#japanese vocab

[goodplan-ipromise]

[haru-dipthong]

Did you know that the english word “star” and the japanese word 星（ほし）don’t actually mean the same thing?

Language does not simply name pre-existing categories; categories do not exist in 'the world'

— Daniel Chandler, Semiotics for Beginners

I read this quote a few years ago, but I don’t think I truly understood it until one day, when I was looking at the wikipedia article for “star” and I thought to check the Japanese article, see if I could get some Japanese reading practice in. I was surprised to find that the article was not titled 「���」, but 「恒星」, a word I’d never seen before. I’d always learnt that 星 was the direct translation for “star” (I knew the japanese also contained meanings the english didn’t, like “dot” or “bullseye”, but I thought these were just auxiliary definitions in addition to the direct translation of “star” as in "a celestial body made of hydrogen and helium plasma").

To try and clear things up for myself, I searched japanese wikipedia for 星. It was a disambiguation page, with the main links pointing to the articles for 天体 (astronomical object) and スター（記号）(star symbol). There was no article just called 「星」.

It’s an easy difference to miss, because in everyday conversation, 星 and star are equivalent. They both describe the shining lights in the night sky. They both describe this symbol: ★. They even both describe those enormous celestial objects made of plasma.

But they are different - different enough to not share a wikipedia article. 星 is used to describe any kind of celestial body, especially if it appears shiny and bright in the night sky. “Star” can be used this way too (like Venus being called the “morning star”), but it’s generally considered inaccurate to use the word like this, whereas there is no such inaccuracy with 星. You can say “oh that’s not actually a star, it’s a planet”, but you CAN’T say 「実はそれは星ではなく惑星だよ」 (TL: that’s not actually a hoshi, it’s a planet). A planet IS a 星.

星 is a very common word, essentially equivalent to “star”, but its meaning is closer to “celestial body”. I haven’t looked into the etymology/history but it’s almost like both english and japanese started out with a simple, common word for the lights in the sky - star/星 , but as we found out more about what these lights actually were, english doubled down on using the common word for the specific scientific concept, while japanese kept the common word generic and instead came up with a new word for the more specific concept. If this is actually what happened, I’d guess that kanji probably had something to do with it - 星 as a component kanji exists inside the word for planet, 惑星, and in the word for comet, 彗星, and in the scientific word for “star”, 恒星, so it makes sense that it would indicate a more general concept when used standalone.

This discovery helped me understand that quote - categories don’t exist in the world, we are the ones who create them. I thought that the concept of “star” was something that would be consistent across all languages, but it’s not, because the concept of “star” is not pre-existing. Each language had to decide how to name each of those similar star-like concepts (the ★ symbol, hot balls of gas, twinkling lights in the sky, planets, comets, etc), and obviously not every language is going to group those concepts under the same words with the same nuance.

Knowing this, one might be tempted to say that 恒星（こうせい） is the direct translation for “star”. But this isn’t true either. In most of the contexts that the word “star” is used in english, the equivalent japanese will be simply 星. Despite the meanings not lining up exactly, 星 will still be the best translation for “star” most of the time. This is the art of translation - knowing when the particulars are less important than the vibe or feel of a word. For any word, there will never be an exact perfect translation with all the same nuances and meanings. Translation is about finding the best solution to an unsolvable problem. That's why I love it.

[haku2naomi420]

Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku (Part 2)

威嚇 (いかく) - threat, intimidation, menace

羨ましい (うらやましい) - envious, jealous

ひどい目に遭う (ひどいめにあう) - to have a bad time, to go through a bitter experience, to get into trouble, to get hurt, to suffer

結果的 (けっかてき) - concerning the result (as opposed to the means used to achieve this result or the original goal)

軽率 (けいそつ) - rash, thoughtless, careless, hasty, imprudent

ご機嫌 (ごきげん) - humour, humor, temper, mood, spirits in a good mood, in high spirits, happy, cheery, merry, chipper

追試 (ついし) - replication (of an experiment), verification (of experimental results), reproduction, corroboration supplementary examination, makeup exam

損ねる (そこねる) - to harm, to hurt, to injure, to wreck to miss one's chance to (do something), to fail to (do what one ought to have done)

息抜き (いきぬき) - taking a breather, relaxation, vent hole

方程式 (ほうていしき) - equation, formula

貯金 (ちょきん) - putting money aside, savings, deposit (e.g. in a bank)

特待生 (とくたいせい) - scholarship student

威圧 (いあつ) - coercion, overpowering, overawing, daunting

野蛮 (やばん) - savage, barbarous, barbaric, uncivilized, uncivilised

元凶 (げんきょう) - ringleader, main culprit main cause, source

[comiko]

Kawaii Gamer Set Part 1

Kawaii Gamer Set Part 1 is here! Everything from the set is base game compatible :)

About the set

Set is consists of 11 items

Comfort: Gaming Chair

Electronics: PC Double Screen, PC Single Screen, PC With Shelf

Surface: Gaming Desk

Decor: Headphones With Stand, Headphones Vertical, Headphones Horizontal, Decorative Monitor, Desk Pad

DOWNLOAD - Patreon

DOWNLOAD - Patreon

[nihongoseito]

i realized recently i didn’t know how to talk about autism in japanese, so here’s some vocab!

自閉症（じへいしょう） = autism

自閉スペクトラム症 = autism spectrum disorder

対人（たいじん）関係（かんけい） = interpersonal relations

こだわり = obsession; in this context: special interest

ひとりごと = talking to oneself

オウム返し（がえし） = parroting words; in this context: echolalia

好き嫌い（すききらい） = pickiness (about food)

感触（かんしょく） = texture

療育（りょういく） = education and support of disabled children

i gathered most of these from this webpage. if anyone has others, please feel free to add :)

[anime-academia]

Kanji from my Langblr Challenge • Pt.1 • Favourites

お気に入り 🔹️おきにいり 🔹️favourite

動物 🔹️どうぶつ 🔹️animal

猫 🔹️ねこ 🔹️cat

狐 🔹️きつね 🔹️fox

犬 🔹️いぬ 🔹️dog

蛇 🔹️へび 🔹️snake

鳥 🔹️とり🔹️bird

カラス 🔹️からす 🔹️crow, raven

映画 🔹️えいが 🔹️movie, film

歌 🔹️うた 🔹️song

本 🔹️ほん 🔹️book

季節 🔹️きせつ 🔹️season

秋 🔹️あき 🔹️autumn

冬 🔹️ ふゆ 🔹️winter

春 🔹️ はる 🔹️spring

夏 🔹️ なつ 🔹️summer

Bonus : how to say "my favourite....is...."

私のお気に入りの＿が＿

わたしのおきにいりの＿が＿

My favourite ____ is ___

の = possession (incl possession of a quality)

が = indicating that this is the specific thing being referred to

[isshonihongo]

JLPT N5 - あげる

At its simplest, あげる means “to give”. At the N5 level, it’s used for giving physical things such as presents, money, water (to plants), food (to pets), etc. There is another way it can be used, but that is for a later JLPT level. For now, let’s get into ONE of the ways you can talk about giving in Japanese.

First, here is the vocabulary for this post.

【The Grammar of あげる】

Basically there are 4 parts to every あげる sentence that you should be thinking about. The first 3 are marked with particles and the last part is the verb.

Here is an example sentence:

① 【けんじは】【トムに】【腕時計を】あげた。

= As for Kenji, to Tom, a watch gave

= Kenji gave Tom a watch.

In a sentence like #1 it’s easy to see the 3 parts clearly marked with particles and then the verb at the end. Unfortunately you WILL NOT always see simple sentences like this, so let’s look at each part one by one, along with the cultural context behind あげる.

【The Giver】

Most of the time, the giver will be marked by the は (or sometimes the が) particle. This is because あげる sets up the action of giving from the giver’s perspective.

Sometimes, it is obvious who the giver is, so that phrase can be completely left out of the sentence.

② 【会社の���たちに】【お土産を】あげると思う。

= to the people at (my) company, souvenirs will give I think

= I think I’m going to give the people at my company souvenirs.

In this sentence it would be clear that the speaker is the giver. Therefore it’s not necessary to include a 私は phrase.

【The Relationship Between Giver and Receiver】

Before we move on, let’s get into a very big cultural difference between Japan and English-speaking cultures. When you use あげる, you have to think about the relationship between the giver and the receiver. In English, this doesn’t affect the words we use, but in Japanese it is actually very important when it comes to word choice. Take a look at this image:

The green circle would include close friends, family, your lover, etc. Pets and plants would also fall into this circle. Outside of the green circle are strangers, teachers, professors and depending on your job, your customers. This is because showing respect is directly connected to setting up a kind of psychological distance. You have to work hard and gain trust before you are moved into the green circle.

Some people, like coworkers and bosses, may be inside the green circle in some situations, but outside of it in other situations! A common example is when you go out drinking with coworkers. As the alcohol flows throughout the night you’ll notice that psychological space slowly disappearing - that is until the next day at work. They might act like the person you drank with was a COMPLETELY different person!

This way of thinking is called うちそと, and can be a very difficult part of Japanese culture for many foreigners. Here’s the thing: the culture of うちそと extends to the concept of giving as well.

【Giving Culture and あげる】

When it comes to giving, there are 4 situations where it’s appropriate to use the verb あげる:

① When you give something to someone inside your inner circle

② When you give something to anyone outside your inner circle

③ When someone in your inner circle gives something to someone outside your inner circle

④ When someone outside your inner circle gives something to another person outside your inner circle

Numbers 1-3 can be described as the act of giving while moving from a smaller circle to a bigger circle. Number 4 can be described as giving that doesn’t happen in your inner circle.

There are of course more possibilities when it comes to giving (and receiving). However, those situations won’t use the verb あげる!

【What Is Being Given】

In most sentences, whatever is being given is very simply marked with the を particle. However, there are times when the を particle or the positioning of what is being given will change. Take a look at these three example sentences:

Example 3a is the “default version”. The doll is marked with the を particle so we immediately know that it will be given to someone (the section manager’s wife).

For example 3b I want you to imagine that you are in a souvenir shop. You’ve bought a couple of things already, but you haven‘t decided which gifts will go to whom. All of a sudden, you see a doll that catches your eye. You immediately think to yourself, “that doll is perfect for the section manager’s wife”. Putting the item being given (that is, the doll) at the head of the sentence shows that 1) you are putting the focus of your sentence on that item and 2) there is a kind of impulsiveness to the giving. It’s kind of an instant decision.

Compare that with example 3c. Now I want you to imagine that you are in your house. You bought a bunch of dolls but you haven’t decided which one will go to whom. You pick up one of them and after some thought you say, “Ok I’ll give THIS one to the section manager’s wife.” Marking the doll with は serves to emphasize that there are several dolls, but you are highlighting one of them for a specific reason. It also shows that it WAS NOT an instant decision; some thought went into your decision.

This kind of distinction takes a really long time to understand and really “feel” but I hope that by explaining it to you now, it might stay with you somewhere deep inside your mind. You might even experiment with using sentences like 3b and 3c and surprise your Japanese friends!

【Alternative Verbs】

Lastly, let’s talk about your choice of verbs. You can actually adjust the level of “closeness” that the reader / listener feels by changing the verb that you use! あげる, あげた, あげます, あげました, etc. is used for a “default” level of closeness.

However, if the receiver is someone in a higher social position (for example a professor, a doctor, a boss, a politician, etc.) you would instead use the similar verb さしあげる. This verb actually serves to humble yourself - and thus elevates the listener / reader.

④ 【この本は】ただでさしあげます。

= as for this book, for nothing will give

= I will give you this book for free.

From this sentence you can tell that the giver and the receiver are on different levels, socially. (This is a little different than うちそと.) The listener will feel an elevated level respect simply by hearing the さしあげる verb.

On the other hand, if the receiver is someone VERY close to you, you can show that closeness by using the verb やる instead of あげる. やる is often used with pets and plants.

⑤ 【彼女は】【犬に】【えさを】やるのを忘れた。

= as for her, to (her) dog food giving forgot

= She forgot to give her dog food.

As it turns out, this is why I keep on saying “what is given” instead of “a present” or “a gift”. Giving water to plants or food to pets is not a present or a gift.

Here is a visual representation of the 3 different verbs that you can use when talking about giving (from the giver’s perspective):

Here is 1 last example:

= as for apples I give to you, there are none

= I don’t have any apples to give you.

As you can see in #6, it’s possible to state a giver, a receiver and then あげる in order to describe what is being given. Once you do that, you will then have a topic which you can then go on to make a comment about!

【Conclusion】

So there you have it! あげる and its related verbs (さしあげる and やる) all express the idea of giving from the giver’s perspective. However, you have to keep the Japanese concept of うちそと in mind. Later we’ll talk about giving but from the receiver’s perspective. Stay tuned!

Rice & Peace!

-AL (アル)

👋🏾

[corvid-language-library]

5 Japanese words I keep encountering that apparently do not like staying in my brain

運命（うんめい）fate, destiny, lot

そこから運命は大きく動きだす

離れる（はなれる）to be separated, to be apart, to be distant

俺が離れるな

無事（ぶじ）safety, security, peace, quiet; safely, without incident, successfully

お母さん、無事でいてくれ

しばらく（しばらく）for a moment, for a minute; for the time being, for now

しばらくは一緒に行こう

様々（さまざま・さまざま）various, varied, diverse, all sorts of

世界中を冒険しながら、様々な依頼をこなしてもらいます

All sample sentences taken from FFVII Rebirth. Green/orange colouring indicates pitch accent.

[onigiriforears]

Vocab pt. 1 | 「伝える力」が伸びる! 12歳までに知っておきたい語彙力図鑑

I've recently started reading 「伝える力」が伸びる! 12歳までに知っておきたい語彙力図鑑 (or what I only refer to as "Words You Ought to Know as a 12-year old") as a means to up my vocab game before the JLPT.

I'll probably post a review about the book once I actually finish it.

But in the meantime, here are some of the words that I learned just from reading the sections about how to use the book and all 5 of it's sections. I was quite pleased at the amount of words that I've already learned (and how many of them were N2 words).

語彙力 (ごいりょく)- (the extent of) one's vocabulary

図鑑 (ずかん)- field guide; illustrated reference book

目指す (めざす)- to aim at (for; to do; to become); to try for

各 (かく)- each, every, all [prefix]

繰り返す (くりかえす)- to repeat; to do over again

基礎 (きそ)- foundation; basis

言い換える (いいかえる)- to say in other words; to put another way; to rephrase

言い換え (いいかえ)- putting in other words; paraphrase; rephrasing; rewording

状況 (じょうきょう)- state of affairs; circumstances; situations; conditions

鍛える (きたえる)- to drill; to train; to discipline; to forge; to temper

変換 (へんかん)- change; transformation; conversion

観察眼 (かんさつがん)- observing eye

目の付け所 (めのつけどこ��)- focus of one's attention; what one is looking for; viewpoint; point one is trying to make

文豪 (ぶんごう)- literary master

候補 (こうほ)- candidate; contender; prospect; pick; choice; list

まつわる- to be related; to concern; to be associated with

登場 (とうじょう)- entrance; appearance; arrival

表現 (ひょうげん)- expression; representation; description; representation (of a group)

解決 (かいけつ)- settlement; resolution; solution

ワンパターン - following a single pattern; conforming to the same pattern; repetitive; stereotyped; predictable [Wasei-eigo]

Hopefully, I'll be able to consistently post some of the vocab lists that I continue to compile for this. I'm in the Step 1 section of the book where it gives you synonyms and explains the connotations behind them/situations in which to use them. The first section I read was for やばい~

[my-japanese-corner]

Learning a new kanji today (from JLPT N3)

美

ひらがな: うつく

meaning: beauty

I think this is a beautiful (heh, get it?) Kanji that means beauty. Generally it is used as - 美しい - which means beautiful both as artiscially and in apperance. きれい (Ki-re-i) also means beautiful in apperance but it could also mean clean and/or neat depending on context. Therefore, 美しい is generally used to describe a deep admiration of something that is asetheically pleasing.

One of my favroutie use of this words (and where I picked it up from), is from Gintama:

美しく最後を飾り付ける暇があるなら、最後まで美しく生きようじゃねか。

（　うつくしくさいごをかざりつけるひまがあるならさいごまでうつくしくいきようじゃねか。）

romanji: Ustsukushiku saigo o kazaritsukeru hima ga arunara, saigomade ustukushiku ikiyouja ne ka

meaning: If you have time to fantasize about a beautiful end, then just live beautifully 'til the end.

kanji source: here

[goodplan-ipromise]

[haru-dipthong]

Fansub release + translation notes for Utena ep 30!

This episode was a really tough one. There were quite a few difficult lines that I ended up superficially rephrasing in the translation. But I think these rephrasings actually convey the meaning behind the words more effectively.

だって、デートは二人っきりでするもんです。

Literally translated, this would be “Because! Dates are something two people do by themselves!” and this is what I had in my first draft. The problem with this translation is that it’s not quite how an English speaker would phrase it. There’s something intangible. It’s not the way the line reads, but the way it doesn’t read — this phrasing feels off not because it sounds strange itself, but because there’s that nagging feeling that there is a phrasing that would sound better that isn’t being used instead. I felt like the problem of this line was to figure out how an English speaker would naturally phrase it, and I think I ended up finding it with this:

Because! It wouldn't be a date if it wasn't just the two of us.

さては焼いてるなーお主。

You're jealous aren't you, kid?

This was tricky because neither Anya or I could think of the right word (kid) that had the correct amount of condescension and playful teasing. I started with “little one” as a placeholder, but that really didn’t sound right. I had the urge to change it to “young padawan” but didn’t. Hilariously, and completely unprompted, in the editing notes Anya mentioned the first thing that came to mind for them was “young padawan”. It was tempting, but I knew there had to be a better solution. I stared at this line for ages working on the second draft before coming up with “kid”.

なんか���事長らしくないというか、ちょっと、いけないひとみたい。

It's just, you're not very chairman-like. You're like… You're like the kind of person grown-ups would warn me about.

Another doozy of a line. The direct translation of this would be “It’s just, you’re not very chairman like. You’re like a bad* person.” Big asterisk next to “bad” because Utena isn’t saying “bad person” like we use that two word phrase in English (to mean “a person who is selfish and does harm to others”). いけない in this context is similar to “not to be done”, “not allowed”, “forbidden” (as in “you are forbidden from staying at your boyfriend’s place overnight”, but not really “forbidden” as in “the forbidden fruit”), or “bad” as in “the bad boy”. A lot of subtlties to get across for just one word out of the sentence, which is why this translation has blown out so much. The short noun phrase いけない人みたい has been translated into the lengthy “You're like the kind of person grown-ups would warn me about”. Despite the length, I do like this translation a lot and I think it captures Utena’s immaturity and internal conflict well.

Thank you as always to my editor @dontbe-lasanya! This project and this episode in particular wouldn't be possible without you!

Follow the blog to see new episodes as they're released. As an aside, I've finally gotten around to posting the raw subtitle files on the google drive, so check that out if you're interested in encoding some video yourself. You can find that and all the episodes released so far here:

Rose divider taken from this post.

[polyglot-thought]

[Japanese→English] @smallplasticgoose Japanese Duck Idiom — Color Coded Translation

Link to original post

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

鴨が葱を背負って来る

かもがねぎをしょってくる

A duck comes carrying leeks on its back

This is an idiom equivalent to “Along comes a fool begging to be departed from his money.”

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Please correct me if I made a mistake

[nihongoseito]

today’s random vocab

魅入る（みいる） = to be entranced or possessed

盛り付け（もりつけ） = arrangement of food (on dish), serving of arranged food

田んぼ（たんぼ） = paddy field

オス（雄） = male (animal/plant)

メス（雌） = female (animal/plant)

水回り（みずまわり） = part of building where water is circulated (e.g., kitchen, bathroom)

Vます心地（ごこち） = sensation of V-ing (e.g., 着心地, 住み心地)

[anime-academia]

Langblr Challenge Vocab • Pt.2 • Furniture

机 🔹️つくえ🔹️desk

椅子 🔹️いす🔹️chair

枕 🔹️まくら🔹️pillow

毛布 🔹️もうふ🔹️blanket

戸棚 🔹️とたな🔹️cupboard

[isshonihongo]

Long Vowel Sounds

Chō-on is the extending of Japanese vowel sounds. This may not seem like a big difference when it comes to English but it is huge in Japanese. Even in English, think of the reaction to saying “I went to.” vs “I went too.” In Japanese the difference is even bigger!

Since there are only 5 vowel sounds in Japanese, there can only be 5 long vowel sounds. Let’s get into it!

Syllables vs Morae

When it comes to English words, there are several ways in which we can break them down. You can talk about how many letters a word has. In terms of sounds, you can talk about syllables and you can talk about how many sounds a word is made up of.

Take the word “teacher” for example:

letters ➡️ t-e-a-c-h-e-r (7) sounds ➡️ t-ea-ch-er (4) syllables ➡️ teach-er (2)

Japanese is very different. It doesn’t actually make sense to talk about syllables because there are words that are one syllable length but that have different speech times. A mora solves this problem. 1 mora represents one unit of sound length. A Japanese word can be 1 syllable but 2 or 3 morae long.

Tokyo written in English vs written in Hiragana is a good example:

letters ➡️ T-o-k-y-o (5) syllables ➡️ To-kyo (2) Hiragana characters ➡️ と-う-き-ょ-う (5) morae ➡️ と-う-きょ-う (4)

You can see that each syllable of Tokyo is actually made up of 2 morae each. To better represent this, it would be better to write it as Tōkyō. We will see that it has two extended vowel sounds.

The Extended あ Sound

The first sound is an extended あ sound, similar to “aah” in English. There are 2 different ways that you will see this sound written:

① 【あ VSG character + あ】 for example おかあさん = mother

② 【ゃ Sound Group character + あ】 for example じゃあ = alright, well…, so then…

Pronouncing あ should take half as long as pronouncing かあ. Therefore あ is considered 1 mora long while かあ is considered as 2.

The first spelling of this sound is fairly rare, while the second spelling is usually used in words that express sounds and feelings at the end or beginning of sentences.

The Extended い Sound

The next sound is the extended い sound. It’s the same as when you draw out the “ee” sound in “see”. There is only 1 way you will see this written:

① 【い VSG character + い】 for example やさしい = simple, easy, kind

There are lots and lots of adjectives that end with しい. A large majority of them express feelings.

The Extended う Sound

The next long vowel sound is the extended う sound. This sounds like the end part of the sound cows make - mooo! There are two ways this sound can be written:

① 【う VSG character + う】 for example くうき = air

② 【ゅ Sound Group character + う】 for example しゅうでん = the last train (of the night)

The Extended え Sound

This sound is similar to how we pronounce the letter “A” in English. It has two spellings:

① 【え VSG character + え】 for example おねえさん = older sister

② 【え VSG character + い】 for example せんせい = teacher, master

Of the two, you will hardly ever see the first spelling. The second one is much more common.

The Extended お Sound

The last vowel sound is a drawn-out way of pronouncing the English letter “O”. This sound has 3 ways it can be written:

① 【お VSG character + お】 for example とおい = far

② 【お VSG character + う】 for example ほんとう = real

③ 【ょ Sound Group character + う】 for example きょう = today

The first spelling of this sound is used the least often. You will see the last two spellings much more often.

The Importance of Chō-on

Distinguishing between long vowel sounds and regular vowel sounds is SUPER important in Japanese. Beginners of Japanese might see “Tokyo” written in English and think that it’s written as ときょ in Hiragana. That is completely incorrect.

Another example is しょこく as compared to しょうこく. Said with a short vowel sound (しょ) it means “various countries”. However, if you use a long vowel sound (しょう) the meaning changes to “small countries”. Luckily this is not such a huge mistake, but sometimes you might be saying something completely different than what you think you’re saying!

5 More ようおん and ちょうおんぷ

We’ve already talked about ょ、ゅ and ょ. It turns out that there are also small versions of あ、い、う、え、and お. These are sometimes used in place of the conventional way of spelling the long vowel sounds.

なあ can also be written as なぁ.

There is just one wrinkle. While な is 1 mora (1 unit of sound length) and なあ is 2 morae, なぁ is ambiguous. In some cases it may be 2 morae but in other cases it could be 1.5 morae. Unfortunately it’s going to depend on the context and the speaker. For comparison, here are all the ようおん and their regular counterparts:

あいうえおやゆよ and ぁぃぅぇぉぅゃゅょ

Yet another way that you can write long vowel sounds is with a chō-onpu. This means “ちょうおん mark / sign” and is a long dash that is mostly used to show long vowel sounds in Katakana words. In rare situations though, it is used with Hiragana, as in the word らーめん.

This means that for the long vowel sound in ramen, you technically have three ways that it could be written!

らあめん らぁめん らーめん

Of those three, the last one is used the most often. Also be aware that when Japanese is written vertically, the ちょうおんぷ will also appear vertically.

NOT Chō-on

Finally, I think it’s important to talk about what are not long vowel sounds. The word おかあさん has that long vowel sound in the middle but take a look at this next word:

あかあか

This word does not have a long vowel sound in the middle! Why??

For the answer, we need to see these words written in Kanji!

A long vowel sound won’t fall in the middle of two Kanji characters. It is possible though, that two Kanji characters can make a long vowel sound together, as shown below:

This is just one of many reasons that studying Kanji becomes more and more important as you learn more Japanese. There are times when seeing Hiragana alone might lead you down the wrong pronunciation path!

Conclusion

And there you have it - a deep dive into long vowels of Japanese! It definitely takes training for your ears to hear the subtle difference between short and long vowel sounds. I get tripped up sometimes even now 10 years later. All you can really do is laugh it off and make a mental note to look into it later. This is the journey of a Japanese learner!

Rice & Peace,

– AL (アル)

👋🏾