Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Excuse me ma'am...

Something reminded me that my Filipino friend said こわい!! when she saw a baby.
(こわい means "scary" or "to be scared" in Japanese)

I wondered why she was scared of the baby at that time, but soon I understood.
What she wanted to say was かわいい/kawaii/, not こわい/kowai/.
(Yes, かわいい means "cute"!)

You must be careful when you want to say "Hey, you look so cute!" to your Japanese girlfriend. Don't say こわいね!


And one more thing. She told me that it's a little difficult for her to tell the difference between おばさん and おばあさん. Actually, there's a big difference between them.

おばさん/obasan/ is a middle-aged lady but 

おばあさん/obaasan/ means a grandmother, or an old (very old) lady.


This is かわいいおばあさん

We use these words (おばさん and おばあさん) to address a woman with a meaning something like "lady" or "ma'am." The word おばさん also implies that she's old enough, so some ladies don't like to be called おばさん. They would ask to be called by her name instead, or to be called おねえさん/onee-san/.


*Japanese Word of the Day*
かわいいお姉さんと、こわいおばさん、どっちが好き?
/kawaii onee-san to, kowai obasan, docchi ga suki?/
Which do you like better, a cute young woman or a scary old lady?

I know your answer!

3 comments:

  1. I like scary old lady of course! Noooo just kidding!

    わたし わ かわいい おねえ-さん が すき です!

    Watashi wa kawaii onee-san ga suki desu.

    I think that's right...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joseはかわいいお姉さんが好きです!Lol
      Thank you for your comment, I enjoy it every time!

      *Here this は/ha/ is pronounced /wa/ ;)
      It's a little confusing, isn't it!

      Delete

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