RikkaKotoba

attempting study via attempted translations

[rikkakotoba]

FRUITS BASKET MANGA TRANSLATIONS

I'm not the first to have done this, but I happen to have three versions of Fruits Basket on my shelves so I thought it'd be fun to compare the translations.

On the left will be the 2004 Tokyopop version, and on the right will be the 2016 Yen Press version.

DISCLAIMERS!

I tried to color code the text to show where the translations match up with the Japanese text, but it's far from perfect! Rather than a direct translation, think of the coloring as me trying to pinpoint what the inspiration behind the translation was.

Also, it's important to remember that translation is more an art than it is a science. Some of these translations vary greatly, but that doesn't mean one is worse than the other—they're just different, and everyone will have their own preferences!

I'm also still learning Japanese, so I can't guarantee my translations will be error-free. Let me know if you notice any mistakes!

「宴会を始めましょう　皆と楽しくいつまでも」

TP: "Let's get this show on the road, shall we? This is where the fun begins..." YP: "Let's get this party started. One that never ends, that's fun for everyone..."

I find it really odd that neither translation used the word "banquet", which is the direct translation for 宴会(enkai). Personally, I'd offer the alternative translation of: "Let's begin the banquet... And have fun with everyone forever."

「でも、若い人が見て面白い物なんて無いでしょう」

TP: "I thought you young people were bored by old-fashioned superstitions like the Chinese Zodiac." YP: "Although... I doubt they'd interest a teenager."

Some very big differences here. Yen Press seems to be sticking closer to the direct translation, whereas Tokyopop seems to be taking more artistic liberties. I noticed YP also translated the floating 「でも」 / "Although", whereas TP did not. I also find it neat that the YP version keeps Tohru's politeness level maxed.

「下んねぇ因縁つけてんじゃねえぞくらぁ…っ」

TP: "Stop fantasizing and get a life." YP: "So don't make up crap and pick a fight about it..."

I don't even know how to color code this because all of the translations are so different haha. If I were to offer an alternate translation, it would be: "Stop looking for a reason to pick a fight..."

「助かりました…」

TP: You saved me. YP: Thanks for the assist...

「災難だったなぁ…」

TP: Oh, you poor thing. YP: That was a close one...

「花島　本気で電波送んなよ」

TP: Hanajima, don't zap anyone. YP: Don't really send out your vibes, Hanajima.

These panels are very interesting, because each version has a very direct and indirect translation. The first line is translated literally by Tokyopop, although Yen Press wasn't wrong in their translation. It seems like both versions opted for creative translations for the second line. I think a direct translation would be: "That was terrible, huh...?" Finally, they both said more or less the same thing for the third line. I do think it's interesting that Yen Press translated the Denpa waves as "vibes"—I've never heard that term before.

I'm not even going to attempt to write all this out, but I think it's interesting that Yen Press is givin' Uotani a slangy sorta speech. These lines seem normal enough to me, so I guess it's just Yen Press going all-out for the speech quirks like they did for Tohru's politeness.

Some notes here: Yen Press more accurately translated the 「うん」 as "I'll say", but it does sound a bit rude imo. The Japanese language doesn't have an equivalent for the word "the", so the Japanese is ambiguous as to whether Yuki is speaking about cats in general or a specific cat. I think it's interesting that Tokyopop and Yen Press went in opposite directions for this bit.

Here, Yen Press translated the floating 「は」 as "Ah" instead of a probably more accurate "gasp". But it's close enough! Also I may just be biased because I read the TokyoPop version as a kid, but I feel like I've NEVER heard the word "peaked" being used like this in my life haha

「あまりのきれいさに魂を吸われた気分…」

TP: "My head is spinning just from being around him." YP: "He's so handsome that it felt like he siphoned my soul..."

Definitely a more accurate translation from Yen Press here, whereas Tokyopop opted for a less-accurate line that perhaps sounds more "natural". I think both of these lines sound good, although if I were to try to reword it I would go with this: "His beauty makes me feel like my soul has been sucked out of my body." I think this puts less emphasis on YUKI doing the siphoning and moreso his beauty itself being the thing that leaves Tohru feeling this way.

—

That's about all the typing I have in me for now.

I hope someone else finds these translation differences as interesting as I did!

[ayin-me-yesh]

In light of Duolingo laying off its translators, here are my favourite language apps (primarily for Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and te reo Māori).

Multiple Languages

Anki is a flashcard programme and app that's not exclusively for languages. While making your own decks is ideal, you can also download shared decks for most languages.

If you're learning Japanese, specifically, Seth Clydesdale has websites for practicing alongside Genki's 2nd or 3rd editions, and he also provides his own shared Anki decks for Genki.

And if you're learning te reo Māori, specifically, here's a guide on how to make your own deck.

TOFU Learn is an app for learning vocabulary that's very similar to Anki. However, it has particularly excellent shared decks for East Asian languages. I've used it extensively for practicing 汉字. Additionally, if you're learning te reo Māori, there's a shared deck of vocabulary from Māori Made Easy!

Mandarin Chinese

Hello Chinese is a fantastic app for people at the HSK 1-4 levels. While there's a paid version, the only thing paying unlocks is access to podcast lessons, which imo are not really necessary. Without paying you still have access to all the gamified lessons which are laid out much like Duolingo's lessons. However, unlike Duolingo, Hello Chinese actually teaches grammar directly, properly teaches 汉字, and includes native audio practice.

Japanese

Renshuu is a website and app for learning and practicing Japanese. The vast majority of its content is available for free. There's also a Discord community where you can practice alongside others.

Kanji Dojo is a free and open source app for learning and practicing the stroke order of kanji. You can learn progressively by JLPT level or by Japanese grades. There's also the option to learn and practice kana stroke order as well.

[sunbentshadows]

I don't usually post about this, but if anyone is learning or keeping up on their japanese, Asahi just launched やさしい朝日新聞 (Yasashii Asahi Shimbun), which publishes stories written in simple japanese for learners (including toggleable furigana)

[rikkakotoba]

LET DUOLINGO DIE (BRING BACK TEXTBOOKS)

I know Duolingo is fun, and I'm not saying it can't be useful for casual study. But it should come as a surprise to no one that Duolingo is far from perfect, and definitely not best way to learn a language.

If you're one of the many who are looking to ditch the app, I'd love to recommend a tried-and-true alternative: THE TEXTBOOK.

Switching out Duolingo for a textbook instantly solves pretty much every complaint I've seen people share about the app.

"I hate all of the advertisements on Duolingo!" Textbook.

"I hate Duolingo's stance on AI and their rampant use of it!" Textbook.

"I hate how Duolingo barely explains any grammar concepts to me!" Textbook.

"I hate that I can't control my own learning pace because Duolingo makes reviewing previous concepts a pain in the ass and pushes me forward even though I might not be ready to move on!" Textbook.

"I hate how I'm more invested in my streak than I am in actually learning a language!" Textbook.

I know it's not the most flashy or even fun option, but imho the owl app will never be as useful as a textbook.

With a textbook, there are no advertisements. There is no AI (yet). You control your own learning pace—you can breeze through easy concepts and slow down on difficult topics. You don't have to shuffle around vaguely-worded lesson titles to find that one grammar concept you're trying to review. YOU HAVE IN-DEPTH GRAMMAR EXPLANATIONS THAT ACTUALLY MAKE SENSE.

With a textbook, you can actually learn a language.

The best part is that many language textbooks can be found for free online. For example, here's the Japanese GENKI Textbook available in its entirety on Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/Genki/Genki%20-%20Elementary%20Japanese%20I/

I hope this post didn't come off as condescending. I'm just so sick and tired of watching my friends with 1,000+ day streaks stumble their way through basic sentences. I'm tired of seeing them waste so much time on a glorified vocab list while simultaneously complaining about every single aspect of the app.

please for the love of god can we just bring back textbooks

[rikkakotoba]

The Difference Between シ and ツ

The secrets to easily recognizing these kana are hidden in the stroke order!

(images from japanesewordswriting.com)

SHI し シ

Hiragana し begins with a long vertical stroke down the left side, and ends with a swish to the upper right.

Katakana シ begins with two small lines along the left side, and ends with the same swish to the upper right that its hiragana counterpart had.

You can tell that シ is し because the lines on シ will be coming from the left side!

TSU つ ツ

Hiragana つ begins with a long horizontal stroke across the top, and curves down with a swish to the bottom left at the end.

Katakana ツ begins with two small lines along the top, and ends with the same swish to the bottom left that its hiragana counterpart had.

You can tell ツ is つ because the lines on ツ will be coming from the top!

More Pics to Further Illustrate

Hopefully this helped someone out there! Best of luck in everyone’s studies!

[rikkakotoba]

Japan Housing Websites (part two)

Want to move to Japan? Me too! A while ago, I made a post with some key vocabulary for navigating Japanese real estate websites. This time, I'd like to highlight vocabulary that will help you refine the search results until you find the perfect house.

After selecting the property type and narrowing down the area to search, you'll eventually be presented with a list of houses. Here's a convenient link to a list of houses in Tokyo so you can follow along: TOKYO(SUUMO)

Search & Sort Functions

The orange number at the top of the screen tells you how many total properties were found with your search.

The upper options all have to do with displaying the search results.

通常（つうじょう）表示（ひょうじ）：Regular Display シンプル　一覧（いちらん）表示：Simple Summary Display 地図（ちず）で　表示：Display with Map 表示　件数（けんすう）：Display Item Number

Below that, we have the options to sort the results. 並び替え（ならびかえ）：Rearrange 指定（してい）なし：No Designation

Click the drop-down to see all the different sorting methods, which I've translated below with my best attempts to maintain readability.

新着（しんちゃく）更新（こうしん）：Newly Updated

所在地（しょざいち）：Address 昇順（しょじゅん）：Ascending 降順（こうじゅん）：Descending

価格（かかく）：Price 安い（やすい）：Low / "Lowest" 高い（たかい）：High / "Highest"

土地（とち）面積（めんせき）：Land Area 建物（たてもの）面積（めんせき）：Building Area 広い（ひろい）：Wide / Large 狭い（せまい）：Narrow / Small

築年月（ちくねんがつ）："Years Since Construction" 新しい（あたらしい）：New / Newest 古い（ふるい）：Old / Oldest

More Filters

To the right of the house list, you'll see a thin section that will allow for more general filters to refine your search.

絞り込み（しぼりこみ）条件（じょうけん）：Refine Conditions

Under this section are a few familiar words: Price (価格), Land Area (土地面積), and Building Area (建物面積). Below each section is the same two drop-down options:

下限（かげん）なし：No Min Limit 上限（じょうげん）なし：No Max Limit

The drop down will let you set the minimum and maximum value for each section. For example: ５００万円以上（いじょう）〜１０００万円未満（みまん） Above 5 million yen 〜 Below 10 million yen

The next section deals with the amount of rooms in the house.

間取り（まどり）：Layout 1K/DK/LDK：1 bedroom houses (plus a kitchen (K), or a kitchen + dining room (DK), or a kitchen + dining room + living room (LDK))

Because public transit is so common in Japan, you also have the option to choose how far away from a train station your house is.

駅（えき）徒歩（とほ）：Station Walk In the drop down, you can select the maximum distance in minutes you'd like to be located from a station. １０分　以内（いない）：Within 10 minutes

バス　含む（ふくむ）：Include Bus Stations Some rural locations might be far away from train stations, so you can select this option here to include bus stations as well!

The End.

Here's the complete vocab list for ease of viewing:

通常（つうじょう）：Regular / Normal 表示（ひょうじ）：Display 一覧（いちらん）：Glance / Summary 地図（ちず）：Map 件数（けんすう）：Item Number 並び替え（ならびかえ）：Rearrange 指定（してい）：Designation 新着（しんちゃく）：New Arrivals 更新（こうしん）：Renewal / Updated 所在地（しょざいち）：Address 昇順（しょじゅん）：Ascending 降順（こうじゅん）：Descending 価格（かかく）：Price 安い（やすい）：Low / "Lowest" 高い（たかい）：High / "Highest" 土地（とち）：Land Area 建物（たてもの）：Building 面積（めんせき）：Area 広い（ひろい）：Wide / Large 狭い（せまい）：Narrow / Small 築年月（ちくねんがつ）："Years Since Construction" 新しい（あたらしい）：New / Newest 古い（ふるい）：Old / Oldest 絞り込み（しぼりこみ）：Refine 条件（じょうけん）：Conditions 下限（かげん）：Minimum Limit 上限（じょうげん）：Maximum Limit 以上（いじょう）：Above / More Than 未満（みまん）：Below / Less Than 間取り（まどり）：Layout 駅（えき）：Station 徒歩（とほ）：Walking 以内（いない）：Within 含む（ふくむ）：Include

[rikkakotoba]

Japan Housing Websites (part one)

Want to move to Japan? Me too! Lately I’ve seen a lot of Instagram pages dedicated to showing off cheap homes in Japan. These pages usually just link back to a Japanese real estate website, so I’d like to list some handy vocabulary to help you navigate the sites and find some houses on your own!

Note: This post was made with intermediate level Japanese learners in mind. It's meant to be a vocabulary list with visual examples, not an all-inclusive house buying guide. A complete list of vocab words can be found at the end of the post. For general website navigation, I’d recommend the RikaiChan / RikaiKun extensions which will display a translation of each word you mouse over.

What Websites?

I really like SUUMO, so that will be the site I use for the example pictures. But any website will have more or less the same words!

Navigating the Website

[ 1 ]　Creating an Account会員（かいいん）登録（とうろく）：Member Registration

[ 2 ]　Search探す（さがす）：Search / Find This word will come up a lot! The search function may also appear as... 検索（けんさく）：Search 物件（ぶっけん）検索：Property Search

Suumo has a nifty map on the front page. If you know the region you'd like to search in, you can choose it here.

[ 3 ]　Renting 借りる（かりる）：Rent (Borrow) 賃貸（ちんたい）：Lease / Rent

[ 4 ]　Purchasing買う（かう）：Buy

[ 5 ]　House Terminology If you've taken a Japanese class, you may have learned that the Japanese word for house is 家 or いえ. Unfortunately, this short and simple word isn't used much on real estate websites. The following terms are typically used instead.

一戸建て（いっこだて）：Detached Building A standalone house, as opposed to an apartment or condo.

新築（しんちく）一戸建て：New Buildings

中古（ちゅうこ）一戸建て：Old Buildings 中古 can mean "old", "used", or “secondhand”, none of which sound ideal, but all it means is that the house that has been lived in previously. This is where you find the cheap ones!

Finding Houses

Once you have the region and building type selected, you’ll see a new map you can use to select the prefecture. I'll highlight a few key search methods on this screen.

[ 1 ]　Search by Area（エリア）

Click on a prefecture to bring up a checklist of cities and districts. At the bottom of the list, you'll see two options: refining the search further or proceeding with the checked options.

「チェックした市区郡の町名を絞り込む」 "Narrow by town names of checked cities/wards/districts"

市区郡（しくぐん）："City Ward District" 町名（ちょうめい）：Town Name 絞り込む（しぼりこむ）：Narrow / Refine

「この条件で検索する」 "Search with these conditions"

条件（じょうけん）：Condition / Term

The orange number shows how many total properties were found with the checked selections. Click the blue search button if you want to jump straight to the houses without refining the search.

[ 2 ]　Search by Railway（沿線）or Station（駅）

Click on a prefecture to bring up a checklist of railways. At the bottom of the list, you'll see two options: refining the search further or proceeding with the checked options.

「チェックした沿線の駅を絞り込む」 "Narrow by stations of checked railways"

沿線（えんせん）：Railway / Track 駅（えき）：Station 絞り込む（しぼりこむ）：Narrow / Refine

「この条件で検索する」 "Search with these conditions"

条件（じょうけん）：Condition / Term

Once again, the orange number shows how many total properties were found with the checked selections. Click the blue search button if you want to jump straight to the houses without refining the search.

[ 3 ]　Search by Map（地図、ちず） Clicking here will open up a much more detailed map that you can scroll through! Definitely the easiest option, which is why I put it last. :)

The End.

Here's the complete vocab list for ease of viewing:

会員（かいいん）：Member 登録（とうろく）：Registration 探す（さがす）：Search / Find 検索（けんさく）：Search 物件（ぶっけん）検索：Property Search 借りる（かりる）：Rent (Borrow) 賃貸（ちんたい）：Lease / Rent 買う（かう）：Buy 一戸建て（いっこだて）：Detached Building 新築（しんちく）一戸建て：New Buildings 中古（ちゅうこ）一戸建て：Old Buildings 市区郡（しくぐん）："City Ward District" 町名（ちょうめい）：Town Name 沿線（えんせん）：Railway / Track 駅（えき）：Station 絞り込む（しぼりこむ）：Narrow / Refine 条件（じょうけん）：Condition / Term

[rikkakotoba]

More neat words and phrases I've come across while "studying". I did my best to translate, but corrections/suggestions are always welcome.

お手上げ：to give up, hopeless (literally, "to raise one's hands")

お：honorific prefix 手：て、hand(s) 上げ：あげ、raise

This phrase describes giving up, or being in a situation so hopeless that the only thing you can do is throw your hands up in the air and walk away from the problem.

「ゴメン、お手上げだよ！」 "Sorry, [I] give up!"

月並み：commonplace / cliché (literally, "every month")

月：つき、month / "moon" 並み：なみ、each / common

I guess something could be considered common if it happens at least once a month. Apparently, this phrase was originally used as an insult towards old-fashioned poets who would meet monthly to write poetry. In this case, the NPC used this phrase about playing a game, because these guys always do that when they're hanging in a tent.

「月並みだけど、ゲームしてみるのなんて　楽しそうじゃない？」 "[It's] cliché, but doesn't it seem fun to try something like playing a game?"

In the screenshot, I opted to translate it as "nothing special" to try and sound more natural. I think past me was onto something.

[rikkakotoba]

To make studying fun, I often play video games in Japanese. The other day, I found a neat idiom when an NPC gave me a gift.

宝の持ち腐れ：literally, “a treasure rotting in hand” 宝：たから、"treasure" の："of" / possessive particle 持ち：もち、"have" or "hold" 腐れ：ぐされ、"rot"

It has the same meaning as the English phrase “pearls before swine”. Essentially, it means that something nice / valuable is being wasted on someone who does not appreciate it or use it to full potential.

Putting it all together to translate the text, we get:

今のボクには　宝の持ち腐れさ As for me right now, [it's like] pearls before swine.

キミなら　使いこなせると思って、まさしく。 If it's you, I thought [you'd be] able to make use of [it], indeed.

After saying this, he gave me a rug. Not the treasure I was hoping for!

Corrections always welcome.