Help please! With the difference between these two kanjis

[Brayan3b]

Hi!

I'm having some trouble figuring up which can be the difference between these two kanji for the words "defend" and "protect".

This is for "defend":

This is for "protect":

So, what is the actual meaning for each word?

 

[Mike Cash]

The first is the sort of defending a lawyer does. The second is the sort of protecting a layer of paint does or that a CPS worker does for a child.

 

[nekojita]

Those sorts of sites (with a billion "kanji tattoo designs" on) are always awful. I went to the website those images are from and it's particularly bad. Be glad you asked (I hope) before getting anything tattooed on you.

Bonus (?) points for:
writing all katakana words vertically but with horizontal ー in.
"Diva" translated as オペラの女性歌手
"Forgive me" as 私を許したまえ
"Good" as 達人
"Snake" as 振動

 

[Brayan3b]

The first is the sort of defending a lawyer does. The second is the sort of protecting a layer of paint does or that a CPS worker does for a child.

Thank you Mike, that really helped.

 

[Brayan3b]

Those sorts of sites (with a billion "kanji tattoo designs" on) are always awful. I went to the website those images are from and it's particularly bad. Be glad you asked (I hope) before getting anything tattooed on you.

Bonus (?) points for:
writing all katakana words vertically but with horizontal ー in.
"Diva" translated as オペラの女性歌手
"Forgive me" as 私を許したまえ
"Good" as 達人
"Snake" as 振動

nekojita, thank you for the warning . Absolutely, I wouldn't tattoo anything on me without being completely sure I'm doing it right.

You are right, I'm getting a tattoo. What I'm trying to find using this word "protector", is a behavior that I've always had. I don't know if it is because I'm the oldest brother, someone who eventually end up in the lead. It's in my nature. I love protecting the weakest, being the first to get hurt before anyone has to.

I want it in Japanese because I've learned so much from this oriental culture and I rather to use kanji because it is my favorite.

Any help? I'd really appreciate it.

 

[Mike Cash]

"Protect" and "protector" would be different. Actually, what you looked up were the noun forms: defense and protection.

When you want tattoo advice, always be very precise about exactly what you want to say so people can tell whether you intend a noun, verb, etc as there are different forms in Japanese for words which are identical in English.

 

[nekojita]

守護者, while it looks like a RPG class to me, is maybe the closest thing (守護 is also used when translating western concepts such as "guardian angel" or "patron saint"). If you really must do this, try to find a tattoo artist who knows the language or get someone to do a proper calligraphic design for you, rather than using some ugly computer font.

I have looked at Japanese tattoo sites out of curiosity before and even Japanese people who are into tattoos don't really do "kanji tattoos" that much. They do use a lot of random Sanskrit and, of course, English. Everything is exotic to somebody, somewhere.

In fact, if you google 漢字 and 刺青 you will probably first get a bunch of articles about foreigners and kanji tattoos with accompanying rather caustic commentary.

 

[Brayan3b]

"Protect" and "protector" would be different. Actually, what you looked up were the noun forms: defense and protection.

When you want tattoo advice, always be very precise about exactly what you want to say so people can tell whether you intend a noun, verb, etc as there are different forms in Japanese for words which are identical in English.

Thanks! Excellent for the advice. Absolutely, I just realized that.

守護者, while it looks like a RPG class to me, is maybe the closest thing (守護 is also used when translating western concepts such as "guardian angel" or "patron saint"). If you really must do this, try to find a tattoo artist who knows the language or get someone to do a proper calligraphic design for you, rather than using some ugly computer font.

I have looked at Japanese tattoo sites out of curiosity before and even Japanese people who are into tattoos don't really do "kanji tattoos" that much. They do use a lot of random Sanskrit and, of course, English. Everything is exotic to somebody, somewhere.

In fact, if you google 漢字 and 刺青 you will probably first get a bunch of articles about foreigners and kanji tattoos with accompanying rather caustic commentary.

That's awesome! a couple of years ago, a Japanese teacher my sister had wrote down this (守護者) for me. But with the web tattoo sites I started to get confused and she is back in Japan now. Really glad this forum exists.

Absolutely, I'm aware that not everybody is capable to write kanjis correctly. But I'm pretty sure I'll get the design.

And yeah, hahaha! you're totally right about the exotic things for some people, based on their world location. That's a pretty funny situation for me.

Thank you guys again!