May 18, 2006

  • A real entry

    Well, after that video, I figured I'd type you something more legit. Let's see...

    Japanese is going well. I mean, I think I underestimated the language
    when I first started. However, I'm not displeased about it. I'm really
    enjoying it, truth be told. Their language is like a window into their
    world. The layers of politeness, and way things are said. Somehow I can
    understand Japanese culture much easier the more I learn the language.

    I think I'm going to start putting little Japanese sentences at the
    bottom of the posts. It'll give me another reason to use Japanese, and
    I though I could make it interesting for anyone reading this, too. I'll
    write something in Japanese, and you can try and figure out what is
    says. You can use online translators and whatnot. They are normally less
    then perfect, so be careful. If you get it right, I'll award you some
    kind of prize. Ano... I'm not sure what it is yet, but I'll figure
    something out.

    So, as a hint, this one is an anime classic.

    あなたがだいすきです
    (anata ga daisuki desu)

Comments (4)

  • Okay, so when I tried to figure this out using the Japanese characters, the dictionary gave me something like this (with a little translation by me):

    "it is the chair coming where are you"

    Which, I don't think is right at all. So, I used the transliteration (or whatever the English-spelled Japanese words are called) and came up with something like this:

    "you [honourable] like very much I"

    So, because this comes from anime, I'm assuming it's something like:

    "I like you very much." Or even, "I love you."

    That's my best guess/attempt.

    Thanks for the language fun...hehe...languages.

  • Heh, you got it right on the first try. 'I love you' was the answer. The reason the transactors didn't like the kana is because there aren't any kanji (Chinese characters) in there. It's all phonetic.

    あなた/anata - You
    が/ga - Marks the subject as whatever is before it (sorta)
    だいすき/daisuki - Love, or like very much. There is a different word for love, but this like is strong enough that it's usually translated love, especially in anime.
    です/desu - the copula. roughly the verb 'to be'; It tied the sentence together.

    anata ga daisuki desu

  • ah yes, the sapir-whorf hypothesis of language and perception...;)

  • heh, I had to look that one up. Interesting...

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