Japanese writing

[Shotokan-kez]

I have been interested in learning Japanese for a while. Just out of interest really, and because i would like to know what all the writing is on my Dan grade certificate and the embroidery on my black belt. (Although i picked this myself i would like to see if its true) I would rather learn about it rather than just go ask someone.

I know that each symbol doesn't resemble 1 letter otherwise my name would only be three letters, when its actually 5. Anyways i'm not very happy because they haven't done the first symbol right on my name on my belt! It's got my full name in Japanese on one side and i managed to find a site that shows the writing but for first names only, i wasn't very happy to see that the first symbol on my belt is wrong, the other two are spot on though. I know that a lot of people wouldn't know if it was right or wrong, as i didnt before i checked on this site, but now i know and i'm not very happy!

So anyway now i have finnished babbling does anyone know any sites i can go on (preferably free) that will allow me to see the japanese alphabet so i can translate the words on my certificates?

[bushido_man96]

English names and words may be translated differently by different people in Japan. I don't believe that there are exact translations for each letter of the English alphabet. Therefore, aterations have to be made.

[Shotokan-kez]

Ahhh right thanks Brian! Thats interesting to know

[NightOwl]

I would be willing to translate your name for you if you wouldn't mind PMing it to me. As for the rest of the certificate you probably won't be able to translate it just using the Japanese alphabet, as there are about 4 different writing systems they use here:

Hiragana

Katakana

Romaji (English Alphabet)

Kanji (Chinese characters)

There are thousands of Chinese characters, so you will need a special kanji dictionary to translate them since they are not made up of individual letters. Most certificates contain a lot of kanji to make them look fancy, so that makes translating these things bothersome.

[Shotokan-kez]

Ahh thank you night owl. When i looked on the net i did wonder why they had so many alphabets. I will pm you my name. I couldn't find anything for my surname it was just the first symbol of my first name was different to the one i saw...not a lot though i must admit.

Makes me maybe not wanna learn the Japanese language lol....sooooo confusing