# I need to know how to spell something in Japanese script **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-know-how-to-spell-something-in-japanese-script/752920 "2016-04-23T18:04:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-know-how-to-spell-something-in-japanese-script/752920/1 "2016-04-23T18:04:14Z")
I don’t know any Japanese at all yet I need to know how to spell a certain phrase in Japanese. See, I’m donating a cake, with Godzilla on it, to a Godzilla film festival. Said festival is run by donationa, and this may be the last year because folks aren’t donating enough. I want to know how to write “Donate… or else” in Japanese. If I have to I’ll write in English but it would be cooler to do it in Japanese, with Godzilla holding a placard or something. I’ve tried translation website but I get little boxes, not the Japanese lettering. If someone could help me out I’d sure appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-know-how-to-spell-something-in-japanese-script/752920/2 "2016-04-23T19:35:44Z")
Part of the problem is that’s not something anyone would say in Japanese. “Or else” might only be used by Yakuza, and even they are more likely to be more oblique than that. I’m not a native speaker, so I don’t know the closest idiomatic equivalent. The characters for “donation” are 寄付 or anyway that’s what the translation software says. “Please donate” would be 寄付してください。 ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-know-how-to-spell-something-in-japanese-script/752920/3 "2016-04-23T19:42:06Z")
And if you want to write it in roman letters, which any Japanese person should be able to read, it would be “kifu shite kudasai.” ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-know-how-to-spell-something-in-japanese-script/752920/4 "2016-04-23T20:07:01Z")
Thank you for the Romanised script. I may go with that if I can’t find an equivalent phrase in Japanese. What I need is the implication, not the exact words, _or else_. Godzilla isn’t polite, it would at least need to be some sort of command to donate.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-know-how-to-spell-something-in-japanese-script/752920/5 "2016-04-23T20:20:41Z")
I think you need the “abrupt command” form, without the word for “please”. It should be, in romaji, “Kifu shiro”, or 寄付しろ ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-know-how-to-spell-something-in-japanese-script/752920/6 "2016-04-24T09:53:40Z")
If all you see is boxes, you may have problems seeing the Japanese in this thread, too. You may just not have the fonts for it. [So, in case of that, here’s that last post as an image.](http://i.imgur.com/STFwlHm.png) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-know-how-to-spell-something-in-japanese-script/752920/7 "2016-04-24T12:12:21Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > If all you see is boxes, you may have problems seeing the Japanese in this thread, too. You may just not have the fonts for it. > > [So, in case of that, here’s that last post as an image.](http://i.imgur.com/STFwlHm.png) That worked! Thanks so much.