Mobiles - Script Migration?

[Rubber Duck]

Japanese as we already know has one of the most complicated and varied scritps in the World.

We also know that language is not a static thing and we have noted considerable changes in the use of English since the introduction of the Computer and more so by the use of the mobile phone.

With Chinese characters what we have learnt is that they are a lot easier to read than they are to input. My understanding of the inputting of Chinese characters is that there are many different systems for doing this and with voice activation there may even be more.

My understanding of the situation in Japan is that one of the most popular methods of inputting is type in Hirigana and then use this to generate the Kanji characters. Is this true or are we totally of cue here.

I am guessing but I would think that the introduction of Mobile phones which support the use of Japanese characters will have resulted in much more use of Hirigana for informal communication.

My point or rather question is, that if this is the case, won't there be much more use of Hirigana forms for Domain Names than Overture would indicate? Won't using alternative forms on the move be much common than they are now, and won't voice recognition in any case favour Hirigana Forms as this is a phonetic alphabet? Are alternative Hirigana forms not going to be much more valuable than we might have assumed?

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

[Olney]

I've seen this kind of question through the years & feel lucky that I went to a Japanese language school with all Chinese & Koreans so I had no choice but to learn Kanji.

Most foreigners think that hiragana would be really easy to use instead of kanji. This is one of the reasons why the use of IDN domains will prevail.

With Kanji you are sure to know exactly what a term is. I can't read every kanji but be sure a Japanese person can make out a sentence like this:
今日仕事終わったら何する？
きょうしごとおわったらなにする？
These are the same 2 sentences but the one in just hiragana is harder to read. No Japanese will not stop using Kanji on mobile phones it's just too dificult to read Japanese without the kanji in any forum or element.

On my old phone (haven't bought a new one yet) I used to email in Japanese all the time. To tell you the truth it's 100% easier to construct messages in Japanese because there's less characters to choose from on the keypad because no caps & no spaces. Anyone who functions in both languages would probably say the same. That's why cell phone emailing is so highly used in Japan it's easy... & switching it to kanji takes like 1 second...

[Edwin]

You only have to look over the shoulder of somebody texting their friends on their mobile on the subway for about 30 seconds to realise that Kanji will NEVER die.

And by golly, some of the youngsters (read "anyone under 18") can text so fast you can hardly see their thumb move over the keyboard - yet it comes out in normal, every-day 3-character-set Japanese.

As Olney said, long may such misconceptions thrive in the wider world!

[Rubber Duck]

You only have to look over the shoulder of somebody texting their friends on their mobile on the subway for about 30 seconds to realise that Kanji will NEVER die.

And by golly, some of the youngsters (read "anyone under 18") can text so fast you can hardly see their thumb move over the keyboard - yet it comes out in normal, every-day 3-character-set Japanese.

As Olney said, long may such misconceptions thrive in the wider world!

Looks like とうきょう.com is worthless then?

Best Regards
Dave

[Edwin]

Not worthless, but probably less than 1% of 東京...

Basically, if you hiraganize stuff that isn't in daily life, you're (implicitly)...

A) Catering to younger kids (who can't read Kanji fluently yet)
B) Catering to idiots - or at least, giving that impression
C) Doing it as some kind of branding/stylistic exercise

None of A-C above make for very high value!

[Rubber Duck]

Not worthless, but probably less than 1% of 東京...

Basically, if you hiraganize stuff that isn't in daily life, you're (implicitly)...

A) Catering to younger kids (who can't read Kanji fluently yet)
B) Catering to idiots - or at least, giving that impression
C) Doing it as some kind of branding/stylistic exercise

None of A-C above make for very high value!

Yes, that makes sense. Having said that 1% of 東京 could still be a substantial amount.

Actually you are precisely correct with Toyko

東京 Google 30.8M and Overture 412K as opposed to:
とうきょう Google 356,000 Overture 3571K

However, there as places become a bit more Obscure an interesting thing happens.

OKAYAMA

岡山 Google 4,310,000 Overture 40149K
おかやま Google 524,000 Overture 1723K


IBARAKI

茨木 Google 912,000 Overture 4967K
いばらき Google 360,000 Overture 1398K

It would seem as places get smaller people become less sure of the Kanji and start increasingly to use the Hirigana.

Best Regards
Dave

[Edwin]

That's why I said less than 1%