www.alphadictionary.com

Oh, well, perhaps we should start learning our kanji, Tim!

Learning to read squares would be more appropriate on my computer.

Learning to read squares would be more appropriate on my computer.

When you get back from your interplanetary travels, mon cher Spiff, you might try modifying the coding used in your computer (here I'm presuming a PC and Micro$oft software) : click on «View», scroll down to «Encoding», and then fiddle around with the options found there. I myself am now using «Western European (ISO)» and have no trouble reading Japanese or Chinese graphs from the Agora, but other texts sometimes require me to use, e g, «Unicode (UTF-8)», «Chinese Simplified (GB2312)», «Chinese Traditional (GB5)», «Japanese (EUC)». Try it and see what you get !...

Henri

Learning to read squares would be more appropriate on my computer.
_________________
Spaceman Spiff

I thought it was a funny remark....
Katy

And, honestly, I'm just as good at reading squares as I am at reading Kanji.

-Tim

Thank you, henri. I just returned from a well deserved holiday on the planet Zork and am eager to try it all out.

Don't hesitate to inform us as to the results !...

Henri

Fortunately, I located this thread after filing my applications for the university autumn semester. After quite some struggling, I managed not to go for "Written Japanese", but will try (I still think) to concentrate on Religious studies (2nd semester) and Chinese (3rd).

While at it, instead of starting a new thread, I would like to draw your attention to www.languagehat.com, 050415 , on the Edward G.Seidensticker translation of Genji Monogatari and links to several Japanese versions, and 050412 on classical Japanese poetry, with links that look very interesting indeed.

I clicked on the link you provided, Anders, but despite repeated attempts got only failure notices. Could you check it again ?...

Henri

No, it's right. I even made some contributions myself there. Man, the world is suffering an overexposal to Brazilian dudes.

Brazilian dude

Oh, I know: take out the comma after com.

Brazilian dude

Thanks Anders, for the link, and BD, for making it work (I should have noticed that extraneous comma, but alas, indolence and senility seem to be engaging in a race to take over that collection of nerve ganglia I claim as a brain) ! The site is interesting indeed, and the prospect of reading 源氏物語 online is delightful, if daunting....

Henri

Sorry for the comma and -- again -- not checking the link. But there still are some working gray cells. Checking back, triggered by Chapter 1, I managed to retrieve from elsewhere in the very last days of 2004, Flam-domo's

Dear Henri,

Kikutsubo is one very elegant name that you have named your daughter. It is quite a becoming name for a shakuhachi player. [Also it is reminiscent of two heroines of Genji-Monogatari Fujitsubo and Kiritsubo.]

Most of the ladies in Genji are known for aponyms. Kiritsubo, for example, is so named after an actual apartment that Lady Murasaki recounted that she was assigned by the emperor (customarily called Emperor Kiritsubo for his amorous affections with her but his name again is not mentioned anywhere in Genji). The apartment has a Sino-Japanese alias, Shigeisa. I like the semi-Occidental way it sounds.

BTW anders, -domo means a bunch of something in Japanese. Oc, you intended but write -dono but please note that there is only one Flaminius Iaponensis around.

Flam,

...

BTW anders, -domo means a bunch of something in Japanese. Oc, you intended but write -dono but please note that there is only one Flaminius Iaponensis around.

Those minor mishaps in pronunciation can be avoided by using the proper graphs, in this case 殿. (That is why I was so intrigued to see that semi-phonetic representation of a Chinese official's name provided in the 朝日新聞 article I cited on another, unfortunately as yet all-too-short thread. I think it would do much to promote better relations between the people of the two countries - the governments, of course, will continue to play Realpolitik, irrespective of such efforts - if the media were to stop using the 漢字 cop-out and start indicating the pronunciation of proper nouns in the other language in articles and broadcasts.) And Flam, the second term in a Linnean classification is not capitalised - thus F iaponensis, a variation of our beloved H sap sap....

塞翁失馬焉知非福，塞翁得馬焉知非禍。

Henri

Indeed it was meant more as a blessing, Flam 殿下.