Brave Kobun pupils! I’m going to take you further into the woods of Classical Japanese with verbs. Remember, Kobun is very different from Modern Japanese, and, as such, you’ll see new and unfamiliar features. In starting with verbs, I’m being biased and deliberate. It’s my opinion that verbs are top priority in a Kobun education because:

• Classical Japanese, like Modern, can omit the subject.
• Again like Modern, adjectives work like light verbs.
• Verbs take longer to look up and identify accurately than nouns, particles, etc.

Seriously – it’s a long process to decode verbs. I’ll describe an approach each for the short-term and long-term Kobun students. Both approaches involve puzzling a verb’s meaning by 1) establishing what kind of verb you’re dealing with and 2) looking at what shape it’s in.

The Short-term Approach

Photo by Anu & Anant

If you’ve never used Rikaichan, check it out. Rikaichan is an app that doles out meaning and readings for unfamiliar Japanese words and kanji if you hover your mouse over in-browser text. The short-term approach to Kobun verbs is equivalent to using Rikaichan on a news article: unless you’re really pro at Japanese, you won’t mentally store all the new words and characters Rikaichan breaks down for you, but you can read and comprehend the news article. This kind of approach is about understanding a text you have time to sit with but don’t expect to quote or write commentary about.

Let’s start with this line, the first in Taketori Monogatari:

いまは昔、竹取の翁といふもの有りけり。

Here’s the non-verb stuff in the sentence :

• いまは昔 (mukashi): now (subject) an ancient time
• 竹取 (take-tori): bamboo-lumberjack (AKA “bamboo wood-cutter”)
• の翁 (ou)といふもの: an old person/man.

といふもの is technically a verb phrase. I’m ignoring it because it has carried on into modern Japanese as というもの. That leaves just one verb phrase to decypher: 有りけり(arikeri).

Given this information, I want you to spend a moment searching around in a kogo-jiten for what you think 有りけり means. Don’t look up translations. Honestly look to see if you can analyze 有りけり the way you could “食べました”, which is [“eat” + past + polite + affirmative + end of a sentence]. Did you give it your best shot? I hope so. Here’s what I do:

Step 1: ID the Verb

First, we’ll need to figure out what kind of verb we’re looking at. Find the verb in a kogo-jiten. 「有りけり」 as a whole doesn’t get results. However, breaking it up into「有り」and 「けり」gives us results. Here’s 有り.

The top orange box outlines the verb type: 有り is a ra-gyou henkaku (“ra-sound irregular”) verb. The second box encapsulates the most common meaning: “to exist”, “to be”, etc. But wait — do you see the sample usage they provide? I’ve underlined it: it’s the sentence we’re trying to translate! We’ve definitely ID’d the right 有り. As for けり…

In the previous search, we could tell that what we’d found was a verb because 自動詞 (jidoushi; “transitive verb”) was written before ラ行変格 (the verb type). But here the Kogo-jiten entry lists けり as 「助動詞 (jodoushi)」, which means “helper verb”. Jodoushi won’t appear on their own but, instead, always connect to something else.

The orange box in the screencap outlines that this 助動詞 is used to create a past tense verb. So, this けり is like the “-ed” in English “highlighted” and the “た” in Modern Japanese “食べた”. Again, underlined in orange, the example provided is the very sentence we’re translating! For other verbs, though, you won’t be as lucky.

Pretend the sentence they provided wasn’t the exact one we’re looking at now. Two other search results appeared for “けり”: one is a verb (not a helper verb) that means “to come along” and the other is a verb for “to be wearing”. How do you know which is the right one? Mostly from meaning and context. While it’s definitely possible to see verbs chained together, “live” (verb) + “past tense” (helper verb) makes more sense here than “live” + “came along/comes along”or “live” + is “wearing”, especially after looking at the next step.

Step 2: Listen to the Verb

The next step: identify what form, or 形 (~kei) the verb is in. I’ve translated another part of the entry for けり in that screencap: “Attaches to an inflecting word in the Renyoukei”. If this けり attaches to a Renyoukei verb, we need to check if 有り is in the Renyoukei or not. Then we’ll know for sure which of the three けり’s is in this sentence. Ugh, homophones.

To check which “form” the verb is in (Renyoukei, etc.), think about the last sound in 「有り」 and check this chart:

This chart was made by Anthony Stewart. The original chart has more cool things and is available here.

Using the charts is like playing Battleship. The verb types are the x-axis points which intersect with sound-based forms on the y-axis. As the chart lists, 有り, a ラ行変格 verb, could appear as -あら, -あり, -ある, or -あれ. The form in our sentence ends in -り, which means we either have the Renyoukei or the Shuushikei.

Renyoukei is a connective form, like the Modern Japanese pre-masu stem. Shuushikei is a form that marks the end of a sentence, like how “-ました” in modern Japanese always comes at the end of a sentence and never in the middle. 有り doesn’t end the sentence, so it’s not in the Shuushikei. Plus, 有り is connected to something, which means it’s the Renyoukei 「あり」. We were right with our context judgement: the right けり is the past tense helper verb. けり also happens to be in the Shuushikei, the sentence-ending form, so all the pieces line up.

It’s helpful to know what all of those y-axis forms mean. But an in-depth knowledge of those verb forms isn’t necessary in the short-term approach since you can just look them up.

If you put the pieces together [“live” or “exist” + past tense + end of sentence], it becomes clear what 有りけり as a whole means. Kafka-fuura skillfully translates this sentence as: “In a time now long past, there was an old man who was a bamboo cutter.”

You might be getting curious about some patterns. Could 有り sit on its own in the Renyoukei? While using the short-term approach, don’t fill your head with such stuff. Just look things up until they make sense. Eventually, some patterns will settle in your memory, and that’s great, but memorizing patterns isn’t the aim. The aim is to give you a process for sporadic Kobun dealings. That said, the short-term approach only works if you have time to sit with a Classical sentence and some dictionaries and charts.

The Long-term Approach

The short term method will hold back folks who really want to learn the lingo of the ancients. So, I’ve made the above flow chart for your referencing pleasure. Short-term and long-term students can benefit from the chart, but long-term learners should know it thoroughly.

To read more than the first couple pages of one Classical Japanese text, it’s more efficient to have verb types steadily memorized on the front end of your learning journey.

Actually, that’s how my Latin education was; we learned verb conjugations and noun declensions while reading increasingly difficult sentences at a slow pace. At first I was reading “In the picture is a Roman girl named Flavia”, but by the end of the year, I could eek out a paragraph from the eloquent Cicero. If I had had a prior knowledge of Italian, my reading comprehension probably wouldn’t have taken me a year, though, because of common vocabulary and roots. So if you have a functional grasp of modern Japanese (and motivation!), it won’t take you a year to teach yourself what’s necessary to read Kobun.

Step 1: Know Thine Verb Types

As I briefly pointed out earlier, Kobun verbs come in different types. Think of them as flavors. Things that are watermelon flavored just get called some variety of “watermelon-flavored”, right? Verb type names aren’t misleading. For example, 四段 (yo-dan) verbs are called “quadrigrade” because they conjugate into four different vowel endings. 知る is a 四段 verb, and conjugates as outlined in orange:

The vowels あ、い、う、and え added together make four grades of sound, see? Hence 四 (“four”) 段 (“grades” or “steps”).

The other eight verb types are: 上一段 (kami-ichi), 上二段 (kami-ni), 下一段 (shimo-ichi), 下二段 (shimo-ni), and the irregular ナ行変格 (na) , ラ行変格 (ra), カ行変格 (ka), and サ行変格 (sa-gyou henkaku) verbs. For the first four, see the next image. The last four conjugate mostly as 四段 verbs, but with irregularities you can reference in a traditional chart.

Ichi-dan = one vowel in the Katsuyou. Kami = ‘upper’ vowel (almost always い). Shimo = ‘lower’ vowel (え). Ni-dan = either upper or lower vowel plus the median う.

My favorite author on Classical Japanese, Vovin, actually boils those verb categories down to just three: verbs with a vowel stuck at the end of the root (like mi-, “see”), verbs stuck with a consonant at the end (shin-, “die), and irregular verbs.

Step 2: Know Thy Charts

Photo by Linus Bohman

There are a variety of charts out there, but they’re all basically the same x/y-axis combo between verb types and forms. Hard-core classicists probably have, either intentionally or over time, memorized which sounds correspond to which verb forms.

Personally, I don’t think you need to have the sounds memorized. It would suffice to just be really familiar with the form boxes and what they represent:

• 未然形　Mizenkei: Imperfective, but not really, since it usually tags an action that has not yet begun. Connects often to form the negative.
• 連用形　Renyoukei: Stem form, like pre-ます.
• 終止形　Shuushikei: Sentence ender.
• 連体形　Rentaikei: Attributive. Modifies other parts of sentence, like 「かかる人…」, “such a person…”. Can also make gerunds and participials. Sometimes, this ends a sentence.
• 已然形　Izenkei: Perfective. Action started or completed.
• 命令形　Meireikei: Command form. Usually on its own and at the end of a sentence.

These forms are what I’m personally trying to memorize and understand, especially since I am now noticing Kobun forms in Japanese media a lot more. It’s easy for me to notice and remember things like “けり”, but not as easy to translate, say, a folk song as I hear it.

All Roads Lead to Rome

No matter which interest group you fall in for Classical Japanese, both translation approaches I’ve described emphasize looking at these four parts of verbs:

If you wish I’d provided more examples, check out the cool stuff below — especially the source with quizzes. Deciphering Kobun is a strategic process that takes practice (and time) to get right. If you have any questions, please say something in the comments section. The sources I’ve been using are have more fun tidbits than I have space in this article to fully explore (after all, they are books on the subject). Ditto for comments or criticisms: I want to hear your take on Kobun verbs, especially if you are learning it in class or on your own!

Cool Stuff

• Classical readings with multiple-choice quizzes (Japanese)
• Anthony Bryant’s page for verbs (English)
• Various Kobun readings (Japanese)
• Fill-in-yourself practice conjugation charts (Japanese)
• Wikimedia book for Kobun verbs, oriented with verb type on the y-axis (Japanese)

Sources

• Barczikay, Zoltan. “Classical Japanese Grammar: Japanese verbs”.
• Stewart, Anthony. “Bungo Nyuumon”, Paradigm Chart & Verbs.
• Kafka-Fuura. “竹取物語ー「かぐや姫の生い立ち」”Taketori Monogatari” – The Birth of The Shining Princess”
• Shirane, Haruo. Classical Japanese: A Grammar. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. p. 24, 44.
• Vovin, Alexander. A Reference Grammar of Classical Japanese Prose. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. p. 163- 172, 213.

In reality, Japan, like any other nation, is an ocean of diversity, home to multiple minority groups. One of these groups is Japan’s indigenous people, or the Ainu. Don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of the Ainu. In fact, many Japanese themselves are unaware of the existence of their own country’s indigenous people.

But why? For hundreds of years, the Ainu have been either ignored, discriminated against, or forced to assimilate with mainstream Japanese culture. Obviously, none of these circumstances are favorable for propagating cultural stability or awareness. And unfortunately, this has led the Ainu language and culture to the brink of extinction.

However, with the government’s (long awaited) official recognition of the Ainu as Japan’s indigenous people in 2008, it appears that there has been a revival of Ainu pride among the few Ainu that remain, as they desperately try to preserve what culture they have left. Here, I hope to outline some of the most important aspects of the Ainu language and briefly touch upon the culture in hopes to bring light to one facet of Japan’s diversity.

The Origins of the Ainu

The Ainu people are historically residents of parts of Hokkaido (the Northern island of Japan) the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin. According to the government, there are currently 25,000 Ainu living in Japan, but other sources claim there are up to 200,000. The origin of the Ainu people and language is, for the most part, unknown. However, there have been many theories on the subject.

One theory suggests that the Ainu people are remnants of the Jomon-jin, or the hunter-gathers who inhabited Japan during the Jomon Period (14,500 BC – 300 AD) and perhaps even before. Around the year 300 AD, another group of immigrants known as the Yayoi people made their way to the islands of Japan, introducing new agricultural techniques and technology and integrating with the Jomon people. It is believed that the Yayoi group may not have reached as far as the Northern island of Hokkaido, allowing the Jomon hunter-gatherer way of life to survive in that area.

The model of a Jomon period boy

One Ainu myth claims that “They lived in this place a hundred thousand years before the Children of the Sun came.” It’s interesting that this myth seems consistent with the theory of the Ainu descending from Jomon-jin. More recent research suggests that the historical Ainu culture could have come about through the merging of the Okhotsk culture and the Sastumon, a Jomon group very similar to the Ainu.

Physically, the Ainu stand out distinctly from the Japanese as a separate ethnic group. Ainu people tend to have light skin, a stout frame, deep-set eyes with a European shape, and thick, wavy hair. Full-blooded Ainu may have even had blue eyes or brown hair. In the past, the Ainu were proposed to be of Caucasian decent, given their appearance, but recently it has been proved through dental morphology and fingerprinting that the Ainu are in fact Mongoloid, not Caucasoid.

An old Ainu man

These days, the concept of a pure Ainu is very blurred. Distinguishing the Ainu from other Japanese is almost impossible due to intermarriage with the Japanese, migration, and denial of the Ainu identity to avoid discrimination.

Ainu Culture

You can see just by the appearance of the Ainu that traditional Ainu culture is significantly different from Japanese culture. First of all, both men and women keep their hair at shoulder length and wear traditional Ainu garb. Men, never shaving after a certain age, usually have full beards, and women undergo mouth tattooing to signify their coming to adulthood.

As hunter-gatherers, the Ainu lived off of the land. Common foods included deer, bear, rabbit, fox, salmon, root vegetables, and much more. Unlike the Japanese, the Ainu always cooked their food, never eating anything raw. Common hunting weapons included poisoned spears and bow and arrows.

One way that the Ainu were similar to the Japanese is in the way of religion. The Ainu, just like the Japanese people, were animists and believed that all things are inhabited by spirits known as kamuy. While there are many gods in Ainu belief, one of the most important is known as Kim-un Kamuy, or the god of bears and the mountains. All animals are thought to be the manifestations of gods on Earth in Ainu culture, however, the bear is believed to be the head of gods and is therefore known as kamuy, or “God.”

Traditionally, the Ainu sacrificed bears in order to release the kamuy within them to the spirit world. One tradition, called lotame, involves the raising of a young bear cub as if it were an Ainu child and then sacrificing once it has come of age.

a tourist with two Ainu people and a bear

During the Tokugawa Period (1600-1868) the Ainu became increasing involved in trade with the Japanese. At this time, they were able to maintain their culture and way of life to a certain extent, although there is some evidence that the Ainu became slaves.

However, the Meiji restoration brought great change upon the Ainu people in 1899. As Japan began reforming to Western standards, the government decided to unify Japan by annexing the Northern island of Hokkaido and creating a law that restricted the Ainu from participating in their own cultural activities. In other words, the Ainu people were stripped of their land, customs, and language in hopes that they would assimilate to Japanese culture. It wasn’t until 1997 that this law was lifted and the Ainu people were allowed to practice their own customs again, but by that time, much of the damage was done.

The Ainu Language: Something Unique

The indigenous language of Japan is, much like the Ainu people, of unknown origins. With the restrictions placed on the use of the language in 1899, Ainu speakers have all but disappeared. Today the language is said to have less than 15 “native” speakers, all of which are above he age of 60, making Ainu a “critically endangered” language. Originally, the Ainu language had three main dialects: Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Kuril. However, the Hokkaido dialect is the only one that survives today.

One interesting point about Ainu is that it does not have a written form. The language has lived by being passed down from parent to child for countless years and has historically been transcribed using Japanese kana. The lack of a writing system has of course hindered the ability of the Ainu to preserve their language after it was banned, and the use of Japanese kana has even influenced some Ainu pronunciations. Even so, the language has been able to live in the tradition of Ainu story telling, or Yukar, the language of which is mutually understood by all Ainu groups and is known as Classical Ainu.

Here is an example of a Yukar, or epic story, using Classical Ainu:

In the past, there have been many attempts to place Ainu and Japanese in the same language group, but such claims have been shot down again and again. As of now, there is no widely accepted theory regarding the relationship of Ainu to any other language and it is therefore known as a language isolate.

If you look closely at Japanese and Ainu, it is tempting to conclude the two languages are related, however, there are four features of Ainu that mark it as distinctly different from Japanese:

1. Person is marked on predicates (person is expressed in predicates)
2. Ainu is a polysynthetic language (ideas my be expressed through “sentence words”)
3. There are no verbal inflections (verbs are not changed to express tense)
4. There are verbal suffixes for plurals (plural forms are expressed in verbs)

One of the most prominent features of Ainu is the fact that it is a polysynthetic language. In other words, Ainu is a language in which main ideas are expressed through words composed of smaller word parts with individual meanings, also known as “sentence words”. A basic example of this would be the Ainu word ku-pirka, meaning “I am good.” A more extreme example would be the Yupik word tuntussuqatarniksaitengqiggtuq which means “He had not yet said again that he was going to hunt reindeer.” Interestingly enough, the polysyntheitic nature of Ainu is very similar to the languages of many North American indigenous groups.

So what does Ainu sound like? To the untrained ear, Ainu might sound a lot like Japanese. Just like Japanese, the Ainu language is an SOV (subject, object, verb) language using the five vowels a, i, u, e, and o. However, Ainu only has twelve consonants, excluding d, b, g from Japanese, and vowels are never elongated. In fact, Ainu does not differentiate between several consonants, such as b and p, and in this way it is more similar to Korean.  Another way in which Ainu is significantly different from modern Japanese is that it avoids vowel sequences. In order to avoid vowels “touching,” semi-vowels such as y or w are inserted between them. Sometimes vowels are even pronounced more like consonants, such as in the word Ainu where the “a” is pronounced with a glottal stop.

If you want to hear recordings of the Ainu language or learn some for yourself, check out this great Ainu talking dictionary.

Revitalizing Indigenous Spirit

For nearly 100 years the Ainu people lived in Japan under a policy of extinction by assimilation. They were forbidden by the Japanese government to practice Ainu customs or even speak their own language in hopes that the Ainu would vanish from the face of the planet, but did they succeed? With so few Ainu speakers left and many Ainu denying their own heritage to avoid discrimination, you might say so, but things seem to be looking up lately for Japan’s indigenous people.

The year 1994 marked a great turning point for the Ainu people, as the first ever Ainu, Shigeru Kayano, entered the Japanese diet. Shigeru dedicated his life to promoting the well-being and awareness of the Ainu people. It was thanks to him as well as other supporters that the law forbidding Ainu culture was lifted in 1997. Since then, government funding and cultural freedom has allowed the Ainu people to start regaining and preserving their precious way of life through Ainu language courses, radio stations, and public performances.

Below is a woman playing the tonkori, a traditional Ainu instrument:

Still more recent landmarks in Ainu history include the official recognition of the Ainu as the indigenous people of Japan in 2008 and the formation of the Ainu political party in 2012. It seems that while there is still some discrimination of the Ainu people, those who rejected their heritage before are beginning to admit it openly or even embrace their identity with pride.  A great example of this is the band known as The Ainu Rebels. This band is a group of proud young Ainu who have mixed hip-hop and traditional Ainu music, and I have to say, I’m a fan.

Although the Ainu culture is on the brink of extinction, it seems that more and more effort is going into bringing it back to life. These days, young Ainu such as The Ainu Rebels are doing their best to create a new identity for their people and a Japan more open to minorities. Since the depth of the Ainu culture and language can’t be expressed in so few words, I recommend reading more about them or, if possible, experiencing Ainu culture for yourself.

Here, let me paint a picture for you.

A crisp autumn morning, salarymen heading toward their places of work pace past you; a group of school boys loiter around the sidewalk, cackling at something unknown; a women meanders around you on her bike when – oops! – you notice her wallet drop. “Sumimasen!” you yell, scooping up the wallet and running after her. “Sumimasen!” The woman’s brakes screech to a stop as she finally hears you, and she turns slightly to see what the commotion is about. “Ah! Sumimasen!” she exclaims as you reach her, wallet in hand.

If we were to translate the word “sumimasen” in the above situation into English, we could say that the best interpretation of the first use of the word, when you try to get the attention of the women, is “Excuse me!” However, the second use of the word, when the women receives her wallet, might be better translated as “Thank you.”

If you’ve been to Japan before then I’m sure you’ve realized that sumimasen is one of those words that you just can’t help but notice. Sumimasen, also often pronounced suimasen or sumasen when speaking, is one of the first words learners of Japanese pick up not only because it’s taught early on, but because it’s used so often and in so many situations.

Although most students of Japanese learn the word sumimasen as “excuse me” or “I’m sorry,” this versatile expression is laden with cultural background and can actually carry many subtle shades of meaning when thrown into the various contexts of Japanese interaction.

So why is sumimasen used so often and what does it actually mean? Well, several linguists have asked themselves that very same question and tried to answer it. I’m going to try my best to summarize some of their findings and describe the uses of sumimasen, an expression so important to the Japanese language and culture.

Sumimasen: What it is?

So, let’s get nerdy for a second (ok, for a while) and start off by asking ourselves one thing: what is sumimasen? From a sociolinguistics perspective, as you might guess from hearing the word so often in daily interactions, sumimasen is a ritual expression. In other words, the repeated use of sumimasen is often times more of a social routine than an expression of legitimate emotion. So, although it may seem like the Japanese are entirely too apologetic given all that sumimasen flying about, it’s really more about common courtesy.

According to this pretty sweet linguist Goffman, ritual expressions like sumimasen can be broken down into two sub-fields in linguistics: remedial expressions and supportive expressions.

Remedial expressions are those used when there has been a potential offence between two individuals. So, when you sling a paper bag of flaming dog excrement onto your poor old neighbor’s porch this Halloween, the appropriate remedial expression would be “I’m sorry.”

The second type of expressions, supportive expressions, are those ritual exchanges we use on a daily basis to maintain somewhat normal relationships with the people in our lives such as friends and family. An example of this would be using greetings when meeting other individuals, like, “Why, hello! How are you today?” instead of saying nothing and sulking by wearing the expression of someone who just sat on a cactus.

Most of the time, a ritual expression will fit into one of the two categories, remedial or supportive. For example, the expression “I’m sorry” would be remedial, while the expression “Thank you” would be supportive.

However, sumimasen is just so hard core it breaks all the rules. Another great linguist, Risako Ide, showed this by finding seven uses of sumimasen in recorded public conversations at a doctor’s office. She found that sumimasen is a unique expression in that it functions as both a remedial expression, and supportive expression, and everything in between.

When To Use Sumimasen

Sumimasen is a formal expression, so most of the time it is used in public conversations. For that reason, most research on sumimasen has been done in public settings, just as Risako Ide did using recordings from a waiting room in a doctor’s office.

Below I’ve listed the 7 functions of sumimasen according to Risako Ide. Separating the uses of sumimasen into definable groups makes it clear that the expression means more than “I’m sorry” or “excuse me” to the Japanese people.

1. Sincere Apology

Originally the expression sumimasen was used only as an expression of apology, such as gomennasai, or more formally, moushiwake gozaimasen. Therefore, using sumimasen as a sincere apology is pretty straight forward. You can use it when you’ve really messed up and you want to make a legitimately apology.

Friend: Hey, you ate all my matcha Kit-Kats again didn’t you!?
You: sumimasen.

I sincerely regret this. Therefore, using sumimasen is a perfectly viable option.

2. Thanks and Apology

While one use of sumimasen is a flat out sincere apology, it can also be used to express a sense of mixed regret and thankfulness. Say what? Perhaps you’ve run into this situation in Japan, or any other place for that matter:

You’re in line at seven eleven patiently waiting to purchase your dinner, a pack of Take no Ko (chocolate covered cookies) and a bottle of Calpis. You get to the front of the line, and the clerk rings up your selections to a total of 310 yen, so you hand her 400. “You don’t have 10 yen?” she asks hesitantly. “Oh, yes, I do.” you reply, digging in your wallet and then eventually dumping over your entire book bag to scrounge up the change. “Sumimasen,” the clerk repeats over and over again.

If you’ve been in this situation in Japan before, you might have thought the clerk apologized one too many times for a favor as small as requesting exact change. However, in this context, while the clerk may regret making you scrounge for an extra 10 yen, she is most likely expressing her gratitude to you for going through the trouble to help her out.

In this sense, sumimasen has the ability to express both a sense of regret and thankfulness. In fact, using sumimasen in situations involving debt to another like the one above could be regarded as a more polite thank you than arigatou, as it shows the speaker’s awareness of the other person’s trouble and also adds a tone of humbleness.

3. Making a Request

Sumimasen can also be used prior to making a request of someone. This use of sumimasen is similar to “excuse me” in English, as in “Excuse me, but could you please pass me the biscuits? They look so swell.” You might come across this in Japanese if you are required to pay a fee for something, or if someone asks to barrow money from you.

Using sumimasen to make a request would classify it as a remedial expression in that it attempts to downplay any offense someone might feel in the given situation. In this way, it is also similar to the English expressions “do you mind if” or “could you please.” So, if you need to ask someone a favor and you want to be a bit more subtle than “DO THIS OR DIE,” you might consider using sumimasen.

4. Getting Attention

Hey! Heeeey! Do I have your attention? Up until now all the uses of sumimasen we’ve discussed have been related to feelings of regret and thankfulness. However, using sumimasen does not always denote one’s pouring out of emotions.

Sumimasen can function as an attention-getter. While there are many other conversation starters in Japanese such as ano, konnichiwa, or even clearing your throat, sumimasen is often used between people who are not familiar with each other, making it the polite way to get someone’s attention. This is the same sumimasen we used in the story at the beginning of this post when the woman dropped her wallet, and it is identical to English’s “excuse me” used when talking to a stranger.

5. Taking Leave

Opposite of getting someone’s attention, sumimasen is also used when ending a conversation or taking leave. A typical conversation closing might look like this:

Dracula: Ja, sumimasen
Frankenstein: A, odaiji ni

Dracula: Well then, I’m off.
Frankenstein: Oh, take care then.

When using sumimasen as either a conversation opener or closer, how grateful or regretful you feel becomes somewhat irrelevant. At this point, sumimasen is more of a routine expression than anything else. And since it is being used as a greeting and no offense is involved, it has become a supportive expression rather than a remedial one.

However, since there are other greetings used to open and close conversations such as konnichiwa or sayoonara, sumimasen does still display a slight sense of thankfulness or regret for the attention that the speaker received in conversation.

6. Affirmative Response

As sumimasen leans more and more on the side of a supportive expression rather than a remedial expression, the meaning of sumimasen becomes more and more vague, making it difficult to translate and understand if you haven’t been marinated in Japanese culture.

Another function of sumimasen is to confirm something or respond to someone in an affirmative manner. Here’s an example:

Imagine that you are at the bank, sitting with a group of people waiting to be served at the counter. Suddenly, the man next to you is called. “Ieda-san! Omataseitashimashita (thank you for waiting)!” the clerk shouts, and the man responds with “sumimasen.”

Sumimasen? The first thing I would be thinking is “what in the world has this man done wrong?!” Absolutely nothing. Saying sumimasen in this context allows the man to respond to the clerk in a face-to-face situation while also acknowledging the fact that she is going through the trouble to call him and give him service.

In other words, using sumimasen here is the polite way to respond “OK” or “yes.” Honestly, this can be tricky to wrap your mind around if you’re not too familiar with Japanese culture, but it’s not uncommon to hear.

7. Ritual Greeting / Exchange of Acknowledgement

At this point, we are the furthest distance away from a sincere apology, the original function of sumimasen, that we can get. It’s all ritualistic yakking from here on out. Imagine the following:

A woman goes to the department store to buy a new bicycle which requires her to fill out a registration card. After she fills it out, and the clerk assisting her checks it, the clerk returns it saying “sumimasen,” and of course, she replies, “sumimasen.”

So much sumimasen. Does it even mean anything anymore? The first sumimasen is similar to number six, an affirmative response, as he acknowledges the fact that the registration card is complete. The second sumimasen? Perhaps a polite way of a receiving the card.

Whatever it is, the most basic way of looking at sumimasen in this context is as a “symbolic gesture of concern.” I guess awkward silences have to be filled somehow, and sumimasen just happens to be the way to do it. In a way, you could compare this use of sumimasen to high school students greeting each other in the hallway with “sup?” in the sense that it is only a symbol of acknowledgment and has no real meaning.

What It All Means

Alright, so I’m sure that you get it by now: sumimasen is used heavily in Japanese communication. As you can see from the examples above, this one word is used to express many ideas besides “I’m sorry.”

However, all functions of sumimasen do have one thing in common: the “acknowledgment of indebtedness to others in society.” Understanding this, we can clearly see how some Japanese societal values are reflected linguistically in the term sumimasen.

Japanese society is highly concerned with indebtedness towards others and also the individual’s social role in public. Even very small favors have the effect of forming mutual debts and responsibilities between members of the society.

The priority put on public appearance and debt in Japanese society is perhaps the reason why the term sumimasen is used so often in public interactions; it allows Japanese speakers to put themselves in a humble position and show their “debt” in many circumstances. Could this high prioritization of “debt”  be the reason why the term sumimasen is more polite in places where alternative expressions such as “thank you” would normally be said in English and many other languages?

What do you think? Do you see any connections between Japanese values and sumimasen? How do you feel about it being used so often? Is there anything similar to this expression in your language?

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Bonus Wallpapers!

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Sources:
Sorry for your kindness’: Japanese interactional ritual in public discourse

The phenomenon of language borrowing is in no way unique, but it seems to stand out more in the Japanese language than others. And in a way, this presumption is true. Japanese has adopted an astounding number of loanwords. Even the written language, consisting of 3 distinct writing systems, gives way to the amount of borrowing that has gone on over the centuries.

However, borrowing, especially from English, has become even more exaggerated in the post WWII era, almost certainly kicked off by the occupation period. Loanwords are everywhere in Japan. They’re like air. You can’t get away from them.

But are they air? Or are they a pollution in the air? That is the question asked by many people in Japan. Taking in loanwords at such a rate has not been a trouble-free, clean-cut process. In fact, so much borrowing has created a bit of a sticky mess in the language; the whole process has rendered many words elusive to both second language learners and native speakers alike.

Borrowing: A Linguistics Perspective

Swiper no… swiping?

So how has Japan, a relatively isolated country with its own distinct language, been able to borrow foreign words at the rate they have? Actually, Japanese has certain linguistic characteristics that have made borrowing much easier than some other languages.

The main reasons why Japanese has accepted foreign words so easily has to do with the lack of nominal inflections and the presence of a syllabary writing system. In other words, Japanese nouns do not change based on person, number, or gender like many other languages do, and since words are simply separated syllabary particles, it makes it easy to just plop a foreign word in the midst of a Japanese sentence where any native word might appear. As for adjectives and verbs, foreign words can be inserted as な (na) adjectives and する (to do) can convert anything into a verb without any changes to the original word. Magic! (I always wondered why there were so many な adjectives and する verbs in Japanese.)

So, foreign words have had an easy time slithering their way into Japanese language from a linguistics perspective, but that hasn’t stopped them from wreaking havoc across the land in their own special way, plaguing both Japanese learners and native speakers.

Making Changes

“I spy, with my little eye…English words!”

You’d think with number of foreign loanwords floating around in the language, Japanese would sound slightly less like “moon speak” to non-Japanese speakers. However, foreign loanwords have been warped and maimed beyond the point of recognition in many cases, making understanding Japanese all the more frustrating!

When a foreign word is adopted in Japanese, it goes through many changes (like a beautiful butterfly). First of all, loanwords are converted to Japanese characters (usually katakana), changing their pronunciation altogether. On top of that, the meaning of a word may shift, a word may be simplified, and sometimes words will even be completely invented! For me, it is particularly upsetting when I think I understand a loanword from English, when actually I don’t know squat. Basically, I can’t even understand my own language in Japanese a lot of the time. Yep. Let’s take a look at some of the changes foreign words have undergone to become a totally different animal.

Changes in Meaning

“Honey, them times… they are a changin’”

Changes in meaning often happen in the process of foreign borrowing. The meaning of a word may be narrowed, widened, specialized, shifted, downgraded, you name it. At this point, I’ve come to believe that it’s someone’s job to sit in an office and figure out the best way to mutilate the English language before it enters Japan. Honestly, I really want that job.

Narrowing and Specialization

When a word’s meaning is narrowed or specialized, only one aspect of its original meaning is adopted as the new loanword. So in other words, a word that originally has a more general meaning is changed to mean something very specific.

Examples:
ホテル  /  hotel  /  Western-style hotel
ステッキ  /  stick  /  cane
ライス  /  rice  /  rice served on a plate
アルバイト  /  work  /  part-time job (usually student)
ダイエット  /  diet  /  purposely losing weight
ストライキ  /  strike  /  demonstration, strike
ストライク  /  strike  /  strike (in baseball)
ゲイ  /  gay  /  relationship between men only
ドレス  /  dress  /  extravagant dress

Extension

The widening of a word’s meaning is not nearly as common as narrowing, but it does happen. In these cases, a word’s meaning is more generalized, or used to describe a broader range of ideas.

Examples:
レジ  /  register  /  cash register, cashier
ハンドル  /  handle  /  car steering wheel, bike handlebar, any other handle

Shifts in Meaning

It’s a fairly common occurrence for a word’s meaning to be shifted when it is enters another language. This means that the original meaning of a word is completely changed, and all hope of the foreign language’s speakers understanding it is lost. “What? サイダー (cider) means soda?!” Check it out:

Examples:
アベック  /  avec (with)  /  a romantic couple (old saying)
フェミニスト  /  feminist  /  a man who indulges in women; a gentlemen
マンション  /  mansion  /  large apartment complex
アイス  / ice  /  ice cream
カニング  /  cunning  /  cheating
バイキング  /  Viking  /  all-you-can-eat-buffet

Of course, Koichi’s post “These Words Are English, But You Won’t Understand Them” goes over even more examples.

Downgrading

“Downgrade? Honey, I only do upgrades.”

The meaning of a word can sometimes be downgraded, too. Downgrading is the lowering of importance or rank in terms of the social significance a word holds.

The examples below clarify this phenomenon.

Examples:
ボス  /  boss  /  the head of a group of politicians or gangsters
マダム/ママさん  /   Madam/mother  /  owner of a drinking establishment

Inventing Words

“Mathmatical!”

Just as many words were created in Japan from Chinese characters in the past, today many new “foreign” words are just inventions. I don’t know about you, but the concept of new English words being created in another language makes me feel both amazed and downright strange.

Often times new foreign words are created in Japanese by combining two or more already existing terms to make a completely new one. Sometime only parts of words such as the -er suffix are used. Some of the most bewildering words are invented by creating acronyms from foreign phrases. As you can imagine, this renders “foreign” words completely unrecognizable to speakers of the word’s language of origin. Mama mia! Invented words are so numerous, it would be insane to list as many as I could here, but here’s a nice sampling:

バックミラー  /  back + mirror  /  rearview mirror
テーブルスピーチ  /  table + speech  /  dinner speech
オーエル  /  OL  /  office lady
オールドミス  /  old + miss  /  an old, childless woman
ヘルスメーター  /  health + meter  /  a bathroom scale
ソープランド  / soap + land  /  a brothel
アイスキャンディース  /  ice + candy  /  popcicle
マイホーム  /  my home  /  a privately owned home
マイカー  /  my car  /  a privately owned car
パートタイマー  /  part-timer  /  someone who works part-time
ナイター  /  nigher  /  a night baseball game

Simplification

Taking words directly from another language is often times not the most convenient thing, especially when the word is 100 letters long and no one can pronounce it (antidisestablimentarianism? Riiiiighht). So, why not make it shorter? The Japanese have a tendency to shorten words more so than other languages. Four syllable abbreviations seem to be preferred, but you may also see other variations.

Examples:
アルミカン  /  aluminum can
セクハラ  /  sexual harassment
プリクラ  /  print club (purikura)
テレビ  /  television
トイレ  /  toilet
パソコン  /  (personal) computer
リモコン  /  remote control
エアコン  /  air conditioner
デジカメ  /  digital camera
ワープロ  /  Word processor

Confusion at Home

“English? You have wrong number.”

If learning loanwords is confusing for foreigners, it’s really not that much better for the Japanese population themselves. Since foreign loanwords are not written in Chinese characters anymore, Japanese people can’t easily guess their meanings if they don’t already know them. On top of that, foreign words are being poured into Japan at such a rate that even natives don’t understand them anymore. It is also difficult to learn these words because they are often introduced and then dropped faster than a hot potato, leaving no time for full absorption into the language.

NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) conducted a multiple choice survey to see just how well foreign adopted words are understood by people in Japan. The results turned out to be very mixed and depended largely upon respondent groups. In other words, comprehension of foreign words depends largely on factors such as educational and occupational background. The survey also showed that foreign words were mostly understood in their Japanized forms, not in the context of their language of origin. It’s no wonder learning English can be difficult for Japanese students, they know a completely alternate version of it!

Movements have been made (mainly by angry old men) to stop the flow of foreign words into Japanese at the rate it’s been happening, but the madness continues. Stopping such a formidable force is no small feat, and language purist are undoubtedly fighting a losing battle as the “foreigners” take hold of their language. In fact, one 71 year old tried to sue NHK Broadcasting for the “mental distress” caused upon him because of all these foreign words.

But, when foreign words are being adopted, abandoned, changed, and invented the way they are in Japan, it really begs the question: “what is a loanword?” Can I call “back mirror” an English loanword? I honestly don’t know anymore. What do you think about loanwords in Japanese? Have you had trouble learning them? Do you think adopting so many words is advantageous or just silly? Let me know in the comments below, yo.

Read All the Posts in This Series:
Japanese, The Borrower Language Part 1: Where the Japanese Language Came From
Japanese, The Borrower Language Part 2: Twisting Words
Japanese, The Borrower Language Part 3: Why They Do It

Just like most other languages (except maybe Klingon), Japanese is constantly in flux, slowly becoming a bigger and bigger amalgamation of several outside languages over time. Think Katamari Damacy: bits and pieces from other languages stick to the base language forming a giant mass of mis-matched BLAH (and yet, humans manage to communicate with each other).

la laaaaa la la la la la la la la Katamari Damacy

But patterns of borrowing are not random. A language’s vocabulary is the reflection of the culture and history of its speakers, and Japanese is no exception. The distribution of foreign vocabulary is often concentrated in different fields, pointing to the significance of the relationship between the two nations (just as the borrowing of チーズバーガー shows the cultural significance of cheeseburgers in the relationship between the US and Japan). We can also observe changes in borrowing that have occurred through history.

Languages in Japanese

The Japanese language has come from many different sources in the past, and we can categorize Japanese words into three groups according to their origin: wago 和語, kango 漢語, and gairaigo 外来語. Wago are native Japanese words, while kango refers to Chinese loanwords and gairaigo to words borrowed from foreign countries other than China.

As stated above, the distribution of foreign vocabulary is often concentrated in different fields of interest. Looking at the relationships between Japan other countries through history can help us understand said focuses. But first, let’s take a closer look at the Japanese language before it became inundated with foreign vocabulary.

Wago 和語

Japanese: weather, fish, feelings, rice (lacking: body parts, domesticated animals, actions)

The term wago 和語, or Yamato-kotoba, refers to native Japanese words passed on from Old Japanese. Although wago did not come from abroad, it too reflects the cultural interests of its speakers, the Japanese.

Traditional Japanese society focused a lot of energy on farming and fishing, and the native vocabulary shows evidence of this fact. Have you ever wondered why there are so many words for weather in Japanese when all are you want to say is “there is water falling from the sky”? The native vocabulary is teeming with words related to weather, especially rain and water (this comes in handy in the Northwest), because it was important for rice farmers to know this stuff if they wanted to have successful crops and eat buckets of rice! There are also many expressions related to nature, crops, fish, rice, bodies of water, and senses/feelings. Take a look:

Wago Words for Rice

Wago Words for Rain

Wago Words for Yellowtail (Fish)

And this is just the start… There are many, many, MANY more words in Old Japanese related to these topics; I haven’t even scratched the surface here. This just emphasizes how important agriculture was in traditional Japanese society. If you want to know more about Yamato-kotoba, I recommend reading Koichi’s article on the topic. Or, if you just really love rain, this article on Japanese rain words is really fun.

Although Japanese is overflowing with words on these topics, the language also had some pretty major holes in it before all of this globalization mishy-mashy cultural mixing started happening. This included body parts (ashi means foot and leg?), names for domesticated animals, and action words. But sooner or later, (dun dun DUN!) the foreigners arrived, and those gaps were slowly filled.

Kango 漢語

Chinese: abstract concepts and academia

“And then I said to that turtle, I’ll defeat you next time!”

Chinese has been such a huge influence on the Japanese language in past that it deserves its own classification. It’s believed that Japan was first introduced to Chinese words around the first century A.D. when Korean scholars brought Chinese books to Japan. That’s a long time ago! At first, Chinese was used mainly as a means of documentation and for academic writing, but eventually it became part of everyday Japanese lingo.

Kango makes up as much as 60% of the Japanese language. Because the source of some words isn’t so clear, even words that didn’t originate in China but are written with Chinese characters or use the Chinese reading are referred to as kango. In many ways, kango can be seen as a parallel to Latinate words in English. To this day, kango is mainly used for academic words and abstract concepts. So, these are the words you’ll be seeing a lot of in textbooks and scientific readings, and of course they are mostly written in kanji (Chinese characters)! Everyone’s favorite! Though, of course, there are many casually used kango as well. The differences between kango and and wago can be seen when compared side-by-side:

Kango are a lot more literary and academic, so you won’t be learning a whole lot of them in your Japanese 101 class or using them in conversation (unless you really want to sound sophisticated, or perhaps just snobbish?). However, this is a really interesting point that I feel many classes  fail to point out. The status of wago and kango in Japanese is very similar to Latin and German in English. Check it out:

These days, words borrowed from Chinese (and Korean) mainly fall under the categories of culturally specific items such as food. The majority of loanwords, however, come from English. What a change!

Gairaigo 外来語

Loan words coming from countries other than China are classified as gairaigo. More often than not, these words are written in katakana. These days, gairaigo are seen as stylish and cool, so you’re more likely to see them in something like Seventeen Magazine, rather than Popular Science.

Although foreign vocabulary is now dominated by English, there were times when this was not the case. Other countries, namely France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Russia, Portugal, and Spain, have claimed greater shares than English in the past, but I’ll only cover some of them here.

Note: Translations below are English translations of the Japanese terms, not of the native language in question.

Portuguese: Christianity, “modern” technology, and Portuguese products

Can I get off this boat yet, guys?

In 1542 the Portuguese became the first people to establish direct trade between Japan and Europe. Most Portuguese words entered Japanese through Jesuit priests who introduced the Japanese people to Christianity, Western science, and new products (like konpeito) throughout the 15th and 16th centuries. Therefore, most of the Portuguese words in Japanese have to do with the products and customs of the Portuguese people. Here are some words you might already know or might want to remember:

ブランコ / baloiço / swing

イエス / Jesus / Jesus

イギリス / inglês /  England

かるた / cartas / cards

コップ / copo / cup

パン / pão / bread

天麩羅 / tempero / tempura

タバコ / tabaco / tabaco

ボタン / botão / button

アルコール / álcool / alcohol

オランダ / Holanda / The Netherlands

Dutch: medicine, sailing, and astronomy (oh my!)

“shmoke and a pancake?” 

Although the Dutch were not the first to make contact with Japan, they too had a huge impact on the Japanese language. In 1609, the Dutch East India Trading Company started trading with Japan, remaining the only Western country allowed to do so throughout Japan’s seclusion period (those lucky Dutch!). At one point, 3,000 Dutch words were commonly used in Japan (that’s more words than I know… in English), but that number has dwindled to 160 words used in the present day. Most Dutch loanwords are technical in nature, having to do with medical science and diseases (sharing is caring? I mean, oops.), astronomy, sailing, and beer! Yay, beer.

ビール / bier / beer

ドイツ / Duits / Germany

ドロンケン / dronken / drunk (not really used, but cute)

ゴム / gom / rubber

ハム / ham / ham

ハトロン / patroon / pattern

カミツレ / kamille / camomile

コーヒー / koffie / coffee

メス / mes / scalpel

モルモット / marmot / Guinea pig

お転婆 / ontembaar / tomboy

ペスト / pest black / death

オルゴール / orgel / music box

ピストル / pistool / pistol

ピント / punt / focus point

ピンセット / pincet / tweezers

アロエ / aloë / aloe

French: culture, diplomacy, and art

Yup, the first car in Japan was French.

In the late 1800’s, English replaced Dutch as the language of foreign relations. French was also studied heavily during this time due to its status as an international language in the fields of diplomacy and culture during Japan’s Meiji Restoration period. A lot of French words have to do with art and fashion, as you might expect (ooh la la!):

アベック / avec / romantic couple

アンケート / enquête / questionnaire; survey

アンニュイ / ennui / boredom

バイク / bike / motorcycle

バリカン / Bariquand & Marre / barber’s clippers

デッサン / dessin drawing / rough sketch

エスカレーター / escalator / escalator

コンクール / concours / a contest

コント / conte / a funny story

マロン / marron chestnut / brown eyes

マゾ / masochiste / masochist

ズボン / jupon / pants, trousers

ゼロ / zéro / zero

サボる / sabo(tage) + -ru (Japanese verb ending) / to skip class, to goof off

ルポ / repo(rtage) / reportage

ロマン / roman / novel, romance

レストラン / restaurant / restaurant

ピーマン / pīman / bell pepper

ピエロ / pierrot / clown

ペンション / pension / a resort hotel, cottage

German: medical science and sports

“Don’t look down zere, mister!”

French wasn’t the only language studied in Japan during the Meiji period. After Japan opened its doors to the West in 1868, many Germans moved to Japan in order to work in the new government as foreign advisers. During this time, the Germans contributed many terms to the fields of medical and military science. Japanese also absorbed many sports related words from German, many of them involving mountain climbing.

アイゼン / eisen / crampons, metal pins of climbing shoes

ピッケル / (eis)pickel / ice axe

ザイル / seil / climbing rope

アルバイト / arbeit / part-time job

エネルギッシュ / energisch / energetic

ガーゼ / gaze / gauze

ゲレンデ / gelände / ski slope

ギプス / gips / cast

ヒステリー / hysterie / loss of self control; hysteria

ホルモン / hormon / hormone

カルテ / karte / medical record

オペ / operation / surgical operation

レントゲン / röntgen / X-ray

リュックサック / rucksack / backpack

テーマ / thema / theme

Of course, loanwords have been taken from many other languages, too; these are some of the major ones. Other languages that have contributed substantially to Japanese include Ainu, Russian, Spanish, Korean, and Italian. Below I’ve listed a few more miscellaneous gairaigo, just for the fun of it.

イクラ / ikura / salmon roe (Russian)

ノルマ / norma / quota (Russian)

ラッコ / rakko / sea otter (Ainu)

トナカイ / tunakkay / reindeer (Ainu)

パンツ / pants / underwear (British English)

ロマンスグレー / romance grey / silver-grey hair (British English)

ウィンカー / winker / turning signal (British English)

アメリカンドッグ / American dog / corn dog (British English)

ライフライン / lifeline / infrastructure (British English)

パパ / papa / dad (Italian)

As you can see, the vocabulary of a given language is determined by the cultural interests of its speakers, and the loanwords a language absorbs depends strongly on the nature of the connections between the two communities involved. As globalization continues to happen, more and more words are being adopted and traded. Who knows what language we’ll be speaking tomorrow. I hope it’s Klingon.

Learning Japanese by source is not only fascinating, it can be a good way to form connections in your mind so you can remember words better! At least, that’s worked for me. If you know a word from a language that wasn’t mentioned here, or if you know any other cool gairaigo/kango/wago, let me know is the comments section below!

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Sources:
The Languages of Japan
Gairaigo

Read All the Posts in This Series:
Japanese, The Borrower Language Part 1: Where the Japanese Language Came From
Japanese, The Borrower Language Part 2: Twisting Words
Japanese, The Borrower Language Part 3: Why They Do It

This is one of the first sentences I ever learned from my adventures with “Mary-san” via the Japanese textbook Genki. If any of you have used that textbook, you’ll know the story of my good old pals Mary and Takeshi. Ahhh, the memories! I particularly remember this lesson, partly because it was a lesson early on in my perusal of the Japanese language, and partly because it was the first time I found out a sentence could end in something other than desu (and partly because I found it strange that Mary was buying a watch from some sketchy lookin’ lady on the street, but maybe that’s just me).

So what is ね? This is a question I’ve been asking myself for a long time now. Despite how simple the little guy looks, the answer is about as unsolidified and confused as a bowl of  uncovered cherry Jello that’s soaked up the flavors of other unnamed substances in the fridge. Now, you may be thinking “Psssh, girl, you’ve been learning Japanese for how many years now and still don’t know what ね means? I learned that from watching Naruto like 9 seasons ago.” Yes, yes, ね should be easy as eating too much pie, but allow me to blow your mind a little bit.

ね: The Simple Version

Ahh, the good ol’ days, nice and simple

Back in school, I was always taught that ね is a sentence ending particle in Japanese, roughly translating to “isn’t it?” or “right?” blah blah blah. I’m guessing a lot of you have run into a similar explanation. It looks a lot like this:

暑いですね。
It’s hot (outside), isn’t it?

This version of ね covers a nice chunk of ね uses out there, which is why you’re taught this. But, as I started seeing and listening to actual Japanese used by Japanese people (sorry, Mary-san), I started to notice ねs showing up mid-sentence in places where the usual “isn’t it?” or “right” would have made just about as much sense as rap operas (don’t make sense / gotta repense / for the terrible rap opera / I gonna wipe you like a mopera♪).

Aさん：あのねぇ、今日はね、みきちゃんがふられちゃったんだって。かわいそうだね。
Mrs. A: Hey, did you hear? Miki was rejected by that guy she’s been crushing on today! I feel so bad for her.

Bさん：そうだね。
Mr. B: Oh my gosh, me too. 

But this was only the beginning. “ISN’T THERE ANYTHING IN JAPANESE I CAN UNDERSTAND!?” I screamed at Mary, as I retreated to the nearest corner and cried. I had no idea what was going on anymore.

ね: The Complicated Version

The streets of London. Have fun.

Fast forward many moons to future me who had gotten a lot more into linguistics. I decided to open that old can of ね worms and get me some answers, so I pulled out my robe and wizard hat. Turns out ね has been discussed significantly by sociologists and linguists alike, so a lot of the work has been done already for me. That being said, the answers aren’t entirely simple. In fact, they’re quite complicated, especially considering how tiny ね is, size-wise (I could totally beat up ね if we got in a fight).

Think about it this way. Ideas in language can be really difficult to define and explain to others. Those sorts of things just sort of work in your mind, no explanation necessary. Take the phrase “you know” for example. At first it seems simple, but the more you think about it, the more subtle meanings you can find. Check it out:

1. “Argg. I can’t wait for the next Nicolas Cage movie! Seriously, it’s driving me crazy, you know?” said no one ever.
2. “Hey, what’s going on between you and Stacy, my pillow girlfriend of over a year now!?”
   “Oh, umm, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
   “Oh come on, don’t play me. You know.”
3. “Hey, what’s been goin’ on lately?”
   “Oh, the usual. Work, kids, gardening, zombie apocalypse escape plan. You know.”

“You know” is difficult to explain because it’s not really a person, place, object, action, opinion, or anything else outside of communication/language. In other words, it’s an expression we understand based upon the context of the conversation. Words like these are said to have “non-referential meaning”, or “situational meaning.” Even though“you know” is used in all three of these examples, they all carry slightly different meanings. In my opinion, this makes it hard to define abstract words like “you know” or ね, because it all  really does depend on the context.

One particularly awesome researcher (linguistics fangirl alert!), Haruko Cook, has defined these types of words. She came up with the idea of “direct and indirect indexes.”

Direct Index: This is the main idea a “word” (or ね) indicates in communication, or the idea a “word” always evokes. It answers the question: “What does a word ‘point’ to?”

Indirect Index: This is what the “word” means in a given context.

Index? I’ve got your index right here.

Another way to think about it is that the direct index is the more general meaning of a word. The indirect index is the meaning of a word in a specific situation. Let’s think about this in terms of ね. ”Isn’t it?” or “right?” is just one of many indirect indexes of ね based purely on context. There are also many other ways to use ね depending on the situation, but you don’t usually learn them in school.

Haruko Cook goes on to explain ね further, saying that ね directly indexes “affective common ground” (what the heck, linguists, stop being so… linguistic). This means that ね is used to establish emotional involvement (i.e. cooperation) in communication between people. Just like Highlander there can only be one direct index, and because it has to do with establishing that emotional involvement, all the indirect indexes associated with ね have to follow this idea as well. If that was too complicated, check out this picture I drew for you that makes sense of everything. Yay, pictures!

The middle blob represents the main idea that ね always conveys, while the little follower blobs represent the meanings ね can have in a given context. So you’ve got your direct index in the center, and the indirect indexes all around it.

Omoiyari and ね

This idea of “cooperation” or “emotional involvement” in the Japanese language is by no means unique. But, if you really want to understand ね, you should look at it from a Japanese perspective, since culture and language are two sides of the same coin.

One such important subject that is brought up often with ね is omoiyari (思い遣り). This roughly translates to “empathy” or “consideration for others.” It basically means paying close attention to other people and cooperating with them. This includes doing your best not to say anything that will make others feel uncomfortable. According to Cook, omoiyari is one of the highest virtues of Japanese society, and ね fits right into this in a really big way.

In short, ね can be thought of as the manifestation of omoiyari in the Japanese language. This little character has to do with the human connection that we feel (or lack thereof) when we communicate with other people. Just as a conversation can’t be held without the cooperation of at least two speakers, a conversation can’t be held in Japanese without the inclusion of ね as well. ね is like the mayonnaise that keeps your turkey sandwich together. It keeps communication running smoothly.

The Indirect Uses of ね

Well, now that we’re done with the difficult underlying cultural reasons for ね’s existence, let’s look at some actual examples and try to get a handle on this thing. I’ve broken down ね into its indirect indexes according to Haruko Cook. As you can see, all uses of ね come back to the same thing: cooperation in communication.

1. Getting Attention (Hey!)

So you’ve got your headphones on, jammin’ out to Queen’s bohemian rhapsody. I mean, you’ve got your air guitar out and everything, when your friend decides she has to tell you the most interesting story. ever. So she flags you down. ねえ〜！ ねえ！ She uses ね to get your attention. Just like this:

友達：ねえ！聞いてよ〜！
Friend: Hey, listen.

私： 。。。
Me: …

友達：ねえぇ〜！ねえってば〜！
Friend: Heeeeeey. I said hey!

私：なんなのよ、さっきから！もう！
Me: wha-whadda you want? Wait a little will you? Geez.

友達：聞いてね！
Friend: Alright, will you listen to me?

Using ね in this situation is not terribly difficult to do, just use it when you want to get the attention of someone and start a conversation. This use of ね has to do with cooperation in that it asks another person to direct his or her attention to you. Without that person’s attention, how could you ever start talking about last week’s episode of Naruto (unless you want to talk to yourself, that’s okay too)? You can’t. It would be a tragically kawaii morning.

2. Requesting Confirmation

“Sweet Jiminy Christmas. You have to hear this new song.” she says, shoving her headphones into your ears. “You like One Direction, ね (right)? she asks, using ね to confirm her suspicion. Oh no, not again. You don’t want to hurt your best friend’s feelings so you smile forcefully. “Of course you do!” she screams. And the rant begins.

友達： ねえ、ワン・ダイレクション好きだよね！？
Friend: So, you like One Direction, right!?

私：　。。。うん
Me: … Sure.

This is the version of ね most people are taught first, the ね that can most easily be translated into “isn’t it?” or “right?” You can use this when you think you know something, but you’re pretty sure that the person you’re talking to knows better than you do (or perhaps you want them to think they know better than you), or when you want to get another person’s opinion/agreement. This use of ね relates to cooperation because it invites the other person to participate (cooperate) in the conversation. Why the よ before ね? Sorry, that’s another post.

3. Introducing a New Topic

So your nightmare has come to life. Your friend won’t stop talking to you about her boy band obsession, One Direction. You love your friend so much, but if you hear one more comment about Niall Horan’s beautiful Irish hair, you might have to gnaw your own arm off. Not a pretty sight. So, you decide to change the subject, with ね! Phew, saved again by ね.

友達：で、ナイル・ホーランの髪形超シャレてるよね！ぎゃあ〜！
Friend: Oh my god, so Niall Horan’s hair is freaking amazing, right? HNNGG.

私：ふふふ、ね。あのさあ、てか、今日のカフェテリアのミートローフヤベーよね。
Me: Hohoho. Why I suppose it is. By the way my good sir, are you aware that the meatloaf in the cafeteria today is absolutely fantastic?

Pretty self explanatory: use ね to change the subject of conversation. Don’t you hate it when you’re talking to someone you don’t know very well and everyone’s go-to topic of “weather” just sort of keels over and dies, leaving you with this terrible awkward silence? Changing the subject can be tricky if you don’t know what the other person likes/wants to talk about, so you’re hoping that they will cooperate with you, right? With friends, you might expect their cooperation a little more, but you can still use ね.

4. Keeping the Floor (Continuing to Talk)

“I’ve got a bag of SHH! with your name on it.”

Okay, you finally manage to change the subject, yay you! And, you’re on a roll about how delicious the meatloaf you ate for lunch at your school cafeteria was, but your friend just can’t contain herself for that long. So, you have to keep letting her know that you’re not done with your story even if you take a dramatic pause, right? RIGHT? You haven’t even gotten to the part about the instant mashed potatoes yet and you can’t be interrupted. Sheesh. So what do you do? Use ね of course!

友達：まあね。
Friend: I guess…

私：マッシュポテトもね
Me: And sweet bumpkin pie, the mashed potatoes, too

友達：あー
Friend: Um-

私：グレイビーがたっぷりかかっていてね
Me: All covered in gravy

友達：あー
Friend: Ah-

私：めっちゃめっちゃうまいよね
Me: Thems are somethin’ delicious!

友達：。。。ナイル・ジェームス・ホーランの髪形みたいに切れば似合うと思う？
Friend: … Sooo, do you think I’d look good if I cut my hair like Niall Horan’s?

This is when the ねs start going crazy. You’ve got them ねs all up in here. When telling a long story or giving an explanation, it’s natural to pause here and there to take a breath once in a while, take a dramatic pause, have a bite of a hoagie, you know. You also might want to make sure the other person is actually listening to you and not trying to imagine you speaking in Morgan Freeman’s voice. This is where ね comes in. Use ね throughout your speech to let other’s know you’re still talking or to get their feedback. This definitely requires cooperation in that it asks the other person(s) not only to sit through your horribly long story, it also gets them involved in the conversation by soliciting aizuchi.

5. Making a Correction Less Direct/Giving Constructive Criticism

But your friend doesn’t want to hear about your potatoes. Your potatoes aren’t more important than Niall Horan’s hair. This is a problem, but how can you tell you friend!? Oh the tragedy. But wait, you can use ね! You remember, by using ね you can lighten the blow of the shocking truth when you tell her that you don’t actually want to hear about One Direction all the time and you would prefer if she limit her One Direction fangirling to roughly 27% of your friendship. You can be a good friend and tell her the nice way with ね! Constructive criticism, go!

私：あのさあ、ワン・ダイレクションの話はね。。ちょっとね
Me: Hey, actually, about the whole One Direction thing, I’m getting kind of tired of that…

Telling someone something they don’t want to hear can be really tough, but sometimes you just have to do it. But whenever that happens, the least you can do is say it nicely. By using ね when you correct someone, you can do just that. (It also might prevent any swirlies that might come your way.) Here is a great example of a teacher correcting a student. Every time he corrects the student, he uses ね. Listen!

6. Showing Friendship and Intimacy

So ね saved your friendship when you finally let your friend know the truth of the situation, but you really want to let her know that you guys are still BFFs forever, homie-Gs, whatever you kids say these days dagnabbit. ね does just the job. It lets others know that you are open. Friendly. Fat and sassy. Use it with those that are close to you, ね?

私：私達一生大親友だよね？
Me: We’ll be best buddies forever, two peas in a pod. Am I right, or am I right?

友達：；＿；ね。
Friend: You’re right. Forever.

Using ね a lot is the mark of a casual relationship, well, because relationships take a lot more cooperation than a lot of other things in life. Not only that, but a deeper human connection is felt between friends than strangers (or at least I hope so). In this situation, ね is often translated as sure, as in “It sure is a wonderful day today!” except a lot less Richard Simmons.

7. Teaching Children

Alright, great job! You’ve used ね well all your life. You haven’t been beaten to a pulp because of it and you’ve lived to be a ripe old age. Maybe in the future, say 50 years from now, you’ll have kids to tell all your crazy stories to. Oh, and you’ll also have to brainwash I mean teach them what kind of music to get their groove on to. Good ol’ ね, you never fail. You use ね to teach your children where it’s at. Queen anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

私：クイーンはいいね、赤ちゃん〜
Me: Son, I’m just letting you know right now that Queen was the best band to ever roam the Earth.

赤ちゃん：うん！
Baby: Yes, Mama.

I’m guessing you won’t use ね in this situation very often, but it’s good to know anyway. Parents use ね when they are teaching their kids something new or reinforcing a behavioral concept. Basically, they just want the little punks to act socially acceptable and cooperate with them! Ah, looks like people have the same problems no matter where they’re from. You might also hear you teacher use ね a lot like this!

Wow, ね is really used a lot in conversational Japanese. In fact, it’s the most commonly occurring particle according to Cook. Also, have you noticed that ね doesn’t appear much in written work? Perhaps that’s because the cooperation of another person isn’t needed when writing.

The hardest part about mastering a particle like ね, is that you can’t just remember a definition out of a textbook. And although it’s useful, Cook’s indirect indexes of ね are by no means an exhaustive list. ね usage varies from person to person, and there are plenty of other situations that you can use it in. Learning a language is all about getting into a totally different mind set, it’s like installing a new way of thinking into your brain! That’s why it’s important to get used to thinking from a Japanese perspective rather than just rote memorizing a bunch of words.

So let’s take a step back.

Take a look at the sentence we started this whole article off with:

“Takai desu ne.”

Now we know ね can carry different many different nuances depending on the context. In the textbook Genki, Mary uses this sentence when she wants to let a “shop keeper” know that she would rather not buy something so expensive. Do you think this fits with any of the indirect indexes listed above?

Argue your case in the comments below! Let’s all talk about our experiences with ね! What are your thoughts? challenges? advice? I want to hear it.

Also, I’d recommend you read Haruko Cook’s article “The Sentence-Final Particle Ne as a tool for Cooperation in Japanese” if you’d like to read more on this subject, or if you just want to challenge what I’ve got to say.
Dooo iittttt.

P.S. Here’s a song called ねえ by Perfume. Be careful not to get it stuck in your head! That already happen to me…