Learn about describing how people laugh
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Peter: Peter here. Onomatopoeia Lesson 7. This Japanese Lesson Will Put A Grin on Your Face! |
| なつこ: [*]こんにちは、なつこです。 Hi everyone, this is Natsuko. |
| Peter: Welcome to japanesepod101.com’s onomatopoeia series. In this series, we are exploring the wonderful world of Japanese onomatopoeia. |
| なつこ: そうですね。That’s right. We are studying Japanese onomatopoeia. [*]擬音語 and [*]擬態語 |
| Peter: Now onomatopoeia is the formation of a word from a sound associated with what it is named. Examples in English include words like |
| なつこ: Crash and splash. |
| Peter: The sounds of the word imitate the meaning. Also many animal sounds are onomatopoeia. For example, |
| なつこ: ばうわうand [*]ねー |
| Peter: Now Natsuko san, Japanese has tons of onomatopoeia. |
| なつこ: Right. |
| Peter: So if you are going to take your Japanese to the next level, you need to become familiar with as many of them as you can. |
| なつこ: Japanese onomatopoeia is not only useful, it’s also fun. |
| Peter: So we hope you will enjoy this enjoyable ride into the wonderful world of Japanese onomatopoeia. In the previous lesson, we learned about the onomatopoeia that describes laughter. |
| なつこ: Oh yes. [*]クスクス and ゲラゲラas in [*]ゲラゲラ笑う |
| Peter: To laugh loudly |
| なつこ: And [*]クスクス笑う |
| Peter: To chuckle. So when you are watching a comedy show at your home, you would probably |
| なつこ: [*]ゲラゲラ笑います |
| Peter: Laugh out loud but when you are watching a comedy show on iTunes on the train, you would |
| なつこ: [*]多分、クスクス笑います |
| Peter: Maybe chuckle. Now in this lesson, we are going to learn about the onomatopoeia that describes grin or smile. Today’s’ onomatopoeia expression is |
| なつこ: にこにこand [*]にやにや |
| Peter: Now we can’t translate them without context. |
| なつこ: Yes. |
| Peter: So Natsuko san, can we hear them in context? |
| なつこ: Sure [*]なんでにこにこ笑ってるの。なんか良いことあったの。 |
| Peter: Why are you smiling? Something good happened. |
| なつこ: [*]なんで にやにや笑っているの？何か企んでいるの？ |
| Peter: Why are you smirking? Are you plotting something or are you up to something. Now [*]にこにこ refers to a broad grin accompanied by happiness and of course it contains positive connotation where as にやにやrefers to a sinister smile or grin and is inferring that the person is hiding un-seemingly pleasure or a scheme. |
| なつこ: ずいぶん違いますよねSo the nuance is really different. |
| Peter: Very different but both にこにこand にやにやare usually used with |
| なつこ: [*]笑う |
| Peter: To laugh or |
| なつこ: [*]する |
| Peter: To do. For example, |
| なつこ: [*]にこにこ笑う or [*]にこにこする |
| Peter: And they both mean to smile. Now I just kind of want to point out here quick. When you look in the dictionary, 笑うmeans to laugh but it also means |
| なつこ: To smile. |
| Peter: So sometimes someone will say to you え、なんで笑っているwhich could mean depending on the context why are you laughing or why are you smiling. |
| なつこ: Yes. |
| Peter: So let’s take a look at the other onomatopoeia we covered. |
| なつこ: [*]にやにや笑う。にやにやする |
| Peter: And they both mean to smirk. |
| なつこ: We sometimes use this shorter version which is にこっとor [*]にやっと |
| Peter: When you say [*]にこっと or [*]にやっと it means someone smiles or smirks only once for a short moment whereas repetitive onomatopoeia such as にこにor [*]にやにや indicates a continuous action or a state. |
| なつこ: Yes right. |
| Peter: Can we have a sample sentence? |
| なつこ: [*]警官は一瞬にこっとしたが、またすぐに怖い顔になった。 |
| Peter: The police officer flashed a smile but he soon put on a serious face. So just for a second. |
| なつこ: Yes. |
| Peter: Very interesting. I didn’t even know about this usage. |
| なつこ: Oh really? |
| Peter: [*]にこっと |
| なつこ: [*]にこっと |
| Peter: Natsukosan, |
| なつこ: [*]はい。 |
| Peter: Speaking of grin, I’ve heard にたにたand [*].へらへら |
| なつこ: Ah はいはいas in にたにた笑うand [*]へらへら笑う |
| Peter: Right. Now my question is this. What’s the difference between にこにこ にやにや にたにたand [*]へらへら |
| なつこ: Umm that’s a good question. [*]にこにこ is a nice smile and にやにやand [*]にたにた are pretty similar. Both mean to smirk. |
| Peter: Ah. |
| なつこ: And they don’t give people nice feelings and へらへらthat could be a grim but also it could be a laugh and it could be used to describe a vague or meaningless grin. |
| Peter: Umm [*]へらへら could mean the grin or a smile some people wear when they are embarrassed. |
| なつこ: Umm yes it can be used. |
| Peter: Okay so I think we can best illustrate this with an example. Natsuko san, what do you think? |
| なつこ: [*]例えば、ピーターは先生に怒られたが、へらへら笑っていた。 |
| Peter: Hah translation. Although Peter was scolded by the teacher, he was grinning. |
| なつこ: So he is showing no remorse. |
| Peter: Umm pretty accurate sample sentence. So you don’t think there is anyone who likes [*]にやにや grin. |
| なつこ: I think so. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay let’s recap the words we looked at today and we are going to do this with sample sentences. |
| なつこ: That’s good. The first word is [*]にこにこ 佐藤さんは、いつもにこにこしていて感じがいい。 |
| Peter: Literally Mr or Mrs [*]佐藤 always has a smile on his or her face and is so congenial. In natural English, Mr. 佐藤is always smiling and it’s nice and what’s the second word? |
| なつこ: [*]にやにや 鈴木さんと田中さんが私のほうを見ながらにやにやしている。感じが悪い。 |
| Peter: Mr. Suzuki and Mrs. Tanaka are looking at me and grinning and it makes me feel uncomfortable. Okay Natsuko san, just to recap quick, in this lesson, we learned |
| なつこ: にこにこand [*]にやにや |
| Peter: なつこさんは、にこにこした人と、にやにやした人、どちらが好きですかLike Natsuko san, what did you like better? A person who has a にこにこgrin or [*]にやにや grin? |
| なつこ: [*]にやにやしてる人のほうが好きっていう人は、いないと思います |
| Peter: So you don’t think there is anyone that has にやにやgrin. |
| なつこ: I think so because you know the difference is whether you feel nice about that smile or not. |
| Peter: Hah I guess we’ve translated this. Do you like you know, happy people or do you like dark sinister people? |
| なつこ: Dark umm yes it’s just the [*]にやにや笑い doesn’t make people feel nice or comfortable. For example, do you know the Alice in Wonderland story? |
| Peter: Ah of course. |
| なつこ: cat with a grin? |
| Peter: Yeah, yeah. |
| なつこ: That disappears and only the grin is left. |
| Peter: Remains? |
| なつこ: Yeah remains. I remember that was translated into Japanese as [*]にやにや笑い |
| Peter: Ah. |
| なつこ: So it’s not you know really that serious like you know, something distasteful but it’s like more kind of uncomfortable or something strange, strange smile. |
Outro |
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| Peter: Okay that’s all for today. Now be sure to stop by the website and pick up the lesson notes. There you will find a detailed write up of this lesson. Also on the website, you can access some of the previous lessons. With a basic or premium membership, you can access all the audio and lesson notes from this series and every other series. You can find out more information by visiting japanesepod101.com |
| なつこ: [*]それではまた今度 |
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