Japanese Words & Their Uses II. Akira Miura
someone who is arriving at an airport, a station, etc” is not au but mukae ni iku “to go to welcome” or mukae ni kuru “to come to welcome.”
(6) Ato de chichi ga Narita ni tsuku no o mukae ni iku koto ni natte-lru.
I am supposed to meet my father later when he arrives at Narita.
“Meet” sometimes means “to be introduced to.” Au normally doesn’t mean that. One must say something more specific to express that idea, as in
(7) Kobayashi-san o goshookai-shimasu.
I’d like you to meet Mr. Kobayashi. (lit., I’m going to introduce Mr. Kobayashi.)
Au corresponds to English “see [someone]” in the sense of “to meet up with and talk to” but usually not in the sense of “to catch sight of” or “to look at” (Jorden, 1, p. 171). For the latter, use miru “to look at” (see miru) or mikakeru “to catch sight of” instead.
BAN 晚 evening, night
Unlike yoru “night,” ban is an anthropocentric term, i.e., a word closely tied to man’s daily life. It roughly refers to the time span from dinner time until bedtime, and thus covers a slightly narrower range of time than does yoru (although there are some exceptions to this rule, most notably hito-ban-juu “all night long,” which is synonymous with yoru-juu). Nine p.m., for example, could be called either ban or yoru, but 2 a.m. is more likely called yoru than ban. When one talks solely about the natural phenomenon of night with no reference to human life, yoru is the only choice (Tokuga-wa and Miyajima, pp. 409-10), as in
(1) Tsuki wa yoru ga samui.
Night on the moon is frigid.
Although there are other variants meaning the same thing, ban-gohan is probably the most common word in speech for “evening meal.” In America, the evening meal is the biggest meal and is called dinner, but dinner is not always served in the evening; on Sundays, for instance, some families serve dinner at lunchtime. In Japan, too, the evening meal is the main meal, but if, on some special occasion, the biggest meal of the day happens to be served at lunchtime, it has to be called ohiru-gohan “lunch” (lit., “noon meal”), and not ban-gohan, since ban-gohan literally means “evening meal.” In other words, whereas dinner may be served at noon, in the afternoon, or in the evening, ban-gohan is always served in the evening, usually at 6 p.m. or thereabouts.
Other variants are ban-meshi (used by men only, informal speech), yuuhan (used by both men and women; probably not as common as ban-gohan), and yuushoku (used in writing or in formal speech).
English has many expressions for “toilet,” such as “bathroom,” “washroom,” “rest room,” “men’s room,” “ladies’ room,” and “john.” Likewise, Japanese has a variety of expressions for “toilet,” of which benjo is one. The word should be avoided, however, in polite conversation. Use tearai (lit., “hand-washing [place]”), or otearai to be even more polite. Toire, derived from English “toilet,” is also quite acceptable.
Using the word benjo is all right if used as part of compounds such as suisen-benjo “flush toilet” and kooshuu-benjo “public toilet.”
BENKYOO 勉強 study
Benkyoo most often means “study.”
(1) Uchi no musuko wa ima juken-benkyoo-chuu desu.
Our son is in the midst of studying for entrance examinations.
The noun benkyoo, with the addition of the verb suru “to do,” becomes the compound verb benkyoo-suru “to study.”
(2) Itsu Nihongo o benkyoo-shita n desu ka.
When did you study Japanese?
Having a learning experience is also benkyoo, especially in the expression benkyoo ni naru.
(3) Sensei no ohanashi o ukagatte, taihen ii benkyoo ni narimashita.
I learned a lot listening to your (lit., teacher’s) talk. After hearing a talk, Americans commonly say to the speaker “I really enjoyed your talk.” Japanese, on the other hand, would normally focus on what they learned from the talk, as in (3) above.
BOKU 僕 I, me
Boku meaning “I” is used only by males, and most often by boys and young men. Although young boys use boku on all occasions, adult men use it, or are supposed to use it, only on informal occasions. (On formal occasions, they normally switch to watashi or watakushi.)
The strangest use of boku occurs when, in some families, family members of a little boy who calls himself boku start calling him boku as well. This occurs, however, only when the little boy is the only, or the youngest, son in the family. Boku in this case is used, as it were, like the boy’s given name. (In fact, the diminutive suffix -chan, which is normally attached to a child’s name, as in Yoshiko-chan, is sometimes added to boku, forming boku-chan.)
(1) Boku[-chan], hayaku irasshai.
lit., Me, come here quickly.
This “fictive” use of boku is explained by Suzuki (p. 124) thus: “When she [i.e., a mother calling her son boku] speaks in this way, she is thinking of the boy as he would be called if viewed from the position of the youngest member of the family, in this case the boy himself. The boy would naturally call himself boku. Therefore, by identifying with him, adults in the family can call him boku as well.”
BUKKA 物偭 prices
Bukka means “general commodity prices.”
(1) Konogoro wa bukka ga takakute komarimasu nee.
Isn’t it terrible that prices are so high these days!
Bukka does not refer to the price of a specific object. For that, one has to use nedan “price” instead. In example (2), therefore, nedan must be used.
(2) Gasorin no nedan (not *bukka) ga mata agatta.
The price of gasoline has gone up again.
BYOOKI 病気 sick, sickness
Byooki can be translated into English as either “sick” or “sickness,” depending on the context.
(1) Tanaka-san wa byooki desu.
Mr. Tanaka is sick.
(2) Gan wa iya na byooki da.
Cancer is a nasty disease.
Unlike “sick,” however, byooki cannot refer to a temporary state of being nauseous. To express that state, other expressions must be used.
(3) Kuruma ni yotte-shimatta.
I became carsick.
(4) Chi o mite kimochi (or mune) ga waruku natta.
I became sick at the sight of blood.
Unlike “sick,” byooki does not refer to boredom or disgust. To express the idea of “I’m sick of parties,” for example, one would have to say something like (5) or (6).
(5) Paatii ga iya ni natta.
lit., Parties have started boring me.
(6) Paatii wa moo takusan da.
lit., I can’t take any more parties.
Whereas genki “healthy, well, vigorous,” the opposite of byooki, is a na-noun, byooki is a genuine noun and therefore requires no instead of na when used in prenoun position. Note the difference between (7) and (8).
(7) genki na (not *genki no) kodomo
a healthy (or vigorous, lively) child
(8)