Here’s the last video of my ‘You Trilogy’.
The first video is here.
The second video is here.
A blog about Japan, dating, social skills, and travel. Aiming to provide well-balanced Japanese perspective.
A blog about Japan, dating, social skills, and travel. Aiming to provide well-balanced Japanese perspective.
This is a great example of how things get lost in translation. So many different ways to say 'you' with different nuances. Fascinating!
Though honestly, I never worry about when to use which 'you' in Japanese. I stay away from all variations completely. I was more fascinated by the speed they were talking. If it wasn't for you dissecting the sentences, I wouldn't have been able to clearly make out exactly what they were saying.
i agree the speed in which they were speaking made it very hard to stay caught up, however in spanish speaking people the same thing happens to me,i thnk it has to do with the speed in which out brain processes the translation.
Didn't know we spanish speakers made it hard when speaking fast. jeje… Im Costa Rican, so you can get it
I have to agree here, Spanish speakers speak really fast. I'm Brazilian, had just basic lessons of Spanish, but since our languages are so close (and I know my language quite well), I can understand about 80%-90% of what is said, provided that it is spoken in a normal pace.
Every person in their native language speak fast. Doesn't matter if its Japanese, Spanish, English, German or Portuguese
I believe the reason Spanish is spoken so quickly is because the volume of information in each sound is much less than say English. Tom Scott did an interesting video on it over on Youtube.
glad to see people from Costa Rica here! Saludos desde Alajuela! =)
Can you post the whole fight please? haha it looks really interesting xD
Yeah I want it too.. XD
@hebret morphis, Agreed. I sometimes get lost in the language even listening to it because i am not that familiar with the accent yet to be speaking quickly as they do.
Ok, I am learning Japanese from some text books and they use "anata" for you. What would you use as substitute for "you" when you talk in Japanese? Do you address them with their names?
They're name, or just leave it out completely. He talks about that same question in the first two videos linked at the top, so you may want to go and watch those.
*Their* name, sorry haha
Yes, you would use their names instead.
ワロタwww
When I first heard it before the break down I cracked up so hard xD The translation was even funnier but very great example of the many use of "you". xD
This is interesting Yuta, I have a friend in Japan who speaks English very well, he would often say "maybe you" and never "you" alone, do you think this is because of the taboo nature of saying "you" in japanese? like he did not want to be aggressive in English because of his Japanese language culture?
OH My God! When I went to Japan I used "anata" so many times because I forgot the person's name, or iI didn't know it. Like one time I was in a Maid Cafe and I had a very interesting conversation with the maid, but I used "anata" like 3 times. 🙁
Do you think the girl maybe got offended? or they understand when a Gaijin talk like that is because they japanese skills are not good enough? ahaha
thanks for your lesson!
(my native language is spanish)
What about kisama? Thats a funny one because it uaed to be used for honorific but now for a derogetory purpose.
The thing with kisama is like going the opposite direction.
You elevate them to such a high level that it is obvious you are being sarcastic.
You are basically looking down on them by elevating them.
I think this is a bit comparable how, in the west, parents might use their children's full name when they are angry with them. You are being exceptionally formal – far more than appropriate and it is obvious you don't mean it.
He said throughout this section that you should avoid saying you at all. If you want to specify who you're talking to then use their name.
Wasn't this sped up a little bit? The people were moving fast too. And yeah, this was a bit hard to follow 🙂
ゆた先生良いな先生ほんまにありがとうございますcomment どうやて、教えてください
If you don't know the name of the person do you say "Mister-san" if you adress to a man ? (I don't know how to say mister in japanese).
And if you adress to many people, what do you say ?
San has the connotation of mister so it would be redundant to say mister san. You should use their name. If you are addressing a lot of people then say mina san.
Sooo gooood!
Thank you for all of your video's Yuta-san.
I work in a Japanese Market in USA and I really wished I could of watched these videos way back in the day.
I greet many customers and I try practicing Japanese with them. Fortunately, they have been very kind in helping me and have never gotten really upset with me. . For a little while, I would say "あなたは元気ですか？” as a greeting, but now I mostly use "お元気ですか？” My co-workers also said if I must use "you" to use "あなた” it is the safest. I am glad I have never used any of the informal forms of you.
Also, I just want to let you know of the typo for the "お前 なあ。。。” romanji. 🙂
Thank you again Yuta-san!
Thanks! I fixed the typo.
Just listening to how these words are pronounced in a sentence very fast, it's a little confusing in how they are pronounced when they are pronounced very fast. I'm use to hearing some people speaking fast in English, but for Japanese I'm not so use to it, the confusion comes in when you misheard what a person says when they're saying something very fast. Usually when talking to someone in English it's more of a slow casual speed of the way a person talks.
Really, Wow! I'm glad you decided to use a video like this to explain, It makes the lesson very exciting!
In anime, I've noticed many times the characters use "kimi" or "omae."
Is there a reason for this?
Never mind, I think it's explained in the next video.
He explained it in the first part of the "You Trilogy" 🙂
What happens when a person's name is Kimi (a common male name in Finland)? For example, if Kimi Räikkönen, the Formula 1 driver, came to have a conversation with you in Japanese, would you just avoid saying his name?
I think japanese refer to ppl with the surname.
I think you'd use honorifics like -san as suffixes to make clear you aren't using the word 君.
Like Anonymous said, Japanese use last names to address people they don't know personally. Although, it would be interesting to listen to a private conversation of kimi-chan haha
I believe you address him by his surname since we just met. Maybe Raikonen san?
Great video, thanks Yuta!
That was really interesting. Thank you Yuta!
Yuta-sensei, thanks for this lessson it was very interesting. I like the way you explain every part of the discussion.
Thank you for the videos Yuta さん. Can't wait till the next one… Your videos are awesome!!
This lesson was really interesting!Thank you (let me use "you" for this time 🙂 )
Thanks for the lesson. One thing with Japanese is native speakers talk extremely quickly. I think Japanese has to be one of the fastest spoken languages in the world. It's no wonder Japan invented the bullet train!
Nice, i think this kind of lessions are awesome 😛 with rearl video esamples
It's kind of amazing how they get pissed off by this. In my language, you don't get in a fist fight stage until someone states doubts about you being born from a whore XD
Very interesting indeed. Often when learning a language, the sentences and words you're exposed to are very tame and ordinary, so your example was a nice change of pace.
Also, 'anta' in my native language can be used to call someone "dumb" in a very harsh manner, so I guess it will be easy for me to remember not to use it in Japanese. :3
Another question: How do Japanese people feel about using the word you when they are having a conversation in another language like English where the word you is used a lot? They would have to call the other person "you", and they would also get called "you" a lot in conversation.
Is it something they have to work at in order to become used to it, or is it an easy adjustment?
It's easy because it's another language. English 'you' and Japanese 'you' are not the same at all.
Make mo videos with conversations. I think Im getting more how to really speak.
I understand. I can't imagine myself getting into horrible fights and even if i did i will not be using "you" This lesson was interesting, thank you!
I'm actually really interested in this. This argument ended up to be about formalities (and the speakers' lack there of) because it is so important in the language. With the speed they speak, I pretty much missed it…in fact some of the sentences sound different BECAUSE it goes fast.
Fun video, thanks Yuta!