Quick question, two words

[TwistedMac]

could anyone tell me what the word for "the best" and "legend" are in japanese.. and if there is one, the kanji for those words.. it'd be greatly appriciated.. its for a friend that wont accept the fact that i dont know enough japanese even to speak it, not to speak of having to cough up advanced words like these =P

so i told him i'd ask you guys...

/thanx in advance

 

[Elizabeth]

Do you mean legend as in a person or a story, a tale?

 

[rquethe]

The two words that come to mind in my limited vocabulary are "saikou" for "the best" and "densetsu" for legend.

Respectively:

最高 (saikou) and 伝説 (densetsu)

 

[Elizabeth]

Saikou maybe, more for high quality or height (?)
but I think 一番いい (ichiban ii) is probably more general and
applicable to more situations.

And yeah just densetsu for traditional tale....For legend in the sense of a
mythical or highly celebrated figure or personality (a legend in his time)
I'm not sure....probably some variation on densetsu, though.

 

[TwistedMac]

Do you mean legend as in a person or a story, a tale?

person

these were some really quick replies, im most thankfull

 

[Elizabeth]

Most logically either 伝説の人 or 伝説な人....unless you're talking about a legendary figure in a legend

 

[E_Motion]

My limited knowledge of Japanese also says 伝説 for 'legend'
But shouldn't legend as in a person be 伝説人 instead of 伝説の人 ?

If not, please explain why the 'no'. I'm eager to learn

 

[Elizabeth]

My limited knowledge of Japanese also says 伝説 for 'legend'
But shouldn't legend as in a person be 伝説人 instead of 伝説の人 ?

If not, please explain why the 'no'. I'm eager to learn

It could be, but somehow doesn't feel right in this case of a subjective judgement or title bestowed by others. More like a person of legend rather than that being integral to them like a profession or nationality. Maybe someone else can explain better....

 

[PaulTB]

My limited knowledge of Japanese also says 伝説 for 'legend'
But shouldn't legend as in a person be 伝説人 instead of 伝説の人 ?

Not.

If not, please explain why the 'no'. I'm eager to learn

伝説 means legend, and 人 means person - but you can't just stick two words together to make another (except when you can .

 

[E_Motion]

Not.

伝説 means legend, and 人 means person - but you can't just stick two words together to make another (except when you can.

Ah okay. Thanks for the explanation

Just started learning Japanese, so forgive me if I make some very stupid assumptions

 

[Elizabeth]

Hat off Google --> It looks most similar to 無用の人 (useless person) or 運命の人 (person of fate)

 

[TwistedMac]

*cough* hoowee.. getting myself confused here.. densetsu no.. arch... he's a great day of defeat player (its a first person shooter) and he has sort of an ego -_-

so then Saikou would work if he wanted it as a nickname, right?

 

[Glenn]

...please explain why the 'no'.

The "no" is, among other things, an attibutive suffix in Japanese (I believe it's the only one, someone else may have to clarify though). What this means is that it can turn what would normally be nouns into adjectives and they can be placed directly before the noun. For examples, see the above post by Elizabeth (I can't think of any others right now).

Anyway, any time you have a noun and want to use it as an adjective in front of another noun, simply place "no" in between them.

 

[Elizabeth]

The "no" is, among other things, an attibutive suffix in Japanese (I believe it's the only one, someone else may have to clarify though). What this means is that it can turn what would normally be nouns into adjectives and they can be placed directly before the noun. For examples, see the above post by Elizabeth (I can't think of any others right now).

That's more or less the nuts and bolts of it, though of course only in contrast to adjective + noun combinations, the phrase is generally translated as a single noun (ergo, legend follows the same principle as other collective nouns, "onna no hito" (woman) or "senmon no hito" (expert) etc.).

 

[Glenn]

..."senmon no hito" (expert) etc.).

That would normally be "senmonka" (専門家) though, right?

 

[Elizabeth]

That would normally be "senmonka" (専門家) though, right?

Senmonka is specialist in the broad sense of having expertise in a particular field, senmon no hito is used for someone responsible for overseeing a particular project or operation, I suppose most similar to 監督, 責任者, or 担当する人 （？）.