Japanese help thread.

[Catharsis]

As Final Fantasy XI is a multilingual game and the auto-translate feature is not fully functional yet, new players might find a thread on Japanese communication helpful.

A few general tips:

Item Names
-When using the auto-translate function, it is not very helpful to leave the item name untranslated in your search shouts. For example: (Do you have it) Brass Spear (Sell?) is not useful at all.

One method of finding the item name is to go to Yellow Gremlin and find the relevant item page. In this case: http://ffxiv.yg.com/item/brass-spear?id=4080203

On the top right of the screen, you'll see a language options box, click it and select "日本語" and you should have the corresponding page display in Japanese. You can then copy the item's name - "ブラススピア" and use Control+V to paste it into the chat window in-game.

Informal Japanese (net lingo)
If you're studying rudimentary Japanese and new to communicating with Japanese people online, understanding the following basic terms may be useful.

w: "w" is generally thought to be a short form of "warau" (笑). This is the Japanese way of saying "lol", hence "wwwww" is the same as saying "lololololol"

（ry: A short form of "ryaku" 略, which is used the same way as "etc/etcetera".

ノシ: Also ノン or ノノ　at times. This is just an emoticon for a hand waving farewell.

ノ: Related to the above - indicates raising a hand. Does not mean "no" in English, quite the opposite in fact. Often used when doing a ready check or poll.

kwsk: Short for "kuwashiku" 詳しく. This means "Explain it clearly, please" (probably difficult if you don't speak much Japanese, but you may overhear it).

ktkr: Short for "kitakore" which you should read as an enthusiastic "Yeah!"

wktk: Short for "wakuteka", itself a short form of "wakuwakutekateka". This implies anticipation, eagerly waiting for something.

釣り: This has multiple meanings. The most basic meaning is "Fishing" like a Disciple of the Land. However, it can also mean "Fishing for a response", a.k.a. trolling in a forum, and "pulling a monster". If a Japanese person uses (Fishing) in tabtype in a party, he probably means the latter.

リーヴ／リーブ: Leve. I've asked my linkshell and apparently there's some confusion amongst the Japanese as to how to write "Leve" in Katakana. These days, I tend to see the former more often.

orz: Indicates a person on all fours on the ground, showing dismay.

BL: Short for "Blacklist", not yaoi.

rsk/りせき/離籍: AFK

落ち: 眠落ち means to fall asleep. 落ちた means "I d/ced". 落ちます means "Logging off".

ネトゲ: Short for "Internet Game", usually means MMORPGs.

範囲: Area-of-effect

□ェ/■e: Square-Enix.

These probably cover the more polite of the terms you'll encounter. If you need any assistance, or wish to contribute more, feel free to post below.

How to level up with the Japanese:

Japanese people usually level with their Linkshells, but in the event that you end up in a Japanese leve party, it might be useful to know the following.

Unspoken Rules:

-Cancelling a leve is known as "Haki", written in Japanese as 破棄. If they intend to cancel the leve so that they can farm it for skill points, it is important to know when to stop attacking and return to the aetherite to abandon the leve. It is traditional to type "破棄" once you have done so.

If you are not certain if they're cancelling it or not, ask them "破棄しますか？”(Are we cancelling?) and hope for an Auto-translate response.

-Do not attack yellow-named leve monsters. Damaging them will decrease the amount of experience and skill points they award. This goes for behests too.

-When linking a leve and reporting it, most Japanese people should be able to understand the word "link" if typed in English.

Since leve names are not yet in the Auto-translate dictionary, here's a list of the most commonly linked leves and guidelines which I do:

Broken Water
魔物大全『貪欲なる者の巻』の回収 Ranine Reveries
-Also known as 貪 or　タン for short. Running away from the toad at the end is difficult, so if you are a mage, try to sleep it.

駅馬車の積荷：コカトリスの石卵の調達 All Cracked Up
-Called "コカ" for short. If you are cancelling this, stop killing cockatrices once you have collected at the most 25/30 eggs.

ペイスト狩り Dunesfolk for Dinner
-Commonly called ペイスト or ペイ. When cancelling this, do not kill the third peiste. If you take more than 300 damage a hit from the mongrels, do not
attempt to tank them as they will heal ridiculous amounts of life from you.

Cedarwood
魔物大全『野駆けし者の巻』の回収 Necrologos: Lightsome Verdure
-Also known as 野　or ナット (Gnat). Do not kill the Cactaurs if cancelling.

魔物大全『燃え盛りし者の巻』の回収 Necrologos: Inferno
-Also known as 燃 for short. Do not kill the Fire Elementals if cancelling. Be careful of the AoEs (範囲）

(9/3/2011 Updated with questing information)

[Neptune]

Awesome post! I enjoyed it!

[Mikazuki]

I agree, I always wondered what people were on about when putting "w" even though that seems the simplest of things lol.

[Suzaku]

Nice thread! There are lots of places to learn Japanese from, but hardly any for net lingo. Very useful!

[Amrita]

Thank you!^^ I knew the "w" and "orz" things but not the other stuff >^^<

[Yumi_Hibiki]

good job!
there are some things i didnt knew yet ^~^

[Umo]

I guess it would be nice if OP (or someone else...) gives the same information regarding English communication to Japanese players...

[Nyoron]

Woot thanks for the thread, good information! Especially since I'm interested in learning Japanese this'll help me on my way in an online community. (Never actually played a game where all nationalities are gathered on one server)

o/

[Raiseplease]

Great! Very useful.
This should be expanded later and stickied w

[Marquisbern]

You can then copy the item's name - "ブラススピア" and use Control+V to paste it into the chat window in-game.

Yeah, um, tabbing back and forth will crash the game.

That's happening to everyone, right?