音訳

See also: 音譯 and 音译

Japanese

Kanji in this term
音	訳
おん Grade: 1	やく Grade: 6
on’yomi

Alternative spelling
音譯 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

Possibly coined by Japanese scientist Udagawa Yōan in 1837 in his book 舎密開宗 (Seimi Kaisō, “Introduction to Chemistry”), from Middle Chinese-derived elements as a compound of 音 (on, “sound”) +‎ 訳 (yaku, “translation”).

First cited to Udagawa's book, dated 1837.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) おんやく [òń'yákú] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [õ̞ɰ̃ja̠kɯ̟ᵝ]

Noun

音(おん)訳(やく) • (on'yaku) 

1. [from circa 1837] transcription, transcribing: spelling out foreign words in native script; historically, often using kanji for their phonetic values

   Synonyms: 音写 (onsha), 転写 (tensha), 音声表記 (onsei hyōki)

2. [from circa 1837] a word spelled out this way

   Synonym: 借字 (shakuji, literally “borrowed character”)

3. [from ???] text-to-speech, reading text aloud, speech synthesis: the act of turning text into sound

   Synonyms: 音声訳 (onseiyaku), 音声化 (onseika), 音声合成 (onsei gōsei)

Verb

音(おん)訳(やく)する • (on'yaku suru) transitive suru (stem 音(おん)訳(やく)し (on'yaku shi), past 音(おん)訳(やく)した (on'yaku shita))

1. [from circa 1837] to transcribe: to spell out foreign words in native script; historically, often using kanji for their phonetic values

   Synonyms: 音写 (onsha), 転写 (tensha), 音声表記 (onsei hyōki)

2. [from ???] to read text aloud, to synthesize speech: to turn text into sound

   Synonyms: 音声訳 (onseiyaku), 音声化 (onseika), 音声合成 (onsei gōsei)

Usage notes

The Japanese term 音訳 (on'yaku) is often loosely translated as transliteration. Strictly speaking, transliteration is the act of replacing letters in one script with letters in another, whereas 音訳 (on'yaku, “transcription”) is the act of rendering the sounds of the source term in the characters of the target language. Examples:

• Transliteration:

Greek Ελληνική Δημοκρατία (Ellinikí Dimokratía) → Ellēnikḗ Dēmokratía

(possibly) English cocoa → Japanese ココア (kokoa)

This is a letter-per-letter transformation based on written forms.

• Transcription:

Ελληνική Δημοκρατία (Ellinikí Dimokratía) → [elinikí ðimokratía]

Portuguese filhós → Japanese 飛竜頭 (hiryūzu, “deep-fried glutinous rice balls, or fried tofu balls with mixed vegetables”, as spelled, literally “flying dragon heads”)

This is a sound-by-sound transformation based on spoken forms.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "音訳する" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	音訳し	おんやくし	on'yaku shi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	音訳し	おんやくし	on'yaku shi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	音訳する	おんやくする	on'yaku suru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	音訳する	おんやくする	on'yaku suru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	音訳すれ	おんやくすれ	on'yaku sure
Meireikei ("imperative")	音訳せよ¹ 音訳しろ²	おんやくせよ¹ おんやくしろ²	on'yaku seyo¹ on'yaku shiro²
Key constructions
Passive	音訳される	おんやくされる	on'yaku sareru
Causative	音訳させる 音訳さす	おんやくさせる おんやくさす	on'yaku saseru on'yaku sasu
Potential	音訳できる	おんやくできる	on'yaku dekiru
Volitional	音訳しよう	おんやくしよう	on'yaku shiyō
Negative	音訳しない	おんやくしない	on'yaku shinai
Negative continuative	音訳せず	おんやくせず	on'yaku sezu
Formal	音訳します	おんやくします	on'yaku shimasu
Perfective	音訳した	おんやくした	on'yaku shita
Conjunctive	音訳して	おんやくして	on'yaku shite
Hypothetical conditional	音訳すれば	おんやくすれば	on'yaku sureba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative

See also

• 翻字 (honji, “transliteration”)

Further reading

• Transliteration#Difference_from_transcription on Wikipedia