Project-imas wiki:Romanization Standardization and Clarifications
This guide should be used for all romanization on this wiki. Romanizations taken from other sites should be edited to fit this standard.
Romanization Standards for Japanese
Long vowels
Vowels lengthened by an additional vowel character are romanized aa, ei, ii, ou, uu for a, e, i, o, u respectively.
There are some obvious exceptions to this, e.g. おおきい is romanized as "ookii" and not "oukii".
Vowels lengthened by a ー (chōonpu) should preferably be romanized aa, ee, ii, oo, uu for a, e, i, o, u respectively.
Particles
は should be romanized as "wa" when used as a particle.
を should be romanized as "o" when used as a particle.
へ should be romanized as "e" when used as a particle.
ん should be romanized as n in all situations except when followed by a vowel, in which case it should be romanized as n'.
Example: 記念 is romanized as "kinen", 禁煙 as "kin'en".
(See the Clarifications Section for more info.)
Multiple readings
When multiple pronunciations are possible, and the official lyrics do not provide furigana, the romanization should be based on the reading that can be heard in the song. However, in rare cases the reading used will vary from idol to idol. For example 行く is pronounced both "iku" and "yuku". In these cases, use one reading inside the lyrics and note the idols' different readings on the song page.
Spacing
Particles should be separated from the words or particles they follow by a space, in order to keep the romaji easy to read/understand for users with limited knowledge of Japanese.
Example: 永遠の夏を 手に is "eien no natsu o te ni".
Exception: If this would split up what could be considered a single unit of meaning, no space is used.
Example: いつまでも is "itsumademo", and not "itsu made mo" or "itsumade mo".
Sentence ending particles should be preceded by a space for similar reasons.
Examples: 分かってるよ is "wakatteru yo", and not "wakatteruyo". だよね is "da yo ne", and not "dayone" or "dayo ne".
Exception: Particles that take on a different meaning when combined, will not be separated.
Examples: ちょっと違うかも is "chotto chigau kamo" and not "chotto chigau ka mo". なにが出るかな is "nani ga deru kana" and not "nani ga deru ka na".
Particles following a copula should not be separated.
Example: だけど is "dakedo" and not "da kedo".
Verbs constructed from multiple different verbs should not be separated.
Example: 抜け出して is "nukedashite" and not "nuke dashite".
Verbs combined by a -te form should be separated by a space.
Example: いってしまった is "itte shimatta" and not "itteshimatta".
Verbs that have been drawn together should not be separated.
Example: 超えてく is "koeteku" and not "koete ku".
In the case of an explicative の shortened to ん, the "n" belongs with the word before it. The copula will be separated from that word with a space, to prevent words from becoming too long. Examples: 変わるんだろう is "kawarun darou", そうなんですか is "sou nan desuka".
Punctuation
？ ！ 。 、 are romanized ? ! . , respectively.
「 」 is romanized as " "
・・・・・・ and ・・・ (ellipsis) are both romanized as ...
The word-separating katakana middle dot ・(nakaguro) is romanized as a space.
In the cases of unorthodox punctuation in the lyrics, these will be preserved in the romanization.
Example: Shooting Fire！！！ is "Shooting Fire!!!" and not "Shooting Fire!".
Decorative punctuation (☆, ♥, ♪, →, etc.) should be omitted in the romanization (except in song titles), but carried over as it stands to the translation.
Romanization of English and other non-Japanese languages
English loanwords written in katakana (or in some cases, hiragana) in the lyrics, are romanized as Japanese (see also the following section on capitalization rules).
Example: ミラクル is "MIRAKURU" NOT "miracle".
Capitalization
English loanwords written in katakana should be in capitals in the romanization (except in song titles). Example: ミラクル is "MIRAKURU".
English loanwords written in hiragana are however not capitalized. Example: ああゆうれでぃ？ is "aa yuu redi?".
Japanese words written in katakana are not capitalized.
When English is contained in the japanese lyrics, its capitalization is preserved.
Example: 空の 色が変わってゆく Daylight is "sora no iro ga kawatte yuku Daylight".
The first letter of each line of the romanization should be capitalized.
A word following a ?, ! or . should have its first letter capitalized.
The first letters of romanized names of people and places should be capitalized, except when the official lyrics present a name in lower case.
When official translations or romanizations exist
When there are official translations or romanizations available, these always take precedence. For example, since the official logos say 765 Production, 961 Production, and 876 Production, these names should be preserved (and not changed to 765 Productions and so on). Similarly, 秋月涼 is romanized "Akizuki Ryo" and not "Akizuki Ryou".
Japanese Reading Clarifications
Particles
は is pronounced "wa" when used as a particle.
を is usually pronounced "o."
へ is pronounced "e" when used as a particle.
General Standardizations
According to a vote taken in 2014, the users of this wiki have come together to form some standards when referring to certain things on the wiki.
Characters Specifics
Image Colors
Image colors should be referred to on pages via colored boxes in their character page information box. The colors themselves in the articles must be called by their officially given name or their hexadecimal number if no name is given.
Puchidol Name Spelling
The names that will be officially used on the wiki are the ones displayed on the official Puchimasu! anime website. Other official spellings should be redirected to the main page. They are as follows:
- Afu (Miki Hoshii's Puchidol)
- Chibiki (Hibiki Ganaha's Puchidol)
- Chicchan (Ritsuko Akizuki's Puchidol)
- Chihya- (Chihaya Kisaragi's Puchidol)
- Harukasan (Haruka Amami's Puchidol)
- Io (Iori Minase's Puchidol)
- Koami (Ami Futami's Puchidol)
- Komami (Mami Futami's Puchidol)
- Makochi- (Makoto Kikuchi's Puchidol)
- Miurasan (Azusa Miura's Puchidol)
- Piyopiyo (Kotori Otonashi's Puchidol)
- Takanya (Takane Shijou's Puchidol)
- Yayo (Yayoi Takatsuki's Puchidol)
- Yukipo (Yukiho Hagiwara's Puchidol)
Stylization Specifics
Japanese and English First Lines
All pages should use the Nihongo Template information as the first words of their pages. This will set the text in a "Bold English, Kanji, Italicized Romaji" standard that will match other pages. Example: "Ritsuko Akizuki (秋月律子 Akizuki Ritsuko)"
The only exceptions to this rule are CD names and song names, which should use the information box for this instead.
Games, Anime, and Franchise
When referring to the name of the games, the anime, or the franchise as a whole, it was decided that the term THE iDOLM@STER should be used. This includes the stylizations and should be used as a blanket term when referring to the anime or franchise. A disambiguation page has been created to help remove confusion.
Long Vowel Spelling
Due to some names being referred to by their long and short vowel spellings (ex: Touma (THE iDOLM@STER 2 long spelling) vs. Toma (SideM short spelling)), it was decided that names should use the long vowel spelling if available. However if a name is only referred to by the short vowel spelling, the short vowel spelling will be used until the long vowel spelling is officially used. For example, Ryo Akizuki could be spelled Ryou Akizuki, but because he has never been officially referred to using the latter spelling, the wiki uses the first spelling. In the case that both are given (such as Touma vs. Toma), the short vowel spelling should be redirected to the main page.
Iro and -Hime Spellings
Names featuring the "-iro" or "-hime" suffixes should combine the suffix with the main name, such as Nanairo Button, Nijiiro Miracle, and Nemurihime. Names with two suffixes, such as Ramune-iro Seishun should use a hyphen to separate them.
Live For You!
When referring to the game or OVA called THE iDOLM@STER: Live For You!, the "F" in "For" must be capitalized.
Special Characters
Certain names contain special characters within their titles. These characters must be kept, and not replaced. These titles include:
- The TCG game title: Weiβ Schwarz
- The Jupiter only costume: Weiβ Jupiter
- The 765 costumes: Märchen Maid and Märchen Maid 2
- The 765 MASTER SPECIAL song: L・O・B・M
- Nana Abe's image song: Märchen Debut!
Regarding Multiple Official English Names
Due to the confusion of multiple spellings of Million Live!s unit names, it was decided that the unit names should written with no stylization whatsoever. This carries over to other names with more than three official spellings in the same language. These other official spellings should all be redirected to the main page.
International Releases
It was voted that the SHINY FESTA set of games, despite receiving an international release, must use the information available from the Japanese version rather than the already translated English version. This means that games or merchandise that receive an international release should use the Japanese information as the primary source. Names available in English should be replaced with their Japanese counterparts, although the English names should be mentioned elsewhere on the page and redirected to the main page. A list of terms can be found below, with the terms in bold being the ones the wiki uses:
- Honey Sound vs. Harmonic Score
- Groovy Tune vs. Melodic Disc
- Funky Note vs. Rhythmic Record
- THE IDOLM@STER MOVIE: Kagayaki no Mukougawa e! vs. THE IDOLM@STER: Beyond the Brilliant Future! or THE IDOLM@STER: To the Other Side of the Shine!
Radio Show Names
The spelling used in radio show names such as "アイマスタジオ" or "ラジオdeアイマSHOW!" should be referred to using the stylistic spellings of "iM@STUDIO" and "Radio de iM@SHOW" respectively. This pattern carried over to other names that follow this pattern. In addition, the actual radio broadcast shows (RADIO and STATION!!!) should be referred to using the following stylizations, "THE iDOLM@STER RADIO" and "THE iDOLM@STER STATION!!!", respectively.
Official Name Changes
In the case of a name changing, such as the change of Jupiter's first CD name or some costumes such as Angel's Swimsuit, the original release name should be used as the page title with the newer name mentioned on the page and available as a redirect to the page.