> > Back-translation, which is sometimes called "reconversion", comes up > > when you change continuous Kanji characters which compose one word. > > It's difficult to explain the detail of this situation in English but > > I've introduce the understandable example following. > > > > The word "research" can be translated "kenkyuu" in Japanese. This > > Japanese word is expressed by two Kanji characters, [U+7814, U+7A76] > > and the corresponding phonetic text is [U+3051, U+3093, U+304D, > > U+3085, U+3046]. Think of the situation that a cell in Excel contains > > this word with the corresponding phonetic text. > > > > Then, split the base text [U+7814, U+7A76] with a space character to > > make it [U+7814, U+0020, U+7A76]. At the same time, the phonetic text > > changes. It becomes [U+3051, U+3093, U+0020, U+304D, U+308F, U+3080]. > > The last two characters change from [U+3085, U+3046] to [U+308F, > > U+3080], because back-translation returns [U+304D, U+308F, u+3080] > > when [U+7A16] is used as one word. > > > > That means the 'KUN' and the 'ON'-meanings (kunyomi vs onyomi)? [I don't > know much about ruby; nevertheless I struggle to learn Japanese. IF I > only had more time, ...a 25 hour day or something like that, and > somebody with whom to exercise... :-\ ).
It's an off topic but I would like to tell you the reason. I want as many people to know about Japanese as possible. Yes, the former is "ONYOMI" and the latter is "KUNYOMI". Essentially, this problem is caused by the fact that one Kanji character has generally multiple readings (pronunciation). Surely, the readings can be classified roughly into "KUNYOMI" and "ONYOMI". However, don't rush for a conclusion that every Kanji character has two readings. In general, one Kanji character has one reading, two readings or more than two readings. For example, http://www.kanji-a-day.com/dictionary/kanji-detail.php?id=292 This is a Kanji character, which usually means eye. It has four readings following; - Gan - Gen - Manako - Me The first and second readings are "ONYOMI" and the others are "KUNYOMI". The choice of reading completely depends on the context. In addition, in rare cases, the reading can't be determined uniquely, hence, back-translation is based on a probabilistic algorithm. This is why back-translation seems a bunch of mess to you. -- Japanese Native-Language project Good-Day Inc. Takashi Nakamoto --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
