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Japanese symbol for luck?
Alfred J. Kwak
is it because you were insultedwhen I insulted your hair?Registered User regular
is it because you were insultedwhen I insulted your hair?Registered User regular
really weird, short question, but if I'd like to know the one, definite symbol for luck and good fortune in Japanese calligraphy, which one would it be?
because there are so many
e: oh, and maybe freedom, too
not so sure about these
because there are so many
e: oh, and maybe freedom, too
not so sure about these
Alfred J. Kwak on
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good luck
freedom
Im not japanese so i would recommend getting it approved by a native, possibly a fellow forumer.
Are you looking for "good luck", "bad luck", "luck" as a concept, or something more specific? That would help narrow down your options.
or well like, "this stands for luck"
For a general concept, that seems to be the best you're going to do. There are tons of ways to represent it under different circumstances, but simply "luck" or "fortune" seems to pull this up.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/自由
I'm not a native speaker of Japanese but I read it well and I'm good at translation and sounding natural.
幸運/kouun (good luck) is better than 運/un (luck generally, neither good nor bad). Also people say 幸せ/shiawase for good fortune and also happiness. It's one of those things where the direct translation is tricky and you have to think about natural usage. 幸せ/shiawase or just 幸/sachi on its own might be best, actually.
Yes, I'd stick to 幸/sachi.
And 自由/jiyuu is quite standard for freedom.
To be honest, though, Japanese people don't use the word for good luck that much. Freedom, sure, but luck isn't exactly a bit part of the Japanese cultural mindset. They're more likely to talk about trying hard or giving their all rather than luck.
Is this for a tattoo?
Always "jiyuu" for freedom, though.
I'm not sure if there's a reason for wanting this in Japanese, but if you just want a pretty character for a word, for "luck" you might do better with Chinese.
A friend of mine wants this for a tattoo yes. In this context, which one would be the most fitting?
I always advise against kanji tattos since single characters can have multiple meanings from inflection. Just something to think about.
He's better off just getting the word "luck", in English. And then if anyone asks him what it means he can say "it means 'luck' in English, moron".
so, should I just tell him that there isn't really 'the' word for luck in Japanese?
自由 on the other hand is the universal word for freedom right?
Tell him to think of a real symbol, special to him, that reflects freedom or good fortune. Maybe a turtle, maybe a golden coin, maybe some musical notes to a special rift/tune.
幸/sachi for good luck or fortune (the OP asked for luck or good fortune, which I interpret as meaning good luck or good fortune - sorry Ceres, but we are sure that saying 運/un is really saying 'fate' or 'luck' with connotations of randomness and destiny, rather than anything good, which I believe is what the OP is really asking for.
自由/jiyuu sounds lame to me - you need two kanji to express it, and I usually hear it in two situations: politics (one of the main parties is 自由民主党 and you get splinter parties using 自由 in their name) and comedy (making fun of the US).
I'd unreservedly recommend 幸/sachi - here's a link to some examples from a dictionary site: http://eow.alc.co.jp/%B9%AC/EUC-JP/
Sorry about that, I was confused by what the OP actually said in response to my question.
Ah missed that. Thanks for making it so clear?