jinian | home for birdgeekery (Reply)

rachelmanija have been talking about this manga and anime called Bleach, which I now totally want to watch, but there is a small bird in the ointment. Specifically, a bird in episode 4 (and 5?) is called inko in the episode title and possibly in the dialogue. Inko has been translated as "parakeet" but the drawing is definitely a cockatiel. (Wikipedia and others agree, though they do not visibly obsess as I do.) Here are salient points from my investigation into the matter:

My preliminary analysis of terms chez the gracious rilina

OMG cute crocheted inko -- and aha, specifically "parakeet" seems to be sekiseiinko

Overall you get extreme bird cuteness if you search Google images for okameinko or sekiseiinko, though in the latter case it wants to know if you mean the Biteycat

Others have noticed the issue, and "The episode title for episode 4 is: 第4話　「呪いのインコ」."

Lovebirds are botan'inko, and galahs are momoiroinko (momoiro is pink like peach blossoms, of course)

Okay, it looks like inko is a general term for parrotlike birds, and cockatoos are oumu-- cockatiels came down in a "like parrots" category rather than English's "like cockatoos" category, which I actually agree with as they are HYPER

Cockatoos are also sometimes batan and hey, is that hagoromo the same as celestial-maiden robes? I have got to take a real Japanese class.

Since bed would be a good idea, I shall conclude by saying that ideally translators would know inko was being used generally and also know that English doesn't really have a parallel term (and that it'd be awkward as well as imperfectly correct to have the characters talk about this "psittacine"). This strengthens my case that official translators should watch all available fansubs before finalizing their release; apparently at least some fansubbers translated inko as "cockatiel" in this case.