Evil Bob Campaigns

This is for commonly used Japanese words and phrases that might pop up.  While I do not want people posting in Japanese for the most part (this should be an English forum) I am a firm believer that a few phrases and words add flavor and give greater immersion.  A few rules though: Please post Japanese words in Romanji, or Roman characters, do not use Asian characters.  Thanks!

General Greetings

Hello. Konnichiwa.

Good Morning. Ohayou. 
Ohayou-gozaimasu. (Polite)

Good afternoon. Konnichiwa.

Good evening. Konbanwa.

Good night. Oyasumi. Oyasuminasai.

Good bye. Sayounara.

See you later. Dewa mata.  Ja ne.

See you tomorrow. Mata ashita.

How do you do. Hajimemashite.

How are you? Ogenki desu-ka.

I'm fine. Genki-desu.

And you? Anata wa?

I'm fine, too. Watashi-mo genki-desu.

Thank you. Arigatou. /
Arigatou-gozaimasu.(polite)

Please be kind. If you post in another language, translate it. If you're having a private aside in a gaijin language, send a PM to the recipient with a translation.

 ;D

Sumimasen.  Excuse me.

Gomenasai.  I'm Sorry/ My Apologies    to a superior.  Gome would be to a person of equal status.

Itadakimasu.  Said before meals  (thanks for the food)


Just as a side note, this is a very serious question and is not usually tossed out out casually.


Daijobu is another wonderful phrase, as a question it asks are you ok, but as a statment it means I'm ok.

"Have you eaten rice?"  Standard greeting for all occasions in the Emerald Empire.

Don't call someone with '-sama' alone. Works in English with 'sir', doesn't work in Japanese.

Plurals. If you address several people, you can say
'minna-san'  = all (present)
'minna-sama' = all (present), polite

Be polite to your superiors. If you call them name-sama, pick the most polite version you can find from this list.

Probably meant 'gomen'. There is also even more polite way to be sorry 'Moushiwake arimasen'. (I have no excuse)

____________
If you want kanji for your characters name, poke me. ^^

Actually no, Gome is correct.  Gomenasai is formal as it adds the stem -nasai to make it formal, Gome is the conjugated informal version.

I have only ever heard Gomen and I am in Japan. It may have been gome but I have never heard that?

Also, a couple of google searches haven't brought up anything useful for gome. Unless I am using bad search terms. E.g Here (http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=gome+sorry+japanese&oq=gome+sorry+japanese&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=37645l41410l6l41490l21l17l0l10l0l0l341l641l3-2l2l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=901510fc43d190e5&biw=983&bih=548)

Gome could perhaps be a more modern way of saying "gomen"? Or a regional dialect?

I've personally never come across "gome" myself in relation to apologizing.

Just looked it up and it means to improve I think? Still, never heard it used, only gomen.

Perhaps gome could be a character trait though? Like a cutesy way of saying it. I know a lot of guys here who say ossu rather than ohaiyo gosaimasu. Might be, well, slang in parts?

 I've lived a year there, and I have to agree with Masakaze. Never heard 'gome'　and none of jp-jp dictionaries seem to know it either. The word is spelled 'go' 'me' 'n' 'na' 'sa' 'i' with hiragana, so there is the double n there. There is also word 'gomenkudasai' =  gomen+kudasai.  

Now, as someone said, it might be regional accent, as those tend to change things alot.

You pull some Japanese on me, you'd better translate it under your post or I'll just conclude it's either gaijin or maho incantations.

No worries Shin. But if you do so to any of the words above then our characters will be forced to think yours has gone crazy, possibly due to taint :P

Play nice ^_-

You play L5R too fellow nerd :P

Just don't want to come here to check what the hell people are saying all the time :P Then again, it's never really been an issue. I'm just bored.

Ah no worries *huggles Shin* we will keep it simple! Ne?

Despite all that language-nerdism, I actually try to keep things as English as possible. Won't come up a word for sushi, but... Yeah. Feels bit awkward for me, to mix one foreign language with an another foreign language.

I think rule of thumb should be that if you use fluffy Japanese beyond the obvious, link to translation or make a footnote. Unless you're in a really private thread and all sides agree to heavier use of borrowings.

/sagenod

Apart from the usual things like greetings, yes/no and regular thank you, I usually include a foot-note when I use Japanese.

Unless I have a scene with some others whom I know know more Japanese than me. ;)

Dude.  Since Japanese is for flavor only, we'll be fine with this.  Just takes a while to acclimate to the environment.  What does "HO!" mean anyway?  Anything?

Gomen can be used alone depends on what region of japan you are in. I know in Osaka like Ohayoo is shortened to just hayo.....like I said it depends they have city speak ...country speak. Also the language varies to difference by city and region as well as feminine and masculine. My Japanese teacher was from the country I knew a girl who had a japanese teacher from Tokyo. When we would practice together talking I wouldnt understand bits of what she was saying because her slang was different. Inflection is also key but in forum it doesnt make a difference.

This instrument is called 'niko' 二胡 in Japanese. Not that it makes a big difference.

Did not know that.  I will stick to erhu though as that is standard among musicians I know in the US.  Just be glad I don't call it the Chinese Fiddle.  ;D