I’m writing an essay about why I learned Japanese, and I really would like to use the word “ironically” (as an adverb). Can anyone help me out?
The context is –
(After mentioning I took Japanese to play Japanese games, and that I have issues with kanji)
私の漢字問題の結果に、日本のゲームはまだ遊びにくい
watshi no kanjimondai no tameni, nihon no gemu ha mada asobinikui.
How might I mention that this is ironic?
I’m going to bump this a single time, in hopes of catching people in different time zones, and in hopes of getting an answer. Thanks!
Apparently irony is fuushi or hango in Japanese.
I lived in Japan for two years and have studied Japanese for 4 years. I love the Japanese and they have a great sense of humour. But it is very different from the western sense of humour. They do not really have irony as we understand it.
My wife (Japanese) says that it’s hiniku (皮肉), (if that doesn’t show up right, it’s the kanji for skin and meat) but I don’t think that’s correct. Every time I’ve heard hiniku used, it’s meant something more like “sarcastic”.
Perhaps related to blinkingblinking’s point about Japanese humor, it took her a few minutes to come up with any word for irony at all. Also, the only times I’ve even heard hiniku used is by other foreigners, or from a Japanese person commenting on something a foreigner said.
I think hiniku (皮肉) is a perfectly appropriate word for this context. It’s the one that immediately came to mind even before I read Sublight’s post.
Of course it’s possible that I, being Japanese, don’t fully understand the concepts of irony and satire…
(BTW, sometimes you need to disable smileys to get foreign characters to display correctly.)