Japanese-abused words

[GaijinPunch]

I'm mainly starting this out of frustration. Any one who has translated (or worse yet interpreted) knows that the Japanese have two fatal qualities to their communication. 1) Saying the same thing in multiple ways (consecutively even) and 2) spamming the same word in just a couple of sentences. What's worse is when it's a word that doesn't quite 'fit right' in English in the first place.

This thread is dedicated to problem #2. I'll get the ball rolling with an easy one.

面白い (おもしろい) or even worse yet, it's noun-form 面白さ. Yeah, it's translated as interesting, but it often just doesn't feel right.

Anyone else have a particular word they hate?

 

[Brooker]

How about oishii (delicious). They use it all the time and I rarely hear the word "delicious" used. Usually people will just say something like, "Wow, this cake is really good."

 

[Index]

面白い (おもしろい) or even worse yet, it's noun-form 面白さ. Yeah, it's translated as interesting, but it often just doesn't feel right.

I always thought of it as closer to amusing actually.

One that used to drive me a little crazy (but I doubt if it's a common one) was 感覚（かんかく）which I usually heard interpreted as feeling (as a noun). It could be feeling as a verb, but 'sense' is easier to understand I think since in English the word 'feeling' seems to imply being passive, whilst 'sense' is more active. The way I've heard it used, 感覚 implied an active action where one uses one's senses.

 

[epigene]

Reading Index's post, I recall I always feel insecure about explaining 感性 in English, which is very often translated as "sensibilities."

It is so vague I can't describe it well. I'd appreciate any suggestions to explain this.

There are other words I get stuck with, but I can't recall them all right away--getting senile...

 

[Maciamo]

I wrote an article about these Japanese words with multiple translations in English about 2 years ago.

 

[GaijinPunch]

Very nice article, Maciamo. I'll give it a read when I get some time.

 

[TamagoKun]

Brooker, but isn't that if you're thinking of the word in the context of your own language? Sure it might not be used in English all that much but it is a commonlt used word in Japanese so i don't understand how it would feel weird.

 

[orochi]

Some of the most commonly used Japanese phrases can be the most difficult to translate, simply because they are things we do not say in English, or that we say it very differently. For example, I find expressions like よろしくお願いします and がんばれ difficult to translate. The translation varies greatly depending on the context. Of course, there are also some kanji compounds that can be a nuisance such as 総合.

 

[Maciamo]

How about oishii (delicious). They use it all the time and I rarely hear the word "delicious" used. Usually people will just say something like, "Wow, this cake is really good."

I think it's just a problem of translation of most dictioanries. "Oishi" in fact doesn't have an exact English equivalent. "Delicious" means "totemo oishi" (note that we never say "very delicious" in correct English). So "oishi" just means "good" but only in the sense of 'good taste'.

 

[Maciamo]

Some of the most commonly used Japanese phrases can be the most difficult to translate, simply because they are things we do not say in English, or that we say it very differently. For example, I find expressions like よろしくお願いします and がんばれ difficult to translate.

I also wrote another article about these Cultural expressions.

 

[Elizabeth]

I think it's just a problem of translation of most dictioanries. "Oishi" in fact doesn't have an exact English equivalent. "Delicious" means "totemo oishi" (note that we never say "very delicious" in correct English). So "oishi" just means "good" but only in the sense of 'good taste'.

I think what Brooker may have been hinting at was the lack of alternatives or varients to "oishii," hence the range of intended meanings it is required to cover. Men sometimes use "umai" but that's about the only distinction that comes to mind at the moment. On the other hand, maybe Japanese food really is more delicious than Western.....

 

[Maciamo]

Men sometimes use "umai" but that's about the only distinction that comes to mind at the moment.

Yes, "umai" can really be translated by "good" in most of its senses (contrarily to "ii" which cannot be used for food).

On the other hand, maybe Japanese food really is more delicious than Western.....

Is that supposed to include French and Italian food as cooked in France and Italy ?

 

[GaijinPunch]

Ditto on what Elizabeth said. Things like お疲れ様 and 頂きます just before throwing down some food deserve their own thread, which Maciamo has apparently written an article on. I'm talking about words that actually do have an English (and probably other langauge) equivalent, but just don't sound good when they're used too much. Oishii and Omoshiroi fit this criteria perfectly.

 

[orochi]

"Delicious" means "totemo oishi"

How's that? Details, please.

 

[GaijinPunch]

How's that? Details, please.

Agreed. Considering there really are no "equivalents" in one language to another. The very premise of this thread states that the words we would consider the same in our language are in fact different.

If totemo oishii is delicious, what is sugoku oishi? I'm sure Maciamo will come in with an explanation but I think if anyone new to the langauge comes in and reads that they're going to go straight left field.