Ryan Matthews wrote:

IMHO, it's kinda silly to use Japanese phrases in an English fanfic.  I
mean, the characters are talking in Japanese all the time, right?  So
the entire story is "translated".  Why would you translate the complex
words, but not simple phrases like "Huh?"?  Also, it reminds me too
much of American comics, where every foreigner drops a foreign phrase
every six words to continually remind the reader that he's from another
country.

I've been guilty of using the occasional Japanese phrase myself, but
I've limited myself to "tag lines" like "Darling no baka" that just
don't sound right translated.

Well, for my part, I find that a fanfic is a good test bed to see if a word
or phrase is being used properly.  I am trying hard to learn Japanese, and
if I get it wrong, then I *know* someone who reads it will let me know (in
no uncertain terms) just where I screwed up. ^_^

I've started with taglines myself, but by the time I'm done, I shootin' for
the whole darn 'fic to be in Japanese!

Besides - since Japanese words are either singular OR plural, I can write
"iinazuke" and not have to worry about trying to figure out the correct
plural form of "fiance(e)" O_o

Zen-


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[[                  James Bateman (Otaku@nashville.com)                  ]]
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