Manganeez: Learn "No Way" in Japanese

Note: This article is being reprinted from the main website. We apologize if you have already read it.

This week's (and the first ever) Manganeez is presented with the help of my lovely assistant, Ms. Nami from One Piece. As you probably know, her favorite things are mikan (mandarin oranges) and money. What is her least favorite thing? Pirates (ironic, no?).

Our navigation expert, Ms. Nami, seems a little stressed. She must have heard some bad news (as indeed she did), and things aren't looking good for our favorite group of stretchy, three-sword-wielding, kicking-and-cooking, slingshot-using, reindeer-loving (not that there's anything wrong with that), treasure-seeking, sprout-arms-anywhere group of intrepid pirates.

So what is she saying here? Reading the Japanese panel (from right to left), she says, "Uso," and then "Taihen!!"

Uso and taihen are such common phrases that you might know them, even if you aren't into Japanese.

Uso

うそ(uso)

Uso literally means lie. Also works for "no way," "that's a lie," "I can't believe it," etc.

If you live in Japan and don't hear this word at least ten times a day, then you don't live in Japan. Japanese high school girls have elevated the usage of this term to an art form. Literally, I have heard entire conversations consisting of just this one word:

• Girl 1: Uso!
• Girl 2: Uso~~~...
• Girl 1: Ussou!
• etc.

Taihen

大変っ！！！!!! (taihen!!!)

"That's terrible! That's horrible."

You might notice the little つ(tsu) character after the 大変(たいへん) ("taihen") in the talk-bubble. That's just another device used in Japanese manga to emphasize the spoken-ness of a word, making it more emphatic. It's kind of like she's emphasizing the last sound of the word. Yeah, I know, exclamation points do that, too. She must be really emphasizing here, ya think?

All right. That's it for the language stuff.

Some More

By the way, here's last week's ranking of top TV anime in Japan (from Yahoo.co.jp Rankings).

1. Sazae-san
2. Chibi Maruko Chan
3. One Piece
4. Detective Conan
5. Doraemon Dinosaur Special
6. Black Jack
7. We are Precure - Splash Star
8. Zatch Bell ("Golden Gash Bell")
9. Naruto
10. Rockman Exe Beast

All right. I hope that was very entertaining and mildly informing (or the other way 'round).

Sore, ja

Note for readers: As this is the inaugural Manganeez article, I'm not married to this format or the subject matter. Any suggestions? Please let me know at learnamazingjapanese (at) gmail (dot) com.