Category Archive for Books + Magazines
GOSURORI BIBLE JAPANESE TRANSLATIONS (WITH CAT PHOTO).
Basil and I are learning Japanese together, mainly for the purpose of deciphering the Gothic & Lolita Bible! We thought we’d share our gosurori vocab with you. You can try replicating the strokes – it’s a lot of fun.
The Japanese writing system has three components: hiragana, katakana, and kanji (derived from Chinese characters). In the examples below, the chunky, multi-stroke characters are kanji and represent concepts. The simplier, flowing scripts are katakana; each one makes up a phonetic syllable.
Asians are constantly mocked for being unable to distinguish “l” and “r” sounds (“I’m so ronery… oh so ronery…”). Alas, this is the case with “loli”, which comes out as “rori” in Japanese.
?? = Ro Ri
Add a qualifier before the “rori” and you’ve got the various style categories of Lolita fashion.
Above, you can see the Japanese translation of “Gothic & Lolita Bible” in an appropriately curlique script.
Hungry for more? Check out this fantastic printable guide to the Bible’s sewing patterns and instructions. The PDF includes katakana and kanji help, translations of common words (front, back, left, right, material types, etc), and size references.
Did we forget to include some key words? Was anything lost in translation? Let us know in the comments!
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TOKYOPOP BABY THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT / GOTHIC & LOLITA BIBLE CONTEST.
TokyoPop has announced yet another fan-tabulous contest to celebrate the English-language release of the Gothic & Lolita Bible (out tomorrow)! Just submit content – surveys, letters, photos, drawings – and you’ve got a shot at publication or a dreamy prize from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright!
Got you all worked up, right? Well, my face fell when I read that prizes will be awarded at random; how could I function without the merit system? And these goodies are less than impressive. Sure, you can win something from Alice and the Pirates – but it’s either a $3 postcard or a $1 sticker.
But hey, a “cake roll” washcloth (the third place prize) is better than nothing, I suppose. The contest runs from February 1 to March 15, 2008. You can view the instructions on TokyoPop’s website. Don’t forget to include the Submission Form and follow the Official Rules. Bonne chance.
LA CARMINA
