We're Going Bilingual!
バイリンガルブログにしよう！
Hello people of cyberspace, how goes it ?(I really need to stop trying to come up with witty
entrances for my blog entries, don’t I…)
Well, I’ve been thinking about my blog audience (or
lack thereof, there are only about 6 of you) and I have decided to broaden its
horizons by making it bilingual! That’s right, so now all my posts will be in
two languages. (Of course not literally, as a lot of my English terminology and
writing style makes exact translations almost impossible.) The reason is that I
have a huge portion of my YouTube viewers who are Japanese, or are interested
in seeing my rambling blog entries in both languages. So the decision has been
made by the majority, in a sense.
So from now on expect to see things in two languages!
インタネットの皆さん、元気ですか。（ブログを始めると「こんにちは」より面白い挨拶にしたいけど、何にしようかわからない。）アビーです。最近どうやってもっと多くの人にブログを読ませることができるのかなと思っていて、一つのことを気づきました。私のブログは今まで英語だけですね。私のYouTubeの動画を見てくれている人の半分は日本人なので、ちょっと不便利ですね。そして、このブログを読んで勉強したい人もたくさんいると思います。だから、これからバイリンガルのブログにしようと思っています。日本語でも英語でもブログを書きます。（まあ、文字通りの翻訳はちょっと無理ですね。日本語の力は英語の単語ほど足りないからです。でも、頑張ります。だから、決まりました。今日からこれはバイリンガルのブログです！
As promised my blog is going to be more structured from now on, talking
about once a month about my language learning journey, fun stuff in my life,
etcetera. Today’s topic is going to be related to Japanese casual language and
slang. There are lots of phrases and constructions that fit into this
category. I’ll introduce some of my
favorites and the ones I find most interesting.
前のブログ投稿に約束した通りに、毎月ブログを書いて日本語の勉強とか最近あったことについて書きたいです。今回のブログは、日本語のため口言葉とか日常会話について話したいと思います。丁寧語じゃなくて、友達としゃべる時に使う日本語。一番お気に入りの表現と文法を紹介します。
1) 〜ている changes to てる. This may be a little
confusing for some of you who haven’t studied Japanese grammar in depth, but
let me just summarize. The ~ing verb form, like “eating” “drinking” etcetera in
Japanese is conveyed with the “te iru” form. The te form of a verb plus
iru/imasu. In casual conversation, often the “I” in “iru/imasu” comes off, and
you are left with “teru” on the end instead of “te iru”.
For example: 食べている (Tabete iru-
eating) becomes 食べてる (Tabeteru), which
is a less formal and more conversational contraction. It’s not really a
formality thing, because you can do the same thing by changing “te imasu” to
‘temasu” like “tabetemasu”, but rather it’s a convenience thing, as when you
are speaking fast it becomes rather a hassle to separate the “te” and the
“iru”. I love this contraction, I use it almost as much as the English “can’t”
instead of “cannot”.
2) 何、これ？ (nani, kore?) this phrase is
interesting simply because of the grammatical flip it does. Most people learn
the traditional phrase これは何ですか (kore wa nan desu ka?) for “what is this?”, but countless times in shows,
texts, and casual conversations between friends this “nani, kore” appears and
confuses many learners. Putting the question word first, then a comma, and then
the subject is a casual way of stating the same thing. It is actually easy to
remember because it is the same order as the English question with the question
word ‘what’ coming before the subject ‘this’, but for people who have drilled
Japanese sentence order into their heads, it may confuse them momentarily.
Literally they are saying “what is it, this thing?” as if to point at the
object in question with the ‘kore’ at the end. You can see this casually in
other questions too.
あの人は誰ですか？（Ano hito wa dare desu ka? ）(who is that person?) becomes 誰、あの人？“dare, ano hito?”, which has the same meaning but is
more casual and conversational than the former.
それはどういう意味ですか (sore wa dou iu imi desu ka?- what is the
meaning of that?) can become どういう意味、それ？ (dou iu imi, sore?) It is a phenomenon that should be simple but baffles
many a non-native speaker.
３）〜てくれ！The te form plus
“kure” forms a sort of command that could be polite, but isn’t. It comes from
“te form verb + kureru?” which means “would you do me the favor of __ing?” or
“would you do this for me?” For example “katte kureru?” (would you buy it for
me?)
If you remove the ‘ru” and
make it a statement with an exclamation point on the end, it becomes a rather
demanding and less polite statement often used by children, or jokingly between
friends where it is okay to be casual.
Examples:
黙ってくれ！Damatte kure! (Shut up, would you?)
ほっといてくれ！Hottoite kure! (Do me a favor and leave me alone.)
お母さん、お菓子買ってくれ Okaasan, okashi katte kure (Mom, buy me candy)
This is a great example of
taking a verb that is used for politeness and turning it into a less polite
form.
４）「知らん」
(shiran) and「わからん」(wakaran)
These are crude/casual forms
of “shiranai” (I don’t know) and “wakaranai” (I don’t understand). Often said
in a tone full of attitude or a tone of not caring, these phrases are the
perfect aloof mix of “I don’t give a shit” and “how should I know?” When you
are just saying “wakaranai”, unless you make your tone different it could just
mean that you don’t know. Shiran and wakaran are more casual contractions, and
are often uttered with disdain, like “I wouldn’t know/ I don’t care/ Go bother
someone else.” This is more the case with “shiran.” “wakaran” is more often
just “I dunno/I don’t get it…” with an air that shows that you really aren’t
that troubled. However if yelled emphatically at your homework, it can express
“God, I just don’t GET this!” It’s all in the tone, but either way these casual
phrases can add spice to your statement.
5) 「別に」”Betsu ni” is a
phrase that just basically contradicts a statement. It means literally
“separately” or “on the contrary”, but when used in response to a question like
“is there something wrong?” or “do you mind?” it can mean “no, actually quite
the opposite.”
「別に良いよ」”betsu ni ii yo” usually means “no really, actually I
don’t mind” in response to someone’s question like “are you sure you don’t mind
if I go hang out with Kenji over there? You won’t be lonely by yourself?” That
was actually a quote from an anime I watched. It can also be said in kind of a
mysterious tone in response to “are you thinking about something?” You could
reply “betsu ni” in a slightly haughty manner to show that that person is NOT
getting to know what you were thinking about. It can also be mysterious or
hiding something like “Do you know anything about my surprise party?” “iie,
betsu ni…” Or it can be used to brush someone off in annoyance. “Is there
something wrong?” “betsu ni…” It can convey all sorts of emotions, but in
general it just contradicts the person’s statement.
So there you go! Those are my
favorite phrases lately. I feel like if you use them, you sound more fluent. So
feel free to use them! Thanks for reading my blog again! Sorry it took so long
between updates as usual. I’ll try to be better about that.
じゃ、今日のブログはこれで。日本語の学習者の皆さん、勉強になりましたか？最近のお気に入りため口の日本語です。使いこなせるなら、もっと日本人のように聞こえると思いますから、ぜひ使ってみてください。でも、ため口だから、気をつけてください。友達と自分より若い人と話すと使えます。いつも読んでくれている皆さんにありがとうございます。久しぶりに投稿しなくてごめんなさい。これからもっとはやく投稿したいです。
それじゃ、またね！
Talk to you guys soon! Bye
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