Japanese Inane translation factoids!

Did you know?

In Rurouni Kenshin, when Himura ends his lines in a phrase like 'that it is', he is using polite, old-style Japanese? The word he uses that translators interpret as 'that it is' is 'gozaru' or 'gozaimasu' and still sees (somewhat limited) use today, it's a very polite word.

Got questions about why it's translated that way? or about things like 'what is he/she actually saying, literally?' I'll try to field them here

 

One more thing, Himura actually uses that word so much, that a child, in the Kyoto Arc of the series, actually calls him 'Gozaru'!

-UK
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I'm not a real actor, I just play one on TV

 

Interesting about the "gozaimasu", I recently bought some anime cels from a Japanese dealer and when he received payment, he sent me an E-mail with "Arigatou gozaimasu!" I was wondering what the second part meant; so I guess it's just a very polite way of saying "Thank you very much!", that it is...

Thanks for the tidbit!

Might be useful to add info about these words:

Sempai
Sensei (what they call Mr. Fujisawa in El Hazard)
takoyaki

 

Sure 'nuff!
these are fairly common words to hear, so some people would be afraid to ask for their meanings. But enough delays!

Sempai is a way of addressing your superior, it is used as a suffix, or as a simple substitution for the name. Sempai is used for Upperclassmen in schools, people who are your superior (in years/experience) at work, and various other similar situations. Strange translations of Sempai... The Sailor Moon dub reputedly translates Sempai as 'Boyfriend'. A character in the series apparantly repeatedly says a phrase something to the order of 'He looks just like my old boyfriend' in the dub, leading to possible confusion, as she is supposedly saying it about almost every boy she sees. Has she had that many 'boyfriends'? Admittedly, 'Upperclassman' would be difficult to substitute in such a situation, but it's an inane translation factoid!

Sensei means teacher, but it is also used when referring to doctors, and sometimes is used as a mocking way to refer to a classmate ('big shot' would be a similar referance in english) it is also used both as a suffix and as a substitute for a name. No strange translations come to my mind immediately for this one.

A takoyaki is an octopus dumpling, I've never actually eaten takoyaki, though, so I'm not an authoritative source on what they taste like. I do know that they often serve them on sticks. They are referred to as 'octopus puffs' in at least one series I know.

-UK
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hopes this cleared up more questions than it raised

 

>these are fairly common words to hear, so
>some people would be afraid to ask for
>their meanings. But enough delays!

Heh... I knew those three, I just thought it would be a good way to kick off a little discussion. %^) (I have a copy of "The Anime Companion", by Gilles Poitras; I recommend it highly!)

The takoyaki reference - I have some cels from "Bomberman" where they are sitting on a park bench eating takoyaki. It's cute (as are all things B-Man), they each have about four of them in each hand, the toothpicks between each pair of fingers... (often these are topped with soy sauce as well!) If/when I make it over to Japan, this is something I really want to eat! "Octopus puffs"? Never hear them referred to as that. But I did hear Makoto mention them in the DUBBED version of El-Hazard ("The Wanderers") once, I was really surprised!

I'll see if I can think of anything a bit more obscure. The "gozaimasu" post you made above was perfect!

-barry

 

"Rinzo the Core!" "Tenbe the Rare!" "Densuke the Pure!"

The grammatical structure he used is "X to iu Kanji," or something like that,which in this sense means "Is like X." Apparently,if used occasionaly its okay,but if you use it as often as he does,you sound like the Japanese equivalent of a Valley Girl.

Lime: Are you goblins?

InuYasha - Like,beat 'em up and stuff!

 

On the topic of Gochisousama deshita:

I went and looked it up, the kanji and the meanings it's taken over history. The first Kanji in 'chisou' has the major radical of 'horse' the whole phrase originally had the meaning of something on the level of running somewhere, later it became used for 'to run around for someone' as in, similar to an errand or page. It does see use in Buddist prayers, though I'm not well versed in Buddist philosophy or prayers, so I couldn't tell you where, or in what context.
Lately it's come to mean something on the level of 'What a feast!' this may have developed from thanking someone for the troubles they went to in preparing/obtaining the food (thusly, 'running around' for your benefit) and now has developed into a ritualistic expression.

And thank you, Mr Potts!

-UK
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ritualistic expressions can be used for fun and profit! maybe...

 

UK -

Thanks for the infos too! Besides language differences, I am very interested in some of the cultural differences that I've noticed. For example, most Japanese boys will get a nosebleed if a girl accidentally touches their hand.

I've really noticed how several anime will make an "awkward" scene into a MAJOR event. Here's an example. In one episode of NG Evangelion, Shinji went to Rei's apartment to bring her something. He went in when she didn't answer, and started looking around. She had been in the shower, and when she approached him to take something away from him she tripped and he fell right on top of her (she was wearing a towel before she tripped but not any more!). This scene was stretched out for a half minute, easily.

In "The Wanderers" (episode 2), Rune jumps off a cliff and lands right on Makoto, such that his face was planted squarely in her chest.

I could name many more examples, some of them not so direct (Otaru and Lime accidentally touching hands in "Again"). I suppose that this is essentially just a cultural difference, right?

Can you shed a little light on this? I really only started watching anime pretty heavily a couple years ago, so there are some things that are fairly new to me that may not be to most of you out there. I am truly fascinated with Japanese culture and I can't seem to get enough of it. Although if I lived there, I would immediately be labeled a hentai or ecchi (whichever is the worst of the two)... just because I grew up in a different environment where boys and girls probably interact a bit more (a lot more?).

-another lengthy post from mr. potts of new orleans

 

Here's one for you:
What does "otaku" mean, literally translated? I'm not asking for the popular definition we all know (or we wouldn't be here, would we?).

 

Yeah, is one of those considered worse?

(for anyone who doesn't know, ecchi means simply 'H', as in Hentai. Seems to me that hentai (the whole word, not the first letter L) ) is a little more severe.. dunno

 

"Otaku" is literally "you (polite)" or "your house/home." However, it is also used to refer to someone who has an obsession or fixation with something. Hence, anime fans are often referred to as anime otaku because they tend to display obsessive-compulsive behaviors towards their favorite anime series/characters.

Farmer (to Cherry): Are you a train otaku?
- Saber Marionette R

InuYasha - would that make me a Lime otaku?

 

Y'all be rockin'

I know that above line isn't Japanese (don't even think it's English ...), but I gotta say that y'all're really good at tossing around cultural stuff like this. I used to be able to do that with southern European history (don't even ask why), but it's a talent that faded.
Just keep up the good work! You're geniuses!

 

I can guess why you could do that with Southern European History, does it have anything to do with either a fascination with Midieval times or Renaissance times? well, ok, there's many more reasons for knowing about Southern Europe...

-UK

 

tsumaranai-omoshiroi
atsui-samui
shiroi-kuroi
Warui-ii

Do these help any?

-UK

 

Here's some more

Hai-iie
Kita-Minami
Nishi-Higashi
migi-hidari
ue-shita
mae-ushiro

-UK

 

in order...

yes-no
north-south
east-west
right-left
up-down
front-back

-UK