houmu
train platform, (rarely) home
the concept of a home is an old one, so you don't really expect it to be written in katakana, i.e., be a foreign language loanword. and in fact, it is very rare for ホーム to mean 'home', even though the pronunciation is close.
the more common meaning is actually an abbreviation of the word 'platform':
プラットホーム
purattohoumu
remember, not is there no 'L' in Japanese, there's no 'F' either. what about Mount Fuji?
the way I'd write it, it'd be Mount Huzi. The 'hu' sound (ふ in hiragana) is phonetically something of a cross between a 'fu' and a 'hu', but ふ is squarely in the 'H' column of syllables, surrounded by ha, hi, he and ho (は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ).
back to the story...
why would translation software yield ホーム for 'home'?
once more, as with the Beatles and free love, it's the fault of the 1960s.
during that golden time of Japanese economic boom-growth, companies wanted to popularize big ticket purchases. the best way to do that? give them cool names that made them sound foreign.
so we had some ad exec who invented マイ・ホーム (mai houmu, for 'my home!') (and マイ・カー, for 'my car!' too).
I guess it sounded a lot cooler than 我が家 (wagaya). =)
Thursday, February 26, 2009
帰る
kaeru
to return (home), to go (home)
we don't have a similar verb in English, so Japanese speakers often trip up when trying to communicate the notion (of going back to somewhere you once lived or belonged) in English.
you can specify a direct object with the verb:
but it's not necessary. on it's own (and in context, of course), it'd simply mean, I'm going home.
note the economy...
one word in Japanese versus four (a contraction counts as two words) in English.
of course, unlike English, it's grammatically correct to have a one-word sentence in Japanese that's a verb, an adjective or a noun. the most common way to have a one-word sentence in English is with an interjection, or a response to a question. (How old are you? Six. and that could be two one-word sentences in Japanese: 幾つ？六つ。ikutu? muttu.)
the more I do this blog, the more I realize how much I love Japanese.
to return (home), to go (home)
we don't have a similar verb in English, so Japanese speakers often trip up when trying to communicate the notion (of going back to somewhere you once lived or belonged) in English.
you can specify a direct object with the verb:
- 家に帰る
uti ni kaeru
to go home - 日本に帰る
nihon ni kaeru
to go back to Japan - 故郷に帰る
hurusato ni kaeru
to go back to (my) hometown
but it's not necessary. on it's own (and in context, of course), it'd simply mean, I'm going home.
note the economy...
one word in Japanese versus four (a contraction counts as two words) in English.
of course, unlike English, it's grammatically correct to have a one-word sentence in Japanese that's a verb, an adjective or a noun. the most common way to have a one-word sentence in English is with an interjection, or a response to a question. (How old are you? Six. and that could be two one-word sentences in Japanese: 幾つ？六つ。ikutu? muttu.)
the more I do this blog, the more I realize how much I love Japanese.
喝采
kassai
acclaim, herald
this was the word that convinced me that a friend was not actually fluent in Japanese but was using machine translation.
the story unfolds like this.
I'm addicted to the book of face. (Facebook)
I update my status with my cell.
yesterday, while driving toward the border during the afternoon, I complained about the snow in Burnaby.
several of my friends responded, including two that I know are fluent, and one who surprised me. I hadn't known he knew Japanese at all.
that comment was odd, but understandable. it seemed to be written by someone with a textbook (i.e., not a real-life) understanding of Japanese...
but then, the plot, like the snow fall, thickened...
(and don't I just love ellipses? they go so well with my e. e. cummings-esque avoidance of the uppercase.)
when I made it home after a harrowing drive on I-5, saving that rant for another day, I noted my relief on the book of face as well, and then my suspect friend posted something very odd in Japanese, including today's word:
私は嬉しい安全に得たホーム-喝采を
watasi wa uresii anzen ni eta houmu -- kassai wo
the best way to translate that would be to evoke Tarzan:
me happy. safely train platform gotten. acclaim!
I smell machine translation, don't you?
if we reverse engineer, I think that what my friend typed into Babel (or whichever auto-translator he used) was:
I'm glad you got home safely. Congratulations.
In normal Japanese, that'd be:
無事に帰れて良かった。おめでとう。
buzi ni kaerete yokatta. omedetou.
(leaving aside that Japanese don't normally congratulate one another in these instances...)
anyone notice the 'train platform' business?
more on that later...
acclaim, herald
this was the word that convinced me that a friend was not actually fluent in Japanese but was using machine translation.
the story unfolds like this.
I'm addicted to the book of face. (Facebook)
I update my status with my cell.
yesterday, while driving toward the border during the afternoon, I complained about the snow in Burnaby.
several of my friends responded, including two that I know are fluent, and one who surprised me. I hadn't known he knew Japanese at all.
that comment was odd, but understandable. it seemed to be written by someone with a textbook (i.e., not a real-life) understanding of Japanese...
but then, the plot, like the snow fall, thickened...
(and don't I just love ellipses? they go so well with my e. e. cummings-esque avoidance of the uppercase.)
when I made it home after a harrowing drive on I-5, saving that rant for another day, I noted my relief on the book of face as well, and then my suspect friend posted something very odd in Japanese, including today's word:
私は嬉しい安全に得たホーム-喝采を
watasi wa uresii anzen ni eta houmu -- kassai wo
the best way to translate that would be to evoke Tarzan:
me happy. safely train platform gotten. acclaim!
I smell machine translation, don't you?
if we reverse engineer, I think that what my friend typed into Babel (or whichever auto-translator he used) was:
I'm glad you got home safely. Congratulations.
In normal Japanese, that'd be:
無事に帰れて良かった。おめでとう。
buzi ni kaerete yokatta. omedetou.
(leaving aside that Japanese don't normally congratulate one another in these instances...)
anyone notice the 'train platform' business?
more on that later...
取得
syutoku
to get, obtain, acquire
pet peeve alert!
I see this word nearly every day in a work context. it's used to describe the action of computer functions that get some form of data or another. in 99 per cent of all cases, those computer functions even include the word 'get' in their title. yet there are some translators who obstinately refuse to translate 取得 as 'get'.
why?
the past tenses of the verb, to get, seem to be anathema to some people. heaven forfend we should use the word 'got', let alone 'gotten', regardless of how grammatically correct they are.
and they are grammatically correct.
the odd and truly annoying thing about the translator in question, whose 'obtain' I constantly correct, is that he also incorrectly uses 'to get' where the verbs 'to be' or 'to become' or 'to understand' are grammatically called for.
drives me 'round the proverbial bend.
when I'm not cursing the bad drivers, that is...
to get, obtain, acquire
pet peeve alert!
I see this word nearly every day in a work context. it's used to describe the action of computer functions that get some form of data or another. in 99 per cent of all cases, those computer functions even include the word 'get' in their title. yet there are some translators who obstinately refuse to translate 取得 as 'get'.
why?
the past tenses of the verb, to get, seem to be anathema to some people. heaven forfend we should use the word 'got', let alone 'gotten', regardless of how grammatically correct they are.
and they are grammatically correct.
the odd and truly annoying thing about the translator in question, whose 'obtain' I constantly correct, is that he also incorrectly uses 'to get' where the verbs 'to be' or 'to become' or 'to understand' are grammatically called for.
drives me 'round the proverbial bend.
when I'm not cursing the bad drivers, that is...
Sunday, February 22, 2009
エロカワ
erokawa
an abbreviation/combination of two terms, エロッティック erottikku (erotic) and 可愛い kawaii (cloyingly cute, as in Hello Kitty), possibly meaning sexy/erotic in an adorable way
don't ask where I encountered this term. =)
needless to say, the product it was describing was not something I found to be either erotic or adorable/cute. but I had never seen this word before and therefore had to report it. =)
an abbreviation/combination of two terms, エロッティック erottikku (erotic) and 可愛い kawaii (cloyingly cute, as in Hello Kitty), possibly meaning sexy/erotic in an adorable way
don't ask where I encountered this term. =)
needless to say, the product it was describing was not something I found to be either erotic or adorable/cute. but I had never seen this word before and therefore had to report it. =)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
w)
as far as I can tell, there is no reading of this, no way to pronounce it. it is a cross between an emoticon and （笑） (the character for smiling and laughing, which, as a verb, can be read warau, hence the 'w', and which, when enclosed parenthetically, is akin to writing LOL.
essentially, this is now Japanese for =) or LOL, in an online context. I've yet to see it in any print medium, of course.
there are other cool emoticons, my favorite of which is:
orz
I have to say it took me a while to figure out what this meant. it is a more recent version of an older, lengthier emoticon:
m_._m
still don't get it? let me explain...
the Japanese bow as part of their gestural language. the bow is a greeting, a sign of respect, even shorthand for saying yes. they (and I, when talking in Japanese) bow on the phone, too. bowing is that integrated into the speaking of Japanese. the deeper the bow, the greater the politeness. (and, as an aside, bowing is done with your eyes on the floor. always.) the most profound bows are performed when you are already seated (on your knees), and your head touches the floor, with both hands flat on the floor, aside your head. and so...
m_._m is an image of that, seen from the front, with the 'm's representing your hands, the '_'s, your downcast eyes and the '.' your nose.
orz is the same thing, except viewed from the size, with 'o' being your head, 'r' your arm and 'z' the rest of your body, in the kneeling seated position.
I've always liked these shortcuts.
essentially, this is now Japanese for =) or LOL, in an online context. I've yet to see it in any print medium, of course.
there are other cool emoticons, my favorite of which is:
orz
I have to say it took me a while to figure out what this meant. it is a more recent version of an older, lengthier emoticon:
m_._m
still don't get it? let me explain...
the Japanese bow as part of their gestural language. the bow is a greeting, a sign of respect, even shorthand for saying yes. they (and I, when talking in Japanese) bow on the phone, too. bowing is that integrated into the speaking of Japanese. the deeper the bow, the greater the politeness. (and, as an aside, bowing is done with your eyes on the floor. always.) the most profound bows are performed when you are already seated (on your knees), and your head touches the floor, with both hands flat on the floor, aside your head. and so...
m_._m is an image of that, seen from the front, with the 'm's representing your hands, the '_'s, your downcast eyes and the '.' your nose.
orz is the same thing, except viewed from the size, with 'o' being your head, 'r' your arm and 'z' the rest of your body, in the kneeling seated position.
I've always liked these shortcuts.
Friday, February 20, 2009
まったり
mattari
relaxed, nonchalant, carefree, lazy
like other adverbs in the syllable + glottal stop (っ) + syllable + り (ri) pattern, like ゆっくり (yukkuri) and ゆったり (yuttari), this word implies a drawn-out experience of time. according to Hiro, it's a recent addition to Japanese, and I suspect it was formed by combining the abovementioned adverbs with the verb 'to wait', 待つ (matu).
both Hiro and I are fond fans of the morning lay-about. it's a king-sized bed, so there's plenty of room for the two of us to stretch out on our own, to read, to play on the DS (I'm currently doing nothing but sudoku on that thing), or, of course, to spoon.
and it was in that context that Hiro sleepily said,
まったりできていいな。
mattari dekite ii na.
I love it when we get to be lazy like this.
the ironic thing about that statement is that, unbeknownst to either of us, once Hiro did go to work that day, he was laid off.
so now we get to be まったり for a bit longer. when not polishing CVs or browsing the want ads, that is.
relaxed, nonchalant, carefree, lazy
like other adverbs in the syllable + glottal stop (っ) + syllable + り (ri) pattern, like ゆっくり (yukkuri) and ゆったり (yuttari), this word implies a drawn-out experience of time. according to Hiro, it's a recent addition to Japanese, and I suspect it was formed by combining the abovementioned adverbs with the verb 'to wait', 待つ (matu).
both Hiro and I are fond fans of the morning lay-about. it's a king-sized bed, so there's plenty of room for the two of us to stretch out on our own, to read, to play on the DS (I'm currently doing nothing but sudoku on that thing), or, of course, to spoon.
and it was in that context that Hiro sleepily said,
まったりできていいな。
mattari dekite ii na.
I love it when we get to be lazy like this.
the ironic thing about that statement is that, unbeknownst to either of us, once Hiro did go to work that day, he was laid off.
so now we get to be まったり for a bit longer. when not polishing CVs or browsing the want ads, that is.
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