Ghost Hunt:Volume8 Translator's Notes

Chapter 8

Sensei

先生 - Sensei: This is a Japanese honorific used to address teachers, professors and other professionals such as doctors, lawyers, politicians, etc. The word also means teacher.

Sanzu River

三途の川 - Sanzu River: When Mai talks about going over the bridge and crossing the river, I believe she is talking about the Sanzu River. This is a Japanese Buddhist tradition and religious belief regarding the afterlife. It's believed that the dead must cross over the river on their way to the afterlife. It's name, Sanzu no Kawa, literally means River of Three Crossings. Those who performed acts of good cross at the bridge, those who are neutral cross at a shallow area in the river, and those who performed acts of evil are forced to cross deep, serpent infested water.

Chapter 10

Nya

べーだ - be-da: The sound often made when performing the akanbe gesture, an insulting and childish facial gesture of pulling one's eyelid down and sticking out one's tongue. The closest sound I could think of to imitate sticking out the tongue was "Nya!"

Chat Line

テレクラ - terekura: an abbreviation for "telephone club" (テレフォン クラブ terefon kurabu). These are telephone-based dating services originating in Japan.

Echigoya

越後屋 - Echigoya: This appears to be the name of an evil merchant from a historical play who could bribe his way out of anything. This seems like a plausible reference since the group is saying that Yasuhara-san is a cunning, smooth talker who knows how to get what he wants. There is a novelist from Osaka whose pen name is based on this character.

Master Smooth-talker

ナンパ - nanpa: In Japanese culture, this is a type of flirting and seduction popular among teenagers and people in their twenties and thirties. Some other translations of the word are: seducer, smooth-talker, ladies' man, playboy. Yasuhara-san is being called: ナンパの達人, which is Master of Nanpa or Nanpa Master.

Chapter 12

Exchange

交換 - koukan: I think, in this case, Bou-san is using this to mean telephone exchanges used in old telecommunication systems where a human operator would interconnect (switch) telephone subscriber lines to establish calls between subscribers. Meanings also include: exchange, interchange, switching.

Shimauma Panda Rakko

シマウマ・パンダ・ラッコ - Shimauma Panda Rakko: Random animal names that abbreviate to SPR. Shimauma = Zebra; Panda = Panda; Rakko = Sea Otter; This wouldn't abbreviate properly in English.

Niichan/Neechan

兄ちゃん / 姉ちゃん - Niichan/Neechan: These are familiar forms for addressing your older siblings. Niichan is older brother and Neechan is older sister. As Bou-san said, English speakers generally just call each other by their given names or a nickname.

Oliver

オリヴァー - Orivā: When John speaks here, he says Noll and Oliver in English, then he pronounces Oliver in Japanese as Orivaa. The Japanese 'R' is very different from the English 'R'. ‘L’ as well as ‘R’ in English is usually transcribed as a Japanese ‘R’. To pronounce the 'R', the tip of your tongue lightly touches the roof of your mouth behind your front teeth.

Oliver Davis

オリヴァー・デイヴィス / オリバー・デイビス - Orivā Deivisu / Oribā Deibisu: Here Bou-san is discussing how you would pronounce Oliver Davis in Japanese. It seems like using the バ(BA) and ビ(BI) syllables is more natural than using the ヴァ(VA) and ヴィ(VI) syllables, which involves changing the ウ(U) syllable to a ヴ(VU) using dakuten (the two dashes on the upper right of the character) and then using the small characters to specify the vowel part. Additionally, the 'U' is 'SU' is often times silent, so you end up with an 'S'.

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