h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Kita Airurando jin desu
Great entry - i did Japanese for a year at school and didn't realise how much of it I still remembered until you refreshed my memory!
I always loved: oishii desu ne? (tasty, isn't it?), as taught by our sensei on a "field trip" to a Japanese restaurant.
Might go and dig out the old textbook again soon....
My favourite thing was the Japanese version of English words and names - a friends surname (Murphy), became Maafii. McDonald's was always a good one to try but remembering the phonetic spelling is difficult - something like Makudonarudo!
I'm inspiring myself to go back to studying it again as I write!!

Oishii is one of the best sounding and one of the most well used words in the Japanese language. I tried to keep the entry basic, and I could write a book with the phrases I didn't include. Maybe when I'm bored and have time on my hands I'll co-write an entry on the joys of japanese words. Any takers?

Hi I'm living in Osaka, have been for nearly four years now. 'Oiishi' is definitely one of the most used expressions, especially if you watch TV for more than ten minutes. Anyway just thought you might be interested to know the phrase for "I'm full". Excuse the confusing Roma-ji but its "onikaippai desu". Or to say "I'm stuffed" you could say "kupta". My wife wouldn't be happy if I said that at a restaurant though.

Cool! Thanks for telling me that - a great one to add to the list!

A better one is "hara heta" for hungry.

Hi there! I started jotting down a few of my favourite japanese words to add to the growing list but it is now more of a mini essay! I'm new to h2g2 and so have not yet explored how to best go about this, but if you (Fritzonline that is) wanted a hand with your 'joys of japanese' entry, I would be willing. I have already written a preliminary top 10 jap words if it would be of any help...? Bye for now!

Hello,

I email a Japanese chap in Tokyo on a regular basis at work (he works for one of our suppliers). I've been helping him improve his English and he helps me with my Japanese.

The most common things we discuss (in Japanese) are beer, weather, films, work (in more or less that order!).

It's the politeness which impresses me: "Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu" (A happy new year.) "Minasamano kenkou to gotakou wo oinori itashimasu." (I pray that you & your family are well in the new year.) for example, or "Kyo wa tsuyoi amega furi tsuzuite imasu." (It is raining hard today).

I have found his help invaluable. We've even started sending each other newspapers (especially with regards to rugby which Hiro is a big fan of).

It's been very useful in a business sense, even though Hiro and his colleagues speak excellent English, it's nice to be able to natter in his native tongue as well.

Wulfric

"Oishii" seems to me to carry more of the nuance of "delicious." Another word available for tasy, less formal, would be "umai." For emphasis, you can say the "u" with an upward inflection and then hold the "m" as in "ummmmmmmai!" But don't get confused. "Umai" is also used with the meaning of expertise or capability. Thus, "Ano hito, soroban ga umai no desu ne" means "That person is an expert on the abacus" and not "That person's abacus is a tasty one."

Oh, and Japanese people will probably understand what one means in saying "hara heta" but there is a difference between "hara heta" and "hara hetta." Double consonants indicate a glottal stop, so "hetta" would be prounced "he' ta." Without the glottal stop, "heta" means the opposite of "umai" - that is, incompetent or incapable. Thus, "Ano hito, hara hetta mitai ne" means "That person looks really hungry" while "Ano hito, hara heta mitai ne" doesn't really make sense but sounds like a comment on the person's poor abdominal physique.

Translation problem: "Inari-zushi wa umai na! Demo, tsukuru no wa heta, watashi."

Answer: "Boy, Inari-zushi (rice packed in a fried bean curd pocket marinated in sweetened soy sauce) sure are tasty! But I'm no good at making them."

Oishii was the first Japanese word I learnt. A good friend taught it to me and so I guess it has fond memories. It is a facinating word, but I'm not sure why. Although I have to agree with Hikaru poet, I was taught it means delicious rather than tasty.

Dose anyone know anything about Dyslexia and Japanese, particularly the learning process? I'm trying to learn and it's not easy.

Pizza boy

I think that learning to read Japanese in general is not easy, whether you are dyslexic or not

Brilliant. There I was going around thinking I was telling people my stomach was bad and needed food. I thought the hard consanant sound was just because people were stressing how hungry they were.

I always figured umai was stronger. People tend to say oishii at the drop of a hat.

I'm not sure if that is kansai-ben (onikaippai), but the technically correct way of saying I'm full is onakaippai, of course that is in colloquial conversation form, aka ignoring particle and verb use (ga, desu)

An even more colloquial version of umai, at least in kanto, is umei.