Wednesday 11 June 2008

Japnese Lesson

Facebook has an application that will teach you a new Japanese word everyday. I'm not going to try to beat that, but I do have one word I am going to share with those of you who don't already know Japanese. The word is 告白 (kokuhaku), individually the characters mean "announce/report" and "white." Combined they mean "confession," most commonly in the sense of a professing of feelings for somebody. The word can be used with the addition of する (suru, "to do") as a verb, in the sense:

She finally managed to stop being a wimp and kokuhaku.

Just by itself it is a noun, in the sense:

He was completely surprised and rendered utterly speechless by her kokuhaku.


So there is your lesson for the day. What does it mean? Well honestly I thought I knew but it turns out that maybe, just maybe I don't afterall. We'll see. That's the fun thing about the Japanese language (and life in general), there is always a new surprise waiting to be learnt.

1 comment:

  1. Very interesting!!! Does the coupling of announce/report with white imply something like 'coming clean' on something? For example, would someone who committed a wrong or a crime use this word for confessing the wrong/crime to another?
    Inquiring minds want to know,
    C

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