The REASON Google Translate FAILS at Japanese

Translating between Japanese and English can go horribly wrong. We explore HOW and WHY, as well as the most common mistake made by all new Japanese learners.
Special thanks to Ryotaro with his drawer metaphors. Check out his channel!
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[@AbroadinJapan]

NOTIFICATION SQUAD: Who's up for a bowl of puppy ramen? I've been wanting to do a video on Google translate for a while and I finally feel vindicated! If you have any translation tools you recommend, fire away with your suggestions!

[@justagoogleuser8642]

hi

[@Scottsgamerlounge]

Puppy ramen? I’m in!

[@sayakamiura524]

Hi Chris!

[@andres-m]

hi

[@user-lv4ne7nq1h]

Hi

[@dabossdud]

"i think i'll close my imaginary resturant" *flips sign so the open side is facing out*

[@kenjcruz8002]

😂😂😂

[@ninjatep]

Ahh I was waiting for this comment! 🤣

[@DjokovicIsOurLordAndSaviour]

I was genuinely confused by this haha

[@komalkuku]

😂

[@frederickaugustus4225]

Nobody's perfect

[@MegaPompoen]

"don't use he/she, use their names" Me who is terrible at remembering names: Sweating profusely

[@Jordan-inJapan]

Exactly! This has been the bane of my existence for the 20 years I’ve lived in Japan. Luckily for me I work in schools here...so everyone is just, “SENSEI”.

[@AeneasMTG]

Yes yes yes! At my school it was so hard to remember 500 names to use instead of pronouns ahhhhh impossible. :'(

[@Jordan-inJapan]

Aeneas Yeah, I tried to remember students’ names for the first couple of years...and then realized the futility of that and just basically gave up. Where were you teaching, btw?

[@luisen1996]

With all the Kanji and having to remember people's names, Japanese has proven to be an excelent exercise for memory.

[@elijahdage5523]

You've just got to use their name until you remember it.

[@alloymetal7861]

After I saw Google translate 「アメリカの御飯」 ("american food", literally "america's rice") as "united states of rice", I'm not surprised by anything.

[@user-qx1om2wj1h]

Probably because the kanji for food used in the sentence above "飯" is also the kanji used for rice "ご飯".

[@alloymetal7861]

@@user-qx1om2wj1h Well, yes, but if anything, it should be "rice of United States" (or even of America), not "United States of rice"... That's a country, like the United Kingdom of Fish and Chips.

[@user-qx1om2wj1h]

@@alloymetal7861 either way it would sound strange and I don't get why they change America to the united states when it wasn't necessary. maybe Google is just trolling?😆

[@notatallheng]

Could be worse... Imagine what it would do with 米国のご飯.

[@ihaveseverefrootsnackism]

This almost made me spit out my water LOL

[@voidsabre_]

I'm gonna start saying "Full Stomach: achieved" after every meal

[@SeaSerpentLevi]

hahahah definately Ill say it with an excited voice like an anime character too cant wait to see people's reactions

[@SeaSerpentLevi]

Now that i think about it is kinda cute tough lol

[@odinlordofasgard9748]

Hey if Full Stomach is not an achivement then i don't know what it would be.

[@scintillam_dei]

Digestor at Maximum Capacity.

[@hatenayousei]

"I didn't know what I was saying but I was angry" honestly a mood

[@adylaar6708]

Legit thought he/they yelled back to the elderly.

[@rodrigo4379]

hahahahha

[@ThatJapanGuy]

Big mood 😂😂

[@ImmortalXUchiha]

Well angry is a mood, so it's literally a mood lol

[@jk9554]

tbh, that could easily be an untranslated 1-star review by a native english speaker.

[@aaaron7481]

I'll never forget my classmate using google translate to cheat on his Japanese test. Let's just say he failed hard

[@AbroadinJapan]

My Japanese students used to use it to cheat on their English homework. The results were horrendous.

[@iliamironov9700]

@@AbroadinJapan Any chance on making a video reacting to those results?

[@3katfox]

@@AbroadinJapan PLEASE make a video about that! 😂

[@favforsue]

Abroad in Japan I teach ESL to Spanish speaking students. Since I run essays and projects through a program to detect plagiarism, one of my students got creative and plagiarized a Spanish document by running it through Google translate. First of all, I know my students and it just sounded “too good.” Second, even though Google translate is great for Spanish/English, it is not perfect. The mistakes made me suspicious that it was a literal translation. So I reversed the translation back to Spanish thanks to Google and a brief search brought up the original article. I was so upset, not only because of the attempt to plagiarize, but because it was one more thing I had to worry about when grading papers.

[@princessthyemis]

@@favforsue geez that sounds awful!!!

[@AlizeeYeezy]

great video chris, very unpleasant.

[@toiletmaster3044]

ur here??? wtf

[@Michelle15556]

Woah, almost like a crossover episode!

[@shiva_689]

I don't understand what I'm saying!

[@itsanemmamergency7623]

Yes, puppy Ramen on pork week unpleasant very much yes.

[@dundermifflin3847]

Great chemical video with great chemical content. Two stars

[@dzello]

By the way, for those wondering why ''oppeshan'' gets translated to ''puppy''... Oppeshan means a flat face with a small nose. It doesn't specifically mean puppy, but it's often used to describe, you guessed, it, puppies with that feature.

[@MIZZKIE]

When you described it, the first thing that came to my mind was a Pug. Maybe Google likes dogs so it chose puppy.

[@SnabbKassa]

Because who can tolerate ramen without small noses in it?

[@ishnenigans]

does anyone want Flat face with a small nose ramen?

[@mumujibirb]

Natural. Google Translate works on analysing languages like ciphers, and has no understanding. Thus, it can only look at large datasets and get out an answer. If a word is used in a common meaning, and the second meaning is very rarely used. it is very normal for this to happen

[@Duskbear]

Chris, you may not observe Pig Bone Day but that's no reason to demean those of us who do

[@AbroadinJapan]

*DAVID CAMERON HAS ENTERED THE CHAT*

[@mrclueuin]

@@AbroadinJapan 😄😄😄😄

[@user-sm3bt2cy6u]

Abroad in Japan Socialism has left the chat.

[@beastbell0543]

Lol

[@beastbell0543]

Yes David was a strange one wasn’t he

[@28add11]

Lol I google translated some Japanese restuarant menus. I found out that the restaurant served mountain

[@haventshoweredinamonth7364]

lmaooo

[@snifey7694]

lmaoo

[@pauloazuela8488]

Wow, you might owned mount Everest if you go there XD

[@Angel-wo8gv]

For when you are REALLY hungry... ... MOUNTAIN DISH! Has a lot of minerals too! xDDD

[@28add11]

@@Angel-wo8gv And for only $5.99

[@TheMatizyahu]

Actually Ryotaro's metaphor about drawers with languages is very accurate. I'm native Polish and every time i speak English i'm starting to think in English. Literally if i'm starting to have opinion, try to figure out what to say next i do it in English. I completely shut down my Polish thinking like a drawer - i'm no longer have contact with it. With Japanese is a different story because it is whole thought process and seriously you have to redo all the wires inside your brain. It's not just using other vocabulary and gramar.

[@lassikinnunen]

Some people who speak only broken english can only understand like english talked like their native language. "Our car" can be "we car" etc.. But yeah if you speak a language well your brain kinda switches.

[@lucidnonsense942]

As a native Polish & English speaker and intermediate Japanese learner - it's so much easier learning Japanese via Polish. Polish is really flexible with SVO/SOV you can even do VSO with correct word aspects etc. It might sound bit odd, but you can make it grammatically correct. Plus, Polish let's you imply the subject by modifying words, which something Japanese does a lot, it's not that there's no subject in Japanese. A lot of languages do that actually, English is probably unusual in being rather strict. I just learned to try to force the English parts of my brain off and things go so much more smoothly. I think English's grammatical simplicity makes it a lot easier to pick up - at the cost of making it rather inflexible.

[@jamodonnahan610]

"Yeah, I think I'll close my imaginary restaurant!" Stock footage person: *turns sign so it tells customers the place is open

[@slughead]

That bothered me too

[@flare6030]

Literally just about to comment this lol.

[@evanever]

I think the door slamming shut was supposed to indicate that they were walking into the store afterwards. But I dunno why the sign would be on the outside...

[@slughead]

@@evanever I think the footage was of a shopkeeper coming inside and opening his shop for the day

[@albinoasesino]

How else do you expect a charming British guy to receive hate mail. He leaves his closed imaginary restaurant open for criticism.

[@bludeadstuff683]

I'm going to start using the phrase "Full belly, received"

[@barshank15]

Aah... amateur.

[@user-df2xb7df1r]

That's kinda creepy saying that sentence is acting like machine not like human being

[@Abi-zj5mz]

Prypiat 0 Not creepy. It’s super Krispy and Cool.

[@theotherflash2625]

Sounds like a finishing move once you're done eating.

[@ericjamieson]

Seems like a pretty sticky thing to do.

[@seiyuokamihimura5082]

Ryottoro has very good analogies. Very cool how he can effectively get his point across in an effective manner.

[@xDERable]

as a bilingual person myself, that ryotaro drawer example is pretty accurate lol. I used to learn spanish for a little bit, havent studied it in a while. Nowadays I’m learning japanese and I’ve reached a higher level with that. When I try to think of a spanish sentence nowadays, for some odd reason, japanese words and particles come into mind. But the opposite never happens for some reason. Just an interesting anecdote.

[@eri_noemi1462]

I though I was the only person this happened to! I try to remember some basic Spanish words I learned back in middle school, but my brain wants to say it in Japanese.

[@avlinrbdig5715]

i suck at many languages, but i like etymology. i like to try and understand abit of the thoughtprocesses and associations of the foreign mind behind the language. now, that is facinating to me . .. however, i tend to not care that much about grammar and being specific. i talk like caveman. person primitive utterance it is!

[@Baard5Szomoru]

@@scintillam_dei En efecto, la fonética es casi idéntica, se pueden decir palabras de un idioma al otro y entenderlas debido a la alta similitud en fonética. A diferencia de algunos angloparlantes que meten fonética angloparlante al idioma japonés entonces escucharíamos algunos horrores... Por ejemplo "Miyamoto" les sonaría algo asi como "Meejamoutou".

[@Barakeh]

@@scintillam_dei it blew my mind when I found out anata means anta in Arabic, my only problem is that masu sounds a lot like the word for sucking in Arabic, but I'm also over that

[@tohaason]

The drawer metaphor is excellent. I learned English without using translation at any point, and I effectively have two separate departments - one for English, another for my native language. I'm terrible at translation, if one drawer is open I have no idea what the word in the closed drawer would be. I have to kind of pull back until I only see the full image/context/situation, and then use the other language to describe it. It's very hard to translate on a word-by-word level. I couldn't do it at all, until I had to start helping my wife learning my language, so I'm slightly better at translation now, but only a bit. The mixed-up drawers for languages you aren't fully confident in is also spot on. It happens to me with Japanese and another language.. both ways. When I want one, the other pops up at the same time.

[@harrystravelvideos5025]

Natsuki: 'I'm dental broken' .... this now makes perfect sense...

[@RonPaul42069]

Breaking teeth on gummy candy will never make perfect sense.

[@talalabalkhail]

Yes

[@jansettler4828]

Thhhpinal

[@molpy6671]

I first thought it is a re zero reference

[@scrapper1176]

Legitimate question ive learning hiragana and katakana but to understand the kanji how since there are so many symbols that stand for objects it would take forever to learn. Ive seen then use in phrases or sentence in conjunction two and I slow am able to translate it(still new I translate writeing thing down in my japanese notebook) but the kanji I can't figure out any tips or tricks going forward I would be in Japan learning but the gap year where I would learn the lauguage and the culture got stopped by corona sooo..... That isn't happening

[@kazune2469]

“Are you aware of your own defect?”

[@sbesbees]

Said the actress to the bishop

[@aliasmarg8ta127]

I want that on my TShirt

[@SonnyO]

The drawer comparison for using languages is brilliant. People who try to learn a new language think it’s a filter, sifting key words, where you just have to turn off the languages you’re not using and think in another.

[@user-bk5qj3yh4v]

Very interesting to hear the veteran Japanese learner's view on difference of two languages. I knew Google translate is not right always, but I never thought of what is their weakness like you did. Also, as I learned English in my junior high year「よろしくお願いします」was translated to "Nice to meat you." which later I noticed it is not concerning the meaning of the sentence at all. Good point.

[@SherrifOfNottingham]

these days it translates to "thank you" on google translate

[@wrightcember]

どうぞよろしく！

[@philipwoolford6111]

"I think I'll close my imaginary restaurant"... *uses clip of someone opening their restaurant*. OK buddy

[@ominousbiscuit]

That's how it's done in Japan

[@gabrielsancheztorresalcala723]

Because it's open

[@alvarodiaz2221]

Plot twist, the footage was reversed

[@christianwemoboi]

Ok ? Lol really weirdly non important bill to die on.

[@christianwemoboi]

Hill*

[@MochinYoja]

I worked at a school in Korea and one day a new teacher from the US came and wanted to Bing translate the school's website from Korean into English. The motto for the school in Korean was 'Let's stand atop the mountain' but because the pronunciation and spelling of 'let's stand' is the same as the word for 'b*stard' in Korean, and 'atop the mountain' is pronounced and spelled in the same way as the word 'normal', the school's motto was translated by Bing as 'Normal B*stard'. Great school motto there *applauds*

[@joshuasterling2144]

Lolz, well at least there wasn't any negativity involved....

[@lzh4950]

Reminds me of 'fairy' in Japanese (妖精) literally meaning "demon spirit" in Chinese (妖精). Think examples of these feed into opinions/arguments etc that I've heard of others calling Japanese a 'b*****disation' of Chinese

[@user-xx7pg3vw9k]

@@lzh4950 Don’t you mean a Let’sStanddisation if Chinese?

[@mshaman86]

Im proud to be a normal bastard.

[@stefthorman8548]

At least bing was honest...

[@Mrkenjoe1]

The drawer metaphor is probably the most useful thing I've had for learning any language. I was mentally picturing adding them all in one which has been leading to a lot of issues.

[@17th_Colossus]

Someone needs make a 10 hour loop of Ryotaro smiling and waving. Only then can we achieve world peace!

[@rheiagreenland4714]

Smile and wave boys

[@vklj296]

As a trilingual person, the drawer theory is very accurate. Risotaro is a genius.

[@AbroadinJapan]

I've known Ryotaro 5 years and there's barely been a day he hasn't whipped out his beloved drawer metaphor mid conversation.

[@pauloazuela8488]

@@AbroadinJapan So you're right on point with his obsession with drawers

[@groundhawg4657]

@@AbroadinJapan It seems like trilingual people talk about how theyre trilingual more than the other languages they speak cause I have a friend who does the same thing

[@danielwordsworth1843]

@@AbroadinJapan 5 years of this wisdom and you told us just now?

[@vklj296]

GroundHawg465 I think mentioning that I’m trilingual to people in English is more effective than writing a comment in a language the majority of the channel’s viewers don’t understand. But yeah, we do mention it when it’s relevant.

[@Hugo-gn1ff]

A personal favourite when trying to translate a menu item at a café was, “attentiveness of eggs” which meant... omelette. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@gopalabbineni3941]

I gonna laugh to death on this one 😂🤣🤣

[@moonmannd7501]

_DECEARING EGG_

[@robertgarza9414]

It's not just Japanese, basically most languages have the same issue with Google translate. I use it a lot to translate Arabic and it's miserable; especially, when it comes to sentences.

[@cernanwinterfox85]

its because google is bad at english too.

[@lzh4950]

Fun fact: Japanese egg cakes ( _tamago_ 玉子) literally means 'corn' in Chinese ('玉'; '子' in Chinese is meaningless when used immediately after '玉', but on it's own can mean 'son')

[@kristofkovacsRisy]

I thought that it translates Hungarian poorly, but now it's almost fluent in Hungarian compared to Japanese.

[@nytheris2848]

12:47 That made me realise that I might be better at Japanese than I think. The literal translation is nonsensical but I was fully able to understand the Japanese instantly. I'm nowhere fluent, but it's a nice feeling.

[@BooLee01]

I emailed a Japanese friend of mine once that I (and my family) were going to visit Japan. He replied by typing in Japanese, translated via (possibly) Google, and then sending me the translation. One sentence read, "I look forward to tossing my family at yours." I never saw the original text, so I have no idea how we got to tossing families at each other.

[@Niniel28b]

I may have spat a bit at my screen laughing at this.

[@adam_kano]

please tell me you eventually asked them

[@safinehakamaki3537]

@@adam_kano and we never heard of him again.. hope the family tossing ended well.

[@jediron169]

"For better or worse here's Ryotaro" - well that's one way to introduce someone.

[@ApothecaryTerry]

*Risottaro

[@lynda.grace.14]

So much for "favour going forward." 🤣

[@groofay]

He should host an American talk show, he's a natural.

[@sadied0g]

Ryotaro’s description of two drawers hits home when I instinctively fill in a Spanish word when trying to speak Japanese but there’s one word I can’t remember how to say

[@TheOpy83]

As a person who works with foreign languages and translations, this video is fascinating! I appreciate that you offered us some insight into a notoriously difficult language. I love the fact that a lot of foreign languages challenge you to restructure the way you speak and think and you made it very clear that Japanese does that a lot.

[@BrainSlamAnimatedScience]

The last time I was this fast Dave wasn't even in Japan!

[@snifey7694]

Abroad in England you say

[@killerkd123]

Last time i was this quick was with my girlfriend... Probably why she left me

[@monsieurduquack5440]

I was expecting Chad from Seattle, but I guess Dave would do

[@vivien767]

@@truepotential206 i8í

[@glegos2281]

Holy cow dude Dave in Japan just liked your comment!

[@Soloman_Gumball]

Nobody talking about how ridiculous the ratings and real reasons are. Tough crowd to please.

[@mcgoo721]

Honestly in the restaurant business we take most online reviews as absolute jokes. Unfortunately some people still hold overall ratings in high regards though.

[@Madhattersinjeans]

Right? Someone had a good meal. 3 stars...what? Were they expecting a stage performance and a wire act to push that up to 4-5 stars or something? You're buying a meal not doing a film review.

[@mcgoo721]

Mad Hatters in jeans My personal favorite review I ever got was a one star review that said “best Mac n cheese I ever had.” So I joked that while it was the best they ever had, they happen to really hate Mac n cheese lol

[@emirs769]

​@@Madhattersinjeans I think it's better off this way. While we are willing to give 5 stars if nothing "bad" happens, they give 3 stars on average. And if their experience is beyond their expectations, they give more. I mean giving 5 stars should be a big deal, right? It's the maximum appreciation you can give to a restaurant. So it's acceptable for someone that just had a good meal to give 3 stars if that's what they expected, nothing more, nothing less. Also you should take into account that there are plenty of additional factors other than the quality of food affecting their opinions.

[@JezzmanGAMES]

If you leave a 5 star review, they'll probably print it out & hang it on the wall.

[@-Seppuku-]

This was super fun to watch. Especially your reactions in between

[@nxone9903]

Brilliant. I loved it. This is the best video on Japanese and language as a whole I've watched in a while. Useful insights and nice humour plus a great flow

[@ExisCernos]

No one is mentioning the "Help me" "I'm stuck in a drawer"??? That was such a genius edit and it's good to see Chris has moved from his basement at least.

[@sungibatman1996]

I mean.... Japanese sounds easier than the absolute garbage on fire which is the English language. I am from asia so Japanese has lots of similarities in word placement compared to my first language. But english, ohh man.

[@sungibatman1996]

To add to my reply, english moves around the words so much. I know everyone that only knows english thinks that word placement in a sentence is normal but why have “I went to the toilet because I needed to pee” instead of “needed pee so went toilet”?

[@skwisgaarskwigelf1365]

@@sungibatman1996 Different languages have different word order, wtf is even that complaint lol. But wonder how'd you like learning russian, which doesn't have any word order and you're allowed to do whatever you want. Also, it's "dumpster fire" :)

[@frostyblade8842]

@@sungibatman1996 yeah if you already know an Asian language Japanese will obviously be easier since its significantly more similar to your own language than English, which isn't an asian language

[@AnnualLotus]

13:47

[@gianmarcoprezioso6866]

The dislikes are from the Google employes who created the puppy ramen conspiracy

[@dudearnav]

How badly did they want to create puppy ramen? Guess we will never know

[@hobbybugs1286]

Ikr they are disliking their translation

[@hobbybugs1286]

Extra Japanese lessons yes

[@grubbybum3614]

No. The dislikes are from SJW's, as Chris just advised people to avoid using pronouns.

[@josiahfam]

😂

[@KiyokaMakibi]

Very insightful video, thanks!

[@gaiusjuliuspleaser]

While holding extensive conversations and pseudo-philosophical debates fueled by Google Translate and an excessive amount of Asahi beers definitely produced some hilarious scenes at the local izakaya, it did leave me with a few people I now consider close, lifelong friends. Just keep your phrases short. Some words strung together loosely can go a long way. Better to sound like a caveman than like a madman.

[@leemyers1878]

I would so take an online Japanese class with Ryotaro as the teacher.

[@newschannelx2986]

Exactly 🎰

[@N.Traveler]

What I learned: Japanese Google translations are just Japanese merch T-shirts in the making.

[@jacobpeters5458]

"I

[@SlyHikari03]

Mhm

[@user-qx1om2wj1h]

More like the reason behind why there are so many strange English sentences on Japanese merch.

[@punkst3r]

Very insightful, very educational, a ton of fun to watch.

[@shannonluster5083]

Awesome episode!

[@Globox2004]

So, noone mention how unreasonable those reviews are? Like blaming a restaurant for some weird lady at the parking lot xD

[@ontheroadtechno]

You have to consider though the fact that the most common reviewing platform for restaurants, in Japan, is Tabelog: there, the highest scores are reserved for the finest dining experiences. For a casual lunch, three and a half stars is absolutely not that bad.

[@V.U.4six]

Ikr like they make no sense still lol The ones less than 3 barely described exactly why it was bad they just said it was bad Like the “terrible, staff tried to be cool” like what??

[@hexyko4850]

@@V.U.4six Yeah, I didn't understand that one either. Does it mean that the employees were snobby?

[@mastermarkus5307]

@@ontheroadtechno I still think even if the number of stars makes sense, you should still say something about the restaurant and not a probably unrelated incident.

[@Rofpo3233]

@@hexyko4850 Once when I was a teenager I went to Pizza Hut with some friends, and some waiter was trying to act cool by making sex jokes with us like we were friends. I'm very reserved so that was definitely an unpleasant experience. Maybe it was something similar?

[@ceno10101]

"Who do you think you're talking to!" Google: "I DON"T KNOW!!"

[@dylancastellanos87]

🤣🤣

[@princessthyemis]

Ahhh YES!!! that's a Tenth Doctor reference?! Ahhh I love Doctor Who!!

[@rosannaching2867]

This is very helpful thanks chris

[@bwcbiz]

Ryotaro's drawer analogy is great. I have the exact same problem when I try to speak German, I frequently say stuff in Spanish or mangled English instead.

[@RogerOcelot]

Wow, japanese people are harsh. "I had a good meal." - 3/5 Stars "On 10th of every month there is a promotion and you can eat for 500 yen." - 3/5 Stars "I filled my stomach but could not smoke" 1/5 Stars "Went to the market and some crazy obaasan yelled at me on the driveway." 1/5 Stars

[@aartadventure]

It's more that the type of people who bother to leave to reviews are almost universally hyper critical and Karens in training.

[@VoxelLoop]

@@aartadventure Exactly this. I'm sure it's mostly universal, few people leave a positive review unless their experience was really exceptional, but, people will leave a negative review if even the smallest thing was wrong. This can really make a mess of review systems, rather recently the Steam Store tried to combat this by displaying a 'Would you recommend this game? [Yes] [No]' box whenever you go to start the game, forcing more users to leave a simple review and correct the skewed reviews for sometimes very good products. :)

[@mikeshoults4155]

It's true. I work in Japan and get this shit all the time. I had to profusely apologize for another companies "mistake." In the end our reputation was damaged because earlier that week in a different city, a different company pissed the customer off. Somehow that was our fault and we get a bad review and our reputation is permanently damaged.

[@wwoods66]

"some crazy obaasan yelled at me" Well, sure. She was offended because you didn't call her "obasan". tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ObaSan

[@kKizz]

@@mikeshoults4155 oh wow that sucks....

[@jakobhahn8043]

“A lot of metaphors” The metaphors: Stomach full Stomach empty

[@hanyuu8672]

Wait until you learn the word 気... THEY USE IT FOR EVERYTHING I HATE IT!

[@nakulsharma5266]

@@hanyuu8672 気になった。

[@aditichawla8606]

@@hanyuu8672 what does that word mean?

[@forestofsecrets7273]

@@aditichawla8606 energy/spirit/vigor/atmosphere

[@forestofsecrets7273]

@@aditichawla8606 energy/spirit/vigor/atmosphere

[@krishall268]

Amazing explaining 👍

[@tschwake1256]

VERY helpful! Thanks!

[@Blowingmind]

We do have a verb for trying to makes oneself look cool, it's called flexing

[@rosewaterlily2886]

I was also thinking of peacocking or poser. Cringey or extra could also work. There's more you could use depending on what type was actually implied 🤔 I think he's been in Japan for so long he's now out of the loop of things 😂

[@ThePandafriend]

Isn't "flexing" colloquial for "showing off"?

[@yashvangala]

@@ThePandafriend "showing off" is essentially "trying to make oneself look cool" but using less words

[@Lv-nq9qz]

Primping, preening, posing, boasting

[@1003JustinLaw]

Or just tryhard

[@spicyplumber9544]

As someone who’s trying to learn Japanese, I’d love more of this type of content!

[@crimsoncrimsoned609]

そうですか？この和文を分かれて書けますか？ 笑み

[@memez44]

Same

[@adriananthonydeguia736]

Ey saaaame

[@simonbelmont5801]

I took sticky notes, placed them around the house on items like the bookshelf (hondana), lamp (ranpu), etc. w their phonetic spelling and Kanji. If I'm ever lost in Japan I can now ask for water(Mizu). 😁

[@sinsrow8975]

Yes please!

[@mikebibi187]

This video is really great and helpful. you should make more of this.

[@madrabbit4916]

currently learning Japanese and this was super helpful, thanks :) keep making videos, dont stop!

[@LemoNanora]

"Chris uploads" My comrades is glad

[@JaydevRaol]

😂

[@austinwiebe3801]

Brilliant

[@sheaewart7618]

Best comment

[@TheXiahouDun]

The clerk is sticky was actually quite close to being a decent translation. "The staff was stuck up" would adequately carry over the intent of the original japanese's disdain for the staff trying to look cool.

[@AxionSmurf]

I immediately thought it must be a massage parlor clerk cross-training.

[@yoanadimitrova8760]

Or arrogant

[@natefunk1]

Pretentious, Uppity, Primadonna.

[@angelinprasad5295]

This makes sense

[@xHeadcleanerx]

Gay

[@loganbalsley7874]

I found this really entertaining and actually really educational and helpful as someone who is learning to speak Japanese currently. You should consider making a few videos on tips and tricks for people who are or want to learn to speak the language. 🤷🏻 Might be a good video project to have fun with. You’d definitely be a great teacher.

[@ThomasRoscoe]

I gotta say this was a hell of an entertaining video! I learned so much because you addressed so many of the things I myself really struggle with learning this new language. Totally agree with you guys on the „language drawers“ inside your head. 😅

[@leyow9]

Natsuki rating a Restaurant: (5-star rating) "Justice Delicious"

[@valeriansage]

underrated comment ^

[@Anthraxb0mb]

I always felt like he was trying to say “just is delicious.” If I remember, he was asked to describe the food in one word, and “delicious” seemed to me like the word he was working towards. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@sathwikmalyala886]

Google translate: *dies* translating it into Japanese

[@ilfriner1287]

Owner: soo the meal was good? Japanese customer: yes Owner: the staff was the best you’ve seen Customer: yes Owner: you’re full? Customer: yes Owner: soo it’s fair that u rate is 5 stars Customer: 1 star take it or leave it

[@assassinaria]

Can't stand it when people give 5 stars to restaurants that provided decent service lol. To me, 3/5 = decent, 4/5 = amazing, 5/5 = unmatched

[@cin3859]

Weird, I default to five stars and take away points as needed. 5/5 Great! No complaints. 4/5 Pretty good. I’ll come back. 3/5 Fine. I was fed. 2/5 Unpleasant. Bad times. 1/5 Fucking garbage. 0/5 Call the authorities immediately.

[@miegravgaardxoxo]

Nancy Sheep Love that last one 🤣

[@nilserhard2895]

@@cin3859 I have the same mentality, but it's just a matter of perspective, expectations, optimism/ pessimism. Some people go in delighted already and something bad has to happen to make their experience worse. Others go in to be made happy and with high expectations and a miracle has to happen, to lighten up their perception. I don't wanna talk down the latter option (I even have a very close friend who's pretty much like this), but I think the optimistic way is definetly more fun :D Have a nice day everyone :)

[@peelsbanana1626]

@@assassinaria i just give 1 regardless of how good it was

[@leonardlorenz2987]

Thanks mate for your videos

[@KKKaTTT123]

Honestly your videos are great. Been binging . Awesome content

[@PSK8530]

Ryotaro-"Uncomfortably Enthusiastic Assistant" How does Chris even come up with these?

[@2fat2furiouz]

Pranav Kameshwar probably used google translation 😂

[@mrclueuin]

@@2fat2furiouz Ha! 😄

[@yurikuki]

perks of being British

[@alanlee1355]

Who is also reasonably priced.

[@Alynos235]

That moment when Chris actually is openning his imaginary store instead of closing it @1:14

[@danielamockova3206]

Omg that ckacked me! :DDDD :D :D :D

[@b.michaelphillips8178]

It’s almost like we could have taken the whole day off!

[@electronresonator8882]

reverse psychology

[@susie154]

I so enjoy how you express your opinions on different subjects! You're funny! I'm so glad I 'found' you!!

[@misterhoeflak]

Great video, interesting and insightful. Your mate is awesome.

[@BeerdyBruceLeeCentral]

To be fair, I've been to restaurants that served salads with scraps of sack before. Very unpleasant.

[@joshhodkinson9677]

Legend has it that Ryotaro is still waving to the camera.

[@mayaparamita2254]

Or opening drawers 😄

[@angelus_solus]

It's an old joke that has been recycled to death....just fucking let it die already. You're not being cleaver by using it, social lemming.

[@_Allu]

This is a really good video

[@federicomaisch6812]

Thank you for sharing

[@millsaj]

Japan: "Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick"

[@faffywhosmilesatdeath5953]

Kevin was a gem

[@agentzap]

this but unironically

[@cassif19]

Japanese works very differently. I'd say you actually have more words in a Japanese sentence than in an English one, but many of the are completely untranslatable. They are meant to show what the subject and them object of the sentence are. So if you would say: "dogs like bones", it would be :"Inu wa hone ga suki desu" "Wa" says that "Inu/dog" is the subject "Ga" means that "hone/bones" is the object These words often make other words redundant. If you say "like apples" it makes no sense, but if you say in Japanese "apples GA like" it means that the apples are liked by someone, probably the speaker.

[@millsaj]

@@cassif19 bro... It's a joke from the office...

[@electronresonator8882]

to be honest kanji is like a huge compilation of symbols, just like emojis in your phone

[@R-Otaku747]

Chris: "Who'd want to go to a restaurant with a sticky hostess?" Spiderman: "....no.. pizza time..?"

[@sandk7969]

Call Reed, he might accompany Parker.

[@JustSomeDamnGinger]

That drawers metaphor from Ryotaro was probably the best explanation I've heard for translating languages in your head.

[@padomz6260]

very informative 👍

[@abernabe7049]

I love how Ryotaro can make a smile and a wave seem so sinister. He rocks.

[@gloval2009]

Remember, when he is being evil he is using his alter ego, Risotaro.

[@kittyman7015]

Observe. He didn't blink even once during the time he was smiling. Clearly a serial killer. Jk.

[@schmitzi99]

Oh god these drawers. Help mee

[@oriongear2499]

“Translating between Japanese and English can go horribly wrong.” But sometimes when it does go wrong it can provide some funny results. 😂

[@RyoHazuki224]

the long-term existence of engrish.com is a testament to that!

[@Lethesiana]

This was great, very entertaining (and informative!)

[@ellawatson2711]

I very much feel the draw analogy. When I was first learning Chinese I kept putting things into SOV because my non-first language draw was open, where my second and third are Japanese and Korean respectively lol

[@masonhales]

When he said "stomach filled up" he meant his stomach had magically filled up and he was longer hungry -aka- he refused to go into the restaurant because of the change in smoking policy.

[@kevinscales]

Good catch "What a shame it become non-smoking. Somehow I'm no longer hungry!"

[@tarcal87]

13:34 _"My grandpa used to frequently exclaim, 'When one door closes, another opens.'_ _Lovely fella, but he was a terrible cabinet-maker."_

[@crashvolt]

I've watched only two videos and this is already my favourite channel

[@chrislee7222]

Thank you for this. Quite the reminder that I needed. I speak a little bit of Japanese and friends from Japan say my pronunciation is really good, but I still slip up on longer sentences cause of the structure. Its what I need to work on the most!

[@captainmarvel4015]

Can confirm, very glad. Source: am comrade.

[@goldsnow2802]

Yes comrade! I salute you! I as well..am comrade.

[@timberfedor5]

is you glad?

[@Ole_Rasmussen]

I've been struggling with what to use "anata" "kimi" "omae" etc. and Ryotaro just solved all my problems and made me a millionaire with "just say the name."

[@AkiAmeko]

Short answer is, in polite conversation with strangers, don't ever use pronouns. Names only.

[@IanCunningham92]

@@AkiAmeko If they're a stranger, how would you know their name?

[@SnipinG1337]

@@IanCunningham92 you get their attention by apologizing and asking if you may ask them something

[@AkiAmeko]

@@IanCunningham92 In a brief conversation I assume you can communicate without pronouns entirely because you can drop that from Japanese sentences entirely and both parties know the context most of the time. When introducing yourself to someone for the first time, like a business meeting or a new friend at the bar, it's customary to ask their name asap. (Although anyone who knows Japanese better than I is free to correct me.)

[@komaru_7120]

I may not be correct, but what I heard was: Omae = comes of as rude, maybe if you want to be threatening or start a fight. Anata = A close person? Or just the most common? I heard that using it too much can sound robotic, however.

[@SamLyn]

Awesome video

[@sabinrawr]

In some American dialects, "drawers" (sometimes pronounced like "draws") is a slang term for underpants. With the greatest respect to Ryotaro-san, I want to know as little as possible about his drawers! I am a native speaker of English, bilingual in Spanish, and a student of Latin, Russian, and (very recently) Japanese. I've found that in ES, LA, and RU, subjects are often dropped, but for a slightly different reason: the conjugation of the verb usually implies the subject. Another difference is that even when the subject is unnecessary, it may be included to bring emphasis or attention to it without the negative connotations. For example... Eres mexicano? Arre you Mexican? Tú eres mexicano? Are YOU Mexican? The way that Latin plays with word order has thankfully made my introduction to Japanese a little bit less jarring (even though I have learned only one verb so far). Quis canem edit? Who is eating the dog? Quis canis edit? Who is the dog eating? Yes, it's a contrived example and unnecessary here, but it was too much fun to omit! Although the mechanics of Latin and Japanese word order are different, it's good to know that my brain is already primed to accept it. Thank you for the video!

[@sabinrawr]

@@piotrbojkoff I honestly never gave it much thought until now. I struggle to think of another example where "it" is so vague other than weather, but I'm sure there are many. In this case, I would suggest that "it" is the sky or climate. I like the idea of "state of being" defined as its own category. Another way to look at it (at least in English) is that "it" is a shorthand for "the thing that I am describing exists in the manner that I have described it". "It is a nice car.' "The car is nice." In practice, these mean exactly the same thing. If there is any slight difference, it might be this: It is a nice car. This thing that we are talking about is an object called "a nice car". The car is nice. This car that we are talking about is modified to include the property of being "nice". Confusingly, we have yet another way to say it: What's nice, is that car. Among the collection of all things that can be described as "nice", I bring your attention to that car in particular. I suppose that I could go on and on, but I'll share you further agony. Ultimately, I suppose the main difference between these is which part of the statement gets the emphasis or direction. Consider the difference between: "Что видит Мария?" and "Что Мария видит?" They seem to say the same thing, but how would you describe the difference, other than one might just sound better?

[@sabinrawr]

@@piotrbojkoff Your point is valid, though I would hastily add that if you change the context, you change the meaning. By adding the sentence about the donkey, you change the meaning of the "it" that follows; it's now a regular pronoun. You can do this with any sentence that uses pronouns or other indefinite or ambiguous construction. There isn't anything special about the "it" pertaining to rain. If I said "This is my shoe, it is raining", I have just claimed that my shoe is raining. Like you correctly said, factually incorrect but otherwise a valid sentence. "Look at this donkey. This car is nice." If the sentence about the car requires prior mention, shouldn't the donkey also? I am open to the idea that the weather and environment might be a default assumption made when there is no other clear candidate. The sentence "It's hot" means different things of I'm standing next to a picture of a beautiful woman, a pot of boiling water, or a trending Reddit post. But without any of that context, I'm probably talking about the air temperature in the room, or about the air temperature outside. If I think it's ambiguous, I might specify "in here" or "out there". I think you're on the right path with known vs. unknown information. I would stretch that a bit more to speak of what may be assumed or inferred. If I am wearing beach attire and drinking an iced beverage, it would be strange to assume that I am talking about the temperature in the core of the Sun when I mention how hot it is. Language is, ultimately, a social exercise. It therefore relies, to some degree, on having a common basis of understanding. This is why it is often difficult to accurately translate ancient documents. In America, there are numerous legal battles about the meaning of statutes written just a few decades earlier, and even of our Constitution itself. Evidence of this is in the dictionary and thesaurus: why is it that so many words have two or more definitions, and so many ideas can be represented by several different words or phrases? This is also why I think many misunderstandings happen between people who may share a language but who have very different ideas about the underlying social and cultural underpinnings of it. Getting back to the question at hand, perhaps "it" is the nearest "thing" to the speaker. As people generally don't refer to themselves as "it", the next most immediate thing is the speaker's environment. And if there is some additional context to the conversation, that becomes more immediate. Of course, the ambiguities in language can also make it fun and give it some spice. This conversation has caused the sentence, "This is a nice car and it is raining" to be ambiguous because it isn't always clear whether it is joining two predicates with the same subject or joining two independent clauses. :)

[@sabinrawr]

@@piotrbojkoff Oh, I forgot to add... I'm not sure that I support the idea of an act with no actor. While it may be possible to engineer such a sentence, they simply don't occur in normal speech or writing. When the object is a noun, it can be reflexive and self-referential.

[@eduardoribeiro8378]

I must say that the objects being dropped from the phrases happens in Portuguese too (you know, one of the four main latin languages, the sister of spanish that everyone forgets that exists, despite being the 3° most talked western language just behind english and spanish? Not that i'm being salty or anything, hahaha). It has its own classification on grammar, with the objectless phrases (for example, "choveu". It would be something like "rained", the past form of the verb rain. It's objectless because, who rained? The cloud? No, it just happened without anyone doing anything) and the invisible object phrases (for example, "comi", meaning "i ate". The verb conjugates with the object and the time, so it's implied that the verb is in the past and in 1° person without adding anything. I'm no expert in languages whatsoever, but i think that the "it" situation in english (that i used multiple times in my comment, hahaha) come from the implicit rule that every phrase needs an obejct, even if it doesn't necesserily sense. I don't know if that rule emerged naturally or some white dudes in the 19 century thought that they were being smarter than everyone else (for what i know, it happened a lot with english, people meddling with the language desregarding the structures of the language in favor of their own ego and will, i'd say to watch the Storied youtube channel video "Why the english spelling is so weird?" or something like that, it's easy to find and pretty informative.

[@CTGReviews]

I’m an American and I’ve heard of the term but don’t use it, also in my area we pronounce it “droars” as in the American pronunciation of oars

[@JohnPorsbjerg]

"A friend who is not Ryotaro" Chris we get it, you have two friends, no need to be チャラ付く

[@SidheKnight]

So.. Natsuki then.

[@gazenaitogirufan]

You mean, sticky clerk?

[@uchuuseijin]

if you want to use "to be" in English, the adjective form of チャラつく is チャラい charai

[@JohnPorsbjerg]

R Lee Oh cool, thanks! I’m only just starting to learn the adjective forms so all i know so far are the -い and -くない forms

[@icanwatchthevideos]

@@JohnPorsbjerg チャラい is the adjective but チャラ付き would be the noun I believe

[@marty1076]

Risottoro’s analogy about opening and closing drawers is the most accurate description for being multilingual I have heard.

[@KnumskullOfficial]

I love how rough translations bring our cultures closer together 💕

[@hectorquinones5579]

Linguistics with Abroad in Japan, love it!

[@SuperArashi90]

I'm going to just say "stomach empty" from now on. I like this. Knees weak. Arms heavy. Mom's spaghetti. I'm speaking Japanese already!

[@azufendusgarendum6583]

You used a pronoun though 😏

[@angelinprasad5295]

Slim shady was trying to teach Japanese all this time.

[@Anvarynn]

Actually laughed out loud thank you

[@chetansingh3219]

I just came from Eminem singing anime intros dude

[@Anvarynn]

@@chetansingh3219 You wot, link?

[@satomiarihara6887]

And vise versa. For us Japanese people, one of the hardest parts of learning English is that we have to add the subject in any sentence.

[@DjokovicIsOurLordAndSaviour]

Yeah, that must be super weird when not used to it.

[@shizuokaBLUES]

Well to be fair , not in any sentence. For example , and you probably know this, these are all perfectly fine depending on the situation; Wanna drink ? How bout a pizza? Can’t think of anything now but maybe later. Etc etc In my 25 years of working in Japan, I’d agree with you and say that including subjects is very difficult for Japanese learning English. Other things would be subject-verb agreement, the horrid English spelling “system”, and mastering some of the many many idioms used in daily conversation. My other experience is that many of my non-English majors , especially males, cannot see gaijin as equal to Japanese, at least not until they have lived outside of Japan. It’s become part of my acceptance of Japanese culture that a good many people around me, even my students, regard me as a less-than-equal human. しょうがない

[@r3zaful]

It's called sentence pattern If you're a multi lingual person you will understand.

[@zzBaBzz]

vice* And it shouldn't be hard at all. English teaching in japan just plain sucks. The amount of shit I've had to correct that "hurdurr native" people taught students is insane

[@shizuokaBLUES]

Clarence alteria who are you addressing here ? And are you referring to syntax?

[@Slackboy72]

This was your best video. And Ryotaro's.

[@guineadog1801]

Dude your videos are helping me so much with learning japanese, thank you

[@haventshoweredinamonth7364]

" -Ryotaro- Risottoro has an obsession with drawers. " I'm sure everyone can relate

[@Marco_Onyxheart]

Ryotaro seems like a fun person to have a beer with or just hang out with.

[@wingknutt1130]

Yeah, much better than that other guy that spent so much time jabbering during the video.......LOL. Just kidding.

[@Alex-fv2qs]

He doesn't drink often, for a good reason

[@kuyache2]

I watched the whole ryotaro playlist and im still eagerly awaiting for more videos. natsuki is a fun guy but his specialty is swear words, weird philosophy and absurd but funny translations. whereas ryotaro goes for adventure, amazing food and making friends/connections.

[@alexeysaranchev6118]

@ErsatzMoose How was that type of personality called? Tsundere?

[@Sinamuna]

This is MAJORLY helpful. Thank you! I know how to better take advantage of English-to-Japanese Google Translate.

[@Wyzai]

10:25 Having watched anime and read manga with subs, it's usually translated as: "Please get along with me", "I hope we can get along" or something along those lines.