I just noticed that the signature I set a few days ago was no longer there. Is this a glitch, or was it intentionally removed by a mod (I didn't get a message about it)? The signature contained two lines of Japanese text, followed by an English translation of the second line. I double-checked the rules and I don't see anything about foreign language or nonlatin charactersets or anything like that. Could I get a confirmation of whether the signature is allowed? I don't want to readd it if I'm unsure about this.
I see. I was looking in the signature requirements, I guess I missed this part. If I accompany all Japanese text with a translation, would it be permissable (similar to how you have the Italian proverb in your signature)?
If you limit the use, and it is clear that it is a translation, okay. But the thing is, none of the mods read Japanese, to the best of my knowledge. We tend to be more tolerant if we can read it well enough to know it doesn't really mean, "Sex videos for sale: PM me."
That's understandable. My signature was as follows The translation of the first bit is "[I'm] praying for Japan". The second bit of Japanese is translated in the English afterwards. You can verify at least the general meanings of the translations here and here, if you care to. If necessary for this to be approved, I can also include the English translation of the first bit in the signature, but I preferred it without.
Why is it necessary to include the Japanese text at all? This is an English-language site. Without the translation, most members won't be able to read it at all. Even with the translation, it is still only symbols that won't even have phonetic significance. Every such signature will, as we've seen, be a justification for members who don't have as good intentions. And in that spirit, I have removed the Italian proverb from my own sig.
The first conveys much more sublety of meaning than the English equivalent; In Japanese, the term used for "pray" here is less religious in meaning, it conveys both a spiritual sense and just a sense of well-wishing; it tends to be more inclusive, and explicitly talks about the health or good of the country (a more literal translation is " pray/wish for the good/health of Japan"). This is why I would rather not even use the English here, it butchers the meaning of the Japanese expression. The second phrase is traditional from Japanese poetry, so, in my mind, the Japanese version is the primary one here. The English is just out of convenience, and this particular Japanese sentence translates fairly well into English (though, again, the English loses some of the shades of meaning conveyed in the Japanese). If you don't want me to put the Japanese in my signature, I'll just leave my signature blank or find something else, rather than simply posting the English. Edit: Sorry, I missed that you removed the Italian text from your signature. While I think that my signature should be allowed, as should all moderate use of foreign text that is verifiable or translated (especially within signatures), this is at least fair and a consistent application of the rules. (I think whether someone else can read it or not is inconsequential, and, since it's not in a post, whether someone else can understand it or not shouldn't be a matter for the rules, except for the limited purpose of verification by the mods.)
