2017年2月28日 星期二
2017年2月27日 星期一
畳語 (jōgo),Folding and unfolding Japan’s ubiquitous ‘tatami words’
LANGUAGE | BILINGUAL
Folding and unfolding Japan’s ubiquitous ‘tatami words’
BY PETER BACKHAUS
SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES
Apologies in advance, as we are going to be a wee bit repetitive here. Repetitive because Japanese has this amazingly amazing capacity to form words through the simple process of repetition, or what linguists call reduplication.
The Japanese term for this craft is 畳語 (jōgo), a compound of the characters for 畳む (tatamu, fold) and 語 (go, word). The idea is that there are two layers of the same piece of structure folded over one another, just like the straw layers of a tatami mat. So, for the sake of simplicity let’s call them tatami words — and unfold them a little bit.
Perhaps the most frequent — and definitely best-known — type of tatami words are onomatopoetic expressions. It’s きらきら (kirakira) for things that twinkle, かりかり (karikari) for things that crunch, ぺらぺら (perapera) for speaking a foreign tongue with ease, and べらべら (berabera) for doing the same with one’s own tongue. These are just a few of an almost uncountable number of such expressions. In fact, there are so many that one sometimes wonders whether there is any repeat combination of two kana left that does not claim some onomatopoetic meaning.
Imitating sounds is also a factor that may produce tatami words in child language. Probably best known among these are わんわん (wanwan) for dog, にゃーにゃー (nyānyā) for cat, and ぶーぶー (būbū) for car. However, reduplication in the speech of children may also occur without any onomatopoetic science involved. Some examples of this type are おめめ (o-meme, eyes), おちんちん (o-chinchin, willy) and おてて (hands).
In some cases, saying something twice may serve the very straightforward purpose of emphasizing there is more than one of that something. Though Japanese does not normally mark words for plural, there are a few cases where this “more is more” principle applies. Often using the repetition mark 々, these include 人々 (hitobito, people), 国々 (kuniguni, countries) and 日々 (hibi, days).
Related to plural and yet somewhat different, there are a lot of cases where tatami words express heterogeneity or individuality. Examples that come to mind here are 色々 (iroiro), 様々 (samazama), and まちまち (machimachi), all meaning “various,” or “a large variety of.” The individuality of people in a group comes across very well in terms such as 個人個人 (kojinkojin), a reduplication of the noun “individual,” and 一人一人 (hitorihitori), repeating that “each single person” is concerned. Note that this latter term is commonly written as a kanji-kana blend (一人ひとり), as if to visually emphasize that no two people are the same.
This brings us to yet another important function of repeats, which is to express force or intensity. If you do your work ガンガン (gangan), you are toiling away like a madman, and if you meet someone you haven’t seen for ages, it’s 久々 (hisabisa). Something that happens in the twinkling of an eye can be labeled as 見る見る (mirumiru), while things that seem to go on forever are described as 延々 (en’en).
Many tatami words carry a sense of expressiveness that goes beyond mere intensity. A doubled 寒い (samui, cold), as in 寒々 (samuzamu), conjures up images of wintry bleakness not exclusively related to cold. On the other end of the temperature spectrum we have 熱々 (atsuatsu), which may be used to refer to something scalding hot, but can also be said about people passionately in love. A similar notion, albeit with a more lighthearted undertone, is expressed by ラブラブ (raburabu) from the English “love,” illustrating the fact that repetition does not even shy away from loanwords.
And neither is it restricted to the word level. Take for example the title of Hirokazu Koreeda’s 2008 movie “歩いても歩いても” (“Aruite mo Aruite mo”) — itself a quote from Ayumi Ishida’s iconic 1968 hit single “Blue Light Yokohama” — where the conjunctive form of the verb aruku (walk) and the particle mo are doubled to convey a sense of indefinite repetition — a meaning somewhat reflected by the English translation of the title, “Still Walking.” Add a negative verb form to this pattern and you can express impossibility with a touch of despair, as in 読んでも読んでもわからない (Yonde mo yonde mo wakaranai, “No matter how often I read this, I just can’t understand it”) or 待っても待っても来ない (Matte mo matte mo konai, “I wait and wait, but so-and-so just doesn’t show”).
Speaking of so-and-sos, tatami words may also be used as placeholders, in a very similar way to how the English example sentence above does. Expressions like 何々 (naninani) and 誰々 (daredare) are quite helpful when you need to refer to an unspecified thing or person, respectively. And we mustn’t forget 云々 (unnun), which comes in most handy when you would like to indicate that you could go on about this for ages but think you’ve said enough and would like to leave it at that. Best English translation: and so on.
2017年2月16日 星期四
Kumamon (くまモン) ; Kumamon products racked up record sales of ¥128 billion in 2016,
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/zg20170216x1a-200x200.jpg
Kumamon, the popular mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, holds Valentine's Day chocolates sent for him at the prefectural government office in Kumamoto on Wednesday. The prefecture said Kumamon products racked up record sales of ¥128 billion in 2016, with the mascot employed to support reconstruction efforts following major earthquakes last April. | KYODO | Share / Comment
Kumamon, the popular mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, holds Valentine's Day chocolates sent for him at the prefectural government office in Kumamoto on Wednesday. The prefecture said Kumamon products racked up record sales of ¥128 billion in 2016, with the mascot employed to support reconstruction efforts following major earthquakes last April.
Kumamon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumamon
Kumamon (くまモン) is a mascot created by the government of Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. It was created in 2010 for a campaign called to draw tourists to the ...
熊本熊（日語：くまモン，英語：Kumamon），又譯為萌熊或熊紋[1]，日本九州熊本縣政府於2010年邀請當地出身的作家小山薰堂及設計師水野學設計出來的地區吉祥物，為日本全國知名在地吉祥物（ゆるキャラ；Yuru-Chara[2]）的其中一個角色，志在於九州新幹線全線通車後推動本土經濟[3]。推出不到三年，其認知度已經是全日本第一，甚至超越了米奇老鼠及凱蒂貓[4]。它的官方身分為熊本縣的公務員，職銜為營業部長兼幸福部長[5]，由於減肥失敗於2015年被降職至代理營業部長[6]，在日本各地[7]甚至遠赴海外[8]出席宣傳活動。它亦曾經在日本天皇及皇后面前表演「熊本熊體操」[5]。
公關效果[編輯]
根據當地經濟研究所於2013年作出的統計，在「令你印象最深刻是九州的哪一個縣？」的問題中，相比2010年的調查結果，熊本縣在九州調查的排名由第六位上升至第二位，在關西由第六位升至第三位，在首都圏由第七位升至第五位。此外，整體到訪熊本縣的意欲增加了10%，在關西增加了23％，證明了熊本熊的公關效果甚為顯著[9][10]。另一方面，PHP研究所的研究員亦指出，地方政府稅收的增加已經超越了宣傳及廣告費用的支出[11][12]。
經濟效益[編輯]
相關產品[編輯]
Song 'Kumamon-mon-mon' with English subtitles - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0OHJUMNZqE
Sep 30, 2013 - Uploaded by Japancollections
Kumamon is a mascot created by the government of Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.[Kumamon] 有無分身？皇后提問一針見血 Kumamon嚇呆
日本吉祥物界的超級巨星——Kumamon也有驚呆的時候？！日前熊本縣舉辦「Kumamon展」，邀請天皇和皇后兩位重量級嘉賓蒞臨參觀，兩老歡喜地東看看西看看，忽然間，皇后不經意的一個提問，竟讓Kumamon慌張得不知該如何是好。
天皇和皇后10月28日到熊本縣到訪，參觀「Kumamon展」，在特設展區逛得很開心，欣賞許多活動照片和周邊商品，充分感受到了Kumamon勤奮工作、帶給大家歡樂的魅力。皇后逛著逛著，突然朝著Kumamon和縣長問了一句：「請問Kumamon只有一隻嗎？」
聽到這個尷尬的問題，Kumamon兩手摀著嘴巴，明顯地既慌張又不知所措。縣長連忙打圓場「Kumamon呢⋯⋯嗯，是孩子的⋯⋯孩子的夢想，所以不可以幻滅。」最後堅定地補上一句：「Kumamon就是Kumamon。」而後縣長向兩位貴賓介紹Kumamon的海外宣傳活動，天皇嘉許地說「Kumamon辛苦了。」皇后也笑著表示「謝謝你，Kumamon！」結束尷尬的場面。Kumamon開始表演起拿手的「Kumamon體操」，逗得兩老拍手笑呵呵。
據縣廳的秘書表示，皇后從之前就對Kumamon相當感興趣，這次終於能夠和本熊相見，十分開心。不過，皇后的問題完全是出乎預料，所以連熊本縣長都嚇了一跳。其實如果仔細研究Kumamon的工作預定表，可以發現最忙的時候，一天大概全國快10件工作等著牠。如此驚人的工作量，難怪皇后會好奇。但是即使大家都心照不宣人氣吉祥物可能會有許多分身，也不會當著吉祥物面前提起。也因為如此，民眾都覺得皇后很有趣。
對於這個突發事件，日本網友們都覺得「皇后好可愛」，還認為這大概是「皇室風的笑話」，也有人說皇后太天真，「Kumamon不可能承認有候補Kumamon、待機中的Kumamon⋯⋯」無論如何，這次皇后的無厘頭問題、Kumamon的可愛反應、縣長機智的回答，都讓關於Kumamon的趣事多添一樁。
編譯／林芳如
2017年2月14日 星期二
奈良「藥師寺」：「東塔」1300年の歴史；展線上遊戲名刀 女粉絲蜂擁而至
【朝日報你知】
奈良藥師寺展線上遊戲名刀 女粉絲蜂擁而至
奈良藥師寺展線上遊戲名刀 女粉絲蜂擁而至
位於古都奈良的藥師寺，2日當天湧進超過5000人的女性造訪。
人們為的是僅限這天對外公開，由伊達家所流傳下來的名刀。一款將刀劍擬人化後所開發而成的線上遊戲粉絲，為了一睹實物樣貌而蜂擁而至。
閱讀全文：http://asahichinese.com/…/cool…/style_culture/AJ201604040064
點選右上角可轉繁體喔!
點選右上角可轉繁體喔!
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