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There are two common forms of transcribing Japanese into English:
the Yale transcription which is the officially adopted transcription
by the Japanese government (the kunrei-shiki/訓令式), and the Hepburn
transcription (the hebon-shiki/ヘボン式).
For certain hiragana and katakana two transcriptions exist. The
left transcription is the Hepburn transcription, on the right is
the Yale transcription. While the Yale transcription helps clarify
the relationship between the various kana (Yale: ta-ti-tu-te-to),
the Hepburn transcription is far more practical when it comes to
the correct pronunciation (Hepburn: ta-chi-tsu-te-to).
Hepburn transcription:
Mitsubishi
Ninja
Fuji |
Yale transcription:
Mitubisi
Ninzya
Huzi |
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Since the Hepburn transcription is the most commonly used, and
the closest to the correct pronunciation, we will be using the Hepburn
transcription for these lessons.
Unfortunately the Hepburn transcription doesn't have different
notations for the long vowels used in Japanese, so we will transcribe
every kana syllable. Most of the time this will mean doubling the
vowel, but there are two exceptions: For both the long "o"
and the long "e" there are two transcriptions each:"oo"
or "ou", and "ee" or "ei". The pronunciations
for both variations are the same, but the Japanese differentiate
in what hiragana they use for the respective words.
| おかあさん |
お母さん |
okaasan |
mother |
| おにいさん |
お兄さん |
oniisan |
(older) brother / boy |
| くうき |
空気 |
kuuki |
air |
| おねえさん |
お姉さん |
oneesan |
(older) sister / girl |
| けいさつ |
警察 |
keisatsu |
police |
| おおきい |
大きい |
ookii |
large / big |
| きのう |
昨日 |
kinou |
yesterday |
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These transcriptions are not interchangeable. Using the wrong transcription
leads to a different word:
| おおい |
多い |
ooi |
many / a lot of |
| おうい |
王位 |
oui |
the throne / the crown / kingship |
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Note: In other texts you may encounter
the transcription "oh" for the long "o". We
don't use this type of transcription because it's applied very inconsistently
and because it has no relation to the Japanese writing systems.
Here are a few common occurances for this transcription and it's
inconsistencies, and how we attempted to solve them.
| Uses of the "oh" transcription |
| Noh theater |
Nou theater |
のう |
能 |
| Yu-Gi-Oh |
Yuugiou |
ゆうぎおう |
遊戯王 |
| Mr. Satoh |
Mr. Satou |
さとうさん |
佐藤さん |
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| Inconsistent lack of the "oh" transcription |
| Tokyo |
Toukyou |
とうきょう |
東京 |
| Osaka |
Oosaka |
おおさか |
大阪 |
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Special notations
If the hiragana "n" (ん) is followed by a vowel syllable
or by a "y"-syllable, the "n" is transcribed
as n'. This is done to distinguish the hiragana "n" (ん)
from the "n"-hiragana.
| きんえん |
禁煙 |
kin'en |
no smoking |
| きねん |
記念 |
kinen |
commemoration |
| きんねん |
近年 |
kinnen |
in recent years |
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The small "tsu" (っ) is transcribed as a double consonant.
| かっぱつ |
活発 |
kappatsu |
lively |
| まっしろ |
真っ白 |
masshiro |
pure white |
| くって |
食って |
kutte |
eat up. |
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The hyphen "-"
On some transcriptions we will use hyphens. The hyphen only functions
to separate honorific forms like the honorific "o" or
the honorific "san". They have no relation to the pronunciation
or the Japanese way of writing, but are only used to isolate the
word from it's appendages. The hyphen "-" has no
relation to the katakana "ー" (chouonfugou / 長音符号).
| ほんださん |
本田さん |
Honda-san |
Mr. Honda |
| ほんだ |
本田 |
Honda |
Honda |
| おかね |
お金 |
o-kane |
money |
| かね |
金 |
kane |
metal |
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The hiragana "ha" (は), "wo"
(を), and "he" (へ) as particles
When these hiragana are used as particles they get a different pronunciation.
"ha" (は) becomes "wa", "wo" (を) becomes
"o", and "he" (へ) becomes "e". In
these cases we will transcribe は as "wa", and へ as "e".
を will remain "wo" because this hiragana only occurs as
a particle, and to distinguish it from the honorific "o".
These particles will be further explained in Lesson
2 and Lesson 3 |
