My Initial D Japanese education...

[CerealKiller]

ok I've been watching a lot of Initial D (again) recently and I think I've picked up a few words. please correct me if I'm wrong as I do eventually want to learn Japanese properly.

ahniki - brother (I think older brother)

sugey-ah - go?

kuso - shit / damn / expletive

one other thing. When they're counting down (go, yok, san, ni, itch) i've noticed that "yok" is 4. I thought "shi" was 4? Am I wrong, or right or is there something I'm missing?

oh and you know how Mogi had a sugar daddy who gave her money? I'm told this is called "enjokosai" - is this common?

[NJR 34GTT]

4 is yon not yok.

Shi is not really used. Can't remember why.

[InspectorGadget]

sugey, proununced "Su-geeeeeh" is the new cool hip way of saying "sugoi", meaning cool or amazing. It's used by younger people. Older people still say "sugoi"

kuso, probably is pronounced "ou-saw", meaning false, or wrong. You can call someone an "ou-sot-ski" meaning 'liar'.

4 is "yon". "Shi" (also the number for 4) is rarely used because it sounds like the word for "death". This is also the reason that anything with the number 4 is not popular, and that hotel room numbers will usually miss out the 4th floor and room numbers ending in 4. Likewise with apartment buildings.

[CerealKiller]

thanks for that InspectorGadget

this is so sugeeeeeeeeeeeeh

[yukz2daizzo]

no, kuso is sh!t, they use it as an expression/swear word. uso (oo-so) is lie, they do use shi in counting sometimes, and for some numbers, for example april which is the fourth month, gatsu means month, so shi gatsu is 4 month = april.

[Intensevil]

Could someone re-educate me on the family words? I kinda forgot most of them since primary school

aniki = older brother

anaewa = older sister

imoto = younger sister

???? = younger borther

otosan = dad

okasan = mother

oiji = old dad? grandfather maybe?

obasan = old lady, grandmotther?

[DaiOni]

Teaching family words is problematic - because it depends on perspective (uchi and soto, in(side) and out(side) - a really big cultural issue which could probably be a thread in itself). In simple terms - I would call my older brother ani, and you would refer to my brother as oniisan.

from your own perspective, the most general terms are (IIRC, as I don't use them myself, obviously):

older brother = ani

younger brother = otouto

older sister = ane

younger sister = imouto

(you'll generally hear a -chan whacked on the end of these)

father = chichi/otousan

mother = haha/okaasan

grandpa = ojiisan

grandma = obaasan

uncle = oji

aunt = oba

as for swear words - it's not the same thing in japanese culture. You have to remember that western society is far more religious/rigid/uptight in that way - so taboo words have far more impact - and, conversely (strangely enough) there are far more western swear words! Kuso can have a million translations, as you may have noticed, but the direct translation is 'sh1t'.

Please don't use I.D. as a substitute for a real education. I recently had a few 21-ish year olds staying with me (anime geeks) and they had some (to me) pretty shocking brainwave patterns...

example:

*as I point out a r34 NUR * ...meh, don't like the wheels much

*as a battered panda ae86 goes past* ...wargHgHH! *splat*

[Intensevil]

lol thanks for that

[Laurence]

as for swear words - it's not the same thing in japanese culture.  You have to remember that western society is far more religious/rigid/uptight in that way - so taboo words have far more impact - and, conversely (strangely enough) there are far more western swear words!

That is strange. I don't swear very often but at one stage I said "God damn!" and the Japanese girl I was with looked horrorfied and said "That's really bad". So ummm yeah that was a bit weird.

[CerealKiller]

new word for me: ii-keeeeh does that mean something like "go"???

[DaiOni]

ike is what is known in the grammar world as 'imperative form'

in english, if iku is 'go', then ike is 'go!'

It's really abrubt, and something you'd most likely use with mates/enemies, and not in everyday conversation

Gojira: it could be that she was surprised more by the attitude, rather than the language (but, hey, there are prudes everywhere in this world). Taboo word usage is definitely more predominant/effective in western langauges