外字問題

English translation: unsupported Unicode characters problem/unsupported characters problem

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Japanese term or phrase:外字問題
English translation:unsupported Unicode characters problem/unsupported characters problem
Entered by: Harvey Beasley

21:43 Nov 20, 2009
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Linguistics
Japanese term or phrase: 外字問題
In regards to the difficulty of handling people's names and place names in Japanese Kanji.
Harvey Beasley
Local time: 18:36
unsupported Unicode characters problem/unsupported characters problem
Explanation:
There are many sites that refer to unsupported characters/unsupported unicode characters... Seems they refer to characters from several languages, not only Japanese. Please see websites below with their example sentences:

http://unicode.org/faq/
Discusses what to do when attempting to display unsupported Unicode characters.

The Japanese have a word, gaiji (外字), which roughly means “characters that Unicode doesn't support”

http://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CWD-160




--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2009-11-21 05:30:30 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Since the words "unsupported characters" or "unsupported Unicode characters" appear in the frequently asked questions for unicode (please see website) perhaps that is more universally used and understood.
Selected response from:

Joyce A
Thailand
Local time: 16:36
Grading comment
I would really liked to have given you both points! Thanks!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2The gaiji problem
Steven Smith
3 +2unsupported Unicode characters problem/unsupported characters problem
Joyce A


  

Answers


34 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
The gaiji problem


Explanation:
Or if you want to give a gloss, 'the problem of gaiji (non-standard characters)'.

The Gaiji problem

Japanese DTP is 10 years old, yet, despite all of Apple's and Adobe's growth here, the penetration rate is less than 50 percent. There are many reasons for this, but one of the most important is the font problem and the lack of gaiji. Gaiji are Kanji characters outside of the current JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) and Unicode encoding sets and are not included in a standard font. This is one reason why publishers hang on to proprietary systems.
http://www.macintouch.com/gaiji.html

Gaiji (外字), literally meaning "external characters," are kanji that are not represented in existing Japanese encoding systems. These include variant forms of common kanji that need to be represented alongside the more conventional glyph in reference works, and can include non-kanji symbols as well.

Gaiji can be either user-defined characters or system-specific characters. Both are a problem for information interchange, as the codepoint used to represent an external character will not be consistent from one computer or operating system to another.
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Kanji



Steven Smith
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:36
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 15

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Yumico Tanaka (X): As this is a specific matter in a specific field, this answer or "gaiji matters" will do.
2 hrs
  -> Thanks

agree  gcpradhan1: Yes, "gaiji problem" seems to be used every where.
6 hrs
  -> Thanks
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
unsupported Unicode characters problem/unsupported characters problem


Explanation:
There are many sites that refer to unsupported characters/unsupported unicode characters... Seems they refer to characters from several languages, not only Japanese. Please see websites below with their example sentences:

http://unicode.org/faq/
Discusses what to do when attempting to display unsupported Unicode characters.

The Japanese have a word, gaiji (外字), which roughly means “characters that Unicode doesn't support”

http://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CWD-160




--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2009-11-21 05:30:30 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Since the words "unsupported characters" or "unsupported Unicode characters" appear in the frequently asked questions for unicode (please see website) perhaps that is more universally used and understood.

Example sentence(s):
  • Note: Users of Windows 95/98/NT should download the latest versions of these fonts, as the older versions, which are not fully Unicode-compliant, would display question marks (?) or squares (◻) for unsupported characters.
  • Unsupported unicode characters sent via SOAP API

    Reference: http://vietunicode.sourceforge.net/
    Reference: http://forums.mysql.com/read.php?103,287437,287437
Joyce A
Thailand
Local time: 16:36
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 14
Grading comment
I would really liked to have given you both points! Thanks!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jonas Palussek
7 hrs
  -> Thank you, Jonas!

agree  Minoru Kuwahara
2 days 13 hrs
  -> Thank you, mulberryvalley!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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