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Romanization walkthrough

[This is a draft and is incomplete]

Section 1 - Introduction

This guide is an in-depth supplement to the romanization guideline for romanizing Japanese song and album titles. This guide will not focus on Artist names, as names have slightly different properties[wd].

This guide walks through how to romanize a sample of song titles on VocaDB. The goal of this guide is to improve the accuracy of romanization in VocaDB by helping editors understand some of the often overlooked rules of the Japanese language. This guide will have a heavy focus on obtaining the correct reading.

This guide assumes the reader is sufficiently comfortable with mechanical aspects of editing VocaDB Song entries, and has a good understanding of the Japanese language. It also assumes the reader is familiar with VocaDB's Japanese romanization rules.

The purpose of romanizing title is to help non-Japanese speakers read and pronounce the title. [expand]

Romanization Process

For almost all cases, the romanization process is as follows:
  1. Obtain correct reading;
  2. Apply VocaDB's romanization rules and convert the reading into romaji (English alphabet).

Step 1 can be extremely difficult. This guide will focus on Step 1. Step 2 is a simple process of following the guidleineguideline rules.

Basic Examples

A large number of songs have very easy to read titles. These are just as simple as turning kana into romaji.

[put them in links later]


http://vocadb.net/S/1746
  • ホシノウタ -> Hoshi no Uta

http://vocadb.net/S/67877

  • まとい -> Matoi


Song titles which are direct loan words are also easy to romanize (recall that VocaDB uses the original language for loanwords):

http://vocadb.net/S/31847

  • パラレルワールド -> Parallel World


Titles with common kanji are romanized as one would expect: http://vocadb.net/S/57151
  • タイヨウの子 -> Taiyou no Ko

http://vocadb.net/S/10536

  • 月と風船 -> Tsuki to Fuusen

It is expected that every editor who edits romaji be able to easily output the same romaji for the above song titles. For readers who had trouble, it is recommended they do not attempt to provide their own romanizations on VocaDB.

Section 2 - Various Concepts

Part I - Rendaku (連濁)

Rendaku must be carefully considered for many Japanese words, especially nouns. For readers unfamiliar with the concept, the Wikipedia pages linked below may be a good starting point.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/連濁
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendaku
Simply put, when two words are combined, the first character of the latter part of the combined word can either be voiced or unvoiced (adding or not adding daku-ten). Rendaku rules are complex and at times unpredictable. Knowing the general rules, as well as having a strong vocabulary and high listening and speaking level is helpful in determining the rendaku outcome of a compound word.

http://vocadb.net/S/70651

  • からふる日和 -> Colorful Biyori

    If the title is first separated into からふる and 日和, one may incorrectly romanize the title as "Colorful Hiyori". However, due to rendaku, 日和 is pronounced びより and is thus romanized as "Biyori".

http://vocadb.net/S/66536

  • ながれ星 -> Nagareboshi

    Rendaku is voiced on 星. Since 流れ星 itself is a word, there should be no difficulty for this romanization.

http://vocadb.net/S/74995

  • 夜間飛行 -> Yakan Hikou

    Rendaku does not apply here. 飛行 is read normally as "Hikou" (and not "Bikou").

http://vocadb.net/S/7232

  • 夢見心地 -> Yumemi Gokochi

    Rendaku is voiced on 心地, changing "Kokochi" into "Gokochi". Since 夢見心地 is a single term, "Yumemigokochi" is also correct.


Sometimes the rendaku effect is ambiguous for certain compound words. In such cases, the editor may choose the more common reading. Unless the artist has stated a particular reading which confirms the rendaku, we assume that both readings (unvoiced and voiced) are correct. This is only applicable to ambiguous readings. The above examples have no ambiguity, so departing from the example produces an incorrect romanization. [*check with moderators on this stance ] [ include more examples][include ambiguous example]

Part II - Kanji

Kanji is an integral part of the language. It is important to remember that individual kanji and kanji compounds can have multiple readings, but in most cases, there is only one correct* reading (and thus only one correct romanization).

  • Correct in this context means intended (by the artist). To illustrate, reading 静寂 as "Shijima" is technically correct, and maybe correct in rare cases (it is a reading found in a dictionary), but unintended for most cases. "Seijyaku" is far more common and more likley than not what the producer intended. It is safe to assume that a more common reading is the correct reading, because the artist would have specified otherwise.

http://vocadb.net/S/71432

  • 蒼のクジラと電波塔 -> Ao no Kujira to Denpatou

Note that 蒼 is "Ao", and not any other reading, such as "Sou". Kanji reading takes a lot of experience, but often there are clues that lead to the correct reading. For example, kanji by itself takes the kun reading in general. In contrast, compound kanji words, such as 電波塔 are generally read by their on readings.

http://vocadb.net/S/47510?albumId=9853

  • 赤心性:カマトト荒療治 -> Sekishinsei: Kamatoto Araryouji 荒療治 is an example of an exception to the on reading rule, where 荒 is read by its kun reading. Many times it is impossible to tell what the correct reading is, without prior exposure to the term.

As seen above, it is easy to make a mistake by applying general rules and common kanji readings. Luckily, dictionaries include many compound terms. Therefore it is imperative that editors look up words they have never encountered before, even if the individual kanji is known.

Part III - Play on words, and multiple meanings

[This part is the most fun.] Irregular readings from the creative use of words can sometimes be difficult to notice. A strong vocabulary is required to identify non-standard readings.

http://vocadb.net/S/40409

  • 恋距離遠愛 -> Renkyori En'ai
    This title is a play on words of 遠距離恋愛, swapping the 遠 and 恋, producing a double-meaning.

http://vocadb.net/S/44239

  • 音偽バナシ -> Otogi Banashi
    This is a play on words of おとぎ話. An editor unfamiliar with the term may incorrectly romanize the title, since "oto" is a kun reading, and "gi" is a on reading.

http://vocadb.net/S/78014

  • 右に曲ガール -> "Migi ni Maga-ru" or "Migi ni Ma Girl"
    The ガール in the title is both the okurigana to 曲 (がる->ガール) and "Girl". Since it is shared, neither interpretation is more correct than the other (which is the whole purpose of these kinds of wordplay).

Part IV - Uncommon and Forced readings

When artists specify that a title is read a certain way, that reading must be used for the romaji reading.

http://vocadb.net/S/47354

  • 好き!雪!本気マジック -> Suki! Yuki! Maji Magic
    In the artist's blog, the reading is clearly stated.(読み:すきゆきまじまじっく), so the conventional reading of 本気, "Honki" is incorrect in this context.

Section 3 - FAQ

How can I tell if I'm making a mistake on kanji readings?

If any of the following is true, consider writing a comment asking for help instead of supplying your own romaji and risk making an error:

  • You do not understand the title's meaning, or you understand the title but it does not make sense in the context of the song (your understanding may be off)
  • You cannot accurately identify and separate words from particles, or you do not understand the composition of the title
  • You are looking up individual kanji instead of words or terms.

I think the romaji for a certain song on VocaDB is incorrect. What should I do?

First, check the discussion and edit history for any notes. An editor may have stated why a certain romanization was used, or where it was obtained from. If you are still not satisfied, leave a comment (or contact the editor directly) asking for clarfication and,

  • do nothing and wait for a response if you are unsure about the correctness of the current romaji, or;
  • make an edit with the correct romaji if you are certain that your romaji is correct and the current entry is incorrect.

You do not need to leave a comment if the romaji entry contains an obvious mistake.

Is there a step-by-step process that I can follow that guarantees an accurate reading?

No.

Can I trust Google translate (or any other machine translator) for accurate romaji?

No.

I found an error in this article. Whom should I contact?

Please join VocaDB's IRC channel at #vocadb on irc.rizon.net and let us know of the error.

Part V - Okurigana (maybe)

Part VII - Reader exercise

[Put a few song titles here; readers can try to romanize and test their understanding. They can also choose not to 'answer' some of them, meaning they would not edit those entries if they were on VocaDB. It is important to know one's skill level to avoid making mistakes.]

Notes on Editing

Edit notes should be included when an editor:
  • Takes a particular stance on an ambiguous reading
  • Uses a reading that is uncommon or not obvious at first glance. E.g.
    • Reading found in the PV
    • Reading found in the video description
    • Reading obtained from sources such as the artist's Twitter and official blog entries.

Leaving an edit note allows a reviewer to quickly check the romanization correctness without having to repeat the efforts of the previous editor. If there will be other edit notes (unrelated to romaji entry), the editor can choose split a large edit into smaller chunks to make it easier for others to review the edit history. For complex cases requring a detailed explanation, leaving a comment in the discussion section of the song is encouraged.

notes

ヒをいと読むとき http://vocadb.net/S/60075 , http://vocadb.net/S/73366

Uploader specified readings

を、は、へ、等

Indeterminable but correct readings http://vocadb.net/S/598 「ゆく」か「いく」

Titles with puns (a couple deco27 songs,) http://vocadb.net/S/78014 ,

Part VI


Other tactics for find readings:

@mikuwiki

dictionary

nico description

watching the PV

looking at official page album and song urls, filenames, etc. (sometimes they are romanized)

listening to the audio if the lyrics contain the title

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