290 - Homophone Quiz
Generally speaking, Japanese is made up of very few sounds for a language.
I mean, they only have five vowel sounds. Five! Compare that to 19 or so in English. Or 11 in Vietnamese. Actually, if you take tones into account, Vietnamese has like 66 vowel sounds.
One way in which Japanese's limited array of sounds backfires, though, is that it results in a high number of homophones.
We have a lot of these in English, too. Threw and through. Do and due. Matt, mat, and matte. And so on. We often differentiate them with spelling, and they do the same thing using kanji in Japanese. Or intonation, in some cases (making words less than "pure homophones," but whatever).
Anyways, I also have good news--your brain is amazing. Once it figures out a high number of words in a language, it starts inferring the correct meaning via the power of context. Yay!
Quiz time.
First, I will give you a pair of homophones.
Second, I will give you a sentence with the homophone written in kana, and you have to guess the correct meaning.
Finally, I'll give the full sentence with kanji and translation.
スタート！
花 VS 鼻
花（はな // flower）
鼻（はな // nose）
Let's say we have a phrase like...
はなかゆい。
はな かゆい
Which はな is it?!
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鼻かゆい。
はな かゆい。
My nose is itchy.
Literally: "nose + itchy."
Or how about this one...
綺麗なはなだね。
きれいな はな だ ね。
Which is it?
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It's a trick question! Muahahahaha!
It could be either one:
綺麗な花だね。
きれいな はな だ ね。
That's a pretty flower, huh?
Literally: "pretty + flower + is + ね."
綺麗な鼻だね。
きれな はな だ ね。
She has [You have] a pretty nose, huh [don't you]?
Literally: "pretty + nose + is + ね."
Sorry... that wasn't funny.
No more trick questions...
漢字 VS 感じ
漢字（かんじ // kanji）
感じ（かんじ // feeling）
So which is the correct word in this sentence...
かんじで書いてください。
かんじ で かいて ください。
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And the correct answer is...
漢字で書いてください。
かんじ で かいて ください。
Please write it in kanji.
Literally: "kanji + で + write + please."
Next question:
胃が変なかんじがする。
い が へんな かんじ が する。
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And the answer is...
胃が変な感じがする。
い が へんな かんじ が する。
My stomach feels weird.
Literally: "stomach + が + strange + feeling + が + does."
Did you get it right? No? Well at least pretend you got it right.
Wow, you're amazing. The greatest!
蛙 VS 帰る VS 変える
蛙（かえる // frog）
帰る（かえる // to go home）
変える（かえる // to change）
Question #1:
そろそろかえるね。
そろそろ かえる ね。
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And the answer:
そろそろ帰るね。
そろそろ かえる ね。
I'm gonna go home soon.
Literally: "soon + go home + ね."
I guess you could, in theory, say that you're going "to change" something soon, but I'd bet that 99.9999999999% of Japanese people would guess 帰る, "go home" for this one. The other 0.00000000001% would either "change soon" or "frog soon," I'm not sure which.
Next!
政治的な考えをかえる。
せいじてき な かんがえ を かえる。
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政治的な考えを変える。
せいじてき な かんがえ を かえる。
They change their political views.
Literally: "political + thought(s) + を + change."
Even if we didn't know any of the other words in this sentence, we could still guess that 変える is the correct answer, because it is a transitive verb, and を, which comes right before it, can only mark transitive verbs.
But that's a grammar-heavy trick. So maybe it makes you feel nauseous. Sorry...
Next!
かえる捕まえた！
かえる つかまえた！
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And here, my friend, is the answer you've been waiting for:
蛙捕まえた！
かえる つかまえた！
I caught a frog!
Literally: "frog + caught!"
虹 VS 二時
虹（にじ // rainbow）
二時（にじ // 2 o'clock）
Test your skills, you must:
にじに迎えに来て。
にじ に むかえ に きて。
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Maybe this one wasn't too difficult?
二時に迎えに来て。
にじ に むかえ に きて。
Come meet me at 2. // Pick me up at 2.
Literally: "2 o'clock + に + meeting + に + come."
Don't go telling me that you don't know what 迎えに来る／迎えに行く means, because we saw it in all of these lessons:
[NDL #69] - Plum Blossom Adventure
[NDL #82] - I simply cannot write a lesson today.
[NDL #270] - Flying Witch, Part II
Anyways, moving on...
Question!
あ、にじ。
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Any guesses? It's a complicated sentence after all.
No? That's OK. It's...
あ、虹。
あ、にじ。
Oh, a rainbow.
Literally: "ah + rainbow."
I guess it could possibly be, "Oh, 2 o'clock." But that's no fun.
五日 VS いつか
五日（いつか // the 5th [of the month]）
いつか（someday）
いつか南極の海で泳ぎたい！
いつか なんきょく の うみ で およぎたい！
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And the answer is... *drum-roll*...
いつか南極の海で泳ぎたい！
いつか なんきょく の うみ で およぎたい！
I want to swim in the Antarctic Ocean someday!
Literally: "someday + South Pole / the Antarctic + の + sea + で + want to swim!"
Is that ocean down there called the Antarctic Ocean, by the way? Wikipedia says it's also called the Southern Ocean. That doesn't sound nearly as cool as Antarctic Ocean.
We're almost finished. Hang in there!
いつか暇？
いつか ひま？
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Are you noticing a pattern? I'm covering every word, so the answer should be obvious...
五日暇？
いつか ひま？
Are you free on the 5th?
Literally: "the 5th + free / not busy?"
橋 VS 端 VS 箸
橋（はし // bridge）
端（はし // end [e.g. of a street]）
箸（はし // chopsticks）
This one is uber-difficult. So get ready to cry...
はしのはしにはしが落ちている。
はし の はし に はし が おちている。
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If you got this one right, you're a boss.
The answer is...
橋の端に箸が落ちている。
はし の はし に はし が おちている。
Someone dropped their chopsticks at the end of the bridge.
Literally: "bridge + の + end of + chopsticks + が + are falling (=have fallen)."
Note: A more literal translation might be, "There are chopsticks (that someone dropped) at the end of the bridge," but that doesn't sound as nice to me. The important thing to note is that the speaker did not see someone drop the chopsticks; they just see them lying on the bridge.
How did you do? Did you even test yourself?
If not, that's OK. At least you opened the lesson and scrolled down this far. That's way better than people who aren't even subscribed!
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