What one English word corresponds to 2 (or more) Japanese words? ——- Maybe this is common for names of FISH — but other examples?

5 comments

1. The verb “to be”: だ、ある、いる

2. – 謙譲語 — 尊敬語 — 丁寧語 — (敬語) ——- would all be **[Polite Language]** in English.

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   > – 尊敬語は目上の人を敬う表現で「相手を立てたいとき」に使うものです。

   > – 謙譲語は自分がへりくだる表現で「自分を下げることで相手を立てたいとき」に使います。

   > – 「です、ます」をつける丁寧語は、日常会話でもよく使い、相手を問わず使う表現です

3. These are pretty obvious maybe but brother and sister = Ani, Otouto; Ane, Imouto

   Also if you think about it almost any word has at least two equivalents in japanese because of onyomi and kunyomi pronounciations

4. this is incredibly common, the two languages do not map to each other in either direction, the number of synonyms for every word do not line up

   fwiw one of my favorites is (有)毒 which is both venom(ous) and poison(ous), there’s no distinction in japanese

5. * Door – ドア、戸
   * Cold – 寒い、冷たい
   * Think – 思う、考える
   * Inside – 中、内
   * Skin – 肌、皮、皮膚
   * Heart – 心、心臓
   * Teacher – 先生、教師、師匠、教官
   * Please – ください、おねがいします

   Also, a lot of transitive/intransitive pairs are a single word in English but two different words in Japanese, for example:

   * Return – 返す、返る
   * Leak – 漏れる、漏らす
   * Open – 開ける、開く
   * Close – 閉める、閉まる
   * Harden – 固める、固まる
   * Change – 変える、変わ

   …and so on.

   And one of my favorites:

   * Glass – グラス、ガラさ

   (ガラさ is used mainly for glass windows or panes, while グラス is used mainly for drinking glasses.)