Special to The Japan
Times
"Ain't" ain't a word. My high
school English teachers pounded that into my head. And they were
right — "ain't" is not proper English. On the other hand, it is
used colloquially by people all over the English-speaking world.
Language is not just limited to those words found in reference
books and textbooks. Whether formally recognized or not, utterances
people use every day are language. So if you're working to improve
your overall Japanese level, you might consider learning just a bit
of what, strictly speaking, ain't proper
Japanese.
The Japanese language is brilliant
at accommodating abbreviation. You can almost always make words or
phrases shorter. And it will undoubtedly raise your perceived, if
not actual, fluency. Doing so will also help you break free of
grammatical constructs that at times make you sound like a
fuddy-duddy.
Here are some examples I've
collected through my experiences as a homestay participant, then as
a student of the Japanese language, and now as I live and work here
in Japan. You probably hear some of these constructions multiple
times a day if you live in Japan. (If you don't recognize them, you
will start to once you're aware of them.)
The abbreviations that are easiest
to pick up are exceedingly common casual forms of speech, such as
the change of "dewa arimasen" (ではありません, "is not") to
"jya nai" (じゃない). My textbooks covered such standard
abbreviations. But if you interact with young people, you might
hear shortened forms of slang, too. For instance, do you ever say
"yahari" (やはり, "as I thought")? Why not swap it out for
"yappa" (やっぱ) in a casual conversation? Or, you might try
"azassu" (あざっす, "thanks") instead of the full "arigatō
gozaimasu" (ありがとうございます, "thank you"), if you feel that sort of
speech is appropriate for the situation.
Greetings are often similarly
clipped. For example, "ohayō gozaimasu" (おはようございます, "good
morning") becomes the excitedly sneezelike, percussive
"~zzaimasu" (~っざいます, "mornin' "). I've even heard baseball
team members swipe their hats off their heads, bow and let out a
resounding "chiwa" (ちわっ, "hi") instead of the full
"konnichiwa" (こんにちは, "hello").
The liberal use, or abuse, of the
small tsu (っ as opposed to つ) appears in many other
examples, too. When some young men speak, the copula, desu
(です), equivalent in meaning to "it is," is shortened by dropping
the de and replacing it with a small tsu. Customarily,
it's represented in katakana at that point, since it's not really a
legitimate word anymore but more of a sound, ssu (ッス). A
small tsu is also used in place of i (い) on i-adjectives,
accentuating the abruptness of the clipped word — like adding an
exclamation point. Slang isn't a purely modern contrivance, either;
for example, older nu (ぬ)-form adjectives regularly get
trimmed to a blunt ん.
If you're in an area where a
dialect is spoken, I highly recommend learning how to use the local
tongue effectively. My host family in Tokyo was shocked when I let
loose on one visit with such abbreviations as "jyakken"
(じゃっけん, "therefore") and "ā, hōssuka" (あぁ、ほうっすか; "Oh, is
that so?"). They told me that I no longer qualified as living in
the countryside (inaka, 田舎) — I ranked as living in, and
having been learning the lingo of, the ド田舎 (do-inaka), the
deep countryside — or "the sticks."
While surprised by my local
flavor, the people I interact with daily are far more comfortable
talking to me. Dialect-specific abbreviations are useful! In areas
where Kansai dialect is spoken, the shortened form of
"chigau" (違う, "wrong, different"), "chau" (ちゃう),
is common. In Koichi Prefecture's Tosa dialect, the shortened form
of "shitteiru" (知っている, "(I) know") — "shicchū"
(知っちゅう) — is much used.
Learn the tricks in your own area
as well as those for standard Japanese, but take care to listen to
how natives use casual speech and do your best to mimic; the only
thing worse than using hypercorrect language all the time is using
slang incorrectly — like wannabe-hip parents. For example,
forgetting to account for regional norms when choosing between
aho (アホ) and baka (バカ) as a friendly insult could
be awkward.
Remember, while "ain't" ain't a
word to some, it sure is to all those people who use it. The same
is true for Japanese. Know your proper Japanese, but don't be
afraid to learn words that aren't in the textbooks. You'll be
matching "ya'lls" and "youse guys" in no
time.
Deas Richardson IV writes the
blog www.rockinginhakata.com and works as a prefectural adviser and
assistant language teacher in Ehime Prefecture,
Shikoku.
Abbreviate for
oomph:
• 寒い, 寒っ！(samui,
samu)
• 暑い, 暑っ！(atsui, atsu)
• 暗い, 暗っ！ (kurai, kura)
• 怖い, 怖っ！(kowai, kowa)
• 知らぬ, 知らん (shiranu, shiran)
• 行かぬ, 行かん(ikanu, ikan)
• 分からぬ, 分からん (wakaranu, wakaran)