教科書に載ってない日本語

KN^4: More phrases to make your 言い回し more 日本人ぽい.

~Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings~ Pt. 3 of X

Someone wrote a book about me...

After a week off, I'm back with more wonderful words to help describe feelings, or, as we'll see today, status or conditions. We have gotten slightly off of the original topic, but today's words are, in my opinion, among not only the most difficult but also the most useful and important constructions in the Japanese language. Using them correctly will greatly increase the 日本人ぽさ of your 言い回し. (Actually, I just realized that 言い回し ought to get an explanatory post of its own...) Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to do a proper write-up on 機嫌, 様子, or さま yet, so they will have to wait until part 4. Without further ado, I give you:

加減
かげん
kagen

As I mentioned earlier, Jeff mentioned this word in the very first KN^4 post. It's one of those words that you don't really notice until you've learned it, at which point you start seeing it EVERYWHERE. It's got a few meanings, but is easy enough to understand.

Let's take a quick look at the characters. 加 means to add; 減 means to subtract or lessen. In the end, it's all about balancing these two ideas.

The first (and actually least used) meaning comes into play when you meet a friend or acquaintance who you know has been sick, and you'd like to ask how they are feeling.
A:おかげんいかがですか？
B:ええ、大変でしたけどおかげさまでもうすっかり治りました。
A: How are you feeling/doing?
B: It was rough, but thankfully I'm all better now.

Because this word implies that the person being spoken to is sick (and therefore is deserving of 気づかい）, you have to be somewhat careful when you use it. I think that sometimes people confuse it with the similarly pronounced "ご機嫌いかが？" which is often used simply as "how are you?" without any implications. This is a big mistake. Making this mistake can cause a serious bout of 迷惑 for the listener, especially if they are worried that they are making you 気を遣う. Now you know the difference, and knowing is half the battle.

How else can you use it? Essentially, it means the level of something. Consider, for example, 進み加減, which means how far something has progressed. (In this way, it resembles 具合 pretty closely.) More often, it means the proper level of something necessary to accomplish a particular goal. In addition to 加減 by itself, you can hybridize with nouns, adjectives, or verbs. Nouns require no connector (such as の or な), adjectives are turned into nouns with ーさ, and verbs are conjugated to their ます stems. Here are some examples:
火加減
the proper strength of the flame
火の通し加減
the proper amount of cooking-through
力の入れ加減
the properly level of strength/power to put into something
甘さ加減
correct level of sweetness

There are a few specific 加減 words that have interesting/unique meanings, as well. This list is by no means exhaustive, but I hope it will be useful.

匙加減
さじかげん
saji kagen
prescription, measurement, consideration, reaction
This phrase originally referred to the measuring of medicine with a spoon (さじ). Depending on the doctor's skill with the dispensing 匙, the medicine could be effective, ineffective, or even end up poisoning or killing the patient. 匙加減, therefore, has come to mean the way that one deals with problems or other unexpected happenings, where skill and delicacy are required, or even just to a certain situation in general.
彼のさじ加減が良かったからうまく行ったと思う。
I think everything went well because he dealt with everything skillfully.


手加減
てかげん
tekagen
going easy, holding back
This is pretty straightforward.

小林！人間だからって、手加減はしないよ！
Kobayashi! I'm not going to go easy on you just 'cause you're a human!

湯加減
ゆかげん
yukagen
the temperature of bathwater
If you've ever lived in Japan, you know the importance of a good bath.
この湯加減、ちょうどいいな！
This bath is just right!

ダメさ加減
だめさかげん
damesa kagen
worthlessness/uselessness
This is used for pretty egregious examples of incompetence. Can also be used humbly when talking about your own failures. (Humility is an important part of making your 言い回し more 日本人ぽい, so expect a KN^4 on that later.)
金融業界のバブル崩壊で、それにかかわっている人のダメさ加減が分かってきた。
Looking at the bursting of the financial bubble, I really got a sense of the uselessness of the people involved in the industry. (NB This does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Daily Yoji or any of its writers. Just sayin'.)

加減見
かげんみ
kagenmi
checking spice/seasoning levels of food, taste-checking
Another straightforward one. Pretty much synonymous with 味見 (あじみ, ajimi).
まめに加減見をしながら味を整えた。
Checking the flavor diligently, I fine-tuned it.

加減物
かげんもの
kagenmono
a difficult/delicate thing or process requiring close attention to detail lest it go off to one extreme or another
それも加減もので、かなり手を焼いてしまったよ。
It was a really delicate process, and I ended up spending a lot of effort on it.

いい加減
いいかげん
ii kagen
enough, already ("enough already," even)
Saved the most commonly heard one for last. Jeff already explained what it means in いい加減にしろ (see the KN^4 linked above), so I won't go over that again. You should know, however, that it has wider usage, too. More than just being fed up with someone and telling them to cut whatever they are doing out, it can also be used to describe a situation where something is ripe for happening, or even overdue.
もう大人だし、いい加減実家を出なくちゃいけないと思った。
I figured, I'm an adult, it's well past time for me to leave my parents' house.
自分自身が問題の原因であることに、いい加減気付いてほしい。
I want her to realize already that no one but herself is the causing this problem.

いい加減 can also, however, mean something like careless, useless, half-baked, or lazy.
機械をいい加減に操ると危険だぞ！
Being careless with machinery is dangerous!
こんないい加減な人を、今まで見たことがない！
I've never seen such a useless person until now! (In this sense, it's kind of like 役立たず.)
そんないい加減なこと、言っていいのか？
Are you sure it's ok for you to say such careless/half-baked things?

こんないい加減なポスト、書いていいのか？

See you next time on KN^4!

教科書に載ってない日本語

More Japanese That Ain't in the Textbook

~Feelings, Nothing More than Feelings~ Part 2 of X

I know its been a few weeks (ok, a month?) since the first part of this series, but I'm a busy man, and there is all KINDS of 日本語 that's not in your 教科書 that needs to be addressed. If you've forgotten in the intervening period, this is a continuation of my last Kyoukasho Ni Notte Nai Nihongo (KN^4) post, which you might want to take a glance at as a refresher.

Today we are going to look at some 熟語 that make use of the 気 character and their relationship to other words of similar meaning. Many of them do overlap in certain ways, but I hope you'll come away from this with at least a rudimentary idea of the different nuances they all carry.

気持ち
きもち
kimochi

If you are anything like me, this is the first word that you learned that meant "feelings." It is both useful and common, but its meaning and usage can be kind of nebulous. The best way to think of it is your feelings as a response to some kind of external stimulus. You might get into a hot onsen and think 「気持ち（が）いい！」, or you watch someone getting facial plastic surgery and think 「気持ち（が）悪い！」　(modern slang: きもい). Check out this neko being caressed and really enjoying it:



気持ち doesn't necessarily have to be a physical reaction; it can be just a general emotion, too. Watching TV or movies, you might hear lines like 「私の気持ちはどうなの？」 ("What about my feelings?") or things like that. I know that I, personally, would one day like to be able to say, 「もてるってやっぱ気持ちいいな！」 ("It feels great being popular with the girls!"). Dare to dream, me, dare to dream.

気分
きぶん
kibun

It can be really confusing trying to differentiate 気分 from 気持ち, but I think that one way of thinking about it is that it's more about internal stimuli than external. For example, let's say that you are feeling nauseous, you would probably say 気分が悪い rather than 気持ち悪い. That's because, though your nausea might have been caused by something you ate, it is now really an internal thing (literally!). Used on its own like this, 気分が悪い is generally a health-ish kind of thing. (This is another post, but I think that Japanese has an unbelievable amount of words and phrases that describe how one's digestive tract, from the stomach all the way down to the colon, feels.) Not saying that you can't say 気持ちが悪い for your health ever, but 気分が悪い, I think, works better. (For more info, check out the comments to this post.)

気分がいい, I think, isn't quite limited to health. It's used for anything that makes you feel good in a general sense, as opposed to what I see as a more pinpointed response to external stimuli represented by 気持ちがいい. Think about it this way: you might find that sitting outside in the sunshine in specific to be 気持ちいい, but when the weather in general is pleasant, your entire 気分 becomes いい. Or maybe you just won the Superbowl - that would probably make your 気分 pretty いい as well.

JB always makes me feel pretty good.

The internal/external distinction becomes a little harder to maintain when you think of other uses for 気分, but I think that the general/specific one holds up fairly well. In English, we use phrases like "king for a day." You aren't actually the king, but you do something (like go to an expensive hotel or restaurant and get waited on hand and foot) that makes you sort of feel like a king. This kind of feeling is summed up in Japanese as 王様気分. You might also see お姫様気分, or really anything you could ever fantasize about being. You could get dressed up like a geisha and be 舞妓さん気分, or you could get a chance to throw a pitch at a professional baseball stadium and be プロ野球選手気分. In all of these cases, you get treated in a certain way that simulates something else, and for a while, in your little fantasy world, your 気分 changes from that of an everyday person to a rockstar, or queen, or whatever it is you want to be. It's your own internal change that makes it relevant.

雰囲気
ふんいき;
(often pronounced ふいんき)
fun'iki

This isn't really a hard word to understand, but it is kind of fun, and certainly in common usage, so you should all try to remember it if you don't know it already. This is used to describe the atmosphere, aura, ambiance, or general air of a person, a store, a restaurant, or whatever else you like. Here are a few example sentences to help you get a feel for it:
あなたはお父さんと雰囲気が似てるね。
You've got the same air about you as your father.
焼鳥屋のこういう雰囲気は、たまらなく好き。
I LOVE the atmosphere in yaki-tori places like this.

A long haired version of myself visiting one of my favorite yakitori places

具合
ぐあい
guai

This is a rather complicated word, one with a number of different meanings. I'll try to hit as many of them as I can. In general, it means condition, shape, or convenience. This brings us to the most relevant usage, one's specific (often physical) state. You might get asked, 「具合どう？」, or "how are you doing/feeling?" Or if you aren't feeling well, you could say 具合が悪い, and it could mean a number of things - you might have a stomach ache, or a headache, or you might just be feeling unwell in general.

A:どうしたの？顔色良くないよ。
What's wrong? You don't look so good.
B:ええ、ちょっと具合が悪くて・・・
Yeah, I'm not really feeling well...

That's not the only usage, though. It can be used to describe the convenience, or inconvenience, of a specific situation as well. Especially when it comes to talking about convenience, in addition to 具合 being いい, you will often see it described as うまい. (That's another word that needs its own post...)

ちょっと具合の悪い時に来られてしまった。
He came over at kind of an inconvenient time for me.
うまい具合に明日は晴れらしいです。
Luckily, apparently we're going to have clear skies tomorrow.

It can also be used to describe how well (or not) something is working:
俺のパソコン、ちょっと具合悪いな。
My computer is messed up.

It might also be used to describe the ease or convenience (or lack thereof) of a using a specific tool, piece of equipment, or what have you.
新しい電子辞書の使い具合、どう？
Is your new electronic dictionary easy to use?

Another usage of this word is somewhat similar to that of 加減, which Jeff touched on in an earlier (actually the very first EVARR) 教科書に載っていない日本語 post. When used in this way, it means something like "level" or "amount."
おいしいステーキの焼き具合はなんですか？
What's a good level of done-ness for steak?
ちょうどいい具合に出来上がってるよ！
It [let's say some kind of food] came out just right!
たった２日間しかたってないのに、もうここまでできてるとは、すごい進み具合だな。
I can't believe you made it this far in 2 days. That's amazing progress!

That does it for today's post. There are many, many more words like this that I think you should know, but this post is already long enough, so they'll have to wait for next time. Specifically, I'm thinking of doing a more in-depth examination of 加減, and having a look at 調子, 機嫌, 都合, and 様子. If there are any more that you really want explained soon, feel free to speak up in the comments! Same for if you want any clarification, or if you want to add to or correct anything I've put up. Definitely also let me know if you are finding any of this at all useful. On the other hand, if you've had enough of the ~Feelings~ series, well, poo on you (but seriously, let me know about that, too).