Eats, Shoots Energy Beam Out of Bare Hands, and Leaves
With "manga" entering the M-W Collegiate Dictionary, and the Associated Press formalizing the orthography of "video game" and "Game Boy", writers on geekdom are finally getting some signposts along the way to documenting the subculture. For leisurely bloggers who just wanna go "ROFL HARUHI SUZUMIYA YEY!!!111 an imouto is fine too," such a thing seems meaningless, but anyone who works in a more official capacity -- dialoguing with the industry, pro or semi-pro writing, maybe even aspiring towards journalism -- probably hopes that we can some day reach the kind of consistency usually reserved for political talk. I mean, it'd be nice if we could say "yaoi" and actually be on the same page about it.
And so I ask: Where is my JP Stylebook?
Writing on Japanese entertainment in English is, to be nice about it, a linguistic minefield. We're talking about a culture that uses the English language for ornamental purposes, and then trying to communicate its niceties to a culture that uses Japanese and Chinese characters for ornamental purposes. (Not to mention the überfans who will castigate you for the tiniest slip-up of the Japanese language, never mind that they can barely speak English or even Internetese.) This situation, I think, is in much more serious need of stylistic rigor than whether to use Osama or Usama bin-Laden, which I think has been pretty much figured out anyway.
I mean, wouldn't it just be nice to have a cute little usage guide that maps out the minefield? The real AP Stylebook has Business and Sports sections; when are we going to get one for us dorks in the Arts & Entertainment? Over the years there have been assorted hardcopy references like The Anime Encyclopedia, Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics, Cruising the Anime City, jrock, ink. and their ilk, but none of them are really on how to write about Japanese pop culture. How about it, Stone Bridge Press? I suppose this is the kind of stuff that could be Googled or Wikied, but even then, the resulting hits are more about the information itself than how to write and present it. You just have to stare at the nerd manuals really hard and pray that you got the correct romanization, or something. (Hint: Alt+0244 = ô.)
A lot of entries in the stylebook would be just getting names and titles sorted out:
Aa! Megami-sama, Ah! My Goddess, Oh My Goddess! All are considered correct; the US edition of the manga and the OAVs are called Oh My Goddess! while the TV series is called Ah! My Goddess.
CLAMP Always fully capitalized. Members include Ageha Ohkawa (story), Mokona (principal art), Tsubaki Nekoi (tones and effects) and Satsuki Igarashi (production).
Koge-Donbo Note hyphen.
Oh!great Note placement of exclamation mark. A pun on his actual name, which reads Ogure Ito in Japanese.
xxxHOLiC Note nonstandard capitalization. Pronounced "-holic" (x's signify an unknown and are silent).
etc. etc. Then there would be issues that are purely technical:
J-pop, Jpop; J-rock, Jrock (... you know, I'm not even sure whether hyphenation is preferred or not?)
name order East Asian names are normally stated with the surname/family name first. However, common practice dictates that names be given in East Asian order (surname; given name) when written in an East Asian language, but in Western order (given name; surname) when romanized. e.g. 林原 めぐみ [Hayashibara Megumi] but Megumi Hayashibara.
Exceptions include historical and political figures like Kim Jong-Il and Mao Zedong, who are always written surname-first.
plurals Anime and manga may be used freely as singular, plural or collective nouns. Animes and mangas are sometimes seen ( e.g. "She has a lot of mangas on her shelf") but generally nonstandard.
and so on. Writing conventions that can be gleaned from looking at periodicals, press material, websites and stuff.
Then for ultimate Super-Saiyan nitpicking POWER, you could go into matters of style and usage:
"Title X is Title Y on crack" Avoid this cliché at all costs.
doe-eyed, saucer-eyed Unless discussing Tezuka's influences, mainstream shoujo, or other actual instances of big-eyed character design, avoid using these words to describe anime and manga as a whole.
yaoi, shounen-ai, BL, boy's love Ack ... see above?
and many others. A knowledge base would also be nice, like a chronology of Gundam, or key Ghibli films, names of major publishers and companies (honestly, I want to strangle people every time I see "Del Ray") and cultural minutiae like Tanabata or Valentine's Day customs. All the things that you could look up electronically, but without the mounds of fluff that normally have to be waded through. Just a nice, dependable reference for writers and fans who want to get things cleared up.
And maybe ... just maybe ... there'll be a day when we no longer have to see articles on "Zap! Pow! Japanese comics are 'animu'!" I can dream, can't I?
Correction: In an earlier edition of this post, Oh!great was misspelled as "Oh! Great." Pata regrets the error ... and secretly longs for an editorial staff.
And so I ask: Where is my JP Stylebook?
Writing on Japanese entertainment in English is, to be nice about it, a linguistic minefield. We're talking about a culture that uses the English language for ornamental purposes, and then trying to communicate its niceties to a culture that uses Japanese and Chinese characters for ornamental purposes. (Not to mention the überfans who will castigate you for the tiniest slip-up of the Japanese language, never mind that they can barely speak English or even Internetese.) This situation, I think, is in much more serious need of stylistic rigor than whether to use Osama or Usama bin-Laden, which I think has been pretty much figured out anyway.
I mean, wouldn't it just be nice to have a cute little usage guide that maps out the minefield? The real AP Stylebook has Business and Sports sections; when are we going to get one for us dorks in the Arts & Entertainment? Over the years there have been assorted hardcopy references like The Anime Encyclopedia, Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics, Cruising the Anime City, jrock, ink. and their ilk, but none of them are really on how to write about Japanese pop culture. How about it, Stone Bridge Press? I suppose this is the kind of stuff that could be Googled or Wikied, but even then, the resulting hits are more about the information itself than how to write and present it. You just have to stare at the nerd manuals really hard and pray that you got the correct romanization, or something. (Hint: Alt+0244 = ô.)
A lot of entries in the stylebook would be just getting names and titles sorted out:
Aa! Megami-sama, Ah! My Goddess, Oh My Goddess! All are considered correct; the US edition of the manga and the OAVs are called Oh My Goddess! while the TV series is called Ah! My Goddess.
CLAMP Always fully capitalized. Members include Ageha Ohkawa (story), Mokona (principal art), Tsubaki Nekoi (tones and effects) and Satsuki Igarashi (production).
Koge-Donbo Note hyphen.
Oh!great Note placement of exclamation mark. A pun on his actual name, which reads Ogure Ito in Japanese.
xxxHOLiC Note nonstandard capitalization. Pronounced "-holic" (x's signify an unknown and are silent).
etc. etc. Then there would be issues that are purely technical:
J-pop, Jpop; J-rock, Jrock (... you know, I'm not even sure whether hyphenation is preferred or not?)
name order East Asian names are normally stated with the surname/family name first. However, common practice dictates that names be given in East Asian order (surname; given name) when written in an East Asian language, but in Western order (given name; surname) when romanized. e.g. 林原 めぐみ [Hayashibara Megumi] but Megumi Hayashibara.
Exceptions include historical and political figures like Kim Jong-Il and Mao Zedong, who are always written surname-first.
plurals Anime and manga may be used freely as singular, plural or collective nouns. Animes and mangas are sometimes seen ( e.g. "She has a lot of mangas on her shelf") but generally nonstandard.
and so on. Writing conventions that can be gleaned from looking at periodicals, press material, websites and stuff.
Then for ultimate Super-Saiyan nitpicking POWER, you could go into matters of style and usage:
"Title X is Title Y on crack" Avoid this cliché at all costs.
doe-eyed, saucer-eyed Unless discussing Tezuka's influences, mainstream shoujo, or other actual instances of big-eyed character design, avoid using these words to describe anime and manga as a whole.
yaoi, shounen-ai, BL, boy's love Ack ... see above?
and many others. A knowledge base would also be nice, like a chronology of Gundam, or key Ghibli films, names of major publishers and companies (honestly, I want to strangle people every time I see "Del Ray") and cultural minutiae like Tanabata or Valentine's Day customs. All the things that you could look up electronically, but without the mounds of fluff that normally have to be waded through. Just a nice, dependable reference for writers and fans who want to get things cleared up.
And maybe ... just maybe ... there'll be a day when we no longer have to see articles on "Zap! Pow! Japanese comics are 'animu'!" I can dream, can't I?
Correction: In an earlier edition of this post, Oh!great was misspelled as "Oh! Great." Pata regrets the error ... and secretly longs for an editorial staff.
15 Comments:
You made a lot of GREAT points. You should just write the book yourself! I would buy it. :)
Good stuff, Pata. I know how to type xxxHOLiC but not how to pronounce...now I do!
Anime News Network has a pretty good index of anime titles and creators, but not much information on them.
I wish there was some kind of anime/manga wiki that wasn't hopelessly self referential, however.
Hmm I don't know about a wiki, I like the idea of an encyclopedia managed by a team of editors, while also allowing reader contribution, except everything has to go through the editors... something like that just may appear sooner than you'd think...
Also it seems a lot of people are still stuck on the shonen/shounen thing, and something I've always been thinking about, manga magazine or manga anthology...
If you really want to get precise, is there a space in "Oh! Great" and is the g capitalized? I've seen it a number of ways from people who know what they're writting about.
Scott: oops, you're right.
Gah... thank goodness for peer review!
Yeah, I agree. This entry was a great read. I would be strangely attracted to a book with this kind of writing.
Hell, I would probably even buy it.
No bullshit. That's how I like my books. XD
If you require xxxHOLiC be typed like that instead of say...xxxHolic, then you do enter the realm of having to type Tsubasa's title as:
Tsubasa RESERVior CHRoNiCLE - not "Tsubasa Reservior Chronicle."
I'd also like to toss out the following:
- VIZ Media - not "Viz" or "Viz Media"
- TOKYOPOP - not "Tokyopop"
- manga-ka - not "mangaka"
- yoshitoshi ABe - not "Yoshitoshi Abe" or "Yoshitoshi ABe"
We site names:
Those should always be typed as the sites themselves want them (example: Anime News Network). Obviously, some sites like Anime on DVD have multiple ways of writing their own title (Anime on DVD, Anime On DVD, AnimeonDVD.com, etc). If that is the case, then a general rule is to use whatever their copyright says. If that isn't present, then use the title at the top of your browser. If a site has chosen to put multiple words together as a title, then that's how it should be written (i.e. gomanga.com - not "Go Manga," Animefringe - not "Anime Fringe").
You're absolutely right. The hard parts are making a GOOD style guide and then making its use accepted.
As some one who is a stickler for proper English yet understand that language evolves, and some one who takes an interest in Japanese, these issues bug me tremendously, enough to take action.
As eclipse said, a wiki may not be the best idea--unless the topics are managed by editors.
The real issues are:
- Who would the editors be?
- How will we get this guide to be accepted/used/linked to? We'll need support from some of the major bloggers, to start...
Your post seems to indicate that you'd like to see it, but not necessarily start it. If I start it, would you be on staff? :)
This is a good post... good read to help people wishing to write about the Otaku aspect of Japanese pop culture.
Just want to give you props on the HARUHI-ISM (now how the hell do you spell that without the logo?).
Whenever I post or speak, I use Western name order, but if I'm writing papers for class/conferences/journals (or presenting them), I go with the Japanese naming order.
I never seem to know just how many Japanese words to use untranslated. Do you write "eroge"? What about "nekomimi"? Do you call it "His and Her Circumstances" or "Kare Kano"? And don't even get me started on the upcoming DVD release of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. It says "Kimi ga Nozomu Eien" in kanji, then says "Rumbling Hearts", and THEN says "Kiminozo".
Also, the title of this post is awesome.
Actually NY Times (and AP IIRC) use the original name order for all Korean and Chinese names, not just historical figures, which is why NYT has it Roh Moo Hyun, Jiang Zemin, et cetera. It's only Japanese names that get flipped, probably for both historical reasons and because Japanese people tend to flip their names when they romanize them. I would say stick to the accepted styles when they apply.
And yes, a wiki would defeat the entire purpose of a style guide -- that is, making everyone conform to an unchanging standard about problematic issues.
I really don't think a publically available style guide is necessary, though. We work in such a small niche that an internal style guide for each magazine or site is sufficient.
(That said, I still haven't finished Toon Zone's style guide. ^_^')
And problems similar to the Ah! Megami-sama issue spring up all the time in dealing with international cinema. (For instance, is Jet Li's new flick "Danny the Dog," "Unleashed" or simply "The Dog?") It would be impractical to codify all of them. The best way to solve such problems are to use the official title in the country of publication referring to the version currently being discussed.
Adam:
I would ABSOLUTELY approve of using nutball capitalization (and non-capitalization) no matter how inconvenient it is.
My stance on titles and names is, if that's how the author/creator/publisher wants to write it out, that's how everyone should write it out. Originator's prerogative. Yes, we have to sit through press releases where TOKYOPOP is yelled out every three lines, but hey, if they want to be TOKYOPOP, all caps, that's their right.
Mac:
I would certainly like to be involved in putting an actual book together, but I am wary of spearheading the charge myself because I know there are tons of people who are better than me at this (just see the comments following yours). Like, every review I write on ANN, the only reason people ever reply to them is because they want to nitpick something I got wrong.
"Major bloggers" would be nice but we need to reach far past that. No one thinks blogging is "real" writing, I know that. We would need the forces of academia and industry on our side -- guys like Carl Horn, Frederick Schodt, Dallas Middaugh, Patrick Macias, and then some non-pop consultants like a Japanese language expert, an actual grammarian, and so on.
jp:
Vexing question about the use of fandom-specific Japanese words. Personally I boil it down to "Is it in common usage?" and "What audience am I writing for?" Like, people reading the Podunk Telegraph-Times still need manga explained to them, while a mainstream hobby site can get away with not having to explain bishounen (and I do get away with it all the time).
Ben:
I had no idea. Honestly.
My personal rules on name order I formulated from looking at Japanese entertainment magazines and drawing empirical conclusions, because I am sloppy and was looking for a quick answer. (Which is why I would NOT want to be chief editor on a stylebook project.)
With titles, as mentioned above, I go with "write it the way the creator/publisher/distributor wants you to write it." Obviously I wouldn't try to codify EVERY title out there, but address ones that people encounter most often. (Just as in the actual AP Stylebook where they tell you how to spell major corporations and organizations but don't try to cover everything.)
And yeah, 100 years ago, I'm sure sportswriters were telling themselves they didn't need a formal style guide. We'll see where this niche goes.
Sooner ot later there will be a guide, though I think it won't start off as an "industry effort". How about this scenario: Some person starts his or her own project, on a small or meduim sized website, soon people begin to realize the stuff on the site is very useful/credible, the site grows, before long it become a big site like ANN (now is that the official abbr.?) and the person/site now has some kind of "power" inside the industry, same way ANN does, and slowly the standards becomes an industry standard.
A very clever article. Great job.
Consistency throughout the industry would be wonderful, however I think it would be more realistic to hope that editors remain consistent within individual series. I read sometimes and groan at mispellings of names that may or may not change back at any time, wonder silently how the translating team decides when to use Japanese honorifics and English ones, roll my eyes at strange taste in all captial text versus small, etc. Individual teams should draw up their own style-guides, maybe even companies should have a bare-bones model to build from, but to expect even this anytime soon would be holding out for a miracle.
You needn't have bothered memorizing Alt+0244, since ô is just a substitute used by people who can't manage to type ō, which is what Hepburn actually uses (it doesn't have an Alt-code, which is part of the problem).
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