Mahjong related terms

[hidarikiki]

Hello!
I'm translating the Mahjong Arc of Kaiji so I need to know the meaning of a few Mahjong related terms I found. I'm a novice about this beautiful but complex game, so I'm scared of misunderstanding something. Please, Mahjong veterans, help me

1) 第一打 is the first round?
2) リーチ一発 meaning "first turn win?" Can be translated as "declare Riichi on the very first turn"?
3) 待ち means wait, so it's the game stage when a player have already chosen the tiles and he's waiting for the opponent's move?
4) マンズ待ち is something like "waiting for the Manzu". Does it make any sense? What is マンズ, a type of tile?
5) 安牌 is used to indicate the safe tiles, right?
6) 打つ and 打ち込む means "to throw", so are synonyms of 捨てる and 切る, "discard"?
7) 河底ロン is read "Houtei Ron", but there is any translation for it?
8) 持つ is the term for "to draw"?
9) 通し合う　has a related Mahjong meaning?
10) 牌 is "tile"? So, 手牌 could be generically translated as "hand", referred to the player's hand (the tiles he have at the moment)? Or maybe 手牌 is a tile piece? I thought 手牌 was a synonym of 手, but maybe it means "Tenpai tiles", the tiles you have in Tenpai? Or is that only tile you need to reach Tenpai?

Sorry if I'm asking so many questions. Thank you so much in advance!;-)

[TalnSG]

You already know far more than me, so I am looking forward to the answers you get.

[KyleGoetz]

I've only ever played mahjong once. Sorry.

[chryuop]

I used to play Mahjong when i was in Italy. I would go around Italy to take part to turnment, but unfortunately we used Italian terminology...
the only thing we used to say was Richi. Don't know if you know the game, but richi is a condition in which you state that you need only one last tile to win. Declaring richi will give you more points (won't enter into points, because I am sure every country has its own), but it gets you stuck. You can no longer change game, just wait for that tile and that's it (that's why you cannot declare richi when you have more than one tile to tho win...like for example 2 pairs and waiting for one of the 2 tiles to make a 3 of a kind to win). Gaining the points for richi can cost you points as well because if you draw a tile that gives you point you have to discard it....
sorry...I got carried away.

Anyway, talking to the president of the Italian Federation, he told me that MahJong is played differently in the world. He told me that in Italy was brought by Chinese sailors, but that if I was lucky to ever play with Chinese people (they usually play it secretly and gambling in my country) they would play it differently.

[hidarikiki]

Thanks for your contribute, chryuop!
The funny thing is that I'm Italian, but I need to know the Japanese rules and terminology in order to translate the manga
Anyway, thank you again! Your explanation about Riichi was very helpful

[siokan]

The mah-jong that Kaiji is doing is a special rule.
Special rule only in manga.

[hidarikiki]

Dear Siokan,
yep, I know. Mahjong played in Kaiji is a special variation, but I think these terms are universal.
At least I hope so

[chryuop]

Well if you are talking about the manga maybe try to place the picture of the hand they show when they use terminology, maybe I could guess it.

Even though they follow special rules I assume the way of playing is similar. If you are Italian it might help you saying that you close the round with a combination similar to "ramino" or "scala 40". In Italy it is very much played in "Emilia" and "Lombardia"...you might look into it, it is a very addictive game hee hee.

Here you can find the most common rule found internationally MahJong Rule in Italian
Here are some variations of the game...so that you can see how different mahjong can be (and these are only some of the official ones)

[yasuto]

Hello this is my first post here. I am Japanese and was used to play mah-jong so hope my answer might help .

1) 第一打 is the first round?
No. the first throw of the game to be exact.
2) リーチ一発 meaning "first turn win?" Can be translated as "declare Riichi on the very first turn"?
No. リーチ一発 means a hand that the player wins the game within the first round after declaring Riichi that gives extra points to the player. "Declare Riichi on the very first turn"? is another hand called "double Riichi".
3) 待ち means wait, so it's the game stage when a player have already chosen the tiles and he's waiting for the opponent's move?
Yes.
4) マンズ待ち is something like "waiting for the Manzu". Does it make any sense? What is マンズ, a type of tile?
Yes. Manzu is a kind of suits with Chinese characters on it.
5) 安牌 is used to indicate the safe tiles, right?
Yes.
6) 打つ and 打ち込む means "to throw", so are synonyms of 捨てる and 切る, "discard"?
打つ, 捨てる and 切る all means simply "to throw" or "discard", but 打ち込む means to discard a tile that is picked up by other player to win the game so the word implies "to throw a wrong tile".
7) 河底ロン is read "Houtei Ron", but there is any translation for it?
河底ロン means wining by picking up the very last tile of the game (either from the pile or the discarded tiles).
8) 持つ is the term for "to draw"?
No. 持つ means to keep it within your hand (tiles) in this context.
9) 通し合う　has a related Mahjong meaning?
Yes. 通し合う means multiple players to cheat others by exchanging signals.
10) 牌 is "tile"? So, 手牌 could be generically translated as "hand", referred to the player's hand (the tiles he have at the moment)? Or maybe 手牌 is a tile piece? I thought 手牌 was a synonym of 手, but maybe it means "Tenpai tiles", the tiles you have in Tenpai? Or is that only tile you need to reach Tenpai?
手牌 simply means the tiles he has at the moment.

[hidarikiki]

やすとさん、心からありがとうございました（感涙）
ってういか、この完璧すぎる説明のおかげでやっと全部 分かりましたね。
あぁ、嬉しいです～麻雀用語は今更もう秘密がない！

・・・だけど、麻雀の遊び方はまだ不思議です（笑）