In a message dated 1/11/99 10:18:06 PM !!!First Boot!!!,
arezina@acad1.stvincent.edu writes:

<< <snip the words as they aren't relevant and the suggestion given is good
 enough as is>
 |
 | 	Now here is my question for the list.  Why on earth do you
 | people wish to use
 | words from a language that you don't understand?!  If you don't know the
 | words, will your reader?  What is the point of writing a fic that
 | over half
 | the phrases are lost to your readers level of comprehension?!
 | Isn't the point
 | of the written word to communicate?  If that is your aim and you wish to
 | communicate with your readers, then do so in ENGLISH!
 
 So... what's Shampoo going to call Ranma instead of "ai ren" and say when
 she glomps him instead of "wo ai ni"? If we can get HER meaning in Chinese,
 why can't we get the characters' meaning in the occasional Japanese word?
 "Sensei", "sempai", and the dozen or so other nomenclatural suffixes that
 Japanese is peppered with can do a lot to indicate a character's respect or
 lack thereof to another character... this might show up in the bulk of the
 story as well, but it's something that would be said in the situation... why
 not say it? To say nothing of the Japanese words for which there is no ready
 English equivalent... "shogi" and "shoji" and "okonomiyaki" to name a few.
 Japanese is a much richer language than English is, and the occasional
 Japanese word will work around having to explain the concept in a few dozen
 English ones. And then there's the phonetic quality of the language... >>
<Snip here, snip there>

	Oh boy... looks like that angry Japanese guy is gonna get flamed a lot. Okay,
I'll say this, (I for one don't feel this way, but I know many who do) a "few"
azns have been getting mad about anime's popularity within the states. They
feel that a part of their culture is being bastardized. In some sense, we all
feel that way with dubs. ((Except for the lovely people at Viz who do a damn
well job, and I like Pioneer, although many will not share my opinion of it)).
A good example of bastardization is Fushigi Yuigii. The English is so
horrible, and they took away Chichiri's no da, among other things. Although
there are supposed to be certain equivalencies within languages, it's like
playing a piano piece with a violin. Some notes just won't do as well. I
understand that a lot of you are angry at that guy, and I for one was kinda
shocked to hear that, but go easy on him. 
  As for Shampoo's wo ai ne, and ai ren, and occasional ni hao ma, those words
are kinda cliche phrases in azn societies, all except Thai and Philippines,
but who cares about them (any flips and thais out there... I don't mean
anything about that...), 
  and for angry azn people, please relax about this. You should be happy that
Americans is willing to accept and mimic your culture. I mean, come on, is
there an American saying that mimicking is the best form of flattery? I mean,
look at most of your styles. You get them from the 80s... You mimic the West.
You say western words and phrases that really sound funny if said here, like
"nice shoot" and cohi for coffee, and other stuff... 
  I know I stand in the middle among all of this, but I want this thread to
stop. we should just all go and answer that guy's question and be happy. Till
I sober up, 
											Maggy