Dumb question about Japanese...

André G. Isaak

This is almost certainly in the wrong category, but nothing fit.

I've notice a fairly large number of Japanese fonts have names containing 'min' or 'go' (for mincho and goshikku). But I was wondering if these are the *actual* font names, or if they are simply abbreviations. IOW, are these terms viewed the same way as 'semicnd' would be viewed in English or more as 'sans' would be viewed in English?

George Thomas

Serif / Sans-serif designators.

André G. Isaak

Hi George. I'm not sure I understand your reply...

André G. Isaak

It maybe that my question was ill-formed. I'm not asking about what 'min' or ''go' means. What I'd like to know is whether a font such as (e.g) "A-OTF Futo Min A101 Pr6N Bold" would be referred to as 'Futo Mincho' or 'Futo Min' by Japanese speakers.

George Thomas

Just guessing, but I suspect it would vary. For brevity I likely would say "Min" or "Go" if I were speaking to a person or group who would understand the meaning. Writing about it, I would use the full word.

Aaron Bell

As George says, it is just an abbreviation to denote the style, like “sans” or “serif”.

That said, it can also be a part of the font name.

Simon Cozens

When speaking in Japanese, I think I would always say "mincho" rather than "min" etc., just like in English I would almost always pronounce "Museo Sans Cond" as "Museo Sans Condensed", even though that is technically the family name.

André G. Isaak

Simon Cozens said:

When speaking in Japanese, I think I would always say "mincho" rather than "min" etc., just like in English I would almost always pronounce "Museo Sans Cond" as "Museo Sans Condensed", even though that is technically the family name.

Thanks, Simon. That was exactly the information I was looking for.