The vocabulary course of today is about wild animals from Africa. So why Africa? Frankly, there is no particular reason for this choice. I had simply planned to make vocabulary cards on animals and by doing things a bit at random, I said to myself: "Well, I’m going to make several vocabulary lists on animals according to their geographic distribution". So, here we are with a first list on wild animals, others will follow a little later.
That being said, before you leave, know that almost all of the words on the list are in Sino-Japanese. They are therefore written in katakana. Most names are written in kanji, others are not. For the rest, remember to pay attention to the comments I leave you at the bottom of the list.
カラカル
. the caracal
駝鳥 .
ダチョウ
. the ostrich
羚羊 .
レイヨウ
. the antelope
インパラ
. the impala
オリックス
. the oryx
ガゼル
. the gazelle
縞馬 .
しまうま
. the zebra
象 .
ゾウ
. the elephant
犀 .
サイ
. the rhinoceros
河馬 .
カバ
. the hippo
鰐 .
わに
. the crocodile
猿 .
さる
. the monkey
コロブス
. the colobus
チンパンジー
. the chimpanzee
狒々 .
ヒヒ
. the baboon
ゴリラ
. the gorilla
マカク
. the macaque
ジラフ
. the giraffe
マングース
. the mongoose
ミーアキャット
. the meerkat
ライオン / 獅子 .
シシ
. the lion
ヌー
. the wildebeest / the gnu
山犬 .
やまいぬ / ジャッカル
. the jackal
ハイエナ
. the hyena
フェネック
. the fennec (or "sand fox")
Here we are at the end of this first list on wild animals. All the names of these animals are in Sino-Japanese pronunciation except for the word "zebra" which is written most often either in kanji, 縞馬, or in hiragana, しまうま. However, sometimes Japanese people write it in katakana, シマウマ, although its pronunciation is purely Japanese.
Note that it is quite common besides to write the names of foreign animals (from the Japanese point of view) in katakana even when these have a purely Japanese pronunciation. This happens, especially if the kanji have fallen into disuse or if the word in question is an unusual or fairly scientific name. I had touched on it in the conclusion of a course on the study of kanji.
I end with the word "baboon". In kanji, it is written 狒々. Below, I give you its purely Japanese pronunciation and its Sino-Japanese pronunciation.
狒々 .
ヒヒ
Yes, you read that right, there is no mistake. The purely Japanese pronunciation is ひひ and the Sino-Japanese pronunciation is ヒ. To date, the kanji 狒 is exclusively used in its Sino-Japanese pronunciation. The word "baboon" is frequently written in katakana.
I end with the word きりん / キリン which designates the giraffe and whose etymological origin is very amusing. Read the following:
The first use of the word きりん / キリン (written in kanji 麒麟) dates back to 720. Yet at the time, the Japanese had certainly never heard of giraffes. The reason is that it actually designated an imaginary creature from Chinese mythology, the Qilin, a mix between a deer (body), a horse (mane), a cow (tail) and a wolf (muzzle). But well, its appearance was very variable according to the imagination of each one.
There are several legends explaining why the giraffe came to be called きりん / キリン. The most often cited is that of the Chinese Zhen He who would have returned to the country on the back of a giraffe. Emperor Ming Yongle being very impressed by its long neck, he would have seen the real materialization of the mystical animal. Then in Japan as in South Korea, we would have decided to keep this name imported from China.
Even if this legend is potentially false, we can say that it is its unusual characteristics (long neck, large size, etc.) that have earned the giraffe the name きりん / キリン. Otherwise, we would probably have opted for ジラフ (jirafu), a variant that was proposed in the 19th century but never caught on. In order not to confuse the real and imaginary animal, we prefer the kana writing きりん / キリン for the giraffe.
Did you know? A famous brand of Japanese beer is called Kirin. It was created in 1885 and is known internationally. Its emblem is the famous mystical animal.
This course is finally over. Read the lesson over and over again, practice writing as well as orally until you memorize all this vocabulary, learn to draw all these kanji, practice drawing your katakana and your hiragana. This is how you will progress, through regular practice and constant efforts.
Thank you for taking the time to read this course and I wish you good luck with your revisions.
Introduction