Revised request: Japanese transliteration variants

[Phillips, Addison]

Hello Frank,

Please note that "nihonshiki" is too long to be a valid subtag (the limit is eight characters). You should propose a shorter alternative.

Regards,

Addison

Addison Phillips
Globalization Architect -- Lab126

Internationalization is not a feature.
It is an architecture.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: ietf-languages-bounces at alvestrand.no [mailto:ietf-languages-
> bounces at alvestrand.no] On Behalf Of Frank Bennett
> Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 6:25 AM
> To: ietf-languages at iana.org
> Subject: Revised request: Japanese transliteration variants
> 
> Thanks to everyone for their feedback on the earlier request.
> Hepburn
> is what I know, but the comments reminded me of the importance of
> precision and authority, and I have revised the request to provide
> more background, and added tags for two systems that some persons
> locally are likely to demand receive equal billing with Hepburn.
> 
> 
> Request for variant registration
> 
>   1. Name of requester: Frank Bennett
>   2. E-mail address of requester: bennett at law.nagoya-u.ac.jp
>   3. Records Requested:
> 
>      Type: variant
>      Subtag: hepburn
>      Description: Revised Hepburn romanization.
>      Prefix: ja-Latn
> 
>      Type: variant
>      Subtag: kunrei
>      Description: Kunrei-shiki romanization.
>      Prefix: ja-Latn
> 
>      Type: variant
>      Subtag: nihonshiki
>      Description: Nihon-shiki romanization, as defined in ISO-3602
> Strict.
>      Prefix: ja-Latn
> 
>   4. Intended meaning of the subtag:
> 
> Indicates the target content is Japanese text, romanized according
> to
> the rules set forth in the document cited in the relevant
> Description.
> 
>   5. Reference to published description of the language (book or
> article):
> 
>       English (primary)
>           Revised Hepburn: ALA-LC Romanization Tables (available
> for download)
>               http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html
>           Kunrei-shiki: ISO-3602 (available for purchase)
> 
> http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=9029
>           Nihon-shiki: ISO-3602 Strict (available for purchase)
> 
> http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=9029
> 
>       English (secondary)
>           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepburn_romanization
>           http://www.hadamitzky.de/english/lp_romanization_sys.htm
>           http://www.kanji.org/cjk/samples/jnamevar.htm
> 
>       Japanese (primary)
>           Revised Hepburn: Japan Transport Ministry Bulletin no.
> 490
> of 26 July 1947.
>           Kunrei-shiki: ローマ字のづづり方 [Method of Romanization],
> Cabinet
> Notice no. 1 of 9 December 1954.
> 
>       Japanese (secondary)
>           http://www.halcat.com/roomazi/doc/#SEC1
> 
>   6. Any other relevant information:
> 
> The immediate need for this is in the context of bibliography
> management, where alternate representations of a title, name or
> other
> field must be offered for sorting or display purposes.  Japanese
> has a
> very orderly phonetic structure and native logographic
> representation,
> but there are several different methods of romanization, none of
> which
> have succeeded in dislodging the others.
> 
> Broadly speaking, existing romanization methods fall into two camps.
> Revised Hepburn and its variants well exploit the latin script, to
> produce a representation from which it is easy to approximate
> Japanese
> pronunciation with a minimum of exposure to the language.
> Kunrei-shiki and Nihon-shiki adhere closely the logographic
> representation used in native Japanese writing.  As a result, these
> methods require some training in order to learn how to map the
> roman
> character combinations used onto the spoken language.
> 
> Apart from these relatively small practical differences, their
> differing origins (or, more precisely, the differing image of their
> origins) fuels a patriotic division of loyalties between the two
> camps: for Hepburn is named for a 19th century Christian missionary
> to
> Japan, and Kunrei-shiki is named for a government order issued
> during
> the period of direct Imperial rule, in 1937.  The friction between
> the
> two camps will presumably persist indefinitely.  Therefore, it is
> probably prudent to add representatives of both camps to the
> standard
> at this point, to avoid future controversy.
> 
> =======
> hepburn
> =======
> Revised Hepburn is the most common Japanese romanization method in
> use.  While there are several variants of Hepburn, the ALA-LC
> Romanization Tables provide clear and comprehensive guidelines
> likely
> to be acceptable to any consumer of text that expects Hepburn
> romanization.
> 
> (The Traditional Hepburn system dates from the late 19th century,
> and
> has been superceded in modern publishing by Revised Hepburn.  I am
> not
> aware of any publisher that requires it, and have therefore left it
> out of this submission.)
> 
> (There is an "extended Hepburn" system, which avoids the use of
> macrons.  This is not in common use, and is documented, as nearly
> as I
> can tell, only in journal papers published by a single academic.  I
> have therefore left it out of this submission.)
> 
> ======
> kunrei
> ======
> Kunrei-shiki is the officially recognized method for romanizing
> Japanese in the Cabinet Office and many government ministries,
> including the Ministry of Education.  Most adults in Japan were
> taught
> Kunrei-shiki romanization in elementary school, before being
> exposed
> to Hepburn in later schooling or universitiy.  Kunrei-shiki is
> definitely a minority method in real-world use, but as the
> successful
> campaign to have Hepburn dropped from the ISO standards, and
> Kunrei-shiki set up in its place, the proponents of Kunrei-shiki
> are
> eager partisans, and sensitive to the attitude of standards bodies.
> 
> I'll be happy to address any questions or concerns that the group
> may have.
> 
> Thank you for your time,
> Frank Bennett
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