In this blog, we will teach you Japanese language through Manga and Anime. The first…
In Japanese, Onomatopoeia is called as “擬音“, also “オノマトペ“. The latter is written in Katakana, reading the sound of Onomatopeia in a Japanese style.
Answers to #3, “Which one is the onomatopoeia in Katakana?”
①Answer: ザアアア
Description: The sound of rain.
Written like “ザーーー“, “サーーー” as well. The sound of “Z” makes the nuance of the word stronger than the sound of “S”. If you write the extended sound with “-“, it sounds like it will continue for a long time. On the other hand, When you write extended sound with consecutive same letter such as ”アアア”, the rain seems stronger and faster than using “-“.
There is also the sound of falling raindrops “ポツポツ”, which is used when it is raining lightly.
② ビル・ワトキンス ← This is Bill Watkins’ name, not onomatopoeia.
Answer: ゴゴゴゴ
Description: This is an onomatopoeia that expresses how big and frightening people feel when they see Bill. You actually can not here such sound, but it’s a very common onomatopoeia in Manga when strong enemies or big scary things appear.
Answer: ギュルルルル
Description: An onomatopoeic sound that represents a ball spinning at lightning speed. In addition, there is “キュルルルル“. “Gyu” sound looks faster than “kyu”.
③Answer: バゴン
Description: The sound of Yor kicking the car very hard.
There are many other sounds that are made by strong collisions, such as “バコッ”, “バコン“, and “パコン” etc.. Small “ッ” is bouncing sound. You keep the mouth posture of the next sound, then make a one beat pouse. With Romaji, which is used to indicate sound of Japanese letters for foreigners, you express the sound with writting the first consonant of the following sound (Here is no following word, so we don’t write any consonant).
④Answer: すんっ
Description: This is Hiragana. There is no set rule as to whether to use Hiragana or Katakana for writing onomatopoeia. It depends on the author’s choice. However, Katakana is often used for loud or sharp sounds. As of this onomatopoeia, it is written as “スン” in Katakana. This onomatopoeia has started to be used in new Manga in the last few years. It expresses the state of being unfazed by things and pretending to be even in troubled or difficult times. There is an idiom ”すん と する” in Japanese that has been used since ancient times. “すん” expresses the state of not making any sound. It seems that this onomatopoeia was made from this word. You can’t really hear the sound.
Answer: ギュン
Description: An onomatopoeic sound representing a ball flying at high speed. It is also used when an airplane or car passes by quickly.
Answer: バゴッ
Description: The sound of the ball hitting the boy. It sounds smaller than the “Bakong” I saw before.
⑤Answer: ガクーン
Description: An onomatopoeia that expresses a state of being very depressed.
There are also "ガクン"、”ガクッ”、 and ``ガクリ” etc. It’s a very common onomatopoeia in Japanese Manga.
Originally, the onomatopoeic sound ”ガクッ”、 was created from the sound of an object suddenly breaking, falling off, or coming loose,.It has gradually come to be used to describe how people become depressed, or how things suddenly lose speed or strength.
⑥Answer: ゲプッ
Description: An onomatopoeia of the sound of a burp. There is also “ゲフッ”.The Japanese word “げっぷ” for “burp” is originally derived from the sound of a burp. In “SPYxFAMILY”, Anya, who can read people’s minds, sometimes feels overwhelmed and tightness in her chest. It is similar to the state of being full and belching after eating too much, so this onomatopoeia is often used at that time.
Could you read Katakana in the frames? Did you see what the onomatopoeias represent?”
Please check what kind of sounds are used in the Anime in place of the onomatopoeias in Manga. It is fun!
Knowing Japanese onomatopoeia is very useful to know the sense and nuance of Japanese words. Don’t take it too seriously and enjoy reading and the sound of the onomatopoeias.
In next port, we will explain the reasons 4 and 5 why “SPYxFAMILY” is useful for learning Japanese.
After that, we will start to study lines and dialogues from “SPYxFAMILY” !
You can buy Japanese ver. of『SPYxFAMILY』with format Kindle at Amazon.co.jp.
If you live in Japan, you can watch Japanese ver. of『SPYxFAMILY』 with Amazon Prime Video at Amazon.co.jp. If you live abroad, try to find at Netflix, Hulu etc.
⇒ To be continued to SPYxFAMILY in Japanese #5!
