CEN’: BASIC JAPANESE through comics Lesson 60 » You (Part 2) This lesson wraps up our series on personal pronouns, and by now it should be clear that while there are numerous choices for “I” and “you.” most of them would be better left to native speakers of Japanese. Quite a few of the words included in this lesson can in fact cause serious offense, and we show them not to recommend their use but to give ‘a more complete picture of what you may hear or read, As we've noted before, much of the time the most natural thing to do is to omit the pronoun altogether. That means it’s a good idea to rein in the English-based impulse to Pepper your sentences with “I this” and “I that”; and it means that whenever you feel the urge to say “you,” one of the first things to consider should be whether you can get by without it because context makes it obvious that you're referring to your listener. ‘When that doesn't seem like it will work, consider imitating the speakers in our first three examples. Learning to use a name, tite, or sochira at the right time is something we definitely do recommend as a step toward sounding less like a gaijin and more like native speaker. Name as “you” ‘Tanaka-kun has just rudely asked Ms, Sukegawa, a co-worker, how old she is. She retaliates by asking the vertically-challenged Tanaka-kun the following question Sukegawa ThA kB By Tanaka‘kun 29 shinch — nan sencht?® (fame‘am oon atfor height whathow many cms “AS for you, your height is how many centimeters?” “How tall are you? (PL2) On Book: 8 3» Honton Hong Kong ‘in colloquial speech, questions can be asked without kao desu ‘er by simply rsing the intonation onthe Tat syllable. I ram ‘matically complete, Sukegawa's question woul read Tanker amwa shinch ea nan senchi desu ka? + senchiis short for senchimetona fr the English “eentimete. ‘Nan ia comtaction of man (unt) but when pried ‘counters Or measurements it means “how manyhow mh.” Tapanese speakers often refer to tei Tstener by name instead of using & pronoun meaning “you, 6 ManganTitle as “you” Junnostke has heen living with Mr. Chagawa since his mother abandoned him, His schoolwork has improved greatly since the move, and now he has won the school’s essay contest. After the assembly For hearing the student essays, Mr. Chagava speaks with Junnosuke’s teacher, Ms Sakamoto, Chagana ht eh 4 se tage de & vee allt wu 3) z (sound of row 3 ara © t 7 oie + rnankr ere can be considered colloquia oquivalent of wa (as {or Nanka vse this way often belies the proveding as teling! insignifcantonworthy: who it follows wats expec senor Tespecilly when speaking to social sper, tiles such as Seer (teacherdostor).thacha CpresdenbOss), sho ‘head/boss") and senpa seioesaperoe”) are Frequently | used instead of » pronoun meaning "you Sotchi/sochira as “you” Hoibara has applied to work ata Toan company. but the personnel manager there tell him that although he did very well on the written exam. he can'tbe hired. Upset, Haibara asks why he being tumed down, bul the manager refuses (tell him, Haibara protests the unfairness ofthe manager's refusal WEE & MMLT F9LA-BeSE b rreklee 9 eishuise shite puraibito na koto mo ‘cam hj) Sabwatadand peat ings he 6 Bo Bat oer & foohira ni yudaneta node yo! er Sno ternal expen) emp) ‘resumé and revealed everything to you, ‘even private things!” (PL3) Zuid bs ‘know th feist cite thee form of eshte cura sibs) the te form here serves aba conjunction "submited and ~ ‘adaneta isthe plainlabrupt past form of Nadaneru (entrust wive tthe hands of ance” Texel) Tint lich andthe move formal Lochira (ht, “is Selec) are une to mean “Vine” or "wees (ce Basic Japanese $8) sort fn he more formal soci (itt sdetiretion are often tse te ways of saving "yu Mangan 87them to discount one of his customer's promissory notes, The company is refusing to discount the note until the previous one has cleared. After a heated discussion. the shachd spits out: 69 Bil OLD LEE MEA DS O Me "2 mae no who ni wa nidoto tanoman karan ‘Aadysoodlraueh yon "y pase to ae fortwo tines’ tank beens emp) ‘Forget it! I'll never ask your company again, you can be sure of that!™ (PLL-K) 7s Kansai dalet fr io (ood Tnc"), bat ms fn isan expression ‘of anger or lost patience: "Fine Fong it {oko fa contraction of taker (place) her refers tworkplace/company, ido lus negative ver means “will ot othe ation] a second time"—> “will never do [st again Janome 3 contaction of tanomanai, the neg Taser" ‘nos he mat oc nein assuming the tener already knows or agrees with the Sauement so in thiscase i's something like “you know tat. don't you" ek YON Ni Kn a Koda presume” or, since W's parting shot "you can be sre of th she ether pany's of kano (ask 9 xed with people eter than friends, whas «rough Fecling and can be very rudefineing. When ten get angry or talk tough, they often ‘itch to onze (or omae-ra for paral, helo) ron Une mare polite Omae-ra Officer Rydesu stumbles upon two uniformed men he has never met before. Although the men are actually actors involved ia filming a movie, RyOtsu jarmps to the conclusion that they are impersonating police officers and prepares to urrest ther Sou ro 2) we, Bu wpe’, Ia sho wa di fo fnarete mo. ins) sition 2 foe where Gene ovon reise ‘Well, even if we're asked what Station [i's hard to say!” Actor2: RH 28 HEL Stet ga arimuashte “There's some fi “film's being sh + -reis an abrupt ending that makes nouns and pronouns refering te harms into phrals has & more {nformal fesling than saci and i sualy the pra alin of che hc taking tough + loko no sho "which [police] station.” and doko no sho no mano = "pers of which tation 5 hats terlly “no” but often serves merely 364 Kind of hesitation word, ike "wells s.” svi fonm of fasaer passe of f(s"): sare cam mea either 1 farce mia conditional he toh of “be asked. + arimashie fs the PLS te form of an (“enisttere is”), 188 ManganBasicesapanese ome he head of an office supply house, is speaking to two representatives of Marukita Co. ‘a rogular client, Adachi has heard through the grapevine that onc of the men will be quitting Marukita soon, and he is offended that he wasn't wold directly Adachi fs Be Bo dk umers tobt wa mask ue tone ar ery Hoo safe ue) taht caloa) “You said you'd tell me first when you qui Ys BRA Seo a TT FROM MS + shen yamend i writen with this ka means “qui [job reig [fom office). + hosaki mis an empha orm of a8 ("rte") > ie vey fistbefore anyone els rs collegial equivalent of the quolative 1 {Ina isthe pnb pst form of aye) specifically a “The ae vowel combination often becomes Fn masculine slang.) so'omue often kecoetes ome, especially when spoken in the beat of contention. In general, ome sounds rougher thin | erase though it does depend on ihe context and tone of voice Teme “The protective big brother Tora-can has just Figured our that Hiroshi has his eye on his younger sister, Sakura Torasan: <0 Fit Kono yar faume) on hine nih (collog) ‘rein love with Sakura, aren't you FX: ¥77 Ga (effect of stiffening in fright) + yards an informalstang wort for “yitetiow:* Yams Hap Taal Plo Gaten but kono nar doesnt just mean py llow”s it's infact an imal. "you jerWtwivS.O.B. (or «orem i 2 contation of hore iru bein fove | [withbave a rash on) fom hore (all m Tend isa stared remoe, which can be afusly polite one etal toy yn” But inspite ofits polite pias, he slurred me usualy sounds even rougher than om and in many case i actualy be translted a "you jerks 0.8 Mangain 9_ _ Basiccsapeness _ Kisama "Ace" Nakajima, pitcher for the Yokohama Balloons. is up against batter Reggie Foster, star biter for the Tokyo Gentlemen. Reggie is trying for his SOth homerun of the season, but the arrogant Nakajima is not about to allow him Such a triumph. As he prepares to throw the pitch, [Nakajima calls out to Reggie Nakajima: REGGIE: file [2 Zuo & (acm AN Rey Kisame ni oiten bare sar “Fiey, Reggie! This one's for you, you 8.0.8." (PL) + ots cont whom esd ta tion of kano yaa his eo/fllow thing”) 10a person scam range from ily to ‘ey rough. but when refering to things t's merely informal + Rive vara isa disdaintal way of ising Tl give ft you (Rica once was vey poe word fr “you ba vow We] ‘ppnite: very rough and derogatory. kn fight or other contentious asthe feeling of "You SOB" tin, hi Ware Akemi has bumped into an ex-boyfriend, a yakuza of Osaka, She is not lad to sce him and she resists his advances, making him angry enough to grab her when she tries to walk away, Seeing this, her friend Haibara rushes Haibare = Nami sur deve he? ee a ons ‘What are yi on doing ar What do eu think you're doing?" (P12) Man: what ite "Sou actor ‘As for you, what ae you?! AR V6 hi Re Rea + nan joi isa colloguialsang equivalent of man da. ess abut verso of the informal/ough nan da Cohat eit) + the sentence in invented syntax: conventional onder ‘would be "Ware sa mar at Ware is rough Kansai dalot Tor “ya™—rougher and more devas lors tham rae and more oF less on pt with fem A his 90 MangsinBasicujapanese Boku as “you” ‘As usual, Shin-chan is up to no good, He has set himself down at a bookstore to read magarines ‘which are not categorized as children’s material. The saleswoman first tries the polite-and. Triendly approach to get him to leave. Saleswoman 79.40 2 0 Chie Bota.” hyo wo nan no 50-80? Ut ay afr otf nse ‘What can do for you today?™ (PL) Shin-cham: Hoo Bed Bett 33 ma nai_hedos ecpuiglly bales afr st have at “Nothing in particular.” (PL2) + g030is literally “[yourl busnesvpurpse for coming.” 50 nan no 0-90 ‘What s your business" "What can {Jo fr You?” + ersunt combines witha nepaive Intern the sentence to mean “not fricelriyiething in partcor + ede (ti being used merely to “soften” he end ofthe sentence “okie aciwally a word Tor “Time” used by young boys and by men in informal setings. But adalscecasonally address younger boys using ‘boku when they mean “you.” especially when they don't know the Chik's name, For pts, they ae ely o we he tile ofdchan (young TadyAyour| daughter”) Onushi ‘This group of friends is staying at a countryside inn, which they have discovered is haunted One of the ghostly inhabitants isthe beautiful Otama, whom they have befriended. Here, the impudent Cherry—himself not quite ofthis world—questions Otama. Chery: BRL IO HO LAG RR OF BEOL Oral ign ri deg men ane? oe wa iho wit ido aang fin een) What attachment do you have to this world?” (PL). + miren sa “lingering afecion/atachment” ova “eluctance to give {Something} upet {something} go" and rte tote eason the ‘woman became a host, + neji equivalent tothe explanatory nod, i this cate being used to ‘ska question, as is eten done in colloquial speech, Substituting ja for dasa usage ypcal of many oer people, especialy male. ‘Onush is a archaic word for "you" that is sill sometimes sed with those of equal or slighty lower social satus {© Tah Ra Ure Yona Shoshae Mangain 91