Friday, August 31, 2018

"It" in Japanese - Pronoun

If you're looking for how to say "it" in Japanese, I've got some bad news for you: one of the things English has that Japanese doesn't have happens to be the pronoun "it." So there's no way for you say "it" in Japanese, as that word simply doesn't exist. The good news is: you don't need "it" in Japanese.

This happens because most of the time you need an explicit "it" in English, you can simply omit "it" and leave "it" implicit in Japanese.

メイド服・・・夢?やはり夢か
Manga: Kobayashi-san Chi no Meidoragon 小林さんちのメイドラゴン (Chapter 2, トールと出会い)
  • Context: Kobayashi 小林 sees a dragon girl in maid clothes.
  • meido fuku...
    メイド服・・・
    Maid clothes...
  • yume? yahari yume ka?
    夢?やはり夢か?
    [Is it a] dream? As I thought, [is it a] dream?

But let me explain more about each use of "it" in English and what's done in Japanese instead.
Thursday, August 30, 2018

zettai ryouiki 絶対領域

In Japanese, the term Zettai Ryouiki 絶対領域, or ZR, literally "Absolute Territory" in English, refers to the space of bare thighs between the skirt and above knee-length socks.

Yes, seriously. That's what Zettai Ryouiki means. It's an anime trope.

What is Zettai Ryouiki
Anime: Outbreak Company (Episode 4)
Sunday, August 19, 2018

ヶ - Small Ke ケ

In Japanese, the small katakana ke ケ, , is a bit different from the other small kana, in that it's not usually read ke, but instead as ka か, ga が, or even ko こ. Similar to how the small tsu isn't read as tsu つ.

For example, ni-ka-getsu 二ヶ月 is how you say "two months," as in counting the months. It's not read ni-ke-getsu despite having a ke in the middle.