# Text/Characters/Words orientation?



## pepitogomez

Hello, I want to know if the text or characters orientation changes the final word meaning.

For example if I write hello in katakana (I don't know if it's correct too, I just used a converter to katakana):

horizontally: ヘロー
and vertically:
ヘ
ロ
ー

Or if there is a way to write it "letter-by-letter" in a vertical form.

Thank you and sorry for my bad english!


----------



## Flaminius

The English _hello_ is transliterated as ハロー.  The vowel elongation mark is a vertical bar in vertical writing.  In fact it was also a vertical bar in horizontal writing when Japanese was started to be written horizontally.

Anyway, here is what ハロー looks like in vertical writing: https://xn--w8j9bvdq77u3fhf9b531dzeg0o4a5o0a.jp/cards/001154/files/44702_39018.html
Click the link and you see it in the first (right most) line.  Or, do a browser search for: ハロー、聞えるかね



pepitogomez said:


> Or if there is a way to write it "letter-by-letter" in a vertical form.


I don't know what this means.


----------



## SoLaTiDoberman

..ハ
..ロ
...l

ー becomes l when written vertically.


----------



## pepitogomez

Hi! Thank you for your answers but I still don't understand or maybe I can't explain it well.

The word I want to change in a vertical form is "*priest*", for example:
if I write it horizontally like *priest *or 
if I write it vertically like
*p
r
i
e
s
t*

It's still the same when reading it in other languages. Now if I translate it to katakana using a converter or translator it's like this:





And if I try to write it like before in a vertically form, it looks like this:




Is this correct? Maybe the characteres must be rotated or something to mean the same in a horizontally or vertically form?


----------



## Flaminius

Your converter is wrong.  The correct version can be seen here (browser search for プリースト).


----------



## pepitogomez

Flaminius said:


> Your converter is wrong.  The correct version can be seen here (browser search for プリースト).


Thank you so much the character changed as @SoLaTiDoberman said.

Sorry, I didn't created the converter I just used Photoshop to rotate it in a vertically form. So the correct version can be this one:


----------



## Flaminius

Yes, that's the correct version.  Since you mentioned what you used to generate those images, I seem to understand where the problem lies.  If you stick with the Adobe terminology, text rotation does not yield the correct text orientation for the Japanese language.  The latter is the job for Toggle Text Orientation*.

*But even this could be buggy in Adobe softwares sold outside Japan.  If you do more vertical Japanese texts, please check your results against the samples I have provided links to.


----------



## pepitogomez

Thank you so much to both of you. Yes, the problem was I didn't know that some characters must be "rotated" for the text orientation and I don't know anything of the language itself so I asked here, sorry.

Problem solved!


----------



## pepitogomez

Hi again! @Flaminius or @SoLaTiDoberman 

One more question: why the character "ー" must be in a vertically form when the text is rotated? Is there any gramatical rule?


----------



## Flaminius

There is nothing grammatical about how a letter should be written.



Flaminius said:


> The vowel elongation mark is a vertical bar in vertical writing. In fact it was also a vertical bar in horizontal writing when Japanese was started to be written horizontally.


----------



## gengo

pepitogomez said:


> One more question: why the character "ー" must be in a vertically form when the text is rotated? Is there any gram*m*atical rule?



It's not grammar, it's logic.  The nobashi-bou is like a line drawn in the direction coming from the preceding vowel, telling us to extend that vowel sound for an extra syllable.  Therefore, when the characters are written vertically, it only makes sense that the line would still point from the preceding kana.  That's probably why the vertical line changed to a horizontal one in horizontal text, because it is more logical that way.  The same rule also applies to any other such characters that are used to extend something, such as the ～ symbol, which is sometimes used to extend a sound.


----------



## pepitogomez

Thank you again! Last question... I hope I'm not being too much of a bother. 

I still don't understand if is there any difference between プリエスト and プリースト, written horizontally or vertically. Can you explain it please?


----------



## Flaminius

It is a matter of what you want to transliterate into Japanese.  I thought you wanted to transliterate the English word _priest_ all along.  If that is the case, プリースト is correct.

I didn't realise until your last post that it is also possible that ⟨priest⟩ is part of a French place name, _Saint-Priest_.  If this is what you want, プリエスト is correct.


----------



## pepitogomez

Thank you!! Everything is completely clear now!


----------

