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About meAn online glossary I can really use!
The next time you need to communicate with a tiny person raised in a Japanese-speaking environment, head over to the Goo Labs and take a look at the こども語辞書 (”baby-talk dictionary”). Toss your terms into the search field (you can use a baby term, like wanwan for a dog, or the normal word inu), or use one of the categorized lists listed lower on the page:
- Kana order (lists of terms for each character in the Japanese syllabary, either by baby sound or adult word represented)
- By genre (including such toddler favorites as “animals,” “foods and drinks,” and “song lyrics”)
- By sex of babies that tend to learn the term first (including months of vocabulary usage; boys lag by a half-month or so, with the exception of important words like “ramen”)
- By month of vocab usage
My favorite category is probably マニアックワード, “maniac words.” The imported term in Japanese refers not to the axe-wielding variety but to a hobby or other interest taken to extremes, often in a “really out there” area that not many people pay attention to. Some of the examples in the Goo Labs glossary are 殺虫剤 (insecticide), アフラック (Aflac, the insurance firm with the popular duck), and シュワッチ (Ultraman’s phrase “shuwatch,” to borrow the Wikipedia entry’s spelling). Crazy kids.
(Via ことば・言葉・コトバ.)
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2 Responses to “An online glossary I can really use!”
Posted by: adamrice - 04/04/2008
Wait, are you saying that there are アフラックマニア in Japan?
I need to get out more.
Posted by: Durf - 04/04/2008
Well, probably “Aflac commercials with the duck” maniacs . . . Little kids latching onto whatever attention-grabbing marketing scheme crosses their eyeballs.
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