Japanese Language

Japanese Language

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Western Drawl

I speak Japanese with a western accent. I proudly speak it when talking to Tokyoites. From now on, I will call my accent “Western Drawl.” I will use a Southern Drawl when I write conversational parts in English, if the person in the story speaks with a Western Drawl in Japanese.

ウエスタン・ドロー

私は関西訛りで日本語を喋ります。特に東京人相手に話すときは、プライドを持ってそうします。今から後、私は自分の訛りを「ウエスタン・ドロー」と呼ぶことにします。そして日本語の西部訛りの会話部分を英語で書くときは、アメリカの南部訛りを採用します。

私は関西訛りで日本語を喋ります。

I speak Japanese with a western accent. 

私 (わたし) : I/my/me
関西 (かんさい) : Kansai, the western region of Japan (noun)
訛り (なまり) : an accent, a dialect
関西訛り : a Kansai accent
喋る (しゃべる) : to talk, to speak (verb)
日本語を喋る : to speak Japanese (verb)
関西訛りで喋る : to speak with a Kansai accent (verb)
私は喋ります。: I speak. I talk.

特に東京人相手に話すときは、プライドを持ってそうします。

I proudly speak it when talking to Tokyoites. 

特に (とくに) : especially
東京 (とうきょう) : Tokyo
人 (ひと/じん/にん) : a person, people
東京人 (とうきょうじん) : a person who is from Tokyo area, Tokyo people, a Tokyoite, Tokyoites (noun)
相手 (あいて) : someone who you are talking, someone who you are taking action to, someone who you have a relationship with, your partner (noun)
話す (はなす) : to tell, to speak, to talk (verb)
東京人相手に話す : to talk with a Tokyoite (verb)
とき : a time, the time, when you do/did it, when it happens/happened
話すとき : when you talk/speak/tell (noun clause)
プライド : a pride
持つ (もつ) : to have (verb)
プライドを持つ : to have a pride (verb)
持って (もって) : to have it and/then/so .... (verb), You have it and/then/so .... (situation), with it (adverb)

プライドを持って : proudly (adverb)
します。: I will do.
そうします。: I will do it.

今から後、私は自分の訛りを「ウエスタン・ドロー」と呼ぶことにします。

From now on, I will call my accent “Western Drawl.”

今 (いま) : now, right now
今から : from now

後 (あと/のち) : after, later

今から後 : from now on

私 (わたし) : I/my/me

自分 (じぶん) : oneself, myself/yourself/himself/herself (depends on the context)

訛り (なまり) : an accent

自分の訛り : one's own accent, my accent (in this context because I am talking about myself in this sentence.)

西部 (せいぶ) : the West

ウエスタン・ドロー : Western Drawl (This is the expression which I want to use to refer my Japanese accent.)

呼ぶ (よぶ) : to call (verb), to be called by name, nickname or title (verb)

「ウエスタン・ドロー」と呼ぶ : to call something "Western Drawl" (verb)

ことにします。: I will do it. I have just decided to do it. (current and recent action)

ことにしました。: I decided to do it. I had decided to do it. (past action)

「ウエスタン・ドロー」と呼ぶことにします。: I will call it "Western Drawl."

「ウエスタン・ドロー」と呼ぶことにしました。: I decided to call it "Western Drawl."

私は、自分の訛りを「ウェスタン・ドロー」と呼ぶ。: I call my accent "Western Drawl."

そして、日本語の西部訛りの会話部分を英語で書くときは、アメリカの南部訛りを採用します。

I will use a Southern Drawl when I write conversational parts in English, if the person in the story speaks with a Western Drawl in Japanese.

そして : then/and/so/therefore

日本語 (にほんご) : Japanese (language)
訛り (なまり) : an accent, a dialect, a unique way of speaking which is spoken by people in a specific area (noun)

西部 (せいぶ) : the West
西部訛り (せいぶなまり) : Western Drawl, the expression which I made to refer my western Japanese accent (noun)

会話 (かいわ) : a conversation (noun)

部分 (ぶぶん) : a part, parts of something (noun)
会話部分 : a conversational part, conversational parts (noun)
会話部分を書くとき : when writing a conversational part, when writing conversational parts
英語 (えいご) : English (language)
書く (かく) : to write (verb)
英語で書く : to write in English (verb)
書くとき : when writing
英語で書くとき : when writing in English
アメリカ : the United States of America, the land of opportunity according to "Rocky"
南部 (なんぶ) : the South
南部訛り (なんぶなまり) : Southern Drawl
採用 (さいよう) : employing someone as a worker (noun), employing something as a tool or method (noun), to use a tool or method officially (verb)
採用する : to hire, to use, to employ (verb)
します。: I/We will do it.
南部訛りを採用します。: I/We will use the Southern Drawl.

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Difficult to Say Goodbye!

Once upon a time, there was a man who had a hard time simplifying his life. He had too many things at home.

One day, he expressed his feeling in his blog: “I have been trying to dispose of my old things. However, the more I try it, the more it hurts my heart.”

Then he translated it into Japanese: “私は、私の古いモノを捨てようとしてきた。しかし、そうしようとすればするほど、私の心は痛む。”

However, the translation sounded too redundant for him. So, he omitted the words “私は” and “私の” since the readers would probably be able to assume that the man was telling them something about himself from context. He wrote the revised edition: “古いモノを捨てようとしてきた。しかし、そうしようとすればするほど、私の心は痛む。”

It sounded better, but he felt that he should use different expression for his feelings. He rephrased the sentence: “古いモノを捨てようともがいてきた。だが、そうすればするほど、心が痛い。” He posted it as the final edition.

(Thanks, Mathew!)

私( わたし) : I / my / me

古い(ふるい): old

モノ(もの): a thing, things ( Here, I intentionally used katakana instead of kanji from my feeling.)

古いモノ : an old thing, old things

私の古いモノ : my old thing(s)

捨てる(すてる): to dispose of something (verb)

しようとする; to try to do something (verb)

捨てようとする : to try to dispose of something (verb)

してきた : You have been doing it.

捨てようとしてきた。: You have been trying to dispose of something.

すればするほど : the more you do it, the more it happens

私 (わたし) : I/my/me

心(こころ): mind, spirit, heart

私の心 : my heart, my mind

痛い(いたい) : You have a pain. You feel a pain. (condition, situation)

痛む(いたむ): to be painful (verb)

心が痛む : It hurts your mind.

私の心は痛む / 私の心が痛む : It hurts my mind.

そうすればするほど、心は痛む。: The more you do it, the more it hurts your mind.

そうしようとすればするほど、私の心は痛む。: The more I try to do it, the more it hurts my mind.

もがく: to struggle (verb)

しようと、もがく: to try to do something,  to make efforts, to struggle (verb)

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The Super Modern Japanese

Once upon a time, there was a teacher who taught the easiest way of translating English sentences into Japanese. She taught to her students what was called “The Super Modern Japanese.”

One morning, she decided to translate a moment which had been posted by a Hello Talk user in September 2017. She said to her students, “Please translate these sentences on the blackboard into Modern Japanese. Okay?”

Then she wrote, "Today, I woke up at 6 o'clock in the morning. When my wife woke up at 7 o'clock, she looked at me, angrily . I immediately logged off from HelloTalk."

Her students tried to translate this into Super Modern Japanese. One of the students came forward and wrote his answer on the blackboard, “トゥデイ、アイは、モーニングのシックスオクロックに、ウォークアップしました。マイワイフがセブンオクロックにウォークアップしたとき、シーはミーにアングリーでした。アイは、イミディエットリィに、ハロートークから、ロギングオフしました。”

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Obsolete Japanese Language

Thankfully, the days of people using obsolete Japanese language has come and gone.
嬉しいことに、人々が時代遅れの日本語を使う時代は終わった。



嬉しい (うれしい) : glad, happy (adjective)

こと : an event, an issue, the fact, a situation, something which you have just mentioned

嬉しいこと : something which makes you happy (noun clause, "こと" is used to make a noun or noun clause in this way.)

ことに : in such a situation

嬉しいことに : thankfully ("ことに" is used to make an adverb in this way.)

人 (ひと) : a person

人々 (ひとびと) : people

時代 (じだい) : an age, an era, the days when you do/did something or when something happens/happened

遅れ (おくれ) : a time lag, latency (noun)

時代遅れ : obsoleteness (noun), obsolete (adjective without a following noun)

時代遅れの : obsolete (adjective with a following noun)

日本語 (にほんご) : Japanese (language)

時代遅れの日本語 : obsolete Japanese (language)

使う (つかう) : to use something (verb)

日本語を使う : to use Japanese language as a tool (verb)

時代遅れの日本語を使う : to use obsolete Japanese language (verb)

時代遅れの日本語を使う時代 : the days you use obsolete Japanese (noun clause)

終わった。: It ended. It's over. You finished it. You completed it. The situation has gone.

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What is the Japanese Language? 

My original version:
About two thousand years ago, Chinese language was brought into Japan and made drastic changes on Japanese language. Today, we call those characters "Kanji." Then, now, only few researchers can read the ancient Japanese. But no one now complains that our ancient language and culture were destroyed. We just treat those kanji as Japanese. Even hiragana and katakana characters were made by simplifying kanji characters by reducing the number of strokes of them. We use katakana for loan words which were mostly borrowed from English.

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Here are two versions based on the suggestions from one of my language exchange partners. Thank you very much, Jo!

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Suggestion 1:

About two thousand years ago, the Chinese writing system was introduced into Japan, radically changing the Japanese language. This created a series of characters which we now know today as "Kanji." Now, as then only a few people are able to read ancient Japanese. Yet no one now ever seems to complain. Even though our ancient language and culture were irreversibly changed forever. These kanji are now just treated as Japanese. Even hiragana and katakana characters were developed through the simplification of kanji by reducing the number of strokes. We use katakana for loan words which are mostly borrowed from English.
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Suggestion 2:
About two thousand years ago, the Chinese language was brought into Japan causing radical changes to the Japanese language. Today, we call these characters "Kanji." Then, as now, only a few people were able read ancient Japanese. But no one has ever complained that our ancient language and culture were destroyed. We just treat these kanji as Japanese. Even hiragana and katakana characters were made from simplifying the kanji, by reducing the number of strokes. We use katakana for loan words which are mostly borrowed from English.

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日本語とは何か

約二千年前、中国語が日本に持ち込まれ、日本語に極端に大きな変化をもたらしました。今日、我々は、それらの文字を「漢字」と呼んでいます。そして、古代の日本語を読めるのは、精々、一部の研究者ぐらいになってしまいました。しかし、誰一人として、我々の古い言語や文化が滅んだと言う者は居ません。我々は、漢字を日本語として扱っています。平仮名や片仮名も、漢字の字画を減らして簡素化して作られたものです。我々は、片仮名は、外来語、主に英語由来のものを表現するために使用しています。

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Words and Phrases

約二千年前、中国語が日本に持ち込まれ、日本語に極端に大きな変化をもたらしました

About two thousand years ago, Chinese language was brought into Japan and made drastic changes on Japanese language.

約 (やく) : about

二千 (にせん) : two thousand
年 (ねん) : a year, the year, years
二千年 (にせんねん) : two thousand years, the year 2000
約二千年 (やくにせんねん) : about two thousand years, around the year 2000
前 (まえ) : front, ago, before
二千年前 (にせんねんまえ) : two thousand years ago
中国 (ちゅうごく) : China (country)
中国語 (ちゅうごくご) : Chinese (language)
日本 (にほん / にっぽん) : Japan (country)
持ち込む (もちこむ) : to bring something somewhere (verb)
日本に持ち込む : to bring something into Japan (verb)
持ち込まれる (もちこまれる) : to be brought somewhere (verb)
持ち込まれた。: Something was/has been brought.
中国語が持ち込まれた。: Chinese language was brought.
日本に持ち込まれた。: It was brought into Japan.

約二千年前、中国語が日本に持ち込まれた。: Chinese language was brought into Japan about two thousand years ago.

日本に持ち込まれ、..... : It was brought into Japan and/then/so .......
日本語 (にほんご) : Japanese (language)
極端 (きょくたん) : a situation or condition which is extreme in degree (noun), extreme (adjective without a following noun)
極端な : extreme (adjective with a following noun)
極端に : extremely (adverb)
大きい (おおきい) : large, big (adjective with or without a following noun)
大きな (おおきな) : large, big (adjective with a following noun)
変化 (へんか) : a change, changes (noun)
大きな変化 : a large change, a big change, large changes, big changes (noun)
極端に大きな : drastic (adjective)
極端に大きな変化 : a drastic change, drastic changes (noun)
もたらす : to make a new situation (verb), to bring something somewhere (verb), to make something happen (verb)
変化をもたらす : to make a change, to make changes (verb), It makes a change. It makes changes.
変化をもたらします。: It makes a change. It makes changes.

変化をもたらしました。: It made a change. It made changes.

日本語に変化をもたらした。: It made a change or changes on Japanese language.

中国語が日本語に大きな変化をもたらした。: Chinese language made big changes on Japanese language.

今日、我々は、それらの文字を「漢字」と呼んでいます。

Today, we call those characters "Kanji."

今日 (こんにち) : today, the present time
我々 (われわれ) : we/our/us
それら : those
文字 (もじ) : a character, characters (noun)
漢字 (かんじ) : kanji
呼ぶ (よぶ) : to call (verb)
呼んでいる。: You are calling someone or something.
「漢字」と呼んでいる。: You call it "kanji."
我々は、それを「漢字」と呼んでいます。: We call it "kanji."
それらの文字を「漢字」と呼んでいます。: You call those characters "kanji."
今日、呼んでいます。(きょう、よんでいます。) : I/We have invited him/her/them.

そして、古代の日本語を読めるのは、精々、一部の研究者ぐらいになってしまいました

Then, now, only few researchers can read the ancient Japanese.

そして : then/and/so
古代 (こだい) : ancient (noun)
古代の : ancient (adjective with a following noun)
日本語 (にほんご) : Japanese (language)
古代の日本語 : the ancient Japanese (noun)
読む (よむ) : to read (verb)
読める (よめる) : You read it.
日本語を読む : to read Japanese material (verb)
日本語を読める。: You can read Japanese material.
古代の日本語を読める。: You can read the ancient Japanese.
精々 (せいぜい) : at the best
一部 (いちぶ) : a part of something, a copy of document (noun), partial (adjective without a following noun)
研究者 (けんきゅうしゃ) : a researcher
なった。: It became such a situation or condition.
しまった。: It accidentally happened. It happened unfortunately.
しまった! : Oops! Oh no! (You probably made a mistake.)
なってしまった。/ なってしまいました。: It became such a situation or condition unfortunately.
一部の研究者ぐらいになってしまいました。: Only few researchers do it. Only few researchers are in such a situation.

しかし、誰一人として、我々の古い言語や文化が滅んだと言う者は居ません。

But no one complains that our ancient language and culture have been destroyed.

しかし : but, however

誰? (だれ?) : Who?
一人 (ひとり) : one (when counting people)
誰一人 : anyone (used in a negative phrase to make the meaning "No one ....")
我 (われ) : I/my/me (poetic or old fashioned expression)
我々 (われわれ) : we/our/us (poetic or old fashioned expression)
古い (ふるい) : old (adjective with or without a following noun)
言語 (げんご) : a language (noun)
古い言語 : an old language (noun)
文化 (ぶんか) : a culture (noun)
古い文化 : an old culture (noun)
我々の言語 : our language
我々の古い文化 : our old culture
我々の古い言語 : our old language
我々の文化 : our culture
滅ぶ (ほろぶ) : to be destroyed (verb), to be ruined (verb)
滅んだ。(ほろんだ) : It was ruined. It was destroyed.
我々の言語が滅んだ。: Our language has been destroyed.
我々の文化が滅んだ。: Our culture has been destroyed.
言う (いう) : to say, to tell, to speak (verb)
者 (もの) : someone, anyone (This kanji is not used by itself.)
言う者 : someone who says/tells something (noun clause)
我々の言語が滅んだと言う者 : someone who tells that our language has been destroyed (noun clause)
我々の文化が滅んだと言う者 : someone who tells that our culture has been destroyed (noun clause)
居る。(いる) / 居ます。(います) : Someone is here/there. There is a person or an animal. There are people or animals.
居ない。(いない) / 居ません。: Someone is not here/there. There is not a person or an animal. There are not people or animals.
誰一人居ない。/ 誰一人として居ない。: No one is here/there. No one does it. No one is in such a situation. (depends on the context)
誰一人として言う者は居ない。: No one says/tells.

我々は、漢字を日本語として扱っています。

We just treat those kanji as Japanese. 

我々 (われわれ) : we/our/us
漢字 (かんじ) : kanji
日本語として : as Japanese

扱う (あつかう) : to treat (verb), to handle (verb), to deal with something (verb)

日本語として扱う : to treat something as Japanese (verb)

漢字を日本語として扱う : to treat kanji as Japanese (verb)

扱っている。(あつかっている) / 扱っています。: You treat it. You handle it. You deal with it. You sell it. (current and recent regular activity)
漢字を日本語として扱っている。 : You treat kanji as Japanese.

我々は、扱っています。: We treat it. We handle it. We deal with it. We sell it. (current and recent regular activity)

我々は、扱っていました。: We treated it. We handled it. We dealt with it. We sold it. (past regular activity)

平仮名や片仮名も、漢字の字画を減らして簡素化して作られたものです。

Even hiragana and katakana were made by simplifying kanji characters by reducing the number of strokes of them.

平仮名 (ひらがな) : hiragana
片仮名 (かたかな) / カタカナ : katakana
平仮名や片仮名 : hiragana and katakana
片仮名も : also katakana
漢字 (かんじ) : kanji
字画 (じかく) : strokes of a kanji character (noun), the number of strokes of a kanji character (noun) (*We usually assume that you are talking about kanji characters with this word.)
数 (かず / すう) : a number
字画数 (じかくすう) : the number of strokes of a kanji character
漢字の字画 : strokes of a kanji character (noun), the number of strokes of a kanji (noun)
減らす (へらす) : to reduce (verb)
字画をへらす : to reduce the number of strokes of a kanji character (verb)
減る (へる) : to decrease (verb)
減らした。: You reduced something.
減った。(へった) : It decreased.
減らして : to reduce something and/then ..... (verb), You reduce/reduced it and/then .... (action), by reducing it (method)
簡素 (かんそ) : simple (adjective without a following noun)
簡素化 (かんそか) : simplifying (noun)
簡素化する : to simplify (verb)
複雑 (ふくざつ) : complicated (adjective without a following noun)
複雑化 (ふくざつか) : making something more complicated (noun)
複雑化する : to make something more complicated (verb)
漢字を簡素化する : to simplify a kanji character (verb), to simplify kanji system (verb)
簡素化して : by simplifying (method), You simplified it and/then .... (past action) to simplify something and/then ... (verb)
複雑化して : by making something more complicated (method), You made it more complicated and/then .... (past action), to make something more complicated and/then (verb)
作る (つくる) : to make something (verb)
作られる (つくられる) : to be made (verb)
作られた。: It was made.
簡素化して作られた。: It was made by simplifying something.
もの : a thing, something which you have just mentioned
作られたもの : something which was made by someone (noun clause)
平仮名は作られたものです。: Hiragana characters were made.
片仮名は作られたものです。: Katakana characters were made.
簡素化して作られたもの : something which was made by simplifying something (noun clause)
作られたものです。: It was something which was made by someone. It was made.

我々は、片仮名は、外来語、主に英語由来のものを表現するために使用しています。

We use katakana for loan words which were mostly borrowed from English.

我々 (われわれ) : we/our/us
片仮名 (かたかな) / カタカナ : katakana
外 (そと) : outside
来る (くる) : to come (verb), Someone comes. (event)
語 (ご) : a word (noun)
外来 (がいらい) : something which came from abroad (noun), foreign (adjective)
外来語 (がいらいご) : a loan word borrowed from a foreign country (noun)
主に (おもに) : mainly, mostly (adverb)
英語 (えいご) : English (language)
由来 (ゆらい) : the origin (noun)
英語由来の外来語 : a loan word which was borrowed from English (noun clause)
もの : a thing, something which you have just mentioned
英語由来のもの : something which came from English language (noun clause)

主に英語由来 : mostly from English
表現 (ひょうげん) : an expression (noun), expressing something (noun)
する : to do something (verb)
表現する : to express (verb)
英語由来のものを表現する : to express something which came from English (verb)
ため : a reason, a purpose
表現するため : for you to express (purpose)
使用 (しよう) : using something (noun)
使用する : to use (verb)
表現するために使用する : to use something to express a feeling or an art (verb)
使用している。/ 使用しています。: You are using it. (present progress), You use it. (current and recent regular activity)
我々は使用している。: We are using it. (present progress), We use it. (current and recent activity)

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