自 - Oneself

GoldCoinLover · 1 Feb 2005

How would I use the japanese kanji for "oneself" in a sentence? I"ve seen it being used alot.

For example,
In kanji and/or kana, how would I say "Be kind to oneself."

I don't have all the kana memorized yet but learning kanji sure is fun!

I think this is how you say "My name is kevin.":
私のけヴィんです。
Watashi no Kevin desu.

ありがとうございます。 :sorry:
Arigatou Gozaimasu.

Damicci · 1 Feb 2005

Essentially what you just said was "My Kevin."

if you want to say my name is _____ it would be:
私のなまえ（My NAME)は(marking the topic which is "your name"/"my name")ケビーん（your name but not sure about the katakana) です(is)。
or you could say
私は(marking the topic which is you/I)けヴィん(your name)です(am)。 still not sure about the katakana.

as far as the question goes.

maybe: 自分(じぶん）「oneself」に親切（しんせつ）「kind]なです
"Is/be kind to oneself."

GoldCoinLover · 1 Feb 2005

Damicci said:
Essentially what you just said was "My Kevin."

if you want to say my name is _____ it would be:
私のなまえ（My NAME)は(marking the topic which is "your name"/"my name")ケビーん（your name but not sure about the katakana) です(is)。
or you could say
私は(marking the topic which is you/I)けヴィん(your name)です(am)。 still not sure about the katakana.

as far as the question goes.

maybe: 自分(じぶん）「oneself」に親切（しんせつ）「kind]なです
"Is/be kind to oneself."

Arggh, sorry. Could you convert the kanji and the [私のなまえ（My NAME)は(marking the topis which is "your name"/"my name")ケビーん（your name but not sure about the katakana) です(is).] to romaji? I can't find any kana tables to study on, and I've read how to say what my name is a thousand times, I can't believe I am forgetting again already, heh.

If you know of a site with the kana all written out with their corresponding romaji, could you post a link please? I'm going to print it out on my other computer.

I'm 17 by the way, my birthday is February 13, coming up soon

When I graduate from high school in a year, I'm going to Tokyo! So I need to REMEMBER these kana.

Glenn · 1 Feb 2005

I think "be kind to oneself" would be something like jibun ni shinsetsu ni seyo. Not entirely sure about that, though.

The romaji for the above is:
Watashi no namae wa (insert name here) desu.
Watashi wa (insert name here) desu.

For kana tables, Teach Yourself Japanese has .gif files of all of the kana, as well as sound files, with their corresponding romaji.

Damicci · 1 Feb 2005

sorry about that i assumed since you typed it in you had an idea of what was being said. but thanks @Glenn for picking the romaji up
I wasn't sure about "to be" but my jibiki says that desu can be used as "be" so i went with that.

Glenn's answer is more than likely more suitable than mines.

right now my favorite site is genki-online.com

i visit there at least 2-3 times a day.

Elizabeth · 1 Feb 2005

Glenn said:
I think "be kind to oneself" would be something like jibun ni shinsetsu ni seyo. Not entirely sure about that, though.

自分にご褒美をあげよう。
Jibun ni gohoubi wo ageyou。

A phrase along these lines of "reward yourself" or "treat yourself" is more natural, although certain expressions closer to "take care" or "watch your health" tend to be much, much more ubiquitous.

PaulTB · 1 Feb 2005

Elizabeth said:
自分にご褒美をあげよう。
Jibun ni gohoubi wo ageyou。

A phrase along these lines of "reward yourself" or "treat yourself" is more natural

Hmm, there's a whole lot more 自分にご褒美 out there than I would have guessed. I wondered whether 自分に褒美 would be better as it's sometimes odd to use ご for things relating to yourself - but apparently not.

I guess it's one of those cases where the honourific ご has essentially become part of the word.

Elizabeth · 1 Feb 2005

PaulTB said:
Hmm, there's a whole lot more 自分にご褒美 out there than I would have guessed. I wondered whether 自分に褒美 would be better as it's sometimes odd to use ご for things relating to yourself - but apparently not.

I guess it's one of those cases where the honourific ご has essentially become part of the word.

I imagine it would be generally used to express what other people should, or must, do. Although you also have humble constructions "My name de gozaimasu" or 'Hitokito goaisatsu moshiagemasu" that can still test my mettle.

bentenmusume · 2 Feb 2005

Regarding the original question, how about something like 「自分に優しくしてあげて（ください）」 (Jibun ni yasashiku shite agete (kudasai))?

For me, at least, the specific nuances of "Give yourself a treat/reward" and "Be kind to yourself" are pretty different.

Also, regarding the polite ご in ご褒美:

PaulTB said:
I guess it's one of those cases where the honourific ご has essentially become part of the word.

I think, for sure, this is partially what's going on here (after all, there's nothing wrong with referring to your own money as お金, or the booze you drank or the sushi you ate as お酒 and おすし, respectively), but I think there's also this element of nuance of personifying 自分 as almost a separate person. This is why you can get "Jibun ni yasashiku shite agete"... This "jibun" is the hard-working, always-taking-abuse, never-getting-enough-credit part of you lose sight of when you're always trying to please the people around you.

Elizabeth · 2 Feb 2005

jt_ said:
Regarding the original question, how about something like 「自分に優しくしてあげて（ください）」 (Jibun ni yasashiku shite agete (kudasai))?

For me, at least, the specific nuances of "Give yourself a treat/reward" and "Be kind to yourself" are pretty different.

Depending on whether you're hearing it from a trusted friend or a banner billboard headline.... not sure about any translation, but the English is certainly broad enough to cover both.

bentenmusume · 2 Feb 2005

Really? I'm not sure I agree with this in English either, then. To me "treat/reward yourself" suggests performing some sort of specific action (not that this has to be the purchasing of a physical object or something, it could be something as simple as taking one hour out of your busy schedule to read a book that you like or listen to music, or something). "Be kind to yourself", on the other hand, is more about adjusting your state of mind. If I was talking to a friend who was frustrated about their job, or school, or something, and seemed to be blaming him/herself for a bunch of things that weren't really his/her fault, I might say something like this -- or "Go easy on yourself", or "Cut yourself some slack", or the like. I wouldn't say "Give yourself a treat" unless I wanted to suggest that the person actually _do something_ that they wanted to do as sort of a present to him/herself.

Elizabeth · 2 Feb 2005

jt_ said:
Really? I'm not sure I agree with this in English either, then. To me "treat/reward yourself" suggests performing some sort of specific action (not that this has to be the purchasing of a physical object or something, it could be something as simple as taking one hour out of your busy schedule to read a book that you like or listen to music, or something). "Be kind to yourself", on the other hand, is more about adjusting your state of mind. If I was talking to a friend who was frustrated about their job, or school, or something, and seemed to be blaming him/herself for a bunch of things that weren't really his/her fault, I might say something like this -- or "Go easy on yourself", or "Cut yourself some slack", or the like. I wouldn't say "Give yourself a treat" unless I wanted to suggest that the person actually _do something_ that they wanted to do as sort of a present to him/herself.

My intention was that advertisers do sometimes use "Be kind to yourself" as a kind of catchphrase for treating yourself to their product, in not so subtle terms reward or treat yourself to our health food chain, new computer interface, bath and body massage or whatever. Most likely not what GoldCoinLover was looking for, but at least it is a live possibility.

自 - Oneself

GoldCoinLover

後輩

Damicci

先輩

GoldCoinLover

後輩

Glenn

一切皆苦

Damicci

先輩

Elizabeth

先輩

PaulTB

Manga Psychic

Elizabeth

先輩

bentenmusume

原点回帰

Elizabeth

先輩

bentenmusume

原点回帰

Elizabeth

先輩

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