日本語の漢字はとてもおもしろくて、 hilarious
I've found the following uses of Chinese characters in Japanese to be very interesting:
先生 せんせい
In Japanese this means teacher. Although this is one of the possible meanings in Chinese, more commonly it signifies "Mr." So Mr. Li would be リ先生. I feel very funny every time I write "Fukai sensei" ふかい先生 on my homework.
全然 ぜんぜん
This means "not at all" in Japanese; in Chinese it is a formal (used in writing) way of saying "completely, entirely"
大丈夫 だいじょうぶ
This is HILARIOUS. In Japanese it means "all right." In Chinese it means "a real man" or "a man of fortitude and courage." I would love to see the Japanese etymology for this word!
頑張ります がんばります
Japanese is "do one's best." In Chinese the two characters here don't make any sense together. The first character has several meanings:
1. stupid as in 愚頑 yu2wan2
2. stubborn as in 頑固 wan2gu4
3. naughty as in 頑皮 wan2pi2
Why on earth is this character used???
The second character has a lot of meanings as well, among them:
1. stretch; spread; expand
2. set out; display
3. magnify; exaggerate
4. a measure word for flat objects (photographs, papers)
5. a popular surname (eg, the Chinese director, Zhang Yimou)
先生 せんせい
In Japanese this means teacher. Although this is one of the possible meanings in Chinese, more commonly it signifies "Mr." So Mr. Li would be リ先生. I feel very funny every time I write "Fukai sensei" ふかい先生 on my homework.
全然 ぜんぜん
This means "not at all" in Japanese; in Chinese it is a formal (used in writing) way of saying "completely, entirely"
大丈夫 だいじょうぶ
This is HILARIOUS. In Japanese it means "all right." In Chinese it means "a real man" or "a man of fortitude and courage." I would love to see the Japanese etymology for this word!
頑張ります がんばります
Japanese is "do one's best." In Chinese the two characters here don't make any sense together. The first character has several meanings:
1. stupid as in 愚頑 yu2wan2
2. stubborn as in 頑固 wan2gu4
3. naughty as in 頑皮 wan2pi2
Why on earth is this character used???
The second character has a lot of meanings as well, among them:
1. stretch; spread; expand
2. set out; display
3. magnify; exaggerate
4. a measure word for flat objects (photographs, papers)
5. a popular surname (eg, the Chinese director, Zhang Yimou)
posted by pickle at 9:50 PM
3 Comments:
The Japanese people are very good at adopting stuff from foreign countries and making them work for their purposes, don't you think? :-)
Some comments to your observations...
全然 means "not at all" when used with negative predicates. These days, however, people use it with affirmative predicates to mean "very" or "completely." So, I suppose the meaning is closer to the one in Chinese?
I didn't know 大丈夫 means "a real man"! It seems that "a real man" is "sturdy" or "healthy," and from there the meaning changed, like, "When "a real, strong man is beside you, you'll be all right/safe."
Kanji for 頑張ります aren't actually related to the word's meaning. They are used as phonetic symbols rather than their meanings (i.e., just because their sounds match 「がん」and「ば」).
When you find more interesting use of Kanji in Japanese, please let us know!
リーさん、はじめまして。私はバージニア大学で日本語をべんきょうしています。ジェリーです。どうぞよろしく。
私は台湾人ですから、私も日本語の漢字は少しおかしいと思います。でも、私は日本語のクラスに中国語を一時かん忘れて、あまり中国語を思います。
日本語と中国語を知るのはちょっと大変ですよ。
りーさん、
はじめまして、ぼくはカルサで、バージニア大学の二年生です。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。
たん語をおぼえるの時、ぼくはたいていかんじのいみをつかいますが、時々ぼくは分かりません。だから、りーさんはとてもおもしろいポストを書いたと思います。
カルサ
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