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- "My friend and I are otakus."
"My friend and I are otakus."
Translation:私と私の友達はオタクです。
66 Comments
1444
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!
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."
- 438
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.
If you take all otakus in Japan, you don't have a gang, you have an army.
It's so sad that otakus even get discriminated on duolingo.
But ofc a business man would not admit it.
Like they probably would not tell about all their other personal stuff you don't tell strangers.
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.
Not really context is important it is like the English words geek or nerd. Several Jaoanese people call me an Otaku with no ill intent.
I don't know where you heard this but it's wrong, generally. People self-label as otaku all the time in Japan.
No they don't, you shouldn't admit to being an otaku, it's embarrassing. No one self identifies as otaku in Japan.
Some people actually do. Many people at my university identified as otaku. And it was never embarrasing for anyone being otaku. Some japanese looks down on otaku, but absolutely not all people. That said, people don't go around telling everyone and all "i'm otaku!!!", and it's not cool to be one like some people seems to believe. They are accepted, and people mostly just let them be. And most of the people I see doing cosplay in Tokyo are not japanese.
Yes, they do. I stand with Tobi on that I have met other students in Japan who openly called themselves an Otaku. It can be negative, but it's not 100% of the time. Just depends on context.
Yes, they do. I've heard people call themselves otaku with no guilt or shame. They also read hentai in the train. So there's that.
The funny hentai, or the real dirty stuff.
But hey I just love when people stand to what they like.
Don't understand why people can't admire that trait.
They always say Carpe diem and then look down on those that do what they like
As someone living in Jaoan I can say that you are wrong. More than anything else the context of the word in important.
Sure they do. But its far more nuanced than this. Check out the 1991 movie おたくのビデオ by Gainax. At least in the 90s there was both shame and pride in being おたく.
"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!
- 813
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.
- 1193
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?]
"It is better to be an otaku being dissatisfied than a riajuu satisfied"
-Siddhārtha Gautama
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.
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.
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.
To avoid cultural confusion, please, please use "だいファン" when around Japanese people ;)
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」?
- 1193
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".
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.
- 1193
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.
- 246
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
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.
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??
I don't get why being an Otaku is seen as a negative thing. It's just another word for geek or nerd (which I am). Even my sensei called me an Otaku. It felt good to be called one.
In English, "geek" and "nerd" have been remodeled into having somewhat good cultural connotations. If you were in high school at the height of their negative connotations, you would not be saying that.
In Japanese, "otaku" has never been reclaimed like that. Just never use the word.
- 294
Yeah, when I took an intro to Japanese course at college, my sensei equaled the word Otaku to a "couch potato".
I always feel dirty having to type out this exercise haha.
So much otaku intolerance in this thread. A pity SJW^H^H^H equality evangelists are too busy defending randomosexuals from prejudices!
