{"id":6482,"date":"2020-09-24T21:03:50","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T21:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=6482"},"modified":"2020-09-24T21:03:50","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T21:03:50","slug":"i-am-not-really-ok-with-daijoubu-%e3%81%a0%e3%81%84%e3%81%98%e3%82%87%e3%81%86%e3%81%b6%ef%bc%89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/i-am-not-really-ok-with-daijoubu-%e3%81%a0%e3%81%84%e3%81%98%e3%82%87%e3%81%86%e3%81%b6%ef%bc%89\/","title":{"rendered":"I am not really OK with “daijoubu” (\u3060\u3044\u3058\u3087\u3046\u3076\uff09"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a former student of sociolinguistics, I am naturally drawn to anything\u00a0related to<\/u>\u00a0(\u301c\u95a2\u4fc2\u3059\u308b) language and society\u00a0<\/u>(\u793e\u4f1a).\u00a0 Recently, I read a tweet from Salam Namaste, a Napali \u2013Indian restaurant in Japan.<\/p>\n

\n

\u3060\u3044\u3058\u3087\u3046\u3076\u3000\u306f\u3000\u30cd\u30d1\u30fc\u30eb\u3058\u3093\u306b\u305c\u3093\u305c\u3093\u3060\u3044\u3058\u3087\u3046\u3076\u3058\u3083\u306a\u3044<\/p>\n

\u3057\u3083\u304b\u3044\u3058\u3093\u3068\u304a\u306a\u3058\u305c\u3093\u305c\u3093\u308f\u304b\u3089\u306a\u3044\u306b\u307b\u3093\u3054\u306b\u306a\u3063\u305f…? pic.twitter.com\/2UlIY4mAv0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u672c\u683c\u30cd\u30d1\u30fc\u30eb\u30fb\u30a4\u30f3\u30c9\u6599\u7406\u30b5\u30e9\u30e0\u30ca\u30de\u30b9\u30c6?? (@salamnamaste01) July 25, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1)
\nNapali \u201cCan you eat another nan?\u201d
\nJapanese \u201cDaijobu\u201d<\/p>\n

Does the \u201cdaijobu\u201d mean Yes or No?<\/p>\n

First of all, \u201cdaijobu\u201d (\u3060\u3044\u3058\u3087\u3046\u3076\u3001\u5927\u4e08\u592b) can be translated as \u201cI am good\u201d or \u201cI am OK.\u201d These are also ambiguous\u00a0<\/u>(\u3042\u3044\u307e\u3044\u3001\u66d6\u6627) in English.<\/p>\n

Sakam Namaste Restaurant asked on Twitter.\u00a0 Then 19% of Japanese said \u201cYes (I can eat another nan)\u201d while 63% said \u201cNo (I cannot eat another nan).\u201d\u00a0 I believe it heavily depends on\u00a0<\/u>(\u301c\u306b\u3088\u308b) how \u201cdaijobu\u201d is uttered.\u00a0 I am sure some sort of hand\/body gestures were involved.\u00a0 But just reading the conversation\u00a0<\/u>(\u304b\u3044\u308f)\u3000alone, my instinct \u00a0<\/u>(\u3061\u3087\u3063\u304b\u3093\u3001\u76f4\u611f) was to reply, \u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 But while I was writing this in English, I started to think this \u201cdaijobu\u201d could mean \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

http:\/\/www.irasutoya.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Let\u2019s picture the scene.\u00a0 If the Japanese says \u201cdaijobu\u201d while looking at the person who asked the question, then it means \u201cyes, I can have another.\u201d\u00a0 If the Japanese says \u201cdaijobu\u201d while waving his\/her hand with the palm\u00a0<\/u>( \u624b\u306e\u3072\u3089) showing to the person who asked the question, that means \u201cno, I cannot have another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see 2).<\/p>\n

Napali: Can you eat hot (spicy<\/u>) (\u8f9b\u3044) curry?
\nJapanese: Daijobu.<\/p>\n

Is this daijobu yes or no?<\/p>\n

Eighty-six percent (\u30d1\u30fc\u30bb\u30f3\u30c8) of Japanese who responded said that this meant \u201cYes, I can eat spicy curry,\u201d while 9% interpreted this as \u201cNo, I cannot eat spicy curry.\u201d<\/p>\n

How about 3)?<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo by Marvin Ozz from Pexels<\/p><\/div>\n

Napali: Can you eat a large nan?
\nJapanese: Daijobu.<\/p>\n

Is this danjobu yes or no?<\/p>\n

Again, 80% of those responded interpreted this as \u201cYes, I can eat a large nan, \u201c while 12% decided \u201cNo, I cannot eat a large nan\u201d was the answer.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see 4), the last one.<\/p>\n

Napali: Nan at Salam Namaste is huge.\u00a0 Can you eat another\u00a0<\/u>(\u3082\u3046\u4e00\u3064\u306e) nan?
\nJapanese: Daijobu.<\/p>\n

Is this danjobu yes or no?<\/p>\n

Well, this sounds a bit like an advertisement\u00a0<\/u>(\u3053\u3046\u3053\u304f\u3001\u5e83\u544a).\u00a0Fifty-seven percent of those responded said that this meant \u201cYes, I can eat another nan,\u201d while 31% argued this meant \u201cNo, I cannot eat another.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as I am concerned, I agree with\u00a0<\/u>(\u301c\u540c\u610f\u3059\u308b) the majority for the cases 2) and 3)\u00a0 whole-heartedly.\u00a0 Cases 1) and 4) seem to be the complicated (\u8907\u96d1\u306a) ones.\u00a0 As I said, the case 1) must involve some kind of hand\/body gestures or facial expressions\u00a0<\/u>(\u8868\u60c5).\u00a0 And they would determine the answer.<\/p>\n

1) and 4) are\u00a0<\/u>very similar\u00a0<\/u>(\u4f3c\u3066\u3044\u308b)\u2013 both asking if you can eat another nan.<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, I can eat another nan \u2013 19%.\u00a0 No, I cannot eat another nan \u2013 63%<\/strong>.
\n4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, I can eat another nan \u2013 57%<\/strong>.\u00a0 No, I cannot eat another nan \u2013 31%.<\/p>\n

Why is there a difference?<\/p>\n

The main difference is 4) has the additional (<\/u>\u8ffd\u52a0\u306e) information \u2013 nan at Salam Namaste is huge.\u00a0 With that statement, suddenly (\u7a81\u7136), more people interpreted \u201cdaijobu\u201d as \u201cYes, I can have another nan.\u201d\u00a0The \u201cnan at Salam Namaste is huge\u201d statement may be taken as a challenge\u00a0<\/u>(\u6311\u6226) as in \u201cour nan is huge. I dare you to eat another one.\u201d\u00a0 When you think this way, the case 2) can be seen as a challenge – \u201cit is spicy.\u00a0 I bet you cannot eat it.\u201d\u00a0 And \u201cdaijobu\u201d in the case 2) was also interpreted as \u201cYes, I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

We use an expression like \u3060\u3044\u3058\u3087\u3046\u3076 all the time, and we do not have any doubt that our listeners understand what we mean.\u00a0 But when a question was thrown at us about what we meant; it becomes obvious that even native speakers cannot agree on one meaning.\u00a0 That is why it is good to teach your own language.\u00a0 You will learn so much about the language you were using everyday without thinking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

As a former student of sociolinguistics, I am naturally drawn to anything\u00a0related to\u00a0(\u301c\u95a2\u4fc2\u3059\u308b) language and society\u00a0(\u793e\u4f1a).\u00a0 Recently, I read a tweet from Salam Namaste, a Napali \u2013Indian restaurant in Japan. \u3060\u3044\u3058\u3087\u3046\u3076\u3000\u306f\u3000\u30cd\u30d1\u30fc\u30eb\u3058\u3093\u306b\u305c\u3093\u305c\u3093\u3060\u3044\u3058\u3087\u3046\u3076\u3058\u3083\u306a\u3044 \u3057\u3083\u304b\u3044\u3058\u3093\u3068\u304a\u306a\u3058\u305c\u3093\u305c\u3093\u308f\u304b\u3089\u306a\u3044\u306b\u307b\u3093\u3054\u306b\u306a\u3063\u305f…? pic.twitter.com\/2UlIY4mAv0 \u2014 \u672c\u683c\u30cd\u30d1\u30fc\u30eb\u30fb\u30a4\u30f3\u30c9\u6599\u7406\u30b5\u30e9\u30e0\u30ca\u30de\u30b9\u30c6?? (@salamnamaste01) July 25, 2020 1) Napali \u201cCan you eat another nan?\u201d Japanese \u201cDaijobu\u201d Does the \u201cdaijobu\u201d mean Yes or No?…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":6495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[505760,505762,505763,505761],"class_list":["post-6482","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-daijobu","tag-i-am-ok","tag-its-ok","tag-spicy-curry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6482"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6939,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6482\/revisions\/6939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}