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The other day there was a program on TV, on which various foreign people living in Japan were being interviewed.
The question was “What is one of your favorite Japanese language words? “
Deai (an encounter), tomodachi ( a friend) ,sho ga nai ( it can't be helped), makoto (sincerity, honesty), ichiban (the best , first ),Banzai!, Fuji san ( Mount Fuji), Ninja, sumimasen ( excuse me ), chotto matte (wait a moment), kanpeki (perfect ), kanpai (cheers), mottainai ( its a waste ), oishii ( delicious ), daijoubu ( its alright), shitureishimasu ( excuse me), shinbo suru ( endurnce, patience) , etcetera. A lot of interesting words came up.
There were a lot of different reasons why people chose these as their favorites. Some said they liked the meaning of the word, others said that they liked because there wasn't an equivalent phrase in their own mother language, some even liked the way the word sounded.
When I was in the Philipinnes I really liked one of the words in the local language, Ilocano.
It was “Aiapo”. In Japanese it is similar to the expression “Dokkoisho!” (heave-ho!) or “Ara ma!”( oh dear!).
The sound of the word “Aiapo” was so cute that whenever someone uttered this expression, I remember that it made me feel so happy.
What is one of your favorite expressions in Japanese ?
今週の語彙 This week’s vocabulary
■ 先日the other day ■ 番組 a program ■ 出会い an encounter ■ しょうがない it cannot be helped,I have no option ■もったいない its a waste ■辛抱する patience, endurance ■ 母語mother tongue, mother language ■ 響き sound, reverberation ■ 現地local, actual place
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