Saki 咲希

[Fang Wolf]

Why has Oroku Saki a female name in his name?
Saki: 咲 (sa) "blossom" and 希 (ki) "hope".

[Leo656]

Probably for much the same reason a lot of the "Japanese" stuff in TMNT is a little bit askew. Kev and Pete simply didn't research it all that deeply and probably just went with something that "sounded good". That's what I figure.

[Powder]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Probably for much the same reason a lot of the "Japanese" stuff in TMNT is a little bit askew. Kev and Pete simply didn't research it all that deeply and probably just went with something that "sounded good". That's what I figure.

This. The anime tried to fix that a little by calling him Sawaki instead.

[Leo656]

Any chance at all they were just getting baked and cribbing stuff off of the menu from the local Noodle House? I kind of want to believe that.

[ssjup81]

Originally Posted by Fang Wolf

Why has Oroku Saki a female name in his name?
Saki: 咲 (sa) "blossom" and 希 (ki) "hope".

How do you know it was written that way? It could be written"さき" or "サキ"・

[Leo656]

Not to be racially insensitive, but I'm genuinely amazed that anyone can make heads or tails out of all those squiggly lines and interpret them as words.

Carry on.

[IndigoErth]

Maybe his parents wanted a girl. And then with his behavior ended up not at all the 'hope' his parents hoped for. lol No wonder he's so angry.

[tinlunlau]

The Cantonese dub had Oroku Saki translated as 小祿崎.

崎 being "saki".

[ssjup81]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Maybe his parents wanted a girl. And then with his behavior ended up not at all the 'hope' his parents hoped for. lol No wonder he's so angry.

That would be something. Would explain a lot.

Too bad it doesn't work that way with the Kouseki system.

Originally Posted by Leo656

Not to be racially insensitive, but I'm genuinely amazed that anyone can make heads or tails out of all those squiggly lines and interpret them as words.

Carry on.

Well, the kanji (Chinese characters) is difficult. Each character has a meaning. For example, 手話. 手=hand 語=language. So hand language. In other words sign language. I got the meaning, but still misread it. I thought it was "tego". I knew to say hand was "te" and "go" was attached to the end of words for language...like eigo (English), for example. Anyway, it's read as Shuwa.

Another one...火山. 火 means fire. 山 means mountain. What do you think this is?

Usually, the characters look like something, so that helps. Some Japanese can't read Chinese, but they can understand the meaning because of the characters.

The other writing system is more simplified and completely easy to get mostly. Hiragana and katakana. Katakana is used for foreign or borrowed words mostly...like anime (アニメ) which is English and borrowed from the word animation. Hiragana is used for Japanese words and can help with Kanji reading when studying.

Anyway, each character for hiragana and katakana has its own sound...

a (ア)
ni (二)
me (メ)

Everything pretty much ends with a vowel, for the most part.

[jestermon]

Couldn't you name a boy pretty flower if you really wanted to?

[Leo656]

ssjup81: Uhhh... is it... no, no, wait, "answers must be in the form of a question", duh... ummm... "What is 'Volcano'?" Did I win?!

You know, I gotta admit, I learned something today, even though when I woke up, I swore to myself that I wouldn't. But thanks to you, taking the time to try and help me out, I learned a valuable lesson.

And that lesson is, I should never, EVER set foot into a Ribera Steak House without a translator, under any circumstances.

Actually, that's pretty neat. I could never keep all that stuff straight, nice work.

[snake]

Some people here know Japanese? That's pretty cool.

[Leo656]

Umm, I know "Ichiban", but thazzit. It got a big reaction from Balzac when I saw them open for The Misfits back in the day. That's as far as the conversation went, but still. They're so bad-ass.

[CyberCubed]

TMNT was created when anime was relatively unknown in the U.S.

Imagine if Kevin/Peter grew up being anime fans? Good god.

[Leo656]

Yeah, there might actually be some authentic Japan-ness in it, instead of just a light veneer. Tragic.

[Prowler]

There's some gender-neutral given names in Japanese. Haruka, Makoto and Madoka being three of them, per example. I guess Saki is exclusively feminine.

Originally Posted by Leo656

Probably for much the same reason a lot of the "Japanese" stuff in TMNT is a little bit askew. Kev and Pete simply didn't research it all that deeply and probably just went with something that "sounded good". That's what I figure.

A lot of authors don't bother to do some proper research for their works, I'm afraid. This is common in Asian themed cartoons and movies. And even in ancient European ones, it happens. The Vikings are usually portrayed as blood thirsty warmongers, per example. Although this doesn't really bother me much in TMNT. Probably because I've been a fan of it ever since I remember and can't bring myself to dislike it after all these years. And besides, how could you make the Turtles assassins in cartoon adaptations for kids?

Originally Posted by Leo656

Not to be racially insensitive, but I'm genuinely amazed that anyone can make heads or tails out of all those squiggly lines and interpret them as words.

Carry on.

How is that being racially insensitive?

I don't speak Japanese, let alone read/write it, but its characters aren't that hard to tell apart. I find Hebrew and Arabic characters/phonemes much harder to tell apart, per example.

If you want an East Asian language with a simple alphabet try Korean. Although Japanese is, by far, the easiest of the major ones to pronounce.

[Leo656]

I can "try" Korean Barbecue and that's as far as I can go. Sorry.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I can "try" Korean Barbecue and that's as far as I can go. Sorry.

I have never learnt Korean either, so don't feel bad.

Can't say I've ever tried Korean food. I don't think there's even a single Korean place in my city while there's several Japanese ones and plenty of Chinese ones. My brother has tried Korean food and says that it's surprisingly spicy despite Korea having a temperate climate.

[Leo656]

For a guy who generally tries super hard to eat healthy, I'm a weak-kneed bitch for any kind'a Asian food. Can't even front. But yeah, I can't even remember the last time I had Korean food, but I'd be down. Frankly, I'll eat damn near anything, but Asian-style food is my Kryptonite. My greasy, sodium-laced Kryptonite.

[pennydreadful]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

TMNT was created when anime was relatively unknown in the U.S.

Imagine if Kevin/Peter grew up being anime fans? Good god.

Just think of the fan-service we'd get. Can you say April pantie shots?

I kid, I kid.