How to talk like a ge1sha
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This document provides an overview of basic Japanese language concepts for programmers including: - Common Japanese words used in computing like "programmer", "bug", and "blog" along with their Japanese translations. - Phrases for greetings, asking how someone is, and saying thanks and goodbye. - How to form basic sentences using subject markers and verb forms. - An introduction to the Japanese writing systems of kanji, hiragana, and katakana. - Guidance on Japanese politeness conventions including honorific suffixes and verb conjugations. - Tips for learning Japanese and communicating effectively as a foreigner in Japan.
How to talk like a ge1sha
- 1. How to talk like a Ge1sha A guide to Japanese as a programmer's language Andrew Grimm Railscamp X
- 2. Hello World ● Minasan konnichiwa (Hello everyone)
- 3. Vocabulary ● Puroguramaa: Programmer ● Waaurufu: werewolf ● Bagu: bug ● Burogu: blog ● Paatii: party ● Biiru: Beer
- 4. Plz halp ● Good morning: Ohayou gozaimasu ● G'day: Konnichiwa ● Good evening: Konbanwa ● How you going, mate? Genki desu ka? ● Please (halp): Kudasai ● Please (go ahead): Douzo ● Thanx: Arigatou ● Goodbye: Ja mata
- 5. How to copulate ● Noun, subject marker, noun, desu ● Bigg-san wa puroguramaa desu ● Mr Bigg is a programmer
- 6. ! ● Japanese uses different verb forms for negative versus positive ● Bigg-san wa waaurufu dewa arimasen ● Mr Bigg is not a werewolf
- 7. From future import present tense ● Japanese does not have a future tense ● Just use the present tense
- 8. Particles ● Those pesky small words go after the noun ● No: of ● Wa: used to indicate subject ● O: used to indicate object ● Kara: From (some meanings) ● Made: To (some meanings)
- 9. Nouns ● No singular or plural ● Different objects have different counters ● Five: go ● Five beers: go-hon no biru ● Five programmers: go-nin no puroguramaa ● Five am: go-ji
- 10. Metaprogramming ● Kore: This (near speaker) ● Sore: That (near listener) ● Are: That over there (far from listener) ● Kore o kudasai (this please) served in every restaurant I went to – even McDonald's!
- 11. Linguistic prolog ● To ask a question, just replace a known with a who/what/where word, and add ka at the end ● Nan-ji desu ka? (What o'clock is it?) ● Biru-ji desu. (Beer o'clock it is)
- 12. Japanese writing ● Three writing systems: ● Kanji ● Hiragana ● Katakana
- 13. Kanji: the evils of copy & paste ● The Japanese copied Chinese characters to represent Japanese words ● One character per word ● 2000+ characters
- 14. Hiragana and katakana: shortcuts ● More like alphabets ● Derived from simplifications of kanji used for sound alone ● Each letter represents a syllable ● Each has ~ 46 letters ● In general, hiragana used in native words, katakana in European loanwords
- 15. Legacy encodings ● Japanese used to have many letters with the same pronounciation. ● The Japanese government declared these letters obsolete (hentaigana) and not to be taught at school
- 16. Politeness: -san ● -san is put after names ● -san obeys what's called ingroup/outgroup rules ● Don't use -san when talking about yourself ● Don't use -san for someone in your family when talking to someone outside your family
- 17. Politeness: verb forms ● Different verb forms are used for different levels of politeness. ● The form you initially learn is called teinei- go. ● Originated with language used by ge1sha to address their guests (hence the title of this talk)
- 18. Politeness: o- / go- words ● Used for important things ● O-cha: Tea ● Go-han: Rice ● O-kane: Money ● O-sake: Booze / sake ● Used to soften “dirty” words ● O-tearai: bathroom
- 19. Politeness: family ● When talking about someone else's family, politeness goes up to 11 and you use o-/go- and -san ● Father (someone else's): o-tou-san ● When talking about your own family to someone else, you use a humble form ● Father (your own, when talking to someone else): chichi
- 20. Learning Japanese ● 16 lessons at a community college was enough for me to speak Japanese, even if not understand the response ● “Japanese for Busy People” is slightly boring but good – you can use it if you miss lessons ● Searching the internet to answer your curiosities about the language can be a time sink
- 21. Learning in romaji or kana ● Learning in romaji (Roman letters) is technical debt ● I was able to visit Japan without learning kana (hiragana and katakana)
- 22. Hints for handling Japan – Japan specific
- 23. Train stations ● Station names, exit names, and ticketing is in both Japanese and English
- 24. Loanwords ● The more modern the word, the more likely it is an English loanword (gairai-go) ● Tend to have vowels added in to sound more Japanese-like
- 25. American English ● Bad news: you have to learn two languages ● Good news: one of them is similar to English
- 26. English heading, Japanese body
- 27. Toilets ● Blue for boys, pink for girls, green for disabled
- 28. Communication – common sense
- 29. Pronunciation ● 50% of language variations are the same words pronounced in a different way ● Writing things down can help ● Gives people more time to understand ● Japanese learn written English more than spoken
- 30. Likelihood to speak English ● Tourist information desk? Pretty likely ● Love hotel receptionist? Maybe not
- 31. Questions?