BWL Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 Japanese uses a lot of onomatopoeia, much more so than Chinese and a lot of other Asian languages. Onomatopoeia are like "woof-woof", "squeak-squeak" and "bang-bang". This very interesting link explains their grammatical usages.http://nihonshock.com/2013/04/japanese-onomatopoeia/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limon Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 That is really cool, I love how different languages approach this sort of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWL Posted September 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 Yes, the Japanese use it on a massive scale compared with other languages. They say things which would seem ungrammatical or similar to baby-talk in other languages, but which are perfectly grammatical in Japanese.For example, Japanese mothers usually scold their chilldren with :ちゃんとしなさい！meaning "Do it properly!". It literally means "Do it with a "CHAN!". Here, "CHAN" is the sound of an object fitting nicely in its place, hence meaning "fittingly" or "properly". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccanono Posted September 19, 2013 Report Share Posted September 19, 2013 Perhaps, my most commonly-heard Japanese onomatopoeia is doki-doki. This means you are somehow nervous but in an excited way.I always hear it in songs, dramas, movies, and even mostly on anime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWL Posted September 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Doki-doki is really common! And you often see it in manga, written in katakana for emphasis and to show that the characters are excited! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akya Posted September 22, 2013 Report Share Posted September 22, 2013 There's so many! And there's even more within dialects!! (Kansai-ben for me, where more than half the conversation can be madeup with these)I sometimes make mine up sometimes and people end up understanding me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWL Posted September 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 Kansai-ben is particularly rich in them. I never had the chance to learn it, so only know a few common phrases. And that accent!I also like how they say "akan" for "dame" or "ikemasen". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccanono Posted October 3, 2013 Report Share Posted October 3, 2013 Kansai-ben is particularly rich in them. I never had the chance to learn it, so only know a few common phrases. And that accent!I also like how they say "akan" for "dame" or "ikemasen".Aha. Now that you've mentioned it, I wonder, how many onomatopoeias they have for each dialect. Honestly, I haven't come across on a lot of onomatopoeias yet but it would be nice if somebody can provide a good list of such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
13vinylinfants Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 "Onomatopoeia" is a bit of a misleading term for them since most don't actually stand for a sound. Like "muki muki", meaning big and hard muscles, or "giri giri", meaning "just barely". I think the Japanese term for them is 擬音語 (giongo), which obviously doesn't have an equivalent in English. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miya Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 ^Yup, that's the word. I'm actually learning about it in my Japanese class right now. 擬音語 (giongo) represents sounds (so onomatopoeia).Meanwhile 擬態語 (gitaigo) are words that express states, feelings, actions, etc.Although based on those definitions, I wonder what ドキドキ (dokidoki) is? It should be both right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllllllllllllllllllllllll Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 I believe doki doki describes the sound of a rapid heartbeat, it's like how your heart is pounding when you see your crush during high school days. No love for cats in here? How could you guys forget about Nyan Nyan (ニャンニャン)?! :bored: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miya Posted January 24, 2014 Report Share Posted January 24, 2014 Yeah, I know dokidoki is the sound of a heartbeat so it should be 擬音語 (giongo). Except dokidoki can also be used to express nervousness (and technically you can feel your heart beating) so shouldn't it also work as 擬態語 (gitaigo)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thestarsshine Posted February 24, 2014 Report Share Posted February 24, 2014 Yes, the Japanese use it on a massive scale compared with other languages. They say things which would seem ungrammatical or similar to baby-talk in other languages, but which are perfectly grammatical in Japanese.For example, Japanese mothers usually scold their chilldren with :ちゃんとしなさい！meaning "Do it properly!". It literally means "Do it with a "CHAN!". Here, "CHAN" is the sound of an object fitting nicely in its place, hence meaning "fittingly" or "properly".I never knew that!! I'd heard that said, and other uses of 'chanto', but I had absolutely no clue that it was an onomatopoeia.Kansai has its own too? Now I'd like to hear those.Thanks for sharing the link, OP! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iyashiokami Posted May 21, 2014 Report Share Posted May 21, 2014 I am interested in learning some of the more useful Japanese onomatopoeia. I have only heard a few, but I know there are numerous onomatopoeia and lots of ways to use them.Here are the few that I know (please correct me if I'm wrong):kira kira - twinkle, shinekero kero - the sound of a frog croakdoki doki - heartbeatwan wan - bow wow (the sound of a dog)Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zikkled Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 I've always thought this was a really charming thing about the language! I can't help but think that it's really cute. One of my favorites is "fuwa-fuwa," which describes something fluffy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baburra Posted August 25, 2014 Report Share Posted August 25, 2014 I really find their version of these to be very interesting and charming as well. The most recent one I was made aware of was peko peko which from what I understand is their term for bowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zikkled Posted August 27, 2014 Report Share Posted August 27, 2014 I really find their version of these to be very interesting and charming as well. The most recent one I was made aware of was peko peko which from what I understand is their term for bowing.This is a bit of a tricky one, actually! I had to do a little bit of research to confirm this one myself, but I knew for sure "peko peko" referred to being hungry, since I remember my Japanese teacher would often say, "お腹がペコペコ" - "My stomach is peko-peko" before we went on break.Now, my source may not be terribly credible (http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/159/3/8/japanese_onomatopoeia_for_manga_artists_by_ireal70-d52pjrp.pdf), but it looks like the sound for a bow is a single "peko." I seemed to recall this from reading manga, but I wanted to be sure. A search for "pekopeko" by itself will give you food-related results, or sources saying it's related to hunger, so I think it's safe to say it doesn't signify bowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguaholic Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 I just stumbled on this old thread! Anyone else here knows some different Onomatopoeia in Japanese that he would like to share? Would love to see this thread alive again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
宇崎ちゃん Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 So that's how they were called?Didn't even know that.楽々 (raku raku) = easy中々 (naka naka) = quite数々 (kazu kazu) = many全然 (zen zen) = neverクンクン (kun kun) = sniffどんどん (don don) = drumming多々 (ta ta) = very muchコロコロ (koro koro) = a popular Japanese comic book linguaholic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguaholic Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 So that's how they were called?Didn't even know that.楽々 (raku raku) = easy中々 (naka naka) = quite数々 (kazu kazu) = many全然 (zen zen) = neverクンクン (kun kun) = sniffどんどん (don don) = drumming多々 (ta ta) = very muchコロコロ (koro koro) = a popular Japanese comic bookGreat. Thanks for providing some more! Yes, that is how they are called Blaveloper. We had a pretty nice thread about them some while ago (more specifically about animal-related onomatopoeia).http://linguaholic.com/topic/469-animal-related-onomatopoeia-comparison/?page=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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