Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2019 June 9

= June 9 =

Anbei Jinsan or Abe Shinzo
What is the difference while phoneting "日本首相安倍晋三" between "Riben Shouxiang Anbei Jinsan", "Nippon Shusho Abe Shinzo", or "Japan Prime Minister Anbei Jinsan" "Japan Prime Minister Abe Shinzo" Hmht45tgree3d (talk) 05:49, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

BTW, Why Japan has no the President, while Korea, Taiwan ROC, Russia, Indonesia has, as we can only called Japan's head of nation as Prime Minister? Hmht45tgree3d (talk) 05:49, 9 June 2019 (UTC)


 * I don't know what "head of nation" means. In some systems, there's a difference between the functional head of government and the ceremonial head of state (while in other systems the two roles are combined).  The head of state of Japan is the emperor... AnonMoos (talk) 06:34, 9 June 2019 (UTC)
 * And traditionally in the East Asian culture sphere, people have pronounced the Chinese-derived characters of foreigners' names with the sounds those characters have in their own language, but I'm not sure that that's a recommended best practice these days. Certainly no-one who doesn't speak Chinese is interested in "Anbei Jinsan"... AnonMoos (talk) 06:39, 9 June 2019 (UTC)


 * By "phoneting", I guess you mean "pronouncing". In Japanese-language contexts, 日本首相安倍晋三 is pronounced in a way that, if written according to the Hepburn system, is "Nihon shusho Abe Shinzō" or "Nippon shusho Abe Shinzō". I have no reason to think that a Chinese monoglot would have any idea of what that sequence of sounds meant. A Japanese monoglot would have no idea of what "Riben Shouxiang Anbei Jinsan" meant. Additionally, Japanese has nothing like the system of tones that you find in a Chinese language; and therefore, even if they want to, Japanese speakers (like English speakers) can't pronounce Chinese at all precisely -- unless they either have also acquired Chinese or make an extraordinary (and extraordinarily successful) effort to pronounce it right. -- Hoary (talk) 07:28, 9 June 2019 (UTC)


 * So the meaning is: "head of government" like 行政院長 in Taiwan, but head of state like 總統 in Taiwan, I think that as Japan's head of state 天皇 has no power as the President in other country, but, why I can't see an report even as 明仁天皇視察氣仙沼關心311重建，首相安倍晋三陪同 (Emperor Akihito seeking Kesennuma for rebuilding of 311, with Japan Prime Minister Abe Shinzo)? Hmht45tgree3d (talk) 14:28, 9 June 2019 (UTC)


 * If you're asking about the Japanese government, you're asking in the wrong place. This place deals with questions about language. If you're asking why you don't see wording such as this in Chinese, then I can't help you, because I don't know Chinese. If you're asking why you don't see wording such as this in Japanese, it's because it's not Japanese. If you're asking how it is not Japanese, then I encourage you to start to study Japanese. (After all, this page shows that you have considerable interest in Japanese.) It has neither consonant clusters (nothing like the /spl/ or the /st/ of English "spliced") nor tonal distinctions, and it has few consonants and few vowels; so even a beginner in Japanese can easily be understood and your first steps in Japanese are sure to be rewarding. -- Hoary (talk) 01:59, 10 June 2019 (UTC)