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Most likely the original word was やばい which turns into やべ~, やべっ! and similar for emphasis in a rather slangy way.seasurfer said:Can anyone kindly tell me the meaning of やべ? Thanks in advance.
PaulTB said:Most likely the original word was やばい which turns into やべ~, やべっ! and similar for emphasis in a rather slangy way.
やばい (adj) (sl) dangerous
Yup.seasurfer said:やべ!イルカ先生だ。
I got this sentence from the Manga Naruto...does it still mean dangerous?
PaulTB said:Yup.
Loosely translated that would be "Watch out! It's Iruka."
In the same way as あぶない means dangerous (as in あぶない趣味の練習に付き合うな!) but is also used on its own to mean 'watch out' or 'duck'
jonny-mt said:*tosses まずい into the discussion, stirs briskly*
If you're reading manga or watching anime, you're going to come across all three of these words used as exclamations a lot. As wakaP pointed out, words like やべー are more likely to be used in manga and on TV by young people than they are in real life by adults. A lot of the time the meaning will "stretch" accordingly as well--for example, あまい literally means 'sweet' but is also used to refer to someone who is naive or unskilled; the English equivalent would be 'soft'. You can see from Paul's explanation how やばい might have a sense of danger but not necessarily that exact meaning. Likewise まずい (which you're bound to run across) literally means 'bad' or 'unappetizing', but that description can be extended beyond food to a situation, in much the same way as one would say "the situation has gone sour" in English. These three words seem to me to be the major ones used in manga and anime as a sort of warning or declaration, but I'm certain one could sit down and write out a fairly extensive list.
If I can sidestep the whole thing for a second, I'd like to make a quick manga recommendation to seasurfer. I have all of the available manga volumes of Naruto myself, so I'm aware of both the content and structure of the Japanese used. One of the things you're going to find very quickly (if you don't know already...been a while since I read Volume 1) is that everyone uses a lot of slang and extraneous language that might be more frustrating than helpful as a tool for learning Japanese. If you have access (and interest), I would recommend picking up the Fullmetal Alchemist manga and reading through that before you go back to Naruto. I find FMA to be an excellent learning tool as some characters speak slang or their own style of Japanese while others speak very proper. In addition, the content ranges from short exchanges during battles to waxing philosophic, going from slang and street conversation styles to a more academic tone. Naruto, while a fun read, does not have this balance.