Swearing in Japanese

[Noy Telinú]

I'm completely lost.

I thought there wasn't any, but then someone said there is, but then another said no.

IS there? I don't mean equivalents either. (Like a rude way to speak, I'm looking for actual swear words)

So is there? Or is there not?

[Spokavriel]

There is no human language without profanity. Don't bother with trying to use it if you don't know it personally.

[Noy Telinú]

I'm not trying to USE it, I just want to know if it exists.

I'm getting conflicting answers from people though. So I would like some proof so I know what to believe.

[Knight of L-sama]

IS there? I don't mean equivalents either. (Like a rude way to speak, I'm looking for actual swear words)

Yes, there are, just not a lot. The majority of rude speech in Japanese generally consists of deliberately using an incorrect level of polite speech when addressing someone.

There are however a handful of words that count as profanity in of themselves. The most common being 'kuso' which is more or less directly equivalent to the English 'shit'

[Noy Telinú]

... So it's a both? O_o

Huh. Odd. Are they used in anime or do the fan subbers just put swear words in? I think that's where I got confused.

[Knight of L-sama]

Ah... translation is difficult. In many cases its transliteration rather than straight translation since English speakers use profanity to indicate the same thing that Japanese speakers use the aforementioned 'deliberately incorrect level of politeness' and fansubbers have been known to... take liberties.

[Noy Telinú]

Thats a reason why I hate them. -_-

Another reason I was a bit confused was that I heard from teachers who taught in Japan from America say that kids would come up to them and say "Fuck" a TON. With smiles! Like they were showing that they knew something in English that shouldn't be saud.

O_o

Bur this means that Inuyasha doesn't swear a ton then right? Because fanfics have that.

[uragaaru]

I would say while there are legitimate swear words, usually their deployment as such is contextual.

So for example if you yell out "kuso" in frustration, it's is basically an expletive in context. On the other hand, you can disparingly describe someone as "kuso-majime" (serious/hardworking to a fault) and it isn't an expletive as such (though it's read as perhaps as critique of a person or can be self-depricating if you're talking about yourself). a phrase like "kuso game" (shit game) is very casual and you see it on television (at the very least, "kuso game" are Gamecenter CX's bread and butter).

Interestingly, many currently rude expressions or lingusitic terms originated as terms that were considered polite in previous eras.

As to how all this applies to English language fanfic? I would argue doesn't. Not really. You do the best you can based on how you feel the story should go, the characters in question, and the tone you're setting.

I'm surprised that, in Ranma fics, you don't see characters calling Ranma a faggot or a tranny more often when the equivalent term, "okama" is thrown about by most of his rivals and opponents (Taro especially loves to throw the term, prompting Viz to translate the term as "femboy", which I've never understood). Even Akane uses it once in a while in between cries of "otoko-onna" and "hentai".

[Té Rowan]

There is also 'shimatta!', your general-purpose oh-damnitt.

[Cheb]

As far as I could understand japanese (extremely limited) I heard only one cuss word in the variety of animes I had watched: "bitch" (ama). It's very, very rare, though I cannot say if that is because anime is a censored medium, or because the language itself can live without the cuss words.
The form is usually "kono ama!" (that bitch) used by some bad boy to address a female member of the main cast.

Inu-yasha doesn't really use the F-word, though it would be very hard to translate his expressive speech to such a bland language as English*. Far from impossible, I mean, but requires a great mastery of English. Far above what an average fansubber could do. Thus, the F- crutches and shortcuts.

(*)While great in describing actions, better than Russian to the point that I preferred to write action scenes in English for a while, despite my limited skill with it, English seems to have a weakness in the area of describing properties and complex nuances (strong verb system, weak adjective system). Though this may be a cultural thing rather than a language quirk. I often get complains about my writing being "overloaded" or "too flowery" when all I do is simply translating my fics from the plain Russian "as is", without any attempts at adaptation.

Well, as far as I understand Japanese, it's even more deep and powerful than Russian in the area of emotions and nuances (and neglectful in the verbs department). If I really push my writing skill, I could make passable Russian translations for most things. I suspect, a skilled native English speaker could achieve the same effect, but the problem remains. It takes a great skill at both wielding the English language and understanding Japanese. There are too few people like this.

P.S. With reading enough hentai manga you can learn words like "dick" but the question still remains if these are ever used for cussing.
After all, cussing is mostly expressing an emotion. As Japanese provides a lot of other ways to emote, they could be simply no need for dedicated cuss words (except "shit"(kuso) and its variations meaning "stinking", which Ukyou is fond of)

Ranma's enraged "Uonoreee!" (onore) at Tsubasa's departure (己 【おのれ】 (int,n) oneself, (insulting) you, (P)) - hmm, I'd translate it as "Why, youuuu!"


...and the English translation of it (by professionals, rather than scanlators):
(also note how Akane's "hentai..." (pervert) is transated. Still trusting translations?

[Spica75]

Thats a reason why I hate them. -_-

Another reason I was a bit confused was that I heard from teachers who taught in Japan from America say that kids would come up to them and say "Fuck" a TON. With smiles! Like they were showing that they knew something in English that shouldn't be saud.

O_o

Bur this means that Inuyasha doesn't swear a ton then right? Because fanfics have that.

You should take a look at the adventures of an English teacher in Japan:
http://gaijinchronicles.com/category/ar ... l-teacher/

And Inuyasha swears...

Anyway, words, they exist:
http://www.youswear.com/index.asp?langu ... QhD62nFKSo
http://chromlea.com/japanese/insults.php
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 111AAUZapJ
But as noted on the yahoo link, some words by themselves isn´t automatically swearing, but can be used as such by how they are said. While the same is true in English as well, it is a more obvious difference in Japanese.

[Spica75]

As far as I could understand japanese (extremely limited) I heard only one cuss word in the variety of animes I had watched: "bitch" (ama). It's very, very rare, though I cannot say if that is because anime is a censored medium, or because the language itself can live without the cuss words.
The form is usually "kono ama!" (that bitch) used by some bad boy to address a female member of the main cast.

IIRC, ama literally means nun.

Inu-yasha doesn't really use the F-word, though it would be very hard to translate his expressive speech to such a bland language as English*. Far from impossible, I mean, but requires a great mastery of English. Far above what an average fansubber could do. Thus, the F- crutches and shortcuts.

As i recall it, Inuyasha uses chikusho a LOT. Check my "youswear" link. Japanese does not lack swearwords in any way. But they´re far from always purely swearwords.

...and the English translation of it (by professionals, rather than scanlators):
(also note how Akane's "hentai..." (pervert) is transated. Still trusting translations?

Ah, but "hentai" CAN be used as translated there, it´s based on the word meaning ~"strange" after all.

[Cheb]

Anyway, words, they exist:

Thank you for the link!
Jigoku e ike! - Go to hell! - I now remember Akane using that one in the anime

Ah, but "hentai" CAN be used as translated there,

Yes, it can be. But considering the context, either the translator is a nun or the work is censored.
Perverts are a sore spot for Akane, after all.

IIRC, ama literally means nun.

Huh?
尼 【あま】 (n) (col) nun, bitch, (P)
You are right...
Ololololo

[Noy Telinú]

I think that is the difference. Most English swear words are swears no matter the context. But in Japanese it depends...

Right?

[Spica75]

I think that is the difference. Most English swear words are swears no matter the context. But in Japanese it depends...

Right?

They are?
Shit, fuck, hell, MF, bastard, damn etc etc... They are all words with actual meaning beyond as a swearword...

Perverts are a sore spot for Akane, after all.

Certainly, but in the anime where you can hear how they say things she DOES use the word as a statement(ie basically saying that something is strange and/or really icky deviant or something), not just as an accusation.
Since you don´t get any vocal cues from the manga, you have to rely on the visual ones, and in the case of the pic you posted, she looks more weirded out than ready to club someone.