Kanji or katakana - what are the rules?

[Nix]

I am so lucky that my name can be spelled out in kanji (Ni; boiling - Ki; spirit), and thought that this is kind of cool, so I decided to draw them onto my shinpads. In retrospect, however, I remembered that I once read that kanji is reserved for native Japanese, and that westeners should settle for katakana. Is this correct? Do I need to be concerned about black-clad men breaking my shins for commiting this horrible, horrible crime? So what if I decided to have it written on my dogi or obi? Is that my own death sentence right there? Also, are those the correct kanji used?

Thans in advance,

~Nix

[vapor]

I would suggest that it be in Katakana for those uses you are mentioning...

I picked some kanji as a joke, and had them sewn into the inside of one of my suits (which is quite common to have your name sewn on the inside of a suit coat, near the inside pocket)...it was a great conversation starter, but nothing more than that! (the store clerk had to verify that they could sew that particular kanji set before she would say yes)

[Shokei Marcsui]

I'm having a particular problem finding a embroidery services that will embroidery the kanji or my name in katakana.

Still looking.....

[kakatootoshi]

Dear LoQi,
In your case I think you better stick with Katakana. I am not exactly sure what the kanji of "niki" means (though I know what kanji characters you are referring to), probably it is a term in fine cuisine? Looks like some food-packaging to me.

I remembered that I once read that kanji is reserved for native Japanese, and that westeners should settle for katakana. Is this correct? Do I need to be concerned about black-clad men breaking my shins for commiting this horrible, horrible crime? So what if I decided to have it written on my dogi or obi? Is that my own death sentence right there? Also, are those the correct kanji used?

If all you worry about is the "crime" and "death sentence" you can take my words that it will not happen and no one will laugh at you "in the public".

OSU!

[smoothsake]

Shinpads, not so much, but for your jacket and obi I would recommend that you write your name in katakana as that will make it easier for the Japanese you train with to know how to pronounce your name. Kanji is ok for Japanese because they can obviously read each other's names using Chinese characters without issue.

It is when gaijin try and get creative that they don't know how to read what you've wrote. There is more than one way to read any character and when it is an unusual combination it can go many multiple ways. Not only is it emabrassing for the Japanese trying to pronounce your name, you may have also embarassed yourself by coming up with something that makes no sense.

It is the equivalent of walking Tokyo and reading ENGRISH t-shirts and saying to yourself, now that doesn't make any sense at all! And she's just flaunting it down the street... how embarassing...

The only exception to the Japanese-only kanji rule is with Chinese and Koreans. Those countries too use kanji characters for names and they have every right to write it that way. On TV they will show their names in kanji and write in small superscript the katakana so that Japanese know how to pronounce it.

[Nix]

Thank you for your responses, especially smoothsake for the through explanation. I think I will just stick to katakana, and try not to show off my fancy shin pads when there are Japanese people about.

Originally Posted by kakatootoshi

I am not exactly sure what the kanji of "niki" means (though I know what kanji characters you are referring to), probably it is a term in fine cuisine? Looks like some food-packaging to me.

XD Not exactly. I just made some research, and found out that the prononciations "ni" and "ki" has their very own kanji, and that they mean "boiling" and "spirit" respectivelly. These are the ones I was thinking of, in case you wondered:

- NI
- KI

As a sidenote, I once asked Shihan-dai Kim Andersen, NIKO, what the signs on his obi was (it only had two kanji signs on it, which was something I had never seen). He told me that he had asked for a plain black belt, instead of various "fancy pansy" stripes and signs. He was told that westeners were supposed to have flashy obi, but instead of his name, they wrote Ki (spirit) Bu (strong), which was closest to the pronounciation of his first name and fit his personality well.

[smoothsake]

If a Japanese helps you in picking out some kanji that would be different. They will hopefully make sure that it doesn't do you do disservice.

In case you haven't seen this website or haven't seen much ENGRISH, it is quite hilarious: Welcome to Engrish.com!

[Bloke]

Thanks Smoothsake - I could get lost in there for the afternoon.

[kakatootoshi]

Dear LoQi,
I know what kanji you are talking about as you already provided the links in your first post. Japanese and English have different grammars and the meanings of many words are not exactly overlapping, so it is wrong to take the English translation as the faifthful expression of the Japanese word. And it would be disastrous to fit them together like bricks. Sometimes the "word", if it can be called that way, will be either incomprehensible or carry silly if not negative meanings. When different medications are taken together, there can be undesirable interactions and you cannot simply add the features together and hope that the new combination will work for you.

OSU!

[Nix]

Originally Posted by kakatootoshi

[b] (...) it would be disastrous to fit them together like bricks. Sometimes the "word", if it can be called that way, will be either incomprehensible or carry silly if not negative meanings.

Yes, I realize this now. For some reason or another, I thought that it was just that simple. A weak moment of stupidity on my behalf. Good thing we're not required to write our own names on our belts when (or if!) we receive the black belt. It would be, as you say, disastrous, taken out of a restaurant menu at best.

"Sempai Chicken Noodles Five-Dorrars!"

Osu!