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#uy fandom probably already knows this but i guess they get a tag now too
drawnaghht · 1 year
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yokai and ninja (and other words)
btw! some helpful info for writing tmnt and UY/SRTUC fic!
both yokai, samurai and ninja are already plural words and japanese as a language doesn't really have plural in the same sense as english... so imo adding the -s of plural just complicates the thing, even just to "localize it"...
it'd be almost like saying.... dogs's. or cars-s. like almost double double or moon moon, tea tea situation haha x3
same goes for other japanese loanwords we like using in our japanese culture inspired fic/fancomics and other fanworks... sai, kunai, kunoichi, kage-musha etc
or even simple every-day words like sushi, haiku, manga, ramen.... you don't just put an s at the end and call it a day. "I'll have a tray of 8 sushi" but not "I'll have 8 sushis" - like it just sounds bad to anyone who has heard more japanese or heard more loanwords in english. like it's not a big problem if you accidentally did! it's ok, you didn't know. but take this as a bit of info to use in your fic. For example, characters who have grown up closer to japanese culture, or just using these words all the time, might not change them into EN plural. but characters who have no idea or learned plural forms for these living in a different cultural setting, might. take this with a grain of salt, but it just sounds better when the -s is not there for certain words :'D
(there's probably many exceptions that have been made in past translations, as usually over time, loanwords become sorta "localized" more, but i'm sticking to this myself just cuz it's something I learned a long time ago abt these words + it just seems like these stories and characters can be a bit closer to how real-life E-J bilingual folk would use these words)
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