Words with the same meaning and knowing the right one?

[byakko99008780]

Hello,

So my Japanese Word for the day was シャワーをあびる　meaning shower and some of the examples given were:

だんせいがシャワーをあびて　いる。--- The man is showering.
おとこのひとがシャワーをあびて　いる。---The man is showering.

My question is what is the difference between だんせい　and おとこのひと since they both mean man? And when learning Japanese how do you know which is the correct word to use when they both have the same meaning.

[mmmason8967]

My question is what is the difference between だんせい　and おとこのひと since they both mean man?

I think it's the politeness level. だんせい is respectful, おとこのひと is neutral, and おとこlacks politeness. I also think だんせい is used when you want to talk about male (as opposed to female) things, such as male hormones or male psychology.

The equivalent female words are じょせい, おんあのひと and おんあ.

And when learning Japanese how do you know which is the correct word to use when they both have the same meaning.

As a general question, I think you just have to work it out as you go along. In this particular case I think だんせい is probably the most useful one to choose when in doubt.

マイケル

[community.japanese]

byakko99008780-san, マイケルsan,
it's a good point, マイケルsan
It's very difficult to explain what are the real differences amongst だんせい, おとこのひと and おとこ,
but politeness is one of the factors.
Another is points of view, maybe. The word だんせい has せい which is written with kanji 性.
This kanji means sex, so this word だんせい and female version じょせい can refer to sex (i.e. "male"
or "female", or "masculine" or "feminin"), while おとこのひと literally means "person of man"
because ひと means "person" and おとこ means "man/male/masculine". Same goes to おんなのひと
where おんな means "woman/female/feminin".

It's difficult to say with a simple explanation "which word" is better suit, like マイケルsan says.
This is not just an issue of Japanese, but it applis to any language, I suppose.
If there's any possible adivce, it'd be "to understand each word with proper meanings and routs, not
just with translation". The translation for the だんせい and おとこのひと in those sentences
was "a man", but if you want to know those words more deeply, explanation above would help you.
Unless you understand any words "as Japanese" "with Japanese" (i.e. not translating into English),
the words with same/similar meanings will be always "same meaning words".

Hope it helps!

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[mmmason8967]

Unless you understand any words "as Japanese" "with Japanese" (i.e. not translating into English),　the words with same/similar meanings will be always "same meaning words".

Oh, but it is so difficult to let go of the translation mechanism...

I'm very fond of words that don't translate into English at all--words like いただきます and よろしく and suffixes like さん, ちゃん, 君 and so on.　And there is the odd word that very probably does have an English translation but I don't know what it is. For example, I know what a つくつくぼうし is but I've no idea what the English word is. Please don't tell me--I prefer not to know!

マイケル

[Tracel]

byakko99008780-san, マイケルsan, Natsuko-san,

Aren't languages fun? I am like マイケルsan and find it difficult to let go of the translation mechanism too. But try not to get too hung up on "exact" meaning at first. That said, a really good dictionary will give you the range of meanings for any one word, and possible sentences using the word. Context is also extremely important with any language, and especially Japanese. But my dictionary's definition of 男性　VS. 男の人　VS.　男　is as follows:

男性： man, male, masculine gender
男の人： man
男：male

So there are some differences in the meanings of these words. Now what is great about Japanese kanji, is that with all of these words you have a common element 男, which tells you that the word has something to do with "maleness". I just love kanji. They are such a wonderfully compact way to communicate. (I know, I sound like a linguistic nerd).

The way you get a feel for which words to use and where, is to listen, listen, and listen some more, and read, read and read some more. The more words you see in the context of a dialog or a story, the better. Unfortunately, it takes lots of time.

Have fun,
Tracel

[community.japanese]

マイケルsan, Tracel-san,

Unless you understand any words "as Japanese" "with Japanese" (i.e. not translating into English),　the words with same/similar meanings will be always "same meaning words".

Oh, but it is so difficult to let go of the translation mechanism...

マイケル

I know... It is difficult to let translation go completely. As far as I'm concerned, even if you use English to help
understanding some stuff, it seems you got pretty good idea how Japanese works!
That's quite enough

Tracel-san seems to have found a perfect way to enjoy kanji! That's brilliant
Kanji might seem scary, but once you find "convenient aspects" of them, they can help you a lot

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com