A furigana typo

[mithrila]

Hello all,

I was reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in Japanese. I was in chapter 6 when I noticed a *furigana* typo.

The Kanji Compound was 専門的　(technical, professional). The furigana= せんせんてき

The correct furigana is せんもんてき:o

Just a little bit a confidence boost for all of you, because even Japanese people make mistakes, even on a kanji like "gate":D

[kydancer0123]

Cool! Thanks for the confidence boost! Looks like we all are helping each other out in various ways!:)
Mata ne!

[zengargoyle]

see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furigana

i don't know if it's the case here, but the article specifically mentions Harry Potter as a story where the translation purposefully uses inaccurate furigana to convey things like puns.

[Harisenbon]

jinksys wrote:
Why wouldn't the japanese make mistakes? We're talking about a race that attacked hawaii thinking we wouldnt notice.

Now, that was kind of offensive, and uncalled for.

As for the Furigana question, it's not a misprint, but a way to show how the person is speaking (or used to describe a mood) while still using the appropriate kanji. It's very common in books for children, to explain a difficult kanji with a simple word, or as a joke.

For example, in one piece
I used to be really into Art (the kanji being shown is Grafitti 落書き, even though the word he said was アート)

Or in some SF books
宇宙船 = クルーザー

[mithrila]

If you're interested in the Japanese version of Harry Potter, and how parts of it are translated, this website is beautifally done.

http://www.cjvlang.com/Hpotter/

It also has Chinese (mainland and Taiwan) and Vietnamese translation notes. It's really fascinating, and you can get a look at some of the names and puns before you read the book (the translation is really good by the way).

[Gakusha]

Okay...That was kind of uncalled for also. Can't you say anything intelligent and think before you do something?

Sorry about the off-topic post.

Are Japanese books written in the same style as English books, from left to right, or are they set up like manga?

[Harisenbon]

Gakusha> Yeah, I'm really starting to get sick of the offensive comments coming from Jinksys. I think the post he deleted earlier put it over the top for me. Still kinda pissed about that when I think about it.

Anyhow, Japanese books are written from top to bottom and from left to write (manga order).

Let's see if I can fake it on the computer:
お　こ
ば　れ
あ　は
さ　私
ん　の
の　物
肉　語
を　で
食　す
て　。
し　昔
ま　々
っ　，
た　お
。　じ
　　い
　　さ
　　ん
　　が

Hope that views right

私の物語です。昔々，おじいさんがおばさんの肉を食べてしまった。

[mithrila]

Good job on the vertical text!

The problem is with Harry Potter is that the text is *small.* I'm currently typing into my computer so I can actually read it without a magnifying glass (plus I get Furigana:D!).

If you want a good Japanese book with big text, Botchan by Natsume Souseki is a good choice. Be prepared for some wierd grammer, but it's not bad once you get used to it. Plus it's a great conversation starter with a Japanese person, bringing up Botchan or Rashoumon, or Kappa (both of the latter are by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke).

[Gaijinian]

専門的　せんせんてき... Nope, just a typo, not like what H-bon-san with 宇宙船 = クルーザー. But you do see that kind of thing a lot.

[Harisenbon]

Ack. It does say Sensen. For some reason I read it as sensei, and thus though they were making it simpler. :/

Must stop reading posts while half asleep. *he types while being half asleep*

[mithrila]

Don't worry, I missed it the first couple of times too. It wasn't until I read it through again when I was putting into the computer and I was reading everything through very carefully that I caught. I had to do a triple-take. It did explain why when I was typing the furigana that the kanji didn't turn out right. I actually had to look pretty closely, mainly because my reading glasses finally decided to die and I have to use a magnifying glass until I get new glasses.