Guys,
This topic has gone way off topic and while it might be mildly
interesting for some of the members, it isn't what the majority signed
up for. Further non-keitai-l related mails on this topic will go to
/dev/null.
Cheers,
Tom.
On Sat, 2002-06-22 at 18:24, Benjamin Kowarsch wrote:
>
>
> On Saturday, June 22, 2002, at 03:27 , Curt Sampson wrote:
>
> > On Fri, 21 Jun 2002, Benjamin Kowarsch wrote:
> >
> >> Often, old and new characters are used within the same writing system
> >> and this often means a subtle difference in the meaning.
> >
> > Can you give an example of this?
>
> I can't think of an explicit example other than in names of people and
> places ...
>
> For instance, the name Ozawa is often written with the old Kanji for
> "zawa" but also with the new simplified one. Many people I asked about
> this told me there was a subtle difference, that using the old character
> would add a sense of traditional values etc etc.
>
> Thus, if you have a Japanese document with a list of names of people or
> places, such as administrative documents or even a timetable of JR, you
> really need both characters within the same script from a user
> requirements viewpoint.
>
> We may dismiss this as politics, but then I ask you ... What would you
> say if authorities came along and told you that henceforth the official
> spelling of your name is "Samson" and not "Sampson" anymore due to some
> standardisation going on ? You could still use your old name in private,
> but for official purposes it's deemed to have changed.
>
> Another field where old characters are in use in Japanese is law texts.
> I don't have any specific example, but I know that Japanese legalese is
> written in very traditional language with plenty of old Kanji. Even new
> Japanese laws passed today seem written in this way.
>
> Again, unless you wanted to reform the entire Japanese legal system or
> tell the law makers, courts and lawyers that they have to have their own
> separate Unicode, own fonts etc etc, you got to have both old and new
> characters in the same script from a user requirements viewpoint.
>
> And I wouldn't be surprised to find more examples if you look out for
> them.
>
> regards
> benjamin
>
>
> This mail was sent to address tom@nooper.com
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>
--
Thomas O'Dowd. - Nooping - http://nooper.com
tom_at_nooper.com - Testing - http://nooper.co.jp/labs
Received on Sun Jun 23 06:35:25 2002