FFXIV JP to EN Dictionary Guide

Introduction

This guide is an attempt to teach players jargon and keywords to players who encounter these when playing on Japanese servers.

While it is generally not recommended for players who have no Japanese knowledge to play on Japanese servers (especially when it comes to raiding, this topic can be controversial when touched upon), players who are willing to break their comfort zone and learn Japanese in order to communicate with them may find this guide helpful.

This guide is also made to cover as many keywords as possible.

Background

I’m just a normal, nothing-worthy-of-note player who studied Japanese for a year and a half; lived in Japan for 6 years; and worked as a translator before.

While I’m not exactly a professional in translations, I’m just a person who loves and adore languages in general, and happened to find Japanese to be my favourite language. I’m also a long term Final Fantasy fan, spanning over 20 years and counting.

What This Guide Will Cover

Jargon, simple Japanese terms and some basic Japanese sentences and keywords will be covered and to hopefully it’ll help you get by in trying to communicate with Japanese in case if you encounter them in dungeons.

Do note that there ARE some linkshells in NA servers that are predominantly Japanese, but they’ll usually make effort to communicate in English so you might not notice at one glance. I have an alt character in Excalibur server, so I believe I speak for myself when I say I’ve encountered quite a few players who are Japanese in that server.

Regardless, this guide is made for players who aren’t really Japanese savvy but happened to play in Japanese servers and having a hard time going through the game. This guide will be far from perfect, and in fact, I actually welcome suggestions from players if there are anything I did not cover but the players would like to.

This guide aims to prepare players to ensure that they have a smooth communication with the Japanese at a basic level, and also to prevent players from being socially awkward due to the communication barriers.

What This Guide Will NOT Cover

This guide will NOT teach you how to speak Japanese. This is not what this guide is for, and of course, any form of advanced communication will require you to have an intermediate understanding of the language and grammar.

This is especially true when it comes to raiding: any form of advance communication like who does main healing, tank swapping, mechanics and so on will require you to understand the language first hand.

Please understand that this FAQ can only cover what is humanly possible, thus restrictions are a given. So if you want to know the entirety of how to deal with Japanese groups and conversations, I’d advise you to take proper Japanese lessons (which by then, you don’t even need this document anymore).

Of course, this document does not function as a translation document either, hence this document will not cover all the words used in FFXIV.

This guide will also not be responsible if the Japanese are asking you questions in Japanese while having none of the ability to answer them appropriately. Reasons are obvious here so let’s not waste time trying to explain it further.

Greetings

Your very first impression

EDIT: This will be the version 2 of this section. This section has been entirely rewritten to create a friendly documentation when it comes to communicating with Japanese players in Japanese servers.

To begin with, a basic greeting is highly encouraged before the dungeon starts. Greeting is considered as a standard and a basic courtesy to anyone you’ve not met before.

This is also considered a global thing when it comes to this hence this isn’t entirely Japanese specific. It’s also similar to how you should greet your customers and clients during your job as well.

The most common excuse I’ve heard from people not greeting before dungeons are mainly “I’m tired” or “I want to just get it done with and quick”, even sometimes answers can range from “lol greetings” to “lazy”. But guess what? Being tired after a long day of work or having a long bad day does not excuse you from being impolite to others.

If you’re especially aware on how the Japanese culture works, it’s always about putting other people above self.

Be a decent human and get nice impression from your dungeon mates. It’ll bring you far.

Assuming most players reading this document here are non Japanese who are unaware of how Japanese interactions are done, here is a list you can follow when it comes to greetings.

Those 4 are the basic things you can greet players in your friend list or FC (Free Company) in case you joined one.

While in dungeons, the greeting changes slightly, but what is listed are mainly sentences you can use to greet strangers before you start.

Even if you’re running with your JP friends, typing greetings will display better courtesy and friendliness, hence showing that you’re polite and friendly as well even if it may be unnecessary.

When you’re first time plowing through dungeons or raids, it’s important to let them know that it’ll be your first handling the dungeon/raid so that they won’t judge you harshly if you screw up.

It’s also common and normal to make mistakes in dungeons and raids. In that case, just apologize. A simple “Sumimasen” will do.

Although you’re also encouraged to list out the reason you screw up, but that’s up to whether you’re capable enough to list it, otherwise a simple sorry will do.

In any situations where you’ve done finishing your run in dungeons and raids, the standard end greeting is “otsukaresama deshita”.

While the above is translated literally, it can also mean “Thank you for the runs”, “Nice game”, “gg”, etc. However it is always used when you finish a run, so be sure to do so.

There are also optional sentences you may use. Well, since this is optional, what is listed below can also be used when situations called for it. Using it appropriately will make them happy because you care about being courteous, hence giving them good impressions.

Do note that Japanese communication functions under the concept of Honne & Tatemae here, therefore even if you fail to clear your objectives after joining a pug in parties, it’s still recommended to utilize at least the one stated 5th in the list.

Just keep your honesty to yourself, and utilize a few words with tact and you’ll avoid unnecessary dramas 99% of the time.

Generally the Japanese are quiet and does not actually talk during any typical dungeon run, so you mainly just greet and do your own thing, followed by a goodbye once it’s done. No communications in between unless necessary.

Situational Usage

Generally this goes beyond the standard greeting, but there are some request on how to deal with situations when it comes to partying with the Japanese.

For example, sometimes you would want to tell the party that you had to leave due to emergencies. When that happens, you can write something like this:

If you don’t feel like specifying anything, just use the first one in the list will do, as that sentence is mostly for general use.

However, the point is to never leave your party without informing them. It’s rude, and that may earn you a blacklist from them because of this. There are some others that do, but you don’t have to be like them.

Raiding

It is commonly known that raiding with pugs in Japanese servers is something of envy to some non-Japanese due to having high clear rates and easier to clear due to the high discipline players adhered themselves to.

Joining a raid in Japanese servers can be intimidating to most people due to heavy communication required, so this subsection will cover only what’s possible.

This won’t cover something like how to establish strats, what to announce during the raid (e.g. “I will use Addle during this phase”, “I’ll use interject during this boss’ second phase”, etc). Use Google Translate if you have to.

Raiding in Japanese generally will require you to read the Party Finder description beforehand. There are typically 3 types of party you’ll find:

When you see the word 練習, you’ll find out that this usually means practice phase, and it may or may not be a clear party. This will still require you to read the description before joining them, as different parties will have different requirements.

What is stated in the description decides what is required from the party maker. Judging from the screenshot above, the party description states:

“Aim to clear! DHD Kefka 2nd tower position vertical, 2nd Starstrafe Cross strat. Whoever cleared this week is welcomed to help. Cleared this week: 3. Those who doesn’t require coffer after clear are welcomed to join too!”

Once confirming whether you have all that’s required, then you’re free to join it.

On the other hand, you’ll also encounter parties like this:

When you encounter this type of party, one should be able to tell from the description that this party is made for weekly clears only, even without the label: [コンプリート目的][コンプリート済み]. So one should be careful not to join those parties unless having the eligibility for it.

For the third type of party you’d encounter, it’ll look something like this:

Parties marked yellow in this case are mainly for parties who already cleared and is undergoing farm runs.

If you haven’t cleared the content, you’re not allowed to join as the requirements are usually setup to check your achievement status. Once you’re eligible to join the party, you’re free to.

Regardless of the type of party you join, it is standard to greet yourself immediately after you join. But in any runs that would require you to state your desired reward (usually for extreme primal runs), you will have to…of course, state them after joining.

There are examples you can use:

Once the items you want are registered and green signed by the party master, give them a thanks in Japanese and you may then do whatever you want while waiting for the party to fill. To find out what items you’re looking for, please refer to the “Jargon” section.

If the party is stated as ぐリ制 (Guri-sei) or フリーロット (Furiirotto), it means the party is entirely greed based or free lot based so it’d be pointless to list out what you want.

However some parties have a mix of both 希望制 and フリーロット so please pay attention to what the party master is requesting from you. If you’re stuck, Google translation will be your friend.

PUGs in Japanese server frequently use the 取りぬけ、取り抜け (Torinuke) system for raids and Extreme Primal runs. Dubbed as the “Take-and-leave” system. It functions as thus:

1. During the end of a run, there will be multiple rewards dropped. When the chest contain something you want to lot, you may press NEED to lot for the item you desired. However, you can only NEED 1 item out of the rewards shown on screen.
2. Usually the “Take-and-Leave” items apply to equipment upgrade items, and equipments like weapons and armors.
3. The reward will then start its distribution in order (the order will be decided by the party master beforehand, and you’re to press your buttons accordingly)
4. Once you got what you want, you must PASS the rest and/or leave the instance immediately. You MAY NOT participate in the distribution any further. There are exceptions however.
5. If there are items not listed under “Take-and-Leave” rule, you may stay back and gamble your chances in grabbing the rest of the loot.

Do note that all items are usually listed under the rule of “Take-and-Leave” so you will most likely rewarded only one out of 4 items available.

Say you’re a NIN, and you’ve participated in the second level of Sigmascape Savage (O6S) with the pugs, and won. The items dropped are: NIN hands, Healer legs, Lost Allagan Glaze, and Early Model Tomestone. In this situation, you’re eligible to only ONE out of the 4 rewards presented. If you want the NIN hands, you can NEED the reward and obtain it.

However, once the reward falls into your hands, you’re required to immediately pass the rest and leave the instance. Staying back is not recommended and you’ll rouse their distrust if you’re not being tactful.

If you already have the NIN hands, you can let them know by saying “忍手持っています”, and let the others have a hand in lotting it if they want.

On the other hand, if the rewards are something no one in the party actually wanted, it’ll be considered as free reward and will not fall under the “Take-and-leave” rule. Therefore it’s possible for you to have multiple rewards in this exception.

Parties that do not use the so called “Take-and-Leave” system will be free to greed, need, or pass the rewards. In this case, it’s everyone’s game.

Some examples you can use to denote that you already have the particular equipment, and would like to pass it:

From the examples above, both hold the same meaning. You just need to let them know that you already have them and it’s everyone’s game to have that share.

However, since items like Glaze, Tomestone, Roborant, and Twine are highly sought items, these will always be applicable under the Take-and-Leave system if the party runs with this rule in place. Therefore if you get one of these items, leave immediately and don’t stay back to gamble for the rest.

Failure to follow this system will place you in community blacklist and this may compromise your standing in the Japanese raiding community. So be very careful when dealing with this system.

Jobs

Your identity

Hello jobs. In this game you’ll be seeing a lot of words that are especially thrown around in public shouts and after all, the game is shaped around identity and what players and it’s no different in Japanese servers at all, especially when you’re entering parties in Party Finder (abbreviated as “PF” from now on).

Let’s begin by learning your jobs, written in Japanese:

ARR Jobs:

• Paladin (PLD): ナイト, Naito, Abbreviated in Japanese as “ナ” Na
• Warrior (WAR): 戦士, Senshi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “戦” Sen
• White Mage (WHM):　白魔道士, Shiro madoushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “白” Shiro
• Scholar (SCH): 学者, Gakusha, Abbreviated by Japanese as “学” Gaku
• Monk (MNK): モンク, Monku, Abbreviated by Japanese as “モ” Mo
• Dragoon (DRG): 竜騎士, Ryuukishi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “竜” Ryuu
• Ninja (NIN): 忍者, Ninja, Abbreviated by Japanese as “忍” Nin
• Black Mage(BLM): 黒魔道士, Kuro madoushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “黒” Kuro
• Summoner (SMN): 召喚士, Shoukanshi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “召” Shou
• Bard (BRD): 吟遊詩人, Ginyu shijin, Abbreviated by Japanese as “詩” Shi

Heavensward Jobs:

• Astrologian (AST): 占星術師, Sensei jutsushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “占” Sen
• Dark Knight (DRK): 暗黒騎士, Ankoku Kishi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “暗” An
• Machinist (MCH): 機工士, Kikoushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “機” Ki

Stormblood Jobs:

• Red Mage (RDM): 赤魔道士, Aka madoushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “赤” Aka
• Samurai (SAM): 侍, pronounced the same in Japanese, there is no abbreviation known for this.
• Blue Mage (BLU): 青魔道士, Ao madoushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “青”

Shadowbringers Jobs:

• Gunbreaker (GNB): ガンブレイカー, Ganbureikaa, Abbreviated by Japanese as “ガンブレ” (Ganbure)
• Dancer (DNC): 踊り子, Odori-ko, Abbreviated by Japanese as “踊り” or “踊” Odori

Crafters:

• Carpenter: 木工師, Mokkoushi
• Blacksmith: 鍛冶師, Kajishi
• Armorer: 甲冑師, Kacchushi
• Goldsmith: 彫金師, Choukinshi
• Leatherworker: 革細工師, Kawazaikushi
• Weaver: 裁縫師, Saihoushi
• Alchemist: 錬金術師, Renkinjutsushi
• Culinarian: 調理師, Chourishi

Gatherers:

• Botanist: 園芸師, Engeishi
• Fisher: 漁師, Ryoushi
• Miner: 採掘師, Saikutsushi

While this is less important, it’s probably a good thing if you learn this too, just as a basic knowledge:

Classes:

• Gladiator (GLA): 剣術士, Kenjutsushi, Abbreviated in Japanese as “剣” Ken
• Marauder (MRD): 斧術士, Fujutsushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “斧” Fu/Ono
• Conjurer (CNJ): 幻術士, Genjutsushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “幻” Gen
• Pugilist (PUG): 格闘士, Kakutoushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “格” Kaku
• Lancer (LNC): 槍術士, Soujutsushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “槍” Yari
• Rogue (ROG): 双剣士, Soukenshi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “双” Sou
• Thaumaturge (THM): 呪術士, Jujutsushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “呪” Ju
• Arcanist (ACN): 巴術士, Hajutsushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “巴” Ha/Tomoe
• Archer (ARC): 弓術士, Kyuujutsushi, Abbreviated by Japanese as “弓” Yumi

Learning this will allow you to understand your jobs in Japanese therefore in case some Japanese asking you about your job, you can refer to the list, or better yet, type it out!

That’ll impress not just the Japanese for your effort in trying to understand the game, but you yourself too, as you will learn a lot from this.

Races

What you are

There are currently 8 races available in this game:

• Hyur: ヒュラン
• Elezen: エレゼン
• Lalafell: ララフェル
• Miqo’te: ミコッテ
• Roegadyn: ルガディン
• Au Ra: アウラ
• Viera: ビエラ
• Hrothgar: ロスガル

The pronunciation and terms used in Japanese FFXIV is the same as their English counterpart, including your race division. This will be helpful in case you encounter those words in chats.

However, most casual chats do have a specific term to refer their race and gender they represent:

These are the most commonly used words to describe characters and their race when casual conversations are going on, and one may encounter those words in shouts once in a while (be it in cities or Discord voice chats…)

Personally I have not seen any references to Hyurs and Roegadyns, possibly the result of smaller representation and thus not heard much in many conversations.

Once I found them, I’ll update the list. The above ones are the only ones I know, and the most commonly used and heard are Miqo’te, Au Ra and Lalafells.

Materia

Knowledge of stats is the knowledge to power

As raiding, gathering and crafting are popular activities in FFXIV, regardless of where you’re from it is important to know what type of materia you are aiming for when gearing up.

If you’re one of those people who are immersive enough to use Japanese all the way through despite being rather alien to it, no worries, the following list here will help you out to determine what materia is what…in Japanese:

Yes, in case if you’re wondering Mind and Piety materias share the same pronunciation, the difference is in the kanji. Alternatively, 心力 can also be written as “Shinryoku” but considering the nature of typing in chats, the pronunciation doesn’t really matter unless the conversation is brought to voice chats.

There are currently 8 materia grades. As you progress you will find that the higher materia grades have their own unique names as well:

• Grade I is マテリア (Materia)
• Grade II is マテリラ (Materira)
• Grade III is マテリダ (Materida)
• Grade IV is マテリガ (Materiga)
• Grade V is マテリジャ(Materija)
• Grade VI is ハイマテリジャ (Haimaterija)
• Grave VII is メガマテリジャ (Megamaterija)
• Grade VIII is エクスマテリジャ (Exmaterija)

Click here to view the rest of the materia list.

Worlds

Knowing where you play

There is not much difference between how most English players see the worlds than the Japanese anyway. But this section is created just for your reference in case you want to know which world to choose, play, or knowing just for the fun of it.

Of course, being a captain obvious here, these servers are specifically Japanese majority, so Japanese rules and cultures apply.

Personal Observations:

• As of 2018, there are 3 Japanese data centers with 32 Japanese servers.
• Contrary to expectations, Japanese don’t usually write their server name in Japanese, but English instead.
• The high pop servers are: Chocobo, Shinryu, Carbuncle, Bahamut, and Tonberry
• Most servers have their own nickname. It’s not usually used in game but forums like 5ch and so on.
• Each servers have their own thread, but the discussion in 5ch mainly involve player attitudes, blacklisting (some unwarranted, but mostly justified), and “shitposting”. * Discussions about gameplay, news and raiding are mostly located in the general thread instead.
• The server with the most mixed players of different regions and ethnicity would be Tonberry. Since it’s a server that contains majorly South East Asia, Oceania, and Japanese players.
• Typhon is also known to house predominantly Taiwanese players. O* ther servers with English players include Chocobo, Carbuncle, and Masamune as well. Due to Stormblood’s release on June 20, 2017, Tonberry is given the congested world treatment and is no longer open for character creation. Therefore Kujata, Aegis, Masamune are now the three preferred servers for foreign players. All status are now lifted due to the population now stable after Patch 4.2 drops.
• While each servers have their own quirks and specialty, the most commonly known raid server in Japan would be: Chocobo, Mandragora, Alexander, Tiamat, Bahamut, Carbuncle, Shinryu, and to a lesser known degree, Ixion. With the inclusion of Cross World Party Finder (CWPF), the player pool becomes more and more diluted, hence the above selections may not be relevant any longer.
• At a certain meme level, Pandemonium is notoriously known for catfishing, but to a positive level, it’s also known to have a very active population in Gridania’s Gardeners guild. Carbuncle also infamously known to have an extremely active in-game community activities, therefore very lively. Unicorn server is popular with the ladies and is a home to the screenshot community. While it is also rumored that Ifrit is known as a “dating” server, it is unknown whether this reputation holds true or not.
• With the inclusion of CWPF, it becomes less relevant on which server is recommended to join, so just choose a preferred server and hop in.

Terms & Jargon

Words that shape the culture

This section will cover the list of what jargons you might encounter when playing the game. You may also find it useful if you happen to encounter those words in Japanese FFXIV summary/news sites (known as “matome site”) as well.

The list will be listed under Japanese syllabary order, known in Japan as the 50 Onjun. However entries listed may not be in strict order.

あ～お (A to O)

か～こ (Ka to Ko), きゃ～きょ(Kya to Kyo)

が～ご (Ga to Go), ぎゃ～ぎょ(Gya to Gyo)

さ～そ (Sa to So)

ざ～ぞ（Za to Zo), じゃ～じょ(Ja to Jo)

た～と (Ta to To), ちゃ～ちょ (Cha to Cho)

だ～ど（Da to Do)

な～の (Na to No)

は～ほ (Ha to Ho)

ば～ぼ (Ba to Bo), びゃ～びょ (Bya to Byo)

ぱ～ぽ (Pa to Po)

ま～も (Ma to Mo)

や～よ (Ya, Yu, Yo)

ら～ろ (Ra to Ro)

わ～を、ん （Wa, Wo, N)

Others

Epilogue

Thank you for reading this far. Hope you enjoyed it.

Hopefully with this document, you’ll be able to learn a few terms and jargons used in this game. Though I personally do feel a little weird for inserting memes that are related yet at the same time, unrelated to the game as well.

However, I wrote this FAQ with the intention that all players from the western side of the world can understand those Japanese words used in the game so that, ultimately we can understand both in-game cultures a little more than ever.

I always believe that language barriers can be solved by someone taking the initiative to bridge them closer so that we don’t experience further misunderstandings.

This FAQ may be niche and may not be as significant as those rotation or job guides you find in most places, but I still hope this document will be of help to players who need it.
Regardless, I had fun writing it.

Also thanks to Tsun-chan in the FFXIV Reddit Discord channel for giving me important terms and jargon that I may have missed.

This document can be improved further and if there are any other terms that I may have missed out or need fixes, feel free to contact me in the Reddit Discord channel, or iluna minori#9999. I’ll be there.

Until then. Sayonara!

Change Log

• Version 1.0 - First version of the FAQ
• Version 1.0b - Corrections on the following description: Takotan, Hageruga Matsuri.
  Additional entry: Koike jiken.
  Credits of these changes goes to reddit user /u/totoro572
  Additional entry: Gisu gisu, thanks to /u/dreamoficee
  Expanded term: Ryuu san, thanks to /u/momomeno
• Version 1.0c - Additional Entries: Anchi, Shisen, Shukka, Faitaa, Pataan, PT, Koutai, Ii! Kagayaki atsume, Guren, Gaijin (害人), and Ere.
  Expanded term: Soosaraa, Moshi Moshi Minfiria san
  Thanks to /u/SoliasCrinfain for Shukka and Soosaraa, Faitaa, Koutai, and Nookintanku
• Version 1.1 - Added 2 new announced jobs, Red Mage and Samurai.
  Added “FL” and “PF” in Others
  Some grammar mistakes fixed and additional information.
• Version 1.15 - Added Shiro-chan, Kanwa, Nanido, and Shoken.
• Version 1.18 - Added Bukkoware
• Version 2.0 - Added an amount of new words, and added a Materia section.
• Version 2.1 - Added more words, and new words that are added will be highlighted yellow.
• Version 2.2 - Added two new words, TA and Karyokutsume.
• Version 2.3 - Added Zetsu and Ikiru. Updated to reflect patch 4.11
• Version 2.4 - Rewrote and expanded the entire “Greeting” section.
• Version 2.5 - Expanded “Race” section, added some new terms.
• Version 2.5a - More terms added.
• Version 2.6 - More terms added.
• Version 2.65 - More terms added. Specifically from Eureka since I have forgot to include those words in the past updates. Also slight changes in some sentences.
• Version 2.7 - Viera added. Some term descriptions fixed due to mistakes being pointed out. I highly appreciate being pointed out, it makes this FAQ a lot better and accurate to the readers. 心から感謝しております！
• Version 2.9 - Grammar structures fix, and added two new jobs for the upcoming expansion “Shadowbringers”: Gunbreaker, and Dancer.
• Version 3.0 - Shadowbringers! Added some more terms and fixed description for “Ugoki Rikaishita.”
• Version 3.1 - Added memes and some missing keywords for Shadowbringers. Some missing terms leftover from Stormblood is added as well.
• Version 3.11 - Document name change. Considering the volume of this document, changing it from “FAQ” to “Guide” sounds more appropriate.

This FAQ will be updated periodically.
Last Updated: May 19, 2020. 7:29pm JST

この和英辞典は定期に更新されています。ご質問、ご意見等、Discordにてiluna minori#9999をご連絡ください。