard, and if people are typing it shouldn't matter that ふい is easier ...
1
vote
1answer
171 views
Which kanji writing should i follow when writing on paper, digital or non-digital? [closed]
I have came across 必 and wanted to learn how to write it. Though there are major differences between how it looks digitally and how it looks on paper. Here is the link I used : http://jisho.org/search/...
2
votes
1answer
107 views
when should one use 支払い or 支払
In lots of contracts I see the word 支払.
When should one use 支払 instead of 支払い?
2
votes
0answers
179 views
Japanese student learning Chinese characters? [closed]
I've recently started to self-study Japanese. Some time ago I thought of studying Mandarin Chinese and bought a book (Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/805242....
5
votes
2answers
122 views
Should I use 言う or いう in “はどういう意味ですか”?
On page 33 of the Lonely planet phrasebook for Japanese, 5th edition (ISBN 978-1-74104-231-3), the phrase given is
What does 'deguchi' mean?
「出口」はどういう意味ですか？
The pronunciation guide has
de-...
8
votes
2answers
512 views
Academic/historic attempts to create an alternative writing system similar to Hangul?
I was reading upon Japanese writing system history and found out there were several attempts to abolish the use of 漢字 in favor of kana or romaji, e.g. after the WWII. All of those failed, and the only ...
2
votes
2answers
284 views
Why is じどうしゃ (jidoushiya), jidōsha instead?
From what I understand, the hiragana characters above should make the word jidoushiya, but for some reason it is actually jidōsha.
Why did the word change this way even though the characters are:
...
4
votes
1answer
166 views
Writing jukugo where only some kanji are known [duplicate]
Having studied Japanese for two years so far, there are many instances of vocabulary that I have learned but for which I know [the 書き方 of] only some of the kanji that make up the word. Is there any ...
1
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4answers
270 views
横書きと縦書き Is there a preference for usage?
横書きと縦書き Is there a preference for usage? I noticed that Japanese is written horizontally and vertically.
4
votes
2answers
1k views
When is it appropriate to use what alphabet?
I'm very new to Japanese, and I was wondering when is it appropriate to use what alphabets? I've been practicing entirely in hiragana thus far, and I know that katakana is for foreign words and sounds,...
0
votes
1answer
93 views
What do the Long vowel rule and Palatalized long vowel rule represent?
In relation to the Classical Japanese orthography what are the Long vowel (長音 Chōon) rule and the Palatalized long vowel (開拗長音 Kaiyōchōon) rule?
What would be some examples of them?
5
votes
2answers
769 views
Farewell letter in Japanese to a little sister
I am going to leave Japan soon and I need to say farewell to many people. One of the people I know is a little girl who is about 6 years old. She is very cute and very close to me during the time I ...
4
votes
2answers
382 views
How to write long sound to emphasize words?
For example, I want to emphasize the word しらない by saying shiiiiiranai, しいいいらない seems a little bit weird to me. How do you write this in japanese character, can we also write this in the form of kanji?
1
vote
2answers
168 views
日本人は日本語で番号を書くなら、アメリカの小数点かヨーロッパのを書きますの？
皆さん、こんにちは！
日本人は日本語に番号を書くことを学びますなら、
アメリカ風の小数点(1.0)か、ヨーロッパ風の(1,0)を書くことを学びますか？
日本語だけで尋ねてみたいですよ。
でも私の日本語もよくないんで、すみません。:)
ありがとう！:D
エディット:今、日本語だけで、英語じゃないです。
5
votes
2answers
468 views
Reduction of the diphthong “ou” to “ō” in Middle and Modern Japanese
I noticed that in the word 子牛 both "o" and "u" are pronounced while in the word 格子 there is a long "ō" and they are, respectively, written in rōmaji (Hepburn romanization) koushi and kōshi.
What I'd ...
