Kirei Ja Arimasen!

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Atarashii Kotoba

Kirei - beautiful
~ja arimasen - negative form (this is appended to an adjective, noun, or adverb indicative of the negative version of said word)
hai - yes
iie - no
kudasai - please
arigatou gozaimasu -thank you very much
sumimasen - excuse me
gomenasai - I'm sorry
ohayou gozaimasu - Good morning
konnichiwa - Hello/good day

Kirei ja arimasen!
This is a side story of an on-going joke we have amongst the group. The next episode is still in the works. ;p



Upon landing in Japan, we were armed with our very, VERY limited vocabulary of the Japanese language. Of course we know the basics such as: hai, iie, kudasai, arigatou gozaimasu, ohayou gozaimasu, sumimasen, gomenasai and konnichiwa. We also know a few descriptors here and there, some we've heard from anime, some from friends and some from family members who have settled here in Japan.

Kirei is an adjective used to describe something beautiful, clean, and pristine. But mostly, when referring to people, it means beautiful.

Because, we are.




Now, from the very first day we have been in Japan, Jerome has this habit of asking anyone and everyone (but most of the time it's either Carol or Regine) "Are you beautiful?". He asks this usually in our native tongue, but since we are learning Japanese after all, he tends to ask this in Japanese as well.


Carol-san wa, kirei desu ka? (Carol, are you beautiful?)

With which he promptly answers his own question with:

Kirei ja arimasen!!!
"Are you beautiful?!"


I know the story seems senseless but it's funny because even with our lessons, this particular string of words keep following us around.





On our first day in the factory:

Most of the things the people we work with say, we basically and hopelessly could not understand. But one word apparently stuck, it was making sure that the packing was kirei. 

In school, learning about adjectives:

We were taught that kirei is a "-na" form adjective. It is used to describe people, places, and objects that are aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

And when we were learning about negatives (ja arimasen)

And recently when we were learning about the casual form of speech. (kirei janai!)

I know that this is not the end of the Kirei ja arimasen series. But I wanted to make an entry regarding this so as not to forget.

Now let me end this entry with a picture worth...well you decide! Hahaha!



Location: Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan

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