Learn about describing the action of "complain" in various ways
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Peter: Peter here. Onomatopoeia Lesson #9. Do You Complain Too Much? |
| 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: そうですね。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 just like in English. |
| なおみ: Such as ワンワン |
| Peter: Woof! Woof! |
| なおみ: にゃんにゃん |
| Peter: Meow! Meow! 擬態語 on the other hand describe the situation, feeling or state using a word. |
| なおみ: そうですね。 Such as ぺらぺら |
| Peter: Fluent in a foreign language. So we hope you joined us on this enjoyable ride into the wonderful world of Japanese onomatopoeia. Without further adieu, let’s get on with this lesson. Now in the previous lesson, we learned the onomatopoeia that describes crying. |
| なおみ: Such as ぎゃあぎゃあ泣くand しくしく泣く. So which one is louder, 子供がぎゃあぎゃあ泣いていますor 子供がしくしく泣いています |
| Peter: ぎゃあぎゃあ泣いていますCrying loudly, しくしく泣いていますcrying quietly, right? |
| なおみ: そうです。よくできましたWell done. |
| Peter: バカにしないで下さい Please don’t make a fool of me. Now in this lesson, we are going to introduce the onomatopoeia that expresses the action of |
| なおみ: Complaining. |
| Peter: Such as? |
| なおみ: ガミガミ ブツブツ ネチネチ |
| Peter: Now we can’t translate them without context. So Naomi Sensei, can we hear them in context? |
| なおみ: はい。ガミガミガミガミ、うるさいなぁ。少しは、僕の気持ちを考えてよ。 |
| Peter: Nag, Nag, Nag. Think about my feelings for a little, will you? Oh my new favorite word. |
| なおみ: I wonder who you want to use this. |
| Peter: Umm… |
| なおみ: ガミガミ、ガミガミ |
| Peter: I like the way you say it too ガミガミ. Now this describes the sound of someone complaining noisily or yelling or scolding. It’s often used with verbs such as 言う to say 怒る to get angry and |
| なおみ: 叱る |
| Peter: To scold, to yell at. |
| なおみ: がみがみ言う がみがみ怒る がみがみ叱る |
| Peter: Interesting though like I think it was the intonation you had on the first one that really made it for me because when you say in a really nice voice, がみがみ言う. It’s not – ______ (0:02:57) of power, it’s . On to the next onomatopoeia. What’s the second one? |
| なおみ: ぶつぶつ |
| Peter: In context please. |
| なおみ: ブツブツ言っていないで、仕事をしてください |
| Peter: Stop your grumbling and do your job please. I don’t know, this one is pretty good too. Now ブツブツ indicates the sound of murmuring usually associated with discontent. |
| なおみ: そうですね。なんか って感じThat’s ブツブツ |
| Peter: Now pay attention to the pronunciation of つ. It’s ブツブツ |
| なおみ: ブツブツ ブツブツ |
| Peter: Okay lastly we have |
| なおみ: ねちねち いつまでも、ネチネチネチネチ。しつこいわ。 |
| Peter: You’ve been complaining forever. Stop it already. I think everyone can relate to these. Now ネチネチ refers to someone or something being persistent. So ネチネチ means complaining about the same thing over and over again. |
| なおみ: ネチネチ is often used with the word しつこい |
| Peter: Ah one of my favorite words, persistent. |
| なおみ: そう。 |
| Peter: It’s not a very good word in Japanese like you know, I don’t know. Maybe it’s kind of mentality difference but you know, in the west like being persistent pays off. |
| なおみ: そうね。しつこいalways have the negative connotation. |
| Peter: Very negative. |
| なおみ: Yeah. |
| Peter: So you wouldn’t want to talk about yourself 私はしつこいです. It’s one of those words that if it’s said about you, it’s not a good thing. |
| なおみ: そうですね。 |
| Peter: ネチネチしつこい It’s hard to say. |
| なおみ: そうですね。ネチネチしつこい |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay so just to kind of recap here, we have |
| なおみ: ガミガミ ブツブツ ネチネチ |
| Peter: And they go with |
| なおみ: 言う |
| Peter: To say |
| なおみ: Or 文句を言う |
| Peter: To complain. |
| なおみ: ガミガミ言う ネチネチ言う |
| Peter: In Onomatopoeia lesson 8, we explained that ぎゃあぎゃあ言う means complain loudly right? |
| なおみ: そうですね。 |
| Peter: We actually said it was like screeching or screaming. |
| なおみ: そうそうそう |
| Peter: Not quite complaining but so there is that complaining aspect to it. Perhaps it’s a different meaning because you could ぎゃあぎゃあ言うlike just what are you going on about? |
| なおみ: そうそうそう。 |
| Peter: So how is it different from ガミガミ? |
| なおみ: ガミガミ is the sound of scolding and maybe the person who is saying ガミガミis giving the reason. |
| Peter: Naomi Sensei, ブツブツ I’ve heard something similar. Is it the same thing? It’s ぶつくさ |
| なおみ: 同じですねExactly the same meaning. |
| Peter: So ぶつくさ言う |
| なおみ: そうそうそう ぶつくさ言う それからクドクドis similar to ネチネチ. |
| Peter: So you would use it with しつこい |
| なおみ: そうですね。 |
| Peter: And you would use it with what verb? |
| なおみ: 言う |
| Peter: Can we have a sample? |
| なおみ: クドクド文句を言う |
| Peter: Persistent complain. |
| なおみ: そうですね。 And クドクドand ネチネチare often used to gather like ネチネチクドクド言う同士は最悪だ |
| Peter: A persistently constantly complaining boss is the worst. |
| なおみ: Don’t you agree? |
| Peter: No I want those bosses. I want a ネチネチクドクド言う女子I want one of those. Well I guess it depends on what he is complaining about. |
| なおみ: まあね。 |
| Peter: Interesting though. Okay so let’s recap the words we looked at today and we want to use it with sample sentences. Naomi Sensei, what do we have first? |
Lesson focus |
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| なおみ: ガミガミ言う |
| Peter: To nag, to keep at. |
| なおみ: ガミガミ言わないで、お母さん |
| Peter: Stop nagging mother. Okay what’s the second word? |
| なおみ: ブツブツ言う |
| Peter: To murmur with discontent, to grumble. |
| なおみ: 小さい声でブツブツ言っても何も変わらないよ |
| Peter: Murmuring your complaints in a low voice is going to change nothing. |
| なおみ: それからAnd lastly we had ネチネチ言う |
| Peter: To complain persistently or by whining. |
| なおみ: 妻は20年も前の事をまだネチネチ文句を言っている。 |
| Peter: My wife is still nagging me persistently about an incident that happened over 20 years ago. |
| なおみ: Good sample sentence. |
| Peter: 申し訳ないですIt seems very 日本人らしい. It seems very Japanese to me, Japanese like because in my mind, it depends on what he did. |
| なおみ: そうですね。 |
| Peter: Yeah of course, she won’t let it go because |
| なおみ: Oh you forgot my birthday. |
| Peter: Yeah that would be okay but you know, that – we better stop now but anyway, I guess like it’s relative to what the incident was. |
| なおみ: あーそうね |
| Peter: You are still going on about me killing those people. Its okay, come on. 20 years, it’s all relative. Okay Naomi Sensei, 最近この言葉を使いましたか. So have you used any of these words recently? |
| なおみ: 使ってないですねI don’t have any complaints in my life. So luckily I haven’t used those words. |
| Peter: I haven’t used them because I didn’t know them. |
| なおみ: あ、そう。 |
| Peter: これから毎日使いますBut from now on, I will use them every day. Great words, okay I think we will end it there. |
| なおみ: はい。 |
Outro |
| Peter: Now remember, learning onomatopoeia is essential for greater fluency and for taking your Japanese to the next level. Be sure to stop by the website japanesepod101.com and pick up the lesson notes. There you will find a detailed write up of onomatopoeia that appeared in 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 and other lessons. To find out more, stop by japanesepod101.com. That’s going to do for this lesson. |
| なおみ: じゃあまた。 |
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