English plural on Japanese terms

[68Throws]

just wanted to post a thread because I see this issue happening alot and it is easy just to let it slide. Before I say anything about the subject first let me say this is only for the people that want to say the judo terms correctly, if you don't care than you don't need to care.

Many people when using the Japanese terms dojo, gi, sensei, etc... add the english suffix -s when trying to express the plural of the word. This is incorrect if you want to use the Japanese term correctly in terms of Japanese, in other words 1 gi, 10 gi...my sensei, my 20 sensei... 50 samurai...12 ninja...blah blah blah.

Again this is for the benefit of those who would like to correct this in themselves and to help their dojo, but you don't need me telling you this, I am sure any of you could have found out through your sensei or the internet unless you didn't know to look which is why I wrote this.

If you don't care, than you don't need to care!

[Lindz]

This is incorrect if you want to use the Japanese term correctly in terms of Japanese, in other words 1 gi, 10 gi...my sensei, my 20 sensei... 50 samurai...12 ninja...blah blah blah.

But you're speaking English, so English rules apply.



also octopuses not octopodes

[DAYoung]

Quick, someone get the grammar ninjas.

[danniboi07]

Grammar ninja reporting for duty.

The term "sensei" has been accepted into the English language as a loan word from Japanese. As such, when used in written or spoken English, the rules for English grammar will apply.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sensei

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loanword

[DAYoung]

I'd make the same case for ninja.

[danniboi07]

No, in that case you would have to follow Latin grammar rules and the plural for ninja is "ninjae."

[Lindz]

The ninjas they stole my link

here it is

[Res Judicata]

Hell, I posted that on JF a while back, I think. For Japanese terms, it's basically whether you treat the term as an English word or a Japanese word when you speak English. My Japanese isn't great, but I know the grammar well enough. Still, I use English plurals when speaking English for most Judo terms.

[DAYoung]

No, in that case you would have to follow Latin grammar rules and the plural for ninja is "ninjae."

I'm going for Greek, which is ninjes, and sounds enough like 'ninjas' to fudge it in conversation.

[oplus]

While we're doing Japanese->English conventions, do you all capitalize judo?