Embellish your Japanese with a dash of onomatopoetics In Japanese, onomatopoeia are more practical for everyday usage than just theatrical words used in the comics.

This insight was originally published on June 01, 2021, and transferred here later.

And in that fateful moment, with what little hope was left to escape the vault, he closed his eyes and clipped the red wire...

...

...

...

BANG! BOOM! KA-POWWWWWWwwwwwwww!!!

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With the totally subtle cue of that prose, you may have just reached the apex of a harrowing tale of adventure. Not only had you read those words a moment ago, but through them, were guided a little more deeply into an experience. Perhaps the colors of an imagined explosion seemed more vivid in your mind, a sound roared faintly in your ears, or the experience was simply made a little more memorable with the theatrics of it all.

Regardless of the minute specifics it made you feel in that moment, those words meant something. They were a descriptive catalyst that initialized a whole reaction from a hand full of accompanying words. That is the power of onomatopoeia.

GIF, Hey Arnold spelling bee clip, 'o-n-o-m-a-t-o-p-o-e-i-a'

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Why use onomatopoeia in Japanese?

Aside from being a delight to learn and use in your language arsenal, using onomatopoeia in your Japanese will level up how natural you sound when speaking! Unlike in English, where onomatopoeia is used mostly in writing, comics, and the occasionally overly-theatric speech that children are known to use, Japanese uses them much more casually in everyday conversation as a descriptive lubricant. Onomatopoeia are like any adjective or adverb in that sense, and are often used as such.

English onomatopoeia is often for theatrical story telling.

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A simple trick to recognizing a Japanese onomatopoeia

So what does one of these interesting Japanese onomatopoeia look like, you might be loudly asking at your screen this very moment. Solid question! There are a few ways to recognize one. One hint is that they are often written entirely in kana (katakana or hiragana). But one of the most common forms a Japanese onomatopoeia will take is of a word that looks or sounds like a repetitive phrase.

For example:

	
		ワクワク (wakuwaku)
		ドキドキ (dokidoki)
		フワフワ (fuwafuwa)

We'll go over what those specific words mean later; but for now, notice how each of these words are composed of a repetitive piece: the doki, for example. This doubled form of onomatopoeia is the easiest to recognize and pick up, and thus all our examples today will focus on this format.

Practicing Japanese onomatopoeia

One of the easiest ways to get more experience with Japanese onomatopoeia is to read. Manga, for example, is an easy way to access practice material by seeing it in both a written form and an illustrated context. The same can be said for children's stories, graphic novels, and other written works that use a lot of imagery.

I collect things from Japan and I found a loophole where I'm not a hoarder if I take photos of my junk and say they are for my art. — Photo by Nick Hamze / Unsplash

Another good way to practice onomatopoeia is to literally just say them.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Seriously, just use them. Look at things, and notice the sounds they make. Note textural qualities or other ephemeral features about the context that the words are used in when you say them. Talk to people and describe the things you saw with your new vocabulary. Use the words at any opportunity you can think of; even if it means you are that kid at a convention screeching the Nyan Cat song at the top of your lungs to passing strangers. Use that annoying you-ness to your advantage!

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It's vocab time!

Okay, so let's learn some of these onomatopoeia I keep talking about. There are 5 types of Japanese onomatopoeia, and we are going to learn a little from each of those types. Go!~