Japanese Hobby

Kimochi ii, Kimochi Warui - Meaning in Japanese

<div>kimochi 気持ち.  Sometimes it's just kimochi, other times it's kimochi ii 気持ちいい, other times, it's kimochi warui 気持ち悪い. But what does it really mean? What's the difference here? 
 

 
<h2 id="kimochi">
Kimochi 気持ち</h2>
Well, to begin with, the word kimochi 気持ち by itself means... "feeling." Yep, just "feeling," or "feelings," take a look: 
<ul>
<li>watashi no kimochi 私の気持ち My feelings,</li>
<li>kimi no kimochi 君の気持ち Your feelings.</li>
<li>kono kimochi この気持ち This feeling.</li>
<li>kimochi wo tsutaeru 気持ちを伝える To pass these feelings. (to have [someone] know how [you] feel)</li>
</ul>
 
.By the way, you can separate kimochi 気持ち into the words ki 気, which is a rather complicated word that's too difficult to explain and and mochi 持ち, which comes from the verb motsu 持つ, which means "to hold" or "to have." Yeah, it makes no sense. 
<h2 id="kimochi-ii">
Kimochi ii 気持ちいい</h2>

Next we have the word kimochi ii 気持ちいい, which isn't a word, but two words. The second one being ii いい.

 

Yes, ii いい is a word in Japanese. An adjective. It means "good." It even has a kanji, take a look: ii 良い.

 

Anyway, ii being "good" and kimochi being "feeling," one can conclude kimochi ii means "good feeling." Which is correct, sort of. To have a better idea, the following things are kimochi ii:
<ul>
<li>ame ga kimochi ii 雨が気持ちいい This rain feels good.</li>
<li>massaji ga kimochi ii マッサージが気持ちいい This massage feels good.</li>
<li>hito wo tasukeru no wa kimochi ii 人を助けるのは気持ちいい Helping people feels good.</li>
<li>hito wo korosu no wa kimochi ii 人を殺すのは気持ちいい Killing people feels good.</li>
</ul>

 

("tasty" food is oishii 美味しい, not kimochi ii)

 

Like any other adjective ending in -i -い, kimochi ii can also be conjugated to change in meaning slightly or to connect to other verbs.
<ul>
<li>kimochi yokatta 気持ちよかった It felt good. (in the past)</li>
<li>kimochi yokute tamaranakatta 気持ちよくてたまらなかった It felt so good I couldn't stop [doing it]</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="kimochi-warui">
Kimochi warui 気持ち悪い</h2>



On the other side of the coin we have kimochi warui 気持ち悪い, which is actually on the other side of the coin since warui 悪い means "bad" and therefore kimochi warui means "bad feeling."

 

Plenty of bad things are kimochi warui, so for the love of all that is holy do not search for 気持ち悪い in Google Images. Do not do it. I mean it. Really. Just don't.

 
kimochi ii, kimochi warui is an adjective ended in -i -い, so it can be conjugated too. 
<ul>
<li>kimochi warukatta 気持ち悪かった It felt bad. (in the past)</li>
</ul>
Likeis an adjective ended in-い, so it can be conjugated too.<h2 id="kimoi">
Kimoi キモい</h2>

A shortened slang way of saying kimochi warui that's found in anime is kimoi キモい, or just kimo キモ.

 

It means literally the same thing as kimochi warui.

A word that gets said a lot in anime and that also seem to have multiple meanings in Japanese is気持ち. Sometimes it's just, other times it's気持ちいい, other times, it's気持ち悪い. But what does it really mean? What's the difference here?Well, to begin with, the word気持ち by itself means... "feeling." Yep, just "feeling," or "feelings," take a look:.By the way, you can separate気持ち into the words気, which is a rather complicated word that's too difficult to explain and and持ち, which comes from the verb持つ, which means "to hold" or "to have." Yeah, it makes no sense.</div>

Kimochi ii, Kimochi Warui - Meaning in Japanese

kimochi 気持ち. Sometimes it's just kimochi, other times it's kimochi ii 気持ちいい, other times, it's kimochi warui 気持ち悪い. But what does it really mean? What's the difference here? Kimochi 気持ち Well, to be…

31 Dec 2017

Four Seasons in Japanese

<div><a></a> 
<ul>
<li>natsu 夏 
Summer.</li>
<li>haru 春 
Spring.</li>
<li>fuyu 冬 
Winter.</li>
<li>aki 秋 
Autumn.</li>
</ul>

 
kisetsu 季節. And the word for the "four seasons" in Japanese is the <a></a>kanji for "season," see: shiki 四季.A single "season" is called a季節. And the word for the "four seasons" in Japanese is the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/japanese-numbers-ichi-ni-san.html">Japanese number</a> "four" followed by thefor "season," see:四季.
 
shunkashuutou 春夏秋冬 can be used to refer to the four seasons, or to each or every one of them. This word would be a "four-character idiom," <a></a>Sometimes,春夏秋冬 can be used to refer to the four seasons, or to each or every one of them. This word would be a "four-character idiom," <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/yojijukugo-meaning.html">yojijukugo 四字熟語</a> 
The names of the four seasons in Japanese are <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/natsu-haru-fuyu-aki-meaning.html">natsu, haru, fuyu and aki</a> </div>

Four Seasons in Japanese

natsu 夏 Summer. haru 春 Spring. fuyu 冬 Winter. aki 秋 Autumn. kisetsu 季節. And the word for the "four seasons" in Japanese is the kanji for "season," see: shiki 四季.A single "season" is called a季節. And t…

31 Dec 2017

Yojijukugo 四字熟語

<div>yojijukugo 四字熟語 is literally a "four-character idiom," that is, an idiom written with exactly four . This word is sometimes misread as shijijukugo, because the <a></a>shi or yon. 
 
 
<a name="more"></a><h2 id="concept">
Concept</h2>

How exactly yojijukugo came to be, I wouldn't know. If I had to wager, it comes from the fact a lot of words are written with two kanji. So if you put two words in parallel, you get four kanji.

 

Maybe because of that, the yojijukugo are aesthetically pleasant, both visually and phonetically, so they tend to appear in various different ways in various different places.
<h2 id="examples">
Examples</h2>

For example, isseki-nichou 一石二鳥, "one stone + two birds." It means, as you'd guess, the same thing as the English idiom "to kill two birds with one," or the Portuguese idiom "matar dois coelhos com um tiro só," that is, it means to do two things in a single action, thus saving effort.

 

(I guess this idiom is such universal knowledge every language has a version of it)

 

Another example: futou-fukutsu 不撓不屈, "unbending + unyielding," from tawamu 撓むた, "to bend," kussuru 屈する, "to yield," and the negating prefix fu 不. This idiom refers to someone who never yields to anything.

 

Not all yojijukugo are so simple. Since they are idioms, it can be difficult to understand the meaning of the words from the meaning of the kanji in the word. For example, juunin-juuiro 十人十色 means "ten people, ten colors." But it's not talking about literal colors. It's not even talking about actual ten people. It's just saying that "everyone has a different opinion (color)."

 
ii-dakudaku 唯唯諾諾, also written with <a></a>ii-dakudaku 唯々諾々. Going by the meaning of the kanji, this one means something like "solely + agreement." It refers to someone who's completely willing to say "yes, yes," hai hai はいはい, to anything and everything. Absolute obedience. A total pushover. In other words: pretty much every harem MC ever.Then we have唯唯諾諾, also written with <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/03/repetition-kanji-meaning-noma-kurikaeshi.html">kurikaeshi 々</a> 唯々諾々. Going by the meaning of the, this one means something like "solely + agreement." It refers to someone who's completely willing to say "yes, yes,"はいはい, to anything and everything. Absolute obedience. A total pushover. In other words: pretty much every harem MC ever.
 

Of course just because there are a lot of yojijukugo with two two-kanji words that doesn't mean all of them follow this pattern.
<h3>
Four Kanji Four Things</h3>

 

 

These words, despite looking very simple, aren't as straightforward as one would think.

 

For example, the word for the four seasons, shunkashuutou, sounds like it's just a noun, but it can be used as an adverb. That is, shukashuutou can mean you'll do something "each and every season."

 

the word for the four cardinal directions, tousainanboku, sounds like a totally useless word nobody would ever get to use in their lives, but it's actually used to refer to the directions in a map, for example, or the precise directions to get to somewhere. Or even saying you don't know your way around the city. 
<h2 id="not-yojijukugo">
Not Yojijukugo</h2>

yojijukugo is supposed to refer strictly to "idioms," jukugo 熟語, however it's not always used as intended. 
 
Sometimes it ends up referring to "four-character set-phrases," yojiseigo 四字成語, slogans written with four kanji, and, in the worst case, literally any word written with four kanji. 
 
I think this should be obvious, but: yojijukugo only applies to idioms written with four kanji. Not to any word written with four kanji. 
 
Notably, yojijukugo 四字熟語 is written with four kanji, but it's not a yojijukugo since it's not an idiom. And hitori-hitori 一人一人, "one by one (for people)" isn't one either. It's just a word that happens to have four kanji. 
 
So yojijukugo doesn't mean a "four-character compound," it means "four-character idiom." I mean, what would even be the point of making all this fuss about a word simply having four characters? Why is nijijukugo, sanjijukugo, gojijukugo, etc. not as common as yoji? Specially nijijukugo. Most words are two character compounds! 
 
That's because jukugo means "idiom" here. There are two-character idioms, three-character idioms, etc. but four-character idioms are the most common. 
 
Also unrelated but similar, a <a></a><a></a>kanji compound. That one has nothing to do with idioms, just with compounds.The termis supposed to refer strictly to "idioms,"熟語, however it's not always used as intended.Sometimes it ends up referring to "four-character set-phrases,"四字成語, slogans written with four, and, in the worst case, literally any word written with fourI think this should be obvious, but:only applies towritten with four. Not to any word written with fourNotably,四字熟語 is written with four, but it's not asince it's not an idiom. And一人一人, "one by one (for people)" isn't one either. It's just a word that happens to have fourSodoesn't mean a "four-character compound," it means "four-character idiom." I mean, what would even be the point of making all this fuss about a word simply having four characters? Why is, etc. not as common as? Specially. Most words are two character compounds!That's becausemeans "idiom" here. There are two-character idioms, three-character idioms, etc. but four-character idioms are the most common.Also unrelated but similar, a <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/jukujikun-reading-meaning.html">jukujikun 熟字訓</a> , is a <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/kunyomi-meaning.html">kun'yomi reading</a> for a wholecompound. That one has nothing to do with idioms, just with compounds.<h2 id="list-of-yojijukugo">
List of Yojijukugo</h2>

If you want more examples, check out a dictionary. There are various dictionaries that list these words, but beware that what they consider a yojikujukugo can vary.

 

Japanese dictionary idiom list (best choice):
<h3>
In English</h3>

Kanji Haitani collection from various sources:

 

On Jisho, searching the tag #yoji returns words tagged as yojijukugo.

In Japanese, a四字熟語 is literally a "four-character idiom," that is, an idiom written with exactly four. This word is sometimes misread as, because the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/japanese-numbers-ichi-ni-san.html">Japanese number</a> "four" can be read asor</div>

Yojijukugo 四字熟語

yojijukugo 四字熟語 is literally a "four-character idiom," that is, an idiom written with exactly four . This word is sometimes misread as shijijukugo, because the shi or yon. Concept How exactly yojij…

30 Dec 2017

Gikun 義訓

<div>gikun 義訓 is a special type of reading, literally an "artificial kun [reading]." 
 
It happens when a word is written with a given kanji because of the kanji's meaning, that is, originally the word would be written with other kanji, or without kanji, but it was written with those kanji instead because of their meanings, effectively giving the kanji an unusual (artificial) reading. 
 
 
<a name="more"></a><h2>
Standard Gikun</h2>
For example: tabako タバコ, "tobacco," "cigarette," is a so it wouldn't have kanji, but it's sometimes written with the kanji for "smoke," kemuri 煙, and "grass," kusa 草. Smoke grass #420, tabako 煙草. 
 
Since it's a gikun you can't divide the kanji in the word and get separate <a></a>taba 煙 ko 草 or ta 煙 bako 草, because those kanji can't be read that way, those readings aren't official, standard, they aren't in the dictionary. 
 
It's only when both kanji are used at once, tabako 煙草, that the gikun is applies, because then it refers to the word associated with the "smoke grass" meaning, the "tobacco." This is also called a , and there are jukujikun like this that aren't gikun, for example, kyou 今日, "today," the kanji are only read as kyou when they're together.. 
 
Words like tabako are sorta official gikun, because people would recognize it if it were written with the kanji for "smoke grass." Besides these, there are also gikun that's made up by authors, specially of manga and light novels, that nobody would recognize normally, it'd be recognized only by readers of the work. 
<h2>
Made-up Gikun</h2>
In manga, anime, light novels, games, songs, etc. it's possible to create any gikun by simply writing whatever in the reading aid. 
 
This normally happens because authors like to use -approved names for skills, techniques, organizations, places, items, and stuff. That is, mostly <a></a><a></a>kanji is just more Japanese-looking, the authors use those foreign words as gikun of kanji of similar meaning. 
 
For example, hiiro ヒーロー comes from the English "hero." But yuusha 勇者 also means "hero," literally "brave person." So a made-up gikun would be reading the word yuusha as if it were hiiro, or writing hiiro as if it were yuusha, whichever makes more sense to you: hiiroo 勇者.

In Japanese, a義訓 is a special type ofreading, literally an "artificial[reading]."It happens when a word is written with a givenbecause of the's meaning, that is, originally the word would be written with other, or without, but it was written with thoseinstead because of their meanings, effectively giving thean unusual (artificial) reading.For example:タバコ, "tobacco," "cigarette," is aso it wouldn't have, but it's sometimes written with thefor "smoke,"煙, and "grass,"草. Smoke grass煙草.Since it's ayou can't divide thein the word and get separate <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/morphemes.html">morphemes</a> . For example, you can't divide it into草 or草, because thosecan't be read that way, those readings aren't official, standard, they aren't in the dictionary.It's only when bothare used at once,煙草, that theis applies, because then it refers to the word associated with the "smoke grass" meaning, the "tobacco." This is also called a, and there arelike this that aren't, for example,今日, "today," theare only read aswhen they're together..Words likeare sorta official, because people would recognize it if it were written with thefor "smoke grass." Besides these, there are alsothat's made up by authors, specially of manga and light novels, that nobody would recognize normally, it'd be recognized only by readers of the work.In manga, anime, light novels, games, songs, etc. it's possible to create anyby simply writing whatever in thereading aid.This normally happens because authors like to use-approved names for skills, techniques, organizations, places, items, and stuff. That is, mostly <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/katakanization-meaning.html">katakanized</a> English words. But then maybe because <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/katakanago-meaning.html">katakana words</a> can be a pain in the ass to read if they're long, or maybe becauseis just more Japanese-looking, the authors use those foreign words asofof similar meaning.For example,ヒーロー comes from the English "hero." But勇者 also means "hero," literally "brave person." So a made-upwould be reading the wordas if it were, or writingas if it were, whichever makes more sense to you:勇者.</div>

Gikun 義訓

gikun 義訓 is a special type of reading, literally an "artificial kun [reading]." It happens when a word is written with a given kanji because of the kanji's meaning, that is, originally the word wo…

21 Dec 2017

Jukujikun 熟字訓

<div>jukujikun 熟字訓 is a special type of kanji reading, literally a "kanji compound kun [reading]." 
 
It mostly happens when a single <a></a> instead of one. For example: 
<ul>
<li>hito 人 
Person 
Kun'yomi, one morpheme, one kanji.</li>
<li>jinsei 人生 
Life [of a person]. 
<a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/onyomi-meaning.html">On'yomi</a>, two morphemes, two kanji.</li>
<li>otona 大人 
Adult. 
Jukujikun, one morpheme, two kanji.</li>
</ul>

 

The consequence of a jukujikun reading is that it's impossible divide the reading of the word in two. For example, you can divide jinsei 人生, which has two morphemes, into jin 人 sei 生. But you can't divide otona into oto 大 na 人 or o 大 tona 人.
<a name="more"></a><h2>
Ye Olde Nihon</h2>

For the most part, what are called jukujikun are old Japanese words which were going to be written with kanji, but couldn't match the meaning of a single kanji, so they had to be written with multiple kanji instead.

 

For example, there were two Japanese words, ima, "now," and "day," hi. Since there was a kanji that meant "now," the word for "now" in Japanese got associated with it: ima 今. And there was a kanji for "day," too, so the same happened with it: hi 日. This way, ima and hi became kun'yomi readings of those two kanji.

 

Then, there was a word for "today," kyou. But... wait?! Where's the kanji for "today?" There's no kanji for today! Oh no! What do we do! What do we do?! We imported all these bucket-loads of Chinese characters and just like with legos you can't find the one you want when you need no matter how many you got!

 

Oh well, I got the kanji for "now" and "day," and "today" is kind of "now-day" anyway, so... kyou 今日. That's it. One old Japanese word associated with two kanji instead of one. A jukujikun. Problem solved, folks, let's go home!

 

And that's how jukujikun were born.
<h3>
Multi-Morpheme</h3>

Like I've said, most jukujikun are single-morpheme words, however there are some exceptions.

 

For example, kesa 今朝, "today's morning," is a jukujikun. However, it's, very obviously, the fusion of kyou 今日, "today," with asa 朝, "morning," in Japanese. I wouldn't know for sure, but I guess you could say they are two morphemes? Or were? They just... kind of gotta blended together, their pronunciation.

 

Anyway, this shows that sometimes two old Japanese words become one old Japanese word that's written with two or more kanji creating a jukujikun reading that can't be divided in half.
<h3>
On'yomi</h3>

I think it's important that sometimes words read by the kanji's on'yomi have similar meanings to the jukujikun of the words.

 

For example, konnichi 今日 is the on'yomi version of the jukujikun kyou 今日. Unlike kyou, konnichi can be divided into two: kon 今 nichi 日.
<h2>
Le Neo Japan</h2>

Besides old words, jukujikun may also refer to modern words associated with multiple kanji.

 

This happens specially with loaned words from the west, the gairaigo 外来語, which are written with katakana and do not have kanji.

 

When a katakana word like that is forcibly written with kanji, there are two options: the kanji are chosen phonetically, this is called an ateji, or by meaning, this is called a gikun.

 

For example, tabako タバコ is a foreign word which may be written with kanji, like this: tabako 煙草. Since it's a single word written with two kanji, it's a jukujikun, and because the reading is "artificial," it's a gikun.
<h2>
Examples</h2>

For reference, some examples of jukujikun.
<ul>
<li>tsuitachi 一日 
First day of the month.</li>
<li>futsuka 二日 
Second day. Two days.</li>
<li>ashita 明日 (or asu 明日) 
Tomorrow.</li>
<li>kinou 昨日 
Yesterday.</li>
<li>kotoshi 今年 
This year.</li>
<li>chotto 一寸 (rarely written with kanji, though) 
One bit. One little. One moment. 
(often means, "wait!" or "stop!")</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>heta 下手 
Unskilled.</li>
<li>hayate 疾風 
Gale. (wind)</li>
<li>azuki 小豆 
Adzuki bean (often used in bean paste).</li>
<li>omocha 玩具 
Toy.</li>
<li>megane 眼鏡 
Glasses. (eye-wear)</li>
<li>yukata 浴衣 
Yukata. (clothing)</li>
<li>tabi 足袋 
Tabi. (a.k.a. ninja socks)</li>
</ul>

 
<a></a>And, of course, <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/09/yuri-meaning.html">yuri 百合</a> ... which means "lily," a flower.
In Japanese, a熟字訓 is a special type ofreading, literally a "compound[reading]."It mostly happens when a single <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/morphemes.html">morpheme</a> is written with multipleinstead of one. For example:</div>

Jukujikun 熟字訓

jukujikun 熟字訓 is a special type of kanji reading, literally a "kanji compound kun [reading]." It mostly happens when a single instead of one. For example: hito 人 Person Kun'yomi, one morpheme, one…

20 Dec 2017

Why Gakkou Not Gakukou? - Sokuonbin 促音便

<div>
Basically, it's because of how the words are pronounced.When you have a word like学校, it's easier to pronounce it asthan it is to pronounce it as. The tongue slips. People have been saying it that way for so long it's become official.This is similar to how rendaku 連濁 makes a死神 become死神.Besides, it also sounds better. I mean,突破 sounds like someone's name, it doesn't ring as nice as突破！！！
The sokuonbin happens in essentially three different cases.When you have two morphemes (like two, but not always), and they're joined in one word, and the last syllable of the first morpheme and the first syllable of the second morpheme have hard, dry sounds, they end up becoming ainstead.chi, tsu or ku, and the second morpheme starts with h, k or t, then it probably becomes a sokuonbin. 
 
Also, chi and tsu also create sokuon sometimes when they come before s or h. And when h is preceded by the sokuon, a is added and it becomes p instead. (example: ho ほ becomes po ぽ) 
<h3>
Forced Word Boundary</h3>

When you have a morpheme which starts with one of the hard syllables above, like k, h, t or s, for example, and you use it as a suffix in a word, it's often the case you add the sokuon in order to let it show it's a separate morpheme in the pronunciation.
<h4>
Suffixes</h4>

For example, the Japanese anime community has the custom of adding the suffix ko 子, "child," written with the kanji for musume 娘, "girl," to random words. When this happens, the suffix usually becomes kko っ娘.

 
<a></a>bokukko 僕っ娘, because a bokuko 僕娘 sounds like it's a single word that mixes both things meanings somehow, when it's the one words with one suffix.So a girl which uses the pronoun <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/08/watashi-boku-ore-meaning.html">boku 僕</a> gets called a僕っ娘, because a僕娘 sounds like it's a single word that mixes both things meanings somehow, when it's the one words with one suffix.
 

You can also see this in the suffix ppoi っぽい. If you said just poi ぽい it'd sound like it's a single adjective. For example: nekopoi ねこぽい looks like one single word, it has less syllables than atatakai 暖かい, "warm," which is a simple adjective.

 

So, instead, an emphasis is put on the pronunciation of the boundary, nekoppoi 猫っぽい, "cat-like," so the listener or reader can perceive it's separate things.
<h4>
Prefixes</h4>

This can also happen with prefixes, which is why ma 真 and shiro 白 become masshiro 真っ白.
<h3>
Historic Changes</h3>

A last case is when a word's pronunciation simply changed through the years, and by years I mean decades or centuries, or who knows how long.

 

Such changes are difficult for someone like me to figure out, but I can at least tell you they exist.

 

For example, shippo 尻尾, "tail," is read as shippo in modern Japanese, but its parts are shiri 尻 and o 尾 respectively. You can tell that o 尾 was treated as if it was a ho and turned into a po. In the past, the word was read shirio 尻尾.
<h4>
Te-forms</h4>

Most te forms of verbs, like totte 取って, actually come from literally connecting the verb to the te. This happens by using the "conjunctive form," the renk'youkei 連用形.

 

For example, connect toru 取る, "to take," to another verb would look like this: torikaesu 取り返す, "to take back." So when it's connected to the te, it should look like torite 取りて. However, after centuries of languagery, it's become totte 取って instead because of the pronunciation.

 

(in a similar but different process, yomite 読みて became yonde 読んで)
<h3>
Join of Vowel</h3>

The use of sokuon also happens sometimes when the second morpheme is a vowel and the first is a hard syllable. When this happens, the vowel ends up being treated like a h syllable and turns into p.

 

For example, shiri 尻 and o 尾 become shippo 尻尾, "tail."
<h2>
Examples</h2>
For example, if the first morpheme ends inor, and the second morpheme starts withor, then it probably becomes aAlso,andalso createsometimes when they come beforeor. And whenis preceded by the, ais added and it becomesinstead. (example:ほ becomesぽ)</div>

Why Gakkou Not Gakukou? - Sokuonbin 促音便

Basically, it's because of how the words are pronounced.When you have a word like学校, it's easier to pronounce it asthan it is to pronounce it as. The tongue slips. People have been saying it that way…

20 Dec 2017

Morphemes

<div> 
 
In Japanese, the idea of morphemes are closely related to the . Lots of kanji are morphemes, as they have a meaning, represent an idea, and compose words made out of one or more kanji. In some cases, a kanji represents whole a word instead of just idea. And since some words are made out of multiple morphemes, sometimes a kanji represents multiple morphemes too. 
 
Like other languages, suffixes, prefixes, etc. in Japanese are also considered to be morphemes, even though a lot of those would be written with , and not with kanji. 
 
 

A morpheme is the smallest part of a language that has any meaning. Normally, one would think that would be a word, however, some words are made out of multiple morphemes, meaning a morpheme is smaller than a word, and when a morpheme isn't a word by itself, it can't be used alone, only as part of a whole word.In Japanese, the idea of morphemes are closely related to the. Lots ofare morphemes, as they have a meaning, represent an idea, and compose words made out of one or more. In some cases, arepresents whole a word instead of just idea. And since some words are made out of multiple morphemes, sometimes arepresents multiple morphemes too.Like other languages, suffixes, prefixes, etc. in Japanese are also considered to be morphemes, even though a lot of those would be written with, and not with</div>

Morphemes

In Japanese, the idea of morphemes are closely related to the . Lots of kanji are morphemes, as they have a meaning, represent an idea, and compose words made out of one or more kanji. In some cases…

19 Dec 2017

Easy to read manga for Japanese beginners – Vol. 03

<div> 
 Furigana are very comfortable when you have too look up unknown words but if you already have a decent Kanji and vocabulary knowledge, it can be a quite rewarding experience to try some simple manga which don’t have Kanji readings for every word. It’s agreat feeling when you’re just starting out and quickly notice that you can actually read some “real” Japanese. Real, because you won’t encounter too many Furigana when you’re in Japan. Difficult, unusual Kanji will still have Furigana above because even Japanese people don’t know the correct reading for every Kanji.
If you’re just starting with reading manga in Japanese to practice your language skills and to pick up some vocabulary, you should start with the first two parts of my series.
 
If you don’t know where to pick up Japanese manga and books check my guide.
<h4>1.) あずまんが大王 (Azumanga Daioh)</h4>
The mangaka あずまきよひこ became once popular with this manga. Simple stories, each quickly told in just 4-panels. Now he is better known for his other hit manga よつばと but あずまんが大王 is still a very charming, funny manga. There are no Furigana used here which was quite a bummer when I bought it a couple months back. Today I’m really happy that it just relies on the Kanji itself and a good choice to start reading Japanese without any Furigana-help. But I still prefer ダリンは外国人when it comes to the difficulty of the manga.
Buy the manga: <a href="http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/aff/click.cgi/PytJTGW7Lok/4756/A148868/product%2FNEOBK-1718051">あずまんが大王 Vol.01</a>
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-13" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3305" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-13.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-14" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3306" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-14.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-15" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3307" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-15.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-17" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3309" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-17.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-16" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3308" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-16.jpg" width="1200">
<h4>2.) ドクター スランプ – 完全版 (Dr. Slump – The complete edition)</h4>
We all know Dr. Slump. It’s from the creator of Dragonball, equally funny and was released in an equally beautiful 完全版 in Japan. The Cover is sparkling which should be reason alone to pick this one up immediatly. If you’re not into glitter and are more interested in the actual story, my recommendation is still the same. But be warned: I think Dragonball is doable to read in Japanese even as a beginner. But like ai already mention in the first post with easy manga, the slang can be a bit much and the vocabulary used is a bit different from the one we usually use. Lots of ancient words and strange grammer. Dr. Slump is nearly the same but strangely without Furigana. I’m a bit confused why that is the case. Botz books should appeal to a younger audience if not the same.
Buy the manga: <a href="http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/aff/click.cgi/PytJTGW7Lok/4756/A148868/product%2FNEOBK-35636">ドクター スランプ Vol.01</a>
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-23" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3315" height="776" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-23.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-24" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3316" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-24.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-27" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3319" height="795" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-27.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-25" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3317" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-25.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-26" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3318" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-26.jpg" width="1200">
<h4>3.) ダーリンは外国人 (My darling is a foreigner)</h4>
This one is a big hit in Japan and spawned several sequels. The story is about a couple living in Tokyo where the woman is Japanese and her darling American. In fact he is half-Hungarian half-Italien descendt which is the base for serveral jokes in the book. There is also a Japanese film-adaption of the manga, yeah it’s so popular, but it’s rather bad. At least that’s what I heard several times from informants who usually have taste. This one should be the first for you to pick up if you want something without Furigana but won’t be too demanding Kanji-wise. Each story is told in a couple of panels and centered around everyday situations where a 外人 like us would behave totally unapropriate in Japan. Apart from being incredibly funny, as a small bonus, it’s really a nice manga too look at. And not because of the pictures, I’m talking about the presentation of the manga. Nice one!
Buy the manga: <a href="https://whiterabbit.refersion.com/l/dd2.28709">ダーリンは外国人 Vol.01</a>
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-8" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3300" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-8.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-9" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3301" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-9.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-10" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3302" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-10.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-12" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3304" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-12.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-11" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3303" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-11.jpg" width="1200">
<h4>4.) くるねこ (Kuruneko)</h4>
Yamato Kuruneko loves Sake and loves cats. She once drew these little cartoons, which are based on her own life, for her Blog. It became really popular in Japan and so Enterbrain picked her stories up and released them in the big tankobon format. It’s funny because kuroneko means black cat in Japanese and the authors name sounds nearly the same. Even if the stories are only a couple of panels long, like あずまんが大王, they are still quite difficult. The handwriting is a bit of a poblem for me and makes it sometimes pretty hard to read. But that shouldn’t discorage you from picking it up. It’s quite a big one and definitely worth a look if my few “preview pictures” picked your interest.
Buy the manga: <a href="http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/aff/click.cgi/PytJTGW7Lok/4756/A148868/product%2FNEOBK-1335877">くるねこ</a>
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-18" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3310" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-18.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-19" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3311" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-19.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-20" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3312" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-20.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-22" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3314" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-22.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-21" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3313" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-21.jpg" width="1200">
<h4>5.) タマさん (Tama-san)</h4>
When I visited K-Books (Akiba) back in February, I picked this one up just because of its looks. There were only sealed copies available so I couldn’t get a quick sneak inside. It seemed to be a quite easy manga and because of the rather big format (like Shirokuma Café, not that it’s a real indicator) and just put it in my shopping bag. I bought way too much stuff there anyway (including lots and lots <a href="http://japanesetease.net/a-good-way-to-protect-your-manga-book-kun/">protective covers</a> for my manga), so these two didn’t make a difference.
Currently I’m fully occupied with reading more よつばと and Dragonball so I didn’t start this one yet. But judging after quickly flipping through the books they are not to difficult on the Kanji side. If you can read よつばと without relying too much on the Furigana, this shouldn’t be a problem for you.
Note 27.02.2015: I read both volumes by now. It’s a really funny one but there is quite a lot to read. The difficulty is ruffly on par with あずまんが大王.
<h4>Buy the manga: <a href="http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/aff/click.cgi/PytJTGW7Lok/4756/A148868/product%2FNEOBK-1409221">タマさん</a></h4>
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-3" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3295" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-3.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-5" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3297" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-5.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-6" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3298" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-6.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="Japanese Manga without Furigana-7" border="0" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3299" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Japanese-Manga-without-Furigana-7.jpg" width="1200">

Thanks for reading and all your support dear Japanese Tease visitors. I’ll be back with more easy reading material for Japanese beginners. Still not quite sure what I’ll present to you next time but I’ll find something for sure. Maybe you even want some more manga without Furigana?
On to the last one of the series without any Furigana restrictions.
 
If you want to tackle some 青年 manga, I wrote a small post about doing so and am talking about one of my favorite manga of all time, Billy Bat:
<a href="http://japanesetease.net/reading-seinen-manga-without-furigana-easy-might-think/">Reading Seinen manga is more easy than you might think</a>
If you have any suggestions or wishes, pease just leave me a comment. As always, it’s highly appreciated.
 
 </div>

Easy to read manga for Japanese beginners – Vol. 03

Furigana are very comfortable when you have too look up unknown words but if you already have a decent Kanji and vocabulary knowledge, it can be a quite rewarding expe…

18 Dec 2017

A good way to protect your manga – Book-Kun

<div> 
 I love all my books and manga and always try to protect them the best way possible. On my visit to Tokyo I discovered these lovely book protective sleeves at K-Books in Akihabara and had to buy a couple for my latest purchases. The quality is quite good, the price with 120-200¥ depending on the size, is not that bad and it’s really easy to apply them to your books. There are 10 pieces in each packaging, so you can do the math what one of these <a href="http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/aff/click.cgi/PytJTGW7Lok/4756/A148868/search3.html?r=ALL&q=Transparent+Book+Cover&media=NONE&cur=0">ブッカー君</a>, how they are actually called, might cost you.
<img alt="DSC_0244" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3281" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/DSC_0244.jpg" width="1200">
Unfortunately I haven’t found a place outside of Japan which is offering these. Even our beloved <a href="http://japanesetease.net/guide-where-to-buy-japanese-manga-and-books/">honto bookstore</a> doesn’t carry any. There are some others brands around offering these protective sleeves but until today I haven’t found a good source for them. When you’re currently in Japan trying to pick some ブッカー君 up for yourself, Tsutaya should always have some in their manga sections. I bought maybe 20-30 of these in different sizes so I’m all set, book-cover-wise.
Update: One of the readers mentioned that you can get these <a href="http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/aff/click.cgi/PytJTGW7Lok/4756/A148868/search3.html?r=ALL&q=Transparent+Book+Cover&media=NONE&cur=0">transparent book covers</a> at cdjapan. Thanks a lot for finding these!
And now I should really go and work on my Japanese grammar. I have been slacking a bit these lst few weeks. Genki here I come.
<img alt="book kun manga sleeves" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3273" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130810-DSC_0263.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="20130810-DSC_0266" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3279" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130810-DSC_0266.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="20130810-DSC_0267" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3274" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130810-DSC_0267.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="20130810-DSC_0264" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3275" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130810-DSC_0264.jpg" width="1200">
<img alt="20130810-DSC_0268" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3276" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130810-DSC_0268.jpg" width="1200">
Maybe you were wondering why all my manga looked to “shiny” on my pictures. That’s because I applied these book sleeves to all of them. It’s good for reading and storing them but always a pain to take proper pictures because of the reflections.
<img alt="20130810-DSC_0274" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3278" height="800" src="http://japanesetease.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130810-DSC_0274.jpg" width="1200">
 
 </div>

A good way to protect your manga – Book-Kun

I love all my books and manga and always try to protect them the best way possible. On my visit to Tokyo I discovered these lovely book protective sleeves at K-Books i…

18 Dec 2017

Different Romaji, Same Word

<div>romaji. For example, arigato, arigatō and arigatou. Or kohai, kōhai, and kouhai. Or senpai and sempai. Or on'yomi and onyomi. Or even "cake" turning into keeki, kēki and keki ケーキ. After all, what's the correct romaji for these words? Why does this even happen? 
 

 

 
<a name="more"></a><h2 id="which-is-correct-romaji">
Which One Is Correct?</h2>

If you're wondering which one is correct, arigatou, arigatō, arigato or arigatoo, the answer is: all of them. And they are all pronounced the same way.

 
This is because all the romaji above refer to the same word: 有難う. 
 
If 有難う is pronounced one way, and arigatō and arigatou are simply a different way of writing 有難う, then arigatō and arigatou must be pronounced the same way as 有難う. They are all pronounced the same.
 
But if they are all pronounced the same, why is the romaji different? 
<h3>
Why Romaji Varies</h3>

Basically, transliteration isn't an exact science. There's no official romanization for a given word. Because the romaji changes depending on the method applied to obtain that romaji.

 

For example, some methods are based simply on the letters. The same letters result in the same romaji. It's consistent that way. However, if two words written the same are pronounced differently in Japanese, that won't show in the romaji.

 

So there are also methods which attempt to transcribe how the word is pronounced. Here you already have a difference. A single word may be romanized based on how it's written or on how it's pronounced. And since you're just writing down the sounds you're hearing, two different people may end up romanizing the same word differently based on what they think it sounds like.
<h3>
Why Romaji Doesn't Vary, Sorta</h3>
<a></a>To make sure the romaji stays consistent from person to person, certain rules were created to romanize words. A set of such rules is called a <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/romaji-systems-hepburn-nihon-kunrei.html">romaji system</a> 
 

One romaji systems or another and their rules are used as reference pretty much every time a word needs to be romanized. That's why, most of the time, a single word Japanese word is only ever romanized in one way.

 

But then there are differences between the systems. There are even differences within a same system, because its rules were updated and some people still follow the old version.

 

And then new differences are born purely from the fact that some people are using a system but they don't know or can't be arsed to follow all of its rules, so they adopt some rules but skip over others, creating a romaji different from that of a person who followed all the romaji rules.
But if they are all pronounced the same, why is thedifferent?
 

Below I'll list some of the common variations of romaji found in words and where they come from. I hope it serves as reference and answers the "why a single word has two romaji?" question.
<h2 id="aa-long-vowel">
Aa / ā / a</h2>
aa, ā, and a are for long vowels starting with a, like ああ and あー. 
 
See the <a></a> 
<h3>
Examples:</h3>
<ul>
<li>お母さん 
おかあさん 
おかーさん 
okaasan 
okāsan 
okasan</li>
<li>お祖母さん 
おばあさん 
おばーさん 
obaasan 
obāsan 
obasan</li>
<li>麻雀 
マージャン 
maajan 
mājan 
majan</li>
</ul>
The romaji, andare for long vowels starting with, like ああ and あー.See the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/different-romaji-same-word.html#long-vowels-explanation">Long Vowels</a> section below for explanation.<h2 id="ei-ee-long-vowel">
Ei / ē / e / ee</h2>

The romaji ei is for えい, which may be a long vowel.
ē, e, and ee are for long vowels starting with e, like えい, えー and ええ. 
 
See the <a></a> 
<h3>
Examples</h3>
<ul>
<li>お姉さん 
おねえさん 
おねーさん 
<a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/07/oniichan-oneechan-otouto-imouto-meaning.html">oneesan</a> 
onēsan 
onesan</li>
<li>先生 
せんせい 
<a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/04/sensei-meaning.html">sensei</a> 
sensē 
sense 
sensee</li>
<li>ケーキ 
keeki 
kēki 
keki</li>
</ul>
The romaji, andare for long vowels starting with, like えい, えー and ええ.See the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/different-romaji-same-word.html#long-vowels-explanation">Long Vowels</a> section below for explanation.<h2 id="ii-long-vowel">
Ii / ī / i</h2>
ii, ī, and i are for long vowels starting with i, like いい and いー. 
 
See the <a></a> 
<h3>
Examples</h3>
<ul>
<li>お兄さん 
おにいさん 
おにーさん 
<a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/07/oniichan-oneechan-otouto-imouto-meaning.html">oniisan</a> 
onīsan 
onisan</li>
<li>ヒーロー 
hiiroo 
hīrō 
hiro</li>
</ul>
The romaji, andare for long vowels starting with, like いい and いー.See the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/different-romaji-same-word.html#long-vowels-explanation">Long Vowels</a> section below for explanation.<h2 id="ou-oo-long-vowel">
Ou / ō / o / oo</h2>
ou is for おう, which may be a long vowel. 
The romaji ō, o, and oo are for long vowels starting with o, like おう, おー, and おお. 
 
See the <a></a>The romajiis for おう, which may be a long vowel.The romaji, andare for long vowels starting with, like おう, おー, and おお.See the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/different-romaji-same-word.html#long-vowels-explanation">Long Vowels</a> section below for explanation.<h3>
Examples</h3>
<ul>
<li>有難う 
ありがとう 
arigatou 
arigatō 
arigato 
arigatoo</li>
<li>今日 
きょう 
kyou 
kyō 
kyo 
kyoo</li>
<li>ローマ字 
ローマじ 
 roumaji 
 rōmaji <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/08/romaji-meaning.html">romaji</a> 
roomaji</li>
<li>氷 
こおり 
koori 
kōri 
kori</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>妹 
いもうと 
<a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/07/oniichan-oneechan-otouto-imouto-meaning.html">imouto</a> 
imōto 
imoto 
imooto</li>
<li>弟 
おとうと 
<a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/07/oniichan-oneechan-otouto-imouto-meaning.html">otouto</a> 
otōto 
ototo 
otooto</li>
<li>お父さん 
おとうさん 
otousan 
otōsan 
otosan 
otoosan</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>後輩 
こうはい 
<a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/08/senpai-kouhai-meaning.html">kouhai</a> 
kōhai 
kouhai 
koohai</li>
<li>同人 
<a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/doujin-doujinshi-meaning.html">doujin</a> 
dōjin 
dojin 
doojin</li>
<li>東京 
とうきょう 
toukyou 
tōkyo 
tokyo 
tookyoo</li>
<li>東方 仗助 
ひがしかた じょうすけ 
Higashikata Jousuke 
Higashikata Jōsuke 
Higashikata Josuke</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="uu-long-vowel">
Uu / ū / u</h2>
romaji uu, ū, and u are for long vowels starting with u, like うう and うー. 
 
See the <a></a> 
<h3>
Examples</h3>
The, andare for long vowels starting with, like うう and うー.See the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/different-romaji-same-word.html#long-vowels-explanation">Long Vowels</a> section below for explanation.<ul>
<li>九尾 
きゅうび 
kyuubi 
kyūbi 
kyubi</li>
<li>キュゥべえ 
kyuubee 
kyūbe 
kyube 
("Kyubey," from Madoka Magica)</li>
<li>十二大戦 
じゅうにたいせん 
<a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/11/juuni-taisen-taglines.html">juuni taisen</a> 
jūni taisen 
juni taisen</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="mb-mp-mm-romaji">
N / m</h2>
<a></a>n ん is romanized as m ん if it comes before a b, m, or p syllable.In traditional <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/romaji-systems-hepburn-nihon-kunrei.html">Hepburn</a> ん is romanized asん if it comes before a, orsyllable.
 

Modified Hepburn, more recent, does not have this rule.
<h3>
Examples</h3>
<ul>
<li>先輩 
せんぱい 
<a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/08/senpai-kouhai-meaning.html">senpai</a> 
sempai</li>
<li>貧乏 
びんぼう 
binbou 
bimbou</li>
<li>binbō</li>
<li>bimbō</li>
<li>段ボール 
だんボール 
danbooru 
dambooru 
danbōru 
dambōru</li>
<li>乱麻½ 
らんま½ 
ranma 1/2 
ramma 1/2</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="syllabic-n-vowel">
N / n- / n' / n̄</h2>
<a></a>n ん is romanized n ん. However, to make sure n ん + a あ, two syllables, wouldn't look like a single na な syllable, the n ん is romanized differently if it comes before a vowel or an y-syllable.In <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/romaji-systems-hepburn-nihon-kunrei.html">Hepburn</a> , the syllabicん is romanizedん. However, to make sureん +あ, two syllables, wouldn't look like a singleな syllable, theん is romanized differently if it comes before a vowel or an-syllable.
 

In traditional Hepburn, it becomes n-, with a dash. In modified Hepburn, it becomes n', with an apostrophe..

 

Because not everybody is aware of this rule, people may end up transliterating kon'ya or kon-ya 今夜 as konya 今夜 instead, which looks like ko-nya こにゃ even though it is ko-n-ya こんや.

 
n̄ ん with a macron, because they didn't want to deal with these shenanigans. 
<h3>
Examples</h3>
<ul>
<li>戦勇 
せんゆう 
sen'yuu 
sen-yuu 
senyuu 
sen̄yuu 
</li>
<li>sen'yū</li>

<li>sen-yū</li>

<li>senyū 
</li>
<li>sen̄y</li>
ū</ul>
In JSL, it's always romanizedん with a macron, because they didn't want to deal with these shenanigans.
<h2 id="hyphens-in-romaji">
Hyphens</h2>

<a></a><a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/07/kun-san-chan-sama-meaning.html">chan</a> are added to nouns, and when romanized they're separated by a hyphen. Sometimes, they are not separated by a hyphen.Sometimes <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/07/kun-san-chan-sama-meaning.html">honorific suffixes like sama, san, and </a> are added to nouns, and when romanized they're separated by a hyphen. Sometimes, they are not separated by a hyphen.
 

Likewise, other suffixes in general like pluralizing suffixes, etc. can get treated with the hyphen or lack of thereof.

 

Furthermore, in some cases the suffix is a noun, so it becomes hard to figure out if it's a noun plus suffix or an adjective-noun plus noun. In such cases, an hyphenated version and a space-separated version end up existing.

 

Nobody is really sure when to put the hyphen.
<h3>
Examples</h3>
<ul>
<li>お母さん 
おかあさん 
okaasan 
okaa-san</li>
<li>僕達 
ぼくたち 
bokutachi 
boku-tachi</li>
<li>六本木駅 
ろっぽんぎえき 
roppongi-eki 
roppongi eki</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="particles-in-romaji">
Ha / wa, he / e, wo / o</h2>


The kana ha-he-wo はへを are sometimes romanized as wa-e-o はへを.

 

This only happens when the kana represents a grammar particle. For example:
<ul>
<li>haha wa hantaa はは は はんたー 
Mother is a hunter.</li>
<li>henshin e no enerugii へんしん へ の エネルギー 
The energy [used] toward the transformation.</li>
</ul>

 
<a></a>And it only happens with the particles because the particles are pronounced differently like that. And the reason for that has been explained in another post: <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/08/particles-pronunciation-ha-wa-he-e-wo-o.html">Why is ha は wa?</a> <h2 id="fu-vs-hu-romaji">
Fu / Hu</h2>
<a></a>fu ふ. In Nihon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki, the romanization is hu ふ.In the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/romaji-systems-hepburn-nihon-kunrei.html">Hepburn</a> romaji system, it's romanizedふ. In Nihon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki, the romanization isふ.<h3>
Examples</h3>
<ul>
<li>風船 
ふうせん 
fuusen 
huusen 
fūsen 
hūsen</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="sho-vs-syo-romaji">
Sho / Syo</h2>
<a></a>sho しょis romanized as sho, mimicking the pronunciation. In Nihon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki systems, sho しょ is romanized as syo, because those systems prefer to be regular (kyo, myo, syo instead of sho).In <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/romaji-systems-hepburn-nihon-kunrei.html">Hepburn</a> and similar romaji systems,しょis romanized as, mimicking the pronunciation. In Nihon-shiki and Kunrei-shiki systems,しょ is romanized as, because those systems prefer to be regular (instead of).<h3>
Examples</h3>
<ul>
<li>少年 
しょうねん 
shounen 
shōnen 
syounen 
syōnen</li>
<li>少女 
しょうじょ 
shoujo 
syouzyo 
shōjo 
syōzyo</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="chi-vs-ti-romaji">
Chi / Ti</h2>
<a></a>chi ち, in Nihon and Kunrei-shiki, it's romanized ti ち.In <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/romaji-systems-hepburn-nihon-kunrei.html">Hepburn</a> , it'sち, in Nihon and Kunrei-shiki, it's romanizedち.<h3>
Examples</h3>
<ul>
<li>地球 
ちきゅう 
chikyuu 
tikyuu 
chikyū 
tikyū</li>
</ul>
<h2>
Long Vowels</h2>
romaji varies is in how a <a></a>A common way in whichvaries is in how a <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/romaji-systems-hepburn-nihon-kunrei.html">romaji system</a> transliterates long vowels.
 

In Japanese, a long vowel happens when the vowel part of a syllable takes longer than one mora of time to pronounce.

 

To elaborate:
<ul>
<li>ko こ 
One syllable. One mora.</li>
<li>koe こえ 
Two syllables. Two mora.</li>
<li>koo こー 
One syllable. Two mora.</li>
<li>koo こお 
One syllable. Two mora.</li>
</ul>

 

Basically, instead of pronouncing ko and o separately, the sound of the first syllable is dragged for a bit longer.

 

The long vowels don't only happen when you have the same vowel repeated. For example, ou おう may be pronounced as a long o. And ei えい may be pronounced as a long e.

 

Compound kana may have long vowels too. For example: kyuu きゅう is a kyu ending in a long u.

 

Generally speaking, (there are some exceptions), long vowels only happen within morpheme boundaries. This means that meiro 迷路, "labyrinth," has a me with a long e, because mei 迷 is a single morpheme. However, meiro 目色, "eye color," is pronounced differently, with me 目, "eye," and iro 色, "color," pronounced separately.
<h3>
Ignore It</h3>

The most simple approach to transliterating long vowels is to just ignore them.

 

So o お and u う is always ou おう, no matter what it's pronounced like.
<h3>
Macrons</h3>

A common approach to transliterating long vowels is to add a macron to the long vowel and remove the extra vowel. For example:
<ul>
<li>gakkou 学校 
gakkō 
School.</li>
</ul>
<h3>
Forget The Macron</h3>

Most people don't know how to type a macaroon, much less a macaroni, or a macron. So if they see kyōto written somewhere, they might try to copy it, but they won't be able to type the macron, and type it just as Kyoto.
<ul>
<li>kyouto 京都 
kyōto 
Kyoto.</li>
</ul>
<h3>
Doubled Vowels</h3>

Another approach (used by the JSL romaji system, for example), is to double the long vowel, but remove the second vowel. It's like doing the macron, but removing the macron and repeating the vowel. Example:
<ul>
<li>kouhai 後輩 
kōhai (add macron, remove u) 
kohai (forget the macron) 
koohai (double the vowel)</li>
</ul>
<h3>
Discrepancies</h3>

It's interesting to note that the approaches toward long vowels vary from system to system.

 
sensei 先生, even though it's a long vowel. Hepburn doesn't macronize ei えい syllables. It only macaronizes ē えー syllables, written with a <a></a>For example, modified Hepburn says you can't macronize先生, even though it's a long vowel. Hepburn doesn't macronizeえい syllables. It only macaronizesえー syllables, written with a <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/04/prolonged-sound-mark.html">prolonged sound mark ー</a> 
 
<a></a>sensē 先生 should be macaronized... except it doesn't macaronize stuff. Instead, it uses double vowels. So, in the book, it's romanized sensee 先生, with a doubled e.However, the book <a href="http://amzn.to/2ysxxbw" rel="nofollow">Genki</a> does think先生 should be macaronized... except it doesn't macaronize stuff. Instead, it uses double vowels. So, in the book, it's romanized先生, with a doubled
Every now and then you see a single same word with multiple, different. For example,and. Or, and. Orand. Orand. Or even "cake" turning intoandケーキ. After all, what's the correct romaji for these words? Why does this even happen?</div>

Different Romaji, Same Word

romaji. For example, arigato, arigatō and arigatou. Or kohai, kōhai, and kouhai. Or senpai and sempai. Or on'yomi and onyomi. Or even "cake" turning into keeki, kēki and keki ケーキ. After all, what's th…

17 Dec 2017

Nakama - Meaning in Japanese - 仲間

<div>shounen anime to talk about friendship, friends, partners, colleagues, teammates, and stuff like that, is nakama 仲間. It is no wonder, then, that it can be kinda hard to figure out what nakama means exactly, after all, you see characters calling pretty much everyone around then nakama. In this post I'm going to try to explain what nakama actually means. 
 
<a></a>nakama 仲間 means the people around you. The people you trust. The people you live with, the people you commute with, that you work, that you study with, etc. 
 
In shounen anime, manga, and games, that would be the people in your "party" that would go around battling monsters, saving the world and stuff.  Practically everybody around you that's together with you that you can trust is your nakama. 
<ul>
<li>nakama nanoni uragitta 仲間なのに裏切った [He] betrayed [me] even though [he's] nakama.</li>
</ul>
<h2>
Nakama in Games</h2>

It is very important to note that the word nakama is not really common outside the anime scene. In anime, it's common to have a "party," because in RPG games, it's common to have a "party." And a "party" in an RPG game in Japanese is called... guess what? Yep, an RPG party is nakama in Japanese.

 

 

In Japanese games, nakama ni kuwaeru 仲間に加える would be to "join [one's] party." I don't need to say that this is strictly game lingo. People don't "join" other people's nakama in real life just by pressing the A button.
<h2>
Kanji of Nakama</h2>

The kanji of the word nakama 仲間 also sort of shows its true meaning. The naka 仲 part means "relationship" while the ma ma 間 part means "span" in the sense of "space." So nakama 仲間 is literally an "area of relationships," or, in other words, your circle of friends.
<ul>
<li>naka ga ii ne 仲が良いね [They are] good friends, right? (lit.: the relationship is good)</li>
</ul>

 
Since nakama is like a "circle of friends," that explains why we can say "you are nakama," "you are my nakama" and "we are nakama." If you are in my nakama, I'd be in your nakama, too, right? Thus we'd be nakama.

 

This confusing mess feels like adding friends in Facebook, being followers on Tumblr, or being watchers in DeviantArt.

 

Another way to think of nakama is the people you hang around with. Since you are always together, having fun and stuff, you are nakama. Congratz.
<h2>
Nakama vs Tomodachi</h2>

One last point I want to bring up is the difference between nakama and tomodachi 友達, since it's very obvious someone out there is asking themselves that.

 

The word tomodachi means "friend," but it sounds like something a child would say so people tend to avoid talking about their relationships (naka 仲) using the word children use to talk about themselves.

 

Even if you were to introduce someone somewhere, it'd be easier to say shiriai 知り合い, "someone you know," or douryou 同僚, "someone you work with," or just saying nothing than saying "hey guys, this is mai friiiiiiend!"

 

So with that said, the idea is that though they are more or less the same thing, the word tomodachi is more childish while nakama is more teen level. It's like "friends" vs. "colleagues."

 

Another way to look at it is, if there was an article for bullied kids, it would ask if they had someone they could call a friend, tomodachi, but an article for depressed suicidal teenagers would ask if they had someone they could call nakama. Weird example, but that more or less sums it up.

One of the most common words inanime to talk about friendship, friends, partners, colleagues, teammates, and stuff like that, is仲間. It is no wonder, then, that it can be kinda hard to figure out whatmeans exactly, after all, you see characters calling pretty much everyone around then. In this post I'm going to try to explain whatactually means. <a name="more"></a> Basically,仲間 means the people around you. The people you trust. The people you live with, the people you commute with, that you work, that you study with, etc.Inanime, manga, and games, that would be the people in your "party" that would go around battling monsters, saving the world and stuff. Practically everybody around you that's together with you that you can trust is your</div>

Nakama - Meaning in Japanese - 仲間

shounen anime to talk about friendship, friends, partners, colleagues, teammates, and stuff like that, is nakama 仲間. It is no wonder, then, that it can be kinda hard to figure out what nakama means ex…

17 Dec 2017

Romaji Systems - Hepburn, Nihon-Shiki & Others

<div><a></a>romaji in the <a></a> ? And why? 
 
The answer is: various people. And they did it in multiple ways, for different purposes. That's right, romaji isn't as simple as you thought. There are different system of romaji, or "romaji styles," roomaji-shiki ローマ字式. 
 
This article doesn't explain in detail the rules of each system. It just attempts to highlight how one romaji system is different from another. 
<a name="more"></a><h2>
Hepburn</h2>
Purpose: teach non-Japanese people Japanese. 
 
This is the most popular, most standard style of romaji used by non-Japanese people, the (James Curtis) Hepburn style. 
 
The greatest feature of the Hepburn style is that it has a pronunciation similar to Italian. That is, it tries to spell Japanese words as if they were Italian, Spanish or Portuguese words. 
 
Since most English speakers do not speak Italian, they probably can't guess the romaji of a Japanese word just by hearing it, and they can't pronounce the romaji right either. But the standard ensures most of the time a single Japanese word is romanized the same way, and, to some people (Italians, Brazilians like me, etc.) the romaji spelling just sorta makes sense. 
 
For example, <a></a>gaijin. But if you try to read the romaji as English instead of Italian, you'd end up pronouncing it "gay Jim," which'd be wrong. The proper English pronunciation would be like guy djinn. However, nobody romanizes it as guy djinn 外人, because the most popular standard is Hepburn, and Hepburn says you should romanize it as gaijin. 
<h3>
Traditional vs. Modified</h3>
There's a traditional Hepburn style and a modified Hepburn style. The traditional is older and not as popular anymore. In it, a word such as <a></a>sempai 先輩 with an m. Along with other differences and details that were ironed out in the more modern modified version. 
<h2>
 Nihon-Shiki</h2>

Purpose: standardize how Japanese people write Japanese words with the Latin alphabet

 

The nihon-shiki 日本式 is the "Japanese style" of romanization. Since Japanese people already know Japanese, they don't care if the romaji makes sense in Italian, English, etc. This style of romaji is extremely systematic and pays no heed to changes in pronunciation.
<h3>
Examples</h3>
Let's see some differences between Hepburn and Nihon-Shiki in order to understand how Nihon-Shiki is really just bare-bones romaji while Hepburn has that extra care to help people learn Japanese. 
 
First, the H row in Nihon-Shiki is ha-hi-hu-he-ho はひふへほ. All romanizations of syllables are pretty much just combining the consonant with a vowel. In Hepburn, the hu ふ is fu ふ, as it's assumed the syllable is closer to the fu sound than to a hu sound. (this isn't exactly true, but you can see the attention to the pronunciation and lack of thereof between the styles) 
 
This means that "balloon" is romanized fuusen 風船 in Hepburn, but huusen 風船 in Nihon-Shiki. 
 
Similarly, Hepburn uses the irregular romanizations chi ち and tsu つ, whereas Nihon-Shiki doesn't care and goes with just ti ち and tu つ. 
 
In <a></a>sho しょ, cho ちょ, jo じょ, etc. Nihon-Shiki affords none of these and is ultimately regular. So syo しょ, tyo ちょ, zyo じょ, etc. 
 
This means that shounen 少年 is Hepburn romaji, and syounen 少年 is Nihon-Shiki romaji. 
 
Also, Hepburn goes sa-shi-su-se-so さしすせそ with shi instead of si. That means Nihon-Shiki is Hepburn romaji, Nihon-Shiki in Nihon-Shiki is Nihon-Siki. 
<h2>
Kunrei-Shiki</h2>

Purpose: update Nihon-Shiki after World War II.

 

The Kunrei-Shiki 訓令式, "instructions style," is basically just a new version of Nihon-Shiki. Probably made together with other language reforms that occurred after the Second World War™.

 
<a></a>One of the main differences between Kunrei-Shiki and Nihon-Shiki is that Kunrei-Shiki instructs people to romanize the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/08/particles-pronunciation-ha-wa-he-e-wo-o.html">particles はをへ as wa, e and o</a> , which's the same way Hepburn does.<ul>
<li>ore wa kore o yomu 俺はこれを読む (Kunrei-Shiki and Hepburn) 
ore ha kore wo yomu 俺はこれを読む (Nihon-Shiki) 
I'll read this.</li>
</ul>

 

There are also some minor changes in romanization to match the modern Japanese pronunciation.

 

The di ぢ and du づ of Nihon-Shiki become zi ぢ and zu づ in Kunrei-Shiki. And yes, these romaji are ambiguous with zi じ and zu ず. Take the following word for example:
<ul>
<li>tsuzuku 続く (Hepburn) 
tuduku 続く (Nihon-Shiki) 
tuzuku 続く (Kunrei-Shiki) 
To continue.</li>
</ul>

 

What a mess. But it gets messier!
<h2>
Mixing All The Three</h2>

Because nobody can honestly be expected to keep track of all these romaji shenanigans, it's often the case that someone mixes up one romanization system with the other.

 

This often happens with ja-ju-jo じゃじゅじょfor example. This romanization is Hepburn, neither Nihon-Shiki nor its update Kunrei-Shiki have said romanizations; both use zya-zyu-zyo instead. So if there's a ja-ju-jo and something not Hepburn in a romaji, it's mixed Hepburn and non-Hepburn romaji.

 

Notably: syoujo 少女, "girl." In Hepburn it would be shoujo. Nihon-Shiki and Kunrei-Shiki, syouzyo. So syoujo could only be a mix of both.
<h2>
JSL</h2>
<a></a>The book <a href="http://amzn.to/2kZx6UW" rel="nofollow">Japanese: The Spoken Language</a> (JSL) has its own style of romanization based on Kunrei-Shiki, but intended to teach Japanese for foreigners just like Hepburn does. 

 

 
 
One of the main features of JSL over Hepburn is that it's meant to convey how a Japanese word is pronounced rather than just how it is spelled.

 

That is, with Hepburn, you're just transliterating the kana. If you have the same kana, you get the same Hepburn romaji. With JSL, the same kana may have different romaji.

 

For example, long vowels mat be represented with a doubled vowel in JSL. This isn't possible in Hepburn. See:
<ul>
<li>kōhai 後輩 (Hepburn with macron) 
kouhai 後輩 (Hepburn without macron because nobody knows how to type a macron) 
koohai 後輩 (JSL) 
Junior (of a senior)</li>
</ul>

 

Furthermore, JSL is also designed to allow pitch accents to be represented in romaji by using ticks.

 

This is, however, a double-edged sword.
<h3>
Complex Romaji </h3>

Basically, JSL is a type of romaji that can only be written by a Japanese teacher or an author of a book teaching Japanese. Someone who knows very well the Japanese language.

 
romaji right is how a word is read. This means that if you have the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/11/furigana-meaning.html">furigana</a> for the word, you can write the Hepburn romaji for it.With Hepburn, all you need to know to write theright is how a word is read. This means that if you have thefor the word, you can write the Hepburnfor it.
 

With JSL, you need to mind details such as pronunciation, pitch accent, etc. This stuff is not represented in writing. You don't write the pitch accent in Japanese. It's not shown in the kana. Two words written with the same kana may have different pitch accents. So it's not something as obvious.

 

So, although JSL is more useful than Hepburn, it's not as practical. The result is better, but it takes more effort and knowledge to romanize the JSL way than it does to romanize the Hepburn way. 
<h2>
 Waapuro</h2>

Purpose: to type Japanese.

 

The waapuro ワープロ, "word processor," (wasei-eigo), style of romanization is totally different from the styles so far described.

 

The main difference between waapuro and the rest is that waapuro isn't about turning Japanese words into romaji, it's about turning romaji into Japanese.

 

That's right. You can type Japanese in a computer by typing the romaji and telling the computer to convert it. Said romaji is called waapuro romaji, used in the romaji kana henkan ローマ字仮名変換, "romaji [to] kana conversion."

 

One particular feature of the waapuro romaji is that every kana has an unique, distinct romanization. So you can type a kana by typing the romaji associated with it. If two kana had the same romaji, you'd have trouble typing them.

 

For example, in Hepburn, zu ず and zu づ are both zu. So zu is ambiguous in Hepburn. in waapuro, it's zu ず and du づ, no ambiguity.

 

On the other side, another particle feature of the waapuro romaji is that a single kana may be romanized in multiple ways. That is, in Hepburn it's jo じょ, in Nihon-Shiki it's zyo じょ, but in waapuro it can be jo, zyo or even jyo. This way you can type the kana no matter which romaji system you're familiar with.

 
kana, but ltsu, lya, lyu, lyo, la, li, lu, le, lo are all valid romaji, used to type the <a></a>The waapuro also has some weird romaji that wouldn't make any sense in any other system. For example, Japanese doesn't have any L syllables or, butare all valid, used to type the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/small-kana.html">small kana っゃゅょぁぃぅぇぉ</a> 
 

And some compound kana have weird combinations like dhe でぇ or dyi ぢぃ.
<h2>
JWA</h2>

Purpose: to blog about Japanese and anime.

 

The JWA romaji style is the style used by the blog Japanese with Anime, of course! Yeah, this one. You know, this one, which is neither official, nor authoritative, nor important or anything. And hasn't published any books either. So who cares about how this blog romanizes words? Seriously, the romaji they use isn't even consistent!

 

But anyway I figure this would be a good place to write what the actual hell is going on with the romaji used in this blog.

 

Basically, I use mix of waapuro, Hepburn, and a tiny bit of JSL. Nah, not really. JSL just happens to do a thing I do too. The way I romanize has nothing to do with JSL. So it's pretty much just waapuro, Hepburn, and some rules I made up after romanizing too many words.

 

My style rules are as follow:

 

For the most part, stick to the Hepburn style. For example, tsu つ is tsu, not tu. Even though waapuro would recognize both.

 

Switch to waapuro for ambiguous romaji. That is, du づ is du, not zu づ as Hepburn says, because then it'd be ambiguous with zu ず. I assume the main audience of this blog would like to be able to type the romaji they find without such ambiguity problem, while still feeling the familiarity of Hepburn.

 
<a></a>kouhai 後輩 is kouhai, but koohai こーはい is koohai. Ideally I'd have preferred to use a hyphen like in waapuro (ko-hai = こーはい), but that'd be troublesome since hyphens in romaji are common for suffixes, so I chose this way instead.The <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/04/prolonged-sound-mark.html">ー prolonged sound mark</a> creates doubled vowels. This is regardless of the actual pronunciation. That is,後輩 is, butこーはい is. Ideally I'd have preferred to use a hyphen like in= こーはい), but that'd be troublesome since hyphens inare common for suffixes, so I chose this way instead.
 

The n ん is n as per modified Hepburn rules, never m ん. That is, use apostrophe to disambiguate in words like, kon'ya 今夜, "tonight," but gunma 群馬 should be gunma following wanpuro, and not gumma 群馬, which looks like a double consonant.

 

The wa は and e へ particles are romanized like in modified Hepburn and Kunrei-Shiki, but wo を is romanized wo, following traditional Hepburn and wanpuro. This is because the first two particles are very different in pronunciation, but wo is pretty close to o. There is little to gain by making its romaji o, and a lot to lose since it's ambiguous with o お and as such you can't type it as-is.

So you've learned <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/08/romaji-meaning.html">what romaji is</a> : the transliteration of Japanese words to the Latin alphabet. Good. But why is the romanization done in a way and not in another? Who decided thein the <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/romaji-chart.html">romaji chart</a> ? Who chose which letters match which? And why?The answer is: various people. And they did it in multiple ways, for different purposes. That's right,isn't as simple as you thought. There are different system of, or "romaji styles,"ローマ字式.This article doesn't explain in detail the rules of each system. It just attempts to highlight how onesystem is different from another.Purpose: teach non-Japanese people Japanese.This is the most popular, most standard style ofused by non-Japanese people, the (James Curtis) Hepburn style.The greatest feature of the Hepburn style is that it has a pronunciation similar to Italian. That is, it tries to spell Japanese words as if they were Italian, Spanish or Portuguese words.Since most English speakers do not speak Italian, they probably can't guess theof a Japanese word just by hearing it, and they can't pronounce theright either. But the standard ensures most of the time a single Japanese word is romanized the same way, and, to some people (Italians, Brazilians like me, etc.) thespelling just sorta makes sense.For example, <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/11/gaijin-meaning.html">gaijin 外人</a> is pretty much always romanized. But if you try to read theas English instead of Italian, you'd end up pronouncing it "gay Jim," which'd be wrong. The proper English pronunciation would be like. However, nobody romanizes it as外人, because the most popular standard is Hepburn, and Hepburn says you should romanize it asThere's a traditional Hepburn style and a modified Hepburn style. The traditional is older and not as popular anymore. In it, a word such as <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/08/senpai-kouhai-meaning.html">senpai 先輩</a> would be romanized as先輩 with an. Along with other differences and details that were ironed out in the more modern modified version.Let's see some differences between Hepburn and Nihon-Shiki in order to understand how Nihon-Shiki is really just bare-boneswhile Hepburn has that extra care to help people learn Japanese.First, the H row in Nihon-Shiki isはひふへほ. All romanizations of syllables are pretty much just combining the consonant with a vowel. In Hepburn, theふ isふ, as it's assumed the syllable is closer to thesound than to asound. (this isn't exactly true, but you can see the attention to the pronunciation and lack of thereof between the styles)This means that "balloon" is romanized風船 in Hepburn, but風船 in Nihon-Shiki.Similarly, Hepburn uses the irregular romanizationsち andつ, whereas Nihon-Shiki doesn't care and goes with justち andつ.In <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/compound-kana.html">compound kana</a> , Hepburn has a bunch of irregularities, likeしょ,ちょ,じょ, etc. Nihon-Shiki affords none of these and is ultimately regular. Soしょ,ちょ,じょ, etc.This means that少年 is Hepburn, and少年 is Nihon-ShikiAlso, Hepburn goesさしすせそ withinstead of. That meansis Hepburninis</div>

Romaji Systems - Hepburn, Nihon-Shiki & Others

romaji in the ? And why? The answer is: various people. And they did it in multiple ways, for different purposes. That's right, romaji isn't as simple as you thought. There are different system of ro…

13 Dec 2017

Jisho.org Kioku Extension - It Remembers Stuff

<div><a></a> 
<a name="more"></a><h2>
How to Install</h2>
<h3>
Firefox Users</h3>
<a></a>Get it here: <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/jisho-kioku/">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/jisho-kioku/</a> <h3>
The Rest</h3>
(unfortunately I need to pay a $5 fee to get the extension on Google Play and I'm having trouble getting it to accept my Brazilian credit card. Not sure if it'll work soon. So you need to install it through developer mode.) 
 
Download jisho-kioku.crx from dropbox: <a></a><a></a>(unfortunately I need to pay a $5 fee to get the extension on Google Play and I'm having trouble getting it to accept my Brazilian credit card. Not sure if it'll work soon. So you need to install it through developer mode.)Download jisho-kioku.crx from dropbox: <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/x6lnys0fyn22581/jisho-kioku.crx?dl=0">https://www.dropbox.com/s/x6lnys0fyn22581/jisho-kioku.crx?dl=0</a> or from <a href="https://github.com/odraencoded/jisho-kioku">github</a> 
 

Go to menu -> settings -> extensions in chrome. (chrome://extensions)

 

Drag and drop jisho-kioku,crx into your extensions.

 

Ok through the forms.

 

Done. You're done!

 

The permissions required are storage and unlimitedStorage (so it doesn't hit the storage quota of 5MB one day). And also the ability to modify Jisho.org's pages.
<h2>
Recently Picked Kanji</h2>

Kioku will remember which kanji you've picked from radical search and show them in green. The greener it is, the more recent. This helps find kanji from radical search if you are trying to find the same kanji a second or third time.

 

 

 

Besides tinting green Jisho.org normal results, Kioku also shows a similar set of results right below those. The difference is that Kioku's results only include kanji you have picked at least once and always shows the most recently picked first, not by stroke order.

 

When a radical isn't selected the most recently picked kanji are shown unfiltered. Clicking on the reset button in the radicals' list also forces Kioku to show the most recently picked.
<h2>
Filtering Radicals</h2>
<a></a>Not all radical have names, but some of them sort of do. Kioku comes with a filter box above <a href="http://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/03/kanji-radicals-meaning.html">radicals</a> that can be used to quickly find a radical provided you know the name for it instead of trying to find that stupid damn thing for 10 minutes and feeling like a idiot.
 

If you don't know the names of the radicals which were used for this filter specifically, hovering the mouse pointer over a radical shows its name in the tooltip.

 

You can type hiragana, katakana or romaji in the box. Pressing enter automatically selects the first radical filtered.

 





 

 

Advanced and largely useless hints:
<ul>
<li>abc Matches radicals starting with "abc"</li>
<li>abc2 Matches only the second radical starting with "abc"</li>
<li>=3 Matches all radicals with 3 strokes.</li>
<li>=3=2 Matches only the second radical with 3 strokes.</li>
<li>abc=3 Matches all radicals with 3 strokes starting with "abc"</li>
<li>abc=3=2 Matches only the second radical starting with "abc" with 3 strokes.</li>
</ul>
<h2>
Recent Searches</h2>

The Searches link under the 記憶 menu shows the most recent things you've searched for. It records over 100 queries.

 


<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOU_IgTaXZroLEfJ8RQ4zdUQQGw1YPrvG2yHnANESNMhyphenhyphenm102zU_2WpswIjaakBQ6yJZ09LNOTrx_gQJXRWqgeyuFlwTE0MbE1yaGqP5CMgansIopZQ2ShK32WOGj654S9q-3vBB-3Uns/s1600/jisho-kioku-recent-searches.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOU_IgTaXZroLEfJ8RQ4zdUQQGw1YPrvG2yHnANESNMhyphenhyphenm102zU_2WpswIjaakBQ6yJZ09LNOTrx_gQJXRWqgeyuFlwTE0MbE1yaGqP5CMgansIopZQ2ShK32WOGj654S9q-3vBB-3Uns/s1600/jisho-kioku-recent-searches.png"></a>Update 0.3.1: You can click the remove link to remove a search you don't want to see for some reason. 
 
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANN008uDJC2s6P-_jL7UyxQNQxDLUNOJPgkVVD1ZAPm6UHzRoKbf5KOW2qMYtqj_UyXaKteXWdDOyFEIqcPMLFOFWH1gl85tMJHcYul7MQtmM_mAmGRvTD_PHgYVcnjP0Q2ZkXrL7nNg/s1600/jisho-kioku-recent-searches-dropdown.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANN008uDJC2s6P-_jL7UyxQNQxDLUNOJPgkVVD1ZAPm6UHzRoKbf5KOW2qMYtqj_UyXaKteXWdDOyFEIqcPMLFOFWH1gl85tMJHcYul7MQtmM_mAmGRvTD_PHgYVcnjP0Q2ZkXrL7nNg/s1600/jisho-kioku-recent-searches-dropdown.png"></a> 
The recent searches are also automatically added to the search box as a dropdown. Pressing the down key or clicking on that down arrow shows your recent searches without you having to navigate through the 記憶 menu. 
 : You can click the remove link to remove a search you don't want to see for some reason.The recent searches are also automatically added to the search box as a dropdown. Pressing the down key or clicking on that down arrow shows your recent searches without you having to navigate through the 記憶 menu.<h2>
Bookmarked Vocabulary</h2>

You can bookmark vocabulary by clicking the memorize link at the bottom of each word. This link may take a couple seconds to show up because extension scripts are the last thing loaded in a webpage, but it will show up one day maybe.

 



 



Kioku stores the term, its furigana and the meanings in your browser so you can review it later. You can find the stored terms under the bookmarks link under the 記憶 menu.

 



 

The forget link forgets the term. Unchecking the meaning checkbox will temporarily hide the meanings and will hide forget link. This is so you can copy-paste the terms without their meanings and without copying a bunch of "forget forget forget forget."

 

Also, the bookmarks are not ordered. And when you click on the memorize link it will say bookmarked, but when you reload the page it will say memorize again even though it's already memorized. This was deliberate so it wouldn't make every single page of the site load slower just to show whether something's already been bookmarked. On the plus side, bookmarking something already bookmarked does nothing bad, so there's that.

The Jisho Kioku is a Chrome extension that adds a number of features to the online Japanese-English dictionary <a href="http://jisho.org/">Jisho.org</a> . These features are: shows the last dozen kanji you've picked from radical search; lets you quickly filter radicals by their names; records the last hundred searches you've made; and lets you bookmark random vocabulary so you can review it later.</div>

Jisho.org Kioku Extension - It Remembers Stuff

How to Install Firefox Users Get it here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/jisho-kioku/ The Rest (unfortunately I need to pay a $5 fee to get the extension on Google Play and I'm havin…

12 Dec 2017

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