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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 October 5

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October 5[edit]

What are the differences between "Transcription" and "Homophonic translation"[edit]

I've read Transcription (linguistics) and Homophonic translation however I don't fully understand. If I turn Kata into Japanese カタ with the same pronunciation, is it better to call it "Transcription" rather than "Homophonic translation" because it's formal and follows the existing writing system?--迴廊彼端 (talk) 13:42, 5 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

They're not really comparable, actually. Transcription is a method for transcribing a written script into another, in a faithful manner. Homophonic translation is a way of "translating" a sentence into something that roughly follows the sounds of the original, but with a new, reasonably coherent, meaning (mostly for comedic effect), such as turning Japanese カタ into (British) English cutter, and so on. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 14:10, 5 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for answering!. --迴廊彼端 (talk) 05:31, 7 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
By the way, I see now that Japanese has imported the term カッター for a type of boat. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 22:04, 9 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]