Previously, we started to explore the Japanese pronoun “I,” and will continue to review the most common examples and uses. The “I” pronoun provides an indication of the speaker’s identity or personality. It is how we label ourselves and one of the reasons why there are so many options available. 私 (watashi): neutral in both gender and […]
Tag: Linguistics
Japanese language is constructed within layers of nuance. The speaker can convey feelings through grammatical choices such as the politeness levels, particles, pronouns, verb auxiliaries, and more. Grammar in this way acts like “body language” similar to how facial expression, gesture, and tone can reveal the person’s status or intentions. I will be going over these […]
🔹If you are interested in getting my latest linguistic gems, please consider becoming a subscriber here: https://www.patreon.com/join/yukikeiser It’s fascinating how languages evolve overtime, directly reflecting major social and cultural changes. The most recent phenomenon that has caught my attention is the word “actress” in English becoming outdated, and often replaced by “actor” as people are starting […]
🔹If you are interested in getting my latest linguistic gems, please consider becoming a premium subscriber here: https://www.patreon.com/join/yukikeiser Previously, we explored the perceptions of “inside and outside the home” in Japanese culture — and how it impacts the language. Today, I’d like to go over another example of the array of politeness within the language: […]
In my last post, we learned how Japanese language is precise, through the variety of animal counters. Today, let’s take a look at counters as they pertain to humans and demons! Humans are counted differently depending on whether they are alive or dead, influenced by the various rituals surrounding death involving the corpse. – nin (人) = for humans that are […]
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🇯🇵 Japanese Precision: Animal Counters
In a previous post, I talked about the precision of Japanese language as seen through the myriad of classifiers (or counters) based on shape. Today, I’d like to go over some animal counters, since they differ according to both size and social ranking. There are primarily 3 counters for animals: – hiki (匹) = for […]
In your studies, you may have noticed how many English words tare used in Japanese and in French. French often uses English words for business/marketing and internet related terms. For example, we use the English words “brainstorming,” “data,” “startup,” “follower,” “like,” in French. This phenomenon has been reinforced over the last decade via the social media […]
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🇯🇵 Precision in the Japanese language
If you have traveled to Japan, you may have noticed the attention to details in this country: everything is done meticulously, with care. I would say precision is in our genes. When I was working in Japan as a sales and PR manager for the Italian shoe brand Giuseppe Zanotti, the Italian team was always […]
Today I’d like to talk about a concept that is very important in Japanese culture, and that has a big influence on the language: “uchi” (内) and “soto” (外). They mean inside (the house) and outside, which is the society. Society (社会 – shakai) is very important to Japanese values. That’s why Japanese people often […]
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🇯🇵 More words with “en” 縁
Last November, I posted an article about the word 縁 (en), a word dear to Japanese people’s connection to sensitivity and philosophy, and how it was used in daily conversations. (You can see it here.) Today, I would like to go over two expressions that are related to or use 縁 (en). 一期一会 Ichigo Ichie The Japanese […]