Learn about describing someone's appearance using onomatopoeia
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Peter: Peter here. Onomatopoeia Lesson #24. What Does Androgyny Sound Like in Japanese. |
| なおみ: なおみです。こんにちは Hi everyone, this is Naomi. |
| Peter: Welcome to japanesepod101.com’s onomatopoeia series. In this series, we are exploring the world of Japanese onomatopoeia. |
| なおみ: There are two types of Japanese onomatopoeia 擬音語 and 擬態語. |
| Peter: 擬音語 are the true onomatopoeia that mimic sounds like our English onomatopoeia. |
| なおみ: Such as パチパチパチパチ |
| Peter: The sound of applause or clapping. |
| なおみ: ヒューヒュー |
| Peter: The sound of whistling. |
| なおみ: As in 風がヒューヒュー吹いている |
| Peter: The wind is whistling. 擬態語 on the other hand describe a situation, feeling or a state using sound. |
| なおみ: For example, アップルパイの外はサクサク、中はとろっとしている |
| Peter: The Apple pie was crispy on the outside and the inside was hot and thick. We hope you will join us on this enjoyable ride into the wonderful world of Japanese onomatopoeia. Without further adieu, let’s get on with the lesson. We will be introducing onomatopoeia in situations within upper beginner, lower intermediate level dialogue. So Naomi Sensei, what are we going to learn in this lesson? |
| なおみ: 今日は人の見かけ。見かけ means appearance. |
| Peter: So in this lesson, you will learn how to describe someone’s appearance. The conversation is between |
| なおみ: 二人の女の子と一人の男の子です |
| Peter: Two girls and a boy. |
| なおみ: 多分高校生ですね。 |
| Peter: They are probably high school students. |
| なおみ: Hmm… |
| Peter: Now where does this conversation take place? |
| なおみ: 学校 |
| Peter: At school. |
| なおみ: あおいさんが好きなミュージシャンの雑誌を見ています。 |
| Peter: あおいone of the girls is reading a magazine about her favorite musician. |
| なおみ: ゆうかさんが、あおいさんに話しかけています。 |
| Peter: And ゆうか the other girl talks to あおい. |
| なおみ: はい |
| Peter: Listen for what kind of music あおい likes. Okay let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 1. ゆうか: あおいって、ビジュアル系好きなの？ |
| 2. あおい: うん。大好き。 |
| みんな、きれいで、すらっとしてて。 |
| 見て、この写真、素敵じゃない？ |
| 3. ゆうか: ええ？これ、男？ガリガリじゃない。 |
| なに、このつるつるの肌、サラサラの髪。女の子みたい。・・・ |
| 私は、もっとがっちりした人が好きだなぁ。 |
| 4. いさむ: なになに、見せて見せて。・・・ |
| うーん、顔はかわいいけど いまいち。俺はもう少し、ぽっちゃり |
| した子のほうがいいな。 |
| 5. あおい: ・・・これ、男の人だよ。 |
| 6. いさむ: えええええ？マジ？男？ |
| でも、男は、こんがり焼けた肌に、むきむきがいいでしょ。 |
| 見る？俺の筋肉？ |
| 7. あおい・ゆうか: 結構です。 |
| もう一度お願いします。今度はゆっくりお願いします |
| 1. ゆうか: あおいって、ビジュアル系好きなの？ |
| 2. あおい: うん。大好き。 |
| みんな、きれいで、すらっとしてて。 |
| 見て、この写真、素敵じゃない？ |
| 3. ゆうか: ええ？これ、男？ガリガリじゃない。 |
| なに、このつるつるの肌、サラサラの髪。女の子みたい。・・・ |
| 私は、もっとがっちりした人が好きだなぁ。 |
| 4. いさむ: なになに、見せて見せて。・・・ |
| うーん、顔はかわいいけど いまいち。俺はもう少し、ぽっちゃり |
| した子のほうがいいな。 |
| 5. あおい: ・・・これ、男の人だよ。 |
| 6. いさむ: えええええ？マジ？男？ |
| でも、男は、こんがり焼けた肌に、むきむきがいいでしょ。 |
| 見る？俺の筋肉？ |
| 7. あおい・ゆうか: 結構です。 |
| 次は英語が入ります |
| 1. ゆうか: あおいって、ビジュアル系好きなの？ |
| 2. あおい: うん。大好き。 |
| みんな、きれいで、すらっとしてて。 |
| 見て、この写真、素敵じゃない？ |
| 3. ゆうか: ええ？これ、男？ガリガリじゃない。 |
| なに、このつるつるの肌、サラサラの髪。女の子みたい。・・・ |
| 私は、もっとがっちりした人が好きだなぁ。 |
| 4. いさむ: なになに、見せて見せて。・・・ |
| うーん、顔はかわいいけど いまいち。俺はもう少し、ぽっちゃり |
| した子のほうがいいな。 |
| 5. あおい: ・・・これ、男の人だよ。 |
| 6. いさむ: えええええ？マジ？男？ |
| でも、男は、こんがり焼けた肌に、むきむきがいいでしょ。 |
| 見る？俺の筋肉？ |
| 7. あおい・ゆうか: 結構です。 |
| 1. YUKA: Aoi, do you like Visual Kei? |
| 2. AOI: Yeah, I love it. |
| In Visual Kei, they're all so pretty and slender. |
| Here, look at this picture, isn't it great? |
| 3. YUKA: Huh? This is a guy? He's so scrawny! |
| And what's with the smooth skin and silky hair? He looks like a girl. |
| Me personally, I prefer more muscular men. |
| 4. ISAMU: What, lemme see, lemme see! ... |
| Hmm, cute face, but otherwise, could be better. I like girls with a little |
| more meat on them. |
| 5. AOI: ...This is a guy, you know. |
| 6. ISAMU: Whaaaaat?! You're serious? A guy? |
| But guys are better with a nice tan and some muscle. |
| Here, wanna check out my muscles? |
| 7. AOI &YUKA: Nooo, thanks. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| なおみ: ピーターさん、ビジュアル系って知ってます？ Have you ever heard the word ビジュアル系 |
| Peter: Yeah ちょっと聞いた事ないです I haven’t heard it. |
| なおみ: そうですか 系っていうのが suffix ですよね |
| Peter: So 系 is a suffix, genre or type. |
| なおみ: ビジュアルっていうのはVisual ですね。ビジュアル系というのは、日本の音楽の一つのスタイルです。ビジュアル系バンドは、たくさんあります。特に一番有名なのは、Xジャパンですね。 |
| Peter: So Visual kei is a style of Japanese music. There are a lot of bands that call themselves Visual kei but the most famous one is X Japan. |
| なおみ: Umm… |
| Peter: Ah.. |
| なおみ: 有名でしょ。知ってる？ |
| Peter: 有名ですね I remember 覚えていますヒデさん |
| なおみ: そうそうそう |
| Peter: So what kind of music do they play? |
| なおみ: ハードロックとかヘビメタとか、色々みたいですね。基本は男の人のバンドなんですけど、みんなお化粧して変わった髪型をして、とても派手な洋服を着ています。 |
| Peter: So the genres are varied kind of like hard rock, heavy metal and so on. Visual kei is characterized by unique make up, hairstyles and elaborate customers but one thing to remember is that they are all men. |
| なおみ: なんかアメリカのバンドのkissから影響を受けたって聞きました |
| Peter: So it’s said that they are inspired by the American band Kiss. Kind of seems maybe something like a Glam band. |
| なおみ: Glam band? |
| Peter: Yeah. So elaborate costumes and makeup that’s kind of incorporated into the act. |
| なおみ: なるほど |
| Peter: So Visual kei seemed to have peaked in popularity in the late 90s? |
| なおみ: そうですね |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay back to the onomatopoeia. First we will introduce some onomatopoeia that describe body type. Naomi Sensei, what do we have in the dialogue? |
| なおみ: これ男？がりがりじゃない |
| Peter: The translation is, this is a guy? He is so scrawny. So the first onomatopoeia is |
| なおみ: ガリガリ |
| Peter: Scrawny, skinny, skin and bones. This basically means thin but it usually carries negative connotation. So words like scrawny and skinny are quite close. |
| なおみ: Here is a sample sentence ピーターはガリガリでないけれど細い |
| Peter: お優しいですね You are very nice. So the translation is Peter is not scrawny but he is thin. |
| なおみ: But you are pretty much close to ガリガリね |
| Peter: That’s right and Naomi Sensei, ガリガリの反対は何ですか |
| なおみ: ガリガリの反対は |
| Peter: Maybe ぷよぷよ |
| なおみ: ぷよぷよね yeah it could be. |
| Peter: Kind of like there is no other meaning to it and… |
| なおみ: どういう意味だろう What does it mean? |
| Peter: There is also positive onomatopoeia which also means thin. |
| なおみ: Right すらっとしている |
| Peter: Slim, slender. すらりis a variant form. すらっとor すらりdescribes someone who is tall and thin and has a positive connotation. |
| なおみ: そうですね。ガリガリ has a pretty negative connotation. So if you don’t want to upset anyone, we recommend that you use すらっと or ほっそり instead. So モデルはすらっとして、背が高い。 |
| Peter: Models are tall and thin. |
| なおみ: Yeah. If you don’t like models, of course you could say モデルはガリガリだ. In the dialogue, いさむ the guy said 俺はもう少しぽっちゃりした子のほうがいいなあ。 |
| Peter: I like girls with a little more meat on them. |
| なおみ: ぽっちゃり is the onomatopoeia. |
| Peter: Chubby, plump, ぽちゃっと is the variant form since ぽっちゃりor ぽちゃっと has a softer connotation than 太っている fat. |
| なおみ: Fat. |
| Peter: So they are sometimes used as a euphemism. |
| なおみ: Generally speaking ぽっちゃり is not offensive usually. |
| Peter: ぽっちゃり Naomi Sensei. |
| なおみ: ショック |
| Peter: All right. How do you say muscular? |
| なおみ: がっちりしている In the dialogue, ゆうか said 私はもっとがっちりした人が好きだなあ。 |
| Peter: Me personally, I prefer more muscular men. |
| なおみ: You can also use ムキムキas in 筋肉ムキムキ |
| Peter: Muscular, brawny. This means someone is meaty and has big muscles. |
| なおみ: I think it’s a relatively new onomatopoeia. So when you talk to elderly people, please be careful because they might not understand this phrase. |
| Peter: Okay. Next we have a pretty offensive word and this word is, I’ve heard it quite a few times デブ |
| なおみ: そうですね。It’s a pretty strong word but I also have to say it’s a pretty common expression. |
| Peter: So デブ is a strong and kind of somewhat rude word and it means fat. |
| なおみ: そうですね。 |
| Peter: I don’t think means chubby because like it’s a little one rank above chubby. Chubby is kind of cute. |
| なおみ: Yeah. |
| Peter: For me like when I hear デブit means just bad or like it’s intended to mean that. |
| なおみ: Umm.. |
| Peter: So even if I said it like about someone who is not that fat, it’s kind of said with that intention. |
| なおみ: そうですね。 I don’t think people who has common sense would call someone デブin their face but people call fat cats or fat dogs as デブ猫or デブ犬 |
| Peter: Another word |
| なおみ: うそー I used it to my friend’s cat. デブ猫、デブ猫ちゃんおいで |
| Peter: Now Naomi Sensei, is this true? I heard that デブ comes from the English word double chin |
| なおみ: Ah ダブルチン、ダブルチン、デブチン interesting. I don’t think it’s true though because we have the onomatopoeia デブデブor でっぷり means very chubby or fat. According to the dictionary でっぷり has been used since Edo era. So that’s way back before English got into Japanese language. |
| Peter: なるほど |
| なおみ: ダブルチンじゃないですね But ダブルチン becoming デブチンor デブis really good pneumatic. |
| Peter: That’s an awesome pneumatic. A device to help you memorize the word better デブdouble chin. All right, so in this lesson, we introduced onomatopoeia that describe body type. Naomi Sensei, can we just recap onomatopoeia used to express being thin or slim? |
| なおみ: はい。ガリガリ ほっそり すらっと |
| Peter: Remember ガリガリ has a negative connotation. So you have to be careful when using this and Naomi Sensei, how about onomatopoeia that describe being muscular or well built? |
| なおみ: がっちり or 筋肉ムキムキ |
| Peter: And finally chubby is |
| なおみ: ぽっちゃり ぽちゃっとand でっぷり デブデブ |
| Peter: デブデブ Actually the onomatopoeia sounds a lot nicer. |
| なおみ: Oh no cuter. |
| Peter: Right? |
| なおみ: Yeah I think. |
| Peter: You know, it is kind of like chubby but like the straight デブ is just so strong. |
| なおみ: If somebody calls me like oh you are デブデブ I will be shocked so. |
| Peter: ______ (0:14:50) won’t hurt more あーデブデブ or デブ |
| なおみ: We never call it that way. My friends are nice enough not to say that word to me. |
| Peter: Okay and as we explained, でっぷり or デブデブare offensive expressions. So try to avoid using them or actually avoid using them. |
| なおみ: お願いします |
Outro |
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