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What do those Katakana words mean? | ||
Tags: Katakana | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| r0pe Diglot Newbie Germany Joined 4666 days ago 29 posts - 33 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 1 of 8 26 March 2012 at 9:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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I hate words in katakana. In the following sentence are two katakana words, I don't understand.
ひとりで歩いていてもナンパもされず、スリ にもあわなかった。 It's from the New Penguin Parallel Text Short Stories in Japanese. The English translation in the book is: No one tried to hit on me or rob me, even when I was alone. Is ナンパ the katakana version for 軟派 ? Denshi Jisho says: 1: seducer; ... 2: (Usually written using kana alone) (Colloquialism) picking up women (on the street); (Source). Where does it come from? Edit: searching Youtube for "ナンパ" gives a lot of videos for picking up women. And スリ seems to be "pickpocketing", but what language is it from originally? Edited by r0pe on 26 March 2012 at 9:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5382 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes  Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 2 of 8 26 March 2012 at 10:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, it's 軟派. And スリ could be すり. They aren't loan words.
Not all katakana words are loan words. Katakana can be used to emphasize words, kind of like bolding, italics or quotes. Sometimes, it indicates an unconventional use of a word. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ericspinelli Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5784 days ago 249 posts - 493 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, Italian | Message 3 of 8 27 March 2012 at 4:57am | IP Logged | ||
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As you continue your Japanese studies you'll find that certain types of native Japanese
words are often written in katakana. The largest categories are probably animal names (ex. ウサギ、カブトムシ、キツネ), onomatopoeia/mimetic words (キチンと、フラフラ、ワンワン、チュー), and slang (ナンパ、オタク、イケメン). スリ is an interesting case. It's almost always written in kana, both katakana and hiragana being used, but it does have kanji (掏摸). In this case, however, they are 義訓 （ぎくん）, which are kanji used for their meaning but not their readings (the opposite of 当て字). The author's choice to use katakana is likely tied to its being paired with ナンパ (also in katakana) and to add emphasis, but it is still common usage. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6950 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 4 of 8 27 March 2012 at 7:49am | IP Logged | ||
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The word ナンパ is interesting, I think. The kanji 軟派 means "soft type", and it used to
disapprovingly refer to morally weak and undisciplined dandies who preferred chasing after women to fighting and other manly pursuits. The opposite, which is rarely heard anymore, was 硬派（こうは, "hard type"). This embodies the traditional Japanese masculine ideal of stoicism, self-discipline, and prideful temper. Now that this dichotomy of male behavior is mostly a thing of the past, I don't think the slang word ナンパ is any longer used with its original disapproving connotations. It's most often used in the slang verb ナンパする which means to hit on women unabashedly (especially ones you don't know on the street), and the noun ナンパ is used to refer to this act rather than to describe the characteristics of a person. Edited by Lucky Charms on 27 March 2012 at 7:58am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sammychanforeve Triglot Groupie United States Joined 6069 days ago 43 posts - 51 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Japanese Studies: French | Message 5 of 8 01 April 2012 at 2:19am | IP Logged | ||
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By the way, there is an exression 逆ナン( ギャクナン, gyaku-nan) that refers to a case in which it is a woman picking up a man. Not as common as "nanpa" itself, but I always enjoy this kind of playful aspect of Japanese. "Gyaku" means "reverse" so it is quite easy to remember.
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| r0pe Diglot Newbie Germany Joined 4666 days ago 29 posts - 33 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 6 of 8 08 May 2012 at 6:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you all for the great answers so far. They helped me a lot.
There is another Katakana word I don't understand... ガリ勉してるもんねー It's translated: "She's a studyin' machine!" It's from the Japanese substitles of an anime. But how do you translate ガリ ? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6950 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 7 of 8 09 May 2012 at 3:22am | IP Logged | ||
ガリ勉 is a single word. It's originally an abbreviation of ガリガリ勉強する; my dictionaries variously translate ガリガリ as "desperately", "recklessly", "like crazy". Edited by Lucky Charms on 09 May 2012 at 3:22am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| clumsy Octoglot Senior Member Poland lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5179 days ago 1116 posts - 1367 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi | Message 8 of 8 12 May 2012 at 12:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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ガリ勉 = someone who studyies all the time (just like me),
here the verb meaning would apply. http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/srch/all/%E3%82%AC%E3%83%AA%E5%8 B%89/m0u/ 1 person has voted this message useful |
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