Browsing the blog archives for October, 2009
ha, ba, yō One of the problems that translators of Japanese sometimes face is how to distinguish countable nouns and uncountable nouns. This character is one of the examples. Paying attention to collocations might help you. When somebody says, “ha ga shigeru,” it means that leaves grow thick. “Ha ga irozuku” means that leaves are [...]
isa-mashii, yū Isa-mashii is an adjective meaning brave and courageous. Yūkan and yūsō also mean brave and heroic. The kan of yūkan often becomes part of compounds that stress that you venture to do something or dare to do something. The lower part of this character is chikara (power). Draw the hook on the top. [...]
i-u, koto (goto), gen, gon To say is i-u. Not to say is i-wanai. One word or a few words are “hitokoto”, “hitokoto futakoto” or “futakoto mikoto”. For these expressions, the number of words cannot be accurate. They all mean just a few words. Meigen is a definite statement. Gendō means what you say and [...]
tsuyo-i, tsuyo-meru, tsuyo-maru, tsuyo-garu, shi-iru, kyō, gō Tsuyo-i means strong. Tsuyo-garu is a verb. If this is your attitude, you are pretending not to be afraid of something. To force somebody to do something is shi-iru. Kyōryoku can be translated as powerful or great power. Having a similar meaning, kyōdai collocates with a hegemonic power. [...]
chikara, riki, ryoku This character means power. The end of some compounds is this character. They often mean the strength of power or kinds of power. Chiryoku means intellectual power. Jitsuryoku is competency. Dōryoku is energy, such as electricity, waterpower, wind-generated, nuclear power and so on. Both inryoku and jūryoku mean gravity. The former is [...]
aru-ku, ayu-mu, ho, bu, fu, po Aru-ku is the verb to walk. You can use this to count steps. Counting steps from one to ten goes like ippo (1 po), niho (2 ho), sanpo (3 po), yonho (4 ho), goho (5 ho), roppo (6 po), nanaho (7 ho), happo (8 po), kyūho (9 ho) and [...]
We are going to collect Japanese poetic words and present them in Japanese calligraphy.
Shin-jiru, shin The reading of this character is shin, whether it has a suffix or not. With a suffix, it becomes the verb, shin-jiru, which means to believe. Compounds including this character are relevant to believing. For example, jishin is self-confidence. Shinnen is faith. Shinrai is reliance. Shinrai sei is reliability. Let me add meishin, [...]
ki-meru, ki-maru, ketsu To decide is ki-meru. To be decided is ki-maru. Both meru and maru are okurigana. Ketsu is used for compounds. Let me give you some examples relating with personal decisions. Ketsudan, ketsui and kesshin all mean determination or resolution. The dan of ketsudan means to decide. Kesshi is a kind of attitude [...]
wa-keru, wa-kareru, wa-karu, wa-katsu, bun, bu The general meaning of this character is to divide. The suffixes, keru, kareru, karu, and katsu, are okurigana. They have delicate nuances. If you divide something, your action is expressed as wa-keru. If something splits, it is in the state of wa-kareru. (Take note that there is another character [...]