hankaku zenkaku
English translation: single-byte and double-byte characters
| 04:27 Feb 22, 2000 |
| Japanese to English translations [PRO] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||
|  Selected response from: Wayne Lammers (X) Local time: 01:19 | |||
Grading comment
| ||||
| Summary of answers provided | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| na +1 | single-byte and double-byte characters |
| ||
| na +1 | Half size for hankaku, full size for zenkaku |
| ||
| na | hankaku zenkaku |
| ||
| na | En/Em |
| ||
| na | computer processing related |
| ||
| na | Domo Domo |
| ||
| na -1 | "half-size" and "full-size" |
| ||
| na -1 | or "capitalized characters" and "small characters" |
| ||
| na -1 | half size, full size; single-byte, double-byte |
| ||
| na -1 | 1-byte character and 2-byte character |
|
Answers
8 mins peer agreement (net): -1
"half-size" and "full-size" Explanation: The literal translation is "half-size" and "full-size" but this refers to full size and half size characters in the hiragana or katakana alphabets. A preferable translation may therefore be "capital letters" and "small letters". |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
13 mins peer agreement (net): -1
or "capitalized characters" and "small characters" Explanation: (Boy, am I bored with my translation to be doing this!). |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
1 hr
hankaku zenkaku Explanation: The dictionary meaning of Hanakaku = half size & Zenkaku = full size. So it goes that the meaning applied here would be Hanakaku = lower case & Zenkaku = Upper case. In relation to alphanumeric character sizes. |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
2 hrs peer agreement (net): -1
half size, full size; single-byte, double-byte Explanation: When reading Japanese, you will occasionally notice smaller letters used -- for example, "chiisai tsu" may appear before another character to indicate doubling of the consonant. These smaller letters (like chiisai tsu) are commonly referred to as "hankaku", where the usual size ones are referred to as "zenkaku". "Hankaku" is also sometimes used to refer to Roman (english) characters, which only take half the space (both on screen and as data) of a Japanese character. So in some cases, the phrases are equivalent to single-byte (hankaku) and double-byte (zenkaku). The latter use could apply in a case such as file naming, for example, where a file name might be allowed up to 16 hankaku characters -- 8 Japanese characters or 16 Roman characters. |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
2 hrs
En/Em Explanation: In my opinion the above answers are not really wrong, and may be used depending on the actual context. However, may I point out that Kenkyusha Eng-Jap reports "Em" to be the right translation for "Zenkaku", and "en" to be 1/2 of an "em". This leads us to publishing (printing) jargon, and in order to be precise, I'll now quote The Barron's Dictionary of Marketing terms: in printing an "Em" is "a unit of measure of print type equal to the square of a type CHARACTER. Most machine-set type characters are one-half an em (called an "en"). The term em is derived from traditional type sets that had a letter M cast on a square slug. The actual size of an em varies, depending on the point size of the type being used. In most cases, the term refers to a PICA or 12-point em. Each point equals 0.0138 inch (approximately 1/72 of an inch). HTH, F |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
5 hrs peer agreement (net): +1
single-byte and double-byte characters Explanation: Japanese characters require 2 bytes to encode and take up what is called a "full space" in the context of Japanese (this includes the small tsu, ya, etc. that someone mentioned). Roman alphabet letters require 1 byte to encode and take up what is called a "half space" (though English users would actually think of it as one full space). But in Japanese character sets, the numerals and roman alphabet characters come in two versions--full width and half width, or double-byte versions and single-byte versions--and each is used in different situations. Japanese character sets also offer katakana in single-byte and double-byte versions, but all kanji and hiragana are double-byte. There might be a little bit of oversimplifying here, but that's the basics. Depending on the context, half-width and full-width might be the better translation, but I can't imagine any context in which I would consider the distinction equivalent to capitals and lower case. In fact, Japanese character sets include both one- and two-byte versions of all lower case and all capital letters. |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
12 hrs peer agreement (net): +1
Half size for hankaku, full size for zenkaku Explanation: My J-E dictionary defines "half size" and "full size", respectively, as the terms used in word processing. |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
1 day 5 mins peer agreement (net): -1
1-byte character and 2-byte character Explanation: I almost agree with Mr./Ms Wlammers' complete explanation. But I just wonder that we Japanese normally say "1 baito moji" (literal rendering in English would be 1-byte character) and "2 baito moji" (2-byte character)" in software documentations. I think using "1-" or "2-" would do just as well as "single-" or "double-". Does this alternative sound awkward? |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
1 day 19 hrs
computer processing related Explanation: hankaku / zenkaku These terms refer to the handling of characters on computers running a Japanese OS. Hankaku: means single byte characters, represented by ASCII characters. Zenkaku: refers to double byte characters, which are Japanese or Chinese characters. |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
1 day 23 hrs
Domo Domo Explanation: Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for their response. I liked single-, double-byte characters the best as they also have the nuance of being a family (as in bed-linen!) rather than 1 and 2 of many. (This, Mr Kato is more a stylistic bias than anything else I think - I have learned to trust instict as part of the more indefinable skill a translator builds up over the years though I guess one translator's instinct may differ from another's!) |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
KudoZ™ translation help
The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.
See also:
Search millions of term translations