The Japanese language has only 101 different possible sounds in its syllabary, which means there are a lot of words that end up sounding the same! This often confounds new students of Japanese, who have difficulties telling the difference between words such as 橋 (hashi, meaning bridge) and 箸 (hashi, meaning chopsticks). We're often asked which words have the most meanings (or, more accurately, which sounds have the most words corresponding to them). So, without further ado, here is a list of the top ten most common word-sounds in Japanese:

10: しょうし (shoushi, 31 words)
9: こうそう (kousou, 32 words)
8: せいし (seishi, 33 words)
6 (tie): しょうか (shouka, 34 words)
6 (tie): きこう (kikou, 34 words)
5: しこう (shikou, 36 words)
4: こうか (kouka, 39 words)
3: こうこう (koukou, 42 words)
2: こうし (koushi, 44 words)
1: こうしょう (koushou, 47 words)

Of course, it's usually quite easy to figure out which of the meanings a person intends to use, based on the context.
The astute reader will notice that 8 of the 10 sounds above contain the component 'kou'. This is because there are a huge number of kanji that can be read as 'kou'. Jim Breen's always useful online Japanese dictionary finds all of 303 different kanji characters read as "kou"! Nobody said it was an easy language to read and write!

Just a quick post on the different priorities of cooks in Japan:



This microwave has 2 buttons. The first is labelled あたためる (atatameru, to warm), with a picture of a bowl of rice. The lower one is labelled 生ものの解凍 (namamono no kaitou, or defrosting raw things). Look closely at the picture, though. That's right, the one thing they decided to use to represent all possible raw foods was: a squid!

No streetlights? No problem. Vending machines will light your way...



Stretching as far as the eye can see! In Japanese, vending machine is 自動販売機 which is another great example of kanji that can be understood even if you don't know how to say them. To break it down:
自: ji, meaning onself
動: dou, meaning to move
自動: jidou: to move by oneself - hence, automatic!
販: han, meaning marketing
売: bai, meaning to sell
販売: meaning sales
機: ki, meaning machine

So, a 自動販売機 is an automatic sales machine! There, wasn't that easy?

Many many moons ago, we had a "discussion" with a native speaker of English who was upset that the Japanese mangle the pronunciation of "coffee" as 「コーヒー」, among many other words. However, we pointed out that coffee isn't an English word in the first place. This source traces it from the Arabic qahwah. This is one example of a word whose pronunciation in English is at least as bad as the katakana version of that same word.
As Japanese has such a limited syllabary, it's inevitable that some words can't be faithfully transliterated into Japanese, one of the most famous being McDonalds, or マクドナルド (makudonarudo) as it's known here. However, in many cases Japanese does a much better job of keeping words imported from other languages close to the root word than English! Partly this is because those words were imported into Japanese much more recently, meaning there has been less time for the pronunciation to be corrupted. But partly it's also because effort is made to represent the sound as faithfully as possible, unlike the common habit in English of anglicizing words. This is very obvious in place names.
So, for example, the country we call Switzerland is called 「スイス」 (Suisu) in Japanese, which is much closer to the original Suisse. Likewise, the recent Steven Spielberg film about the Munich Olympics scandal was called 「ミュンヘン」 (Myunhen) in Japan. Paris becomes パリ (Pari), and Germany ドイツ (Doitsu), Italy is イタリア (Itaria) and Turkey トルコ (Toruko). Interestingly, Spain stays as スペイン (Supein), for some reason, and Sweden is スウェーデン (Sueeden) rather than Suverijji.

Just a short post today, but a golden piece of trivia: Did you know that the name Pacman comes from Japanese? In Japanese the 擬音語 (giongo, onomatopoeia) パクパク (paku paku) means to eat in big bites, or to eat quickly. So パクマン (pakuman) is someone who eats fast without chewing much!

Example sentence: 昼休みは３０分しかないけん、みんな毎日パクパクと食べる。
Hiru yasumi wa san juppun shika nai ken, minna mainichi paku paku to taberu.
We only have a half hour for lunch, so everybody gulps their food down.
Breakdown:
昼休み: hiru yasumi, lunch time. Literally, ?gmidday rest?h
３０分しかない: san juppun shika nai. Literally, ?gthere is only 30 minutes?h
けん: ken. A hakata-ben (link to hakata-ben intro) word meaning ?gso?h ? an informal replacement for ?gので?h (node)
みんな（は）: minna (wa), everybody. As this is an informal spoken sentence, the particle は (wa) can be omitted.
毎日: mainichi, every day
パクパクと食べる: paku paku to taberu, gulp one?fs food down. As with a lot of 擬音語, it?fs connected to a verb by the particle と (to). In this way, it functions basically the same as an adverb in English. So, a direct translation would be something like ?gto eat hastily?h.

パクパク can also often be seen in manga, as the written sound effect for a person chewing hungrily.
So now you know, it's not just a goofy name for a little yellow ball, it's actually the Japanese equivalent of calling him {Gobbleman{!
Still doesn't explain why Ms. Pacman wasn't just called Pacwoman, though...

And for those of you who are wondering, the pic above is plundered shamelessly from National Console Support Inc., proud retailers of the Naruto v2.0 plushy, among many other fine products...

On the surface, the English phrase ?gmore or less?h looks like it should be the equivalent of the Japanese word 多少 (?gtashou?h, made up of the kanji for ?gmany?h and the kanji for ?gfew?h).
?gMore or less?h, for some reason, means ?gmostly?h. However, 多少 means ?ga little?h, i.e. the almost direct opposite of the English phrase. Funny, eh? Yeah, alright, maybe not that funny?c

Japanese adjectives have very strict rules. There are only two kinds of adjective:
1. ?gい?h adjectives (adjectives ending in the character ?gi?h)
おいしい (oishii, delicious)
青い (aoi, blue)
鋭い (surudoi, sharp)
These adjectives can be placed directly before a noun, for example おいしいリンゴ (oishii ringo, delicious apple), or used by themselves, for example ?gおいしい！?h

2. ?gな?h adjectives (adjectives that have ?gna?h added)
貧乏な (binbou na, poor)
きれいな (kirei na, beautiful)
豪華な (gouka na, extravagant)
These adjectives must have ?gna?h added when they?fre used before a noun, for example きれいな人 (kirei na hito, a beautiful person). However, they can be used without ?gna?h by themselves, for example ?gきれい！?h They can end in the character ?gい?h, but are generally made from the 音読み (onyomi, or Chinese reading) of two kanji put together.

All adjectives fit into one of these two groups, except for one common but strange word: 同じ (onaji, the same). This is perhaps the only exception to the above rules, since it doesn?ft end in the character ?gい?h, but it can be placed directly before a noun, without ?gな?h, for example 同じ奴 (onaji yatsu, the same guy). As it?fs such a common word, most students learn it without even noticing that it doesn?ft fit the rules, but it?fs a strange little reminder that language is not a fixed set of patterns, but an ever-evolving tool.

Now that we've finished writing this article, it doesn't seem half as interesting as it did before we started. Ah well, such is life...

For some reason, lots of the students at GenkiJACS seem really interested in learning Japanese swear words. So, in the interests of a well-rounded education on vernacular Japanese, as it's spoken on the street, here's a short intro to swearing in Japanese. Our lawyers have asked us to suggest that the faint-of-heart skip to the next blog entry, which we promise has nothing but sweetness and light.
First of all, it's important to note that swearing in Japanese is very different from swearing in English, in many ways. The biggest difference is that there are almost no exclamatory expletives (in English, for example, {fuck!{) that you can't say in polite company. It's not rare to hear くそ！ (kuso, literally {shit{) on TV, or even ruder forms such くそばば (kusobaba, shit-hag). There aren't really equivalents for the massive range of undirected swearing that people from Britain, for example, are capable of. (We're thinking of the opening scene from Four Weddings and a Funeral here. If anyone knows what the Japanese subtitles were for this scene, leave us a comment!)
Other words quite commonly heard on TV include 死ね！ (shine, die), which is one of the worst things you can say to someone if serious, but which is often heard in a jokey context . Another is the well-known ばか (baka, idiot), which some talk show hosts such as Shimada Shinsuke use regularly on their guests. Most sex-related words such as おっぱい (oppai, boobs) are completely fine.

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One of the most fun {features{ of the Japanese language is how foreign words are mangled to fit the limited Japanese sound-set. For example, McDonalds becomes マクドナルド (Makudonarudo, 6 syllables), and Scotland スコットランド (Sukottorando, 7 syllables!). However, these new words are not just nouns - sometimes new verbs are created from English words, made to fit Japanese grammar. Here are some examples. See if you can guess the original English word they're from!

ググる (guguru) - to search the Internet for something. From {Google{, of course.
あのCMの音楽の名前、ググっても分からなかった。 (ano shi emu no ongaku no namae, gugutte mo wakaranakatta, I tried googling for the name of the music in that ad, but I couldn't find it)

ダブる (daburu) - to overlap, usually in a negative way, for example to have two appointments at the same time. From {double{.
言うことがずっとダブってしまった！ (iu koto ga zutto dabutte shimatta, We kept saying the same thing as each other)

ネゴる (negoru) - to discuss something with intent to come to an agreement. From {negotiate{.
北斗の拳の中古DVDがほしいけど、値段がちょっと高い。。。 (Hokuto no Ken no chuuko DVD ga hoshii kedo, nedan ga chotto takai, I really want that Hokuto no Ken used DVD, but it's kind of expensive)
じゃ、ネゴってみてどう？ (ja, negotte mite dou, why don't you try negotiating with them?)

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It's often frustrating for learners of the Japanese language when they can't express themselves clearly because they don't know a specific word. However, it can be even more frustrating when the language doesn't clearly contain the concept they're trying to get over. Case in point: the distinction between an addiction and a poison.
In Japanese, both addictions and poisonings are referred to as 中毒 ({chuudoku{), with the word before that used to define the type. So for example, here are some common phrases:

- アルコール中毒 ({arukooru chuudoku{) - alcohol addiction. Note: often shortened to アル中 ({aruchuu{), presumably because it's so common...
- 仕事中毒 ({shigoto chuudoku{) - work addiction, which although it sounds like it should be common too, is not usually shortened to {shichuu{
- インターネット中毒 ({intaanetto chuudoku{) - Internet addiction
- たばこ中毒 ({tabako chuudoku{) - nicotine addiction

- 食中毒 ({shoku chuudoku{) - food poisoning
- キノコ中毒 ({kinoko chuudoku{) - mushroom poisoning
- 鉛中毒 ({namari chuudoku{) - lead poisoning

Because no clear distinction is made between these two concepts, the dictionary often lists both for any specific word. So, for example, {チョコレート中毒{ ({chokoreeto chuudoku{) is shown as both chocolate addiction and chocolate poisoning. To the native English speaker, of course, these two are very different! If the news reported a rash of chocolate poisoning, that would be far more scary to most people than a spate of chocolate addiction, for example.
However, as a great example of Orwell's idea that language defines thinking, many Japanese people don't seem to see a clear distinction between the two concepts. That is, they (at least, the people who were asked before writing this) feel that something that you are addicted to is automatically a poison, inasmuch as the two are inseparable.