TextFugu » Topic: "word" games in Japanese? http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/feed/ Tue, 11 Aug 2026 22:05:39 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=2.3.2 en-US http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16064 <![CDATA["word" games in Japanese?]]> http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16064 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:22:59 +0000 Nigel こんばんは!

Googling about some, I’ve found quite a bit about word- and character-play in Japanese (pulled together nicely at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Japanese_word_games). I feel I have a long way to go for those.

I don’t see anything at all like Scrabble or Boggle or the like: are there analogous such games in Japanese? They might have to work differently.

]]> http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16074 <![CDATA[Reply To: "word" games in Japanese?]]> http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16074 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:02:05 +0000 KiaiFighter shiritori is a fun game to play you can start to play once you have a good amount of nouns to your knowledge. (you are not allowed to use verbs nor, I think adjectives (maybe just i adj. but as with most games, I’m sure it depends who you play with))

henohenomoheji isn’t so much of a word game, but it is interesting. One of my students actually taught me that just a few months ago.

but my favorite is dajare. (oyaji-gyagu). As someone learning the language, making pronunciation mistakes or confusing similar sounding words was very common. So it was common for me to pull them together to try to make light of my mistake and get a laugh out of people. Its definitely fun to play with words like this!

]]> http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16078 <![CDATA[Reply To: "word" games in Japanese?]]> http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16078 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:59:21 +0000 Hashi Yeah, Koichi did a post about Shiritori a while back:

http://www.tofugu.com/2008/10/04/how-to-play-shiritori/

And I just did a post about a game called Babigo, but Babigo’s pretty simple and elementary compared to other word games :/

http://www.tofugu.com/2011/08/22/fun-japanese-language-game-babigo/

]]> http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16115 <![CDATA[Reply To: "word" games in Japanese?]]> http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16115 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:01:43 +0000 Nigel @hashi: a kind of extended Babwa Wawa? groovy. i like simple and elementary.

@KiaiFigter: can you think of a dajare off the top of your head that you pulled off?

]]> http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16126 <![CDATA[Reply To: "word" games in Japanese?]]> http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16126 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 05:31:13 +0000 KiaiFighter One I can remember well..
I was talking to my friend about her boyfriend.

I asked where he was from. “彼氏のしゅしんはどこ？”
She said “岩内”. (いわない）
I said “どうして？教えて！”（おしえて）

This is a play on the place 岩内.
This can also mean （言わない）or (I’m not telling)
So that’s why I responded as I did.

Another city is also called 稚内（わっかない）
わっかない is a more casual/slag way to say 分からない meaning I don’t know.

So if someone says they are from 稚内 or they are travelling to 稚内 it is a god opportunity for a joke ;)

I hope this makes sense to everyone….
Have fun!

]]> http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16192 <![CDATA[Reply To: "word" games in Japanese?]]> http://www.textfugu.com/bb/topic/word-games-in-japanese/#post-16192 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:35:08 +0000 Nigel looking forward to having enough material to be able to emit these in real time. ha!

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