Japanese words / shorthand in macros that are useful to know.
(Posting in General Discussion for visibility.)
Because Party Finder "clear objective" parties have not been successful for A11S, I have been trying Raid Finder.
However, when doing raid finder many times people speak different languages come in one group.
Although selected language is Japanese, from recent experience, many players do not understand the macros and cannot move correctly. It causes wipes very early on in the fight, despite "clear objective".
I understand it is hard to find a group in raid finder (and sometimes duty finder) for a language which is not the main language spoken on your datacenter.
In our datacenter, Japanese is the main language, but of course people from many parts of the world play there. It is NOT a Japanese datacenter, but usually most macros you see are in Japanese, especially if you choose to join a Japanese language in Raid or Duty Finder. Selecting "Japanese" is an easy way to get a group. But, especially in Raid content, understanding macros is essential.
And different groups use different tactics, so, sometimes the macro you memorized is different from the one the group is using.
So, to help people who want to join a Japanese party but cannot understand Japanese macros, here is a list of words to help you and your group be successful in their raid.
Ones you sometimes see are in ( ).
Jobs
白 White Mage
学 (学者）Scholar
占 Astrologian
戦 （戦士）Warrior
ナ （ナイト） Paladin （Do not confuse with Dark Knight, even though it is called "Knight")
暗 （暗黒）Dark knight
詩 （詩人）Bard
忍 （忍者）Ninja
召 （召喚）Summoner
黒 Black Mage
竜 Dragoon
モ （モンク）Monk
機 （機工士）Machinist
ST = Second Tank (or Side tank?)
近接 Melee DPS
遠隔 Ranged DPS
キャス DPS Caster
ヒラ（ヒーラー） Healer
タンク Tank
（The above are often followed by さん）
ボス Boss
雑魚 Add
ゴブ Gob (goblin)
以外 Other than / except (Such as "everyone other than / except the MT)
他 Another / Other
位置 Position
北 North
南 South
東 East
西 West
中央 The center / the middle
北東 Northeast
北西 Northwest
南東 Southeast
南西 Southwest
側 = Side
So 西側 Is ”West side”
方向 Direction （Sometimes seen as の方（のほう）, but it can also mean "person")
逆 Opposite / backwards
反対(反対側） The opposite (also means disagreement)
時計回り Clockwise
反時計回り Counterclockwise
時 = "time" kanji. After a number is means "o'clock"
So 12時 means 12:00. In the macro this means "the 12 o'clock position".
Colors 色
青 Blue （Sometimes means green...)
白 White
青白 Bluish White
緑 Green
赤 Red
黄（黄色） Yellow
玉 Ball / orb
大 Large
小 Small
Actions 行動
移動 Move
集合 Gather
誘導 Guide / Lead (As in, "guide an enemy or an attack to a specific area")
倒す Defeat
殺す Kill （You will see "倒す” more often)
詠唱 Cast / using a skill
詠唱中 While casting / while using a skill
詠唱後 After the cast / skill is finished
攻撃 Attack
離れる Seperate / go away from
散会 （Sometimes seen as 散開） Disperse
お願い Favor / Request (like "Can I ask you a favor?" or "Please do..")
向く Face （To face a certain direction)
捨てる Drop an attack (it means "throw away", but used to tell people who to drop an AoE puddle, for example)
渡す Hand over / give (Like "give prey to a ranged DPS")
踏む Step on
当たる･当てる Hit (The attack "hit" the pillar. 当たる is intransitive and 当てる is transitive)
しきる （仕切る） Wipe (on purpose) and start over. Often seen as しきろう （仕切ろう） or しきりましょう。 It means "Let's start over." Might be seen as 仕切り直そう or しきりなおそう. Used when the group knows they cannot clear the fight this time and needs to start over.
ワイプ Wipe
全滅 Wipe (same as above)
スイッチ - switch / swap
挑発 - Provoke
Other words / Phrase
前半 First half
後半 Second Half
最初 The first / The beginning
最終 The last / The end / The final
フェーズ Phase
同時に At the same time / simultaneously
注意 Caution / Be careful
処理 Management (Such as management of the fight's mechanics)
ギミック Mechanics
場合 Case (Such as "in this case / in this situation)
順番 Order （The order to defeat something. The order to attack.)
近い Close
遠い Far
距離 Distance
すぎる Too （As in, too far / too close)
火力 DPS firepower
足りない Not enough （As in, the DPS is not enough)
無敵 Invincible
無理 Impossible
ダメ（だめ） = It's not good / It's no use / Don't do... (It depends on the rest of the sentence to understand the meaning.)
対象者 Target (As in, the person being targetted by an attack)
柱 Pillar
This is not a comprehensive list, but it is what you will see in A9S-A11S macros. I have not gone to A12S yet, so I don't know what kind of macro it is.
Just by memorizing these characters and recognizing them in the game, you can improve your ability to coordinate effectively with a group if you choose to join a Japanese language group.
I hope this short list can contribute your success in the game.
Best of luck.
EDIT: Changed the order of Northwest and Northeast. Also added Machinist. Thank you for noticing it.
As for writing Hiragana, there are two reasons why I chose not to write it.
The first is this list is made for people to understand macros at the beginning of a fight. I think it is rare if someone uses hiragana instead of kanji in macro. So, I chose how it would appear in a macro.
The second is, it would take much longer to write the hiragana also for each word.
If you are studying Japanese and you want to know the hiragana, I recommend this website.
http://translate.weblio.jp/
Copy --> Paste kanji and press 日本語 --> 英語 button.
Below the box it will show (in English letters) the sound of the kanji.
If you know hiragana, you can imagine how it appears in hiragana.