Konnichiwa

February 26, 2006 3:40 PM

I'm preparing a business card for a friend and they want this character [inside] on it. Can I get confirmation that this actually says 'hello'

posted by tellurian to Writing & Language (11 answers total)

While I'm sure the people that read this language won't need to be told what it is, I for one would like to know, since I don't.
posted by tiamat at 3:49 PM on February 26, 2006

Best answer: Soooort of.

It's not one character; it's two, turned clockwise 90 degrees, and in slighly hard to read calligraphy. If you turn it around straight, it says 'haro,' which is a straight transliteration (not translation) into Japanese of the English 'hello.' (But using the wrong script for transliterating English words).
posted by Jeanne at 3:50 PM on February 26, 2006

Here's a list. If you turn this sideways, it does indeed say "halo" or "haro".
The proper script for writing foreign words is Katakana.

Alternately, you can figure out the proper Kanji for some Japanese word meaning "hello."

In any case, the Japanese are very particular about dealing with business cards. Try searching the internet for sites like this one.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 4:00 PM on February 26, 2006

Yeah, I think most Japanese people would understand a card that said "HELLO" (in English) before making any sense of this card. Before you correct it, you might point out to your friend that pretending to understand Japanese on a business card isn't likely to improve any business relationships.
posted by scottreynen at 5:02 PM on February 26, 2006

This definitely has a lot of potential to blow up in your friend's face, if the person he gives the card to doesn't have a really good sense of humor. Others have explained the problems with the characters themselves, but I'd like to stress that putting any sort of greeting, especially in the wrong fashion, on a business card will seem tacky in the very least and potentially even offensive. Regardless, no one will take the cards as anything more than a joke.
posted by nightchrome at 5:24 PM on February 26, 2006

Best answer: I think it's likely that any Japanese recipient of this card would get it, but their reaction would be on the order of "oh, how...precious." Sort of like an English speaker's reaction to Engrish.

But something tells me that this card really isn't intended for Japanese recipients—it's just meant to look artsy. I hope that's it, anyhow.
posted by adamrice at 6:19 PM on February 26, 2006

Thirding Jeanne and CrunchyFrog in their assessment of what it says, and sixthing everyone else in saying that it's a poor concept. If someone doesn't understand a language/character set, it shouldn't be on their damned business card--that's just stupid.

Yes, Asian calligraphy looks very nice, but unless you practice the calligraphy and the language itself, you have no right to be advertising yourself with it.
posted by cyrusdogstar at 7:37 PM on February 26, 2006

Response by poster: Thank you all for the information and input. adamrice - very intuitive, it's highly unlikely that any clients will be Japanese. Just in case, I will be pushing to use just a portion of the image to get the artsy look.
posted by tellurian at 8:30 PM on February 26, 2006

A portion of it? That would make even less sense... but what can I say? I'm Japanese, so the card's not meant for me. When it's turned counter clockwise by 90 degrees, like Jeanne says, I think it looks more like "ha u (pronounced "oo")" and not even "ha ro" ("hello"). But anyway, you have your answer.
posted by misozaki at 9:32 PM on February 26, 2006

If someone doesn't understand a language/character set, it shouldn't be on their damned business card--that's just stupid. I agree. Think of all those unfortunates with tatoos saying things they can't read.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:12 AM on February 27, 2006

Related: http://www.hanzismatter.com/
posted by BorgLove at 9:08 AM on February 27, 2006