No33 [Language] Omoshiroi yo NIHONGO!

Welcome once again, to the fascinating world of the Japanese language.
In everyday life Japanese love to abbreviate words and phrases. However this can be confusing at times.

This month’s Japanese phrases.

 

DS

“DS” is a shortened form of 男子小学生 “danshi shōgakusei” (meaning a primary school boy) but only refers to a particular type of student. It is mainly used in the fashion industry to refer to very stylish and fashion concious primary school boys. Under the school system in Japan, a DS will be aged 6 from 12, and the number of DS boys is rapidly increasing, so many fashion shops especially for primary school aged children have now opened there.

Please don’t mistake this with the Nintendo DS – you won’t find any games in a DS fashion shop!

 

JS

JS is a shortened form of 女子小学生 “joshi shōgakusei” and is the female version of a DS. These are very cute and fashionable primary school girls who can shop for JS fashion in their own section at the types of shops mentioned above.

 

Example sentences:

♥「JSブランドって書かれた広告みたけど、どういう意味なの？」
(JS burando tte kakareta kōkoku mitakedo, dō iu imi na no?)
“I saw an advertisement for a “JS brand”, but what does that mean?”

♦「JSブランドとは、女子小学生用のラブリーでスウィートな服のブランドのことらしい。」
(JS burando to wa, joshi shōgakusei yō no raburii de suiito na fuku no burando no koto rashii.)
“A “JS brand” is a lovely and sweet brand for primary school girls.”