#Formal Japanese

[tokidokitokyo]

お～ & ご～ Polite Language

丁寧語 (ていねいご・Polite Language)・美化語 (びかご・Refined Language)

Two of the major components of polite and refined language (丁寧語 and 美化語) are the prefixes お～ and ご～. Both can be represented by the kanji 御 (and in some cases it can also be pronounced おん). There is no hard and fast rule as to which words do and don't use お～ or ご～ so in general you need to memorize which words can have this prefix as well as which reading to use (although often it is written in kana). However, there are a few general principles which can help you to choose.

お～

Language used to make one's language more refined. Used at the beginning of nouns and adjectives. It can also be used with verb stems and adverbs in certain situations. In general, お～ attaches to nouns that are native Japanese words (和語, わご), but some words of Chinese origin (漢語, かんご) can also take this prefix. Words with this prefix are often related to words used in daily life, such as food and drink, or things related to everyday tasks.

ご～

A word placed at the beginning of a noun or adjective to indicate politeness. Only used for kanji compound words in which the first character is an on'yomi character, therefore words of Chinese origin (漢語, かんご). The words attached to this prefix are often abstract nouns, and not physical objects. There are a few native Japanese (和語, わご) adverbs and adjectives that can use this prefix. While お～ is usually in kana, ご～ is most commonly written in kanji.

Integrated Words

お and ご have become such an integral part of some words, that they cannot be removed and do not add politeness or respect to the word.

Examples:

おにぎり onigiri, rice ball

おはよう good morning

おなら fart

ごめん sorry

ごはん meal, rice

Deciding whether to use お～ or ご～ or no prefix at all

お～ and ご～ are often used to convey a feeling or respect or politeness towards the person you are addressing, so while you often use it with words that belong to the person, words that don't belong to the person are less commonly heard. お車 (おくるま) can be used to talk about a superior's car, but you wouldn't say お飛行機 (おひこうき) or お電車 (おでんしゃ) because those don't belong to them.

お～ and ご～ aren't used with katakana words, so you won't find it used with loan words. However, おトイレ can be used, probably because it is an everyday word.

What about おん?

In spoken formal Japanese, 御 is pronounced as おん when the word it is attached to is referring to an organization. For example: 御社 (おんしゃ, your (someone else's) company), and 御校 (おんこう, your (someone else's) school). [Note: In formal writing, 貴社 (きしゃ, your company) and 貴校 (きこう, your school) are used.] You can also read 御礼 (gratitude) as either おれい or おんれい, with おんれい being the more formal of the two.

Oh wait, I forgot to mention み～

A much less common reading of the prefix 御 is み, which is specifically used when talking about or to someone who deserves the highest respect - Buddha, God, the emperor, members of the imperial family. 御心 is usually read as おこころ but is read as みこころ when referring to the 心 (heart/love) of Buddha, God, or the emperor. 御国 (みくに) is country, 御名 (みな) is name, 御手 (みて) is hand, 御顔 (みかお) is face, and 御霊 (みたま) is spirit when referring to these entities of high respect.

And then there is ぎょ～

When 御 is read as ぎょ it shows respect to the emperor and his family, whether it's used as a prefix or not. 崩御 (ほうぎょ) is used only to refer to the death of the emperor or a member of the imperial family. Most of the words using ぎょ are very specialized, however a few are known in mainstream use. 御意 (ぎょい) originally was used to talk about the will of the emperor, but came to mean "as you wish" and can be used for anyone of a higher status than you. It is in use today, but is very formal and a bit old-fashioned. It's most common in writing. 御者 (ぎょしゃ) originally meant a coachman who drove a horse-drawn coach or carriage for the emperor and the imperial family, but today it is a general word for coachman.

Examples

Now to the examples!

Nouns

お名前 おなまえ name

ご家族 ごかぞく family

Adjectives

お優しい おやさしい kind

ご丁寧 ごていねい polite

Adverbs

お近く おちかく near

ごゆっくり take your time

Verbs

Used with the pattern お・ご～する or お～になる

お預かりする おあずかりする to look after

ご活躍する ごかつやくする to be active

お食べになる おたべになる to eat

My textbook: 外国人のための日本語敬語の使い方基本表現85

[gfitzwillsebastianz3rd]

(Put captions on for English)

I just found out with the help of this video that Anya uses formal Japanese to talk about her Mother (Yoru) and (Loid) Father...

This makes it sadder that someone taught her that way to talk about parental figures, so formally like a job or school interview, at such a young age.

Especially since the only info we learn in the series is that she's good at Formal Language, and she's already been through so many orphanages/Families in just a year.

It's probably not that odd for Eden students to talk about their parents like that since some are clearly distant from their parents - George Glooman, or Damian Desmond, for example.

But for her to have learnt that and already insist on using formal terms around the age of four that show respect/distance from parents?

Since she's only little, around four, it's probably okay that people just accept that she makes mistakes, especially in Japanese/English, even seen in both dubs as she mispronounced words and gets them muddled up.

Bakery and Bacon, for example- Totally normal for a small child of four to muddle up.

It's still a little sad, though. Especially since Anya, in her Eden interview calls her mother (Birth mother) in the Manga the right word, instead of 'Ha-ha'.

🥺😭

[yukipri]

YURI!!! on ICE the movie : ICE ADOLESCENCE Officially Canceled

YURI!!! on ICE the movie: ICE ADOLESCENCE Cancellation Notice Thank you very much for always supporting "Yuri!!! on ICE." Regarding the postponed release of "YURI!!! on ICE the movie: ICE ADOLESCENCE," we have come to the decision to unfortunately cancel its production. We deeply apologize for not being able to meet the expectations of all those who have been waiting and have continued to support us throughout these years. The production committee and staff have been in constant discussions to create and to deliver the movie, but due to various circumstances, we have had to make the difficult decision to stop the production. We sincerely apologize to everyone who has been anticipating its release and thank you once again for your continued support. Yuri!!! on ICE PROJECT MAPPA Co., Ltd. Posted on the official Yuri on Ice twitter, @ yurionice_PR

Figure some YOI folks may still follow me, here's the news.

[silverequation]

sassy gay sitting pose

[wankohouse]

江ノ島 八坂神社　天王祭神輿

(2)　藤沢 江ノ島　八坂神社　天王祭 海上渡御

気楽な感じの着こなし！　涼しそうだよー！　うふっ！

濡れてるから？　出っ張ってる所に光沢があるみたいだよー！　ふんどしはSDGs！　この人は極限のSDGs！

藤沢 江ノ島　八坂神社　天王祭 海上渡御

夏のお祭りはふんどしが一番！！　楽しそうだね！

[overwatchfanskinarchive]

Construction, Samurai, Formal, and Rock Ramattra (WIP) by Eggged

[thistledropkick]

After Desperado told Hiromu about his eye condition, Hiromu repeatedly said that he wanted Desperado to give him detailed updates on his health situation, and it seems like he meant it. He brought it up immediately on the first day of the current tour and hasn't given up yet.

"The backstage comments are getting stupid again"

Hiromu in the QRT said: "El Desperado, can you hear me? Your eye, your eye surgery, please tell me if it has been completed successfully and safely. ....Yeah, this part of my backstage comment will probably be put onto "X" I think. So please quote it and comment, Desperado-senshu."

Desperado quoted it to say: "You know that if you tell me to do something, I will absolutely never do it."

Undiscouraged, Hiromu continued in the next day's backstage comments:

"First things first. Desperado! Thanks for the comment! But I still want to hear how your eyes are doing, and what % of normal vision you're at right now. Please reassure me! I want to hear the words "I'm 100% healedpiii~!" directly from your mouth, please. I think this part of what I said today will be put onto 'X'"

Desperado didn't respond directly to Hiromu, but he did post an update:

"It hasn't even been a week since my surgery so I'm having terrible double vision, even worse than before the surgery

When I have both eyes open, even if I'm somewhere flat, my balance feels weighted backwards, and the visuals make me nauseous

So I've been wearing an eyepatch everywhere, and traveling by taxi and train instead of driving

But that narrows my field of vision so much that I keep crashing into things and getting in peoples' way...

This suuuucks"

Still not getting the answer he requested, Hiromu escalated.

His wrist tape for today's match read "Despe" "are your eyes" "okay?"

And in his backstage comments, he said that since Desperado isn't talking to him about this on twitter, he wants Desperado to reach out to him directly on the Japanese chat app LINE.

Desperado QRTed a reply, but to the NJPW World account instead of directly to Hiromu.

"My eyes aren't the problem, it's the muscles that move my eyes that are the problem

The muscles that move my eyes are still warming up and getting used to working

I've still got total double vision

I see two people, like the distance between a stand and their stand user"

"So basically, after the muscles that move your eyes are done warming up, you'll intensely train those eyeball-moving muscles so you'll become even stronger than before, okay 🙆 ? "

"I will not do anything to train those muscles after they're done warming up"

"Why did you suddenly start replying to me on X after I said on my backstage comment "Tell me your LINE"?

Ah, whyyy whyyy?"

[got-ticket-to-ride]

A selection of John Lennon's diary entries were published in Q 132 in September 1997, here are the ones mentioning Paul:

April 19, 1977 McCartney called. First time in years. Played me this song down the telephone. It was waltz time and appeared to be about a remote Scottish island. Asked if I could help out with the lyrics. I told him they were fine but suggested that he start the song with bagpipes. I think he fell for it. January 6, 1980 Just heard some incredible news! McCartney has been busted at Tokyo Airport. Rumour is the guards are keeping him in a cell and forcing him to sing Yesterday over and over and over again. That's a bit harsh, it was only a bit of pot. July 6, 1980 Great idea for a song! A kind of penny opera thing but instead of people singing, you have hundreds of toads "ribitting". Could call it the Toad Chorus or something. Called McCartney to get some feedback. Fucker said it was a rubbish idea! What the fuck does he know? I could get Ringo to sing the verses!

[zhooniyaa-waagosh]

Me, first learning kana: Wow I love how straightforward Japanese pronunciation is, it's really nice to not have to wonder how things are pronounced.

Me, learning kanji: oh what the fuck actually

Me, now learning about the types of keigo and how they affect conjugation and pronunciation:

[selenityshiroi]

It's amazing how weird people are being about the house in Hateno and being so adamant that Link doesn't live there.

Like...People can have whatever headcanons and interpretations they want...but it's not exactly rocket science as to Nintendo's intent, here.

There are a lot of nods to BOTW in TOTK but almost all of them are incredibly vague and subtle. The overarching plot is only kind of generally mentioned and interactions with NPCs who had sidequests in BOTW tend to be 'thanks for helping me last time' instead of saying what Link did.

This is clearly because Nintendo are trying to keep BOTW spoilers to an absolute minimum. So that if anyone wants to play it who hasn't (or if you've missed things and you plan to play it in more detail later) then the experience is affected as little as possible.

I think the only side quest I can think of that is kind of spoiled is Kohga mentioning Link throwing him down into the depths. And that was more because it was difficult to explain what he was doing down there otherwise.

So the reason why Link's ownership of the Hateno house isn't mentioned? Because it's a BOTW side quest. That's it.

They could have had Zelda living anywhere. Even in one of the new houses just on the other side of the bridge. She could have been living with Purah or something. They chose to have her living in the house Link brought. And not because Link's ownership has been erased. But because Link's ownership is bonus knowledge for those who played BOTW and it adds to the tease of the ambiguity of their relationship status.

[forthosetunedin]

[rigormortisangel]

my dad told me i speak serbian the way they do in small towns so i sound unintelligent (?) hes from a small town so idk what hes projecting

[the-spaced-out-ace]

using my japanese studies minor and 10+ years studying the language to translate pulp for fun. the target audience is myself.

[cupiidzbow]

look i know it’s TECHNICALLY not actually CURRENT him. (bc if we’re going through tl consistency this is cranky) but I’m gonna talk about him like it’s current dk ok. the classic design is so sillycute . holds this design of him close to my heart. he’s so funny and he’s a big fucking baby when he doesn’t get what he wants. kiss his big dumb face

[wankohouse]

江ノ島八坂神社　天王祭海上渡御

(1)　藤沢 江ノ島八坂神社 　天王祭

酔っ払って編集中に投稿ボタン押しちまったよ！　だから下３枚は投稿後に追加した画像だよ！　ぜーんぜん反省してないよ！　ごめんね！

藤沢江ノ島八坂神社　天王祭

四角い写真は一部のクローズアップなので、全体はこの下 ↓ のリンクから見てね！

画像引用元：↓