I've noticed the [animation
series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spice_and_Wolf) named 狼と香辛料, or "Ookami
to Koushinryou", is sometimes referred to as "Spice and Wolf" and sometimes as
"Wolf and Spice". Now, I'm no expert in Japenese reading order, but I do
remember that it's basically the reverse of English; and that "to" means
"and", and "Ookami" means "wolf". That should imply the correct reading order
is "Spice and Wolf" - but is it actually more symmetric and can be read both
ways?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T15:42:03.483
48072
2017-06-06T13:08:57.297
22420
question
grammar reading-comprehension
Reading order: "Wolf and Spice" or "Spice and Wolf"?
It's not always backwards, though it is quite often. Wolf and Spice is usually
what you would encounter in translation because it follows the order in which
it was listed. Likewise, you would say the phrase "cats and dogs" as 猫と犬。You
could reverse the order in English, and it would be reversed in Japanese as
well.

However, this appears to be an exception since when I looked up the series on
amazon I found [this.](https://www.amazon.co.jp/Spice-Wolf-Vol-Isuna-
Hasekura/dp/0759531048)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T16:08:36.097
48073
2017-06-05T23:38:51.707
2017-06-05T23:38:51.707
22352
22352
48072
answer
The idea that

> [Japanese] is basically the reverse of English

is mistaken on this point.

Lists in the Japanese language function exactly like their English
counterparts. i.e., if a Japanese speaker says, 大きい方から読みます (I am going to read
from the largest to the smallest), they don't then say 1,2,3,4,5; they say
5,4,3,2,1 -- just like we would in English.

What might lead to the misunderstanding is that (as an oversimplification), a
Japanese sentence is ordered SOV (subject object verb) whereas an English
sentence is ordered SVO (subject verb object). But this is also true of
Classical Latin
(<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject%E2%80%93object%E2%80%93verb#Latin>)...

Might a translator reverse the order of the items in 狼と香辛料?

Sure, because that's not exactly an _ordered list_ , but this implies nothing
about the sequence in which a Japanese speaker would think of the terms.
There's no linguistic reason whatsoever to do so; it's merely a stylistic
choice.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-06T01:19:42.757
48079
2017-06-06T09:16:02.920
2017-06-06T09:16:02.920
9831
4091
48072
answer
> 狼と香辛料 "Ookami to Koushinryou"  
>  香辛料と狼 "Koushinryou to Ookami"  
>  "Koushinryou" means "spice", "to" means "and", and "Ookami" means "wolf"

I'm sorry I misunderstood the fact that **狼と香辛料 _Ōkami to Kōshinryō_** is
originally a Japanese light novel series written in Japanese, and later, Yen
Press licensed the light novels and is releasing them in English in North
America by the title of **_Spice and Wolf_**.

> Now, I'm no expert in Japanese reading order, but I do remember that it's
> basically the reverse of English; ...

It is your misunderstanding. Of course, there are always exceptions, but
basically the order of words including the title of the light novel is the
same in Japanese as in English.  
If "Spice and Wolf" is better than "Wolf and Spice" in English, the reason may
possibly lie in English language, not in Japanese.  
So, the reason why Yen Press translated the title **狼と香辛料** into **_Spice and
Wolf_** seems to be off-topic for Japanese learners.

If I think about the reason why the author of the original light novel titled
it 狼と香辛料 not 香辛料と狼 is that the former one might be superior to the latter one
from the standpoint of **beauty** when the title is written or the **tone** in
the pronunciation.

As for the beauty of the placement of the combination of _kanji_ s and a
_hiragana_ or the tone in the pronunciation of the title, it depends greatly
on the **aesthetic sense** of each individual, and I think the author's
aesthetic sense chose the order of the words as it shows.

I could guess another reason for the order of the Japanese title 狼と香辛料.  
We are familiar with **狼と赤｛あか｝ずきん** or **狼と赤ずきんちゃん** or simply 赤ずきん, which is
"Little Red Riding Hood", or "Little Red Ridinghood", also known as "Little
Red Cap" or simply "Red Riding Hood", that is a European fairy tale about a
young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. So the sound of **狼と〇〇〇** is a very familiar
word order for us Japanese. I think the word order also affected the author
when he thought about the title of his new novel.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GZHdS.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GZHdS.jpg)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-06T03:37:54.467
48083
2017-06-06T13:08:57.297
2017-06-06T13:08:57.297
20624
20624
48072
answer