Interesting Words from the Japanese Bible

Today's topic is looking at common, interesting words found in the Japanese Bible.  As you may know from reading in English, the Bible is full of interesting and, well, sometimes strange words.  The same is true in Japanese.  The good news is most of these words are very useful in everyday life. (maybe)

CONTENTS:

1. 奇跡 kiseki - miracle
2. 祝福 shuku fuku - a blessing, being blessed
3. 永遠 eien - forever, eternity
4. 幻 maboroshi - a vision
5. 告白 koku haku - confess; a confession

LET'S BEGIN:

1) 奇跡 kiseki - miracle

EXAMPLE:

私の日本語能力は奇跡的です。
watashi no nihongo nouryoku wa kiseki teki desu.
My Japanese ability is miraculous! (lit. As for my Japanese's ability, it is miraculous!) (let's be modest here)

WORDS:

• 私 watashi - I, me
• の no - possessive ('s) ( 私の watashi no = my)
• 日本語 nihongo - the Japanese language
• 能力 nou ryoku - ability
• は wa - topic (big idea) particle (placed in front of the topic) [it is written with the Hiragana 'ha' but pronounced as 'wa']
• 奇跡的 kiseki teki - miraculous [ 的 teki - This is a VERY useful grammatical add-on.  Other examples include: 科学 kagaku (science) --> 科学的 kagaku teki (scientific); 意図 ito (intention, aim) --> 意図的 ito teki (intentional, on purpose)] To watch a video on using teki, click here.

NOTE: If you want to make this a compliment regarding someone's English, simply change 私 watashi (I) to あなた anata (you) and 日本語 nihongo (Japanese) to 英語 eigo (English)

2) 祝福 shuku fuku - a blessing, being blessed

EXAMPLE: 

ゴジラはキティちゃんから祝福のキスをされました。
gojira wa kiti-chan kara shukufuku no kisu wo saremashita.
Godzilla was blessed by a kiss from Hello Kitty.

WORDS:

• ゴジラ gojira - Godzilla (yes, Godzilla again! Sorry, I will try to come up with more original examples next time!)
• キティちゃん kiti chan - Hello Kitty [In Japan, Kitty-chan is popular with ALL ages.  You can often see a girl in high school or even in College wearing Kitty-chan apparel.  And to confess (see #5 in this issue), I have a Kitty-chan key chain]         
  CHAN - attached to names like -SAN but cutier - Used with children's names and nicknames...
• から kara - from (kitty-chan)
• の no - possessive ['s]
• キス kisu - kiss
• 祝福のキス shukufuku no kisu - really this is saying, "blessing's kiss" or "blessed kiss"
• を o - direct object particle [placed after the D.O.]
• されました saremashita - received [from suru ]

3) 永遠 eien - forever, eternity

EXAMPLE:

永遠に愛する。
eien ni ai suru .
I will love you always (until eternity)

WORDS:

• に ni - A very common particle that can mean a host of things (to, in, for, on, onto...) I might be wrong, but I think here NI can be thought of as 'to' - a directional marker. "I will love you as we march toward eternity")
• 愛する ai suru - to love [add SURU (to do) to AI (love) to get the verb form]

4) 幻 maboroshi - a vision

EXAMPLE: 

夢か幻か
yume ka, maboroshi ka...
Is this a dream, or a vision...?

WORDS:

• 夢 yume - dream (from sleeping)
• か ka - You know this little guy from the question particle at the end of sentences.  This is a neat usage which means, "is this... or...?"

NOTE: this is apparently a famous line from "a vision of escaflowne"

- AND FINALLY FOR NOW: -

5) 告白 koku haku - confess; a confession

EXAMPLE:

あなたの愛を告白して下さい。
anata no ai o kokuhaku shite kudasai.
Confess your love!

WORDS:

• あなた anata - You
• の no - possessive (ANATA NO = your)
• 愛 ai - love
• を o - direct object marker (AI is the Direct Object)
• して下さい shite kudasai - Please do ~ for me (please 'confess your love' to me)