Tybalt, lest I burn up my spam tolerance, this post will be
shortly followed by a fic.


On Using "Hai"


The use of Japanese in fanfics has long been a contentious point.
Many people do it; some do not; I do it myself though nowhere near
as much as I used to.

The purpose of this essay is not to cast stones at Japanese-users
in ficdom... it is a plea for consideration.  Simply put, if you
are going to use Japanese words, please do two things:  Put in
a glossary, and most importantly, USE THEM CORRECTLY.

I have read a number of otherwise acceptable stories recently
that make extensive use of the Japanese word "hai".  In one case,
the author seemed to have forgotten that the word "yes" existed.

This is all well and good, except for one critical point:  The
author was using "hai" as if it were exactly analagous to the
English word "yes".

It is not.

"Hai" does *not* mean "yes".  It means "I agree" or "you're right".
For this reason, "hai" must sometimes be translated as "no".

Consider two passages.  First, in English:

"John, you aren't enjoying yourself?"  "Yes."

In "Japanese" (I won't bore readers with actual Japanese):

"John, you aren't enjoying yourself?"  "Hai."

John's answer in the first place is correcting the speaker's
impression.  He is saying, "You're wrong, I *am* enjoying 
myself."

In the second passage, he is *agreeing* with the questioner,
confirming their impression.  In other words, "hai" means "no".
In this case.

So please be careful when you use "hai" (if you must use it at
all); if you use it carelessly you can trip yourself up.

Which brings us to the other point regarding using "hai" in fanfic:
Constant use of "hai" sounds plain unnatural.  It's a comparatively
formal word.  There are other words that have slightly different
shades of meaning or different formality.  Two of them are "ee"
and "un".

"Ee" also means yes, except its usage is slightly different to
"hai".  (I find it difficult to explain the difference, except
to say that many of the uses of "hai" in fanfic would more properly
be "ee" in natural Japanese speech.)  "Un", close to a grunt, 
also means "yes" but it's very informal, as is its antonym, "uun".
(Fortunately they're easier to tell apart in speech than you might
think just by their spelling.)

In short, if you *must* use "hai" in a fanfic, make sure you know
what you're doing.  Perhaps the best word to use would be just 
plain "yes".

--
David Eddy - Senior Consultant, Progress Software Melbourne
dje@progress.com

Screening Coordinator and Subbing Bunny, Melbourne Anime Society
My home page is at http://nabiki.newberry.edu/DEddy