What I should have said, “O-yasumi-nasai” which means “Have a good night”
What I said, “Yasumi-nasai” which meant “Go and sleep!!!” (like a mother scolding her child)
All I did was omit an “O” and I sound like a “NM” (naggy mom).
Somebody once asked what I do on romantic dates.
What I should have said: “sho-ku-ji-shimasu” which means “to have a meal”
What I said: “sho-ji-shimasu” which meant “to do household chores”
Well I do like to ‘sweep’ my girl from under her feet.
A Japanese friend told me that he is dating one of our friends.
What I should have said: “Mi-e-nai” which implies, “Oh, I couldn’t tell that you two are a couple”
What I said: “Mi-nai” which implied, “Oh, you two don’t look at all like a couple”
Naturally, he became rather cross.
On the train...
I love riding on Japanese public transportation. Sitting on the train is like looking into the window of Japanese society. Here you see fashion trends, hear about the latest conversation topics, and observe behavioural patterns.Once on my train, there were a group of mothers with their rather unruly 5-year old kids. The mothers were busy chatting while their children were clamouring over each other and standing on the seats. Suddenly a man standing next to them, in a fierce tone reprimanded one of the kids, “Oi, suware!” which means “Oi, sit down lah”. He startled the children, their mothers and the whole carriage. For a minute, there was only silence. The mothers stood confounded. At first I thought this guy was one of the fathers, but he left the train after a few stops, while the group stayed on.
I drew some conclusions from this incident:
1) Mothers may tend to be over-indulgent with their children. Japanese women simply dote on their kids. The children on the train were mostly left to their own devices.
2) Women may not usually defend themselves. Do the same thing in America or even in Singapore, and you’ll most definitely get a “what gives you the right to yell at my children??” and then be smashed over the head with a handbag.
3) Men may yield unquestionable power in society. This unimpressive guy doesn’t look over 30, wore a baggy polo-T and slippers, and was probably irritated because he couldn’t read his manga comic properly. He didn't have to shout at the kids though… He probably needed an ego boost.
Those were some of my thoughts after having witnessed what happened on the train that day. Of course these may just be the typical stereotypes being dumped on Japanese society, but it was interesting to see it unfold sometimes.
Onomatopoeia
If you think a dog goes "woof woof" or "bow wow", you're wrong. Dogs in Japan go "wan wan". Apparently even animals have their own language differences in other countries. Onomatopoetic words are those that imitate natural sounds, or are references to actions. In the japanese language, they are often in pairs of the same sound. Examples are "bera-bera" (talk non-stop) and "peko-peko" (very hungry). There are hundreds of them around, and it is used a lot on the streets and even on TV commercials, but you'll almost never read about them in Japanese textbooks. Another example:
"Pika Pika": flickering light or flash
"Chu": the sound a mouse makes. think "squeak"
Put them together and you get "Pika Chu"!
Law & Order
It never fails to amaze me how the country is so properly ordered in every way. The train commuters are one fine example: People would queue patiently in perfectly straight lines at designated zones and mentally divide train seats into equal portions and sit in one. The seats of each carriage are long flat cushions but somehow the Japanese know how to pick their spot. Furthermore, commuters would stand to the left side of the escalator and clear the right side for hurried businessmen. Japan is only one of the few places in the world where you would rush for dear life out of the train only to stand and wait on one side of the escalator.