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 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 (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)==

===Transliteration Guide===

The recommended romanization method to use on MusicBrainz is a modified version of [[Wikipedia:Hepburn romanization|Revised Hepburn]]. Particular details of this style include:

* When '''へ''', '''は''', or '''を''' are used as particles, they should be rendered as ''e'', ''wa'', and ''o'' respectively.
* Syllabic '''ん''' is always written as '''n'''. In ambiguous cases, an apostrophe is used: “…んあ” is “…n’a”
* Long vowels should be spelled out using the kana spelling: ''aa'', ''ii'', ''uu'', ''ei'', ''ee'', ''ou'', ''oo'' as appropriate.
** Except for certain well-known words, particularly proper names. For example, ''Tokyo''; ''Osaka''.
* A Sokuon (Small Tsu, '''っ''') should be indicated by doubling the following consonant: '''っし''' is ''sshi'', '''っち''' is ''cchi'', '''っつ''' is ''ttsu''.
* '''じょ''' and '''じゅ''' are ''jo'' and ''ju'' respectively.
* If a small vowel '''ぁぃぅぇぉ''' is used alone, it should be treated the same as one of '''あいうえお''': [[Track:a7d65bea-4464-410a-ad28-01d6a1e8a3c6|あぁ 恋しくて]] would be ''Aa Koishikute''.
* A '''っ''' at the end of a word or sentence may be turned into an exclamation point if appropriate, or simply ignored.

Occasionally, a Japanese title will contains foreign words transliterated into Katakana. If the original language can be determined, it is preferred to use the original text rather than transliterating the Katakana directly. Keep in mind that the original text may not be 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]].

This does not apply in all cases. Some former loan-words are used more-or-less as native words ([[Wikipedia:Gairaigo|gairaigo]] or [[Wikipedia:Wasei-eigo|wasei-eigo]]), which are usually written in Katakana but do not correspond directly with the original words. Examples include '''パン''' - from Portugese ''pão'' (bread), '''スーパー''' - ''super''(market), etc. Many, but not all, of the terms on [[Wikipedia:List of gairaigo and wasei-eigo terms|Wikipedia's list of gairaigo and wasei-eigo terms]] qualify. These should be transliterated in the same way as native Japanese words, except that a hyphen ''-'' may be used instead of doubling vowels.


==Transliteration into Latin Script==
Some additional notes about transliterations:


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).
* Word splitting in Japanese transliterations is not an exact science, particularly in the cases of compound words or verbs with auxiliary helpers. Particles should usually be separate words.
* Honorifics should be attached to a preceding name with a dash, and be written in lowercase: ''Sakura-chan'', ''Yamada-san''.


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:
===Capitalization Guide===


* The first word of a title should always have the first letter capitalized.
The capitalization style used on transliterated (romanized) Japanese releases is designed to resemble the title-casing style used for English releases. In particular:
* 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}}
* 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. [[wikipedia:Japanese_grammar#Particles|Particles on Wikipedia]]
*** '''Unless''' the particle is the first word in the title; in which case it should be capitalized.
** 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.

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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