1. 日本人の知らない日本語 BY: Daniel Chung EPISODE 1

2. 日本の  In Japan, people are supposed to give up their seats to the elderly, pregnant women, and the handicapped/disabled.  In the Japanese custom you have to respect other people around you.  In addition to the Japanese custom, manners are another important things to respect other people.

3. ものの数え方  Living things in Japanese is “ ぴき ”  Long and thin things in Japanese is “ っポン ”  - Straw is “ 一本 ”, ‘ippon’  - Long, thin things are counted with “hon”  A snake is “ 一匹 ” ‘ippiki’. Because it’s alive.  Mobile suits are “ikki” ( 一機 )  People are “hitori” and “futari”. Also people are somewhat called “ippiki”. They are not things.  Dogs are “ippiki” but elephant and horses are “ittou” ( 一頭 ).  In Chinese, all long things care counted with “jou” ( 条 ). Like rivers and snakes.

4. 鮪の加須え方  When the Tuna is swimming is “ 一匹 ”, “ippiki”  When the Tuna is caught is “ 一本 ”, “ippon”  When the Tuna is first cut in the market is “ 一丁 ”,”icchou”  When the Tuna cut is cut up into further smaller pieces is “ 一ころ ”,”hitokoro”  When it is cut like a thin card and packed in the supermarket it is “ ひとさ く ”,”hitosaku”  When the tuna cut enters in your mouth is “ 一切れ ”,”hitokire”

5. 中国と日本のかんじ  Japanese kanji in Tuna is “ 鮪 ”, “maguro”  Chinese kanji of saying “ 鮪 ” is Sturgeon  TUNA STURGEON

6. Foreigners in Japan  These are the laws  They are only able to work 28 hours a week  They can’t gamble  Any laws are broken, the punishment is getting deported

7. Kitchen materials in a resturant  The tool used to boil ramen is called ‘tebo’ ( てぼ ).  The rectangular plate which holds condiments and soy sauce is called  “yakumi shouyu zara” ( やくみしょうゆざら / 薬味醤油皿 ). Usually saying as “condiments and soy sauce plate” ( 薬味醤油皿 ).  “Murachoko”( むらちょこ ), a plate, ‘choko’ and you put soy sauce ‘murasaki’ in is shortened to “murachoko”.  Murasaki ( むらさき ) is a type of soy sauce, and ‘choko’ ( おちょこ ) is a small cup.

8. Tea  Tea  - “agari” ( あがり ) is tea right after a meal  - “tebana” ( てばな ) is during the meal

9. Cooking tools in a resturant  Cooking tools  - The pan that is used with one hand is called “peking nabe”  ( ぺきんなべ、北京鍋 )  - The pan that is used with two hands is called “kanto nabe”  ( かんとなべ )  - The large bucket is called “zundo” ( ずんど ). Some people have a big waist that has similar size with the bucket, so they say that have a “zundo” shape.

10. Dishwashing  Dishwashing  - Rinsing right away is saying ‘sugu susugu’  - Rinsing every corner, right away is saying ‘sumizumi made sugu susugu’

11. EPISODE 2

12. 敬語 (KEIGO)  There are different keigo for different subjects  It is used to create more polite saying for certain customers in any resturant.  If you attach “ narimasu ” to a verb, you’ll make its respectable form.  ‘Otabekudasai’ - to eat. “Otabekudasai” is somewhat an improper keigo saying to eat. The respectiful form of ‘taberu’ is ‘meshiagaru’.  -‘Meshiagaru’ is a common respectful way of keigo. Some people say “meshiagaru kudasai” is most polite.  -“iru” (to be), “iku”(to go) and “kuru” (to come) is “irassharu”.  - ni narimasu means ‘to turn into’ at the end.

13. 敬語 (Continued)  - “Welcome, hello”[ いらっしゃいませ、こんにちわ (irasshaimase, konnichiwa)] is a wrong saying. “ いらっしゃいませ ” is welcome in a respectful way, “ こんにち わ ” is saying hello. You cannot use both of them together. So the correct phrase is “ いらっしゃいませ ”  - “This is Sichuan Tofu.”[ こちらが四川麻ぼーどーふになります。 (Kochira ga shisenfuu ma-bo-do-fu ni narimasu.)] is a wrong saying. Naru( なる ) means “to change” so the correct phrase is “ こちらがまぼどふでございます。 ”  - “Do you need any drinks?” [ お飲み物はだいじょうぶですか？ (Onomimono wa daijoubu desu ka?)],is wrong. You want to note you’re inconveniencing the customer but the correct phrase is “ お飲み物はよろしいですか？ ”(Onomimono wa yoroshii desu ka?)

14. 敬語 (Continued)  - “Anything else you’d like to order?” [ ご注文のほうは以上でよろしかったでしょ うか？ ], is wrong. “Hou”( ほう ) is not needed. It has two meanings:  1.) “A yori B no hou ga suki” (I like B than A) is used when comparing things.  2.) “Tokyo no hou kara kimashita” (I’ve come from the Tokyo area) is when you want to be a bit more vague.  The correct saying is “Gochuumon wa ijou de yoroshii deshou ka?” ( ご注文 のは以上でよろしいでしょうか？）  - “I’ll take your 3,000 yen.” [ お会計、三千円からお預かりします。 ] is wrong. You really want to say you’re taking three thouosand yen for something else so the correct phrase is “san sen en oazukarishimasu.” ( 三千円お預かり します。

15. EPISODE 3

16. ANCIENT HIRAGANA  In ancient Japan, the Japanese had a lot of hiragana that were based on kanji.  The modern Japanese hiragana is selected as one sound each. That means the other remaining old hiragana disappeared long time ago.

17. SELF INTRODUCTION 自己紹介  When Introducing one’s self:  Name  And facts about yourself  Other sayings in Japanese  - ‘temee’ a vulgar of saying hello commonly used between guys.  - ‘shikato’ is a friendly way of saying ‘ignore’ in Japanese.

18. Yakuza and Hanafuda  やくざ, means gangsters  はなふだ、 are gambling cards that Japanese people used to gamble.  Types of cards  The Japanese playing cards called ‘hanafuda’, has a card says ‘shikato’, meaning the card with the deer (shika)facing away from you. In a game its worth ten points.  -Deer= Shika and Ten = To, thus ‘Shikato’.  Gambling houses are called “bon”.  - It changed over time and now also means  a “dark (kurai) person”.  As a combination we get ‘bonkura’.

19. Yakuza and Hanafuda (continued)  -(‘hachi hachi’ pikaichi,) in the midst of the trash cards; there is card that is a very high scoring card, it is called ‘pikaichi’.  - ‘pikaichi means to find the one thing that shines above all else.  -‘Aka yoroshi’ it means an obvious goddess (akria ni yoroshii)  -‘Koi Koi’ means to keep the match going. Where the risk is higher where you lose or win more money

20. EPISODE 4

21. Kanji - 漢字 -  Kanji has a Chinese reading and Japanese reading.  ‘Kintama’, 金玉 means testicles  Japanese didn’t have alphabets so they learned Kanji from Chinese  ‘Wa’ ‘ 輪 ’ means circle in Chinese.  another saying for circle is ‘rin’.  ‘Sharin’ ( 車輪 ), ‘Sha’ ( 車 ) wheel  Furigana is hiragana placed above kanji for easier reading.  Foreingers learned kanji from reading manga.  Manga is a Japanese comic book for children to adults to read for entertainment.

22. Kanji - 漢字 - continued  ‘Honki’ - 本気 - “seriousness” is misused as ‘maji’ “serious”.  ‘Maji’ “serious” is read from manga.  ‘Doujinshi’ means fansize in a manga term.  Luke’s fansize manga contains incorrect reading of the kanji.  The one of the dialogue in the manga, Luke marked the kanji as “tomo”,friend, instead of “teki”, enemy.  ‘Shitsukoi’ normally means “to be insisted”.  ‘Shitsuren’ – 失恋 – means unrequited love, ‘shitsukoi’ is an incorrect kanji reading.  Otaku is meaning someone with obsessive interests, usually in anime or games.

23. Kanji - 漢字 - continued  In Japan, speaking Japanese have different types to have a conversation with like standard Japanese.  However standard Japanese doesn’t exist anymore.  Standard Japanese is now considered Common Japanese.  ‘Akiba’ (Akiba is short for Akihabara) is where otaku from all around the world wants to visit.  ‘Tsundere’ means someone with a tough exterior but loving in the inside.  ‘Desu’ and ‘masu’ are standard Japanese endings.  Saying Standard Japanese sounds a little too cold between Japanese.  Standard Japanese is actually the result of powerful people in old Japan wanting a single way of speaking in Japanese.  But, the Japanese people usually use, natural Japanese that doesn’t sound like you’re telling people what to do.

24. Standard Japanese, (Hyoujun-go) 標準語 and Common Japanese, (Kyoutsu-go) 共通語  The ‘desu’ and the ‘masu’ was what geisha back in Edo used, spreading it across the whole country.  Geisha are cabaret girls of the past.  ‘Zamasu’,”to be” isn’t normally used, but it is an elegant style of speech.  It originated from courtesans.  Courtesans were beautiful and smart, they were like celebrities.  As an example “de arimasu” was originated from Yamaguchi.  Another example like “Hey you!” ‘oi kora’ wasn’t always used in anger, it started in Kagoshima as a way to get attention.

25. Standard Japanese, (Hyoujun-go) 標準語 and Common Japanese, (Kyoutsu-go) 共通語  Japanese have different dialects before and still in use today.  Common Japanese is considered a various dialect language around the country.  OTHER NOTES  - ‘ 告白 ’,‘kokuhaku’ meaning confession, but as you read it is ‘ 告白 ’,‘yuuki’ meaning confidence.

26. EPISODE 5

27. Japanese Scary Stories  HALLOWEEN IN SUMMER SPECIAL  “zotto suru” means to shiver is used when you are afraid.  “zotto suru” is not used very often but it can also be used to represent times of strong feeling besides fear.  When you say “zotto shinai”, ‘ ぞっとしない ‘,an expression of denial, it means “not to be impressed” or “to not think it’s interesting”.  Scary stories are something that Japan always do in Summer.

28. Japanese Scary Stories -continued  ‘Katori’, ‘ 取 ’ has ‘tori’, 耳 ‘mimi’ means ear. It is because, in the past, during wars, as proof you killed an enemy you take their ear.  ‘Douro’, ‘ 道 ’ means road has a kanji for neck in it 首. In one theory is that to perform exorcisms, they would carry freshly severed heads down the road.  ‘Ken’, ‘ 県 ’ means prefecture. This kanji character is derived from a character ‘kyou’ we don’t use anymore. ‘Kyou’ form the derived kanji from ‘Ken’, prefecture, means it is the upside down version of a severed head.  Other Notes  ‘Oyasan’ means landlord  Foreigners lack the belief of the Japanese culture where the Japanese people, who respects it get angry.

29. EPISODE 6

30. NOTES  “Ki ni hairanai” is the incorrect kanji reading of “ki ni iranai” means to not be pleased.  ‘Yoku’ means often.  ‘Tamatama’ means casually  ‘Tama ni’ means occasionally  ‘Tokidoki’ is different for ‘tama ni’  The adverbs that Haruko taught to her students is used when it all talks about different frequencies.

31. Counters for drinking tea  Someone who drinks black tea everyday, always, “itsumo” ( いつも ), drinks.  Someone who drinks it 5 times a week, generally, “taitei” ( たいてい ), drinks.  4 times a week, often,“yoku” ( よく ), drinks.  3 times a week, sometimes, “tokidoki” ( ときどき ), drinks.  Someone who doesn’t drink, never,“zen zen” ( ぜんぜん ), drinks.

32. Other mistaken sayings of Japanese  When you write “ushi no chichi” (milk of cow), you read it as “gyuunyuu” (milk).  “Ureshiku” means pleased.  “Tanoshiku” means happy.  Both “ureshii” and “tanoshii” are used to represent diffrerent lengths of happiness.  “Tanoshii” is used to represent a longer time of happiness than “ureshii”.  Other Notes  As for ninja, Kunoichi, 女, means female ninja.  Ninjas are good at math  Ex. When a ninja wanted to find out how deep a moat was to measure the height of the reed, then measures how long it took it for the reed to submerge when pulled forward.  He or she would use the Pythagorean Theorem to figure it out.

33. NINJA - 忍者 -  As for ninja, Kunoichi, 女, means female ninja.  Ninjas are good at math  Ex. When a ninja wanted to find out how deep a moat was to measure the height of the reed, then measures how long it took it for the reed to submerge when pulled forward.  He or she would use the Pythagorean Theorem to figure it out.  Other notes of the episode  ‘Yaku busoku’ means satisfaction or not good enough  ‘chikara busoku’ means skills

34. EPISODE 7

35. Color  ‘In Japan, Japanese people use blue color as green.  Ex. They call green traffic lights, blue lights, ‘aoi shingou’ in Japan.  Also even green veggies, they call them blue ‘aona’.  Bok choy has a character for blue. Even though its green.  Characters like: “gunjou iro” ‘blue’, “seiji iro” ‘light green’, “ao kuchiba” ‘green’, “ao takeiro” ‘dark green’, “sei tai” ‘black’. These characters used blue back in the day.  Back in the day, blue ‘ 青 ’ was used for all those different colors.  The character for green didn’t originally represent a color. Originally, the character for green represented the budding youth of plants.  For example a glossy hair is called “greenish black hair” and newborn baby is called a “green child”.  The character for green actually represents youth.  Japanese drawing of the sun is always red.

36. Love Interest  ‘Yamato nadeshiko’ means ideal Japanese woman  Some Japanese women only look for appearance especially from the foreigners.  Some Japanese women doesn’t understand how some foreigners feel about their personality.

37. EPSIODE 8

38. More information about Keigo  The three step method of keigo  For honorific language  First, use passive voice.  Second, add “ni narimasu” to the verb.  Third, use a special form.  As in result, the respect level goes up.  The keigo is based on the honorific position.  For example: - “The section chief eats”, is used by a passive voice  - “The department head eats”, is used by a verb + ni narimasw  - “The president eats”, is used in a special form  The special form is when you’re trying to be respectful and the word actually changes.

39. More information about Keigo -continued-  “iu” ‘ 言う ’ becomes “ossharu” ‘ おっしゃる ’and “suru” ‘ する ’ is “nasaru” ‘ なさ る ’.  Other Notes  Sen no Rikyu, the original master of tea ceremony  和 ‘wa’ means harmony  敬 ‘kei’ means respect  清 ‘sei’ means peace  寂 ‘jaku’ means tranquility  In the tea ceremony terms  - Harmony and respect mean to open your heart to others and respect each other.  - Peace and tranquility mean to not violate the tea house and preserve the pure ways of the ceremony.

40. EPISODE 9

41. Vagueness of Japanese  The ‘hashi’, chopsticks, you use when you eat rice. The “ha” has an accent.  ‘hashi’ over the bridge has a accent on the ‘shi’.  The ‘ii’ can mean by saying yes or no, depending on the situation.  ‘ii kagen desu ne’, ‘ いい加減ですね ’. Use ‘tekitou’ meaning appropriate instead of ‘ii kagen’. ‘ii kagen’ has more negative context usually.  Using ‘to ka’ in a question, which means “among other things”.  Using ‘ka mo’, which indicates probability.  Japanese has many vague expressions  ‘yabai’, usually means bad but it can also mean “good” in certain context.  ‘ukeru’, usually means to “to get” but can also mean “interesting” in certain context.

42. Vagueness of Japanese -continued-  The answer to the question, about the confusion of the vagueness of Japanese, is that there is no clear answer.  The vagueness of Japanese is something that foreigner has to get used to when they learning Japanese.  Back in the day, there were a group of people worried about the vagueness of Japanese.  These people who were worried were the Portuguese missionaries came to Japan in the 16 th century.  They were worried about the pronunciation of “pa-pi-pu-pe-po” letters, which basically the p-sound.  Originally the circle mark that marks p-sounds was not in Japan.  Even Japanese then figured out how to read things by the context.  The term for いかた (with the circle mark) is actually said ‘ikata’ meaning moulds.  The current term for moulds is ‘igata’.

43. Vagueness of Japanese -continued-  The Portuguese used the circle to mark a p-sound also.  The “pa-pi-pu-pe-po” circle came from the Portuguese.  They used the circle to definitely mark it.  From the vagueness of Japanese; it is not important to make everything so clear.  There is a reason Japanese is vague. Japanese respects the concept of harmony and sometimes avoids definite statements out of consideration to the other party.  Since they are important, you stay vague and sometimes avoid even meeting them altogether.  The Portuguese missionaries, probably couldn’t give up on talking to people. To figure out the Japanese, they had to go to headfirst into the culture.  So because of that, we have the tiny circle that still exist even today.

44. EPISODE 10

45. Same but different word meanings  ‘Surume’ and ‘atarime’ are the same thing.  One thing there are different is that ‘suru’ in ‘surume’ has a bad meaning.  In this case, the ‘suru’ means to lose money.  The words with a bad meaning are actually taboo.  ‘Imi’, 忌み, meaning taboo, means something to hate.  These words were replaced with a happier version.  “Atari” means to be on the mark  Like other words, ‘sashimi’ can be ‘otsukuri’. The ‘sasu’, meaning to cut is a scary word.  ‘Owaru’, means to end, doesn’t sound all that good so, you end a marriage ceremony with ‘ohiraki’.  ‘Ohiraki’ contains the character meaning ‘to open’.

46. Same but different word meanings –continued-  When people worry about the bad meanings, they actually change the word.  In the West, 13 is actually an unlucky number.  In Italy 17 is a bad omen, which it signals death.  Numbers 4 and 5 are bad in China. 4 sounds like ‘su’ meaning death and 5 sounds like ‘uu’ meaning nothingness.  Other notes  - the pathway to the shrine right under the gate is called “sandou”, 参道  - the exact middle of the path, the “seichuu”, 正中, is the path the god walks.  - Hachiko is a famous statue of a dog in Shibuya  - Actually there different types of statue that is similar like the statue that opens its mouth widely is a lion and the statue mouth closed is a dog.  A place where you wash your hands is called “chouzu dokoro”,‘ 手水所 ’  You cleanse your body by washing your hands.

47. The Shrine  Steps to worship in a shrine.  - One, throw in the money  - Two, ring the bell, which it calls the god  - Three, bow twice  - Four, clap your hands twice  - Five, pray  - And lastly, when you are done praying, bow again  Luck has its own order  From excellent luck 大吉 > average luck 中吉 > little luck 小吉 > luck 吉 > uncertain luck 未吉 > bad luck 凶 > terrible luck 大凶  Terrible luck can sometimes can change into a good luck, if you work hard to succeed to get the good luck.

48. EPISODE 11

49. Other mistaken types of words  “yabai” means awesome, “uzai” means annoying, “pani kurk” means panicked. They are all young people language. So they are colloquialisms.  Basically since they’re slang, you cannot use them as answers.  The new words were invented by young people.  “Yurai” means basis.  “Pani kuru” actually came from the English word, “panic”.  “Uzai” came from “uzattai”, a regional dialect word.  There were a swarm of insects in Hachiko, Tokyo, so they used “uzattai” to describe it. So it spread all over the country and then got shortened to “uzai”.  There are a lot of theories about “yabai”, but they had archery ranges in Edo Japan, which were called “yaba”.  But behind the scenes, they actually operated as sex shops.  Dangerous places started to be called “yabai”.

50. Other mistaken types of words  “O-kazoku” means honorable family. To put it simply, use ‘o’ with the Japanese readings, ‘go’ with the Chinese ones.  “Go-shisoku” and “okosan” both mean child.  “okosan” may sound nicer than the other word, but the words using ‘o’ actually were made by women. They were known as courtesan words.  Courtesan words are words used by women who served in the court during the Muromachi period.  ‘onara’ means fart can be said in one word as ‘he’.  It sounded crude so, they took ’nasaru’means to make a sound and added ‘o’ in front of it. So as in result it becomes “onara”.  Also the inside ‘naka’ of the body, becomes stomach ‘onaka’. Rice balls ‘nigirimeshi’ plus ‘o’ becomes ‘onigiri’.

51. Laws for foreigners in Japan  One of the laws that foreigners must obey in Japan is that you cannot go into nightlife/nightclub or especially anything to do with sex industry.  If foreigners breaks this law will get deported or if the police or the Immigration Office have a record that a foreigner is working in one of those places they will get deported.

52. EPISODE 12 –FINAL-

53. From the End, to the Start  Teachers are like parents and students are like children.