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Questions about ’Samurai Japanese’ | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| larkineric Newbie United States Joined 6129 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes | Message 1 of 9 23 February 2008 at 11:51am | IP Logged |
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I need some Japanese as would have been used by samurai. I know "sessha" "katajikenai" "degozaru" . . . but I'm not sure where to find more. My Japanese level is somewhere between Intermediate and Basic Fluency (as defined on this site) so searching through Japanese language websites would be extremely time consuming.
Any help would be appreciated. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kewms Senior Member United States Joined 6197 days ago 160 posts - 159 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 2 of 9 23 February 2008 at 12:10pm | IP Logged |
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Watch some of Kurosawa's samurai movies. I don't know if they illustrate how Japanese actually would have been used, but they are how 90% of people (including Japanese) *think* the samurai would have talked.
Plus the movies are entertaining and readily available. Katherine 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Palmettofighter Newbie United States Joined 6142 days ago 29 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English* | Message 3 of 9 23 February 2008 at 12:34pm | IP Logged |
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I did not know they had their own words. Is it kind of like how Shakespear English uses words not used by modern English speakers?
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| rob Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 6175 days ago 287 posts - 288 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Norwegian, Mandarin | Message 4 of 9 23 February 2008 at 1:13pm | IP Logged |
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I may be mistaken, but didn't Samurai just speak in super-keigo?
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| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6449 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 5 of 9 23 February 2008 at 1:33pm | IP Logged |
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Pretty much every profession has jargon, slang, and technical words specific to it. I'd be shocked if the samurai were any different in this regard.
As for what the words actually were - I have no idea. kewms' suggestion sounds plausible. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| larkineric Newbie United States Joined 6129 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes | Message 6 of 9 23 February 2008 at 5:19pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the quick replies.
Yep, KEWMS, Kurosawa is a great place to look for samurai-go but they speak so quickly and often mumble (esp. the great Mifune) that it is very difficult (for me) to pick things out. I agree, Rob, there is ALOT of superkeigo, but there are a few other things like Sessha (for Watashi) which, I don't think, anyone else uses. Classical Japanese would be a great source . . . but the only thing I remember from that class is that it was really stinkin' difficult. Palmettofighter and Volte, certainly samurai words would be old (like Shakespeare) and absolutely there would be a lot of jargon, but, as a student of Japanese would tell you (through sobs of frustration) many specific verbs and pronouns are changed around in speech, depending on who is speaking, being spoken to, the context, etc.. It is pretty hard for an English speaker to get used to; we don't really have anything like it - at least not in the U.S.. Anyway, Samurai had a unique place in Japanese society (...I guess it changed a little depending on the specific period) and their language would specifically reflect that. Not that I'm an expert. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6778 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 7 of 9 24 February 2008 at 8:17am | IP Logged |
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Historical manga might help.
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| larkineric Newbie United States Joined 6129 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes | Message 8 of 9 24 February 2008 at 3:47pm | IP Logged |
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In case anyone is curious, here are a few things I have found:
sochi - you (f) onushi - you (m) -dono - like -san tono - lord kyoetsu shigoku - I am extremely happy arigataki shiawase - It was a great honor kirisute gomen - literally- it is my right to cut and throw away - apparently, something said to others after killing someone (nice) kore wa shitari - unbelievable katajikenai - thank you narimase nu - don't do it chiko yore - come closer kyurushu nai - relax, take it easy messo mo nai - I cannot accept it, it is more than I deserve and, of course, - de gozaru for desu and sessha for watashi I'm not 100 percent sure of some of these, or of how to use them properly, but there is a recent trend in Japan of young men using samurai-go. What, you say, a Trend in Japan? No, surely not. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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