130 Comments
Bento has become one of those japanese words that most people know; like sushi for instance.
My parents, grandparents and quite some of my friends have no idea what a bento is, although they all know sushi.
They meant a lot of people already familiar with other japanese words like neko, manga, sushi, etc
Maybe in the US, in Europe most people who don't watch anime have no idea what a "bento" is.
671
I met a woman in Japan who was the wife of a mayor from either France or Belgium (I forget which, but anyways she only spoke French) and was here on business. She wanted to buy a "bento box" like the one she ate from in Japanese restaurants in her home country. I know that "bento boxes" are a common menu item at Japanese restaurants in the States as well. It's not a common English word, but it is an English word.
Those who eat at Japanese restaurants are likely familiar with the word. People who don't (like my parents) would have no idea. Similarly, see the recent NY Times article about the "hip new drink" boba tea
Meal in a box with different varieties of food in each compartment. Hope this helps.
- 1947
Instead of asking the same question several times in a row, you can either read the existing comments on this page that explain it, or you can Google it.
Well i came to the comments looking for an explanation also but most of it is more so discussion. Scrolled for quite a bit before i saw this comment, so i guess I'll just have to Google it...
- 671
When people ask the same question over and over, the good answers get buried and impossible to find. Links that have been posted in this thread:
Oxford Dictionaries definition of bento
A lacquered or decorated wooden Japanese lunch box.
1.1 A Japanese-style packed lunch, consisting of such items as rice, vegetables, and sashimi.
Dictionary.com definition of bento:
a meal, usually served in a lacquered or elaborately decorated box that is divided into sections for holding individual portions of food.
Wikipedia article about bento:
Bento (弁当 bentō)[1] is a single-portion take-out or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento holds rice or noodles, fish or meat, with pickled and cooked vegetables, in a box.[2] Containers range from mass-produced disposables to hand-crafted lacquerware. Bento are readily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops (弁当屋 bentō-ya), railway stations, and department stores. However, Japanese homemakers often spend time and energy on a carefully prepared lunch box for their spouse, child, or themselves.
Bento & Co pictures of bento boxes
Article from Coastal Connecticut entitled "Bento Box as Cultural Lunchbox"
I find google image search to always be helpful when trying to understand something I've never seen or heard of before.
I don't like that they are starting off with words that don't have an English equivalent. I had no idea what "bento" was before reading the comments.
It's not so much a word with no English equivalent as a word who's English equivalent is extremely similar, because the English word's origin is the Japanese word.
It's basically like "burrito", "goulash", or indeed "sushi"; originally foreign words that now basically exist as English words describing the foreign dishes.
Where I live there's a ton of Japanese restaurants, and most (probably not all) people would know the word "bento" as a (Japanese) way of serving a meal in a box with many small compartments of different foods. If you don't already know it it's a bit of a pain to get it as an exercise in Duolingo, but it's a pretty good choice as a word a lot of people already know (remembering that the focus at this point of the course is to practice reading and writing a new alphabet, not actually to learn Japanese words).
True, I wasn't being technical, I should have just said "writing system" or something
Right. I am having difficulty keeping some of the characters in mind. But seeing them being used in simple words is helping me to get more familiar with them..
- 1104
A Japanese teacher (teacher of Japanese) told me seven years ago that about 15% of Japanese words are borrowed from other languages--that seemed like a pretty big percentage to me (and I wonder how many words in English have been borrowed). When teaching a language, it makes perfect sense to initially use those borrowed words to instill confidence and construct a foundation for further learning. One small thing more, I have seen red and black lacquered bento boxes for sale in "Sur La Table," a chain of kitchen supply stores (in the USA). I would guess that "bento" and other Japanese words are probably more common in urban areas.
- 35
How long ago does it have to have been borrowed to count? Because if we count all the words of French origin in English (plus the spurious loanwords from Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese and and many other languages) I'd estimate ~40%. And that is without counting the technical jargon in many different fields (which mostly comprises Latinate or Greek-derived words, though whether that's borrowing is debatable). Of course, Germanic words appear more in texts because they are among the most commonly used (like “the”, “a”, “of”, ”have”, “be”, “give”, etc.), but just looking at your comment above: language, pretty, percentage, perfect, sense, initial, instill, confidence, construct, foundation, lacquer, supply, probable, common, urban, area, they are all words originally borrowed from French. In fact, even in your naturally written comment which uses Germanic function words disproportionately often, about 16% of the text is borrowed words! (I'm not counting “Sur le Table” of course, that would be cheating!)
Languages are amazing :)
Those aren't quite borrowed words. Many words from English originated from German, but they aren't the same. "the", "and" are very similar to "die" and "und", but only if die and und existed in English would they be borrowed words. For example, fiancée and café, those are borrowed words.
English people use café as a place to have a coffee, or a snack, but that word in European means coffee. Coffee originated from café (or its roots), but it's not a borrowed word, because when people want a coffee, they say "I want a coffee" instead of "I want a café"
- 1104
Okay, that's interesting, Ly_Mar. I know that the reason English often has two words for so many nouns is because it is a blend of languages (Greek, Latin, German, French, AngloSaxon, Spanish, even Quechua)--possibly more than any other language in use. How many words must a person know to be considered competent (as opposed to "fluent") in a language? How many words are in the English language? The Japanese language? I agree; languages are amazing.
Edit: "The number of words in the English language is: 1,025,109.8. This is the estimate by the Global Language Monitor on January 1, 2014. The English Language passed the Million Word threshold on June 10, 2009 at 10:22 a.m. (GMT)." I do not know what a ".8" word is, and I don't know what methodology was employed here.The Oxford English Dictionary has 171,476 words of which 3,000 are 95% of common text. Next, Japanese, according to an internet source has an estimated 80,000 to 160,000 words of which 50,000 may be in common use. One source said it takes 100,000 words to be fluent in a language. I quote a language instructor who said if you can read and understand a newspaper, you are competent. But hey, no need for me to get wrapped around the axle.
According a source I found (I can't remember, I think it was VSauce, or TedX) said in order to understand 95% of conversations (in the example of Spanish) you need to know 2,500 words!
@DABurnside Probably mostly Chinese and Korean, according to my history class. Japan did not historically like "western culture" very much.
- 305
For everyone upset about learning words that don't translate well into English - keep in mind that a large part of language learning is learning the culture as well. If you aren't already familliar with what manga, or bento boxes are, you should be after mastering the language. It's just like learning French and being upset they teach you the word croissant instead of calling it a flaky pastry. Don't be discouraged!
- 368
You're right, a large part of language learning consists in learning the culture. IMO that's precisely why Duolingo should provide some explanation of these terms, either as a short sentence or a picture (or both).
- 142
It says bento, but I typed bentou as it was spelled and was wrong. I like that it will either take the literal romaji or the english word itself. I.e. Manga or comic.
- 652
It is not supposed to just learn you letters but also words, and the word is bento, like Tokyo.
- 1947
It's not weird if you understand what's going on behind the scenes.
The long "o" in Japanese is not the pure vowel /o:/ but the diphthong /oʊ/ (and the long "e" is not the pure vowel /e:/ but the diphthong /eɪ/), and when they write things in hiragana they encode that detail. Unlike in katakana where long vowels are just extended with a line ―.
When transliterating (not translating) into English, we use a very simple system that largely ignores the vowel length, because although vowel length is phonemic in Japanese, it is not in English. A good example of a minimal pair in Japanese between short and long vowel is "hoshi" (star) and "hoshii" (want).
This is what i was looking for in this comment section, thank you. Was a little confused at the extra letter, im familiar with the "ou" = "o with a line over it" = "long o" from various words but had no idea bento was one of them!
But if べんとう is spelled with a long o, then why does duolingo translate it to "bento" with a short o? Shouldn't it be translated as bentou, bentoo or bentō?
I saw another coment talk about this and they said all words that end in an 'o' such as to,po,o,mo,etc... are always acompanied by the 'u' even though its silent.
I jope this helps :3
- 1947
No, not all such words.
Japanese has long and short vowels, meaning they are pronounced for half time or double time. ou means it's a long o, ei means it's a long e. In katakana, this is indicated with a —.
Short sounds are indicated with a small "tsu".
Some words in Japanese language has long vowels and some of the has short ones at the end of the word. If the word ends with a long お you use an う at the end, if it ends with a long え you use an い to indicate that long wovel. There are no silent う or い.
In a lot of the shows I've seen, べんとう just gets translated as "lunch", not necessarily the box. Any insights on the best way to work with this, especially when in a Japanese cultural setting, not an American one?
- 882
Bento has a specific meaning unique to Japanese cuisine. Translating bento as "lunch" or "dinner" or "supper" is a contextual anglacism based upon the time of day the bento is eaten, but it is incorrect -- it is as if one said "let's eat tacos" around noon and it was translated into an equivalent word for "lunch" in a language that does not have its own word for "taco".
Bento in Japan is a bit like a meal from a food truck in the States, it's a complete meal in a package for the sake of convenience when you're away from home for the day.
I'm confused as to what that last character is doing there, the first three characters make the sound right? Does it modify something?
It's because the o at the end of bento is actually a long o, not a short o. In some romanisations I think you'd write that as bentō. In hiragana the extra う is basically doing the same job as the line over the o in ō, marking where you should say a long vowel instead of a short one. So "to" with a short "o" sound is と, but "tō" with a long "o" sound is とう.
The rule is that to lengthen the vowel sound of a hiragana character with an "o" or "u" vowel, you follow it with う. For hiragana that have a "e" or "i" vowel sound, you use い, and hiragana with an "a" vowel sound you do actually use あ.
I believe there are some exceptions where you use え or お, and also some places where the characters look like they meet this rule but are actually pronounced as a separate vowel in a separate syllable.
So what is the purpose of the う at the end of this word and others? Would it be pronounced differently than べんと? Does it change the sound (like the letter 'e' does in the word 'rate', it changes how the 'a' is promised) or is it simply silent (like the 'b' in 'thumb')?
If the last sound ends in "o" or "u", e.g. こ そ す く, the う entends the length of the previous sound. e.g. こう kō (koh). It will not change the sound itself.
So many people complaining. Haha. You might struggle learning if you are so closed minded. Tough up guys, deduce answers, use a dictionary, practice, 頑張って. It's taken them years to develop Japanese!
I wrote "Bentō" with the macron, and it warned me about using accents correctly.
I like the contents of that lunchbox so much that i'd undergo a BENT TOE just to eat it.
Looking at a few Japanese words I notice they end with う which is 'u' right? But I can never hear them say the 'u' sound. is it so short its almost silent? Or having not spoken Japanese can I just not hear it?
- 1947
Japanese distinguishes between long and short vowels. The short vowels are the pure monophthongs /o/ and /e/ and the long vowels are diphthongs /oʊ/ and /eɪ/. The vowel in "go/row/know" is a diphthong. The vowel in "stay/race/pay" is a diphthong.
Hiragana spelling is very close to "spell it exactly how it sounds". So the diphthong /oʊ/ is spelled with う and the diphthong /eɪ/ is spelled with い. Katakana is almost identical, except the long vowels, even the diphthongs, are spelled with a horizontal line.
- 451
弁当(べんとう) [bentò] (japanese lunchbox) is a word formed by 2 kanjis : - 弁 : braid, valve, pedal (JLPT N1) - 当 : hit, right, appropriate (JLPT N3)
I thought that "bento" means "Box" making Bento box redundant. Would be like if we took the word "lunchbox" and took off the word "lunch" and making it "box" but still means "lunchbox". If that makes sense. lol
- 1947
It might not have started off that way, but it is now!
Or do you not consider "restaurant" to be an English word?
https://www.etymonline.com/word/restaurant
Is it "Bentou" or "Bento"? It is spelled as "Bentou" but it corrects me to "Bento."
I put lunchbox, is that a better translation or is "Bento" a better translation?
In Hiragana 4.4, should Hiragana "bento" translate to English "lunch box" instead of English "bento"?
- 1947
But now you know.
Also, "bento" refers to the uniquely Japanese boxed lunch, not just any lunch box.
The English proper word is bento, not bentou. So, bentou is a wrong answer.
- 1947
Yes.
The long お (in both Japanese and English) diphthongizes to "ou" and the long え (in both Japanese and English) diphthongizes to "ei".
Why isn't the answer "lunchbox" instead of "bento"? I mess up and write what's being said in Japanese instead of the translation in English, I don't know why but this is only adding to my confusion.
- 1947
Because they're not perfect synonyms. "Lunchbox" fails to capture what bento really is. Other comments on this page go into more details.
Meal is not appropriate in translating べんとう. This has been discussed by Rae.F multiple times. Please search for his comments in this thread.
i get why duolingo teaches us how to say fermented soybeans in Japanese because it is tofu, but what is bento?
Bento is a type of lunchbox but it is unique so the only name for it is bento. Also on a side note, tofu is soybean curd not fermented soybeans. Batting and tofu are two separate dishes.
People know because this question has been asked and answered numerous times in this thread.
Fermented soybean is 納豆（なっとう）
I asked if they know, because they're Japanese? Because if they were, I could talk to them in Japanese, and practice with Japanese sentences, and conversations.
You should go to the English for Japanese forum and start a conversation there. Most of the people there are Japanese. https://forum.duolingo.com/topic/839
No. Unfortunately I am not. Sorry to disappoint! I wish I was. I do have several Japanese friends.
Why is there a hirigana u at the end of bento? Wouldnt the u make bento into a different sound?
- 1947
In Japanese, the same as in English, the long "O" and the long "E" are not pure vowels but rather diphthongs. It's just that they explicitly reflect that in spelling in Japanese: long お is おう, long え is えい.
Why is there a hirigana U at the end of bento? Wouldnt bento be bentou if it had that U at the end?
Come on , 230 comment on bento ,i already read all comment and still dont know what " bento" is ^?^
I am pretty sure you have not read Rae.F's comment
- 1947
Or the ones where I say
Or the one where I say
Also, "bento" refers to the uniquely Japanese boxed lunch, not just any lunch box.
Or where I say
"Bento" means "box lunch".
Or where I say
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento
https://en.bentoandco.com/collections/bento-boxes-newest-oldest
Or where KeithWong9 says
Or where NathanDale3 says
Bento in Japan is a bit like a meal from a food truck in the States, it's a complete meal in a package for the sake of convenience when you're away from home for the day.
And MichaelB5 in the same thread:
Basically 'boxed meal' typically for lunch
and in UK English, we'd usually say "packed lunch" then bentobako is "packed lunch box"
So why does this not say Lunchbox after translation like all the other words... This seems to be the only word so far that when first introduced shows the picture of a Lunchbox, asks you to find Lunchbox, then proceeds to only give "Bento" as the "Translation".. You might want to correct that.
- 1947
Because calling it a lunchbox fails to capture what bento really is. It's a uniquely Japanese style of boxed lunch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento
https://en.bentoandco.com/collections/bento-boxes-newest-oldest
I think it’s so that when you can get the basic idea of what a bento is by finding something as similar to it as possible. It’s not that bentos are lunchboxes but that lunchboxes are the closest thing to bentos.
