English to Japanese

A good question. The Japanese have a rich and enchanting culture. In Japan, people walk along pretty much shoulder to shoulder, and if you bump into someone, you must stop walking immediately and bow to each other as a way of showing that you respect one another. It is not considered appropriate to show affection in public; and one must be respectful, helpful, and kind to those older than yourself. In terms of with the family, you must not do anything shameful, for not only will you lose your honor, but your family will be disgraced along with you.

The Japanese originally practiced Shintoism, meaning they worshiped the many Japanese gods and goddesses. They said that the reason that day and night are separate was because Tsukuyomi, the moon god, was disgusted by how the food god prepared his meal by pulling noodles from his nose and fish swimming out his mouth. In his disgust, Tsukuyomi killed the god. Ashamed of her brother, Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, declared that she wished to never see him again, and from then on, the moon waited until the sun had set before it began to rise. This is just one of their intricate tales they used to explain everyday things.

In the days of shoguns and samurais and the exiled warriors called shinobi, one could here a deep and philosophical metaphor such as:

"Fill your cupped hands with water, and you hold the moon in your hand", or "Fall down seven times, get up eight".the first symbolizes that the moon is reflected in the water, while the second is saying that if you're knocked down by the troubles of life or literally, get right back up, don't lose hope/faith.

It would be more common (and less awkward) to say "I can only speak a little Japanese":

Kana: 日本語を少しだけ話せます

Roomaji: nihongo wo sukoshi dake hanasemasu

Phonetic: nee (like "knee"), hone (like "honing skills"), go, oh, soo, ko (rhymes with "go"), shee (like "she"), dock, keh (like the "ke" in "kettle"), haw, naw, seh (like the "se" in "selfish"), moss.

石 (ishi) - stone

の (no) - particle

熊 (kuma) - bear

King = Ousama

+

Cat = Neko

If you were to combine the two and say "nekousama" in context, the pun may not be lost to a surprising majority of Japanese people.

There are a few different ways 'this looks very good' may be translated in Japanese. These are:

• これはなかなかよさそうだ (kore wa nakanaka yosasou da) - "This looks quite good."
• これはとてもよさそうだ (kore wa totemo yosasou da) - "This looks very good."
• これはとてもおいしそうだ (kore wa totemo oishisou da) - "This looks very good/delicious." (used for food)