Wikizilla:Romanization

Which standard should be used?

	Hepburn	Modified Hepburn		Custom*
Kana	✔️
Long vowels				✔️
Particles		✔️
Extended kana	✔️
Syllabic n		✔️

	This page documents an official Wikizilla policy. Before making changes, make sure they have been agreed upon.

The romanization of Japanese is the representation of Japanese text using Latin characters. Wikizilla follows its own romanization scheme, largely adapted from Hepburn.

Formatting romaji

Main article: wikipedia:Hepburn romanization.

Romanization, referred to as rōmaji (ローマ字) in Japanese, aims to accurately reflect the pronunciations of Japanese through Latin script. Numerous romanization styles have been proposed, the most widely used of which is Hepburn romanization.

Romaji will typically appear on the site through the {{Nihongo}} template. An example of a typical page opening is: '''Godzilla''' {{Nihongo|ゴジラ|Gojira}} is a..., with Gojira being the romaji representation of Godzilla's Japanese name (ゴジラ). The Nihongo template automatically italicizes the second parameter which is entered. If romaji is used outside of this template, it must be manually italicized by surrounding it with double apostrophes: ''Gojira'' yields Gojira.

Wikizilla primarily uses a hybrid of Hepburn and Modified Hepburn. Gojūon and yōon kana are romanized according to Hepburn romanization; し is rendered shi but never si, ふ is rendered fu but never hu, つ is rendered tsu but never tu, etc.

Long vowels

Wikizilla's romanization scheme diverges from Hepburn in its representation of long vowels. While both Hepburn and Modified Hepburn instruct the rendering of a long I within the same morpheme as ii, Wikizilla instead renders this as a single I with a macron: ī. Furthermore, while Hepburn renders two A's or two E's within the same morpheme as aa and ee, Wikizilla instead uses Modified Hepburn's method of rendering them as ā and ē, respectively. Therefore, all instances of a long vowel contained within a single morpheme should be represented by a single vowel with a macron. This is in order to distinguish between true long vowels—such as in Shīsā ("Caesar")—and vowels part of separate morphemes−such as in Eiichi.

Two vowels should only appear adjacent if they are contained within separate morphemes. For example, the word for the color gray, 灰 (はい)色 (いろ), is rendered haiiro, due to the first kanji being pronounced hai and the second as iro.

Particles

Wikizilla follows Modified Hepburn's method of rendering particles. When used as particles, は is written as wa (not ha), へ as e (not he), and を as o (not wo).

Extended katakana

While extended katakana do not often appear, Wikizilla follows Hepburn romanization's guidelines for rendering them. For example, シェ is written as she, フォ as fo, ティ as ti, and so on.

Syllabic n

Wikizilla follows Modified Hepburn's guidelines for rendering the syllabic n (ん/ン). It should be written as n except before vowels or y, in which case it is written n' (with an apostrophe), but never as m.

The given name Shinichi (新 (しん)一 (いち)) would be rendered Shin'ichi due to the first kanji containing the syllabic n and being followed directly after by a vowel, i (い). Something like the word shinigami (死 (しに)神 (がみ)), meaning "god of death," would not be rendered with an apostrophe due to it not containing the syllabic n; the n and i are not separate mora, as with んい (n'i), but are rather connected as a single vowel: に (ni). Similarly, 化 (け)女 (にょ) (meaning "female ghost") would be rendered as kenyo because the n and yo form a single vowel, nyo (にょ).

Translation of names

When translating the names of Japanese people in to English, plain text should be prioritized and diacritics avoided, especially in page titles. For example, "Ishiro Honda" is preferred over "Ishirō Honda."

Name order

In Japanese, names are formatted in surname-given name order, opposite to American names. Thus, Eiji Tsuburaya's name in Japanese is Tsuburaya Eiji. When translating, the name order should be switched to reflect that of American names.

• Banno Yoshimitsu ❌ → Yoshimitsu Banno ✔️
• Tanaka Tomoyuki ❌ → Tomoyuki Tanaka ✔️
• Takarada Akira ❌ → Akira Takarada ✔️

Preferred names

Some Japanese people, often actors or singers, may stylize their names in English. In this case, the person's preferred name should be used as opposed to the direct translation. Examples of this include:

• Toh EnJoe, not To Enjo
• Tetsuro Tamba, not Tetsuro Tanba
• Tohl Narita, not Toru Narita
• Noriyoshi Ohrai, not Noriyoshi Orai

This should not be applied to the names of fictional characters, however. Kiriko Tsujimori's surname should be written Tsujimori, despite her helmet in the film reading "Tuzimori."

Long vowels

As mentioned above, the method by which long vowels are romanized depends on whether or not both vowels are apart of the same morpheme. In the example of Masaaki Tezuka, "Masaaki" is written with two A's due to each vowel being apart of a separate morpheme:

まさ	あき
昌	明
Masa	aki

The first kanji of his surname, 昌, is pronounced masa (まさ) and the second, 明, as aki (あき). Thus, transcribing it as "Masaki" is not appropriate in this situation.

• Eichi Asada ❌ → Eiichi Asada ✔️

Eiichi: Ei (英 (えい)) + ichi (一 (いち))

• Tadaki Watanabe ❌ → Tadaaki Watanabe ✔️

Tadaaki: Tada (忠 (ただ)) + aki (昭 (あき))

• Yasuyuki Inoe ❌ → Yasuyuki Inoue ✔️

Inoue: Ino (井 (いの)) + ue (上 (うえ))

• Tomo Haraguchi ❌ → Tomoo Haraguchi ✔️

Tomoo: Tomo (智 (とも)) + o (生 (お))

On the other hand, Nisan Takahashi's given name is not written using two I's. This is due to both vowels being apart of the same morpheme:

にい	さん
二	三
Nī	san

The first kanji, 二, is pronounced nī (にい), the combination of ni (に) and i (い). Because both I's are apart of the same morpheme, they are represented in romaji as a single I with a macron ( ī ), or as a simple I when in plain English.

• Eizou Kaimai ❌ → Eizo Kaimai ✔️

Eizo: Ei (栄 (えい)) + zō (三 (ぞう))

• Kazuki Oomori ❌ → Kazuki Omori ✔️

Omori: Ō (大 (おお)) + mori (森 (もり))

• Momoko Kouchi ❌ → Momoko Kochi ✔️

Kochi: Kō (河 (こう)) + chi (内 (ち))

• Shuuzaburou Araki ❌ → Shuzaburo Araki ✔️

Shuzaburo: Shū (秀 (しゅう)) + zabu (三 (ざぶ)) + rō (郎 (ろう))