For beginners of a certain language, there are many different ways to learn it. I suppose the most common methods are studying grammar with a textbook, using something like Duolingo, and so on. Then, once you become an intermediate learner, you naturally start wanting to see the language being used in real life. Yes, I mean surfing the internet.

However, when intermediate learners try to make sense of the real language they find online, I think many of them have experienced situations where questions like these remain unanswered:

"Why did they use this word when it doesn't seem to make sense in this context?"

"What words did the speaker leave out in this sentence?"

"This isn't in the dictionary, so is it slang? A trendy expression? Or did the speaker just make it up?"

Whenever I translate American songs, I run into pretty much all of these problems. Sometimes, I ask a few questions to a native speaker, and only after hearing him say something like, "Maybe they used it to mean something like this?" can I finally understand what the speaker was actually trying to say.

Yes, once you become an intermediate language learner, there inevitably comes a moment when you really want a lecture from a native speaker.

Anyway, changing the subject a little, one of my favorite anime, Chainsmoker Cat (Japanese: ヤニねこ, Hepburn: Yanineko), recently came to an end. The official Yanineko channel has uploaded a large number of clips from the anime as YouTube Shorts, and in this article, I would like to try adding some explanations, as a native Japanese speaker, to the "real Japanese" used in those clips.

So, this article will probably only be interesting to Japanese learners, particularly beginners and intermediate learners. Still, I hope you will watch this little experiment unfold.

In this article, I have included simple English translations of the dialogue, but the purpose of this article is not to explain every piece of Japanese text, and you do not need to understand all of the Japanese text to enjoy it. Instead, for each video, I will pick out a Japanese-language topic that I personally found interesting and would like to talk about, and I hope it will give you a chance to think about the strange language that is Japanese.

That said, if you are a Japanese learner and have questions about other Japanese text, or about Japanese in clips that are not covered in this article, I would be very happy if you let me know. I would love to answer them.

And, as usual, I wrote the entire article in Japanese first, and then had ChatGPT translate it into English. I have carefully discussed the translation with her to make sure it is as accurate as possible, but if you notice anything unclear, or any mistakes in the English or the logic, please feel free to let me know.

1. 風邪を引く (kaze o hiku; to catch a cold)

Kansai: "Ohh, you're Imoko, aren't you?"

Imoko: "Oh, hello, Kansai. Thank you for always taking care of my sister."

Kansai: "Well, aren't you polite? Are you really her little sister?"

Shunran: "What are you doing?"

Imoko: "Apparently my sister caught a cold... I'm here to buy a protective suit."

Kansai: "Ohh, so that's why you came all the way over here. Still, I never thought she would catch a cold."

Imoko: "She's actually been quite prone to catching colds since she was little. She'll suddenly eat fifty ice creams, or run straight into the snow wearing hardly any clothes, and I'm the one who has to take care of her every time."

Kansai: "You've had a hard time, huh?"

Imoko: "Seriously. It's a lot."

Kansai: "It must be a pain coming all the way here, right? If you'd called me, I could've taken care of her for you."

Imoko: "Thank you. But I'm the one who understands my sister best, so I think it would be best if I took care of her myself."

Kansai & Shunran: "Aww, she's so adorable!"

Kansai: "Why don't you become my daughter?"

Imoko: "W-what?"

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This scene takes place when Imoko (the gray-haired girl), the younger sister of Yanineko, comes across the Kansai siblings, who are friends of Yanineko. After hearing that her sister has caught a cold, Imoko has come to buy a protective suit that she apparently needs in order to enter her sister's room. (Nobody ever explains why)

First of all, if you felt that the Japanese spoken by the brown-haired cat-eared woman in her twenties was difficult to understand, you are very perceptive. She is not speaking Standard Japanese, but Kansai-ben (Kansai dialect), a dialect spoken mainly in and around Osaka in western Japan. So, at least at first, you probably don't need to take her intonation and choice of words too seriously when studying Japanese.

Around the middle of the conversation, you may have noticed the word 風邪 (kaze; cold) appearing several times.

風邪 (kaze; cold) - Wiktionary

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%A2%A8%E9%82%AA#Japanese

In Japanese, "to catch a cold" is 風邪を引く (kaze o hiku). The combination of 風邪 (kaze; cold) and 引く (hiku; to pull) is an idiomatic expression, and in the vast majority of cases, these two words are used together in this sense, so it may be useful to remember them as a pair.

In this conversation, you can see it used in expressions such as お姉ちゃんが風邪ひいちゃった (oneechan ga kaze hiichatta; my sister caught a cold) and アレが風邪ひくなんてなぁ (are ga kaze hiku nante naa; I never thought she'd catch a cold).

Also, in both examples, the particle を (o) has been omitted. This kind of omission is common in modern spoken Japanese, and it can give the sentence a somewhat casual and light feeling. It also helps convey that the two people have a relatively close relationship.

Onomatopoeia

Aruko: "Pour some random whiskey into a medium-sized beer mug, about halfway, dobo-dobo~. As much gum syrup as you like~. Lemon juice, pyu-pyu~. Tap water, doba~. Done~. What do you think?"

Yaniko: "Meh! Nya!"

Aruko: "That's harsh~"

Yaniko: "It would be a waste, so I'll drink it all, nya."

Aruko: "So environmentally friendly~"

Yaniko: "Nya? ...I'm starting to feel kind of fuzzy."

Aruko: "Hehe. The taste of alcohol is just a bonus to me. It's merely a runway for reaching euphoria."

Yaniko: "I'm gonna lie down for a bit, nya."

Aruko: "Hmm~ I think I'll wrap myself up in the curtain of happiness soon, too~..."

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This is a scene where Aruko, an alcoholic, demonstrates how to make her special drink and serves it to her friend Yaniko.

Japanese uses onomatopoeic expressions more frequently than English does. In scenes where a character who looks young, like her (although apparently she is an adult), speaks in a childish way, onomatopoeia can sometimes be used almost like verbs, as you can see here.

There are also adult Japanese people who use a lot of onomatopoeia. However, onomatopoeia has a somewhat childish sound to it, and unlike ordinary verbs, its meaning can depend heavily on what kinds of situations you have heard that particular onomatopoeia used in before. Because of this, there is a practical risk that it may not be understood correctly depending on the situation.

For this reason, onomatopoeia is still relatively uncommon in business and other formal situations in Japan. (Apparently, Korean speakers use onomatopoeia even in business and formal situations, but I know absolutely nothing about Korean, so I can't say much about that.)

ドボドボ～ (dobo-dobo~), used for the whiskey, and ドバ～ (doba~), used for the tap water, both describe a liquid being poured with some force. There is hardly any difference between the two, and I don't think she herself is making a very deliberate distinction between them.

If I had to put the difference into words, I would say that ドボドボ (dobo-dobo) gives me the impression of liquid being poured from a bottle in a somewhat uneven, surging flow, while ドバ (doba) gives me the impression of a continuous and steady stream of water. But this is just my personal impression.

The lemon juice is described as ぴゅっぴゅ～ (pyu-pyu). This onomatopoeia is often used for a situation where a small amount of liquid is nevertheless shot out into a cup or some other container with some force. However, precisely because of this particular quality, if you say ぴゅっぴゅ (pyu-pyu) by itself, without any context, around 60% of native Japanese speakers will probably imagine a different kind of liquid being shot out. So, you might want to be a little careful about using this one in everyday conversation.

欲 (yoku; desire)

Penpen: "Yanineko, they say human history began with appetite. Then there's material desire, sexual desire, the desire for power... I could go on forever, but what all these desires have in common is that they have always served as triggers for conflict. The reason I live the way I do is because I want to prove that humanity is capable of resisting these sweet but dangerous desires. Look. If you continue living without desire, eventually nothing can disturb your heart anymore. I recommend that you, too, let go of your attachments, Yanineko. You can always eat a frog later."

Yanineko: "I don't catch frogs because I want to eat them, nya... Nya?"

Reporter: "The Nyagami River is in chaos as well! The raging current is carrying away all kinds of things!"

Penpen: "Hehe, how unfortunate. This person must be doing this job because she can't give up her material desires either... Hmm? The Nyagami River?"

Yanineko: "That's where you live, nya."

Penpen: "Uooooooh!"

Reporter: "Whoa~! Looks like some rather large trash is being carried away. Domburako~. And now, it's time for 'Today's Kitty.' Back to you in the studio!"

Penpen: "My tent!!"

Reporter: "It's dangerous, so get away from there!"

Penpen: "My tent!!"

Reporter: "Somebody help!"

Penpen: "My hoooooome!!"

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The girl who looks like a knockoff version of Snufkin from the Moomin series is called Penpen. She had been living in a tent along the Nyagami River for some time, but, as you can see, she seems to have lost her home due to the circumstances shown here.

In Japanese, all kinds of human desires can be expressed using the pattern ○○欲 (-yoku; desire for ○○). For example, the three basic human desires are 食欲 (shoku-yoku; appetite), 性欲 (sei-yoku; sexual desire), and 睡眠欲 (suimin-yoku; desire for sleep), while there are also words such as 物欲 (butsu-yoku; desire for material possessions) and 支配欲 (shihai-yoku; desire for power/control).

欲 (yoku; desire) - Wiktionary

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%AC%B2#Japanese

This might be a useful pattern to remember, although, to be fair, 食欲 (shokuyoku) and 物欲 (butsuyoku) are probably about the only ones you're likely to use in everyday conversation.

There are exceptions, though. For example, 承認欲求 (shōnin yokkyū; desire for approval/recognition) is a very common expression in modern Japanese, especially in the age of social media.

欲求 (yokkyū; desire/urge) - Wiktionary

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%AC%B2%E6%B1%82#Japanese

There is no major difference in meaning between 欲 (yoku) and 欲求 (yokkyū), but if I had to put the difference into words, 欲 has a more everyday, conversational feel, while 欲求 sounds more academic, clinical, or psychological.

The expression 承認欲求 (shōnin yokkyū) also originally comes from Maslow's hierarchy of needs, so this more formal-sounding expression ended up becoming established in everyday Japanese in essentially this form.

Japanese has also had terms such as ADHD and ASD established for quite some time now, and I suspect they probably became established through a similar process.

This has nothing to do with the main topic, but Penpen and Aruko, who appeared in the previous video, are both girls who use 僕 (boku) as their first-person pronoun. Some of you who have studied Japanese may already know that Japanese has an enormous number of personal pronouns, compared with English words such as "I," "you," and "they." 僕 (boku), however, is normally a first-person pronoun used by boys to refer to themselves. Nevertheless, there are characters like these in this series who are girls but use 僕 (boku). The reasons why they use 僕 vary from character to character, and explaining them precisely is so difficult that I think it is almost impossible to give a strict rule for it.

For now, it might be enough to simply remember that sometimes, this happens. Keeping that in mind may save you from getting unnecessarily confused while learning Japanese.

煙草を吸う (tabako o suu; to smoke a cigarette)

Waiter: "Please take your time."

Shizue: "Ahh~. I can finally have a smoke. It's so hard to find places where you can smoke these days~. But my daughter Imoko is going on her school trip to Kyoto starting today... And I can smoke at home while she's gone, too. This is the best~"

Waiter: "Excuse me, ma'am..."

Shizue: "Hmm?"

Waiter: "Our smoking area only allows electronic cigarettes..."

Shizue: "Pipi, pipo-pipopo, popi."

Waiter: "Ma'am!?"

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This is a scene where Shizue, a middle-aged woman who loves smoking, is enjoying the time while her daughter, who hates smoking, is away on a school trip. In Japan, it is currently difficult to smoke in most coffee shops and cafes, but Shizue seems to have been lucky enough to find a place where smoking is allowed.

In Japanese, "to smoke a cigarette" is expressed as タバコを吸う (tabako o suu), literally タバコ (tabako; cigarette) + を (o; object marker) + 吸う (suu; to suck). 吸う (suu) is a word that means "to suck," but it is also very commonly used together with 煙草 (tabako; cigarette). While English focuses on producing or inhaling smoke when describing the act of smoking, Japanese interestingly focuses on the act of sucking it into your mouth.

Shizue says タバコが吸えるお店 (tabako ga sueru omise; a place where you can smoke cigarettes), but some of you who have studied Japanese may have found this sentence confusing. The reason is that が (ga) is usually taught as a particle that comes after the subject.

が (ga) - Wiktionary

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%8C#Particle

However, this explanation is somewhat inaccurate. One Japanese linguist defines が (ga) as a particle that emphasizes something as the center of attention, and I find this explanation particularly easy to understand.

In this case, the grammatically straightforward expression would be タバコを吸えるお店 (tabako o sueru omise; a place where you can smoke cigarettes), treating タバコ (tabako; cigarette) as the object of 吸える (sueru; can smoke).

However, in a casual context like this, when the speaker wants to put タバコ (tabako; cigarette) at the center of attention, an expression such as タバコが吸えるお店 (tabako ga sueru omise) can be used instead.

It is somewhat questionable from a strictly grammatical point of view, so it can still have a slightly childish sound to a native speaker. However, expressions like this have become so well established in modern Japanese that, unless you consciously think about the grammar, they don't necessarily sound particularly strange anymore.

That concludes this article. Thank you very much for reading all the way to the end.

By the way, one of the personality traits that makes my life more difficult is that I have a tendency to want to do things that are completely meaningless. Just the other day, for example, I tried translating into Japanese, in my own way, a statement by mathematicians who are concerned about the contributions AI might make to the Millennium Prize Problem concerning the Navier-Stokes equations.

https://mathandai.org/

While working on this amateur translation, I came across expressions that I could understand in English but could not turn into Japanese, as well as expressions that are well-known in English but for which I could not think of a Japanese translation.

At first, I searched for individual words on Google. Before long, I was putting entire sentences into Google Search and translating them while peeking at advice that happened to fall from AI. Looking back at myself doing this, I found myself wondering, "Have I really become unable to translate even a single English sentence properly without AI?"

However, just as there is a health practice where people deliberately choose not to eat something precisely because they live in an age when they can eat whatever they want, I feel that deliberately learning English by myself in an age when I can have anything translated for me is still one of the few valuable experiences that allows me to feel that I am in control of my own time.

Perhaps as a result of this, I have also started reading many more paper books, which I normally would not have picked up. I have no idea how long this habit of "going against the times" will continue, but as long as I can still feel the benefits of these activities, I would like to stubbornly keep doing them.