Bubbapauls | 250 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 I have an old photo album from the late 1930s to early 1940s with Japanese Kanji on the front and am wondering what it says. It is somewhat worn and hard to photograph but I did my best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloves | 11,761 Administrator · Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 I tossed it through Google Translate and got the following options: The Elephant Eternal Elephant The Final Decision Eigo of Going Out Exhaustion etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbapauls | 250 Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 5 minutes ago, Gloves said: I tossed it through Google Translate and got the following options: The Elephant Eternal Elephant The Final Decision Eigo of Going Out Exhaustion etc. The photo album is from a man that was in the Japanese Military who I believe was a colonel, covering his military career during World War II. So those aren't making a lot of sense to me. Japanese Kanji is strange. There is probably a bunch of different dialects or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloves | 11,761 Administrator · Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 4 minutes ago, Bubbapauls said: The photo album is from a man that was in the Japanese Military who I believe was a colonel, covering his military career during World War II. So those aren't making a lot of sense to me. Japanese Kanji is strange. There is probably a bunch of different dialects or something. I've found Google Translate to be very very hit and miss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbapauls | 250 Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 1 minute ago, Gloves said: I've found Google Translate to be very very hit and miss. Yeah I have been having a lot of problems with the translating apps and all that because the kanji is handwritten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ookii_risu | 206 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 I'm not 100% sure but I did ask a friend for you. I think 出ひ思 means the same as 思い出 which is memory, but the last part seems to be Chinese for "wait for me." I'll let you know when my friend gets back to me. I'll write it out here for you: 出ひ思の等我 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbapauls | 250 Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 2 minutes ago, ookii_risu said: I'm not 100% sure but I did ask a friend for you. I think 出ひ思 means the same as 思い出 which is memory, but the last part seems to be Chinese for "wait for me." I'll let you know when my friend gets back to me. I'll write it out here for you: 出ひ思の等我 Memory makes sense being a photo album. I appreciate the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Estil | 1,261 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 I'm just trying to get the Hiragana/Katakana memorized...apparently my memory/recall really sucks!! I mean you'd think it'd be no different than learning your times tables... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganJoanne | 365 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 (edited) 我等の思ひ出 Warera no omohidasu break it down : Warera=We no=ownership to the "we" thus should read as "Our" omo(h)i-dasu=recall, remember, memories "Our memory/memories" notes : Old Japanese book, title and everything in it reads backwards from what we are used to, which also including opening book from what we consider back to front. Ancient Japanese pre-WWII used different kana combinations and such than today, thus the ひ back then is now い, same sound, just now without the consonant. Thankful I held onto that one very essential Japanese book, The New Nelson, though given my recent reinterest in Japanese I should have held on to all of my books. Edited November 5, 2019 by MeganJoanne minor edit 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster | 124 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 This uses kind of old Japanese. I don't think it's read left to right. I could be wrong because I don't know old Japanese very well, usually only old people understand all of it. But, I think it was originally read right to left. It pretty much just says "My Memories" or "Our memories" 我等の思い出 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganJoanne | 365 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 Yep! I used to have a Godzilla book that read that way. damn, should've kept that too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster | 124 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 Just now, MeganJoanne said: Yep! I used to have a Godzilla book that read that way. damn, should've kept that too. Wow how old was that book? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganJoanne | 365 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 (edited) Not that old. It was pretty cool. But it was a rough time too so there was a lot of stuff I parted with. Edited November 13, 2019 by MeganJoanne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcgamer | 4,719 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 I like Kanji, it's like Chinese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganJoanne | 365 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 It takes so much to remember it all though. I used to know several hundred kanji, maybe I still do, just not as well, but I recognize them. Amazing though after all the years of not really doing anything with my japanese that I can still read much of it, though reading and understanding what I'm reading is a totally different thing, figments of sentences, words here and there, hardly enough to really know what is being said unless I'm lucking enough to happen to know every word. But when I saw this topic and looked over that book cover, I said, shit, I got this! Opened my big ass kanji book and got the answer, and they have a place near the back that shows those old kana usage. While kanji are hard to remember they do serve a wonderful purpose, exactness, because they are more precise than if written or typed out in kana. I've been going over the dialogue for a famicom game Grand Master and trying to translate to French, but problem is my Japanese is not so good as to figure out what some words are when nearly everything is kana, very few kanji are used because of memory being lacking on these old games. But I'm still going to try, well at least until I get bored. Gives me something different to do for a little bit anyway. So Bubbapauls, is there anything in the photo album, more writing or just blank spaces for photos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganJoanne | 365 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 6 hours ago, Gloves said: I tossed it through Google Translate and got the following options: The Elephant Eternal Elephant The Final Decision Eigo of Going Out Exhaustion etc. I'm only using Google Translate for their character writing space, beats typing japanese out. But to use it for any, even a single word for translating, holy shit they ain't got their translating together at all. I have gotten some bizarre stuff that was far off from what it should be. The japanese translator should not even exist, at least not towards ours nor any European languages because all it spouts is nonsense, as you see from your results were. Even if you may've typed them left to right, still no way any of that could have been what they gave. In fact I don't much trust any translator, thus tend to recheck everything in several locations just to be sure, though sometimes they all have different results which really makes my mind go bonkers, or nothing because the words haven't been inserted into the program. Thank goodness french to english isn't that bad, not always perfect, but not a total mess, though sometimes I get some weird shit with that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganJoanne | 365 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 (edited) Interestingly though the cover is a farce because inside the book is all showa era Godzilla, with only a minor bit (a few pages) at the end on a few of the heisei films. Edited November 5, 2019 by MeganJoanne unnecessary heavy quote and repeat of image Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbapauls | 250 Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 4 hours ago, MeganJoanne said: It takes so much to remember it all though. I used to know several hundred kanji, maybe I still do, just not as well, but I recognize them. Amazing though after all the years of not really doing anything with my japanese that I can still read much of it, though reading and understanding what I'm reading is a totally different thing, figments of sentences, words here and there, hardly enough to really know what is being said unless I'm lucking enough to happen to know every word. But when I saw this topic and looked over that book cover, I said, shit, I got this! Opened my big ass kanji book and got the answer, and they have a place near the back that shows those old kana usage. While kanji are hard to remember they do serve a wonderful purpose, exactness, because they are more precise than if written or typed out in kana. I've been going over the dialogue for a famicom game Grand Master and trying to translate to French, but problem is my Japanese is not so good as to figure out what some words are when nearly everything is kana, very few kanji are used because of memory being lacking on these old games. But I'm still going to try, well at least until I get bored. Gives me something different to do for a little bit anyway. So Bubbapauls, is there anything in the photo album, more writing or just blank spaces for photos? There is more throughout the album. I need to scan them all but I took a few photos. It’s mostly in the photos they didn’t write anything inside the album. These were from photos of a group I they thought might help me learn more about the owner of the album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacepup | 2,404 Administrator · Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 11 hours ago, Bubbapauls said: I have an old photo album from the late 1930s to early 1940s with Japanese Kanji on the front and am wondering what it says. It is somewhat worn and hard to photograph but I did my best. In case it's of any interest to you - I found this picture/blog online that appears to be a very similar book if not the exact same one: https://siinasei.exblog.jp/iv/detail/?s=23722670&i=201502%2F22%2F11%2Ff0209411_181742100.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbapauls | 250 Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 (edited) 6 minutes ago, spacepup said: In case it's of any interest to you - I found this picture/blog online that appears to be a very similar book if not the exact same one: https://siinasei.exblog.jp/iv/detail/?s=23722670&i=201502%2F22%2F11%2Ff0209411_181742100.jpg Here’s the top of the album. It has an Order if the Golden Kite 1st Class award on it. Which is Japan’s equivalent of the Medal of Honor. Edited November 5, 2019 by Bubbapauls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ookii_risu | 206 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 I had no idea about the reading from right to left. That makes total sense now! 1 hour ago, Bubbapauls said: There is more throughout the album. I need to scan them all but I took a few photos. It’s mostly in the photos they didn’t write anything inside the album. These were from photos of a group I they thought might help me learn more about the owner of the album. This appears to be a commemorative photo of the royal guard to the Empress on her visit of the Kansai region in May of 1941. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganJoanne | 365 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 Oh, I woke up a little while ago and suddenly remembered when thinking about the pages inside that Godzilla book, I was mistaken they did not read right to left horizontally but right to left vertically, and anything that did read horizontal was our way, left to right. Don't know what I was thinking, my memory really has gotten poor on some things, was going over all my old game accomplishments last night too and there was so much I didn't remember. But somewhere I learned about the right to left horizontal reading, probably was something I read early in my studies way back in the 90s, more books then, less internet. Someone got the same book here but different cover (seems to have been in the middle of scanning the pages and translating but not finished) : https://mykaiju.com/investigating-godzilla/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganJoanne | 365 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 1 hour ago, ookii_risu said: I had no idea about the reading from right to left. That makes total sense now! This appears to be a commemorative photo of the royal guard to the Empress on her visit of the Kansai region in May of 1941. And yet this photo reads left to right. Can be confusing. I am still wondering where I learned of the older texts sometimes reading right to left horizontally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubbapauls | 250 Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 3 hours ago, ookii_risu said: I had no idea about the reading from right to left. That makes total sense now! This appears to be a commemorative photo of the royal guard to the Empress on her visit of the Kansai region in May of 1941. Do you know the exact translation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganJoanne | 365 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 ookii_risu told what it meant, but if you want it broken down into each word for word definitions translated to english, here goes : 皇后陛下 = Kougou Heika = Her majesty the Empress 関西 = Kansai = a place in Japan 行啓 = gyoukei = a visit or attendance of an empress or a crown prince 御警衞 = Gokeiei = (go=honorific prefix) + guard, patrol or escort 記念 = kinen = remembrance, commemoration 昭和 = Shouwa = that's the name of the era which was from 1926 to 1989 十六年 = 16 year(s) (years designated by era, I was stumped on this for a while since I never studied dates really) 五月 = gogatsu = May Some kanji have changed form over the years so a couple of them don't look the same as on that photo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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