Japanese question...

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Anayo
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Japanese question...

Post by Anayo »

I have this kids' kanji dictionary I found at a local bookstore. This is on the back:

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I read this as, "Kono kanji jiten wa totemo kanji ga ii!"
English: "This Chinese character dictionary is very good kanji(???)!"

I've always wondered what kind of homophone wackiness is going on here. It's obviously a pun, I just don't know what the second kanji means. Can anyone explain?
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Re: Japanese question...

Post by Flake »

I'm fluent in Chinese but the puns and colloquialisms always escape me. It's the same for any student of any language not native to them. Since you don't understand the culture, you'll never get the jokes.

I'm not sure what they're saying but it's probably pretty funny to a Japanese. To the rest of us, it's just moonspeak. Any native speakers here?
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Re: Japanese question...

Post by Breetai »

Anayo wrote:I have this kids' kanji dictionary I found at a local bookstore. This is on the back:


I read this as, "Kono kanji jiten wa totemo kanji ga ii!"
English: "This Chinese character dictionary is very good kanji(???)!"

I've always wondered what kind of homophone wackiness is going on here. It's obviously a pun, I just don't know what the second kanji means. Can anyone explain?
The second kanji in "kanji"(漢字) is just "character/letter". I guess it's just trying to show kids the relationship between the word in kanji and in hiragana? No idea. I'm just somewhat conversational in the language.

From what I know, they (Japanese) often make word plays on kanji. Common type of pun, ね?


ぼくは カナダ人, ね? Haha, I like doing that.
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Anayo
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Re: Japanese question...

Post by Anayo »

I think a better question to ask would be, what does かんじがいい mean?

This book is full of silly puns, and I get a few of them, but not this one. That bothers me. XD
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Re: Japanese question...

Post by hashiriya1 »

"kanji" (感じ) also means "feeling" or "sensation" so "kanji ga ii" means "feels good". Very similar to "Kimochi ii"

So that sentence means "This kanji book feels great!"
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Anayo
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Re: Japanese question...

Post by Anayo »

Oh! 感じ. I knew that one. :lol:

Thanks hashiriya.
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Re: Japanese question...

Post by hashiriya1 »

Anayo wrote:Oh! 感じ. I knew that one. :lol:

Thanks hashiriya.

Anytime :wink:


Good luck with your studies.
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Re: Japanese question...

Post by Breetai »

hashiriya1 wrote:"kanji" (感じ) also means "feeling" or "sensation" so "kanji ga ii" means "feels good". Very similar to "Kimochi ii"

So that sentence means "This kanji book feels great!"
Ohhhhhhhhh... Well, that opens a who new can of worms. In my mind, when I read "kimochi ii" I hear it with a voice of a female in her late teens/early 20s. Probably that is not good. :mrgreen:
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Re: Japanese question...

Post by hashiriya1 »

Breetai wrote: In my mind, when I read "kimochi ii" I hear it with a voice of a female in her late teens/early 20s. Probably that is not good. :mrgreen:

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Re: Japanese question...

Post by lisalover1 »

Breetai wrote:ぼくは カナダ人, ね? Haha, I like doing that.
:ロル: = :lol:
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