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Hello, Robin here with a no-pressure for-fun question about Japanese! Hope your day is going well!

So I'm trying to learn the version of "Daisy Bell" translated into Japanese in The Amazing Digital Circus, which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM_MRVicBO8 . I think I've mostly gotten the lyrics transcribed, but I'm stumped on just one syllable in the first line. Here's my in-progress work:

デイジ、デイジ、答えて(を/よ)くれよ狂いそうだや君えの愛でお洒落な結婚じゃないし馬車も甲斐無いけどーかわいい君と二人乗りの自転車に乗って行こう

and in romaji:

Daisy, Daisy, kotaete (o/yo) kureyo kuruisou dayo kimi e no ai de o-sharena kek’kon janaishi basho mo kainai kedo~ kawaii kimi to futari nori no jitensha ni not’te ikou

The thing I know I don't know is whether that one syllable in the first line between "kotaete" and "kureyo" is "wo" or "yo". It sounds like "wo" with the w sound elided, but I don't understand the grammatical purpose of a "o" there. It could also be a very soft "yo"? I'm not sure, and I'm having the darndest time trying to research the grammar, so I thought I'd ask you in case you'd find it fun to put in your perspective. Thanks for your time regardless!

hi robin!! thought i'd see if i could find you an answer before heading to sleep.

i took a listen (btw, that video is adorable and i should probably watch TADC soon! thank you) and this one stumped me for a bit. so 「デイジ、デイジ、答えておくれよ」 is what's being sung here.

i am not sure if it's related to either 遅れる (おくれる, to be late, behind schedule) or 贈る (おくる, to give, confer), but my money is on the latter. apparently, (~て/を)おくれよ is an old-fashioned, polite way of making a request* of someone. you would use it more or less like くれ or ください — fitting, as 'daisy bell' is an old song. for more fun: 贈れよ is an example of the imperative form (or the 命令形, めいれいけい) in classical japanese. these days you're more likely to find this verb form in song lyrics, or maybe spoken by sweet little grandmas asking you for a favor.

hope this helps!

*the title of this song can be translated into english as 'RSVP (repondez, s'il vous plait)'.

#文語 #古文 #langblr #japanese language #japanese #日本語 #japanese langblr #classical japanese #you ask i answer #聞いてくれば #答えようと思う #thank you for the well wishes too!

recently got into japanese edo era rakugo stories (imagine one guy on a pillow reading out a absurdly long joke story, complete with voice acting and spoken sound effects, all just as a 30minutesetup for a terrible pun) and found A Selection of highly creative insults.

some of the highlights, basically all meaning "numbskull":

otankonasu おたんこなす. debated etymology but one theory is an abbreviation of 炭鉱の茄子 (lit. "COAL MINE EGGPLANT.") because allegedly it's hard to sell eggplants near coal mines due to the dust, ie. a thing quite useless.

touhenboku 唐変木 (lit. "IMPORTED STRANGE TREE".)

the etymology is likely from 唐木 referring to chinese-imported wood for carving. a strangly shaped piece of wood would be impossible to carve and thus, is also quite useless.

and my favorite,

tofu no kado ni atama wo tsukete shine 豆腐の角に頭をぶつけて死ね . "go hit your head on the corner of a block of tofu and die." , sarcastically meaning "god, you're dumb enough as to find a way to get injured on the softest object imaginable"

#japanese #japaneseblr #classical japanese #linguistics #lingblr #japanese langblr #rakugo #落語

I'm allowed to say this: I think plenty of the poems that are in the Imperial Poetry Anthologies are terrible.

#japanese #japanese literature #poetry #classical japanese #japanese lit

Japanese 101: "use the right kanji to spell the word only, and if you don't know it use hiragana"

Graduate level kobun: "and here's a document that spells 難しき as 六つヶ敷"

#japanese #japanese language #classical japanese #this is a joke #but it's also true

Modern Japanese Grammar explained in a way that will hopefully make Classical Japanese less scary.

The real meat and potatoes of Classical Japanese is that conjugation table. What I want to do for you is bridge the back page of your mod...

#japanese language #japanese langblr #classical japanese #hashtag wokashi #Langblr

ライカといふ犬を思ひて天の川に仰ぎて読める

寝ぬる犬天の川にも戯れ泳ぐ

知りやはすらむ世の袖の月

This is the first waka (和歌) I have ever written, having read so many. I wrote this out of a need to figure out my feelings, after learning about Laika and her story for the first time. Here is, to my best efforts, a rough English translation, with a few translator's notes:

The sleeping dog

even in the river of heaven¹

Swims playfully

I wonder if she knows [about]

the moon in the sleeves² of all time³

1) lit. 'river of heaven' - milky way as visible in the night sky, esp. over autumn in Japan

2) this is a really weird expression but basically. sleeves are consistently a thing used for 1.) sleeping on, 2.) crying into in classical japanese poetry. so people cry into their sleeve. and thus an expression meaning like, a frozen sleeve became a thing, meaning that someone had been crying a bunch and also that it is cold, because they cried into the sleeve and the tears froze. this *then* lead to the expression of the moon (or moonlight) in one's sleeve, meaning that the moon is reflecting off the frozen sleeve. so basically it means one has been crying on a very cold night

3) This 世 has a sense of 'the past, present, and future each.'

4) Dog, to sleep, and to depart(respectfully, to die) are all homophones. Inu.

#laika #文語 #和歌 #classical japanese #sputnik 2 #november 3rd #poetry #天の川にも

祇園精舎の鐘の聲、諸行無常の響き有り。沙羅雙樹の花の色、盛者必衰の理を顯す。驕れる者も久しからず、唯春の夜の夢の如し。猛き者も遂には滅びぬ、偏に風の前の塵に同じ。

[Classical kana orthography]

ぎをんしゃうじゃのかねのこゑ、しょぎゃうむじゃうのひびきあり。さらさうじゅのはなのいろ、じゃうしゃひっすいのことわりをあらはす。おごれるものもひさしからず、たゞはるのよのゆめのごとし。たけきものもつひにはほろびぬ、ひとへにかぜのまへのちりにおなじ。

[Classical transliteration]

Giwon Syaũzya no kane no kowe, syogyaũ-muzyaũ no fibiki ari. Sara-saũzyu no fana no iro, zyaũsya-fissui no kotowari wo arafasu. Ogoreru mono mo fisasikarazu, tada faru no yo no yume no gotosi. Takeki mono mo tufi ni wa forobinu, fitofe ni kaze no mafe no tiri ni onazi.

[Modern transliteration]

Gion Shōja no kane no koe, shogyō-mujō no hibiki ari. Sara-sōju no hana no iro, jōsha-hissui no kotowari wo arawasu. Ogoreru mono mo hisashikarazu, tada haru no yo no yume no gotoshi. Takeki mono mo tsui ni wa horobinu, hitoe ni kaze no mae no chiri ni onaji.

[Translation]

The ringing of the Jetavana Monastery bells echoeth the unlastingness of all deeds. The hue of the teak tree blossoms unfoldeth the truth that they who fluorish must fall. E’en the proud linger not, they are but a dream on a spring night; e’en the mighty perish at last, they are as dust before the wind.

——平家物語 Heike Monogatari (The Tale of the Heike)

#quote #epic #the tale of the heike #heike monogatari #平家物語 #japanese literature #日本文学 #classical japanese #古典日本語 #war tale #軍記物語 #sīc trānsit glōria mundī #sic transit gloria mundi #thus passeth the glory of the world #盛者必衰實者必虛 #jōsha-hissui jissha-hikkyo #the prosperous inevitably decline; the full inevitably empty

How to speak like Lopmon from Tamers

In Tamers, unlike most other characters, Lopmon's speech is sprinkled with classical Japanese. Thanks to that, I'm nowhere near fluent in Japanese yet can describe some classical Japanese grammar, just because I wanted to understand what Lopmon says. ┐(´ー｀)┌

(Disclaimer: I'm not proficient in classical Japanese, but I do know basic stuff about it)

Today's topic is:

Pronouns

For the first person pronoun (I), Instead of watashi (私) or boku (僕), Lopmon uses ware (我) to refer to himself. It's obsolete now in modern Japanese.

我はいつもとなりにいると忘れることなかれ

ware wa itsumo tonari ni iru to, wasureru koto nakare

Forget not that I am always by thy side

~ Lopmon, Hitori ni Sasenai

Once Lopmon becomes Shiuchon's partner, she tries to make him use boku instead so you'll see him switching back and forth between it and ware.

For the plural version, for some reason Lopmon uses wareratachi (我らたち). That's ware plus two plural suffixes, -ra and -tachi, both present in modern Japanese. Granted this probably only happens in his song and I haven't watched Tamers for a long time, so maybe he doesn't use this in the anime.

出逢ったこの路で、旅始める我らたち

deatta kono michi de, tabi hajimeru wareratachi

On this road we met, we who are beginning our journey

~ Lopmon, Hitori ni Sasenai

And that's for first person.

For the second person pronoun (you), Lopmon uses nanji (汝).

争うこの痛み耐え忍ぶ汝を

arasou kono itami taeshinobu nanji wo

Thou who patiently put up with this contending pain

~ Lopmon, Hitotsu no Kimochi

I'm not sure when he switched from nanji to kimi (君) which he used in Hitori ni Sasenai, such as the example below.

小さき君のこと迷うのがオチ

chiisaki kimi no koto mayou no ga ochi

small as you are, you will only get lost

~ Lopmon, Hitori ni Sasenai

And that's the end of it, at least for pronoun usage. I'm not sure if this will be particularly helpful to anyone, but it's still interesting. I believe all Deva have their own unique way of speaking as well. I'd have to rewatch Tamers again to confirm for myself.

Have a nice day!