http://spyderbug.com My small collection of Spyderco knives Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:39:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://spyderbug.com/reviews/the-mont-bell-pirka-knife/comment-page-1/#comment-2279 Sakurashinmachi Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:39:21 +0000 http://spyderbug.com/?page_id=18#comment-2279 The box clearly says "pirika" in Japanese, so "Pirka" is just a mistake in translation - which is quite common. Re the translation as "pilica", this contains two mistakes: Japanese is not written with an alphabet but a combination of kanji (Chinese characters) and kana (hiragana and katakana). The kana is a syllabary, not an alphabet, hence the comment about certain letters always being grouped together (that's kind of correct, but a misunderstanding of the nature of the writing system because there are no letters per se). In any case, the second "letter" on the side of the box is conventionally translated/transliterated into English as "ri", not "li". (The problem is that it's actually neither and is pronounced somewhere between "r" and "l", hence the stereotypical Japanese confusion about "r" and "l" in English.) But the translation as "li" is simply wrong, as is the translation of "ka" as "ca". So both "Pirka" and "Pilica" are wrong - it should be Pirika. Why the Japanese don't check this stuff with a native English speaker before they print thousands of boxes and catalogues is an enduring mystery. The box clearly says “pirika” in Japanese, so “Pirka” is just a mistake in translation – which is quite common. Re the translation as “pilica”, this contains two mistakes: Japanese is not written with an alphabet but a combination of kanji (Chinese characters) and kana (hiragana and katakana). The kana is a syllabary, not an alphabet, hence the comment about certain letters always being grouped together (that’s kind of correct, but a misunderstanding of the nature of the writing system because there are no letters per se). In any case, the second “letter” on the side of the box is conventionally translated/transliterated into English as “ri”, not “li”. (The problem is that it’s actually neither and is pronounced somewhere between “r” and “l”, hence the stereotypical Japanese confusion about “r” and “l” in English.) But the translation as “li” is simply wrong, as is the translation of “ka” as “ca”. So both “Pirka” and “Pilica” are wrong – it should be Pirika. Why the Japanese don’t check this stuff with a native English speaker before they print thousands of boxes and catalogues is an enduring mystery.

]]> http://spyderbug.com/reviews/the-mont-bell-pirka-knife/comment-page-1/#comment-2222 Rob Mon, 14 Jun 2010 03:01:14 +0000 http://spyderbug.com/?page_id=18#comment-2222 Thanks! :D Thanks!

]]> http://spyderbug.com/reviews/the-mont-bell-pirka-knife/comment-page-1/#comment-2219 Mark Vice Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:00:57 +0000 http://spyderbug.com/?page_id=18#comment-2219 Great post! Great post!

]]> http://spyderbug.com/reviews/the-mont-bell-pirka-knife/comment-page-1/#comment-1396 Tony Thu, 28 May 2009 04:19:17 +0000 http://spyderbug.com/?page_id=18#comment-1396 Keep it going! Thank you! Keep it going! Thank you!

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