A word I like a lot is ichikabachika. It's usually translated as "sink or swim" but sometimes as "do or die". It sounds neat; rolls off the tongue nicely (because both "chi" are actually pronounced as "ch").

I wondered what I could learn about it from the full spelling. It's this: 一か八か

Two kanjis and two hiraganas. 一 ichi means "one". 八 hachi means "eight".

か ka is a particle. One use of it is to tag entries in a list. The example given for that usage is Kore ka, sore ka meaning "this or that". So ichikabachika literally means "one or eight".

And yet another colloquial translation would be "In for a dime, in for a dollar". (Does anyone say that anymore? We said it when I was a kid, but these days a dime can't even buy you a package of chewing gum.)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Japanese at 09:24 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Sometimes a language will have a nice, compact term for something that can only really be translated in some other language with lots and lots of words. I just ran into this one from Japanese:

夜郎自大 (やろうじだい) yaroujidai - throwing one's weight around in a small group without knowing ones' real worth in a larger world outside

I wonder if a colloquial translation would be "big fish in a small pond". Even if not, it's a marvelous word. It makes me wonder why the Japanese would have such a term. Has there traditionally been a need for it?

Probably so; it's a pretty universal thing, I think.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Japanese at 09:25 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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There's what I would think of as a vocal affectation I've noticed twice now. It doesn't seem to be common, but it's interesting.

The first time was in Stratos 4. There's a scene near the end where the central four girls radio back home to report some important information about what's happened and what they're about to do. The third one ends with onegai shimasu. And then Karin repeats shimasu.

The other time is in Shingu. At one point (ep 21) Jiltosh says Ganbare! And then Weinul says, 'Bare 'bare! ("Bare" isn't a word.)

What I think I'm seeing is a language convention; you repeat the last couple of syllables the previous person said, in order to repeat/agree/emphasize it. It's the Japanese equivalent of the New Yorkism "What he said."

On the other hand, it could also be an indicator that the speaker is strange or eccentric. Karin is borderline autistic, and Weinul is from a different planet and doesn't fully understand Earth or Japan. In fact, he's speaking through an automated interpreter. And I've never noticed this anywhere else.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Japanese at 10:32 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I pointed out a case where the subtitle translation in Shingu was "someone with a bug up their butt". I just figured out that the Japanese term was okorinbou. The dictionary says it means "short-tempered or irritable person". I suppose you could shorten that to "bitchy person" or maybe "grump" but it wouldn't have been as funny, and I don't think it would have sounded as natural from a middle school kid. The translator definitely gets points for the actual translation.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Japanese at 10:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Courtesy of "Dragon Ball Z", today's borrowed word is fuurupawaa.

Full Power

I also notice that Goku, Cell, and at least one other fighter use -zo and -ze. Not a surprise, really; all of them speak like lower class ruffians.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Japanese at 07:53 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Revisiting Vandread. Hibiki is a classic sufferer from "short man" syndrome. Not only is he quite small physically (shorter even than Meia and Jura) but he's also a third class citizen on Tarak, a member of the lowest caste. So he's got a chip on his shoulder and snarls a lot.

He talks like a ruffian. I've gotten to where I can pick that particular vocal affectation out a lot of the time. He rolls his "r" sounds, which is a pretty standard "tough guy" affectation, but I've long been subliminally aware of another affectation, and just now I finally nailed it: he uses -ze and -zo a lot at the end of sentences.

The Wikipedia article on Japanese particles says that -ze and -zo get used the way -yo does, except that they have different connotations. -ze is stronger than -zo and "is never considered polite". Hibiki uses them both.

I'm sure I've heard other characters using -ze and -zo, but I wasn't really sensitized to it before. Now that I do know about them it will be interesting to see what other examples spring out at me when I rewatch things.

It's been a long time since I've rewatched the Sakura Wars TV series; maybe it's about time again. I know that Kanna rolls her r's. I wonder if she uses temee and ore and ze and zo? Yeah, I know that any female, no matter how tough she is, shouldn't be using ore. That's why I was so shocked to hear Beth using it in Petite Princess Yucie. A 10 year old girl using ore ain't any kind of "petite" I've ever heard of.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Japanese at 11:06 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The "Goddess Help Line" is tasuke megami jimusho which actually means "Goddess assistance office". Close enough for government work.

At least I think that's what Megumi says in this scene, echoing back what she just heard Belldandy say:

In case anyone's interested, it's DVD 2, about 0:06:10.

UPDATE: I'm rewatching this in part so as to plunder it for frame grabs to update the top rotation again. Since it's widescreen I was afraid I wouldn't get many images, but in fact I've been getting quite a few. I was also afraid it was going to end up being a one-trick pony -- Urd, Urd, Urd, Urd and spam -- but I was wrong.

In particular, we also have Mara, demon first class and holder of an advanced degree from the Department of Fiendishly Elaborate Plans of the Wile E. Coyote University. Or maybe that's "Department of Elaborately Fiendish Plans".

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Japanese at 07:41 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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1 The character designs for OMG TV suck.

This is Megumi:

Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 24, 2007 09:58 PM (PiXy!)

2 That thing is hideous. Where did it come from?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at May 24, 2007 10:26 PM (+rSRq)

3 Hey, my fansub says her name is "Marller"! Where did "Mara" come from?? ...I couldn't believe the people who fansubbed the first TV series did that. Jeeze-louise. How hard is it to use Google??

Posted by: Ed Hering at May 24, 2007 11:00 PM (o4FLO)

4

That thing is hideous. Where did it come from?

Google Image Search.

And prior to that, the original OVA.

I don't see what's hideous about it (apart from the image quality).  Megumi is supposed to be a 19-year-old girl, not a 38-year-old transvestite.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 24, 2007 11:07 PM (PiXy!)

5

They used "Marller" in the official subtitle, too, and it's still wrong.

Maybe I could be convinced that her name is "Marla", but most fan sites for the manga list her as "Mara" and that's what I go with.

Pixy, that picture is from the OVA, isn't it? Gad that sucked, including the art.

The TV series inherited its character designs from the movie, as well as a lot of its visual concepts e.g. what heaven looks like, what the internals of the computer system look like. Mara wasn't in the movie, but they used the same basic approach for her. Megumi was in the movie, albeit only in a cameo.

I personally prefer the new art.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at May 24, 2007 11:08 PM (+rSRq)

6

This site is pretty close to being canon for the series. It's true that the character art for the new TV series (and the movie) is changed relative to the manga, and that the original OVA was closer to the manga, but the manga art gives everyone very round faces, which makes them all look young. In the movie/TV art they've changed the body proportions and face shapes to make everyone look more adult.

Matter of personal taste, I guess.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at May 24, 2007 11:14 PM (+rSRq)

7 Like a lot of the show's characters; Mara is a name with roots in mythology:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara
Mara is the right romanization for the name.

Posted by: Adam at May 24, 2007 11:31 PM (ff/q8)

8

Gad that sucked, including the art.

Disagree completely.

Now, part of this is that the OVA compressed at least five volumes of manga down to five episodes.  Part of it is that I saw the OVA back around 1995, when it first came out, and then read the manga, and then watched the movie, and then didn't watch the TV series.

And part of it is that you're just wrong.  The character designs for the TV series are off-model, inappropriate, and ugly.  All the characters are very young.  Megumi has just started college at the start of the story - she's only 18.  Keiichi is only a year or so older.  If that's an 18-year-old in your picture, she needs to book herself into detox, pronto.

OVA FTW!  AMG TV suxors!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 24, 2007 11:33 PM (PiXy!)

9 That particular picture of Megumi is not a representative one. It isn't fair to judge her from it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at May 24, 2007 11:38 PM (+rSRq)

10

Hey, my fansub says her name is "Marller"! Where did "Mara" come from??

"Mara" comes originally from the manga (the Dark Horse release). I checked two volumes, and they both spell it that way.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 24, 2007 11:47 PM (PiXy!)

11 I've seen other pictures of TV Megumi, and they are less worse, it's true. Sometimes she only looks to be in her late twenties.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 24, 2007 11:50 PM (PiXy!)

12

Like a lot of the show's characters; Mara is a name with roots in mythology:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara

Cool.  I'd never bothered to look that up.  Hild also comes from Norse mythology.  The only reference I could find to Peorth was this:

Pertho: The 14th rune of the Elder Futhark, representing the letter p.

The traditional meaning of this rune has not been established, but various suggestions have been made, including "secret" and "chess piece." This is the sixth rune of the second aett and it is one of the most obscure runes in the futhark.... In a reading, Pertho usually has esoteric meanings relating, for example, to an initiation experience or to the discovery of a hidden aspect within oneself.

(Peorth was given as an alternate spelling.)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at May 24, 2007 11:56 PM (PiXy!)

13

While I prefer the AMG! TV series, there's a soft spot in my heart for the OVA... it was the second piece of anime I ever saw, after all, and back then it was the bee's knees.  With the limits they were given (5 volumes in 5 episodes), I thought it was pretty good (and still do).

Sure, the art isn't good in comparison to the TV series (or the movie; wow, that's pretty!), but few shows from that time hold up in comparison to today.

I'll agree with Pixy: even though I know Megumi is the younger sister, I kept thinking her older that Keiichi.

Posted by: Wonderduck at May 25, 2007 04:24 AM (eCrFX)

14 Like most old-guard otaku I saw O!MG! OVA first, then read the manga, then saw the later stuff. So I actually know that it's supposed to me "Mara"....bad me for not making that more apparent.
Back when the OVA was IT, I kept wishing there was more O!MG! animated. I'm glad there is, even if they DID misspell Mara's name.
My big complaint is that Belldandy is not perfect in every cel. She's supposed to be--she's a GODDESS for crying out loud!

Posted by: Ed Hering at May 25, 2007 05:53 AM (o4FLO)

15 Looks like I'll have to do the {blockquote} manually:
      The character designs for OMG TV suck
From Pixy. Everything I've ever seen about OMG makes me think ''Nah, not for me''. If I dislike the artwork, the story has A LOT to overcome...

Posted by: YIH at May 25, 2007 11:45 AM (dS4pN)

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Something that you hear a lot in Magic Users Club (which I'm rewatching for the first time in a long time) is Jibun no shinjite. They translate that as "Believe in yourself".

I think that's a colloquial translation, but it doesn't appear exact. jibun is the reflexive pronoun, meaning all of myself-yourself-herself-himself-themselves-ourselves. Context makes clear who it refers to. no is the possessive particle. As to shinjite, it looks like it's the gerundive of the verb shinjiru "to believe / to have faith in / to place trust in". A gerundive is a noun created from a verb. In "we went for a walk", walk is a gerundive. This page says that the -te form is the gerundive.

So jibun no shinjite is a sentence without a verb. It means "faith in yourself" (since it's usually someone else saying it to Sae when she clutches in critical situations). It's common in Japanese to leave things out if they can be deduced from context, and in this case I gather that the full sentence that is implied is something along the lines of "faith in yourself is what's important now", at least in context.

Have I got that right?

UPDATE: No, I have not got that right. Well, I post these because I'm trying to learn.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Japanese at 05:48 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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