Japanese studies
A few days ago, I posted an entry on mixi about the difficulty in studying Japanese, because of the lack of words and expressions in German and even in the English language. There are a lot of thing in Japanese, which aren't easy to translate into another language. There are also a lot of expressions in Japanese, which have different meanings, but are translated the same.
For example 「思う」、「かも知れません」、「だろう」and「でしょう」are translated the same on German and even on English there's not the difference, which should be.
This is what my entry was about and today my boyfriend wrote a comment, well to be honest, he wrote 3 comments trying to explain the difference by using explanations and examples of a Japanese-only dictionary. So I spend about 3 hours trying to translate the Kanji, the meaning of the example sentences and trying to understand the difference. Well, I think I got it. At least more than before. After having a shower I will continue studying I think.
Another thing I was talking about with my boyfriend are the Japanese Onomatopes. There are really a lot of them, which are also sometimes difficult to translate, because there are the ones which are describing a noise or a sound, which is really a sound, but there are also some, which are describing a sound, which actually isn't a sound. [difficult to explain]
Well, I was researching in the internet a little bit and noticed how different an Onomatope can be in different languages. For example a dog's sound of barking.
日本語Japanese ﾉﾉ wan-wan（ワンワン）
For example 「思う」、「かも知れません」、「だろう」and「でしょう」are translated the same on German and even on English there's not the difference, which should be.
This is what my entry was about and today my boyfriend wrote a comment, well to be honest, he wrote 3 comments trying to explain the difference by using explanations and examples of a Japanese-only dictionary. So I spend about 3 hours trying to translate the Kanji, the meaning of the example sentences and trying to understand the difference. Well, I think I got it. At least more than before. After having a shower I will continue studying I think.
Another thing I was talking about with my boyfriend are the Japanese Onomatopes. There are really a lot of them, which are also sometimes difficult to translate, because there are the ones which are describing a noise or a sound, which is really a sound, but there are also some, which are describing a sound, which actually isn't a sound. [difficult to explain]
Well, I was researching in the internet a little bit and noticed how different an Onomatope can be in different languages. For example a dog's sound of barking.
日本語Japanese ﾉﾉ wan-wan（ワンワン）
英語English ﾉﾉ bow-wow, bark-bark, woof-woof, arf-arf, ruff ruff
ドイツ語German ﾉﾉ wau-wau
フランス語French ﾉﾉ ouaf
スペイン語Spanish ﾉﾉ guau-guau
オランダ語Dutch ﾉﾉ waf, woef, waf waf, woef woef
イタリア語Italian ﾉﾉ bau-bau
スウェーデン語Swedish ﾉﾉ voff
フィンランド語Finish ﾉﾉ hau-hau
ハンガリー語Hungarian ﾉﾉ vau-vau
ロシア語Russian ﾉﾉ gaf-gaf
中国語Chinese ﾉﾉ wang-wang（汪汪）
韓国語Korean ﾉﾉ mon-mon
ヒンディー語Hindi ﾉﾉ bhu-bhu
タイ語Thai ﾉﾉ hong-hong, wob-wob
スワヒリ語African ﾉﾉ gon-gon
アラビア語Arabian ﾉﾉ hau-hau
ヘブライ語Hebrew ﾉﾉ hav-hav
サモア語Samoa ﾉﾉ baw-gaw
The same sound, but expressed differently. It's kind of interesting how different something is just because of another culture or another language even if it is actually the same thing.
The same sound, but expressed differently. It's kind of interesting how different something is just because of another culture or another language even if it is actually the same thing.
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