I am attempting to combine 異能 (i nō - _supernatural power_ ) with 殊才 (koto sai
- _special talent_ ), with the finished phrase being written as 異能殊才.

With various engines (I'm RomajiDesu for this specific example), it lists the
Romaji as being 'i nō koto sai' (which looks correct and is what I would like
to use), but the English translation it presents is just ' _extraordinary
talent_ '.

Is this an accurate translation? And would 異能殊才 ' _extraordinary talent_ ' be
an accurate way to describe a special ability or power that a person has
(anything from a real-life person having a photographic memory to a fictional
character having a superpower, like the ability to fly or turn invisible)?

I would like to use 'i nō koto sai' as a very specific term for such a thing
in my writing (even though simpler and more common translations definitely
exist), but only if it IS an accurate translation and the context/meaning is
correct.
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2023-03-15T04:52:01.950
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2023-03-17T01:43:33.103
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question
translation words usage
Translating a combination of superpower/special talent - does 異能殊才 work?
Unfortunately 殊才 with the reading ことさい is nonsensical. I believe a more normal
term for a superpowered individual is simply 超能力者 or エスパー, but these are just
dictionary words.

As a meta point, you shouldn't rely on things like "RomajiDesu" or machine
translation in general to judge what is a correct reading or a correct
translation. They certainly won't give you meaningful results in case you're
coining new phrases.
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2023-03-15T05:22:51.203
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While 異能 is a widely recognized term among people who read manga and similar
media, 殊才 is not. How did you come across the word 殊才? If you simply connected
two kanji that seemed fitting to you, [you should avoid doing
so](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/66128/5010). Basically it would mean
nothing.

I have read hundreds of manga, but I have never come across the word 殊才, and
don't even know how to read it. As for its meaning, I can _guess_ that it
refers to some kind of special skill, but I cannot determine whether it
applies to someone like Shohei Ohtani, who excels in sports, or to someone
with supernatural abilities such as precognition or psychokinesis. The term
doesn't even exist in the first place, so I cannot determine what is correct,
nor can I determine how to translate it.

If you're referring to supernatural abilities such as telekinesis or
generating flames, simply use terms 超能力. If you mean a genius athlete or chess
player, use phrases like 特別な才能, 天才, etc. 異能 is a word that can potentially
refer to both, but in recent manga, it normally refers to supernatural ones.

As an exception, professional writers sometimes create entirely new words and
use them in titles. However, this is a highly creative and rare endeavor by
those who are intimately familiar with the Japanese language. Whether such a
new word is good or bad cannot be objectively discussed on a site like this.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-16T02:25:49.493
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answer