Multi-lingual-istic Ramblings...

[tj_dragonblade]

I have yet another Japanese question...can anyone tell me if there's a word for 'puppet'? Or something along those lines? (Looks hopefully at Sycho) I'm pondering fic titles for a Kou-POV work-in-progress and it would just fit the flow of what I've done with him so far and another piece that's trying to come together in my head if the title is Japanese. Otherwise it'll probably just be called 'Puppet'; and that somehow sounds a little plain.

Also, while I'm at it...what can y'all tell me about 'anou' and 'aa'? They keep trying to worm their way into Hakkai's speech, and I need to have a better understanding of what they mean before I decide to either kick them back out or let them stay. I have the impression that 'Aa' may just be a sound, or it could be an actual word--but it seems to get used in much the same way that 'Ah', 'Oh', and even 'Hn' appear in English. Sort of...a non-committal sound to indicate understanding or just paying attention. And 'anou'...it usually seems a polite way of saying something along the lines of 'Umm...' or 'Ahhh...' (shrugs)

If all else fails, does anyone have any site recs for researching these sorts of questions myself? Though I still find that a person with knowledge is generally more helpful than an automated translation device for languages like Japanese and Mandarin...which reminds me that I never did verify if using xin ai as a term of endearment was acceptable or not...whoops.

And, as an aside: Steph, thanks to you, every time U2's 'Vertigo' comes on the radio I'm hearing 'Uno! Dos! Tres! Battosai!' instead of 'catorce'...or is it quatorce? Quatorze--no wait, that's French...I think. >_< My semester of seventh-grade Spanish was a *very* long time ago...I'm afraid I don't remember the proper spelling for 'fourteen'.

Nonetheless, the idea of Bono as a Kenshin fan amuses me. ^_^

Comments

[wind-chijmes.livejournal.com]

It's not actually too big a problem to use 'xin ai'. It might work, just that it won't be a conventional way of using that term. ^_^ But to address your question about a replacement term...the problem is that affectionate terms in Chinese sound REALLY mushy, LOL! I was asking around to see what terms would be good for Wufei, but they might be a tad too romantic. But then, they'd work. There's 'qin ai de' which can be used as a noun, like the way you might use "sweetheart/honey". There's also 'ai ren' which literally translates to 'love-person' or 'lover' rather. I was thinking 'ai ren' might be better, although it still quite isn't a term of affection, but a term of addressing one's beloved.

^^ You're doing archiving? No more GW fics in the near future? I see you're having a lot of fun with Saiyuki! It's good really. I'm sure the change of fandoms is refreshing. ^_~

[tj-dragonblade.livejournal.com]

Indeed, the change is quite refreshing. But there are fics that must be finished before I can officially 'quit' GW. Not that I'd want to, really...perhaps when the Saiyuki obsession begins to ease up a bit, I might achieve a nice balance between fandoms. (shrug) In any case, when I say archiving, it's mostly just that I eventually aim to have all my stuff up at my ff.net account, which has been sitting empty for well over a year or two now. ^_^;

So anyway. 'Ai ren'...I did run across that when I was looking for a term to begin with. And from what you say, that's probably what I'd want to go with, then. Thank you for the insights. ^_^