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Approved Character Sum'Ishi Taikai

I think the thing that's most important here is ages. At least for the moment. Without ages, I can't tell whether the history you've written works or not.

The family's name means "rock?" I've never read a Japanese word that, romanized, uses an apostrophe that way. Can you cite where you got the meaning?

Also, tae kwon do and aikido are Earth-derived martial arts. We don't use direct references to contemporary Earth at the SARP, at least we try not to. But you bring up a problem about specific martial arts. I'll let those two references stand for now.
 
The name is two separate words, fused together in a way that made most sense, at least for pronouncablility. It means smooth rock, and it was a relation thing, as if you translate the names, you'll see that they can all be read in the same way. Smooth ocean rock, smooth red rock, smooth river rock...
 
Sumuishi, maybe? The u sound is often hard to hear, or dropped entirely when at the end of a word, and substituting an apostrophe might be a way of showing that. That said, however, it's not in a standard way of romanization.
 
I think the important thing to consider in regard to the name is... it doesn't have to be actual Japanese. You said so yourself that we try not to use direct reference to Earth with things like tae kwon do, but I don't see how, contrarily, it has to be required that Japanese is carried over perfectly. And, from a technical standpoint, it's 'Yamataian,' not 'Japanese.' So really... you could have a character called Wa'tashihasa N'joosaigurai'des. Though then we'd be back in the territory of conflicting ages...
 
Teddo, I see your point, and if were anything other than language, I might agree. But Yamataian, for the sake of simplicity, is meant to be Japanese. We just don't call it that, because no character in the game would know what "Japanese" is.

However, we've had names before given to Neko and whatnot that aren't Japanese, or are somehow corrupted. Arathraka and Itkatsu are two that come to mind. So I'm cool with the name.

I just wanted to know what it meant. Thanks for the translation assistance, Aendri and Revolver.
 
Arrgh. Itkatsu bothers me everytime I see it. D:

Dude's cool and all but that name. That name! The raeg makes me feel like such a weeaboo, too.
 
From what I can tell her mother is 26+19= 45 So the father is probably older or the same.

I would tend to think that her father would be retired rather than still in the SAoY after 20 years+ If he is, probably would be in the Juni grades.

My two cents worth.
 
Thank you for the pointers/critiques.

Regarding the martial arts: When Aendri convinced me to join the site, he showed me his most recent character, Asine Im'Inao, whose bio I used as a template in the creation of Sum'Ishi Taikai. In his description of fighting skills, Aendri mentioned that his character had learned Kempo, which is why I looked up specific styles to include in Taikai's profile that fit her personality. I don't mind getting rid of the references, I was simply using them to flesh out my character.

Regarding the name: As Aendri explained, I was simply trying to create a futurey-Japanese name, again using Asine Im'Inao as the template. I used the words for "smooth" and "stone" and gave all the family members names that could be descriptive of the smooth stone, such as red, ocean, and river. I am willing to change the last name to Sumuishi, as Revolver suggested, if the apostrophe is really such a problem.

Regarding the ages: I thought they were clear enough, but I will go back and make them more explicit. I am also, as per Nashoba's suggestion, willing to make the father retired now. I was picturing him as a good medic but not an exceptional soldier who would advance quickly in rank. He's good at staying alive, but I wasn't sure if the SAoY did the 'retire after 20 years' thing that the current US military does, so I assumed since he was still alive and not pregnant, he was still on active duty. Aendri told me that Taikai's parents couldn't be higher than Joto Hei, which is why I didn't promote him any further. And I didn't want any cries of 'favoritism' because her father is a high rank, despite them being in separate fleets.

-ChokolatteJedi

PS, rereading this, I don't want it to seem like I am blaming Aendri for any of the things that you pointed out. He was simply talking through the character creation with me, and so I got his opinion on all the aspects. I am attempting to accurately explain my reasoning to you, to understand the issues, rather than just blindly making changes without understanding your reasoning, leading me to make more mistakes in the future.
 
Also, Doshii/Nashoba: Aendri filled in the clothing for me in the Wiki and it says three duty uniforms. Is it implied that Taikai has one each of skirt, jumpsuit, and bodysuit, or can I chose (and specify in the wiki) one bodysuit and two of the jumpsuit ones designed for Technicians?
 
I understand that the name is quite acceptable, but I am curious about what it actually is. “Taikai” seems fairly straightforward as "大海,” and I'm assuming that “Ishi” in this case is the reading for “石.” However, I'm drawing a blank for any kanji readings that could be shortened to “sum” and also mean “smooth.” My guess is you are shortening “スムーズ.” As that's not kanji, it doesn't really make sense for a name in the traditional way, but, again, not a big deal for a fictional setting in the distant future; I'm just curious if I'm on track with the meanings or way off base. It's great that Aendri's helping you out, and even better that you are trying to choose a name with a specific meaning; but to be honest, I haven't the faintest idea what "Asine Im'Inao" means either.

Ah, and a note on the apostrophe's: The only times I've seen them - and I'm far from a definitive source - are in sort of redundant situations. Far and away the most common apostrophic usage that I'm familiar with is in the romanization of "Ken'ichi." It is redundant, to my knowledge, in that the same kanji for "Ken'ichi," of which there are many, can also be romanized as "Kenichi." My guess is it's a stylistic decision, but honestly I don't know.
 
I'm really bad at reading kanji, so I googled "translate japanese romaji" and found this site: http://www.freedict.com/onldict/jap.html.

I then put in the words 'ocean,' 'smooth,' and 'stone' and got 'Taikai,' 'Sumu-su,' and 'Ishi' respectively. Then I jammed those last two words together and put an apostrophe in the middle to make a last name for her.

This is the same site I used to get the names for her family as well: Red=Akai, River=Taiga, Forest=Shinrin, Care=Yakkai, Mountain=Yama.
 
Thanks Nashoba! That was the page I was looking at, but I wasn't sure if I could chose what I wanted from among those options, or if I had to get your ok on each option first.
 
Haha. Just so you're informed on "Sumu-su", try sounding it out Soo-Moo-Soo, holding the middle sound just a tad longer and keeping the final oo sound so short it's almost non-existant. Sound familiar? It's the Japanese approximation of saying the english word "Smooth."
 
In reference to the rank, I fgured she should keep it low,just because named people of higher rank in the SA tend to be PCs, or detailed NPCs. I just figured that was a good way to keep it safe and simple.
 
Yeah, I've been to that dictionary before and I have to say I'm not a fan. It tends to give too few translations, obviously no kanji, and little context. If you're comfortable navigating something a bit more complex, I might recommend http://jisho.org which provides a really in-depth look, whether you are searching English or Japanese, words or kanji. My final resort is always to just use Google: stick the phrase you have in the translator and if it works, then you're probably on to something. Beyond that, doing a simple web search of the romaji usually indicates whether or not the phrase or word actually exists.

That said, this is really all just an academic note. As long as you're happy with the name, that's all that matters.
 
This character is approved for IC usage. Please request orders here, even if you know the plot you're being recruited into.

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