The dangers of word association...

[Kaji]

Got this from the Sensei Online mailing list, the guy who sent it in got it from another ML. Figured people here would appreciate it...hehehe...

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When I first started learning Japanese, I used to do word
association to remember the syllables. So, when I learned
"choutto taihen" (it's a little difficult), I thought of a "hen"
like a chicken wearing a "tie". I was so happy to be armed with
my new knowledge because I could finally say I wasn't able to do
something politely.

So, I went to the AMPM to pay my bills for the first time. I
handed the girl behind the counter my bills, a handful of money
and just stared at her blankly. She was trying to tell me
something and asking me to read something on the bill. I was
thinking, "Wow, perfect time to use my new discovery". So, I
thought of my chicken wearing a tie and told her straight up,
"uhhhh ... choutto hentai" (I'm a little pervert). Her eyes got
really big and she stared at me for a few seconds. Then she
slowly asked me, "su-mi-ma-sen". So, I thought I must be
mispronouncing something so I started repeating slower and
louder ... "choutto HENTAI ... CHOUTTO HENTAI!"

By then third time the girl turned all red and it looked like she
wanted to cry. It finally hit me that I switched the syllables. I
blurted out "AHH ... CHOUTTO TAIHEN!", grabbed my cash and bills
and ran out of the AMPM. It took me like 6 months get enough
courage to go back to that place...

[Henjin]

If that's true, it's pretty darn funny.

[Quartermaster]

Beautiful! Outright beautiful!

[Uska]

hahahaha I never did that cause I knew it was somehow sooner or later gonna turn against me. Funny stuff man, funny stuff xD

[Shii]

That's a great story! It had me laughing for a while. Fufufu. Does stuff like this happen a lot??

[nawruz]

BWAHAHAHAHA....that was awesome, in a really bad way. wonder if she quit her job after that. anymore stories to share?

[Excel-2008]

That's just awful. If there's anyone I can't tolerate, it's people who think they need but one word of a language to be confident in colloquial usage. I've been taking Japanese for three years and it's hard not to look down on them, especially when you've known such people for years before.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Let's also point out that you wouldn't say 'chotto taihen' in that situation most likely. Seems like a fake story. Now the mistakes I wrote about in the other forum...

[hanacker]

Let's also point out that you wouldn't say 'chotto taihen' in that situation most likely. Seems like a fake story. Now the mistakes I wrote about in the other forum...

Well if the guy doesn't even know the word, I'm sure he also doesn't know the nuances of the proper usage.

But it could still be a fake story.

[Mushu]

Let's also point out that you wouldn't say 'chotto taihen' in that situation most likely. Seems like a fake story. Now the mistakes I wrote about in the other forum...
could you write them here, start a new or hijack this one, would love to read them :D

[Henjin]

I don't think I've ever said anything stupid/funny like that in Japanese yet. I've said stuff that didn't make sense or was hard to understand, but no double entendres. Guess I can chalk that up to not a whole lot of conversation practice, and my hesitance to use any word/phrase I don't completely understand.
One of my friends did accidentally say he ate a sumo wrestler once, though.

[Jess]

I worked at the Mino Town International Association, kokusai kouryuu kyoukai (I may have long and short vowels screwed up there...geh, it's been more than three years... :( ), but for a while I was mispronouncing the name as "kokusai kyouryuu kyokai". That "kyo" instead of "ko" sound made a big difference - I'd been saying "International Dinosaur Association".

RAWR. :)

I have another good one that a friend said a friend said (could, therefore, be apocryphal): Adding "sou" to the end of adjectives adds the meaning "it looks like". For example, "oishii" = delicious. "Oishisou" = it looks delicious. This can be dangerous when applied to the word "kawaii", or cute. Because "kawaisou" means something like "how horrible!" or "that's too bad!", not the "that looks cute" a novice knowing the above rule might suspect. In this story, a proud new mother was showing this JET her baby, and the JET, in what they thought was a nice compliment, said "Kawaisou". I was told the mother ran off crying, hearing something like "You must be so disappointed" rather than the "It looks cute" the JET meant.

I had another a friend pointed out. It was my last spring in Japan, and I was hurriedly gathering up all the things I wanted to buy before leaving for good. One of the things I like was the little wind chimes. I had expressed an interest at the school in finding a store that sold them - the news, as it always did, got around town quickly. One of the friendly people in town gave me two as a gift. I was alone with my best friend, Yumi, and I excitedly told her that I had two "furin". She began lauging and told me "Fuurin. Not furin. FUUrin!" She then explained that "Furin" (fling) means extramarital affairs...and I'd just told her I was carrying on with two of them! :eek: I'm very glad she was the only other one around when I made that slip up!

[Kaji]

More words to watch out for! hehehe...Plug the various pairs kanji into the dictionary here (http://poets.notredame.ac.jp/cgi-bin/jedi-inon) to see what each word means.

主人は囚人だ。

主婦か娼婦？

[nice gaijin]

this kind of reminds me of a story i heard about a guy who kept asking his Japanese friend if they had time to stop for one more drink that night by asking in an increasingly loud voice (since his friend was trying to pretend he didn't hear his faux pas) until he was practically yelling "chikan aru?"....


on the train.

[Kaji]

Aru indeed, after the stares they must have been getting...hehehe...

[nice gaijin]

nah, he kept going until his friend yelled "it's JIKAN, dumbass! :D

[Henjin]

LOL @ 'chikan aru' and 'kawaisou.' Heheh.

[hapamama]

Thanks for the translation of kawaisou. My husband's grandmother uses that word a lot when she's talking about my kids skin conditions (eczema) and their food allergies, and while I figured it meant something like "poor thing", I wasn't 100% sure.

My Japanese was learned mostly by rote, from 4 people with different accents and dialects. Gets confusing.

[I Monkey]

this kind of reminds me of a story i heard about a guy who kept asking his Japanese friend if they had time to stop for one more drink that night by asking in an increasingly loud voice (since his friend was trying to pretend he didn't hear his faux pas) until he was practically yelling "chikan aru?"....


on the train.

What's chikan? :confused:

[Henjin]

痴漢-ちかん-Chikan = Pervert

[Varia]

That is a bad translation.

In modern Japanese, chikan is a person who molests people (most commonly girls, and on trains).

So you're (lady) in a crowded train going to work, and then suddenly you feel a hand going up your thigh. You have no idea who it could be, because everyone is wearing a black suit, not saying anything, and has a straight look on their face. So you, being Japanese, decide not to make a ruckus and just let the man feel you until you get off the train.

That's chikan. Chikan is a noun, but not referred to as a person.
X He is a chikan.
O Have you ever been chikan'd before?
________
Rambler (Bicycle) History (http://www.dodge-wiki.com/wiki/Rambler_(bicycle))

[Henjin]

That is a bad translation.

Eh... I'd say 'pervert' still fits, though according to your description, it's obviously more serious than the English implies. In any case, according EDICT, it can also mean 'molester,' which I guess is closer.

[EIJI]

Yes, "molester" is more fit.
I'm sad to say "Chikan" is one of Japanese culture. :(
It is hard to get the direct translation.
In recently, we have "train compartment exclusively for women".
..... I'd like to get on that compartment for once. :D

[hapacheese]

A Japanese childhood friend of mine (who is *very* well proportioned) encountered chikan in high school once. But, being a tomboy, she turned around and knocked the guy the f*ck out. Just turned around and did a Mike Tyson on his ass.

Our mutual friend was telling me the story, and she earned many brownie points with me that fine day.

[Henjin]

Yeah... that kinda thing would not fly in the States...

Any of you guys seen this shirt?
http://images.jbox.com/d4/shirt_p27.jpg

[Kaji]

hehehe...That's just awesome