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' in 'SU' is often times silent, so you end up with an 'S'.

Peter Hurkos

ピーター・フルコス - Pītā Furukosu: Peter Hurkos was a Dutchman who allegedly manifested extrasensory perception (ESP) after recovering from a head injury and coma caused by a fall from a ladder. He apparently went to Japan at some point.

Naru

ナル - Naru: Here, Bou-san says that he heard (probably from John) that ナル is an American pronunciation. Perhaps he means that Noll as it sounds in Japanese is an American pronunciation of that nickname. For this reason, I'm leaving it spelled as Naru. Again, a Japanese 'R' is not like an English 'R' and can even have an 'L' sound. So, it's not a hard 'R' sound like NAR-U, but broken into its syllables NA-RU with the 'R' being pronounced by touching the tip of your tongue lightly to roof of your mouth behind your front teeth.

Chapter 14

Opium Wars

アヘン戦争 - Ahen Sensou: The Opium Wars were two wars in the mid-19th century involving Anglo-Chinese disputes over British trade in China and China's sovereignty. The disputes included the First Opium War (1839–1842) and the Second Opium War (1856–1860). The wars and events between them weakened the Qing dynasty and forced China to trade with the rest of the world.

Cambridge

ケンブリッジ - Kenburijji: Cambridge is a university city in England located on the River Cam about 50 miles (80 km) north of London. This is the location of Cambridge University, one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

University Entrance Qualification Exam

大検 - Daiken - In Japan, entrance to universities is largely based on the scores that students achieve in entrance examinations. There is a national exam, but private universities also have their own exams. Students pick the subjects they're tested on based on their chosen field of study.

A Level

Aレベル - A Reburu: The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level, or A Level, is a secondary school leaving qualification in the United Kingdom. A Levels are generally worked towards over two years and split into two parts, with one part studied in each year. A Level marks are obtained from exams taken in the second year. The number of A Levels taken varies, but is generally around three or four.

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