Hello There! How are you all today? It’s Max from Ecom.
皆さん、僕の一番好きな日本語は何だと思いますか？突然聞かれてもわかりませんよね(笑)
それは…擬態語と擬音語です！日本語の擬音語はとても面白くて、しかも便利な表現なので大好きです。日本語の擬態語と擬音語はとてもユニークですが、英語でも同じような言葉があるとご存知でしたか？
英語には「Onomatopoeia」(オノマトペ)と呼ばれる言葉があります。これは擬態語や擬音語と同じように、音と同じように聞こえる言葉です。日本語は世界でも一番擬態語と擬音語が多い言語だと思いますが、英語にも結構あるんですよ。
まず、もちろん英語にも動物の鳴き声の言葉があります。しかも実は、英語と日本語でかなり違います。例えば日本語で猫の鳴き声は「にゃんにゃん」ですね。でも英語では「Meow Meow」（ミアウ ミアウ）と鳴きます。豚は日本語で「ブーブー」ですが、英語では「Oink Oink」（オインク オインク）になります。どうしてこんなに違うのでしょうね。
では、よく使う英語のオノマトペの言葉を紹介します。
★(時計の針などの)カチカチ
⇒Tick Tock（ティックトック）
★ささやく
⇒Whisper（ウイスパー）
★(雷などの)とどろき
⇒Boom（ブーム）
★「ドン！」
⇒Bang（バング）
★水しぶき
⇒Splash/Spray（スプラッシュ・スプレー）
★「ガチャン」
⇒Crash（クラッシュ）
一方、英語では気持ちを伝えるためのOnomatopoeiaはあまりありません。それは、日本語のユニークなポイントだと思います。
皆さん、いかがでしたか？Onomatopoeiaを使えると、英語の会話と文章はより面白くなると思います。皆さんの好きな英語の言葉は何ですか？ぜひ教えてください。
That’s all for today. See you next time.
Hello Max,
I always look forward to reading your new article.
There are several English idioms or dictions using some of that onomatopoeia.
“The other day, a pretty stock dealer whispered into my ear that the stock market in 2014 would be boom and bust. Therefore, she said to me that buying the Japanese stock option now would be bang for the buck. She told me to tick off some items on the market and send them back to her. The clock is ticking. This is the last chance for me to splash out on the stock market and jump on the bandwagon to the boom market. I guess she would crash on me if I made a killing.”
Does this make sense to you?
Hi Seiichi,
Thanks for your comment.
Yes, there are lots of English idioms that use onomatopoeia! That paragraph is a good example as it uses lots of these idioms. However, we do not say ‘crash on me’. There are many uses of crash, such as ‘the stock market crash’ (quick decrease in value) or ‘I crashed at my friend’s house’ (I slept at my friends house) or even ‘I crashed the party’ (I came to the party even though I was not invited. Onomatopoeia are an interesting aspect of English but they are very difficult! Have a nice day!
Hello Max,
Thank you very much for the correction. Sorry, I made a mistake. I really appreciate that a native speaker like you rectifies my mistake. However, can you say “crash on you”? I looked up the dictionary and it explained that it’s means as simple as “I like you”, or “ I liked you before but never had a relationship with you”. Maybe I should have used “ Crash on you”. I always look forward having your replay.
Hi Seiichi!
Thanks for your response.
I think that you may have gotten confused between ‘crash’ and ‘crush’. You cannot say ‘crash on someone’, but you can have a ‘crush’ on someone, which means that you like them. 🙂