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Imagine telling a Japanese speaker you like persimmons, and they gift you oysters. What happened!?
Description
Imagine telling a Japanese speaker you like persimmons, and they give you oysters as a present. What happened!?
Japanese is not a tonal language (single syllables carry distinct tones and each tone has a different meaning) but it doesn't mean that it doesn't use tones at all. Japanese has pitch accents (for simplicity let's say high vs. low pitches), so the relationship between the tones of multiple syllables carries different meanings.
For example:
雨が好きです。(I like rain.)
飴が好きです。(I like candy.)
If you write both phrases only using hiragana (or romanization):
あめがすきです。(Ame ga suki desu.)
あめがすきです。(Ame ga suki desu.)
They look the same! How do you differentiate the two when you speak?
If you like rain, you would say:
あ↑め↓ が すきです。(A↑ me↓ ga suki desu.)
If you like candy, you would say:
あ↓め↑ が すきです。(A↓ me↑ ga suki desu.)
The same goes for oysters (ka↑ki↓) and persimmons (ka↓ki↑)!
If you just discovered this and can't wait to learn more, don't hesitate to request a lesson! Also: nailing the pitch accents in everyday phrases will make your Japanese sound a LOT more natural, so if you'd like to practice your pitch accents, I'm here for you!
Japanese is not a tonal language (single syllables carry distinct tones and each tone has a different meaning) but it doesn't mean that it doesn't use tones at all. Japanese has pitch accents (for simplicity let's say high vs. low pitches), so the relationship between the tones of multiple syllables carries different meanings.
For example:
雨が好きです。(I like rain.)
飴が好きです。(I like candy.)
If you write both phrases only using hiragana (or romanization):
あめがすきです。(Ame ga suki desu.)
あめがすきです。(Ame ga suki desu.)
They look the same! How do you differentiate the two when you speak?
If you like rain, you would say:
あ↑め↓ が すきです。(A↑ me↓ ga suki desu.)
If you like candy, you would say:
あ↓め↑ が すきです。(A↓ me↑ ga suki desu.)
The same goes for oysters (ka↑ki↓) and persimmons (ka↓ki↑)!
If you just discovered this and can't wait to learn more, don't hesitate to request a lesson! Also: nailing the pitch accents in everyday phrases will make your Japanese sound a LOT more natural, so if you'd like to practice your pitch accents, I'm here for you!
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