Romanization
Romanization, the writing or in this case, the typing of Japanese words in English with r
maji (Roman letters), can be tricky and I know that at times, I will commit a mistake or be inconsistent. Still, I have done my best typing up the words with a consistent system. There are a few points to remember on how I romanized Japanese words here.
1. All Japanese people listed here will follow the eastern format. That is, last name first and first name after, as in "Takahashi Rumiko-sama". This applies to Chinese and Korean people as well (and while I'm at it, in the scenario of the Chinese, I will bring out a name like "Mui Yim Fong", but for their westernized names, I have kept the western format like "Anita Mui").
2. I will be using the world wide Hepburn system. For example, I will say "Shma" instead of "Syma", the baseball player in the "Justice Gakuen"/"Rival Schools" series. Instead of "Sinobu", I'll say "Shinobu". Oh and instead of "Rabu Hina", I'll just say "Love Hina", okay? This is because one, I learned through the Hepburn system and two, not all of us happen to be Japanese. I mean, chances are that someone who's not Japanese after seeing the spelling Shinobu's name as "Sinobu" will make that person uncomfortable. So, I will use the Hepburn system.
Oh. if you want my take, the system's a blessing and a curse. For some of you, you can pronounce words with more ease, but you are bound to make mistakes more easily when bringing forth certain words.
3. There are vowels that have a bar over them. They are called macrons and they indicate long vowel sounds. There is a reason why I bring this up. Adding in a macron helps me out on what I want to say.
Down below, you will see letters with macrons.
If you're going to say "girl", spell it "shjo" or "shoujo"/"shoojo", not "shojo" because that means "virgin". A lot of people make the mistake of saying "shojo" if they originally wanted to say "girl", but now that you know what I have said, you will not commit that same mistake. "Shjo" means
"girl" and "shojo" means "virgin".
What else can I say about macrons? Macrons are not used in commonly used Japanese words outside of Japan, names with a spelling used for the English edition of a game slash anime slash manga or names that are not proper, making them used in the English language. Want some examples?
"Tokyo" does not need a macron anywhere since we, as in the people who don't live in Japan, mention this city a lot. Mentioning a place like say, "Tky Daigaku" or "Tdai" for short, the school "Love Hina's" Keitar wants to attend, needs macrons. "Tokyo University" does not need macrons, since that's not the official name of the school.
Since I'm still talking about macrons here, I might as well bring this up. If I link to some place and the name needs a macron, the name will not have a macron. For example, if Kda Mariko-san has an official page named "Mariko Kouda Official Homepage", it will be shown like that, not "Mariko Kda Official Page". This also applies to bold text or text in italics.
4. As far as titles go, for the most part, I will list the Japanese and English name of a series, but there will be cases in which I will put down a shorter name of a series as in "Gekka no Kenshi". It's simple to know that in some cases, the official name of a series is in English if I don't give a Japanese name of a title as in "Final Fantasy", but if I don't give an English name, it's either because I don't know what it is or I have some other reason that I would like to keep to myself. After I list the Japanese and English name of a series once, I will use the Japanese name of that particular series, so that it will make my job easier.
Oh. Last minute questions? I might as well place them now.
Which English title will you use for each series, if there are any?
I'll use the title or set of titles I am more used to hearing.
Do you recognize the "v" and the other unusual characters when you give out the roumaji of a subject?
Where do I begin on this issue? Japanese education systems talk about this matter quite a bit. Actually, they talk about this a lot. Though I respect the existance of the unusual characters, I personally don't use them because one, remembering those characters can and will chew me up and two, by using these characters, I can end up making a person confused. Plus, I'm so traditional, I pretend that the issue was never brought up.
- I know this guide is real confusing, but if you just sit down and read it over for a little bit, you'll be fine. If you still don't understand it, that's fine. You can contact me if you have a question about what I have said here.
Last update - 1/17/05