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Japanese terms - overused and underused
    Keywords: Go term

Underused terms

Explanation

Various SL discussions throw up comments about Japanese terms. These can relate to mistranslations, conceptual mistakes, poor definitions that have had currency in the English literature for decades, and so on. Equally, JF in particular argues that a better conceptual understanding of the pro attitude can go hand-in-hand with a technical vocabulary that is a better match to theirs.

Therefore this is a To Do list of words to cut down on (in senses beyond the well-justified), and to promote (in some form ... by replacement, translation?).

Charles Matthews


BobMcGuigan:

Many of these words have more-or-less standard English translations e.g.

mamoru = to defend or protect nerai = aim, from nerau to take aim. tsurai = painful, bitter, trying ukeru = respond or answer yuuryoku = having strength or power.

They are used very frequently in commentaries. The question is whether there is some subtle meaning of the Japanese term not captured by the normal translation. Ijime on the playground at school has been a big social problem in Japan. In that context it refers to bullying to force conformity. In go it seems to be close to the English word harassment, and ijimeru, to harass, to torment, etc.

JF Bob, it's not really a question of capturing subtleties in translation. The point is that, as you observe, these are very common words. As such translators (I include myself) have created a problem by following the deleterious western habit of elegant variation. It would be best if we choose a single western term for a single Japanese term and make sure we stick to it. That way we will begin to get a quantitative sense of what the pros talk about.
On the meanings of some of the terms above, although nerau is used of taking aim (e.g. with a rifle), it is used also of watching carefully, ready to pounce, as of a cat watching a bird on the lawn. That is the go usage. I recommend "target" (aim implies you will actually shoot; a target is available but you don't have to aim at it - the whole point in high-level pro discussions; this should be apparent from the common usage of nerai with nokoru - a target can remain but taking aim can't, really). Yuuryoku is not normally used of power fighting (e.g. cut everywhere) but as an evaluative term it has a sense that I would render as muscular. Mamoru can only be understood properly by comparison with ukeru, rather than by the definition "defend". For tsurai I suggest sticking to painful - it is a common evaluative term - because of its strong association with ijimeru.

Overused terms


Earlier discussion

Bob Myers:

I'm frankly at a loss as to why you say that some of these words are supposed to be overused and others underused. The exact words you say are overused (hane, for one) are words with no alternative. On the other hand, as other commentators have noted, the words you say are underused, "tsurai', for example, are words that are basically just everyday Japanese words that should be translated into everyday English. Are you saying that certain words are overused in the sense that an English equivalent is preferable? Or the concept is overused? Do you want to use some other term for "aji"? Or do you think that people are spending too much time talking about "aji"?

On the other side, Are you saying that certain words are underused in the sense that the English equivalent is less preferable, so that we should use "osae" instead of "block" Or are you saying that the concept is underused?



This is a copy of the living page "Japanese terms - overused and underused" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.