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A language does not only consist of grammar and words. Particularly in social media, an emoticon can say more than 1,000 words. In Japan, young people have gone to great effort inventing thousands of cute “kaomojis” (literally “face letters”) over time. For foreigners, they are not always easy to recognize. However, once your eyes are trained to see the art behind the strokes and signs, it is very easy to tell your opponent’s feelings.
Here are a few examples:
Here are a few examples:
(۶ૈ ᵒ̌ Дᵒ̌)۶ૈ=͟͟͞͞
( ง ᵒ̌皿ᵒ̌)ง⁼³₌₃
These ones are really angry. Can you see how they are raising their fists? The first one is even throwing things at you. Maybe it is time to apologize?
m(._.)m
This poor fellow has a guilty conscience. He is bowing to the ground feeling ashamed. The English letter “m” represents a hand lying on the ground.
⊹⋛⋋( ՞ਊ ՞)⋌⋚⊹
Birds are very popular among the Kaomojis. Can you see the little wings going up and down in pure joy?
o(〃＾▽＾〃)o
This one is excited about something, don’t you think?
໒( ♥ ◡ ♥ )७
Can’t you feel his love?
｡ﾟ(*´□`)ﾟ｡
Oh no! You made the emoticon feel sad and now he is crying.
ヾ( ๑´д`๑)ﾂ
This one is fleeing in fear.
There is great variety of all kinds of kaomoji emoticons representing many different emotions but also animals or actions. As you can see, they are more than just simple emojis, they are small pieces of art.
If you want to know more, you can find a collection of all sorts of emoticons on: japaneseemoticons.me/