Translating Japanese Names: Difference between revisions

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Result from our example: '''Katō Kōsei''' -> '''Katou Kousei'''
Result from our example: '''Katō Kōsei''' -> '''Katou Kousei'''
Another example: '''O oishi ken Ichirō''' -> '''Ooishi Kenichirou'''
Another example: '''O oishi ken Ichirō''' -> '''Ooishi Kenichirou'''



Revision as of 03:33, 12 August 2014

When writing for the wiki, you might be interested in translating actors and actresses' names to romanji. This article serves as a guide on how to do so, even if you cannot read Japanese.

Sometimes, Google Translate translates it wrongly as kanji characters can have many different pronounciations. That's why a number of steps is required to prevent a wrong translation.

Step 1: Finding Their Japanese Wiki Article

Search for ja.wikipedia.org + their name in Japanese characters on Google.

  • The ja.wikipedia.org ensures that Google will give you the search result to the Japanese Wikipedia. Otherwise, in many cases, it will link you to the Chinese Wikipedia, as Google assumes kanji characters as Chinese by default.

Make sure that the article you're clicking on is the correct one. You can make sure of that by looking at the link. It must be ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by their exact name, nothing else, as one different character would mean a different person. So check carefully.

Translating japanese names google.jpg

  • You only need to do this step if their name is in kanji (kanji looks more complex than hiragana and katakana). If you're not sure what kanji looks like, just do this step anyways.
  • If you can't find their article on Google, then go to this section.

Step 2: Copy Their Name In Hiragana

Highlight their name in hiragana. This is usually easy to find, in brackets beside their kanji name, right on top of the wiki page. Press Ctrl+C to copy it.

  • Hiragana only has one pronounciation per character, and it will provide the standard and undisputed pronounciation to their names.

Translating japanese names hiragana.jpg

Step 3: Google Translate It!

Make sure you select Japanese on the left. Just click the box on the left and press Ctrl+V to paste.

Translating japanese names google translate.jpg

Copy the romanji below the box into your wiki article.

Translating japanese names google translate2.jpg

Step 4: Fixing The Romanji To TV-Nihon Standard

At TV-Nihon, our way of typing romanji is different from Google's. So you will need to change some characters as follow:

  • ī = ii
  • Ō = Oo (If it is at the beginning of the name, it will be 2 O)
  • ō = ou (If it is in the middle or end of the name, it will be ou)
  • ū = uu
  • Remove apostrophe (')
  • Remove hypens (-)
  • Group the words together / Remove unncessary spacings

Result from our example: Katō Kōsei -> Katou Kousei

Another example: O oishi ken Ichirō -> Ooishi Kenichirou

Done!

What to do if you can't find their article on Wikipedia

Sometimes, the actors aren't well-known enough, and there isn't a Wikipedia article for them.

To be added