Help I confused my Japanese teacher

[MickJT]

Minasan Konbanwa,

This is my first post here, so please be kind, I don't know all of the rules.. yet!

I was going to use Yahoo Answers to post this question but it is too long.

In order to help me better understand the Japanese language, at the end of the lesson after almost everyone left, I asked my Japanese teacher to translate this:

The word "word" is a word.

She couldn't understand me, and to make matters worse, the only other person there other than the teacher and I, didn't understand me either. I thought it was a simple to understand, yet stupid sentence.

She asked me for other examples. I have some now, but I couldn't think of any at the time.

I couldn't use "Buffalo Buffalo buffalo" because one is a place, one is an animal and one is an action, so in Japanese you'd likely have 3 separate words for it.

I couldn't use "To leave I went left, right, right down the stairs and left", because the two "left"s refer to different things, one being an action and one being a direction.

I've come up with 2 phrases I would like translated, that would help her understand what I mean, and by having it translated to Japanese, it would help her if she still couldn't understand it in English.

Please type "hello" on the keyboard.
Please type "type" on the keyboard.

There are some others, but i'm not as interested in them, such as:

Please write "write".
"Word" is a word.
Only "only" means only.

Why is "why" the only word for why?
(Just an example, I know there is also "how come?")

Can someone help me out please? Thanks.

 

[Ashikaga]

Could it be that it is the reason why you think it is relevant to the stuff you are working on in your class that your teacher is confused about rather than the meaning of the sentence in question?

What IS it that you are working on in your class? And how would knowing how to say "The word "word" is a word" in Japanese help you understand Japanese language better?

Anyway, the translation would be " 「言葉」という言葉は言葉です。" or " ｢単語」という単語は単語です。".

 

[MickJT]

Do you mind typing that in Romaji? (Edit: Or all Hiragana)

No I don't think she was confused because of relevance to what we were learning; She was confused at the sentence and didn't understand it at all. Her English isn't the best.

It has no relevance to what we're currently learning.

I think that silly sentences such as that won't be taught in this course, so i'm thinking of a few unusual and distinct sentences that when i'm shown how they're structured, I can use them to construct other sentences later on, before I start the next year.

So little things like referring to a word. In English we just put it in quotes. By using the word "word" twice, I can see how such sentences are properly constructed... or maybe not, but I don't know that, because i'm still learning. I *think* it will help me learn quicker.

For example, what if a product was called "way forward". If I say in English:

The way forward is a machine with that needs 200 watts of power to run.

It makes no sense.

The "way forward" is a machine that needs 200 watts of power to run.

I'm assuming there is a way in Japanese to emphasise that what you are saying/reading is the name of a product in order to avoid confusion. There are many products in Australia & America that are just normal words.

For example, in Australia we have socks called "hole proof".

I can't say "These hole proof socks are comfortable" because it sounds like i'm referring to any brand of socks that can't get holes in them. When speaking i'd say "These socks from hole proof are comfortable", but when typing it, I can put it into quotes. It may infer sarcasm, but people here know "hole proof" is a brand name, and would know i'm referring to the brand by putting it in quotes.

Anyway, I hope you understand i'm not just trying to have stupid and awkward sentences translated just for the fun of it. I believe it will have a benefit.

Edit: In reference to "The word 'word' is a word", I don't know if there are 3 ways of saying "word". I just started learning.. but I doubt this would be covered in first year.

Can I still have those 2 sentences translated? Perhaps simply:

1) Please type "type".
2) Please type "hello".

That would likely be simpler.

 

[Toritoribe]

s ASHIKAGA answered, 「」(かぎかっこ) and the particle "と" or "という(と + いう; the adjectival form of the verb いう)" is generally used.

The word "word" is a word
「単語」という単語は単語です。
「Tango」 to iu tango wa tango desu.

1) Please type "type".
「打つ」と打って下さい。
「Utsu」 to utte kudasai.

2) Please type "hello".
「こんにちは」と打って下さい。
「Konnichiwa」 to utte kudasai.

 

[MickJT]

Thanks. I have more questions (relating to English slang/idioms/colloquialisms & translations) for later but I suspect they'll be taught this year, so I won't burden anyone here by asking questions i'm going to learn about anyway.