Tumbling eps 10 & 11 - Notes of Doom
Hisashiburi!
No we're not officially back. But we do have an update. :)
Ep 10
Kaicho - This is a term that indicates the head of an organization. It covers everything from the CEO of a company, to the board president of a tiny start up. In this case, Sugihara-kaicho is the president of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation.
flip vs handspring - We've used these terms interchangeably at times, but we're almost certain they are different techniques. In a handspring, the hands touch the ground and you "spring" off of them. In a flip, the hands don't touch the ground at all making it a much more difficult maneuver.
Ep 11
nakama / tomodachi / dachi - Throughout this series, we see the ways in which the two groups of characters interact with each other and rub off on each other. One of the most immediate differences, in Japanese, is their use of language. It's really hard to get across in a translation... ^^;; A good example, however, is the word they use for friend. Yuuta and friends use the word "tomodachi," which is the standard word for "friend." Wataru and crew use the word "dachi," which is a slang abbreviation of the word "tomodachi." It has a rougher, more "street" feel to it, like "boys," "dogs," "homies," etc in American street/hip hop culture. Interestingly, both groups use the word "nakama," which has a "comrades in the same group" feel to it. It's sort of "brothers in arms" in the sense that "nakama" doesn't mean you're the best of friends, but it does mean that you're part of the same team and you'll do whatever you can to help each other.
a salty performance - In American English, we don't use the word "salty" this way much anymore. In English, "salty" can mean "tough, aggressive, vulgar, rude, racy"... In Japanese, "shoppai" can mean "salty, pathetic, embarrassing, unfulfilling" The roots of the word go a long way back, to sumo, and the story's a little too long to explain here. The important thing to remember is that the two characters are plying with words. The one says "don't give a salty (lame) perfromance," and the other says "I'm gonna give a sweet performance."
-senpai - We talked about language differences earlier. In this episode we see a few instances of language cross-over, which is a huge deal in Japanese because of the way language defines the relationships between people. As an example, at a critical moment, one of Yuuta's group uses the word "dachi," showing that he feels both the raw emotion associated with that kind of "improper" language, and that he feels Wataru and his crew are his equals.
On the other side of this, at another critical moment, one of Wataru's crew uses a proper name for one of his teammates and attaches the honorific suffix "-senpai" to it, showing the depth of respect he has for his teammate. This is a big deal because respect and hierarchy are still very important within contemporary Japanese culture. Using someone's name when you haven't before is an even bigger deal because names and forms of address carry a lot of power in Japan.
No we're not officially back. But we do have an update. :)
Ep 10
Kaicho - This is a term that indicates the head of an organization. It covers everything from the CEO of a company, to the board president of a tiny start up. In this case, Sugihara-kaicho is the president of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation.
flip vs handspring - We've used these terms interchangeably at times, but we're almost certain they are different techniques. In a handspring, the hands touch the ground and you "spring" off of them. In a flip, the hands don't touch the ground at all making it a much more difficult maneuver.
Ep 11
nakama / tomodachi / dachi - Throughout this series, we see the ways in which the two groups of characters interact with each other and rub off on each other. One of the most immediate differences, in Japanese, is their use of language. It's really hard to get across in a translation... ^^;; A good example, however, is the word they use for friend. Yuuta and friends use the word "tomodachi," which is the standard word for "friend." Wataru and crew use the word "dachi," which is a slang abbreviation of the word "tomodachi." It has a rougher, more "street" feel to it, like "boys," "dogs," "homies," etc in American street/hip hop culture. Interestingly, both groups use the word "nakama," which has a "comrades in the same group" feel to it. It's sort of "brothers in arms" in the sense that "nakama" doesn't mean you're the best of friends, but it does mean that you're part of the same team and you'll do whatever you can to help each other.
a salty performance - In American English, we don't use the word "salty" this way much anymore. In English, "salty" can mean "tough, aggressive, vulgar, rude, racy"... In Japanese, "shoppai" can mean "salty, pathetic, embarrassing, unfulfilling" The roots of the word go a long way back, to sumo, and the story's a little too long to explain here. The important thing to remember is that the two characters are plying with words. The one says "don't give a salty (lame) perfromance," and the other says "I'm gonna give a sweet performance."
-senpai - We talked about language differences earlier. In this episode we see a few instances of language cross-over, which is a huge deal in Japanese because of the way language defines the relationships between people. As an example, at a critical moment, one of Yuuta's group uses the word "dachi," showing that he feels both the raw emotion associated with that kind of "improper" language, and that he feels Wataru and his crew are his equals.
On the other side of this, at another critical moment, one of Wataru's crew uses a proper name for one of his teammates and attaches the honorific suffix "-senpai" to it, showing the depth of respect he has for his teammate. This is a big deal because respect and hierarchy are still very important within contemporary Japanese culture. Using someone's name when you haven't before is an even bigger deal because names and forms of address carry a lot of power in Japan.