Can someone translate this for me please?

[PhoenixDarkwind]

フリガナ

Thanks to anyone who can help.

[bside]

フリガナ

Thanks to anyone who can help.

this one involves more than a translation, but here goes...


フリガナ, or Furigana, by itself means the kana for the kanji used, in order to show how they should be pronounced as kanji letters usually bears 2 different ways to pronounce them, one Japanese way and one Chinese way (actually, things r a lot more complicated than just Japanese and Chinese, but for now, it should be good enough). and because of the fact that how they should be pronounced can often easily be determined by the sentense structure, フリガナ usually is required for names and addresses, as they r proper nouns, and without フリガナ it becomes difficult to know how they should be pronounced. (while for famous cities and common names, they won't really be necessary.)

for the sake of making an example, let's use the s-e's address in japan, which in Japanese is;

東京都渋谷区代々木3-22-7 新宿文化クイントビル

when asked for フリガナ, kana letters r placed on top of the corresponding kanjis (unless u r given a specific place/box to put them into), thus looks like this;


トウキョウト シブヤク ヨヨギ シンジュクブンカ
東京都 渋谷区 代々木3-22-7 新宿文化クイントビル

in an actual writing, フリガナ letters should be made smaller, thereby keeping the format of the address. also, note that "クイントビル" part at the end does not get the フリガナ as it's already in katakana.


just as a side note, when asked for Furigana, there usually r 2 spaces given, one large "box" for names or addresses in kanji labeled as 名前(name) or 住所(address), and the small one for Furigana, labeled as either フリガナ or ふりがな. and if it has フリガナ, in other words written in katakana, then the Furigana u put must also be in katakana. likewise, if u see ふりがな, written in hiragana, then u must use hiragana for Furigana, thus the above example turns like this;

とうきょうと しぶやく よよぎ しんじゅくぶんかくいんとびる
東京都 渋谷区 代々木3-22-7 新宿文化クイントビル

however, for some reason Furigana in katakana, or フリガナ, is far more popular these days, and i just don't know why.


i know this must be confusing, but hope it makes some sense to help u out.

[PhoenixDarkwind]

Thanks.

[Jei]

you are using more katakana for real? I have lots of japanese comics in my collection and all of them use hiragana o.O they are quite old tho.

[bside]

you are using more katakana for real? I have lots of japanese comics in my collection and all of them use hiragana o.O they are quite old tho.

u r right, for books, they use hiragana for Furigana. but when it's for documents, such as resume or when filling out the request forms for official documents, Furigana in katakana is requested most of the time. and that makes up most of the occasions where we r asked to put Furigana, unlike books w/ which it's already there.

[Alontier]

The reason for requesting katakana is because of the crappy handwriting some people have,
katakana has "simpler" characters that hiragana and is easier to recognize.
(If you just get the angles of some lines right: ツシ　ソン　アマ)

hiragana
あいうえお かきくけこ さしすせそ たちつてと なにぬねの はひふへほ まみむめも やゆよ らりるれろ わをん

katakana
アイウエオ カキクケコ サシスセソ タチツテト ナニヌネノ ハヒフヘホ マミムメモ ヤユヨ ラリルレロ ワヲン