Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 00:50:47 -0700
From: TJ Hamilton <ryougaecho@abraxis.com>
Reply-To: ryougaecho@abraxis.com
To: miashara@mindspring.com
CC: ffml@fanfic.com
Subject: Re: [FFML][Possibly Spam]Chi

Trying to translate anything asian becomes very frazzling, while many
things may not be entirely correct, they aren't wrong. It depends on 

the

context.

But ki/chi is written the same in chinese and japanese.

-TJ
-CSY head
-FFIRC head
-ki slapper/ swing jack

Yes. To try and translate anything from a foreign language is difficult 
because, anthropologically speaking, language is a function of culture. 
If you don't know the cultur, the full flavour of the language is 
unaccessable.
But I can tell you this: The character representing ki/CHI is not just 
the same character in two languages, it the same character period. The 
japanese in circa. 15th cent. had only two methods of writing: Hirigana, 
which today is the common syllabary, and katakana, which today is used 
for "borrowed words" (i.e. MUUN KURISHITALU PAAWAA meaning "Moon Crystal 
Power").
When Chinese literature made its way into Japan, the japanese had no way 
of reading it. So instead of trying to translate the thing into 
Japanese, they simply read it the way it was with the help of 
translators. Well, the japanese were so enamoured with the chinese 
language, (writing everything in kana was making texts *way* too long) 
they decided to borrow the whole set of characters to prolifurate the 
language.
So when the japanese make words, they either use a single character to 
represent a japanese word in Japanese (i.e. The character aka(red) used 
in the word akai, the extra -i is written in kana to show that the word 
is an adjective) or they combine two characters and represent a JAPANESE 
word using CHINESE PRONUNCIATION (i.e. The kun(Jap.) reading of the 
character aka when placed with the kun reading of the character 
tsuchi(earth, ground, dirt) use the on(Chi.) reading to form the word 
Shakudou).
A quick reference table:

Character(approx.)       kun reading           on reading

    -+-                     aka                    SHAKU
   -----
   /||`


     |                     tsuchi                  DOU
    -+-
     |
   -----

Don't ask me to display what ki/CHI looks like; ASCII is infuriatingly 
hard to work with.
But TJ was right, languages are hard to translate.
I just wanted to put my two cents in before Tybalt probably bans this 
thread.

- Shakudo - A little knowledge IS a dangerous thing, it puts everybody 
under a sleep spell.

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