Nominal suffixes
You may have come across nominal suffixes before and know how important they are when communicating with people in Japan. Anime and manga can be a great way to get a general understanding of all types of suffixes, but be careful when using them as it can be easy to come across as rude if you make a mistake.
-chan , -kun and -san are the most famous nominal suffixes. -san is the most common form, reflecting respect for people, as well as a universal address when meeting for the first time. -chan and -kun are used when communicating with friends and children, indicating affection for someone you already know well. Their main difference is that -chan is most often used when addressing girls, and -kun when addressing boys.
-sensei : literally translates to "teacher/educator" and is also used when addressing doctors.
-sama : a nominal suffix that expresses the utmost respect and is used more often to address clients (お客様, o-kyaku-sama o-kyaku-sama) or deities (kami-sama kamisama, "God").
-dono : The literal translation is "my lord" or "master", but this does not mean that the person addressed this way is necessarily of noble birth. You'll often hear this treatment in historical anime (especially samurai ones). Although it is rarely used these days, you may see it in commercial correspondence or on certificates.
-senpai : used to address senior classmates or senior colleagues.
There is also tomodachi kotoba (友達言葉, informal communication), which indicates intimacy with another person. The most common of them are: -rin and -pyon, when addressing women, and -tan and -ppe, when addressing women.
If you're interested in the origin and use of suffixes in Japanese, you can learn more about it in our article on noun suffixes, which will help you understand more when watching anime!
[edit] Sources
- ↑ 1,01,1 Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 232
- Gabdullina, 2012, p. 35
- ↑ 3.03.1 Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 230
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 231, 232
- ↑ 5.05.1 Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 239
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 232—233
- ↑ 7.07.1 Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 241
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 233—234
- ↑ 9,09,19,2 Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 235
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 236
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 236—237
- ↑ 12,012.1 Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 237
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 237—238
- ↑ 14,014,1 Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 238
- Builova, 2013, p. 80
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 238, 239
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 239—240
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 241—242
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 242
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 245—246
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 243
- ↑ 22,022.1 Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 247
- ↑ 23,023.1 Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 244
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 244—245
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 245
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 246
- Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 249
- ↑ 28,028.1 Builova, Lyashevskaya, 2014, p. 247—248
Insults
In a society based on politeness and etiquette , there are almost no such words of insult to which we are accustomed. Thus, most words that are perceived as insults are ordinary words and phrases that are spoken in an aggressive tone.
It's a vast and unusual area to explore, so we've rounded up our favorites from the anime world.
Hentai : “Pervert!”; this word means the porn genre of anime and manga, and as an insult, it is used in relation to someone who behaved obscenely towards you.
Iranai : “I don’t want to!” or “I don’t need this!”
Mendokusai : “How problematic/tiring this is!” It is typical for men to change the ending sai to seー.
Urusai! (Urusai!) : depending on the context, this word can mean “Quiet!”, “Speak more quietly!”, or even “You're annoying!”, “You're annoying!”.
Kisama : The literal translation is "you", but this form is considered very aggressive and rude.
Kuso : A more expressive way of exclaiming "Damn!"
The eccentricities of the anime subculture
Cheerful, cheerful, looking at the world through children's eyes, fond of Japanese animation and drawing funny, colorful characters - all these are anime people. A subculture that can sometimes cause confusion, hostility or denial, but their friendly, inventive actions carry absolutely no bad intentions.
Their cute ya'kanya when they see something tender and sweet, or "xo'kanya" when mentioning failure, are considered funny, but especially conservative people cause hostility. However, the use of slang is often used by anime fans only within their own circle.
One Piece / One Piece
One of the reasons why some people can't get through One Piece (besides the length and number of episodes) is the art. You will immediately say that the characters are somehow abnormal. They seem to be made of plasticine, especially when it comes to their emotions. Shock, surprise, disgust - everything is done with a certain touch of frivolity.
Signs of a True Otaku
To clearly understand who anime people are, let’s look at the signs of a real Otaku. Not all of them are necessarily fully manifested, but most have a place to be.
- Thus, Otaku spend a lot of money on everything related to their hobby. They have an extensive collection of anime, music and games based on them.
- As soon as a new product comes out, they immediately purchase or download it. They visit specialized forums on the Internet, read a lot of specialized literature, or study virtual pages.
- Be sure to take part in specialized parties, where they take on the images of their favorite characters and join anime clubs.
- Figures made in the appropriate style are used as decoration and are ready to answer all the questions of the “newbie”.
Particularly noted is the passion for the cultural values of Japan and its traditions. But mostly, this concerns animation, the history of anime and slang used by the founders of the subculture.
Historical moments of Japanese animation
A special subculture, obsessed with bright, recognizable cartoon characters, appeared at the beginning of the 20th century among Japanese youth. It was at that time that cartoons began to be produced based on popular comic books.
The heroes were so unusual that not only children, but also some adults considered them role models. In Tokyo, entire shopping centers were born and are now successfully operating, where not only anime-themed goods are sold, but all the decoration is made in the appropriate style.
[edit] Literature
- Builova N. N., Lyashevskaya O. N.
That’s what anime people say // Modern Russian language on the Internet / ed. Ya. E. Akhapkina, E. V. Rakhlina. - M.: Languages of Slavic Culture, 2014. - P. 229-249. — 328 p. — 500 copies. — ISBN 978-5-9551-0722-6. - Builova N. N.
Classification of anime slang lexemes (based on materials from Russian-language forums) //
Lingua mobilis
. - 2013. - No. 5 (44). - pp. 79-85. — ISSN 1998-1546. - Gabdullina A. Kh.
Language and subculture of anime in the context of globalization //
Chelyabinsk Humanitarian
. — 2012. — No. 1 (18). - pp. 34-37. - ISSN 1999-5407.
Greetings!
Some of the first words you absolutely must learn in any language are greetings. There are a couple of anime genres in particular that would be most useful for this practice, such as anime about school or those depicting the daily lives of the characters.
Here are some basic words of greeting and farewell.
Ohayo: "Good morning"
Konnichiwa: A universal greeting, often translated simply as "Hello"
Konbanwa: "Good evening"
Oyasumi: "Good night"
Mata ne: “See you!” sometimes you will also hear “mata ashita!”, which means “See you tomorrow!”
Tadaima: "I'm home!" they say when you come home
Okaeri: “Welcome back,” said in response to tadaima.
If you want to learn more about this, we have an entire article dedicated to greetings in Japanese.
