What is tram in Japanese?

[Densha]

A weird question I know, but I just want to get it clear. You have "densha/ressha" that means train (I know there's a difference but not exactly what), then you have "chikatetsu" for subway. But what is/is there any word for tram in Japanese?

[bikkuri bahn]

The most proper term is "romen densha" (路面電車), literally "street surface electric railcar".  If the operation is run by the municipality it's called the "shiden" (市電) or "city electric car".  Up here in Sapporo the streetcar/tram is still called "densha" by some, as at one time the conventional railways (JNR) were all steam powered and the only electric railways were the streetcars or private railways- and indeed some people still call JR trains "kisha" ( [steam]loco-hauled trains) instead of the almost universal term for trains in Japan, "densha".

 

*to add: the Arakawa Line in Tokyo is called the "toden" (都電) as Tokyo is a "To"(都- capital district), not a regular city. The full name of the once extensive Tokyo tram system was Tokyo-to Densha.

[Densha]

Interesting, but while we're at it, what does "ressha" exactly mean?

 

Someone told me that you can also use "toramu" (トラム), but I found that it sounded so weird. I have to add that we were talking about how to call the local tram network over here, but as it is run by the municipality calling it "shiden" or just "romen densha" would be appropriate too, am I right?

[JR 500系]

Interesting, but while we're at it, what does "ressha" exactly mean?

 

 

Well, i'm not really the Jap guru, but i assume ressha is '列車'. While put into Chinese, it simply means 'train', or a 'train car' to be exact. Chinese uses 列車 to represent trains widely, so i guess that's what it means to the Japanese too, much similarly to Shinkansen as in 新幹線...

 

On a side track note, i do realise with some knowledge of the chinese language, one can actually move around Japan easier, since the Kranji used in Japanese has almost if not totally identical to the Chinese language meanings, like 食べる which means eat in Jap while the '食' means eat in Chinese, 飲む which means drink in Jap while the 飲 means drink in Chinese, 酸っぱい which means sour in Jap while the 酸 means sour in Chinese and so on... 

[bikkuri bahn]

Yes, ressha (列車) means "train", a very general term so quite useful.  The character "re" (列) has a meaning "in line or sequence" so combined with the term for vehicle "sha" (車) [you can see the character mimics a cart] you naturally have a train.

[miyakoji]

Likewise, an archipelago is rettou 列島, a string/chain of islands.  The word for railcar is sharyou 車両, sometimes written 車輌 as in the case of Nippon Sharyo*, sha 車 being car or vehicle and ryou 両 being literally a pair, maybe they mean the trucks, I don't know.  That character is also used as the counter for train cars, like 8-car formation, 8両編成, hachi ryou hensei.

 

*transliteration is a little inconsistent here, the word really has a u う sound at the end, although they don't write it when writing their name in English.  On wikipedia they like to write such words with a macron, like sharyō.  I'd guess the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology would have the final say in this, but I don't know what the rule is, or if they have one

[Densha]

I once saw a video in which the "talking" railway crossing called the passing by private railway train differently from the JR train. One was called "densha'' and the other "ressha". I can't remember what word was said for what train passing by though.

[ToniBabelony]

*transliteration is a little inconsistent here, the word really has a u う sound at the end, although they don't write it when writing their name in English.  On wikipedia they like to write such words with a macron, like sharyō.  I'd guess the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology would have the final say in this, but I don't know what the rule is, or if they have one

 

Transcription in Japanese (et vice versa) is a disaster... Foreigners (and texts for foreigners who have no understanding of kana/kanji) generally use the Hepburn system, but the Japanese government dictates the Kunrei-shiki... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunrei-shiki_romanization There are some other forms, for example: I've learned to work with the Yale transcription, but that form is horrible and should be shot without a trial.

 

P.s. before anyone mentions Enoden: it's a street running railway. Not a tram. It's a train with a very long railway crossing with a different legal status.

[Densha]

I know both Hepburn and Kunrei-shiki, at least I can pronounce most of it correctly I think. There are only slight differences between them so it's not really difficult. I rather having "sharyou" than "sharyō", because then you only have letters and that's much easier, and writing only "sharyo" would result in me thinking it doesn't have a long "o". I have seen on the internet that people (and maybe even myself) use both romanizations mixed as they (and I) don't remember the exact differences when writing romaji.

[bikkuri bahn]

I once saw a video in which the "talking" railway crossing called the passing by private railway train differently from the JR train. One was called "densha'' and the other "ressha". I can't remember what word was said for what train passing by though.

 

Likely the term "densha" was for the private railway, and the term "ressha" was for JR.  This is a legacy of the widespread electrified private railways in the rural districts, when JNR was still primarily operating steam-hauled trains in those same hinterlands.