Pikipedia:Japanese

The Pikmin games are developed by Nintendo EAD, in Japan. The main game region is, hence, Japan. Because Pikipedia is an English wiki, its canon focuses mostly on the US version of the games. However, Pikipedia includes some information from the Japanese version of the games, specially considering that besides the language, few major regional differences exist. One of the most common bits of Japanese info on Pikipedia is the name of some subjects as they are known in Japan. In order to have that information, Pikipedia pages may contain characters in Japanese, followed by a Romanization and a translation to English.

The {{J}} template should be used for such purposes. In articles, the Japanese name is normally placed on the opening paragraph, right next to the name of the subject on said paragraph, as well as on a "Names in other languages" section.

General disclaimer

Currently, Pikipedia consists of a group of dedicated and occasional editors from all around the world. Unfortunately, the knowledge on Japanese shared amongst the editor community is quite low. As such, Pikipedia does not guarantee that the romanization or translation of Japanese text is correct or optimal. Although the goal is to be as accurate as possible, the lack of a professional translator will inevitably lead to imperfections. Romanizations and translations are normally generated with the help of machine translations, and are still allowed on the wiki under the hope that they will be accurate enough to be of any encyclopedic use.

The two translators preferred are Google Translate and Denshi Jisho.

Japanese text

Not all web browsers can render Japanese characters correctly on-the-fly. It may be necessary to install Japanese character sets on your operative system in order to correctly see the Japanese text within Pikipedia (and other web pages). You know that your browser cannot render Japanese characters if you see a series of squares or question marks inside diamonds. If you can view Japanese text, the following line should contain characters that are neither of the two mentioned before:

ピクミン

If you do see four squares or four question marks inside diamonds, please refer to the following Wikipedia page, that explains what to do in order to get these characters to work: Installing Japanese character sets.

Romanization

Romanization (also known as rōmaji or romaji) is the act of writing Kanji or Kana using Latin letters, making it easier to read and pronounce them for readers who cannot understand Japanese characters. There are several types of romanization, such as Hepburn romanization or JSL romanization. While Pikipedia has no defined romanization style, all of the romanized text is found in Hepburn. It is also quite normal to use the one provided by Google Translate; the "あ" button must be pressed to enable romanization output.

Japanese names and common names

In regards to enemies, the name in the Japanese version that appears in the first sentence of every article refers to the creature's 通称^? meaning "common name" or "nickname"; this is the name used in the enemy reel's video titles, the Piklopedia's entry titles, the lock-on titles, and the log entry titles.

Another name that the Japanese releases of the games have is 和名^?, which translates to "Japanese name", but has a meaning more similar to the English "technical name". In the overseas releases of Pikmin the Japanese name is absent and in Pikmin 2 and Hey! Pikmin, the Japanese name is replaced with the scientific name of the creatures in the Piklopedia entries.

For example: the Watery Blowhog's common name in the Japanese version of Pikmin 2 is ミズブタ^? (lit.: "Water Pig"). This is the term that appears in the first sentence of its article. From reading Olimar's notes, one can see that its 和名^? ("Japanese name") is ヒフキブタドックリ（水吐変種）^? (lit.: "Fire Breathing Tokkuri Pig (water spit variant)").

In Pikipedia you will find the Japanese name in the "Other information" section of every enemy article.

Translation

As stated above, Japanese translation knowledge is sparse between the Pikipedia editor community. Most translations are obtained using a combination of Google Translate and common sense. The tips on this article can be employed to maximize the chances of finding a likely translation.

Whenever possible, the "Names in other languages" section should explain the translation a bit better. When parts of the name cannot be translated into anything minimally logical, the words in question should be left untranslated, or the entire translation should be omitted.

Tips

• If the translator has the ability to check alternative words, check them. On Google Translate, you can click on one of the translated words to obtain an alternative that might make more sense. Example: ムシ^?, a common word in enemy names, means "insect" or "bug". Google Translate's default translation, however, is "Mus".
• Add spaces between characters. Spaces can help the translator realize which characters belong to which words. Unless you know where the spaces should go, it is recommended to try placing one space between each character, one space at a time. Example: シャコモドキ^? (Hermit Crawmad) won't make Google Translate return anything useful, but a space between シャコ^? and モドキ^? will give "Mantis shrimp beetle".
• Try translating the entire text at once, as well as each word individually. The context or lack thereof might make the translator give different results.
• Erase sketchy words and rewrite them romanized, with the "romanization to Kanji" feature on Google Translate. The official character might make the translator think of something else, and give an incorrect translation. Attempting to rewrite the characters via romanization may provide different characters that are similar in nature, which might be enough to swerve the translation the right way.
  • Sometimes, you can replace the likes of "To", "Tu", "Ta", etc. with "Do", "Du", "Da", and vice-versa. Example: "Dama" doesn't make sense for the Beady Long Legs, although Tama ("ball") does. "K" and "G" also work (e.g. "gumo" and "kumo", on the enemy's internal name).
  • On Google Translate, it is possible to press the down arrow key while typing in order to get a list of alternate writings. Experiment with them.
• Check if some words aren't meant to be translated. If the translator capitalizes a word or insists that that is the translation for what you want, try searching on the web for the definition of that word. It might be a common object, action, etc. in Japan that has no foreign name. Example: Tokkuri (Puffy Blowhog).
• Keep in mind regular Japanese caveats, like the "interchangeability" between L and R. Some words may translate to one term that seems only a letter away from a more logical term. It may be possible that the actual term is the one you're thinking.
• Try the suggestions. If the translator asks you if you meant something else, try it, but don't assume that that is always the correct way to go.
• Consider puns and word merges. It might be possible that the word you're looking for is actually a pun between two words, something not-uncommon in the series, even in the English releases (e.g. Bulbmin). Try cutting a romanized word into two where it seems likely, and make the first word end with the same letter as the second one begins. Example: The Female Sheargrub's romanized Japanese name is "ujinko". This is actually a combination of "uji" ("maggot") and "inko" ("parrot").

Example

A practical example: translating the Arctic Cannon Larva's name, ユキフタクチ, using Google Translate:

1. By experimenting with spaces between characters, and by checking alternative translations of the words provided, we can tell that ユキ can be isolated, and one of its definitions is "snow". This seems very likely, so we'll save that word and work with the rest of the name.
2. By adding spaces again, we learn that a split between フタ and クチ seems likely: the first of these words translates to "lid" or "top", as well as several similar terms. Although not very convincing, let's leave this word to the side and examine the final one.
3. クチ just gives "Cu chi" – that makes no sense. However, by typing its romanization and having Google Translate replace it with Japanese as it is being typed, the translation "mouth" appears (along with a correction for 口).

This, combined with the previous word, now makes a logical translation: members of the lithopod family do in fact have a "mouth" at the top of their heads.