Kawaii, Kiree, Utsukushii ?

Minasan konnichiwa!

I received a question from a reader.
Q: What are the differences between: Kawaii, Kiree and Utsukushii ?

All are positive adjectives to show compliment for someone’s appearance especially for women and objects.

Kawaii means cute, and can be used for both toddlers (girl or boy) and good-looking young adults.

Nowadays, kawaii is also used to describe a guy with a baby face. Like you see below:

You can call him “ikemen” –abbreviation for Iketeru men. -Iketeru is a slang and means, cool. So Iketeru + men = Ikemen.
(good/cool looking guy) So, this photo, Koike Teppei is known as "Kawaii Ikemen".
(As a matter of fact, I like this type of guys :p)

On the other hand, Kiree is normally meant to depict a woman’s beauty.

However, nowadays there are some Kiree na otoko (beautiful guy) like Gackt.
So he is a "kiree na Ikemen" -beautiful looking guy.



By the way, Kiree can also be used for describing things or cleanliness.

Lastly, Utsukushii has a matured, decent and gorgeous image, like you see in this image:
“berusaiyu no bara” -it's a well-know comic story for girls in Japan.
Oh well, Gackt can be Utsukushii as well.



If you have any question about usage of Japanese language, please ask me :) I'd like to share with everyone in this blog.

Chikan ni Chuui! -Japanese Signboards(3)

Mina-san, konnichiwa!

This is the latest in my series about Japanese signboards. Until now we’ve looked at giant moving crabs and manga cafés… Fun things.

But some signboards are about really serious things. (Though they still make me laugh!) Have a look at this one. I found it on a station platform.



The larger letters down the right say Chikan ni Chui, which means

“WATCH OUT FOR PERVERTS!””

The word in red is chikan, which means a guy who gropes at women in trains. It has been a social problem since long time ago in Japan.

These guys cause a lot of problems on trains and create misery for women traveling to work. The fact that the trains are packed makes it easier for the chikan and harder to know which guy did it…How to watch them out then !?

Therefore, we have trains with “Ladies Only” carriages during rush hours (女性専用車両　-> http://learnjapanese123.com/blog/?p=145 as a way of beating the problem.

The rest of the message reads Fushinsha wo mitara 110-ban – “Dial 110 (police) if you see anyone suspicious”.

We girls have got to stand up to chikan. It’s dirty and insulting. Chikan ni chuui!

–Kazue

Japanese Language Tips: 3 Common Mistakes amongst Foreigners

Minasan konnichiwa!

As a Japanese teacher myself, I find some common mistakes amongst learners of Japanese due to the culture difference behind the language. So today, I'd like to discuss 3 common mistakes.

Sayoonara :“I won’t see you again!” -– said by a souvenir shop keeper

You probably learnt “goodbye” as Sayoonara in Japanese. Yes, that’s how we (Japanese people) learnt it at school and that’s why your Japanese teacher taught you this way.

However, in the real world (outside school), we rarely use “sayoonara” amongst ourselves. Even when we do, it is used with different meanings in different contexts. Sayoonara is used in farewell or breaking up situations. Especially in the latter case, it means “goodbye forever”. Therefore, if you’re a shop clerk, don’t say “sayoonara” to your customers, but “arigatoo gozaimashita” (Thank you very much). Otherwise, you might end up in losing your regulars!

Watashi no nihongo wa warui desu :“My Japanese is vicious” – said by a student



A common tendency is to simply translate our native language. In this case, the student probably wanted to say “My Japanese is bad”. Yes, warui means bad, but in a moralistic way. Therefore, in the situation “He has a fault” or “She is wrong”, we can say “kare/kanojo ga warui desu”. However, your Japanese cannot be moralistically bad! If you want to say “My Japanese is bad/not good”, you need to say it another way, like “I’m not good at Japanese”. So in Japanese, say “Watashi wa nihongo ga heta desu”. (I hope you won’t have to say that though!)

Anata mo genki desu ka? :“Hey stranger, are you fine too?” – said by a close friend



Even some Japanese teachers teach “you” as “anata”. However, the usage of “anata” is different from that of “you” in English. We hardly ever call our friends “anata”, except jokingly. We use the person’s name. (For example, Kazue mo genki? Or Tanaka-san mo 0-genki desu ka?) Japanese love to be called by name; we feel a bit sad when we’re called “anata”, because we each have our unique name.

Hope it's all clear. :) but don't worry making mistakes! By making mistakes, I can notice and correct them.
I made a lot of mistakes in English too :P (and still... maybe forever!?)

I'll update once I find some more. Jaa mata ne!

七夕: The Story of Tanabata

7月7日、今日は七夕です。kyoo wa tanabata desu!
July 7th is the day of the Tanabata Festival.

I remember that I had lots of fun in Tanabata festivals in elementary school.　We wrote our wishes on strips of paper called tanzaku, which we tied to bamboo branches.

Actually, Tanabata is based on a Chinese legend about a princess and a cowherd who fell in love. They are symbolized by the stars Altair and Vega that only cross paths once a year – on July 7th!

Some people say Tanabata is a mixture of ancient Japanese and Chinese legends. ‘Tanabata’ means ‘cloth of the loom’ and has nothing to do with the letters 七夕 (Qi Xi in Chinese, Chilseok in Korean), which mean ‘Night of the Sevens’.

We even have a Tanabata song in Japan:)

Sasanoha sarasara

Nokiba ni yureru

Ohoshisama kirakira

Kin gin sunago

Bamboo leaves rustle

Quivering at the eaves

Stars glitter

Gold and silver sands

Goshiki no tanzaku

Watashi ga kaita

Ohoshisama kirakira

Sora kara miteru

Strips of paper with five colors

I wrote them

Stars glitter

Look down from the above

Let's look up the sky and enjoy the Tanabata night! :)

Japanese Language Tips: “ごろ:goro”

Minasan Konnichiwa!



This week’s ‘Japanese language tip’ is about goro – meaning “about”!

Have you noticed Japanese people being deliberately vague? They think it’s more polite to express themselves vaguely rather than clearly and directly. Here’s a good example when talking about the time.

A: Nan-ji goro ikimasu ka?

B: Hachi-ji goro ikimasu.

---

A: What time will you go?

B: At 8 o’clock.

Hachi-ji goro actually means “About eight o’clock”, but don’t be deceived! People use goro even when they mean the exact time. And if you’ve been invited to a friend’s house at hachi-ji goro – don’t be late! In Japan, you’re usually expected to turn up on time.

–Of course, that doesn’t apply to boys meeting their girlfriends for a date…boys cannot be late and should arrive even earlier (my opinion, hahaha).

And please note if it’s a business meeting, you’re expected to turn up five to ten minutes early!!
So ki o tsukete! (be careful!)



Mata ne!

–Kazue

なっとう Nattō

Minasan konnichiwa!

I’m going to talk about Japanese food today.
Not all that stuff everyone loves – tempura, sushi, raamen, gyōza, (yum!) – but the food foreigners (and some Japanese) just can’t get used to!
Let’s start with this:

Nattō - one of my favorite Japanese food :)





Oh no! Some people are already turning away in disgust! But wait – nattō is really delicious when you get used to it! Really – hontō da yo!

Nattō is just fermented soybeans. The fermenting process creates this sticky slime that holds the whole thing together and gets everywhere! Just the sight of that puts most foreigners off!

But once you’ve tried it a few times (and got used to the smell – oh, I forgot to mention that!) you might just get hooked.

Best way of eating? Just try it on a bowl of rice, as in the picture. Wave your chopsticks about to catch the strands of slime, and you’ll soon be saying Gochisō-sama! (Thanks for the meal!) Or even O-kawari arimasu ka? (Can I have some more?)

More strange Japanese foods coming soon.



Jaa mata ne!

–Kazue