Posts from November 2009

Japanese Vocabulary Related To Family Part 2

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Nov 30 2009

おにいさん – older brother (someone else)

あに – older brother (own family formal) (兄)

(お)にいさん – older brother (own family informal)

おねえさん – older sister (someone else)

あね – older sister (own family formal) (姉)

(お)ねえさん – older sister (own family informal)

おとうとさん – younger brother (someone else) (弟)

おとうと – younger brother (own family both formal and informal)

いもうとさん – younger sister (someone else) (妹)

いもうと – younger sister (own family both formal and informal)

おじさん – uncle (someone else)

おじ – older uncle (own family) (伯父)

おじ – younger uncle (own family (叔父)

おばさん – aunt (someone else)

おば – older aunt (own family) (伯母)

おば – younger aunt (own family) (叔母)

Japanese Vocabulary Related to Family

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Nov 27 2009

In Japanese, there are different terms used to name members of your own family versus someone else’s family. There may also be two ways to call members of your own family depending on whether the situation is formal or informal. Let’s take a look:

Father (own family in formal situation) – ちち (父)

Father (own family in informal situation) – (お)とうさん also パパ will work as well

Father (someone else’s family) – おとうさん (お父さん)

Mother (own family in formal situation) – はは (母)

Mother (own family in informal situation) – (お)かあさん or ママ

Mother (someone else’s family) – おかあさん

Grandfather (own family formal) – そふ (祖父)

Grandfather (own family informal) – おじいさん

Grandfather (someone else) – おじいさん

Grandmother (own family formal) - そぼ (祖母)

Grandmother (own family informal) – おばあさん

Grandmother (someone else) – おばあさん

This isn’t a definitive list of the terms used for family members. Stay tuned for the rest in the next post. What I hope you’ve realized is the pattern used for the various names used to call your own family versus those used to call someone else’s family. For someone else’s family, the suffix さん is always attached. In a standard Japanese language class you’ll probably learn that mother and father is おかあさん and おとうさん in an informal situation. However in reality, some people leave out the honorific prefix お when they address their own parents. This is especially true for children.

Labor Thanksgiving Day

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Nov 24 2009

In Japan, the twenty-third of November is きんろうかんしゃのひ, or Labor Thanksgiving Day. (きんろう = labor. かんしゃ = thanks, gratitude. の = no particle. ひ = day.) Labor Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday where people remember all the hard work done in the agricultural industry, the service industry and many other industries. I think nowadays people are also starting to give thanks to the labor women do in the household as well, but the idea that household work is “work” hasn’t fully caught on in Japan. On this day people give a small present, (like a box of chocolates) to their co-workers and bosses.

The 交番 (kouban) are especially honored on Labor Thanksgiving Day. The 交番 is a term used to refer to small neighborhood police stations. These neighborhood police stations are different from the centralized and larger police stations in that the neighborhood police stations can interact with the people in the neighborhood at a more initimate level than the bigger police stations. If you ever get lost in Japan, get the assistance of the 交番. They are very helpful and friendly. On Labor Thanksgiving Day, school children often draw pictures and present them as giving thanks for all that the hard work of the 交番.

Originally, きんろうかんしゃのひ was a festival called にいなめさい. にいなめさい was a festival that celebrated the rice harvest festival. The reigning emperor at the time would give thanks to the gods for a rich harvest in a ceremonial festival. After World War II, to reflect the fact that Japan was no longer a primarily agricultural society, the shift changed to honor all types of work, not just agricultural work. Also, after World War II, Labor Thanksgiving Day became a platform for human and worker’s rights organizations to denounce some of the injustices concerning human  and worker’s rights.

Some cities hold parades to honor all the occupations within the city. Some hold peace demonstrations. For some people Labor Thanksgiving Day is a day of rest and relaxation. Unlike the Thanksgiving Day celebrated in the U.S., the Japanese version is more focused on resting and honoring the occupations rather than eating good food and spending time with family. A good phrase you can use on this day is おつかれさまでした, which means “thanks for your hard work” or “you did good work” or “you worked hard”. There’s no direct translation for this in English, but that’s what it means.

Deep Fried Side Dishes

Posted by Ginny 2 Comments
Nov 21 2009

While perhaps not the most healthy, there are some delicious deep fried side dishes called 揚げ物 (agemono). One well known deep fried dish inside and outside of Japan is コロッケ. The ingredients for コロッケ differ by restaurant, but the most basic and commonly used ingredients include meat, potatoes, onion, salt rolled into oval shaped patties. After rolled in some flour, they are dipped in some egg yolk. Then they are rolled in some bread crumbs called パンこ. Finally they are deep fried in vegetable oil until they are brown.

とんカツ is often mistaken for コロッケ. The crucial difference between とんカツ and コロッケ is that とんカツ is always made of pork while コロッケ can be made out of chicken, pork, or beef. Variations on とんカツ include チケンカツ (made of chicken), ハムカツ (made of ham), ぎゅうカツ (made of beef). When served, とんカツ is cut into long stripes and dipped in a thick black Worcestershire sauce.

天ぷら are deep fried pieces of seafood or vegetables. The most common types of 天ぷら are shrimp, squid, crab or squash 天ぷら. First the shrimp (or squid, or crab, basically whatever you please) is fried in some batter made of water, flour and baking soda. Then they are fried in vegetable oil. てんつゆ is a dipping sauce that is commonly served with 天ぷら. てんつゆ is made of だし (soup stock), みりん (rice wine), and しょうゆ (soy sauce).

These types of food are also commonly made at home, so I’m sure you can find some good recipes on the net. Ok, time to go, またね!

~ませんか

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Nov 18 2009

For today’s post we’ll take a look at the ませんか construction. Let’s take a look at this sample sentence, “にほんご　を　べんきょうしませんか“. (にほんご = Japanese language. を = wo. べんきょうしませんか = won’t you study.) In English this sentence would mean “Won’t you study Japanese [with me]?”. To form the “Won’t you” construction, take the present polite negative ません ending and add the interrogative particle か to it. In this case the present polite negative of “to study” is べんきょうしません then add か the question marking particle and you get べんきょうしませんか.

For added emphasis you could add the phrase “with me”, but it’s already implied that you are extending an invitation to someone to do something with you, so you don’t absolutely need to say “with me”. For example, you could have said, “わたし　と　のみませんか“. (わたし = me.　と = with.　のみませんか = won’t you drink.) In English this would mean “Won’t you drink with me?” You can also change the pronoun わたしlike in this sentence, “わたしたち　と　おさか　に　いきませんか“, which means, “Won’t you go to Osaka with us?” (わたしたち = us.　と = with.　おさか = Osaka.　に = ni particle.　いきませんか = won’t you go.)

The English translations for ませんか all vary depending on the author. Some translate ませんか as “Will you…”, others as “Why don’t we…”, still others as “What do you say to…”. Technically there is no set phrase for ませんか in English. As long as the English translation expresses an invitation to someone, it’ll do. One other thing I want to point out is the difference between a question like “えいが　を　みますか” versus “えいが　を　みませんか versus “えいが　を　みましょうか“. (えいが = movie. を = wo particle. みる = to see.) At some point we’ve talked about all three of these types of sentences, but let’s review.

In the very beginning we talked about asking questions using the か particle. So a question like “えいが　を　みますか” will be “Do you watch movies?” This type of question is different from “えいが　を　みませんか” (Won’t you watch a movie with me?) because the latter question was a question inviting someone to do something, while the former question was simply just a question. The last question, “えいが　を　みましょうか” means “Shall we watch a movie?” is different in that this question is a question offering someone a suggestion to do something rather than inviting someone to do something.

Ok, that’s it for today, またね! (later!)

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