bucketfoot-al wrote:Bligh me, I've had the "Yamato" Hiragana/Kanji characters backwards all these years! Well, thanks for clearing that up. To the (un)educated Western eye, the Kanji symbols are more graceful and easier to recognize.
I think what threw me was reading that hiragana is now the conventional writing style, so I assumed that the name of the 2005 film, (?????? 'Otoko-tachi no Yamato') must have been in hiragana. Now I guess it turns out that its in Kanji.
Right?
Vlad,
That's Kanji and hiragana together. Most wording is this way in Japan. The Title "Otoku (?=Man) Tachi (??=We) no (?=Subjecct) Yamato (??) is The "Men of Yamato" in English.
Just so you know when looking at Japanese the character (?) is pronounced "no" which makes it the subject.
Example: ???? Otoko (Man) Tachi (Many) no becomes "Men". The word "tachi" makes the word before it many or we instead of one. The word "Otoko" is really read "Toko=Man, but when you put a "O" in front it becomes a a word of honor and more polite way of talking. You will see this in words all the time. Just so you know, when talking Japanese in most cases you use the more polite way to talking especially if you don't know the person by using the "O" method. Only when you are aquatinted with someone do you cut the "O" out. When using names you honor the person by using the word "San" after their name. Your name would be Vlad-san by strangers and by friends would be Vlad-kun. "San" being used a majority of the time. As for me they call me Jimu (Jim). It's complicated.
As a side note: Kanji Characters are symbols with a meaning. Each section of the character means something and when put together forms a word or words. With 2000+ Kanji, you have to study for many years to master enough to be able to read modern sentences. Writing them is completely different. You're taught to write them correctly and each stroke in order. That's what they call Calligraphy. If you use a computer, you type hiragana and it give you a choice to convert it to kanji, but you need to know what kanji to use due to it gives you multiple choices.
All this when put together will form a sentence or a thought to convey what you are reading. We talked about this here awhile back when trying to translate technical manuals or logs. These kanji characters are hard to understand, and the older writings are even more difficult. Over time in Japan the hiragana is used more often or written over the Kanji, so the younger ones can understand. IMO kanji is becoming a lost art as the country progresses thru the years. It's still being taught in school, but I don't think it will ever been the way it was pre WWII.
Let's all face it, the world and it's countries are changing and like here, everything is progressing to make things easier ether good or bad, so all we can do is try to keep up.
