Would anyone be opposed if I sorted all of the examples between anime and other Japanese-originating works, and works dubbed/translated into Japanese?
EDIT: Actually, you know what, I'm just going to do it. They're not sorted within those folders as it is, and if there's a problem, it's a trivial fix.
Edited by CrystalGlacia "Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Re: the "atai" and "ashi" example, because it's all wrong.
"Atai" is lower-class and flippant. It was originally used by women in certain red light districts, later on it spread out, even later on it spread to girls cultivating a "bad girl" image. It's also a Kagoshima regional variant on "atashi."
"Ashi" as such is not a recognized personal pronoun (which is not surprising seeing that it's homonyms with "ashi" meaning "leg"). "Asshi" is, but that doesn't have anything to do with little girls either, it's an old-fashioned, mostly unisex pronoun that was primarily used by lower-class workers.
Edited by 89.132.92.117
According to this video
, Japanese Pinkie Pie uses "atashi". Audio quality's not that great on account of it being a video camera, but I didn't hear a "wuh" sound (plus "atashi" would make sense given her personality)...
Haman Karn from Gundam ZZ would have used "wagahai" to address herself if it were not Tomino's character limitation by sex.
I rewrote the description and dropped out the "controversy" bit. As best I can tell, the controversy is over whether the term "pro-drop" carries Unfortunate Implications and/or whether it is scientifically accurate to call this set of Japanese words "pronouns" at all. The basic point — that you can avoid using these words entirely, in fact non-native speakers tend to use them too much — does not seem to be in dispute.
[=SoCal=] Slacker
So a man/boy uses "ore-sama" when he's being high-and-mighty / full of himself / etc. What about when a girl/woman is being such? What would she use? "watashi-sama" perhaps?
Bendy Slendy in Upendi. Also, check out my fic Hide / Show Replies
Depends. If she's a type 2 Ojou she could use "watakushi" along with refined speech to give an impression of being above other people.
If she's not, she'll probably stick to "watashi" or "atashi" (depending on her normal usage), conveying the idea with blunt, arrogant/conceited speech.
Edited by Barano
what the heck?
House isn't a japanese show. why is it on there.
- Mike Rosoft: Presumedly, this is what the characters use in the Japanese dub.
As for the House edit, I put it here.
I thought it was interesting to see how House's and Wilson's contrasting personalities were symbolized by their use of contrasting pronouns ("jerk-ish though guy" ore vs "nice polite guy" boku). If it simply was about House using ore or Wilson using boku, I probably wouldn't have added it- it's the contrast that made me think it as worthy of being added.
It indeed is from the Japanese dub of the show- I didn't specify it because I thought people would have figured it out, but I guess it wasn't clear enough. Sorry to everyone for the confusion.
Whoops, realized I mixed up the characters. False alarm! :D;;
Edited by Barano
"Note that actual, IRL Japanese is a lot different from the Japanese used in anime"
Elaborate.
"Wax on, wax off..." "But Mr. Miyagi, I don't see how this is helping me do Karate..." "Pubic hair is weakness, Daniel-san!" Hide / Show Replies
Anime Japanese tends to be very stylized, not just the vocabulary but also the tone, rhythm of speech, etc. Anime almost always uses standard Japanese, and if someone speaks a dialect, it's usually very exaggerated (Lovely Complex is a rare exception). Anime characters also speak more slowly and clearly than people do IRL (just compare a seiyuu's speech when he's playing a character and when he's being interviewed), and often have unrealistic speech patterns. The vocab often mixes modern and archaic speech (and whent they use archaic speech it's sometimes on a Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe level) and anime characters use words that nobody ever uses IRL. For example if you use "kisama" or "temee" in modern Japan people will a) laugh, b) think you're crazy, c) think you're an otaku who learned Japanese from anime. Characters like Vegeta or Ichigo can get away with very rude speech because it's just not realistic, nobody talks like that IRL.
Edited by Barano
Does anyone think we could add third-person pronouns here? If so, I recommend the following:
- kono/ano/sono hito; means "that person", gender-neutral, used in both formal and informal situations
- kono/ano/sono kata; means "that person", gender-neutral, very formal
- kare; informal, means "he"
- kanojo; informal, means "she"
- yatsu (including koitsu, soitsu and aitsu); means "this one", gender-neutral, informal, the least polite of all of these.
Edited by LionKingAlex