About Mark Christie Expertise I can answer questions about Japanese language (written, spoken, history) and about Japan as a whole - the culture, history (in specific the period from 1600 to present day), and geography. But my main expertise is in the Language itself; the grammar, kanji learning, JLPT in the UK, and Kansai-ben (the Kansai dialect).
Experience I've studied the Japanese language for about 5 or 6 years, along with the culture and history for two years at university level.
Education/Credentials Studied Japanese language and history at University, self-taught myself before that.
Question I have some basic questions about how to structure some Japanese sentences.
If I wanted to say: "Fang of the shadows"
Would I say
Shikon no kage? or would I need to add "za"?
and how do you say "dark punisher"
Also, does "mirouni" mean anything in japanese?
Answer Hi Josiah,
Thanks for the questions.
If you were to ask me to translate "Fang of the shadows", I'd firstly be more inclined to use 'Kiba'. 'Shikon' is good, but can also mean the root of a tooth. But, to answer your question, you don't need 'za'. In Japanese they don't use any articles (the, a, an, those, etc) except in some loan phases 「映画・オブ・ザ・イーア」 (film of the year).
Dark Punisher? I'd translate this as "Kurakute Bassuru Hito" (literally, 'dark and punishing person').
Finally, "mirouni"; I can't say I've heard this before - but I've heard "mitarou ni" a couple of times. 'Mitarou ni' means something like "If only I saw (that thing that I can't see anymore)", maybe a film or a bird that's been and gone.
