Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Japan/Archive/March 2012
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The kana vandal returneth
Some of you may recall an issue with an IP adding bizarre examples to kana articles some months ago. Just an FYI, he's still at it intermittently from other IPs now (I blocked his base IP for a year in December). If you see an IP adding Super Mario characters or other video game references as examples for kana pronunciations in any of the kana articles (the only ones that haven't been hit are ゐ, ゑ, and ン), revert them on sight (it's a good excuse to break out the mass rollback feature) and report them to AIV, or if you're an admin give an extended block to the IP on sight. Last time this IP added these examples no one noticed until another editor had edited most of the individual kana pages, and it was a nightmare to clean them all up. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 03:34, 29 February 2012 (UTC)
- Update; the kana vandal made another raid last night, which I've cleaned up from; all the IPs were on the 198.228.201.0/24 range, which I've blocked for 31 hours. Keep an eye out for that range and other AT&T ranges in the future. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 20:19, 4 March 2012 (UTC)
SoXa Aoi
Should 蒼井そら remain Sora Aoi, or should she be Sola Aoi? See this. -- Hoary (talk) 01:21, 5 March 2012 (UTC)
- IMO, this RM raises questions far beyond the issue of whether a star of Japanese hardcore can pronounce the letter l. Kauffner (talk) 02:51, 5 March 2012 (UTC)
- There is no issue of whether she can pronounce the letter "l". Her name includes some kind of /r/. Narrowly, it's likely to be [ɽ], but it could well be something else. She chooses to have it written as "l". It's a matter of orthography, not pronunciation. (Of academic interest only: If speakers of English pronounce it as "l", they'll mispronounce it; if they pronounce it as any of the normal realizations of English /r/, they'll also mispronounce it.) -- Hoary (talk) 02:29, 8 March 2012 (UTC)
Kagohara, Saitama: hoax?
Is this a legitimate article or a hoax? There is no entry on the Japanese Wikipedia for 籠原市 and the coordinates given are for Kumagaya. Perhaps a locality of some sort around Kagohara Station? PC78 (talk) 22:32, 9 March 2012 (UTC)
- Perhaps we can assume good faith in the creation of this article: Kagohara is definitely a neighborhood within Kumagaya (there is a Kagohara Minami just south of Kagohara Station). But there is no Kagohara City 籠原市 as cited in the article. Unless there is significant reason to have an article on what is only a neighborhood, it should be deleted.
- Looks just like one of the hundreds, maybe thousands of stubs I've assessed.Boneyard90 (talk) 01:11, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
- For what it's worth, there's no Japanese Wiki equivalent. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 02:36, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
- Looks just like one of the hundreds, maybe thousands of stubs I've assessed.Boneyard90 (talk) 01:11, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
- Redirect to Kumagaya, Saitama then? PC78 (talk) 14:21, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
- I couldn't see why anyone would object, except maybe the article's creator. Couldn't hurt to check with him/her and ask if he plans to expand it.
- To HelloAnnYong: Maybe not in town articles (which surprises me; how can you find out?), but size? Check out Morodsuka Dam or Iwase Dam. There are many more one-sentence articles. Boneyard90 (talk) 14:52, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
- I went over to the Japanese Wiki, searched, and found nothing: 籠原市, 籠原. In the second set of results, there's a listing for 籠原駅, a JR station there, but the text says that it's in Kumagaya. So to that end, I'd support the redirect. — HelloAnnyong (say whaaat?!) 14:59, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
- Oh, gotcha, the Ja-language Wikipedia. I misread.Boneyard90 (talk) 16:46, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
- Redirected to Kumagaya. The article was created over two years ago by a user with no other contributions, so I don't see much point in trying to contact them. PC78 (talk) 17:32, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
- Why redirect? I disagree with it as there has never been such a city. Redirect is misleading. Just simply delete it. Oda Mari (talk) 05:21, 12 March 2012 (UTC)
- It was said above that "Kagohara is definitely a neighborhood within Kumagaya", which would seem to make it a valid redirect. You're welcome to take it to WP:RfD if you disagree, though. PC78 (talk) 18:51, 14 March 2012 (UTC)
- Why redirect? I disagree with it as there has never been such a city. Redirect is misleading. Just simply delete it. Oda Mari (talk) 05:21, 12 March 2012 (UTC)
- Redirected to Kumagaya. The article was created over two years ago by a user with no other contributions, so I don't see much point in trying to contact them. PC78 (talk) 17:32, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
Task Force Categorization
Is there any way we can create a category listing sub-categories of articles divided by task force, like does for Importance? I understand how to create a category, but how do articles of Japanese Food & Drink Task Force, or Mythology, when tagged, get moved to the appropriate category? Boneyard90 (talk) 18:19, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
- It has to do with the {{WPJ}} template. If there are categories that exist, but the template isn't supporting them, just post on the talk page of the template and they can be fixed from there. ···日本穣? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WP Japan! 22:49, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
- I'm not sure if that's it... See, the TF:Mythology has a category that collects all the Mythology articles, and TF:Food & Drink has one, and I think Tokyo. The TF:Military History does, but that's because it's part of WP:Mil History, not WP:Japan. The others don't or I can't find them. I'm looking at . Look at the "sub-categories". There's only three. What do we have to do to get all of the task forces organized like that?Boneyard90 (talk) 23:05, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
- The wikiproject banner needs switches activated to enable categorization for the TFs, and the categories themselves have to be created. 70.24.251.71 (talk) 05:52, 12 March 2012 (UTC)
- "Switches"... So I guess I just don't get an answer. Boneyard90 (talk) 05:57, 12 March 2012 (UTC)
- Since you don't seem to know what "switches" are, you're going to have to learn template coding first, so go to MW: and read the documentation concerning templates. Read the documentation for template:WPBannerMeta, which will then tell you how to use it. The WPJAPAN banner uses WPBannerMeta, like most wikiprojects. 70.24.251.71 (talk) 06:18, 12 March 2012 (UTC)
- "Switches"... So I guess I just don't get an answer. Boneyard90 (talk) 05:57, 12 March 2012 (UTC)
- Ah, you are absolutely correct, I did not know what switches were in this context. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction. Boneyard90 (talk) 06:48, 12 March 2012 (UTC)
- The reason they don't point to any categories is because they don't exist. If you create the categories or find ones which already exist, point them out on the talk page of the template and adjustments can be made to the template to include them. As others have mentioned, they just need to be switched on. ···日本穣? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WP Japan! 18:17, 12 March 2012 (UTC)
- Ah, you are absolutely correct, I did not know what switches were in this context. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction. Boneyard90 (talk) 06:48, 12 March 2012 (UTC)
Source about radiation and food safety in Japan
CNN just posted an article about radiation and food safety in Japan.
- McFarland, Saga and Sarah Spaeth. "Tokyo food radiation safety: It's personal." CNN. March 10, 2012.
WhisperToMe (talk) 15:48, 11 March 2012 (UTC)
Another dubious article: no sources or geodata, and I can't find any such town on the Japanese Wikipedia. Is this an actual town or not? PC78 (talk) 18:53, 14 March 2012 (UTC)
- Strange that the article was suddenly created as recently as March 2011. A search on Japan Post's zipcode finder turns up no hits for "白河町", although there is a 白川町 in Gifu Prefecture. Shirakawa city was a town (白河町) before it became a city, but that is in Fukushima Prefecture. I would recommend PRODing as a hoax and removing the entry from the Shirakawa disambiguation page. --DAJF (talk) 13:02, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
- It's a part of Shiroishi, Miyagi and there is the Kita-Shirakawa Station. The kanji is wrong. It's 白川, not 白河. See also ja:白川村 (宮城県). But today there is no place called just "白川". [1], [2], [3], and [4]. Oda Mari (talk) 14:34, 15 March 2012 (UTC)
Hafus and the Golden Half
There are two articles I feel need sorting the article Hafu has an excessive list of celebrities and fictional characters listed as Hafu with no sources should they be removed. Secondly Golden Half who are noted for making Hafus fashionable does anyone have additional information on them? Dwanyewest (talk) 13:59, 18 March 2012 (UTC)
"National Masturbation day is celebrated in Japan"
I first asked for citations and then (tried to) remove the above incredible statement from an article called National Masturbation Day and was accused of "disruptive editing" and told that I would "be reported". I would appreciate some help in getting this nonsense removed from the above article from anyone who knows how to deal with this kind of situation. JoshuSasori (talk) 13:20, 21 March 2012 (UTC)
- I've left a comment at Talk:National Masturbation Day. — Mr. Stradivarius ♫ 13:53, 21 March 2012 (UTC)
Yamaguchi or Momoe?
Another editor judges plain "Momoe" a hugely more popular name in Japan for Momoe Yamaguchi than is plain "Yamaguchi", and thus finds "Yamaguchi" intolerable. And finds permission in the relevant guideline to disobey the intolerable.
Me, I'd agree with the first half of the first assertion above but would rule it irrelevant. Wikipedia talks of "Presley", "Monroe", "Natsume", etc, and (to my mind) rightly so. ("Madonna" is a slightly different matter, and I don't want to get into the matter of Icelandic names, etc.)
Comments? -- Hoary (talk) 06:57, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- Comment: The article used "Momoe" consistently from when it was created until quite recently when Hoary changed it to "Yamaguchi". I am sure Hoary's edits were in good faith, but I don't think Hoary was much aware of her until editing the article. I think most people who know of this person's career would automatically use the name "Momoe" for her. Japanese Wikipedia also uses her first name. JoshuSasori (talk) 08:02, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- I was aware of her, actually. (Off the top of my head: She's from the Pink Lady period, predating Matsuda Seiko and Nakamori Akina. And yes, I also perpetrated this change from "Akina" to "Nakamori".) I'm willing to believe that there's some good reason why this encyclopedia should call her "Momoe", but this wouldn't be its use by ja:WP. (I regret my low regard for ja:WP, but when that article pays its respects to this claptrap by saying 血液型 A型, I tune out.) -- Hoary (talk) 08:34, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- I don't know anything about Akina Nakamori, so I cannot say how she is usually referred to, but I notice that the Japanese Wikipedia also calls her "Nakamori". I don't think the blood type argument invalidates the point that this performer (Momoe) is universally referred to by her first name. Even if you google for something about her quilt exhibits, as a woman in her fifties, she is still referred to as "Momoe-chan". JoshuSasori (talk) 09:06, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- Not so simple. I looked in asahi.com. My sample is tiny and very likely unrepresentative, but in this story, Nakamori is once called 中森明菜 but elsewhere (and even in the title) is called 明菜; in this story, Yamaguchi (or Mrs Miura) is called 山口百恵. And how about perennial heartthrob Kimura Takuya? In this story, he's once called 木村拓哉, several times called 木村, but in the headline called キムタク. But a simple solution: That we should ignore all this, unless somebody really does go by just one name, such as Madonna, Divine, or (Japanese example) Ikko. -- Hoary (talk) 12:12, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- As I said I have no idea what Akina Nakamori is called, I do not know anything about her, but the very article you point to has a head line 友和・百恵長男が松山千春 JoshuSasori (talk) 13:23, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- Yes, you're right. Should WP then talk in Tomokazu Miura about "Tomokazu"? Hmm, apropos of Chiharu Matsuyama, here's an article that calls him 松山 in the text but 千春 in the title. -- Hoary (talk) 13:35, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- I'm not sure whether this is sarcasm, but that would be an error. Tomokazu Miura is often referred to as Tomokazu when in combination with Momoe, but he isn't usually referred to as Tomokazu outside that context, so there is no special reason to call him by his first name rather than his last name. JoshuSasori (talk) 14:13, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- I take your word for it; my knowledge of Japanese (or other) celebs is sketchy. But yes, Matsuyama. He seems to be a chum of Muneo Suzuki, who's commonly called Muneo. -- Hoary (talk) 14:22, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- In case you don't know the usual name for Tomokazu Miura is "Momoe-chan no danna san". JoshuSasori (talk) 15:22, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- I agree with Hoary. It's not encyclopedic to use Momoe. Waido show, tabloids, and fans/fan sites may use Momoe, but I don't think major news papers/programs use it. Think about Whitney Houston and her death news, she has been calling Houston. I don't call her Momoe nor Momoe chan, I call her Yamaguchi Momoe. Off the topic though, don't you have a loading problem? See WP:VPT#is it me or is wiki very slow?. Oda Mari (talk) 17:16, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- Do you have an example of "Yamaguchi"? Perhaps in an obituary she would be referred to as "Yamaguchi", but I suspect that even an obituary would refer to her as "Momoe", or maybe "Yamaguchi Momoe", or "Miura Momoe" (her actual name), but calling her "Yamaguchi" seems too weird to me. JoshuSasori (talk) 01:28, 24 March 2012 (UTC)
- Well, for an encyclopedia to call her "Momoe" seems too weird to me (and I think to Oda Mari as well); this kind of rhetoric will take us nowhere. I see no reason why an example of 山口 need be produced, but here's one anyway. -- Hoary (talk) 13:13, 24 March 2012 (UTC)
- What Japanese call her is irrelevant here as this is en WP. How about Kyu Sakamoto and Hibari Misora? KS was mostly referred to as Sakamoto Kyu or Kyu chan in Japan and ja WP uses Kyu, but our article uses Sakamoto. So is Hibari Misora. Japanese never call Showa Tenno Hirohito. But our article name is Hirohito because that's the most common name in en speaking countries. If Momoe is as widely used as Hirohito in en, it would be acceptable. Actually it is not. It is meaningless to compare what name other WPs use. At the same time, the most common name is not necessarily appropriate to use in encyclopedia. I think Fergie is the most commonly used name in en, but it is a nickname and our article Sarah, Duchess of York, uses Sarah. Oda Mari (talk) 15:30, 24 March 2012 (UTC)
- I have never offered what Japanese wikipedia uses as an argument for what to call her. I just pointed this out as one example of the fact she is universally called by her first name. One huge problem with this article is that the subject is one of the most famous people in Japan, yet unknown outside the country. Is she notable? J.Wiki has a whole Momoe template, and information on even her lamest outputs. E.Wiki has an article which was mostly just fan babblign until recently. But with the weight of Oda Mari behind using "Yamaguchi", I suppose I will just have to revert it back to this naming, because there is no point arguing on and on. Let's put it back to Yamaguchi and maybe I will add a note about her usually being called Momoe. JoshuSasori (talk) 00:59, 25 March 2012 (UTC)
- What Japanese call her is irrelevant here as this is en WP. How about Kyu Sakamoto and Hibari Misora? KS was mostly referred to as Sakamoto Kyu or Kyu chan in Japan and ja WP uses Kyu, but our article uses Sakamoto. So is Hibari Misora. Japanese never call Showa Tenno Hirohito. But our article name is Hirohito because that's the most common name in en speaking countries. If Momoe is as widely used as Hirohito in en, it would be acceptable. Actually it is not. It is meaningless to compare what name other WPs use. At the same time, the most common name is not necessarily appropriate to use in encyclopedia. I think Fergie is the most commonly used name in en, but it is a nickname and our article Sarah, Duchess of York, uses Sarah. Oda Mari (talk) 15:30, 24 March 2012 (UTC)
- Well, for an encyclopedia to call her "Momoe" seems too weird to me (and I think to Oda Mari as well); this kind of rhetoric will take us nowhere. I see no reason why an example of 山口 need be produced, but here's one anyway. -- Hoary (talk) 13:13, 24 March 2012 (UTC)
- Do you have an example of "Yamaguchi"? Perhaps in an obituary she would be referred to as "Yamaguchi", but I suspect that even an obituary would refer to her as "Momoe", or maybe "Yamaguchi Momoe", or "Miura Momoe" (her actual name), but calling her "Yamaguchi" seems too weird to me. JoshuSasori (talk) 01:28, 24 March 2012 (UTC)
- I agree with Hoary. It's not encyclopedic to use Momoe. Waido show, tabloids, and fans/fan sites may use Momoe, but I don't think major news papers/programs use it. Think about Whitney Houston and her death news, she has been calling Houston. I don't call her Momoe nor Momoe chan, I call her Yamaguchi Momoe. Off the topic though, don't you have a loading problem? See WP:VPT#is it me or is wiki very slow?. Oda Mari (talk) 17:16, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- In case you don't know the usual name for Tomokazu Miura is "Momoe-chan no danna san". JoshuSasori (talk) 15:22, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- I take your word for it; my knowledge of Japanese (or other) celebs is sketchy. But yes, Matsuyama. He seems to be a chum of Muneo Suzuki, who's commonly called Muneo. -- Hoary (talk) 14:22, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- I'm not sure whether this is sarcasm, but that would be an error. Tomokazu Miura is often referred to as Tomokazu when in combination with Momoe, but he isn't usually referred to as Tomokazu outside that context, so there is no special reason to call him by his first name rather than his last name. JoshuSasori (talk) 14:13, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- Yes, you're right. Should WP then talk in Tomokazu Miura about "Tomokazu"? Hmm, apropos of Chiharu Matsuyama, here's an article that calls him 松山 in the text but 千春 in the title. -- Hoary (talk) 13:35, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- As I said I have no idea what Akina Nakamori is called, I do not know anything about her, but the very article you point to has a head line 友和・百恵長男が松山千春 JoshuSasori (talk) 13:23, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- Not so simple. I looked in asahi.com. My sample is tiny and very likely unrepresentative, but in this story, Nakamori is once called 中森明菜 but elsewhere (and even in the title) is called 明菜; in this story, Yamaguchi (or Mrs Miura) is called 山口百恵. And how about perennial heartthrob Kimura Takuya? In this story, he's once called 木村拓哉, several times called 木村, but in the headline called キムタク. But a simple solution: That we should ignore all this, unless somebody really does go by just one name, such as Madonna, Divine, or (Japanese example) Ikko. -- Hoary (talk) 12:12, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- I don't know anything about Akina Nakamori, so I cannot say how she is usually referred to, but I notice that the Japanese Wikipedia also calls her "Nakamori". I don't think the blood type argument invalidates the point that this performer (Momoe) is universally referred to by her first name. Even if you google for something about her quilt exhibits, as a woman in her fifties, she is still referred to as "Momoe-chan". JoshuSasori (talk) 09:06, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
- I was aware of her, actually. (Off the top of my head: She's from the Pink Lady period, predating Matsuda Seiko and Nakamori Akina. And yes, I also perpetrated this change from "Akina" to "Nakamori".) I'm willing to believe that there's some good reason why this encyclopedia should call her "Momoe", but this wouldn't be its use by ja:WP. (I regret my low regard for ja:WP, but when that article pays its respects to this claptrap by saying 血液型 A型, I tune out.) -- Hoary (talk) 08:34, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
Thank you for agreeing to use "Yamaguchi". Yes, it's worth saying that she's often called "Momoe". -- Hoary (talk) 01:15, 25 March 2012 (UTC)
- It seems I'm a bit late but here is a relevant guideline for the topic, Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biographies#Subsequent use, which recommends to refer to people other than royalties by surname. --Kusunose 05:56, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
Hi, this AfD about a form of Japanese poetry could use expert attention. Thanks, Sandstein 17:47, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
Japanese umbrella
This on "oil paper umbrella in Japan" needs quite a bit of work, if anyone at Wikiproject Japan is interested. JoshuSasori (talk) 04:44, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
- I gave it a copyediting whack, but probably could use another set of eyes. The most obvious deficiency is the lack of sources sources, if anyone has anything on the subject.Boneyard90 (talk) 06:04, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
- Thanks for your editing work. JoshuSasori (talk) 07:05, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
- Plundering ja:wp, this page, though part of commercial site, may have some info re construction; also Genji scrolls and Hiroshige/Van Gogh . In Kagoshima there's apparently a kasayaki light up, more detailed page on prefectural website, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 08:51, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
- I added some rather nice creative commons licenced pictures to the article but in the end that whole page is a bit horrible so I decided to start my own article User:JoshuSasori/Work/Wagasa so I can include more of the things specifically about wagasa which I'm interested in. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any references about keeping a sword up the handled. JoshuSasori (talk) 15:03, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
Comment/judgment/vote by editors with knowledge of ja and Japan are needed. Thank you. Oda Mari (talk) 09:28, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
Can we divide this into sections by country? It doesn't seem right to equate mere property damage in the US with the astounding loss of lives in Japan.--Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 13:38, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
- Like sections within the same article? That seems reasonable, as there are only two other countries, and Indonesia has only one listing (I think). Maybe "Japan" and "Other". But surely not a separate article for the other countries.Boneyard90 (talk) 16:03, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
- That's what I meant, sorry if I was unclear.--Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 11:55, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
- Yep, "Japan" and "Other countries" gets my vote. — Mr. Stradivarius ♫ 16:14, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
It's ridiculous. If some plutocrats have parked their yachts at marina the other side of the Pacific and an unusually large wave bashes them against each other or the jetty, little wonder if the insurance company is billed over $100,000. But meanwhile, dozens of Japanese towns and suburbs (or "cities", as we're supposed to call them) were seriously damaged, if not dramatically enough to register in anglophone infotainment. There's a big hint of this in this asahi.com article, which shows that the population trend of Chiba has reversed and is now falling. A search in asahi.com for 千葉 and 地震 together should provide more data. But I lack the time and energy to pursue this. Meanwhile, no WP policy bars ridiculousness. If somebody wants to create a list showing reliable evidence for each claim that a place lost $100,000 or one human life, why not? -- Hoary (talk) 14:45, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
Language question
On the indirect speech article, it says: "However, in Japanese, among other languages, the speaker is free to change the pronoun or leave it as is." I take this to mean that if someone says "I'm hungry", and I want to report that fact, I can either say (in Japanese) "He says he's hungry" or "He says I'm hungry" (meaning the same in both cases). Is this right? Can someone provide an example of this in Japanese? Thanks for any help, Victor Yus (talk) 14:30, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
- Danger: Non-native speaking. Please wait for Oda Mari or similar to speak up. In the meantime, yes, either is possible, but either would be very strained. In Japanese the subject or topic is normally dropped when pragmatically inferrable. English: What's his problem? Why's he moaning all the time? / He says he's hungry. The idiomatic Japanese equivalent is rather closer to: What's his problem? Why's moaning all the time? / Says hungry. (And now Mari can correct me!) -- Hoary (talk) 14:52, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
- Here I am. Hoary is correct. There's nothing wrong his post...No, I found one. "'s" in "Why's" is not needed. I guess it's typo. Oda Mari (talk) 15:32, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
- Yes, my English is collapsing, sorry. But back to the indirect speech article. It tells us: However, in Japanese, among other languages, the speaker is free to change the pronoun or leave it as is. There seems to be no awareness here of the notion that the pronoun is superfluous in many languages. You don't have to venture to such exotic (?) languages as Japanese to find this: the pronoun isn't needed in (say) Italian. -- Hoary (talk) 15:44, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
- That's a good point that should be mentioned. But to return to Japanese, what if we have a situation where the pronoun is needed? Let's say Ann (talking about Bob) says "He's stupid". Presumably if I want to report this single statement to Bob, I can't tell him "Ann says (he's) stupid", I would have to say "Ann says you're stupid", right? Or does Japanese have a different way of handling situations like this?--Victor Yus (talk) 07:04, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
- First, Bobbu-wa baka da (or similar): BobTOPIC fool COPULA. Secondly, Anata-ga baka da to An-wa itta (or similar): YouNOM fool COPULA to AnnTOPIC said. In which to is, um, a quotative complementizer, perhaps -- sorry, no time to think about this right now; I'll be back after dinner. -- Hoary (talk) 11:13, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
- To Victor, Japanese also makes more common use of names in conversation, rather than pronouns, even when talking to someone. Pronouns carry different feelings (polite, casual, intimate). Names are neutral. So in your example, you might say to Bob, "Ann says Bob is stupid".Boneyard90 (talk) 11:46, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
- Yes, that's right. Well, my resident native informant is now watching a DVD and so I don't want to bother her with questions, but in the meantime my non-native intuition is that the Japanese equivalent of "Ann says 'He is stupid'", where "he" is the current addressee, is possible, but that it would be as marked as the English is (note the internal single question marks, for special intonation). -- Hoary (talk) 13:11, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
- More colloquially in ja, I'd say "Ann wa anata/you no koto/about (o), baka/fool datte ittetayo/said". I use "anata" for you. But it is replaceable. It depends on what you directly call Bob as there are many ways to say "you" in ja like "kimi", "omae", "anta", etc. Boneyard90, it's more natural to use "you" in this case and "you" is often used. As for other pronouns, the/that person (anohito/あの人) or the/that people (anohitotachi/あの人たち) are more often used than he, she, or they. Hey, Hoary and Boneyard90, please take a look at MFD I filed, please. Oda Mari (talk) 14:26, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
- Yes, that's right. Well, my resident native informant is now watching a DVD and so I don't want to bother her with questions, but in the meantime my non-native intuition is that the Japanese equivalent of "Ann says 'He is stupid'", where "he" is the current addressee, is possible, but that it would be as marked as the English is (note the internal single question marks, for special intonation). -- Hoary (talk) 13:11, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
- That's a good point that should be mentioned. But to return to Japanese, what if we have a situation where the pronoun is needed? Let's say Ann (talking about Bob) says "He's stupid". Presumably if I want to report this single statement to Bob, I can't tell him "Ann says (he's) stupid", I would have to say "Ann says you're stupid", right? Or does Japanese have a different way of handling situations like this?--Victor Yus (talk) 07:04, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
- Yes, my English is collapsing, sorry. But back to the indirect speech article. It tells us: However, in Japanese, among other languages, the speaker is free to change the pronoun or leave it as is. There seems to be no awareness here of the notion that the pronoun is superfluous in many languages. You don't have to venture to such exotic (?) languages as Japanese to find this: the pronoun isn't needed in (say) Italian. -- Hoary (talk) 15:44, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
- Here I am. Hoary is correct. There's nothing wrong his post...No, I found one. "'s" in "Why's" is not needed. I guess it's typo. Oda Mari (talk) 15:32, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
- What is this question doing on this talk page? JoshuSasori (talk) 07:25, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
- Victor Yus has a legitimate question about Japanese in order to improve an article, and very reasonably supposes that informed and helpful people might be found hereabouts. (Me, I'd like to be helpful, but my advice is probably not worth much.) Is there some problem? -- Hoary (talk) 11:13, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
- I didn't know he was asking the question to improve the article. JoshuSasori (talk) 11:43, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
- Victor Yus has a legitimate question about Japanese in order to improve an article, and very reasonably supposes that informed and helpful people might be found hereabouts. (Me, I'd like to be helpful, but my advice is probably not worth much.) Is there some problem? -- Hoary (talk) 11:13, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
Once again thanks for everyone's efforts. My conclusion (I don't know if you agree) is that the statement in the article that "the speaker is free to change the pronoun or..." is oversimplified and misleading, as it implies that Japanese has pronouns that funtion more or less the same as typical English-language pronouns, which appears not to be the case. I'm going to try editing it to just say that some languages don't have comparable pronoun systems, and give a link to the pronouns section of Japanese grammar by way of an example. I'll also mention the general pro-drop case as Hoary suggested. That seems to be as much as I can do; if any of you guys feel like adding a section on indirect speech in Japanese any time, either in indirect speech or in Japanese grammar or both, that would undoubtedly be excellent.--Victor Yus (talk) 17:51, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
- Well, when I came to do it, I couldn't find anything meaningful to say about Japanese that wouldn't seem like getting bogged down within what is actually a very general and loosely worded section (which doesn't mention any other languages explicitly either). If anyone can do better, please have a try.--Victor Yus (talk) 18:08, 28 March 2012 (UTC)
Translation review request
There's been a recent discussion at the talk page of the article for the Internet meme All your base are belong to us. The topic was made famous for the gruesome Engrish translations in the original video game, and the article provided a somewhat more accurate translation along the original text.
The discussion could benefit from a review of the accuracy of these translations as it appeared in this recent version, by someone with fluency in Japanese and experience dealing with editor-made translations at Wikipedia. Thanks for your time. Diego (talk) 11:10, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
Translation help
Hello, I'm preparing a page on Unkei's NT sculpture of Dainichi Nyorai; on the pedestal there is an inscription (image may be found on temple web site); I have found a transcription: 運慶承 安元元年十一月廿四日始之 | 給料物上品八丈絹肆拾参疋也 | 已上御身料也 | 奉渡安元弐申丙十月十九日 | 大仏師康慶 | 実弟子運慶 and have attempted a translation: "Unkei ?notes?: begun on the 24th day of the eleventh month of Angen 1 (1175) | for payment of forty-three lengths of superior quality silk from Hachijō-jima | ?in addition to your materials? | completed and handed over on the 19th day of the tenth month of Angen 2 (1176) | great Busshi Kōkei's | true apprentice, Unkei". Could someone please correct this - in particular I don't really get the functioning of 承 (1st line 3rd character); the whole of the third line 已上御身料也; the significance/cation of the calendrical marker 申丙, which I have omitted; and also a translation I've found of the last two lines says Kokei's true apprentice, great busshi Unkei - ie. Great Busshi - of Kokei | the true apprentice - Unkei; is this to be preferred to great busshi Kokei's true apprentice Unkei? Thanks a lot, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 15:17, 30 March 2012 (UTC)
- 承 is comply or accept (an order of the statue). 已上御身料也 is That's all for the payment of the statue. It's 丙申/heishin/へいしん, not 申丙, and it's a stem-branch cycle. See Chinese calendar#Stem-branch cycle, Sexagenary cycle and ja:丙申. Oda Mari (talk) 18:07, 30 March 2012 (UTC)
- That's great, thanks a lot for the corrections and the v.helpful links, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 19:03, 30 March 2012 (UTC)
- Looking forward to that article. I checked the few sources I have but unfortunately there is nothing about that sculpture. BTW, thanks for yesterday's/today's images. Too bad there isn't enough space to use all of them in the tables. But now that you started to write articles about all NT sculptures... ;-) bamse (talk) 20:54, 30 March 2012 (UTC)
- All would certainly be lovely, if time-consuming; now have a great full set of bosatsu on clouds from 1926 if you fancy sharing the load! Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 07:05, 31 March 2012 (UTC)
- 52 images? I'd fancy that. I noticed that for some (groups of) sculptures you created separate categories, which I think is a very good idea, particularly if there is more than one image. bamse (talk) 12:35, 31 March 2012 (UTC)
- All would certainly be lovely, if time-consuming; now have a great full set of bosatsu on clouds from 1926 if you fancy sharing the load! Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 07:05, 31 March 2012 (UTC)
- Looking forward to that article. I checked the few sources I have but unfortunately there is nothing about that sculpture. BTW, thanks for yesterday's/today's images. Too bad there isn't enough space to use all of them in the tables. But now that you started to write articles about all NT sculptures... ;-) bamse (talk) 20:54, 30 March 2012 (UTC)
- That's great, thanks a lot for the corrections and the v.helpful links, Maculosae tegmine lyncis (talk) 19:03, 30 March 2012 (UTC)