Hi everyone! I've finally got this week's article. (Is anyone actually reading this? Please comment if you are!) We'll be talking about common Japanese words this time. Let's start with the title of the blog. "Nihongo" is Japanese for... well, Japanese. (Ninhon is Japanese for Japan)
Anime, as you may have figured out, is also a Japanese word. Literally, it means a cartoon, and in Japan, refers to ANY cartoon. (inclusing those brought in from America, i.e. Batman, Tom and Jerry, etc.) In America, anime means Japanese cartoon.
Manga is another term most anime fans know, and it roughly means comic. (literally, it's something like "random imaginative drawings") So, manga is a comic book. (the more accurate term is "graphic novel", though)
Now, some common Japanese words you will hear watching Japanese anime:
Baka--Idiot, fool, moron, etc.
Chiksho--Darn!
Boku/Watashi--I, me (Boku is for guys, watashi for girls.)
Nani?--What?
Nan desu ka?--What is it?
Sugoi!--Cool/Awesome/Wow
Kawaii!--Cute/Cool!
Hai--Yes/Right
Iie--No (sounds something like "ee-eh")
Chibi--Pipsqueak/small (you'll hear that one in FMA a lot)
Honorifics
Honorifics are added to the end of names, and mean different things.
-dono
Used in feudal times, it's derived from the word for "lord". Mostly you'll hear this in period pieces like Rurouni Kenshin.
-sama
One level higher than -san, this denotes great respect.
-san
The all-purpose honorific. Mr., Mrs., Ms., etc.
-kun
What you would use to refer to a male friend of similar age.
-chan
Like -kun, only for girls and small children.
These honorifics can be used with or without a name.
-sensei
Master, teacher, etc. You would call anyone who is an expert in their field, "sensei". (example, "Miyazaki-sensei".)
-senpai
Upperclassman.
-kohai
Underclassman.
-bozu
Kid, squirt, etc. Not very flattering.
-( )lack of honorific
In textbooks, no honorific means one of two things. Either you really really like someone (or know them very well, like childhood friends) or you really DON'T like them. But, you'll find that anime characters don't always follow this rule. Anyone with even a slightly rude speech pattern will slack off in the honorific department.
Family
Older Brother/Sister/Cousin--Ni
Mother/Aunt/anyone in your mother's generation--Ka
Father/Uncle/anyone in your father's generation--Ji
Grandmother--Kaa
Grandfather--Jii
After you get the base word, you need to add an honorific. 95% of honorifics used on
family names are either "san" or "chan". Occasionally, if a younger sibling really looks up to an older sibling, they'll use "sama". But that's pretty rare.
So, some examples...
Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) says "ni-san" to his older brother Ed. Al also calls Scar, "Scar-san". Ed's more rude, and doesn't use honorifics for anyone, as far I know.
Shizuka Kawai (Yugioh) says "oni-chan" to her older brother, Katsuya Jounouchi.
Kagura (Fruits Basket) says "Shigure-ni" to her older cousin, Shigure.
Kisa (Fruits Basket) says "oni-chan" to Tohru, who has no relation to her, but Kisa really looks up to Tohru.
Yuki (Fruits Basket) calls his older brother, Ayame, "ni-san".
Shigure (and most of the Sohma family) calls Ritsuka "Rit-chan". (Tohru mistunderstands that Rit-chan is a nickname and calls him "Ritchan-san".)
(since Fruits Basket has a large complex family AND characters that are polite enough to reguarly use honorifics, there's lots of good examples there.)
Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin) calls everyone "-dono" (Kaorou-dono, Megumi-dono, etc.) because he's really polite, and it takes place in 1876.
Kaoru (Rurouni Kenshin) says "Megumi-san" to Megumi, even though she doesn't like her that much.
There is one instance that is very different from this format, from a very popular anime. Karin from Bleach refers to her older brother, Ichigo, as "Ichi-ni". "Ichi", while being part of his name, also means "one" or "first" and I think "protector".
So there's a basic rundown of honorifics for you. Questions, comments, suggestions, random stuff, whatever, put it in the comments. Till next time! ^_^
No comments:
Post a Comment