Re: Japanese name-suffixes (was Re: Moi, le Kou)

-----Original Message-----
From: L. Gerholz <milo@...>
To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU <CONLANG@...>
Date: Sunday, January 14, 2001 4:48 AM
Subject: Re: Japanese name-suffixes (was Re: Moi, le Kou)


>Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
>>
>> Kenshin is set in the Meiji Restoration, and it's only used when
>> addressing
>> the female characters, but that may be coincidence.
>
>We've caught the -dono being used in "Tenchi Muyo!", by a character who
>has a *very* long lifespan, and so who could easily be using terms which
>are considered archaic by others.
Hmm.  I haven't watched a whole lot of Tenchi, so that may well be.  Someday
I need to track down one of the numerous Japanese-fluent people at Cornell's
anime club and ask them.  <wry g>

>> <G>  There's an anime called _Utena_, I think, that features a
pink-haired
>> girl at some bizarre private school who goes around in boys' clothes and
>> uses "boku" for herself.  (The series, from what I've seen of it, is
>> incredibly bizarre.)  Kenshin in _Rurouni Kenshin_ only uses "ore" in his
>> hitokiri battousai mode...<pealing into laughter at the thought of
>> Kenshin-the-yakuza with his sakaba-to>
>
>I love "Utena" (full titles: "Shoujo Kakumei Utena" and "Revolutionary
>Girl Utena"), and have both the full anime television series and all the
>volumes of the manga. Utena herself definitely uses the "boku" term for
>herself. And yes, it's a bizarre story. Maybe that's why I like it.
I only saw the first 5 episodes or so, wasn't sure whether I liked it or not
because I was so weirded out!  <rueful look>

The full TV series *and* the manga...<shaking head>  I have 5 volumes of
Neon Genesis Evangelion Manga in *Korean* translation (2 in English)--it's
interesting how Koreans mangle the names to become two syllables, and family
names are just thrown out the window (this is also true in the Korean-dubbed
anime, which I think is somewhat better than the English dub for voices, but
any number of scenes are censored and the sound quality isn't great):

Ikari Gendou -> Dou
Ritsuko -> Rich'eu
Misato -> Misa

A few came through fine:
Rei -> Rei
Shinji -> Sinji (pronounced the same)

And strangely enough, Asuka becomes "Erena" (possibly a mangled Korean
attempt at "Elena"?).  I'm wondering if either "Aseu" or "Seuka/Suka" has
some negative connotation in Korean, or means something random like
"Buddhist robe," or something.

I also have 2 volumes of Rurouni Kenshin (7 & 10), but they actually *are*
in Japanese.  Someday I may become motivated enough to learn to read the
language <groan>.  But it would be interesting to see what a Korean
translation did to those names, too.

YHL