Do you consider yourself a chopstick ninja, picking grains of rice with your o-hashi like a pro? Well, you might need to reevaluate your skills, especially if you’ve been told by a Japanese person you how jouzu you are. Turns out, they may not actually know what they’re talking about!
In 2012, a survey conducted by Mejiro University revealed that only about 30% of Japanese men and women from their 30s to 50s correctly hold their chopsticks. What’s worse, the researchers also noticed that the proportion of people knowing where to correctly place their fingers is decreasing year after year.
ちなみにののち。
よくないのはわかるんやけど、「しい持ち方」ってのがからいづらすぎるねん。
これがのスタンダード。
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“By the way, here’s the way I hold chopsticks. I know it’s bad, but the right way to hold them has always been super annoying. This is the Reiwa era standard.”
Weeks later, the #箸の持ち方 buzzed once more.
Artsy
みんなはのような正しい箸の持ち方できるよね？
はできない。
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“Everyone can correctly hold their chopsticks like in these pictures, right? I can’t.”
These screenshots were taken from one of comedian Kentaro Kobayashi’s hilarious video series on Japanese traditions.
Wolverine style
You probably won’t be able to eat that way.
箸の1番カッコイイ持ち方
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“The coolest way to hold chopsticks”
Chopstick ju-jitsu
箸の持ち方がになっているみたいですね
=
“Looks like the way to hold chopsticks is becoming a trending topic.”
Table manners
まいど！こふわっくまです〜ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
#箸の持ち方 がトレンド入りしてるなー。
そういえばちょっと前にお兄ちゃんとコツメ君がお箸でバトってたなー。https://youtu.be/xI_7SNZ_jzs
かっこよかったし、僕も箸の持ち方練習しちゃおかな！？
あ！持たれへんわʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
ほなまたー
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“Hey! It’s Kofuwakkuma.
How to hold chopsticks started trending. By the way, a little while ago, my brother and Kotsume were playing with chopsticks. It was cool! Should I practice how to hold chopsticks too?! Ah! I cannot hold them!
See you later!”
Expressing “hard to do” with にくい, づらい, and い
The Japanese language relies on a lot of prefixes and suffixes to add nuances to other words and verbs. Knowing them will help you hold more complex conversations. When you want to express that an action is hard to do, you can use the three suffixes にくい, づらい and 難い. All three are attached to verbs’ stem minus the ます form.
The first one, にくい is quite basic and probably the first you’ll learn in class. にくい refers to an objective difficulty, or external reason, for something to be difficult to do.
このはわかりにくいです = this map is difficult to understand
The suffix づらい, however, refers to how an action is mentally or physically difficult for you. In other words, doing the action is somehow stressful for the speaker.
お箸は使いづらいです = chopsticks are hard to use (for me)
Finally, the suffix 難い has very limited usage, specific to people’s understanding and feeling. You can only use 難い with verbs such as to agree, to imagine, to believe, to forgive, to approve, to admit, to forget.
し難い = hard to understand
So, are you a chopstick master or do you need to go back to school? Let us know in the comment!
Vocabulary
ちなみに chinami ni by the way 箸の持ち方 hashi no mochikata way to hold chopstick よくない yokunai not good わかる wakaru understand けど kedo but 正しい tadashii correct 昔から mukashi kara from long ago 使いづらすぎる tsukaidurasugiru too hard to use できる dekikru can 1番 ichiban most カッコイイ kakkoii cool 話題になる wadai ni naru to become a topic トレンド入りする torendoiri suru start to trend そういえば souieba by the way お兄ちゃん o ni chyan brother 練習する renshyuu suru train 地図 chizu map 難い gatai hard to do (suffix) にくい nikui hard to do (suffix) づらい du*rai (*pronounce dzu) hard to do (suffix) 理解する rikai suru understand
