On Saturday, December 31, 2005 09:55, Stephanie Rendino wrote: > On Dec 30, 2005, at 6:27 PM, John Costanzo wrote: > > > On 30/12/05, John Hammac Jr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >> i.e., Amuro was an Ensign at the end of MSG because he was on a > >> "Naval" > >> vessel, while Shiro held the Army rank of 2nd Lt. in 08th MS Team > >> because he > >> was attached to a terrestrial Army unit.) So, you aren't wrong at > >> all to > >> assume that at all. :) > > > > Actually in the official translations, Shiro was an Ensign. And his > > subordinates were also given Naval ranks, which is kind of odd since > > "gunsou" means Sergeant and not Chief Petty Officer. > > For my own use, I use Army ranks for ground forces and Navy > for space. So Ensign Amuro Rey and Commander Gato but Lt. > Amada and Colonel Garma Zabi.
Here's how I addressed the issue on my Mobile Suit Gundam: High Frontier Universal Century Master Timeline page. [QUOTE] Making the Grade Like many anime shows, Mobile Suit Gundam uses the World War II Japanese Imperial Army (Taikoku Rikugun) and Navy (Taikoku Kaigun) ranking system, which doesn’t correspond to any modern system. There are, for example, only seven enlisted grades, not the nine with which most modern viewers are familiar. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the Japanese system uses the same terms for both Army and Navy officer ranks. Some translators opt to use Army ranks, others Navy ranks and still others an uneasy mix of the two. This has resulted in a number of mistranslations. The rank of “Captain” is especially problematic. In the Army, a captain is an O-3, a company grade officer equivalent to a Navy lieutenant. In the Navy, a captain is an O-6, a field grade officer equivalent to an Army colonel. Furthermore, “Captain” is also an honorific title given to the senior officer (“Skipper”) of a ship, whether civilian or military, regardless of rank. This confusion doesn’t exist in Japanese, where an O-3 is a Tai’i and an O-6 is a Taishō in both services, a military skipper is a Kanchō and a civilian skipper is a Senchō. To eliminate ambiguity, standard military pay grade—O-1 to O-10 for commissioned officer, W-1 to W-4 for warrant officer (WO) and E-1 to E-7 for non-commissioned officer (NCO) and enlisted—is given here in lieu of any specific military service rank. If your Web browser has JavaScript support enabled, you can view the 22 military pay grades and their corresponding Japanese and English language Army and Navy ranks in a handy pop-up Military Pay Grade to Army & Navy Rank Conversion Chart. [/QUOTE] Here's a direct line to the Pay Grade/Rank Conversion Chart. http://www.dyarstraights.com/msgundam/paygrade.html Happy New Year! –Z– -------------------------------------------------- The Gundam Mailing List MK-II [email protected] Archives: http://www.gundam.com/gml Help: Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this in the BODY: help list
