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As a way of immersing myself in Japanese, I want to teach my pet mice commands in Japanese instead of English. However, I’ve been looking for translations online, and I’ve found a lot of conflicting information. There have been multiple translations for each basic command. For example, I’ve seen “come” as both きて and おいで. Does anyone know the correct translations? Also, what would be the right verb form to use for commands like these?
(In case you’re wondering, yes, mice can learn tricks as easily as dogs.)
座れ = Sit!
お手 = Paw! (literally Hand!)
伏せ = Down!
待て = Stay!
よし = Good! Ok!
来い = Come!
止まれ = Stop!Mind you, according to one site I’ve read, people in Japan tend to command their dogs in English rather than confuse them with the differences in gendered language. 座れ, for example, is a fairly brusque, masculine imperative form – a woman would prefer to say 座りなさい.
きて and おいで are gentler than the imperative form.
Thank you! Should I favor the なさい form instead, since I’m a girl? And I hate to ask, but can you write come, down, and stay in kana? I’m afraid I’m not that far into kanji yet.
伏せ = ふせ
待て = まて
来い = こい, cause 来る is just weird when it comes to readings.As to whether you should use ～なさい, the plain-form imperatives listed above are the usual way that dogs are commanded in Japanese – slipping into the polite form is supposedly unconscious. Guess it’s up to you as to what level of politeness you think your mice will respond better to. =P
Eh, I’ll just use the regular ones. Thanks a bunch.
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