“Hanashi” is the root for the verb “hanasu” (話す、はなす), or “to talk”. Hanashi is “a” talk, more specifically. It is speech; it can also be taken as conversation, though we’d use “kaiwa” for conversation per se, and “soudan” for a discussion per se. 

“Hanashi ga aru” can be read as “I have a talk (to have with you)“. In something that resembles English, this is very much like “We need to talk.” There’s an unspoken emphasis behind this; as in, we need to talk, now. You can also legitimately read this as “I need to talk to you.” In this case, there’s an implication of “to you, in private“.

The example that prompted me to write comes from the Valkyria Chronicles anime. I played the first game on PS3 in Japanese and loved it; the anime diverges quite a bit in places, some good things and some not, but it’s very pretty. One of the divergences is that the two main characters become part of a budding love triangle involving the leading male’s best friend going after the leading female.

After a lot of awkwardness, and the girl (Alicia) moping over it, she suddenly realizes that this is way too much thinking for her and she needs to make things clear. So, she storms over to the guy (Welkin), invading his office, and demanding a talk with him:

“Welkin!! Chotto hanashi ga aru n da kedo…”

The other words that modify and alter the tone of the phrase are as follows:

Chotto: This actually has kanji, though you’ll probably never see it in normal use; literally it’s a tenth of a small unit of measurement. In practice, it stands for “a bit” or “a little bit”. So a “chotto hanashi” is a wee little talk.  This is slight verbal understatement (with a loud voice mind you).

N da: This is a softened version of “no da”, which would be a plain form of “no desu”. In other words, it’s a sort of middle point between really formal and really informal/ rude. It’s a pretty neutral in that sense.

Kedo: This is like a verbal ellipsis, like “ka” is a verbal question mark and “tte” is like verbal quotation marks. It’s a softener expressing something like “but”… <- just like these three dots. In other words, not literally “but” so much as making it come across less as an order. (Alicia is an NCO and Welkin is her officer, see.)

So, in toto, the most harmonized way to deal with it is “We need to have a little talk…” The grammar includes the three dots, but this would be very delicate to voice act with perfection. The bias would have to lean towards the strong tone. – J

Small Words. Big Trouble.

Sometimes it’s simpler for me to point something out in anime and, in so doing, give it context. Today’s subjects are the words “kata” (型) and “kei” (系). When playing second fiddle in a compound word, “kata” -> “gata”, but “kei” remains the same. (That’s because “H Dei” would be really, really awkward to say.)

The anime this is from is a quirky semi-romantic comedy with a lot of sex jokes. A quick viewing of the opening theme (which all but anime newbies will know as “the OP“) explains the context of the kata/gata part: various girls are being rated according to their breast sizes. (^^;) I expect this would be A-cup, B-cup, C-cup, etc. So, our heroine is a B.

The “H Kei” part is from the girl having a revved-up sex drive and is on a personal mission to lose her virginity. Her problem is that she’s squeamish about actual physical contact and relationships, which is where most of the humor comes in. Her lust is willing, but her inner maiden is not. Quite a quandary, isn’t it?

So how do we actually translate these words? As it often is, we first need to understand what the words do in their own language before mastering what they do in ours.

Things vs. People

At its most basic, “kata” covers things and “kei” covers people. 

A “kata” fundamentally represents the physical shape of something. That is why, in the industrial world, such-and-such kata generally represents a model or pattern. A “kataban” (型番) , or kata + number, usually reaches English as a pattern number. Similarly, “katagami” (型紙) – the same “gami” as in “origami”, so kata + paper = pattern paper for making dresses.

“Kei”, on the other hand, addresses groups, systems, and lineage. Have you ever heard the term nikkei? The kanji is 日系, with “sun/ Japan” and “kei”. This means of Japanese descent. Keizu (系図) is kei + map, meaning a genealogy. A direct descendant is a chokkei (直系), straight/ direct + kei.

What we’re really learning here is that the exact English words used may vary, but there is a much bigger difference between how the words are used in the Japanese language. There is no reason for confusion. A “kata” refers to a physical characteristic (in this case, breast size); a “kei” refers to the group that the heroine belongs to, namely “H” – for hentai, pervert, deviant, and so forth. (^^;)

I didn’t watch the whole show myself but it did have its silly laughs. For a mature audience, of course.

At some point animators got lazy and made the kanji on the shoulder "hyaku hyaku" instead - during the actual show.

Bonus: The Hyaku Shiki

Another word similar to those two is shiki (式). This one gave me some trouble before I was even working professionally because fictional robots using such a name don’t seem to correspond to American naming conventions. That’s right! They don’t! This actually sounds more like it’s British. After all, Japanese civilization has been in touch with lots of British naval culture for a long time.

So, we could call the “Hyaku Shiki” from Zeta Gundam, back in 1985 and a video game classic, the “Type 100” because it isn’t using “kata” for “model” in the name. Even so, there’s no way a translator would get a free hand in real life. You translate names as you’re told to and that’s the end of it.

Incidentally, the “shikigami” uses the same “shiki” as above. Actually, the term “shiki” usually relates to equation, formula, and ceremony; I view this as being all related to procedure. Put another way, a mathematical formula is a ceremonial rite of a very different kind. These are methods used to get from point A to point B, but since they’re not models or systems, they’re another kind of classification, whatever that turns out to be. – J

Although there are other ways of expressing certain kinds of fractions, like hanbun (半分、はんぶん) for 1/2 or 50%, 2/3 would be expressed as “san bun no ni” (三分の二, さんぶんのに). That is, “of three parts, two“. Actually, with Japanese grammar it’s nearly impossible to express this any other way.

Consequently, yonbun no san (of 4 parts, 3) is how 3/4ths would be expressed. Once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty simple.

There’s also another expression you should know: gobu-gobu (五分五分, ごぶごぶ), which means 5 parts/ 5 parts, or in “our” language, fifty-fifty. Remember that “juubun” (十分、じゅうぶん) assumes that the “bun” part (for divisions) is 10 parts, and therefore, 5 of 10 parts is half, or 50%, and 10 of 10 parts is all, or 100%. If you’ve put in 100% effort, that’s considered enough. If your odds are 50% success or 50% failure, they’re 50-50, or gobu-gobu.

Practice and quick processing of these words will enable you to understand the message with startling speed, allowing you to focus on other things. – J

桜前線　（さくらぜんせん)

“Sakura” (cherry blossom) is a word many people know well. Sakura viewing is “hanami” (花見、はなみ), or lit. flower viewing. Outside of a weather context, “zensen” (前線、ぜんせん) would mean “front” in the sense of WWII’s Eastern Front or Western Front in Europe, but here it means weather front. 

The reason for using “zensen” here is because cherry blossoms do not bloom across the entire country at the same time. The “cherry blossom front” moves northward over time as warmer weather hits different parts of Japan. That’s why the information follows normal weather reports during early spring.

I learned the term from this site but you can find a 2012 sakura front prediction (i.e. a schedule) at this link here. I would care to point out that if you’re looking for Japanese tutoring, you can always just ask me, too. Not for absolute free, mind you, but Skype lessons mean instant feedback and help. – J

実

The word jitsu stands for reality and truth, often as part of the word shinjitsu (objective truth, an intangible thing). The word jutsu stands mostly for technique, in the sense of an art, a method, or even a spell. The words majutsu (for magic) and ninjutsu (for ninja arts/ techniques) are two examples.

I was glancing at a fan-translated chapter of Naruto (which I once read a decent amount to find out what I was missing, and then stopped for a while) and noticed “ninjitsu” being used. This isn’t a proper romanization. I realize a lot of people don’t really care; pronunciation has long gone the route of “ninjitsu”, even if it’s technically wrong. Make no bones about it: it is technically wrong. You wouldn’t know that if not for other words using the term jutsu, though.

Majutsu is a catch-all term for black magic. Houjutsu is, outside an RPG context (where the same pronunciation applies to white magic/ priest magic), a word for gunnery, as in, the huge cannons on battleships. Ijutsu is the practice of medicine/ healing arts. Renkinjutsu is alchemy, like in Fullmetal Alchemist. Kyuujutsu is Japanese archery (the Art of the Bow). Kenjutsu is Japanese fencing (the Art of the Sword). Finally, the broad term gijutsu means “technology”, a combination of “skill” and “art”. To a lot of people, there’s more than a little incomprehensible “magic” that rests in technology, too. 

If you’re just reading ninja stories, it probably won’t matter much. It’s only if you want to get into other cool Japanese things that you want to have some consistency and understand a little of the why re: why stuff’s called such-and-such. – J

There are actually two distinct uses for sorosoro (そろそろ). The first is as an adverb representing softly, leisurely, gently, gradually, etc. The second is the one to really watch out for: that something will be done soon, in the near future, even if it has taken some time to get there.

In the first case, you could have a sentence like this:

そろそろ寝るね. (sorosoro neru ne.)

Neru = to sleep (dictionary form)

The “ne” at the end is a friendly, reflective copula.

“I’m going to sleep soon.”

This is the translation that the site I got the sentence from uses, but it’s not the only option. We could also easily use:

“About time I got some sleep, huh.”

The “huh” at the end isn’t strictly necessary, but the “ne” is used to adjust the tone in the original. I’d just keep in mind what kind of speaking style and tone the original speaker is supposed to have. This is simple enough with manga, novels, movies, anime, etc.

Sooner or Later

Now, when used more like a noun, “sorosoro” is used in one type of circumstance: time has gradually moved forward to get close to the proper time for X.

If a military commander of some sort was overseeing an operation, looking for the right time to unleash his secret weapon, he could use 「そろそろだ。」 (sorosoro da) to indicate to his top aide that it’s just about time to strike. That is, perhaps not this second – or he’d say 「今だ！」 (ima da!) (ima = right now) instead – but the time will be very soon.

If an ordinary girl or woman is out shopping with you and checks her watch and says 「もうそろそろ」(mou sorosoro), she’s indicating that it’s already (“mou”) just about time for something unspecified, but in this context, it’s well implied that the woman needs to quit with the shopping and get home. In other words, time snuck up on her; a great deal of time has already elapsed. She’s close to outright late. 

Of course, she might actually be totally late, but we don’t know that. The wording is vague enough to provide a polite way to disengage from the activity and is usually accepted as such in good grace.

One Last Look at the Adverb Version

「そろそろを英語に訳すと」(sorosoro o eigo ni yakusu to)

In this case, “o” (using “wo” in kana but always pronounced simply “o”) indicates a descriptive connection between the “sorosoro” and the verb. The “ni” indicates a modifier to the verb. “Eigo” is English. “Yakusu” is for to translate (dictionary form). The “to” that ends the sentence has an eerie resemblance to the English “to” here, really. Therefore:

“To gradually translate into English”

Having done a lot of translation, I can vouch for not rushing and letting things take a natural pace. Rushing is a bad, bad idea unless you really know the subject matter, and even then it’s not a good plan. – J

“Mushiro” is one of those words that isn’t in everyone’s speaking style, but it’s really good to know what it means and how it’s used. The English output differs because different words fit different sentence situations. The word itself demonstrates the better option among two or more.

Picking Shoe Color

Japanese

その服には青よりむしろ茶の靴が似合う. (sono fuku ni wa aoi yori mushiro cha no kutsu ga niau.)

English

Brown shoes are a better fit for these clothes than blue ones.

The Words Being Used

sono = this

fuku = clothes (general)

ni wa = defining what precedes as the topic and what follows as relating to the topic

aoi = blue

yori = what follows is “more than” what precedes

mushiro = defines what follows as the better option, the higher preference

cha = “tea color”, a lighter brown like a lot of leather clothing

no = connects the preceding with the following

kutsu = shoes

ga = defines the subject of the verb that follows

niau = verb; to suit, to match

You Should’ve Done It Yourself

Japanese

彼に頼むくらいなら、むしろ自分でやったほうがいい (kare ni tanomu kurai nara, mushiro jubun de yatta hou ga ii)

English

If you could ask him to do it, you ought to have done it yourself.

The Words Being Used

kare = him

ni = the following applies to the preceding

tanomu = verb; to request, to ask someone to do X

kurai = degree

nara = if

mushiro = the better option

jibun = yourself, oneself

de = “by” in this case; indicates the means of doing something

yatta = verb; past tense of ‘yaru’, a general verb for “to do”

hou = direction; think of options as arranged in a circle around you

ga ii = declaring that the preceding “is good”

Expanding On These Sentences

Here’s how the structure works:

The first option discussed  -> The better, higher option

There’s other instances this could crop up, too.

“We could go to the baseball game, or rather, the mall.”

Perhaps you see the problem here? A lot of people would never use “or rather”. That’s the same in Japanese as it is in English. In the first place, the “or” would be indispensable if using “rather” in this location. If not “or”, it’d have to be more like this:

“We could go to the baseball game, but I’d rather go to the mall instead.”

This is why you can’t just blindly translate from dictionaries. The context is dictating the grammar. Indeed, the grammar is dictating the vocabulary in turn. My advice for dealing with “mushiro” is to focus on what it means, rather than what it says. If I’m just skimming Japanese text, I don’t need to worry about translating; I just accept “mushiro” is stating a preference and move on. It’s only if I have to turn it into English that I have to fiddle around.

I reiterate: the real issue is not drowning in the grammar when someone else uses the word. Learners probably shouldn’t try to use it themselves until they’ve heard it used in context at least a good hundred times. Even then, using it properly would not work in all settings. It’s still really good to know what it means and not trip all over it. – J

The image at the top of the post is of Shiro Amada, the main protagonist of “Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team”. Before the “proper” show starts, Shiro Amada was an Earth Federation soldier serving on a space colony that saw its entire civilian population wiped out by poison gas during the Republic of Zeon’s first strikes against the Federation. Shiro was saved because of his military issue spacesuit, but was helpless to save anyone else. While this was not shown in the anime itself, it was represented in an animated cut-scene in a Gundam video game I once played and enjoyed.

During the first episode, Shiro sorties in a crude prototype of a zero-G construction vehicle that has been weaponized for combat, a “Ball” (that looked like one, except with two cannons stuck on the top) that was considered unable to fight any mobile suit (the big humanoid, man-piloted robots) in one on one combat. He sortied from a transport shuttle, risking his own life, to save a survivor of a Federation mobile suit squad with a damaged machine.

In making his sortie, he said to him self, “Side 2 no ni no mai wa gomen da!” In other words, he wouldn’t allow a repeat of Side 2, which wasn’t really a mistake so much as a circumstance: his own helplessness while others died.

As fate would have it, he and the enemy mobile suit essentially had a double K.O. and both pilots, himself and a beautiful enemy soldier, were forced to cooperate to survive aboard a Federation shipwreck until they could send out a signal and attract rescue from their respective sides. The soldier Shiro saved returned to rescue him the moment his mobile suit was sufficiently repaired, and was transferred to the squad Shiro became the leader of: the 08th MS Team, as we call it in English. (The Japanese word “shoutai” (小隊), which can be ID’d when used in a military context, almost always reads as “platoon”.)

Anyway, I use this example from an anime I know well to show how “ni no mai” is used. Remember, it’s “mai” not “mae” (forward/ front). “Mai” is for dance, here. – J

Most casual viewers of anime and learners of Japanese are familiar with the word sugoi (すごい), roughly equivalent to “tremendous”. However, as a matter of grammar, it’s not good to write “sugoi hayai”. That’s hayai (速い) for the adjective “fast”. The reason’s simple: “sugoi” is an adjective too. It doesn’t mesh.

When using the root of “sugoi” to add detail to “hayai”, the spelling changes to fit this new role. That’s why we use sugoku (すごく、凄く) to fit the bill. My post title’s “incredibly fast” illustrates the grammar: “incredibly” modifies “fast”. 

Incredible Speed?

So what if we change the grammar and change “fast”, an adjective, into “speed”, a noun? Well, in English, the “ly” is dropped and we get “incredible” back as a pure adjective.

Japanese isn’t much different. Speed itself would be hayasa (はやさ、速さ).  The ending sa (さ) makes nouns out of various Japanese concepts, with speed being only one. Another example would be omosa (おもさ、重さ), for “weight”. (And no, I do not mean “mass”, Japanese has another word for it. Mass is not weight, as we know from high school science.)

So our result is:

Sugoi hayasa (凄い速さ、すごいはやさ）。

Where would you use the first, then? Well “hayai” being an adjective by itself, it must be modifying something. For example:

スーパーマンがすごくはやい！

(Suupaaman ga sugoku hayai = Superman is incredibly fast!)

Faster than a speeding bullet, perhaps? – J

While “itsudemo” was about something happening “anytime”, “itsumo” is all about something being always true, being the norm, and so forth. Again, I’ll use a brief example from a video game just to help absorb the usage.

In Tales of Rebirth, a new party member, the happy-go-lucky Tytree, believes himself to be an adequate survivalist as well. When the party finds that a raft necessary to go down a river to Sunnytown has been wrecked by a mysterious storm that broke out in clear weather – clearly the work of an enemy Wind Force user – they head into the forest to gather lumber and mushrooms for consumption.

Tytree - Killer Chef

During this time, Tytree is approached by a rogue. The main character overhears the conversation itself: the rogue wants Tytree to poison the party’s food, offering to hand him his sister back. (The abduction of his sister was Tytree’s prompt for joining the party, and he has a clear “siscon”, or Sister Complex, always doting on her, working at the same factory and so forth.)

The main character, Veigue (think “vague”), doesn’t want to believe that Tytree would actually do it; he doesn’t seem that kind of guy at all. As Veigue leaves, the party healer, Annie, comes by and spots Tytree holding the vial of poison, but we don’t see anything after as the scene switches.

Once Tytree explains that Veigue (controlled by the player) has gathered mushrooms that include poisonous ones that inflict an uncontrollable laugh, he takes the “good” mushrooms and heads back to the hostel to prepare dinner. Two other party members arrive and approve of the lumber having been gathered. Annie finally arrives as well.

Annie comes to express that “Tytree was acting strangely”. The following is the response by Mao, a young monk/ force user:

Mao: “Tytreeがおかしいのは、いつもの事でしょう？” (“Tytree ga okashii no wa, itsumo no koto deshou?”)

Or put in English, “Isn’t Tytree always acting strange?”

Annie retorts that’s not how she meant it but nothing comes of it. At any rate, we’ve just seen how itsumo (いつも) is used. 

If something is “itsumo no koto”, it’s a constant thing, something that happens all the time. In other words, Tytree is always a doofus, so that’s not news. (Again, not what Annie meant, but oh well!)

So if someone wrote:

いつもそばにいるよ　(itsumo soba ni iru yo)

This would suggest “(I’m) always by (your) side.” or “I’m always right beside you.”

The Rest Of The Story

Consider this spoilers for anyone who wants to play the game, on PSP let’s say, and has no idea, but it’s not really much for spoiling.

Veigue has lingering suspicions and at the last moment, does not eat the mushroom stew, which Tytree himself eats.  When three rogues attack the camp, and then retreat to the forest for a confrontation there, the leader believes Tytree has gone through with the poisoning. Tytree attempts to deny it, and Annie cuts in, remarking that the vial she him hold must have been the poison.

Suddenly, Tytree starts laughing maniacally, and people start thinking he really did do it. Annie tries to say something about his having accepted the vial, but… then she starts laughing uncontrollably. Mao and even the last party member, the solid as a rock ex military beast-man, Eugene, start laughing as well. The rogue leader decides the poison went to their heads and attacks, sparking a battle with various debilitating status effects on everyone except Veigue (if he’s in the party – it’s 4 max in-battle).

Once the battle is resolved – as the rogues aren’t that tough – the poison has subsided. Annie is finally able to say that she saw Tytree throw the vial away immediately. So Mao asks, what was in the meal then? Annie remarks that she could be wrong but, she thought it tasted like the poison mushroom that inflicts laughter. Eugene picks up a deep red mushroom and says that’s the only poison mushroom in the area… and Tytree goes, wait, wait, isn’t it this one, the red one with spots? No, Eugene replies, that’s an edible, good-tasting mushroom completely fit for consumption.

In other words, Tytree got his bush-craft wrong and accidentally poisoned the whole party with a pot of stew filled with poison mushrooms.

Tytree vociferously apologizes to the annoyed party but, since no one was really hurt, all is quickly forgiven. Tytree promises to do better next time, and Mao suddenly realizes mid-sentence, “…Wait, you’re gonna try again!?”

Tytree replies that “失敗は成功のもとって言うだろう?” (shippai wa seikou no moto tte iu darou?), a Japanese idiom making this read like, “They say ‘Failure breeds success’ right?”

So yes, Tytree is “itsumo okashii”. ^^;  Both in the senses of being strange and amusing.

– J