22 October 2007

[490] The Japanese Language - 2007/10/22 (Mon)

is interesting, isn't it. All the abbreviations and the regional peculiarities in how to form abbreviations.

Not just dialects, but also the words used just among a tiny group of friends.

For instance, with my friends from my home town, we say 'ushiru' when we want to go to Yoshigyuu. (^_^) Yeah, too late, nouns are verbs. (^^;) Afterwards, we say we 'hit the cow.'

Yeah well, in Kansai-ben, the famous dialect, 'Shall we hit the tea?' isn't simply the act of drinking tea, it's got a stronger nuance than saying, 'Would you like to take a break and drink some tea?' **

Another peculiarity of the dialect is 'hokkori.' It's hard to explain the extreme nuance of this word, but maybe it's like the feeling you get when the business pauses and you heave a sigh, like, ho-? What level English word is that, huh? (^_^)

These days, Kansai-ben has become major, and even in Tokyo it's not out of place and you can communicate with it, but twenty years ago, you couldn't communicate even an 'ookini. *** Well, 'dontsuki' still gets you a look like, '?' but... (^_^) ****

Course, you couldn't communicate with 'ageru, kudaru' in Kyoto, either. *****

How many years has it been since I came to the capital, and I still unconsciously use Kansai-ben, but the nuances of Kansai-ben are quite difficult to explain.

Well then, see you~ (^_^) ******

P.S. It's been a while since I wanted to go to TenIchi. (^_^) I recommend the main branch, or the Gojoukei store... Drool. (^_^) *******


[ * ushiru is the word for cow turned into a verb. so literally, To Cow, a verb. also, to hit the cow' ... is more like to beat the cow. to death. with a stick or something. ushi shibaku. odd.
** yuu is trying to break my mind. KANSAI-BEN HURTS YUU! STOP!

*** ookini is a kansai-ben thanks.

**** a kind reader has informed us that dontsuki means 'the end of the street' in kansai-ben. arigatou kind reader!

***** these are tokyo politeness things. also, how many freaking asterisks am i going to end up with today? (T_T)

****** he said, 'hona, sainara~' which would in standard japanese be, 'dewa sayonara.'

******* i'm not positive it's 'gojoukei.' it might be 'gojoukatsura.' ]

[ oh yeah, also? (X_X) ded. ]

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

So he is from kansai... wow doesn't Gackt have a voice/japanese language fetish? I wonder how much yuu-kun annoys him with kansai-ben, he said Miyavi annoys him and he's from kansai as well.
My word he actually did a topic on dialect and language. have a break yuu!!

Anonymous said...

LOL!!!
he is really funny sometimes...and I do not envy you the translations thing...LOL
Does that mean they are recording in tokyo?

Unknown said...

*snicker* This post was soo amusing. Even halfway trough I tought woah this one must have been erm interesting to translate.

annakas

meredeth said...

yeah, it was another impromptu kansai-ben lesson. if only he would post like this all the time! ... i'd probably pass out. (^_^)

雪の華 said...

o wow.......... I'm so confused by the text of this post~ xD
So... I'm just gonna stare at the picture <3

*thanks for translating~*

Anonymous said...

dontsuki means 'end of the street' according to my friend who is from kansai region. ^____^

Anonymous said...

wowz..I think Yuu fried my brain again... X.X

meredeth said...

heheh. i think he fried his own brain. he hasn't made a post since. (^_^)