#japanese vocab

[haru-dipthong]

Fansub release + translation notes for Utena ep 26!

お前は彼女の事どんな風に思ってるんだい？

This line from Akio is an interesting one to translate. Word for word, it means “How do you think of her?” But this misses a few bits of nuance. For example, 彼女の事 is “her”, but it comes with the nuance of “her whole self”, so the question is almost like “what do you think of her - body and soul?”

“How” is also an oversimplification of どんな風に, which feels more like “in what kind of way do you think of her”? For this line, I settled on this:

When you think of her, what do you feel?

I believe it encapsulates what Akio is asking, even though the individual words deviate quite heavily from the original script.

Akio then grabs Anthy violently and asks again, this time more directly and aggressive:

彼女の事どう思ってる？

Again, this could be translated directly as “How do you think of her?” The only thing that has changed is どんな風に into どう as well as omitting the subject and question particles — a shorter sentence with more direct meaning. I translated it as a more direct way of asking the same thing:

What is she to you?

Anthy: さあ、でもそれはイメージなんでしょ？

Anthy: Sure, but I thought it was just a fantasy.

The word イメージ (imēji) is one that trips up a lot of Japanese learners, and even some translators. Because it seems like a 1-to-1 loanword of “image”, it often gets translated directly as such. But in reality, the word only means “image” in the sense of a mental image, an impression, a depiction of something as opposed to the reality of something. This can be most commonly seen in the ubiquitous phrase seen on all food packaging — 写真はイメージです. A bad translation of this phrase would be “this photo is an image”, a hilariously redundant sentence. But its true English equivalent would be the phrase “serving suggestion”, indicating that the product contained inside is not exactly what is depicted on the packaging. 写真はイメージです is therefore more akin to “this photo is one depiction of how this product could look” or even “this photo is merely a depiction and may not reflect reality”, or sometimes even “pictures are for illustrative purposes only” if the photo on the packaging isn’t even a picture of the product (e.g. cows in a field on a milk carton, or a picture of pizza on a packet of pizza flavoured potato chips).

For example, this image was posted on a Japanese listicle titled 『でしょうな！当たり前すぎる「写真のイメージです」』 (translation: “Yeah, no shit! Extremely obvious product disclaimers”). The joke being that “yeah, no shit, I know this carton does not contain a literal field of cows”.

All of this to say, Anthy’s line might be translated by someone who doesn’t understand this as “Sure, but that’s just an image, isn’t it?”. But what she really means is “I thought that garden wasn’t a real garden, but instead an idealised image of a garden from Miki’s mind.”

Touga: 君の魂が本当に諦めていなければ、世界の果てを駆け巡る、この音を聞こえるはずだ。

Touga: If your soul hasn’t truly given up… You should be able to hear the sound that tears through the End of the World.

I forgot to discuss this in the notes for last episode, but it’s worth highlighting since it’s a phrase that will be repeated again and again. The key word here is 駆け巡る (kakemeguru) which means "to rush about" which I think is meant to evoke images of a car tearing through the streets. Kakemeguru is also a compound verb made up of the two words kakeru and meguru — kakeru means “to gallop on horseback” (or simply run/rush), and meguru means “to circle around, to tour around”. So the word carries nuances of almost joyriding around at high speeds. Also of note is the use of 世界の果て (end of the world) here to mean a location (the farthest ends of the earth) rather than an event (the revelation).

Thank you to my editor @dontbe-lasanya for their amazing work editing my translations!

Follow the blog for new episodes as they're released. You can find all the episodes released so far here:

[goodplan-ipromise]

[anime-academia]

The other day (like last week? Maybe even 2 weeks ago) @rangerofthesouth got a very cool shirt and I got some kanji (thanks for the enrichment)! Which I am only remembering to post now

Have some vocab!

猫 (ねこ) = Cat

墨 (すみ) = ink

タトゥーア－テスト = tattoo artist

運 (うん) = fortune/luck/chance

刺青 = しせい = tattoo/tattooing, referring specifically to the traditional Japanese style

命 = いのち = life/ lifeforce

美 = び = beauty/ beautiful

術 = じゆつ = way of/practice

学 = がく= student/learner

校 = こう = suffix meaning school

美術 = びじゆつ = fine arts

学校 = がつこう = school

芸 = げい = art, craft, artistic techniquie

芸術 = げいじゆつ geijiutsu art, the arts

作 = さく= work (of art), piece, production, labour

品 = ひん = elegance, grace, class, dignity (can also mean article/item/thing and be read asしな shina)

作品 = さくひん = Work (writing, composition, painting)

Close ups under the cut

[onigiriforears]

やばい Alternatives | Vocab

Step 1 of 「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 focuses on teaching you synonyms for words you would typically use to describe your emotions. There are synonyms for words like やばい, エモい, and the like. This particular post will focus on the information that they've given about やばい。

The book also ranks the words' difficulty level, with 1 star being an "of course you know this" to 5 stars being "even adults probably don't know this and you're about to blow them away with your vocabulary and make them pull out their dictionary." Because of this, you may see words that you encountered quickly as a Japanese learner (that a native speaker 12 year old may not have encountered yet) and vice versa on the list below.

やばい

Because やばい is a word that can be used to express nearly any emotion (much like how OMG can be used in many contexts in American English), the book did also make sure to put the contexts in which the alternative word would be appropriate.

危うい (あやうい)- dangerous; in danger; facing imminent danger ❖This is to be used when dangerous situations are imminent. The way they described it was "危険が迫っている状態" ▶︎Their example: 危うい所でピンチを脱出した。

危険 (きけん)- dangerous; risky; uncertain; precarious; in danger ❖This is to be used when a situation may lead to not-so-good/dangerous outcomes. ▶︎Their example: そんなに高い所からジャンプしたら、危険だよ。

驚異的 (きょういてき)- wonderful; astounding; marvelous ❖This is to be used when something passes a level of surprise that you can express. ▶︎Their example: 大谷選手の達成した記録は驚異的だ。

最高 (さいこう)- best; supreme; wonderful; highest; maximum; supreme ❖This is to be used when describing something of the highest status/dignity/ranking. (This is relative in comparison to other things.) ▶︎Their example: 夏休みに友達と見に行った映画が、最高に面白かった。

素晴らしい (すばらしい)- wonderful; splendid; magnificent ❖ This is used to describe something that's elegant/praiseworthy/splendid, things that are desirable, and things that admirable. ▶︎Their example: 富士山の山頂から眺める景色は、息をのむほどに素晴らしい。

Yojijukugo (四字熟語)

This section also includes four-character compound idioms (yojijukugo) that can be associated with the word we're focusing on expanding our vocabulary from.

絶体絶命 (ぜったいぜつめい)- desperate situation with no escape; being driven into a corner; being cornered; last extremity ❖ You would use this when you find yourself in a situation that there's no conceivable way you could think of making it out in the way that you truly desire. ▶︎Apparently you can use it in phrases like this 「絶体絶命のピンチ」 BONUS: I found an example online that also uses it to mean "stalemate" and the example is a cop and a suspect both pointing a gun at each other.

最上無二 (さいじょうむに)- there is nothing else like it in this world; it's an unparalleled marvel ❖They listed this one at 5 stars (aka, the adults are gonna be surprised that you know this and also go look it up) and I can certainly see why--I couldn't find any official English translations of it. Here's the definition the book gave: この世に二つとなく、最もすばらしいこと。「最上」は最もすぐれていること、「無二」は同じ物がないことを意味するよ。

SOMEONE PLEASE CORRECT ME IF MY UNDERSTANDING OF THIS LAST YOJIJUKUGO IS INCORRECT SO THAT I CAN LEARN IT PROPERLY!! I BESEECH THEE!! I IMPLORE YOU!!

Anyways, the next post will be alternatives words for かわいい and エグい

[nihongoseito]

here’s an interesting internet word i just learned:

垢作る（あかつくる） = to make an account (on a website)

the use of 垢 is as an ateji from アカウントを作る! 💻🖱

[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.

[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

[seherstudies]

名残

なごり

意味　【いみ】：(the sorrow of) parting

例文　【れいぶん】：

例文の英訳　【れいぶんのえいやく】：You've been a great help to me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a sense of remorse.

[tokyostudying]

LEARN JAPANESE WITHドラマ

みんなこんにちは！ i was watching Tokyo Swindlers 「地面師たち」　and i decided to make a vocabulary list and share it with y'all! i hope you guys will find it helpful! i'm only on episode one so i'll post more vocabulary lists as i'm watching! as always, feel free to correct me any time! 頑張って！

ᯓ★TOKYO SWINDLERS S1E1 VOCABULARY LIST:

経つ　➸　たつ　➸　to pass (of time), to elapse

時のたつのは早いものだ。Time flies.

もう　➸　already, by now, yet, soon, further, again, jeez

もう～、なにやってんだよ。Jeez, what are you up to? 彼はもう帰宅しました。He has already gone home.

仕事　➸　しごと　➸　work, job, labor, occupation, employment

あなたは仕事が気に入っていると思います。I believe you like your job.

言う　➸　いう　➸　to say, to utter, to call, to name, to declare

うそを言うな。Don't tell lies!

探す　➸　さがす　➸　to search for, to look for, to hunt for, to seek

仕事を探してるんだ。I'm looking for a job.

待つ　➸　まつ　➸　to wait, to look forward to, to anticipate

���う彼のことを待てない。I can't wait for him any longer.

契約　➸　けいやく　➸　contract, compact, agreement

それでは契約と違う。That's against the contract.

てめえ　➸　you (derogatory)

てめぇら、死にやがれ！ Fuck you all to hell!

野郎　➸　やろう　➸　guy, fellow, bastard, asshole

あの野郎は、いただきだ。I am going to get that sucker.

先に　➸　さきに　➸　previously, before, earlier, first, ahead (of)

私が先にそこへ着くよ。 I'll get there before you will.

打つ　➸　うつ　 ➸　to hit, to strike, to knock, to beat, to punch, to slap, to type, to send, to transmit

雨が窓を打った。The rain whipped against the window. 田中さんはタイプが打てるんでしょう。Ms. Tanaka can type, can't she?

同じ　➸　おなじ　➸　same, identical, equal, anyway, in either case

みんな同じなのよ。They are all the same.

疑い　➸　うたがい　➸　doubt, uncertainty, suspicion, distrust

疑いの余地はない。There is no room for doubt.

無残　➸　むざん　➸　cruel, merciless, cold-blooded, miserable

彼の希望は無残に砕かれた。His hopes were shattered.

姿　➸　すがた　➸　figure, form, shape, appearance, dress, state

自分の姿を鏡にうつして見なさい。Look at yourself in the mirror.

一瞬　➸　いっしゅん　➸　instant, moment, for an instant

それは私にとってはらはらする一瞬だった。It was a nervous moment for me.

[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 「星」, 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.

[goodplan-ipromise]

[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

[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 (めのつけどころ)- 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~

[nihongoseito]

3語の間違えやすい動詞

飽きる（あきる） = to get tired of, bored of

呆れる（あきれる） = to be amazed; to be shocked

諦める（あきらめる） = to give up

[translations101]

Japanese titles of Disney movies

白雪姫　しらゆきひめ

白　しら white

雪　ゆき snow

姫　ひめ princess

= Snow White

眠れる森の美女　ねむれるもりのびじょ

眠れる　ねむれる　sleeping

森　もり forest

の (place holder) means "of" in this case

美女　びじょ beautiful girl

Sleeping beauty of the forest

= sleeping beauty

ラマになった王様　らまになったおうさま

ラマ　llama

に　(place holder) / to

なった became

王様　おうさま king

The king that became a llama

= the emperors new groove

シュガーラッシュ　Sugar Rush

= wreck it ralph

アナと��の女王　アナとゆきのじょおう

アナ　Anna

と and

雪 ゆき snow

の (place holder)

女王 じょおう queen

Anna and the snow queen

=Frozen

ノートルダムの鐘

ノートルダム　Norte Dame

の place holder/ of

鐘 かね　bell

The bell of Norte Dame

= the hunchback of Notre Dame

[haku2naomi420]

• 披露宴 「ひろうえん」 - reception (e.g. wedding), banquet, celebration, party

• 露呈 「ろてい」 - exposure, disclosure

• 露見, 露顕 「ろけん」 - discovery (of a plot, misdeed, etc.), detection, exposure, disclosure

• 露骨 「ろこつ」 - 1. open, unconcealed, undisguised, blatant, plain, frank 2. broad, lewd, indecent, crude

• 暴露 「ばくろ」 - disclosure, exposure, revelation

• 露 「つゆ」 - 1. dew2. tears

• 披露 「ひろう」 - announcement, presentation, demonstration, displaying, showing, introducing, exhibiting, unveiling, revealing, showcasing, performing, giving a rendition

• 露店 「ろてん」 - street stall, stand, booth

• 露出 「ろしゅつ」 - exposure, laying bare, baring (e.g. skin)