I’ve now been living in Tokyo for a little over 2 years! To celebrate this milestone (okay, fine, the milestone is just a coincidence; this blog post has nothing to do with it), I thought I’d share something I find delightful in the Japanese language, and that is its onomatopoeia.
Just like English, Japanese has words which are formed “from a sound associated with what is named.” They are very often repeated. Here are some examples of their words for sounds:
- wan wan: a dog’s bark
- nyan nyan: a cat’s meow
- zaa zaa: heavy rain falling
- mogu mogu: someone eating (maybe like omnomnom?)
However, Japanese also makes ample use of onomatopoetic words for things where the connection to a sound is less obvious, such as:
- dan dan: gradually (the sound of footsteps)
- don don: quickly (the sound of larger footsteps)
- doki doki: nervous/excited (the sound of a fast heart beat)
And I mean waaay less obvious. Ever wondered what sound something sparkling sounds like?
- kira kira: sparkling, twinkling
- peko peko: hungry (the sound your stomach makes as it gurgles perhaps?)
- fuwa fuwa: fluffy
- giri giri: barely
I think one of the things I love about these words (and there are oodles more) is the fact that they’re often used in casual conversation among adults. Just this afternoon, as I was watching the Olympic men’s free skate while eating lunch at a restaurant, one of the women at the table next to me used the phrase doki doki shimasu to her companion, expressing the nerves/excitement of watching the athletes do breathtaking quadruple jumps.
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