Quote Originally Posted by Khyra View Post
左舷 is "sagen" / port
右舷 is "ugen" / starboard
左 is "hidari" / left
右 is "migi" / right
I just had a thought regarding this, and the arguments that "it's easier to read in Japanese" and "larboard/starboard look too similar"...

Ignore the meaning of the words, and look at what is visually written.

左舷
右舷

The only visual difference in the Japanese words is the small "square" or "sideways H" element of the first symbol.

In terms of having to quickly identify which word is written, I think it's actually more fair (and possibly even a deliberate choice) to use English terms that have a similar proportion of identical letters.