Japanese fonts
To the people obsessed with Japanese culture:
Just because you download a Japanese font, it does not mean that the characters are laid out like the Western alphabet. To assume that by typing "y" you would get the Japanese equivalent, well, you're wrong. Remember, to assume makes an ass out of you and me. Well, not me, because I know the basics of reading and writing Japanese.
The Japanese language uses three writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. My explanation is going to be very simple here, because I don't want to go into a lengthy explanation. But anyway, there are five vowels: a, i, e, o, u. These vowels are coupled with consonants. With the exception of 'n,' you never see a consonant without a vowel.
This is the reason why you only see, for example: SA SHI SU SE SO. You never see the letter 'S' by itself.
Thus, if I wanted to write my name in Japanese, it would not be "Sarah". There is no letter H, unless I wanted to be SARAHA, SARAHI, SARAHE, SARAHO, or SARAHU.
My name, written in katakana [katakana is normally used for foreign words or sound effects, read more here], would be SA RA. This would only consist of two kana, not four.
But if I were to directly type S-A-R-A-H in a Japanese font, the result would be TO CHI SU CHI KU.
What the heck is "tochisuchiku"? I don't know.
I know everyone wants to show off their cool LiveJournal icons and their name written in Japanese because it's "cool and different and makes me look BADASS," but really, it just makes you look like an ass.
Let's say you want to get a tattoo of a word in Japanese. "I think the word 'GOD' would be a cool thing if it were written in big block letters on my chest. It'd impress the ladies," you think to yourself. But you can't seem to find a Japanese person anywhere! Or a Japanese dictionary! Whatever will you do?
But wait! You remember that you downloaded a font called "Natsumikan". You happily type out "god" in your word processor. Feeling pretty accomplished, you go to the tattoo parlor.
Congratulations, you now are the proud owner of a tattoo that reads KIRASHI.
Just because you download a Japanese font, it does not mean that the characters are laid out like the Western alphabet. To assume that by typing "y" you would get the Japanese equivalent, well, you're wrong. Remember, to assume makes an ass out of you and me. Well, not me, because I know the basics of reading and writing Japanese.
The Japanese language uses three writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. My explanation is going to be very simple here, because I don't want to go into a lengthy explanation. But anyway, there are five vowels: a, i, e, o, u. These vowels are coupled with consonants. With the exception of 'n,' you never see a consonant without a vowel.
This is the reason why you only see, for example: SA SHI SU SE SO. You never see the letter 'S' by itself.
Thus, if I wanted to write my name in Japanese, it would not be "Sarah". There is no letter H, unless I wanted to be SARAHA, SARAHI, SARAHE, SARAHO, or SARAHU.
My name, written in katakana [katakana is normally used for foreign words or sound effects, read more here], would be SA RA. This would only consist of two kana, not four.
But if I were to directly type S-A-R-A-H in a Japanese font, the result would be TO CHI SU CHI KU.
What the heck is "tochisuchiku"? I don't know.
I know everyone wants to show off their cool LiveJournal icons and their name written in Japanese because it's "cool and different and makes me look BADASS," but really, it just makes you look like an ass.
Let's say you want to get a tattoo of a word in Japanese. "I think the word 'GOD' would be a cool thing if it were written in big block letters on my chest. It'd impress the ladies," you think to yourself. But you can't seem to find a Japanese person anywhere! Or a Japanese dictionary! Whatever will you do?
But wait! You remember that you downloaded a font called "Natsumikan". You happily type out "god" in your word processor. Feeling pretty accomplished, you go to the tattoo parlor.
Congratulations, you now are the proud owner of a tattoo that reads KIRASHI.