Of course, Japanese also has onomatopoeia (which they call 擬態語 : ぎたいご). They have LOTS of it, and not just silly comic book sounds either. If you’ve been studying Japanese for more than a couple weeks, you probably already know a couple: ちょっと (a little) is an onomatopoeia, and so is ちゃんと (correctly, obediently) and ゆっくり (slowly). Sometimes we don’t even think of those words as onomatopoeia, but they are.

Even a certain lightning-wielding, yellow mouse character’s name turns out to be a simple fusion of sounds which means “sparkle-squeak” (actually, I think I like the English name better…). Anyway, my point is there’s so much onomatopoeia in Japanese that it will make your head spin (the sound for dizziness would be くらくら, by the way).

In fact, Japanese has so much onomatopoeia that they use them to describe all sorts of things, many of which (like dizziness) don’t actually make a sound. Maybe that seems strange, but we have some very similar words in English too, for example “dilly-dally” or “wishy-washy”. Just try to imagine if there were literally hundreds of words like that, and that on a given day you’d probably hear, read or use at least 50 of them.

Yet despite how common onomatopoeia are and how important they are for things such as casual conversation or reading fiction, they seem to be regarded as irrelevant by a lot of teachers and teaching materials. Common ones are taught as adverbs and that’s about it. The common perception among native Japanese speakers is that these words are “easy” because all they do is convey a sound. No kanji = easy.

Well I’ve got news for the native speakers: these words are NOT easy and they DO require special attention. It’s exactly because these words are not tied to kanji that they take on multiple, sometimes unrelated meanings and develop their own peculiar nuances and usage quirks (I seem to remember Japanese speakers complaining about this aspect of English vocabulary, no?). No kanji = less restrictions on usage = more vagueness and confusion.

In this article, I’m going to attempt to give readers a framework for understanding and using onomatopoeia.

Onomatopoeia Forms

The first thing that you need to know is that there are three basic forms an onomatopoeia can take.

Not all words can take all the forms (the three examples above are actually more flexible than most). Also, sometimes different forms of the same onomatopoeia will have somewhat different meanings, though they are usually either the same or strongly related. The important thing is just to be aware that onomatopoeia in Japanese (when used in a sentence) appear in one of these forms.

The second thing to know is that the particle you should associate with onomatopoeia is と. One of と’s primary functions is to mark quoted speech, such as in:

彼は“こんにちわ”と言った 。
kare wa “konnichiwa” to itta.
He said “hello”.

But と also describes sounds in exactly the same way:

彼はごくごくと飲んだ 。
kare wa gokugoku to nonda.
He drank making a gulping sound.

In fact, the と in the TO-ending words above (にこっと、にやっと、こそっと) is the particle と. The particle is actually built into the form (therefore, don’t add any other particle when you use them).

The Double and RI forms of onomatopoeia are trickier, as each word has its own usage nuances. Some words will almost always come with a と, some will always omit their と. As I’ll explain later, some words are even treated similar to nouns and can be used with particles like の and に, but the basic rule of thumb is: the particle to use with an onomatopoeia is と (even though it is often omitted).

Pseudo-Onomatopoeia

One of the things that complicates the issue of learning onomatopoeia is that in addition to words like ちょっと and ゆっくり, which are so common that we don’t really think of them as onomatopoeia, there are also words that sound like and which may even be used like onomatopoeia, but aren’t.

You probably know a couple of these already too: いろいろ is an example. For all intents and purposes, you could consider this word an onomatopoeia, but its meaning is derived from the kanji (色々) rather than the “sound” of the word. Other examples of this kind of pseudo-onomatopoeia are 段々（だんだん） and 次々（つぎつぎ）.

Since these words aren’t really onomatopoeia, you have to be much more careful about which particle you select (if any). The above-mentioned three can all optionally take と, but others such as まだまだ（未だ未だ）, 別々（べつべつ）, and 元々（もともと） can never take と. Still others such as 堂々（どうどう）、延々（えんえん）、and 朗々（ろうろう） will always appear with と. Don’t worry about remembering all the specifics, just understand that not all words which sound like an onomatopoeia are.

And Japanese has one other another kind of fake onomatopoeia which is made by doubling adjective or verb stems (~I form). The meaning of the resulting word is dependent on the stem, so usually these aren’t too hard to figure out. For example, 熱い (あつい – hot) becomes 熱々（あつあつ） and 浮く(うく – to float/be cheerful) becomes うきうき (in high spirits). These doubled-stem words are kind of a middle-ground between “true” onomatopoeia and the “pseudo-” ones which I mentioned above. Their usage is fundamentally the same as true onomatopoeia, except that you’ll never find them in RI or -TO form.*

*: there is one exception that I know of: のびのび （伸びる） → のんびり

Using Onomatopoeia

Okay, so now that you kind of have an idea what exactly an onomatopoeia is in Japanese, it’s time to look at how to use them.

There’s four basic usage patterns that you will find onomatopoeia in:

The reason onomatopoeia exist and the reason we use them is to describe. But essentially there are two and only two things which onomatopoeia can describe: either an action/process or a condition/state of being.

Which kind of description you are making affects the grammar you will need, hence I have distinguished between “adverb” (describing an action/process) and “adjective” (describing the state/condition of something) functions.

Individual onomatopoeia can be tightly restricted to one certain usage, or they can have multiple meanings each with a different usage, or they can have one core meaning that can be applied both ways. This can be a headache for learners, but only if you take it too seriously. Onomatopoeia are supposed to make sentences more colorful, to add emotion and spice. They’re fun! Without onomatopoeia, Japanese might as well be just one boring newspaper article about stock prices and exchange rates. But anyway, back to the topic…

The ADVERB usage (describing an action) is the default function of an onomatopoeia and also the simplest. It’s simple because you just stick it in front of the verb you’re describing, and decide whether or not to use と. Some words will require it, but in most cases it’s optional.

In cases where it’s optional, adding the と helps bring out the aural aspect of the word, so it’s less common in everyday speech and more common in creative writing. Including と also helps prevent word-order confusion if there’s something between your onomatopoeia and your verb.

The ADJECTIVE usage (describing an object/condition) is actually a specialized application of an adverb. Grammatically speaking, the onomatopoeia wants to be an adverb, so we need to do some linguistic acrobatics to make it modify a noun.

How do we turn an adverb into an adjective? We “format” it with either とした or している. Don’t concern yourself with the meaning of とした／している here because there really isn’t one, we’re just using the formless verb する as an intermediary between our onomatopoeia and our noun.

とした is kind of the “correct” way to make an adjective usage, and している (usually abbreviated to してる) is the “casual” way, but they’re both doing the same thing: taking a sound and “formatting” it so that it can modify a noun.

Because constantly “formatting” onomatopoeia is kind of inconvenient, a lot Adjective-natured onomatopoeia have developed a different usage. An Onomatopoeia with a N-ADJECTIVE usage can be used similarly to a noun. “N” is the perfect letter to represent these words, not only because they have some similarities to nouns, but because by happy coincidence they are mostly used with the particles の and に (and sometimes even な, like a NA-Adjective).

Note that although these words have some grammatical similarities to nouns, it usually doesn’t make any sense to use them as objects (を). And if you find them with で , it’s probably actually the TE-form of だ／です, not the particle で.

The SURU usage is very handy. You simply pair the onomatopoeia with the “formless” verb する, and the resulting verb means “to act/feel/occur/be” in whatever way is described by the onomatopoeia. So for example, くらくら which I mentioned at the beginning of the article describes dizziness and is used with する. The typical usage of this is:

頭がくらくらしてる。
atama ga kurakura shiteru.
My head is spinning.

One important thing to note about the SURU usage of onomatopoeia is it usually only makes intransitive verbs (verbs which don’t take objects). To make these verbs transitive, you need to use the causative form: させる. Therefore:

トムの頭をくらくらさせた。
Tom no atama o kurakura saseta.
I made Tom’s head spin.

Sure, you could consider these to be adverbs. But if an adverb (such as どきどき) is used almost exclusively to describe one particular verb (する), and that verb is basically meaningless, wouldn’t it be more helpful just to think of it as a verb unit?

Common Double-form Onomatopoeia

Common RI- and TO-form Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia Cheat Sheet

If you are interested in improving your onomatopoeia, check out Nihonshock’s digital “Onomatopoeia” cheat sheet. It contains 340 onomatopoeia and pseudo-onomatopoeia, complete with usage notes, alternate forms, synonyms, and more.

Get it for $2.50, about the price of a cup of coffee.

Today I’m going to share a collection of websites that I think are absolutely amazing resources which everyone learning Japanese should know about. A few of them I don’t use (because I’m already fluent in Japanese), but they’re all sites that I either have used, currently use, or wish I had known about when I was still at the beginner-intermediate level.

This is my first link-roundup article, and in general I dislike link-roundup articles, so you know that I wouldn’t write it unless I thought it was truly a worthwhile collection.

I hope that at least one of these links is helpful to you.

1. Furigana Webglasses

I’ve had this link in this site’s sidebar for a long, long time. Hopefully some of you have discovered it already.

Furigana Webglasses (http://www.hiragana.jp/en/) is a site which can add furigana (you know, the little hiragana pronunciation guides over the top of kanji) to any website you want. It’s not perfect (especially when it comes to personal names), but it’s damn good and a real lifesaver for learners. And it’s free.

Of course, it can’t add furigana to text embedded inside images, but that’s to be expected.

2. Alc.co.jp

(http://www.alc.co.jp/) This site is an advanced learner’s/translator’s best friend. Different from a dictionary, it searches an index of short translations. It always seems to give you plenty of useful results, often including some context that helps you better understand the meaning and usage. You can even search things like proverbs and multi-word expressions.

The site itself is in Japanese, but you can search both English or Japanese and get great results.

3. Imabi.net

(http://imabi.net) Looking for free lessons on any topic, offering awesome detail and tons of examples? I found this site a few months ago, and it’s impossible not to be impressed at the sheer volume of what’s available here. I’ve seen a lot of sites that offer free Japanese lessons, but nothing that compares to this.

It’s designed as an ordered course that will take you from absolute beginner to Japanese nerd-master (seriously, the lessons even get into classical Japanese eventually). If you’re familiar with the content or have a little patience, you can also locate some specific topic or lesson you’re interested in.

The guy who made and maintains the site (a prodigy/student from the University of Texas) is really helpful too, so you might want to sign up for the forums.

4. Japanese.stackexchange.com

(http://japanese.stackexchange.com) This site is the ultimate learner’s Q&A forum. Need a question about Japanese answered? I’ve not found a better platform for getting a quick and satisfactory response than this site. You don’t even need to register in order to use it.

Of course, you’re often in the dark about the qualifications of whoever answered your question, but from what I’ve seen on the site the information is generally very accurate.

5. Google Japan Image Search

(http://www.google.co.jp/imghp?hl=ja&tab=wi) Google Japan image search can be extremely helpful for words (or phrases, even) that you’re having trouble understanding.

For example: 殺風景 (sappuukei). The dictionary defines it as “tasteless, dreary”, but it’s hard to get a real grasp of the meaning until you actually see some images which are described as being 殺風景 (click here to see the results). Think of it as the world’s biggest picture dictionary.

6. Wikipedia

Yeah, I know. You’ve already got this one bookmarked. Why even mention it? Well, whenever I need to know the correct Japanese rendering of words like “Los Angeles”, “Mila Jovovich” or “The Emancipation Proclamation”, I first look it up on English Wikipedia, then switch to the corresponding Japanese page (the language links are in the sidebar on the left).

So I use it as a dictionary of proper nouns, or of words that aren’t in the dictionary, if that makes any sense. Remember this trick the next time you need to know the title of  “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows” in Japanese.

Final word

I didn’t include Nihonshock on this list, since quite honestly my site isn’t a massive resource in the same way as the others are. And I know you have me bookmarked already anyway, right?

Do you have any sites you’d add to this list? Please leave a comment and let me know!

Since information on twitter is quickly buried, I’ll leave a record here for the sake of data permanence (and also for the sake of anyone who doesn’t use twitter).

In no particular order…

• 逆ギレ – (gyakugire) – getting angry in response to someone else’s anger
• 方向音痴 – (houkou onchi) – “directionally tonedeaf” = having a terrible sense of direction
• 死亡フラグ – (shibou furagu) – “death flag” a statement/action that hints at or frequently precedes a character’s death (in fiction)
• 鵜呑み （にする） – (unomi ni suru) – to accept someone’s idea/opinion without thinking. Literally: to swallow (whole) like a cormorant.
• ダメ元（で） – (damemoto de) – attempting something even though one expects it to be unsuccessful.
• 悪乗り – (warunori) – getting carried away and saying/doing more than one should (also written: 悪ノリ)
• 文字化け (mojibake) – when digital text is turned into incomprehensible gibberish due to an error (eg. 縺ｫ繧医▲縺ｦ縲∬｡ｨ遉ｺ蜿)
• 乙 (otsu) – “thanks” (internet slang, derived from お疲れ様/otsukaresama)
• 鉢合わせ (hachiawase) – an unexpected meeting/encounter, running/bumping into someone
• 思い出し笑い (omoidashi warai) – Laughing when recalling something funny.
• ググる (guguru) – to search on Google (RU-Verb)
• 絶対領域 (zettai ryouiki) – the area of a woman’s thigh which is exposed between her over-knee socks and short pants/skirt
• 金輪際 (konrinzai) – definitely (not) / never / under no circumstances (adverb, used to make a strong refusal or denial)
• 腹癒せ (haraise) – something done in order to vent one’s anger or get revenge (eg. punching a wall after an argument)
• 腹ごなし (haragonashi) – light excercise such as taking a walk, done after a meal in order to help digest food
• 腹ごしらえ (haragoshirae) – having a meal in advance of some activity (ie. before going somewhere, working, shopping, etc.)
• 似た者同士 (nita mono doushi) – two people with similar personalities/traits, “birds of a feather”
• 八重歯 (yaeba) – maligned teeth, especially when the top canines appear to be pushed/crowded outward
• 験担ぎ (genkatsugi) – a personal superstition or good-luck ritual (eg. a sports player eating a certain food before a game)
• 念力 (nenriki) – telekenesis. Also: 念動力 (nendouryoku)
• 十八番 (ohako) – one’s regularly-used trick/technique, their “specialty”, (someone up to their) old tricks
• 打開策 (dakaisaku) – a plan for overcoming a difficult situation
• 天才肌 (tensaihada) – not necessarily a genius, but showing genius-like eccentricity (lit. “genius skin”)
• 手持ち無沙汰 (temochibusata) – fidgety/antsy because one has nothing to do
• 踏ん反り返る (funzorikaeru) – to lean back comfortably with one’s legs sticking out in front
• 当たり屋 (atariya) – a person who intentionally gets hit by a car, scheming to get money from the driver. Also: a big hitter (baseball), or someone who often wins at lotteries, raffles and so on.
• ガリ勉 (gariben) – a person so focused on studying as to preclude social activities. Typically this word criticizes someone for having no social life.
• 野次馬 (yajiuma) – onlookers (unrelated people watching the scene of an accident/crime/fire)
• 送り狼 (okuriookami) – a man who accompanies a woman to their home, seeking an opportunity to assault them.
• 芋蔓式 (imozurushiki) – related things/people becoming apparent in succession, “like a vine of sweet potatoes”
• 狸寝入り – (tanukineiri) – pretending to be asleep
• デコピン – (dekopin) – flicking one’s finger on someone’s forehead (a “playful” form of punishment)
• 土下座 – (dogeza) – bowing/begging on your hands and knees and with your forehead to the ground
• とんぼ返り – (tonbogaeri) – “a dragonfly spin”, going somewhere for a short time, then coming back promptly and directly
• チャラ – (chara) – when two opposing things cancel each other out, such as person A paying for gas, person B paying a similar amount for dinner.
• ドン引き – (donbiki) having the atmosphere/mood ruined by someone’s unreasonable or out-of-place comment or action

I’m still preparing the next round of #WOTD words, which won’t be as obscure as these. I’ll be focusing on more useful words, which are often under-used by learners. So make sure you follow me on twitter if you haven’t already!

Recently, I came across a translation of the dead parrot sketch in Japanese, and was so pleased with it that I decided to try to make it available and accessible to Japanese learners. The translation is very smooth and natural, so consider this a fun exercise in understanding “real” Japanese and translations that, although accurate, are often far from literal. I hope you’ll also find it a refreshing departure from your textbook dialogues.

I’ve added a large number of tool tips to the sketch below, so if you don’t understand something, try hovering over it with your mouse. If you’ve got a question on something not explained in a tooltip, please comment and let me know. I’ll try to either answer directly or add tooltips where necessary.

- – - – -

Options: Add Pronunciation Guides – Show/Hide English
* furigana (pronunciation guide) is added by Furigana Webglasses‘s free web service.
It’s automatically generatred so it might not be 100% correct.
Also, adding pronunciation guides screws up the site layout somewhat.

- – - – -

Mr. Praline: 失礼、ちょっと言いたいことがあるんだが…。ちょっと、お嬢さん。
Hello, I wish to register a complaint. Hello, Miss?

Shopkeeper: お嬢さんって、どういう意味どういう意味： what is meant BY something. Many learners would say 何の意味, but that would be asking the literal meaning of the word お嬢さん？
What’cha mean, “miss”?

P: ああ､失敬literally: ”(I was) rude.” But without です or しました following it, we get the feeling the apology is slightly superficial.。風邪をひいてしまってねThis TE form isn't a command. It's the continuous form, so grammatically speaking the sentence is incomplete. The logical completion of the sentence has already been said: 失敬。私は苦情を言いに来たんだ。
I’m sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint.

S: すみませんが、昼休みなもんで［Noun + なもんで: ”because it's...”］ - The shopkeeper has omitted ”please come back another time”. Also note that な here is a form of だ／です。
Sorry, we’re closing for lunch.

P: 気にするな。まだ３０分もたっていないと思うが、さきほど貴店きてん : 貴 is an honorary prefix／kanji. The speaker could have said この店 or あなたの店, but the keigo term 貴店 helps convey the speaker’s sarcasm.からオウムを購入した。そのオウムのことでひとこと言いたい。
Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot that I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.

S: ああ、ノルウェイジャン・ブルーね。何か、まずいまずい is an adjective you might not find in your textbook. It can mean ”bad” (of either food or a turn of events), ”awkward” or ”poor quality” ことでも？The speaker has omitted the verb ある from this sentence.
Oh yes, the Norwegian blue. What’s wrong with it?

P:まずいことがあったから、こうして言いに来てるんだ”I'll tell you what's...” doesn't work when translated literally, so the sentence is changed to　something like ”(of course) there's a problem, that's why I came to say it.”。オウムオウム means parrot. The kanji is 鸚鵡, in case you want to impress someone.が死んでる。これが、その「まずいこと」だ。
I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it. It’s dead. That’s what’s wrong with it.

S: 何を言うんですか、休んでるんですよ。
No, no. It’s resting. Look.

P: いいかねThis expression is like saying ”look here” or ”got it”, with a very authoritative tone.。このオウムが死んでいることは、見れば分かる。今だって”even now”. Note that this だって is similar in meaning to でも.、ご覧の通り”exactly as you see”だ。
Look my lad, I know a dead parrot when I see one and I’m looking at one right now.

S: だから違いますって。死んでません。休んでるんです。
No, no. He’s not dead. He’s resting.

P: 休んでる？
Resting?

S: そうですともとも at the end of a sentence indicates a rather polite-sounding affirmation, intended to show the speaker’s unequivocalness. It is used when replying to a confirmation or clarification question.。ノルウェイジャン・ブルーは珍しい鳥でしてね。この羽根羽根　（はね）: ”feathers”. 羽 by itself is also read はね, but people tend to interpret just 羽 to mean ”wing”. It’s merely a tendency, though. Both 羽根 and 羽 can mean either feathers or wing. 翼 （つばさ） can only mean ”wing”.の美しいことと言ったら…と言ったら（ない） is an advanced (JLPT N2-N1) exclamation, used for emphasis. ”There’s no words to express the beauty of the plumage.”。
Yeah. Remarkable bird, the Norwegian blue. Beautiful plumage, idn’t it?

P: 羽根のことを言ってるんじゃない。このオウムは、完全に死んでいる。
The plumage don’t enter into it. It’s stone dead.

S: いいえ、眠っているだけです。
No, no. It’s resting.

P: そうか。眠っているなら、起こそうじゃないか。オハヨー、オウムちゃん。お目々を覚ましたら、おいしいイカイカ is squid. The (rarely-used) kanji is 烏賊, in case you were interested.をあげますよ～。オウムのポリーちゃん～。
Alright then. If it’s resting, I’ll wake it up. Hello Polly! I got a nice cup of fish for you when you wake up, Polly Parrot.

S: ほら、動いた。
There, it moved.

P: オウムじゃない。あんたあんた is a slightly condescending term for ”you”. We can clearly see that Mr. Praline is upset with the shopkeeper now.が鳥かごを押したんじゃないか。
No he didn’t, that was you pushing the cage.

S:押してません押さなかった or 押しませんでした would not work here. The simple past tense implies that some conditions were in place and ~ had a possibility of occurring. 押していません is a flat-out denial, much better suited to responding to accusations. Note also that this TE-いる is different from the progressive (~ing) form. Literally: ”(I am) not in the state which results from pushing.”。
I did not.

P: いいや、押した。オハヨ～、ポリーちゃん～。オウムのポリーちゃん～、起っきしましょうねぇ。ポリーちゃん～。これを死んだオウムと言わずして、何と呼ぶI really like this expression. ”What would you call it if not...”. It’s kind of a set phrase.？
Yes you did. Hello, Polly! Poooollyyyy! Polly parrot, wake up! Poooolly! Now that’s what I call a dead parrot.

S: いいえ、気絶”きぜつ: knocked out／unconscious”したんですよ。
No, no. It’s stunned.

P:あのなあのな is very similar to いいかね above, taking an authoritative ”look here, now” tone. It's possible to say あのな or あのね non-authoritatively, but you have to be extremely careful about context and your intonation.、死んでることは今ので”with／from (what happened) just now” (今、ここで見せたことで)、じゅうぶん分かっただろ。このオウムは明らかに死亡してるの。私がさっき買いに来たとき、オウムが動かないのは、喋り続けてクタクタに疲れてるからだってThis だって is different from the one above (the one similar in meaning to でも). This is the verb だ, plus the quoting marker って (= と).、保証したじゃないか。
Look my lad, I’ve had just about enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased. And when I bought it not half an hour ago, you assured me that its lack of movement was due to it being tired and shagged out after a long squall.

S: フィヨルドが恋しい~が恋しい: to miss／long for ~のかも。
He’s probably pining for the fjords.

P: フィヨルドが恋しいだと？何だそりゃ。だったら、家に着いたとたん~TA+途端（とたん）: just when／after ~、オウムが仰向けあおむけ: laying flat and facing upward.になって床に落ちたのは、どう説明してくれるHow will you explain this to me?？
Pining for the fjords? What kind of talk is that? Look, why did it fall flat on its back the moment I got it home?

S: ノルウェイジャン・ブルーは仰向けで寝るのが好きなんですよ。きれいな鳥でしょ。それに見事な羽根。
The Norwegian blue prefers keeping on its back. It’s a beautiful bird, lovely plumage…

P: 失礼を承知で”while knowing that it was discourteous (to you)”, this is how ”took the liberty to...” got translated.調べさせて貰ったがね、どうしてオウムが最初にいた止まり木perchにずっと立っていられたのか、分かったよ。理由は一つ、オウムが止まり木に釘付けされてた釘付け is treated as a noun here, so the されてた is a conjugation of する, not of 付ける. The speaker could also have said 釘付けられた, which would be using 釘付ける (a verb).からだ。
Look, I took the liberty of examining that parrot, and I discovered that the only reason it had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been nailed there.

S: そんなの、当たり前じゃないですか。そうでもしなけりゃ、柵をこじ開けてこじあける: to wrench open、ブーンと飛んでっちまう。
Well of course he was nailed there otherwise he’d have muscled up through those bars and voom!

P: いいかね、このオウムに４０００ボルトの電気をかけたってThis usage of ~TAって appears only in spoken Japanese, and is equivalent to ~TEも. (かけても)、飛ぶわけがない。これは、完ぺきにご臨終なの。
Look matey, this parrot wouldn’t “voom” if I put 4000 volts through it. It’s bleeding demised.

S: いやいや、恋しいんです。
It’s not. It’s, it’s pining.

P: ホームシックなんかじゃない~なんかじゃない: it’s not anything like ~ (used for a sweeping negation)。お亡くなりになったお亡くなりになる: an honorific way of saying ”to die”んだ。このオウムは、この世を去ったhas left this worldの。事切れてことぎれる: ”things have cut off／ended”, this word isn't any dictionary I could find, but the meaning is clear from context.しまった。息を引き取りhas taken back his breath、神の御許God's (神の) honorable (御) underneath (許), but ”underneath” is not meant literally. 神の御許 is ”a place near God”に逝かれた逝く　（いく）： it’s the verb 行く, but 逝 is used when the destination is the afterlife.。これは「故こ : a prefix used before names of people to indicate that the person is deceased.オウム」。死体A corpse/cadaver/dead body。命尽きて尽きる (つきる): to be used up, all gone、永遠の眠りについてる”has fallen into eternal sleep.” I personally would have gone with 安らかに眠っている since it's a translation of ”rests in peace”。釘付けされてなきゃ、今頃はひな菊ひなぎく : daisyいっぱいのお墓おはか: graveの下でおねんねねんね is a ”cute” word for sleeping. Maybe a little like ”Nappy time”. Putting お before it is unusual and helps show that the speaker is using the word sarcastically.してたはずなんだ。オウムはその生涯に幕を閉じhas closed the curtains on life. その is not necessary here, but using it portrays the parrot and the parrot’s life as two separate entities.、昇天しょうてん: ascended to heavenなされたなさる is an honorific equivalent to する, again the speaker is using keigo to convey sarcasm. Using the passive ~Aれる is also a keigo form, and grammatically speaking you’re not supposed to put it on a word that’s already keigo in nature, but many Japanese still do.の。これは「元もと: ”ex-” prefix, as in ex-girlfriend/boyfriend.オウム」。
It’s not pining, it’s passed on. This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It’s expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late parrot. It’s a stiff. Berift of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn’t nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies. It’s flung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This! is an ex-parrot.

S: 分かりましたよ、お取り替えしましょ。
Well, I’d better replace it, then.

P: この国で何か買おうと思ったら、性根尽き果てるまでしょうねつきはてるまで: until your perseverance has reached it’s limit文句を言うはめになる~はめになる: an advanced expression (JLPT N2-N1), indicating some result that the speaker is dissatisfied with.。
If you want to get anything done in this country, you’ve got to complain until you’re blue in the mouth.

- – - – -

Okay, I’ll stop there. Hope you enjoyed that and please do comment with any questions you have!

Interested in things like counters, time expressions and grammar, and time-related vocabulary? Head on over to the Cheat Sheet Pack site and check it out. The digital version of this cheat sheet is only $2.50 USD by Paypal, and you get instant delivery. Enjoy!

Regarding future digital releases

I may eventually release two or three more sheets from the full pack, depending on how successful this first PDF release is. How ever, I will not be releasing the full set digitally.

I do plan to release at least one more completely new digital cheat sheet, sometime in November. The tentative title is “Cool Japanese” so stay tuned!

The cheat sheet PDFs I have released in the past were designed to be printed. They were split into two pages (a front and a back), and were sized just like a sheet of paper. Unfortunately, there’s a couple shortcomings with that. First of all, the cheat sheets contain very small Japanese text, very light and delicate colors, and almost no margin around the edge. That’s asking a lot for your run-of-the-mill home printer.

Also, there’s the fact that some people just prefer a digital document, even if they could get a print copy. I personally believe the cheat sheets are more helpful if you have an actual printed copy, but I understand everyone’s got a different way of things.

Changes from the previous (print) version:

• Single-page, wide layout (just like your computer screen)
• Text is now selectable
• Colors have been adjusted to look better on a computer screen
• Only vector and text data, so you can zoom forever without loss of quality (this also reduced the file size to just 225KB)

I also fixed some formatting inconsistencies that were present in the printed version, basically just some of the color-coding in the example sentences.

But this is the internet, where links and files speak louder than words, so go and download your copy now! I hope you like it!

Fortunately, whether or not a person will become an advanced-level bilingual doesn’t seem to have any relation to their IQ or age (although those factors probably do speed things up). The traits that I have noticed over the years which advanced-level learners have in common are entirely subjective and with some effort are controllable.

I’ve made this list of successful traits based on my personal experience and my observations of other learners at various levels. I believe that a person’s state of mind is both their greatest asset and their greatest liability when learning a language. So, I hope this article will offer some insight for those of you just getting started with Japanese, or anyone struggling to make progress.

You might be a promising Japanese learner if…

1. You carry around a vocabulary notepad

Ok, so it doesn’t have to be a notepad; it could be a notebook or a sheet of paper or even a memo on your smartphone. The point is to have some kind of portable, easily accessible storage tool for language data. Of course you have to actually use it too.

But the functional aspect is only half of the story. The other half is the state of mind behind the notepad. It shows a constant determination to acquire new language information and review old information, whenever and wherever you happen to be. In other words, you are always in study mode.

2. Your hobbies and your study overlap

A lot of people learning Japanese enjoy anime, manga, Japanese literature, Japanese video games or other (even non-linguistic) things that have to do with Japan like martial arts or food. It can be anything, really.

It seems obvious that advanced Japanese learners would have an interest in Japanese stuff, but I’m including it in the list because I want to make a more philosophical point. That is, if our brain thinks “Japan = Japanese = fun”, then it learns better and you don’t tire as quickly.

It’s kind of like how whatever Republicans say invariably makes no sense to Democrats, and vice versa. Your brain is very talented at deciphering new information if it wants to. But if your brain sees learning Japanese as a chore, it’s going to fight you the whole way.

3. You’re not afraid of Kanji

I think just heard screams in the distance. Yes, I know even a whisper of the word “kanji” strikes fear into the hearts of many of you, but trust me: the sooner you embrace kanji, the better off you will be.

Kanji are not only a great way to identify and learn new words, they’re the self-reinforcing backbone of the language. They’re like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The more you learn, the easier they get and the more everything else starts to come together.

And I probably don’t need to remind you that not knowing kanji precludes access to 99% of real-world Japanese, so avoiding kanji is basically like saying you don’t want to be able to read Japanese. It’s like someone trying to major in computer programming without learning how to type.

Unfortunately, kanji just take effort. I had to learn about 500 kanji before I stopped hating them. After that, I actually enjoyed the next 1000 kanji, but then got kind of tired and indifferent for the last 500.

4. You’re stubborn and hate to lose

I think people see TV commercials or Google ads telling them they can learn Japanese in 5 minutes a day or whatever, and they get this expectation that learning a language is like making a pot of coffee. Of course, sooner or later they realize it’s unfathomably bigger and more difficult than that.

To overcome the inevitable frustration that comes with learning a language, it helps to be a downright stubborn son-of-a-b@#$%. Like a compulsive gambler, you need to keep doubling-down instead of admitting defeat. When I was frustrated and tired, it helped me to think of all the time I spent so far that would be wasted if I decided to give up.

Some might call this not knowing when to quit, but instead it’s the opposite. You know exactly when to quit: never.

A short personal aside: when I started university, I tried to skip first year Japanese and test into the 2nd year classes (I had studied a good deal on my own already). Well, my writing skill was a little rough on the edges, so the teacher wouldn’t allow it. I was devastated, humiliated and intensely furious. But that defeat was a huge turning point for me, it was the moment when I went super-saiyan with my studies. By the time I graduated I was so far ahead of the class that studying for the tests would have been a waste of time. Yes, it’s emotionally stressful to be a stubborn learner, but the tradeoff is that you can actually turn your hardships to your benefit.

5. You’re never satisfied

Perhaps this last trait is more for moving even beyond the advanced level, but it’s still great for speeding up progress through beginner and intermediate.

When it comes to learning a language, satisfaction is a bad thing. If you’re satisfied with your Japanese, you’re not setting your sights high enough. It’s like settling for a McDonalds burger when you could have an 8-ounce-Kobe-beef-bacon-double-cheddar-cheese-deluxe.

In addition, satisfaction can be a death blow to your will to practice and review. Not forgetting what you’ve learned is half the battle, so you can never let your guard down.

Always demanding more from yourself keeps you receptive to new information, and helps you pay more attention to details. Not to mention it keeps you humble too. (If you think your Japanese is good, chances are you’re probably just not aware of most of your mistakes)

Final word

I’d say that most advanced learners I’ve met have 3 or 4 of the traits/habits I listed above. Remember though, on Nihonshock I promote a notion of learning where the assumed goal is enough proficiency to read a novel, survive a job interview or keep up with native speakers’ izakaya conversations, but not everyone needs to or even wants to take it that far. So no offense to more casual learners, but when I say “advanced” or “successful” I’m talking about JLPT N1 and above.

Shameless plug

You know what else is really great for becoming a successful Japanese learner? Nihonshock.com’s Japanese Cheat Sheet Pack, of course! Do you have yours yet? If not, check it out.

But longtime readers of Nihonshock by now have probably figured out that I love learning and exploring all of these you-don’t-really-need-to-know-this-but… areas of Japanese. After all, if you’re in Japan long enough, sooner or later you will come across them.

Where are shorthand kanji used?

By their nature, they can only be used in hand-written Japanese (you can’t even get most of the shorthand forms to appear on a computer). And since they’re considered incorrect forms, you’ll find them mostly in extremely casual correspondence or in note-to-self types of writing.

The primary reason to use them is for speed. As a learner, I’m sure you know that writing kanji can be a time consuming process. The Japanese are well-practiced and can write it significantly faster than most of us gaijin, but still have the same problem. Many (most?) kanji are just plain inefficient.

So who might benefit from the ability to write things quickly? That’s right, a student! Taking lecture notes is a situation just begging for writing shortcuts. And as you will see, many of the less mainstream shorthand kanji are ones that would be useful in exactly that situation.

But first, let’s start with some of the most major/useful shorthand forms:

Obviously, all of these kanji save the writer quite a bit of time, effort and ink. 第→㐧 is one of the most accepted shorthand forms and according to the wikipedia article on shorthand kanji is used on some traffic signs. I personally have never come across it.

The reduced form of 門, however, I have come across quite a few times. It’s extremely useful because it can also be used in any kanji that is based on the 門 radical (like 問 or 間). You may also see it with two vertical strokes across the top bar instead of one.

The reduced form of 曜 is a personal favorite of mine, although surprisingly not as frequently used by Japanese as some of the other shorthand forms. Beginners to Japanese know (and fear) this kanji well, as it’s the most difficult one that you have to learn at their level. The problem is how commonly the kanji is needed; it’s used in all the words representing a day of the week (for example: Monday = 月曜日). I really hope the Japanese come to their senses and make shorthand a Joyo kanji someday, but I’m not holding my breath.

The shorthand for 前 is interesting because it’s part hiragana, a kind of Frankenstein-kanji.

The shorthand for 個 is a nice one to have and I’ve actually encountered it before in my boss’ telephone memos.

The image of the shorthand for 雪 illustrates the reduced form of the rain radical, which is another favorite of mine. You can use that reduction in any rain radical kanji (雷, 霧, 霜 etc.). Sometimes the rain radical is reduced to 両, but that doesn’t strike me as being a whole lot easier.

㐂 is actually is actually not a reduction of the original kanji 喜, but instead comes from grass-script (basically a kind of calligraphy or cursive writing). Seven is an auspicious number in Japanese too, as you can see.

The shorthand for 選 isn’t commonly used, but is close enough to the original that a Japanese reading quickly might not even notice it’s a reduced form. I’d also be in favor of making this Joyo, but hopes are about as slim as they were for 曜.

These are a couple of my favorites. The kanji 風 has two different shorthand forms (pictured above), use whichever you like. I’ve seen this one only once, though, on a restaurant menu in the word 和風. I presume it was employed for a stylistic effect.

The word for library (図書館) also has two possible abbreviated forms. I don’t know who came up with these, but I want to track them down and give them a very big hug. This is the kind of progressive vision our world needs! (okay, I’m probably exaggerating a bit, but I do think it’s really clever)

Combining kana with kanji

These are some examples of using katakana for certain elements of a kanji. They’re not exactly standardized, but the basic concept is still a great way for anyone to invent a shorthand on the fly. Usually, the katakana is based on the reading of the kanji.

As to why the shorthand for 藤 has a completely different radical, I’m sorry but I have no idea.

Shorthand kanji in specialized fields

It makes sense that if there’s a particular difficult kanji that you have to write a lot, you’re more likely to create or use a shorthand for it. The above kanji show instances where this has happened. None of these a really for general consumption but…

If you’re a chemist, you might like to use the shorthand form of 濾, which is used in words such as 濾過 (filtrate). If you study medicine, you might be interested in a quicker way to write 薬 and if you are going to law school, 権’s shorthand form might come in handy.

The last one is a convenient shorthand used by some residents of Niigata ( 新潟) prefecture.

Conclusion

Shorthand kanji are an interesting and potentially useful tool for anyone who has to actually hand-write Japanese. I just hope you won’t try to use them on your Japanese tests, job applications in any other context where you really should be writing “correctly.”

If you liked this post and want to know more about shorthand kanji, check out the wikipedia article, and here’s a nice shorthand compilation on a Japanese-language site. Also, I’ve compiled all of these and more shorthand forms on the Kanji Cheat Sheet which is a part of Nihonshock.com’s Japanese Cheat Sheet Pack. Click the link for more info.

On a side note, I even used some kanji as shorthand in my English note-taking when I was in college. Writing 人 is much easier than “people”, for example. Others I recall using were  才 (years old), 年 (year), 中 (inside), 上 (up/top), 下 (down/under). So kanji aren’t always our enemies

What I like to do at Nihonshock, though, is introduce people to new things. So I’m writing my first “travel” article on a place you’ve probably not heard of, and which is well off the beaten trail: Gujo-Hachiman (郡上八幡).

Gujo-Hachiman is a small town nestled in the mountains of Gifu prefecture, right smack in the middle of Japan. What makes this town unique is not only it’s beautiful scenery, but a castle on a steep mountainside with a stunning view, an “old-style town” (古い町並み) that is a pleasant walk, a pristine river that runs through the town, and a certain very unique product that the town is known for.

Gujo Castle

I’ve gotta start with the castle. It’s a smaller castle, and I’m not a history fanatic so I didn’t read the pamphlet too closely, but the view from the top may well be the best of any castle in Japan.

To get to the castle is a 20-30 minute hike from the bus stop, but you can drive to the top if you’ve got car (small car preferable, also required: above-average driving skill). It’s a steep trip but well worth it if the weather’s decent. Admission is 300 JPY.

The Walk Around Town

The castle is impressive, but in my opinion the fun part of Gujo-Hachiman is footing the downtown tour. There are numerous interesting shops and and no shortage of things to look at, not the least of which is the Yoshida river (吉田川), which is so clean you could probably drink from it.

The walk takes between an hour and two hours, depending on how long you browse shops and excluding any stops for meals.

Disclaimer: Nihonshock does not recommend drinking the river water… no matter how beautiful and mouth-wateringly delicious it looks.

Food samples

And the icing on the cake for Gujo-hachiman visitors is food samples/replicas (食品サンプル); the town is famous for them. If you haven’t been to Japan, you might not know what they are. Food samples are super-realistic replicas of actual food dishes, which you can commonly find displayed in front of restaurants in Japan to attract customers.

The detail and craftsmanship that goes into them is astounding, and they make perfect souvenirs (they come as keyrings, magnets, or just plain decorations). As you can see in the picture at right, I made sure to stock up on these before I came back from Japan.

There’s about 3 or 4 good places to shop for food samples along the walk, and the big touristy-place near the plaza even offers demonstrations of how some of it is made.

Note: all of the above pictures are NOT EDIBLE. Evil, isn’t it?

Getting to Gujo-Hachiman

As the title of this blog states, it’s off the beaten path to get here. But that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?

Coming from Tokyo or Kyoto/Osaka, you’ll have to go through Nagoya. I think you can figure out how to find Nagoya on your own, so I’ll basically start my directions from there. (All prices and times are 1-way)

Train Directions:

• First you need to get to Mino-Ota (美濃太田) station.
  • Cheap way from Nagoya: take the JR Chuo line (中央線) to Tajimi (多治見), then at Tajimi transfer to the Ota line (太田線). 40+30 minutes, 950 JPY.
  • First-class way from Nagoya: Take the “Wide-view” Hida express train. No transfer required. 40 minutes + 2770 JPY.
  • If you are in or can get to Gifu, take the Takayama Main Line from there (高山本線): 33 minutes + 480 JPY.
• At Mino-Ota, transfer to the Nagara-gawa railway (長良川鉄道) and take it to Gujo-Hachiman station. 83 minutes + 1320 JPY.
• Take the community bus “mame-bus” (郡上八幡コミュニティバス「まめバス」) for 10-15 minutes to Jouka-machi Plaza (城下町プラザ). 100 JPY.
  • Note that this bus operates in a kind of weird loop, and there are buses that go both directions. It’s 10-15 minutes one way and double that the other, so it’s confusing but you’ll want to get it right.
  • Station to Plaza: Take the :15 RED or :45 BLUE bus
  • Plaza to Station: Take the :00 RED or :34 BLUE bus
  • Buses run 8am through 5pm, but end an hour earlier in winter-time (October through May) and on Sundays/holidays.
  • The buses also start an hour later on Sundays/holidays.
  • Here’s a link to the complete bus information, unfortunately in Japanese only.

Yes, the train trip takes a while, but you’re going through the countryside so you’ll get some great views along the way. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

And here’s a couple Jorudan (excellent train information site) links for good measure.

• Nagoya to Gujo-Hachiman route information (Japanese only)
• Jorudan English site (search isn’t linkable, you’ll have to input it yourself)

Map of the area

I made up a map to help you. The red dot is the Plaza (where you’ll get off the bus). Note that the train station is further down and to the left, well off the map.

• The blue line is the approximate path to walk up to the castle.
• The red line is my suggested walking path through town.
• The purple lines are a couple nice little detours to consider.

External Links

• Gujo wikipedia page
• Gujo-Hachiman on Google Maps
• Gujo-Hachiman city page (+ English version)
• Gujo-Hachiman on Japan-guide.net

But anyway, today’s post will be a short one on my favorite expression in Japanese:

ミ・ナ・ギ・ッ・テ・キ・ターーーー！！！！！

(Katakana and dots added for emphasis)

Minagiru (漲る) is the base verb here (no, the kanji isn’t Joyo). It’s original meaning is “to be full of water”, by extension it means “to be overflowing with power/determination/excitement/etc.” It describes a feeling that’s kind of like an emotional high or adrenaline rush; usually a response to something new and exciting.

Ever heard a song that just made you feel like you could do anything? Or achieved some great feat that made you want to do more and more? That’s the feeling of 漲る, and I’m pretty sure it’s the coolest feeling that there is a word for.

The ~TEくる verb form here is used to show a spontaneous change of state (I was not overflowing with power before, but suddenly I am). You see this usage also in 晴れてきた (the weather has cleared up).

However, there is a catch to this word: it’s primarily an otaku expression. Many otaku use it to describe the excitement they get from watching their favorite anime or listening to their favorite pop idol.

I’m actually kind of a closet-otaku myself (half-way-closet otaku? in-the-closet-with-the-door-open otaku?), but it’s unfortunate that the expression has this connotation because the emotion it describes is so awesome and (I would hope) universal.

What makes me go Minagittekita—–!!!

Perhaps the best way to explain ミナギッテキタ is to get you to experience it…

Old-skool Jpop FTW! This song, “Perseus” by Hitomi Shimatani has been my primary go-to resource for “recharging” my power ever since I started college.  Whenever I was exhausted or frustrated, it always gave me a second or sometimes third wind. To me this song was as good of a study tool as any, because it multiplied the length of study time I could endure in a given day.

Some others that do it for me are:

• Ryu☆ – Second Heaven (rave)
• Rin’ – 道心 (Japanese ethnic rave?)
• Kagrra – Murakumo (Visual-kei, skip to 0:22 and ignore unrelated video)

What makes you go Minagittekita?

Yes, this post was kind of an excuse to show off some of my favorite re-energizing Japanese songs. But I want to hear from you too. Please leave a comment and tell me what gives you this feeling (doesn’t have to be Japanese, either )