Style/Language/Japanese: Difference between revisions

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{{official capitalization standard|language=Japanese}}
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==Japanese Domestic Releases==
{{official capitalization standard|language=Japanese|proposal=1}}

Note that these guidelines specifically apply to Japanese language releases. For western releases which have been released in Japan, please use the capitalization guidelines for the original language.

==Japanese Language, Japanese Script (Kanji/Kana)==


The Japanese script doesn't have any inherent capitalization. For releases originating in Japan, characters should be used as-is; with Kanji, Hiragana, or Katakana characters as used in the original titles.
The Japanese script doesn't have any inherent capitalization. For releases originating in Japan, characters should be used as-is; with Kanji, Hiragana, or Katakana characters as used in the original titles.


Although the Japanese script has no capitalization, it is very common for Japanese titles to contain words in other scripts. Japanese artists have a tendency to choose capitalization and punctuation for aesthetic reasons; and to be very consistant regarding case over all releases. For this reason, words in the Latin script on a Japanese release should be in the ''same case'' as on the album art (or other available sources, such as official discography or record label pages), and not be normalized.
Although the Japanese script has no capitalization, it is very common for Japanese titles to contain words in other scripts. Japanese artists have a tendency to choose capitalization and punctuation for aesthetic reasons; and to be very consistent regarding case over all releases. For this reason, words in the Latin script on a Japanese release should be in the ''same case'' as on the album art if other available sources, such as official discography or record label pages, are consistent; not normalized according to English or other capitalization standards.

==Japanese Language, Latin Script (Transliteration)==

The recommended romanization method to use on Musicbrainz is [[Wikipedia:Hepburn romanization|Revised Hepburn]]. A detailed description is available on the Wikipedia page, but some particular features of this romanization method include:

* When '''へ''', '''は''', or '''を''' are used as particles, they should be rendered as ''e'', ''wa'', and ''o'' respectively.
* Long vowels '''o''' and '''u''' should be indicated using macrons: ''ō, ū''
* In words of Chinese or Japanese origin, long vowels '''e''' and '''i''' should be written as ''ei'' and ''ii'' respectively. In words of foreign origin, use ''ē'' or ''ī''.
* Syllabic '''ん''' is always written as '''n'''. In ambiguous cases, an apostrophe is used: “…んあ” is “n’a”


==Transliteration into Latin Script==
However, for borrowed words ([[Wikipedia:Gairaigo|Gairaigo]]), which are usually written in Katakana, it is preferred to use the spelling of the word in the original language rather than a transliteration of the Japanese pronunciation. Note that these words are not always originally English! An example is [[track:dd1d2827-bff6-49d7-a6ad-c40bf7c19212|プラチナ]], which comes from the spanish [[track:28d0ce23-6511-4c8d-a9a2-40cb0dd906e7|Platina]].


There are several methods to transliterate Japanese into the Latin script. If an official transliteration is available (endorsed by the artist or their record label), it should be used. For a summary of the most common transliteration method used for user-submitted transliterations on MusicBrainz, see [[User:Kepstin/Transliteration_Standard_Japanese|Transliteration Standard Japanese]] (but note this is a guide rather than a guideline and there's no specific guideline for unofficial transliterations).
The capitalization style used on transliterated (romanized) Japanese releases is designed to resemble the title-casing style used for English releases. In particular:


The capitalization style used on transliterated (romanized) Japanese releases is designed to resemble the title-casing style used for English releases. Although official Japanese standards differ, these guidelines reflect the most common style for romanized titles used by English-speakers on the Internet. In particular:
* Every word should have the first letter capitalized, '''except:'''
** '''Particles''' (1-2 mora long): ''wa, ga, o, ni, de, e, to, mo, ka, ya, kara, made, yo, ne'', etc. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_grammar#Particles Particles on Wikipedia]
** Any words written using Latin characters in the original title should maintain the same capitalization as originally used.
** In certain cases, Japanese words may be written in Katakana for emphasis. A common way to indicate this in transliterations is to use ''ALL CAPS''. This use is generally discouraged, but is tolerated for consistency with external sources.


* The first word of a title should always have the first letter capitalized.
Some additional notes about transliterations:
* Proper nouns (names) should have the first letter of each word capitalized.
:* Any honourifics or suffixes to a proper noun should be in lowercase.
* Every other word should have the first letter capitalized, '''except:'''
:* '''Particles''' (1-2 mora long): ''wa, ga, o, ni, de, e, to, mo, ka, ya, kara, made, yo, ne'', etc. [[wikipedia:Japanese_grammar#Particles|Particles on Wikipedia]]
:* Any words written using Latin characters in the original title should maintain the same capitalization as originally used.


{{StyleBox}}
* Word splitting in Japanese transliterations is not an exact science, particularly in the cases of compound words or verbs with auxiliary helpers.
* Honourifics should be attached to a preceeding name with a dash, and be written in lowercase: ''Sakura-chan'', ''Yamada-san''.

Revision as of 16:20, 9 July 2015

Status: This is an official style guideline.

Japanese Domestic Releases

The Japanese script doesn't have any inherent capitalization. For releases originating in Japan, characters should be used as-is; with Kanji, Hiragana, or Katakana characters as used in the original titles.

Although the Japanese script has no capitalization, it is very common for Japanese titles to contain words in other scripts. Japanese artists have a tendency to choose capitalization and punctuation for aesthetic reasons; and to be very consistent regarding case over all releases. For this reason, words in the Latin script on a Japanese release should be in the same case as on the album art if other available sources, such as official discography or record label pages, are consistent; not normalized according to English or other capitalization standards.

Transliteration into Latin Script

There are several methods to transliterate Japanese into the Latin script. If an official transliteration is available (endorsed by the artist or their record label), it should be used. For a summary of the most common transliteration method used for user-submitted transliterations on MusicBrainz, see Transliteration Standard Japanese (but note this is a guide rather than a guideline and there's no specific guideline for unofficial transliterations).

The capitalization style used on transliterated (romanized) Japanese releases is designed to resemble the title-casing style used for English releases. Although official Japanese standards differ, these guidelines reflect the most common style for romanized titles used by English-speakers on the Internet. In particular:

  • The first word of a title should always have the first letter capitalized.
  • Proper nouns (names) should have the first letter of each word capitalized.
  • Any honourifics or suffixes to a proper noun should be in lowercase.
  • Every other word should have the first letter capitalized, except:
  • Particles (1-2 mora long): wa, ga, o, ni, de, e, to, mo, ka, ya, kara, made, yo, ne, etc. Particles on Wikipedia
  • Any words written using Latin characters in the original title should maintain the same capitalization as originally used.
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