Confusing Japanese

[RadioKid]

Can you find what this sign means ?



"ルーメソ：RUMESO;???" does mean nothing in Japanese.

I accidentally came across this sign and found that was famous sign in the internet. This sign is for the customer in the shop. Suppose what you will see from inside.

[RealJames]

Good one!
Turn 90 degrees clockwise, then read from the other side.
ラーメン

I did learn for the first time that ラ is the 90 degree rotated mirror of ル!

[RadioKid]

”シ:SHI" and ”ツ:TSU", "ン:N" and "ソ:SO" are also confusing.

[RadioKid]

"ない:NAI; Not exist"

When used alone, "NAI" means "not exist" or "I have not it" in casual form.

And "NAI" is very often used with other verbs and adjectives to make negative form.

I would like to write about the confusing of "NAI".

I mean

1) "NAI" as Inducement
2) "NAI" as negative question (asking for agreement).

However (by the way), foreigners would have few chances to come across these kind of "NAI" because Japanese people will use "ARIMASEN" in polite form instead of "NAI".

[RadioKid]

1) "NAI" as Inducement
"いかない：IKA-NAI" means "I will not go" and "たべない:TABE-NAI" means "I will not eat it" when being spoken in normal accent.
But when being tolken in question accent (rize at end), they mean "Wouldn't you go? "and "Wouldn't you eat it?". Actually, they are the same as "Would you go?" and "Would you eat it?".

These examples are in casual form. In olite form, they should be ”いきませんか:IKI-MASEN-KA?” and "たべませんか：TABE-MASEN-KA?"。

[RadioKid]

2) "NAI" as negative question (asking for agreement).

This is very casual style of Japanese.

"あの娘、可愛くない？:ANO-KO, KAWAIKU NAI?" means "Isn't she lovely?" when talked in questionnaire accent. But, be careful it means "She is not pretty." in affirmative accent.

And, sometimes young girls say "あの娘、可愛くなくない？:ANO-KO, KAWAIKU NAKU NAI?;Isn't she not lovely?". In this case, the girl in question is expected very pretty and they are talking about the girl with disappointment.

Further more, girls might say "あの娘、可愛くなくなくない？：ANO-KO, KAWAIKU NAKU NAKU NAI?; Isn't she not not lovely?".

These are not usual Japanese talking. use carefully if you would try.