Japanese Otaku and those that speak the language

[Kensai]

Hey guys,

I have a big 'ah ha' the other day, while reading my martial arts book, in order for my nick to mean "sword Saint" or "saint of the sword" does it not have to be Kensei rather than kensai?

Or was I right the first time?

[eunhathes]

Well, that depends on a number of circumstances.

1) Did you take it from a Japanese work? If you did, it's exactly as it should be spelled. It's pronounce, thusly, Ken-Sigh.

2) Did you hear it pronounced? At this point, if it's pronounced Ken-Sigh, then you've got the right spelling. If you heard Ken-Say, then you should change it to Kensei.

3) Since this is the interNet, does it really matter? I point you to the case and point of one of our former members, Azreal. The name he was gunning for was the Angel of Death, Azrael. Instead, he misspelled it and ended up being quite... notorious for it.

Hope that helps clear it up, Kensai! Till next time!

[Kensai]

I first found the name in NeverWinter Nights (PC RPG) as a katana. It was a custom made sword which was part of the "Sword Saint" legacy, so I made the assumption (knowing 'ken' means sword) that Kensai meant Sword Saint.

Although, I was reading my book (non-fictional) which the master swordman mentions how Musashi (Google it, he's one of the best swordsman to ever live) was refered to as a kensei or "saint of the sword"

[artemi]

Both "Sword Saint" and "Saint of the Sword" are the same translation. Japanese (like all languages) does not translate exactally into English, and vice versa. When you translate a language, you aim for the idea of the words, not exactness. If you were doing exact words, you would get very odd sentences, as they use diffrent grammer rules then we do. In this case, I belive they mean the same thing.

As for the "a" or "e" issue... *shrug* I do not know. It may not matter. I do not know enough about Japanese to tell you that...

[The Hatter]

One of the things that I like about the Japanese language is that it's rather uncomplicated. There are no plurals...for instence, the word "Hana" is translated to flower, but it can also be more than one. "Nii Hana" Is three flowers.

Like Artemi said, sentence structure in Japanese is wonky compared to what english speakers are used to. For instence, "The Rice is hot" in Japanese would be "Gohan-ga atsui" which ungramaticaly translated says "Rice hot is"....roughly.

But as far as "Sword Saint" goes, it is spelled Kensei.

When in doubt, check Wikipedia.

[curulambe]

l4m8r053 said:

One of the things that I like about the Japanese language is that it's rather uncomplicated.

Japanese is not uncomplicated. While I grant that its nouns are fairly straightforward and uninflected, its bewildering array of pronouns and postpositions - which stand in for case endings, in many instances, as well as denoting temporal and social status - make it anything but uncomplicated.

And don't even get me started on the Japanese verb.

[thehuntingbeast]

I may be just starting to learn japanese but I do know some things about it like that it is easy to pronounce, if you remove yourself from saying it like it's english.

[Kensai]

Ah, point taken on the Wikipedia thing (works wonders ;D )

The correct spelling, for final resolution, is Kensei, but since I strive for uniqueness and being difficult, I shall keep it as Kensai. Think of it as like when we spell something like demon and d3mon

Thanks for your help guys

[gryphonpoet]

kensai said:

I strive for uniqueness and being difficult

And you do well on BOTH counts. ;-)

[The Hatter]

I'm glad that I could help, even if it was only minutly ^_^

[alexander]

I would not know the answer to that question, because I don't know very much of Japanese anything. Sorry!