Funny Onomatopoeias and Other Expressions by Molly Hakes
Japanese is full of words that feel ticklish in your mouth. They are fun to say and cleverly evoke the sounds, flavors, actions, and textures they represent. For example, feelings of excitement, nervousness, or intense emotion are described as doki-doki and waku-waku.
When used in a sentence, however, these expressions are often followed by the word suru (“to do”):
Kareshi ga kitara mune ga doki-doki shita.
My chest started pounding when my boyfriend arrived.
Other variations can be created with to plus another verb:
Hebi ga nyoro-nyoro to hatte itta.
The snake slithered away.
These words can be used in a variety of situations where the verb needs describing. When combined with to and shita, doki-doki can be modified slightly and used to describe a reaction to hearing something shocking:
Sore o kiitara, dokkitto shita.
Upon hearing that, I was startled.
Words for textures also abound in Japanese. You are already familiar with neba-neba, but how about nuru-nuru to describe wet noodles or tsuru-tsuru to describe someone's smooth cheeks? Pasa-pasa pertains to flaky skin or shredded coconut. Gasa-gasa describes calloused toes and fingers. Sand feels sara-sara.
Actions, too, are more easily imagined when described with an onomatopoetic flare. Elephants walk noshi-noshi. Acorns tumble koro-koro. Merry-go-rounds and ballerinas go guru-guru. Snakes move across the grass nyoro-nyoro.
Do tongue twisters or other word games exist in the Japanese language?
Yes! Try this one five times fast: Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago. (“Raw barley, raw rice, raw eggs”.) Rensoo is a word game in which players pose onomatopoetic riddles. “Magic banana” is a fast-paced word-association game. More linguistic entertainment can be found in the game shiritori, where the final syllable of the first word must be the first syllable of the second word, and so on.
Onomatopoetic expressions are used to describe sounds in Japanese, just as in English. Kari-kari is the noise tsukemono make when you chew them. Para-para describes the first drops of rain, or marbles falling down a staircase. A chilly winter wind may pyuu-pyuu outside your window. Anyone who speaks a foreign language impressively will earn the compliment pera-pera: Eigo de pera-pera to hanashita. (“They spoke English fluently.”)
The many different ways of smelling aren't sufficiently evoked in Japanese, as in English. The word for sniffing, though, is kun-kun. A few expressions, such as pika-pika (“sparkling”) describe the way that things look. A wobbly chair may be described as gura-gura. Chika-chika describes the on-again-off-again flashing of Christmas-tree lights.
