Friday, August 26, 2016

fujoshi - Meaning in Japanese - fudanshi, yume-joshi, hime-danshi

In Japanese, fujoshi 腐女子, meaning literally "rotten girl," refers to a girl that fantasizes about guys being in a homosexual relationship with other guys, specially shipping male characters with other male characters in manga and anime, writing gay fanfics, drawing gay doujinshi 同人誌, and fan art featuring them, and enjoying gay genres called BL (Boys' Love) and yaoi やおい / 801.

Koganuma Minori 古賀沼美埜里 holding a BL comic.
Character: Koganuma Minori 古賀沼美埜里
Anime: Outbreak Company (Episode 4)
Monday, August 22, 2016

boku

In Japanese, boku means multiple things. Normally, boku means "I" or "me," as a first person pronoun used mostly by boys. It can also mean "boy," as a way to call out a young boy. Originally, it referred to male servants. It's also spelled boku ボク and boku ぼく.

じゃあイカ姉ちゃん ボクに算数教えてよ! 別にいいでゲソよ
Manga: Shinryaku! Ika Musume 侵略!イカ娘 (Chapter 28, 勉強しなイカ?)

wareware 我々

In Japanese, wareware means "we," or "us." It's a plural reduplication of the first person pronoun ware. The word wareware tends to be used to refer to us as individuals members of a group, or of an organization.

  • Context: a wild ufo appears.
  • wareware wa uchuujin desu
    我々は宇宙人です
    We are aliens.
我々のボスがあなたの体に興味を持ったようです 俺オトコに興味ねーぞ・・・ いや違います先生
Manga: One Punch Man, Wanpanman ワンパンマン (Chapter 9)
  • Context: a caped baldy with extreme strength is targeted by an evil organization. He interrogates one the bad guys concerning why they're after him.
  • {wareware no bosu ga
    anata no karada ni
    kyoumi wo motta}
    you desu

    我々のボスがあなたの体に興味を持ったようです
    It seems {our boss had interest in your body}.
    • wareware no
      我々
      Our. In this case, the speaker is one of many members of an organization, and he's referring these members' boss.
  • ore, otoko ni kyoumi nee zo...
    俺オトコに興味ねー・・・
    I don't have interest in men...
  • iya, chigaimasu, sensei
    いや違います先生
    No, [you got it wrong], master.
    • They aren't "interested" as in "attracted," they are "interested" in why he's so physically powerful.

washi わし, 儂 - Meaning in Japanese

In Japanese, washi わし is a first person pronoun typically associated with old men, elders, like a white-haired king of a medieval fantasy country, or an equally ancient sorcerer.

It's also spelled washi ワシ, washi , or washi 私, the latter homonymously with watashi. Not to be confused with washi 鷲, which means "eagle," the animal.

Examples of washi わし, ワシ, 儂 being used in Japanese.
Manga: Taiho Shichau zo 逮捕しちゃうぞ (Chapter 22)
Manga: Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Ken'ichi 史上最強の弟子ケンイチ (Chapter 25)
Manga: Galaxy Angel (Chapter 3)
Manga: Seto no Hanayome 瀬戸の花嫁 (Chapter 1)
Manga: Doll-Kara, どるから (Chapter 1)

Own Name as First Person Pronoun

In Japanese, using your own name as first person pronoun is something that very young children do, and that some people in real life, and some anime characters, do in order to appears more childish, sillier, and cuter. Specially girls.

とったぁー!! よつばがとったセミだ!!
Manga: Yotsuba to! よつばと! (Chapter 6, よつばとせみとり)

ore

In Japanese, ore means "I" or "me." It's a masculine first person pronoun, used mostly by men, and the pronoun that most men use. It's considered rude and arrogant in respectful contexts, and typically avoided with honorific speech. It's also spelled ore オレ, ore おれ.

女の子が「俺」なんていけません!! おかーさん!!!ハルヒが汚い言葉を使うよゥーー!!! お母さん?誰? 俺かね・・・なんとなく
Manga: Ouran High School Host Club, Ouran Koukou Hosuto-Bu 桜蘭高校ホスト部 (Chapter 3)

First Person Pronouns

In Japanese, watashi, ore, boku, and various other words, all mean "I" or "me," that is, they're Japanese "first person pronouns," ichininshou daimeishi 一人称代名詞.

But why are there so many ways to say "I" and "me" in Japanese? What's the difference between them?

The basic gist is that some pronouns, like watashi, are used by women, while other pronouns, like ore and boku, are used by men, except that in business and formal contexts everybody uses watashi, except some men use boku or watakushi ワタクシ instead. It's complicated.

If you're learning Japanese and are unsure of what pronoun to use, just use watashi until you become sure.

あ・・・私 私? わたくし? いや 僕・・・ ええ・・・? 俺・・・?
Manga: Your name., Kimi no Na wa. 君の名は。 (Chapter 2)
Friday, August 12, 2016

Love - Suki, Ai, Koi 好き, 愛, 恋

To say "I love you" in Japanese it's easy: just say aishiteru 愛してる... or was it aishiteiru 愛している? I mean, "love" in Japanese is ai 愛, right? Or was it koi 恋? Wait. What's the difference between ai and koi? What about the word suki 好き? You can say you like someone in Japanese with that word too, right? What's the meaning of all this?

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

romaji ローマ字

If you've ever started learning Japanese or dealt with any Japanese words you might have heard about the mysterious romaji ローマ字. That thing which is... something. Some people can only read romaji, others don't like romaji, and you can't say you know Japanese if all you know is romaji. But what is romaji exactly?
Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Atsui, Atatakai, Samui, Tsumetai - Meaning in Japanese

Temperature often changes in anime. One day it's freezing cold, another it's burning hot. And everyone knows "cold" is samui 寒い in Japanese, right? Or was it tsumetai 冷たい? Anyway, "warm" is atsui 暑い... I mean, atatakai 温かい... I mean atsui 熱い, or was it atatakai 暖かい? What's the difference between these words in Japanese?

Hayai, Hayai, and Osoi 速い, 早い, 遅い

Two words that show up a lot in battle anime and manga are hayai 早い, hayai 速い, and osoi 遅い... wait, what? There are three of them! Let me say it again, this time without the kanji: hayai and osoi. These words are usually related to the characters' speed, but their meanings are more than just that.

Monday, August 8, 2016

dame 駄目, ダメ, だめ - Meaning in Japanese, Grammar, Examples of Usage

In Japanese, dame ダメ, also spelled dame 駄目, dame だめ, means a bunch of bad things. It can mean something is "bad," that it's "no good," "inadequate," "poor," "unfit;" that it's become "ruined," "spoiled;" that doing it is bad, that you shouldn't, "no;" that someone is bad at something, that their skills "suck;" that someone is a "failure," they're "useless;" and so on.

Asuna-san eigo dame nandesu nee
Manga: Mahou Sensei Negima! 魔法先生ネギま! (Chapter 2, ドッキリ図書室危機一髪!?)
Saturday, August 6, 2016

sharingan, byakugan, rinnegan 写輪眼, 白眼, 輪廻眼

If you have ever watched Naruto ナルト in your life or Naruto: Shippuden ナルト疾風伝, or if you've ever spoken to another anime fan in your life, chances are you know about characters with special eyes sharingan 写輪眼, byakugan 白眼 and rinnegan 輪廻眼 eyes. But what do these words mean in Japanese, exactly?

Well, prepare to be disappointed. As all names in Japanese, they sound cool when they are in a language you don't understand and lame otherwise.

anime - Terminology

In Japanese, anime アニメ means "animation," from the katakanization animeeshon アニメーション, as in cartoons that move around. Any animated drawing is an anime. In English, anime refers to Japanese animation, just like manga 漫画 refers to Japanese comics.

Parts of an anime episode: at start, "the story [so far] (up until the last episode," zenkai made no arasuji 前回までのあらすじ; then the cold open, in Japanese avant-title アバントタイトル; the intro or OP; which ends in the "sponsor," teikyou 提供; after the OP, the A Part Aパート; a commercial break, CM; before and after the commercial break, the "eyecatch," アイキャッチ; then the B Part Bパート; the ED with the credits; an after-credits scene, called a C Part Cパート in Japanese; and the "next episode preview," jikai yokoku 次回予告.

The Japanese Alphabet

In Japanese, there's no such thing as an "alphabet," but there's something—actually two things—very similar to it, plus another thing that's completely different. I'm talking about kana (that's hiragana and katakana), plus the kanji.

Diagram of the Japanese alphabets: hiragana, katakana, kanji, with romaji, furigana, and okurigana.
  • anime ga suki da
    アニメが好きだ
    Anime is liked. (literally.)
    [I] like anime.

In this article, I'm going to explain how this Japanese "alphabet" works, that is: how are words written in Japanese and how to read Japanese.
Thursday, August 4, 2016

senpai - Meaning in Japanese

In Japanese, senpai 先輩 means somebody's "senior." That is, someone who has been in an organization for longer than you have. This organization can be a school or school club with students, a workplace with employees and salaryman, etc. Sometimes it can refer to someone who has been doing an activity, like a sport, for longer than you have.

The opposite of senpai would be kouhai 後輩, "junior." For every senpai, there's a kouhai, and vice-versa. Someone who is neither a junior nor a senior is a douhai 同輩. These words are also romanized sempai, kōhai, and dōhai.

後わからないことあったら先輩に聞いてくれ。 先輩って?
Manga: Mob Psycho 100, Mobu Saiko Hyaku モブサイコ100 (Chapter 92, 将来を考える)