<p>There's a list of Chinese symbols that can be used for toki pona words on the official toki pona website. I know I saw something on Reddit about a week or two ago that said that there was somebody trying to create a mapping system for kanji for toki pona, but he hasn't uploaded a finalised version from what I've seen.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-22T03:19:38.233Z
http://tokipona.net/tp/Compress.aspx has conversion to & from both Hanzi(Chinese) & Kanji(Japanese) as well a unicode character set. The word list also gives both the Hanzi & Kanji.
jastako
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-10-18T19:55:06.713Z
2020-10-18T19:55:06.713Z
Curtis Sheppard
<p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/tokipona/comments/s518h8/proposed_unified_hanzikanji_orthography/?rdt=54364" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.reddit.com/r/tokipona/comments/s518h8/proposed_unified_hanzikanji_orthography/?rdt=54364</a></p>
<p>The “unified” is a good idea, so that more people can use it.
More specifically:</p>
<ol>
<li>It should be classic or historical usage of kanji usage, which basically means we should focus on classic hanzi usage</li>
<li>Note that classic hanzi usage is different from today’s hanzi usage. This means we are not too much biased towards Chinese language, not today’s at least.</li>
<li>However, we should used the “simplified”, so that the system can be used by people from other areas. Effectively the system can be used as a practical browser or typing friendly option that is similar to emoji, but fits more serious occasions.</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-16T17:59:39.383Z
2024-04-16T17:59:39.383Z
Gabrielgrace NathanAna
<p>I saw a post on twitter about creating a &quot;Japanized&quot; version of toki pona. Has anyone done that? toki pona certainly seems to be influenced at least a little bit by Japanese anyway (word structure/particles). The poster suggested starting by substituting the vocabulary with the equivalent Japanese words, which would be a little difficult, because tp words can vary quite a bit in meaning so it's difficult to fit them into one word/kanji. Kanji are usually chosen with simplicity in mind first, over having the exact equivalent meaning. 'lon' for example can mean at/in/on, but also means true/real/alive. 在 is the standard kanji used. 'tawa' can be go/move (could be 行?), but also means for (as in 'for me/you'). Officially 去 is used. The word 'toki' could be 話 (hana, speak) or 語 (go, language) depending on the context, but generally 言(gen?) is used.(言良-good statement/quote 話良-good speech, &amp; 語良-good language, would all normally just be written as 言良). Has anybody created a list of toki pona words with the equivalent Japanese words? I use the seperate kanji as well as unofficial words like te...to for surrounding quotes</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T13:33:58.030Z
It sounds like you're confusing Japanese with Chinese. "去" does not mean "go/move" in Japanese (but it does mean "go" in Chinese.) 行く (iku) is "to go" in Japanese. And 在 is not used to mean "at/on/in" in Japanese (上 is "on", 中 is "in" depending on context, and "at" could be に also depending on context,) but it does mean "at" in Chinese.
Lou
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T14:42:26.747Z
Kanji selection is difficult because most words have a few different meanings. 去 is used for 'tawa' go/move as well as 'for' like "for me" & is translated as go in Chinese according to G translate & 'leaving' in Japanese. 在 is translated as 'in/at/on' which matches G translate. 上 is up/above/divine. Very often kanji are chosen for simplicity (easy to write), over exact translation.
jastako
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T14:55:13.713Z
Google Translate is going to give you an approximation of the language at best, not the real thing. The character 去 was **historically** used in a word meaning "to go", but now is uncommon for this purpose, and is instead found combined with other kanji in words like 去年 "last year", and 過去 "the past". It is used as the verb "to go" (pronounced qu4) in Chinese. Japanese does not use 在 in the context you specify either (but Chinese does.) In Japanese, it is used in words such as "existence" 存在 and "the present" 現在. And so on ...
Lou
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T14:57:43.470Z
So I can't answer your direct question, as I have not seen any instances of Japanese / Toki Pona inspired conlangs. If you were to embark upon the project yourself, I would advise you to study some Japanese directly first, and not rely on Translate for your sources of information, as you will almost certainly get it wrong if you do.
Lou
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-21T15:03:32.493Z
I use Jisho.org occasionally too although I don't know how reliable it is, & according to it, 在, 行 & 此 could be used for 'lon', 'tawa', & 'ni' (this/here) respectively, but not 去. https://jisho.org/search/%E5%9C%A8%E5%8E%BB%E8%A1%8C%E6%AD%A4
jastako
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-29T03:01:59.677Z
actually 在る(aru) means 'to exist' which is *part* of the meaning of 'lon' in toki pona which uses that character. 去る(saru) does mean *to leave* or *to go away* which again fits 'tawa' (go/move/motion). It's generally not possible to find a kanji that simultaneously represents every possible translation or meaning of a toki pona word, because they always have a few different but related meanings (pali means 'to do' or 'to make' as well as 'to work'), so it's often difficult to decide on a character.
jastako
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-29T17:18:05.800Z
It's unclear to me what you're asking. The short answer to "Has anyone come up with a 'Japanized' version of Toki Pona?" is "Not that I'm aware of." Though if you search the [Toki Pona subreddit for "Japanese"](https://www.reddit.com/r/tokipona/search?q=japanese&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all), there are clearly people who are interested in both Toki Pona and Japanese. If what you're really asking is "Can I make a Japanised version of Toki Pona" then the answer is "Sure". It's conlanging - you can do anything you want.
Lou
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-29T17:19:40.387Z
Both your original post and comments since display a lot of misunderstandings and misinformation about how Japanese works, but in some sense that doesn't matter. If you want to make a Japanese-inspired version of Toki Pona, you can lift kanji from words without caring about whether they're correct Japanese, because the whole point is that you're creating a new conlang which will function as you see fit. The conlang world is your oyster.
Lou
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-30T12:42:11.947Z
https://jisho.org/search/%E5%8E%BB%E3%82%8B%20%E5%9C%A8
jastako
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-18T14:13:04.100Z
This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but are you familiar with sitelen telo? https://i.sstatic.net/m1TtV.jpg
user3922
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-19T21:32:40.317Z
I have heard of sitelen telo, & I like it, particularly the fact that you can create compound characters, but the great thing about hanzi/kanji is that they can be typed. Sitelen telo has a font, but it's not the same.
jastako
<toki-pona>
Has anybody come up with a "Japanized" version of toki pona?
# Has anybody come up with a "Japanized" version of toki pona?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-09-21)

I saw a post on twitter about creating a "Japanized" version of toki pona. Has anyone done that? toki pona certainly seems to be influenced at least a little bit by Japanese anyway (word structure/particles). The poster suggested starting by substituting the vocabulary with the equivalent Japanese words, which would be a little difficult, because tp words can vary quite a bit in meaning so it's difficult to fit them into one word/kanji. Kanji are usually chosen with simplicity in mind first, over having the exact equivalent meaning. 'lon' for example can mean at/in/on, but also means true/real/alive. 在 is the standard kanji used. 'tawa' can be go/move (could be 行?), but also means for (as in 'for me/you'). Officially 去 is used. The word 'toki' could be 話 (hana, speak) or 語 (go, language) depending on the context, but generally 言(gen?) is used.(言良-good statement/quote 話良-good speech, & 語良-good language, would all normally just be written as 言良). Has anybody created a list of toki pona words with the equivalent Japanese words? I use the seperate kanji as well as unofficial words like te...to for surrounding quotes

**Tags:** toki-pona
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It sounds like you're confusing Japanese with Chinese. "去" does not mean "go/move" in Japanese (but it does mean "go" in Chinese.) 行く (iku) is "to go" in Japanese. And 在 is not used to mean "at/on/in" in Japanese (上 is "on", 中 is "in" depending on context, and "at" could be に also depending on context,) but it does mean "at" in Chinese.  
> **username_0**: Kanji selection is difficult because most words have a few different meanings. 去 is used for 'tawa' go/move as well as 'for' like "for me" & is translated as go in Chinese according to G translate & 'leaving' in Japanese. 在 is translated as 'in/at/on' which matches G translate. 上 is up/above/divine. Very often kanji are chosen for simplicity (easy to write), over exact translation.  
> **username_1**: Google Translate is going to give you an approximation of the language at best, not the real thing. The character 去 was **historically** used in a word meaning "to go", but now is uncommon for this purpose, and is instead found combined with other kanji in words like 去年 "last year", and 過去 "the past". It is used as the verb "to go" (pronounced qu4) in Chinese. Japanese does not use 在 in the context you specify either (but Chinese does.) In Japanese, it is used in words such as "existence" 存在 and "the present" 現在. And so on ...  
> **username_1**: So I can't answer your direct question, as I have not seen any instances of Japanese / Toki Pona inspired conlangs. If you were to embark upon the project yourself, I would advise you to study some Japanese directly first, and not rely on Translate for your sources of information, as you will almost certainly get it wrong if you do.  
> **username_0**: I use Jisho.org occasionally too although I don't know how reliable it is, & according to it, 在, 行 & 此 could be used for 'lon', 'tawa', & 'ni' (this/here) respectively, but not 去. https://jisho.org/search/%E5%9C%A8%E5%8E%BB%E8%A1%8C%E6%AD%A4  
> **username_0**: actually 在る(aru) means 'to exist' which is *part* of the meaning of 'lon' in toki pona which uses that character. 去る(saru) does mean *to leave* or *to go away* which again fits 'tawa' (go/move/motion). It's generally not possible to find a kanji that simultaneously represents every possible translation or meaning of a toki pona word, because they always have a few different but related meanings (pali means 'to do' or 'to make' as well as 'to work'), so it's often difficult to decide on a character.  
> **username_1**: It's unclear to me what you're asking. The short answer to "Has anyone come up with a 'Japanized' version of Toki Pona?" is "Not that I'm aware of." Though if you search the [Toki Pona subreddit for "Japanese"](https://www.reddit.com/r/tokipona/search?q=japanese&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all), there are clearly people who are interested in both Toki Pona and Japanese. If what you're really asking is "Can I make a Japanised version of Toki Pona" then the answer is "Sure". It's conlanging - you can do anything you want.  
> **username_1**: Both your original post and comments since display a lot of misunderstandings and misinformation about how Japanese works, but in some sense that doesn't matter. If you want to make a Japanese-inspired version of Toki Pona, you can lift kanji from words without caring about whether they're correct Japanese, because the whole point is that you're creating a new conlang which will function as you see fit. The conlang world is your oyster.  
> **username_0**: https://jisho.org/search/%E5%8E%BB%E3%82%8B%20%E5%9C%A8  
> **username_2**: This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but are you familiar with sitelen telo? https://i.sstatic.net/m1TtV.jpg  
> **username_0**: I have heard of sitelen telo, & I like it, particularly the fact that you can create compound characters, but the great thing about hanzi/kanji is that they can be typed. Sitelen telo has a font, but it's not the same.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-10-18. Score: 1

There's a list of Chinese symbols that can be used for toki pona words on the official toki pona website. I know I saw something on Reddit about a week or two ago that said that there was somebody trying to create a mapping system for kanji for toki pona, but he hasn't uploaded a finalised version from what I've seen.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: http://tokipona.net/tp/Compress.aspx has conversion to & from both Hanzi(Chinese) & Kanji(Japanese) as well a unicode character set. The word list also gives both the Hanzi & Kanji.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-04-16. Score: 0

<https://www.reddit.com/r/tokipona/comments/s518h8/proposed_unified_hanzikanji_orthography/?rdt=54364>

The “unified” is a good idea, so that more people can use it.
More specifically:

1. It should be classic or historical usage of kanji usage, which basically means we should focus on classic hanzi usage
2. Note that classic hanzi usage is different from today’s hanzi usage. This means we are not too much biased towards Chinese language, not today’s at least.
3. However, we should used the “simplified”, so that the system can be used by people from other areas. Effectively the system can be used as a practical browser or typing friendly option that is similar to emoji, but fits more serious occasions.


---

