Quote:
Originally Posted by Neodex
Hakumin you are a star ! Those translations are very useful and also you cleared up something that I'd been wondering about; alternative kanji ?
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Since Japan uses a good number of simplified Chinese characters called shinjitai, there's always the chance of seeing alternative kanji especially when there is a comparison between the Korean versions of the names. Speaking from the Japanese standpoint, Korea still uses the old character forms which the Japanese call kyujitai and Japan began using the newer, often more simplified, character forms called shinjitai since about 1946. These alternative characters have the exact same meaning and usage and are considered equivalent in every way other than that shinjitai is easier to write and remember and that it is preferable to use it for all normal circumstances.
That said, Japan still uses kyujitai for various reasons often to give a feeling of tradition or age, as well as in cases where the kyujitai would be more artistically suitable. When I encounter the chinese characters in Korean sources, the characters will invariably be kyujitai while in Japanese sources it is almost always shinjitai. The only exception that I've personally noticed is when the word for dragon pops up in a name, it seems more common to use the kyujitai (e.g. 双尾龍 rather than 双尾竜 for soubiryu) although the usage of the old character for dragon seems very common in normal language usage anyway...
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