Using the word "kendoka"

[blur]

I was wondering about the use of the word, "kendoka" recently.

For example, it seems grammatically OK to say, "I'm a Kendoka" but also to say, "We're all Kendoka". In other words, there doesn't seem to be a plural of the word?

Is this right? Or am I misusing the word in relation to its singular use, or its plural use?

Cheers,
Rob

[smith]

Some Japanese words pluralise in English more easily than others, e.g. shinais doesn't sound as naff as kendokas. So really it's personal preference. However Japanese doesn't indicate the plural with the addition of a suffix on the end of the noun itself as in English. So in English this means it's not incorrect to say one kendoka, three kendoka, five shinai, fifty bogu, etc. As in Japanese you can rely on context and the addition of counters to convey the plural.

[Inouye02]

try using kenshi's ..

[blur]

Originally posted by smith
Some Japanese words pluralise in English more easily than others, e.g. shinais doesn't sound as naff as kendokas. So really it's personal preference. However Japanese doesn't indicate the plural with the addition of a suffix on the end of the noun itself as in English. So in English this means it's not incorrect to say one kendoka, three kendoka, five shinai, fifty bogu, etc. As in Japanese you can rely on context and the addition of counters to convey the plural.

Cool - thanks for the clarification :)