I occasionally translate Japanese posts and commentary here, and I get really antsy about the finer details. 擬人化 is the Japanese word "gijinka", which is also used as an informal loanword in English for both humanization and personification. However, most of the humanization art I've seen both here and on Twitter just uses the kanji 擬 (gi, which on its own means "pseudo-" or "-like") in the text, and I'm not totally sure how I should translate that for the Danbooru commentary. Should I just say "gijinka"?
Could you give an example so we can see it in context?
Without context I'd say using "gijinka" works considering that's a pretty well-known term in the Western anime sphere.
Can't say I've ever heard the term
Stryker324 said:
I occasionally translate Japanese posts and commentary here, and I get really antsy about the finer details. 擬人化 is the Japanese word "gijinka", which is also used as an informal loanword in English for both humanization and personification. However, most of the humanization art I've seen both here and on Twitter just uses the kanji 擬 (gi, which on its own means "pseudo-" or "-like") in the text, and I'm not totally sure how I should translate that for the Danbooru commentary. Should I just say "gijinka"?
I am not entirely sure if it applies here, but if it's obvious the artist means the full word and just uses the first character as an abbreviation, it's fine to translate it as if the entire word is present (or using a similar abbreviation if one exists in English).
"Gijinka" as a loanword is considerably outdated by now as far as I know. I heard it a lot particularly when related to Sonic characters and OCs around 2009-2013 give or take but these days not so much, if ever, in English speaking anime spaces. Though I'm not even sure what they use anymore besides "human XYZ" or simply just "alternate universe (AU) XYZ" (or in some cases, still the character's name but part of the "JKL; AU").
Could you give an example so we can see it in context?
Without context I'd say using "gijinka" works considering that's a pretty well-known term in the Western anime sphere.
post #10219679 — "神と巨人の擬まとめ ２" (kami to kyojin no gi matome 2) — The post is one part of a collection of art of the personified Creation Trio and Regis from Pokemon. After a couple revisions, I opted to translate it as "Gijinka Gods and Giants Collection 2".
post #10219758 (warning: vague fetish connotations) — "ポケ擬のまとめ ９" (poke-gi no matome 9) — A piece from a general personified Pokémon art collection from the same artist. I translated it as "Gijinka Pokémon Collection 9".
post #10329269 (warning: impaled hands, no blood or visible gore) — "擬カビ⚙️" (gi-kabi) — The "gi" kanji plus "kabi", which in this instance is shorthand for "kaabi" (カービィ), as in Kirby_(Series), because the character is a personified Magolor. I translated it as "Kirby Gijinka".
