"My friend and I are otakus."
Translation:私と私の友達はオタクです。
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THANK YOU! I am worried about how much Duolingo is stressing this word. To me, it is like saying, "I am a gourmet, just like Jeffrey Dahmer.." I tell all my students to use 大ファン （だいファン = big fan）instead. I am giving you a lingot for bringing this up!
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Who knew! :) Though... if the vacancy goes like オタク様大歓迎, that becomes a thing. (yes I've seen those)
Thr people I work with usually find it pretty interesting/amusing that I'm an Otaku. I suppose it's because partly because I'm a foreigner though.
And because the word has a different (more extreme) meaning in Japan. So it's not something a person would usually openly admit to, and certainly not confidently. I fact, you beig a foreigner probably soften the meaning. Like, "Oh, but they surely can't mean they're REALLY an (anime) otaku. They probably don't realize what they're saying. I hope."
It's kind of like proudly proclaiming to be a fedora-touting, greasy-haired, "friendzoned" brony. A brony like that would be, in real Japanese, translated as "a my little pony otaku."
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I wouldn't have expected to see bronies mentioned here. Its a good example though considering how that word has gained such a negative reputation over the years.
Yes. Japanese lets context do the work most of the time. So if you just say 友達 then here since you haven't mentioned anyone else, the context means it'll be understood as your friend.
"Being otaku" is something I found to be normalising when living in Japan. I came across a few guys who openly admitted they were otaku, one of whom shamelessly declared he was NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training). That said, there's still a stigma behind it, and there is nothing good about NEET!
not saying that it is fair to pass a judgement of guilt by association, but for cultural context, in japan there was an otaku fellow in the 80s who was a serial killer of small children. the media called him "the otaku killer". so, if you were wondering why there is a negative association with otaku in japan, there you go.
This is so inappropriate. How about: 「私と友達はアニメが好き」 「私は漫画が好き」 「私はフィギュアを集めます」
There are so many ways in saying that you like something than identifying as an "otaku". As a foreigner trying to fit in with a new culture, you need to be the one who has to be culturally-sensitive. Not because you have a few specific people around you that publicly identify as otaku, it is an appropriate sample size for the entirety of Japan.
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Plenty of kids, Japanese and non-Japanese alike, find a sense of belonging with the word "otaku", so I think inappropriate might be a strong word about a sentence in a lesson labelled subculture. Of course it's not a normal thing to go around declaring yourself, but it is a Japanese word that people use.
[Downvoters, please engage in a conversation. What do you know that I don't know that makes what I have to say not worth listening to?]
Is there a correct order for "I and others"? In German it is very rude to start with yourself ("he and I"), while in English you're supposed to mention yourself first ("I and he"). Any rules for Japanese?
"It is better to be an otaku being dissatisfied than a riajuu satisfied"
-Siddhārtha Gautama
To avoid cultural confusion, please, please use "だいファン" when around Japanese people ;)
Please make it so that ”私” is consistently accepted for わたし．The inconsistent acceptance of kanji on this site makes it incredibly difficult to type in Japanese naturally.
If I wanted to say this more concisely, would it be like 「友だちとオタクです」
Or does that not work for this kind of sentence because it's a simple declaration, as opposed to a shared action (Like 'I saw a movie with a friend' would be 「友だちと映画を見た」?
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Exactly as you said, when you use と to mean "and", it has to come between two nouns. 私と友達はオタクです (watashi to tomodachi wa otaku desu). When と comes after a person and does not connect to another noun, it means "do something with someone".
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So is there a difference between お宅 and オタク in written form? Or is it entirely context-based? Is お宅 used always for its literal meaning and オタク as the stereotype? That's what I mean
cant you say "わたしの友達とオタクです"? or is there a required は missing somewhere? im using と here as the inclusive (or whatever its called) particle not the "and" particle
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What you said translates to, "[It's] my friend(s) and an/the otaku(s)." as a response to a question like "who is it?" Hope this helps you grasp it.
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You can see all sorts of words spelled out in random books, including ワタシ and various mangled ways like わっち. The primary reason for わたし being, it provides a very simple way to tell the characters apart just by the way they say "I" :} Sometimes I translate wishing English had that...
Besides, わたくし is 私 as well, so it could be a way to avoid confusion there.
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Yeah, it's an easy kanji to learn as well. It's fine that they introduce a few at a time, but I really don't need this one still being spelled out. Also the word seems to be used way more in duolingo than needed, like 90% of the time it only specifies what would have been assumed anyway without it.
私と私の友達はオタクです。I realize this was redundant and I didn't need to say "私の友達", but it's not incorrect.
私と友達はオタクです。Marked as wrong because it wants me to use the hiragana and not the kanji for "watashi".
OK, now I'm getting annoyed AF here. Yesterday this question SPECIFICALLY REJECTED THIS ANSWER. It made me say "わたしと友達はちょっとオタクです". So today I write that, but now it's demanding that I write わたしとわたしの友だちはオタクです。
Really??
The word "otaku" just means "fan" to me. In The US, specifically an anime or manga fan. So, I'm fine with relating to it here. Yet, if Nihon itself equates it with murder & crime, it now makes me feel worried.
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I can't help but wonder when the last time the users associating オタク with murder and crime spoke to a young person in Japan. I have met plenty of Japanese people who called themselves オタク, and maybe others thought they were a bit eccentric, but there was certainly no fear of them. In a few cases, they were even quite popular.
Doing a quick google, gives me this article from 2018 talking about how female high school students' impression of オタク has become predominantly positive.
Two 私's in one sentence seems like overkill. I was tempted to just use 友達と but chickened out.