Blog and Portfolio of Tokyo based web producer & illustrator, Hawken King.
how to say “I”.
16th of Jul, 2006ce* in: japan
In English, how many ways can we refer to ourselves?
I, my, me, one’s self, in person & one’s.
So in all that’s six ways. By far and wide “I” would be the most used. However some languages have a multitude of ways to refer to one’s self, and Japanese is by far the most confusing! Japanese has well over 11 ways of making self references:
- 01. 私「わたし」”watashi”. (formal, female japanese)
- 02. 私「わたくし」”watakushi”. (formal)
- 03. 僕「ぼく」”boku”. (male japanese, childs japanese)
- 04. 俺「おれ」”ore”. (male japanese, from boss or elder)
- 05. 拙者「せっしゃ」”sesha”. (samurai)
- 06. わたれ “wataru”. (not sure about this one, may have it wrong, childs japanese)
- 07. 自分「じぶん」”jibun”. (one’s self, myself, in person)
- 08. うち “uchi”. (one’s self, formal)
- 09. 自身「じしん」”jishin”. (ones, formal)
- 10. 自ら「みずから」”mizukara”. (one’s self, in person)
- 11. 自我「じが」”jiga”. (one’s self)
I’m convinced there are a lot more out there, with regional dialects and so on.
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Rick Stirling, Thursday, August 3, 2006, 21:01
Gah, I’ve barely managed to learn ‘Excuse me, do you speak English’ and you lay this on me….
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mayu, Monday, July 17, 2006, 12:21
Otsukare!
erm, i’ve never heard of “watare/wataru”
and not sure if 10. “mizukara” and 11.”jiga” can be
translated as “I” and… 08.”uchi” is not formal, mostly used in Kansai area, female, and as in standard japanese it refers “I/we”, but otherwise i’m impressed how much
you know about this crazy language:)
here are some more “I” you might like lol:
12.我輩「わがはい」”wagahai”, (male jap, you must’ve heard of this if you’ve read Souseki Natsume)
13.よ”yo”, (lord, shougun)
14.朕「ちん」”chin”, (emperor, king, esp.known as in traslation for “L’état, c’est moi” by Louis XIV de France lol)
15.あたい”atai”, (same as 私, a bit uptown girl talk)
16.わらわ”warawa”, (female jap, around Heian-era, i guess, it’s cute)
17.おら”ora”, (one’s self, Touhoku-region, but kinda popular)
18.わし”washi”, (elder male jap, or male jap in Kansai area)
19.おいら”oira”, (little boy in the old times, it’s cute)
20.おいどん”oidon”, (one’s self, Kyushu region, cute!)
and even ミー”me” has kinda become japanese refering “I” lol
i just don’t hope i’m discouraging any japanese learners here:D
laters!