Japanese Proverbs 自画自賛 Self Praise

Tooting your own Horn!

Japanese: じがじさん ji ga ji san
Literal: One's own picture; praising oneself
English Equivalent: Singing one's own Praises; Tooting one's own Horn

Notes: The 自 as you may guess adds the meaning of 'oneself.' You may know it from the common 自分 jibun 'oneself' and 自由 jiyuu 'freedom'

自画自賛に聞こえるかもしれませんが、ぼくは本当に歌がうまいよ。
jigajisan ni kikoeru kamoshiremasen ga, boku wa hontou ni uta ga umai yo
It may sound like I'm bragging, but I'm really good at singing.

に聞こえる ni kikoeru—sounds like... [太くに見える futoku ni mieru - to look (appear) fat]
かもしれません kamoshiremasen—may; might; possibly
が ga—but
ぼく boku—I (usually used with males)
本当に hontou ni—really; truly (adv)
歌 uta—song [in this case singing in general]
うまい umai—good at; skillful; cleaver [can also be used with food or drink to mean 'delicious']

Check it out at:
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/yojijukugo/jigajisan

Category:

Education

Tags:

• learn
• Japanese
• language
• Japan
• proverbs
• kotowaza
• proverb
• 自画自賛

[Nozokimidayo]

Love the cotowaza series.

[thejapanshop]

Thanks! I have a few more in the works :)

[xRosesandThorns]

I know boku is usually used for guys to I, but is there a word for I that is used just for girls? Or would we girls just have to say watashi?

[TakashimaKitara]

In informal cases, girls can say 'atashi' instead of 'watashi'.

[alo5323]

hy evry 1....m planing to av a japanse kanji tatto on my ribs....cn any1 help me with a beautiful pharase in kanji.......plissss

[KissVirgin09]

Helpful - arigato gozaimasu! ^^ How would you add a verb in there? Like "I am really good at doing, drawing, talking etc" or would that be too complicated for my beginner brain? xD

[azimondo]

I just want to learn how make sentence with japanese word..because i dont really understand how they arrange the sentence....pls help...

[Rotsujin]

It may be considered air-headed in Tokyo but in Kansai it's common. Have you tried using あたし?

I think you will only sound silly if you say silly things.

[xRosesandThorns]

Thanks. ^^

Isn't うち kind of air-headed? Just asking, because I think I've heard that before, but it was applied to an Ageha girl...

[Rotsujin]

you can use うち or あたい informally, おれ or ぼく if you want to appear boyish, or refer to yourself in the third person if you want to sound childish and cutesy.

you can use whatever you think sounds cool, or just avoid using pronouns altogether!

[xRosesandThorns]

I think using words like boku, as a girl, is really weird. It's like calling myself a macho man. It's fun to joke around with, but uh... I'm not. Lol.

I hear the older Japanese people get really angry at the younger ones for messing up the language like that. Apparently having a separate boy/girl language is important to them. And it makes sense, since they've been doing that for a long time now. Lol.

[knightabraxas]

alot of girls these days are beginnibg to say boku as well. many young people are abandoning the formal ways to refer to themselves, because they don't like the connotations of the words.

i'm not an expert at all, but i've been noticing this.

[animexkhxlover]

you can use Atashi but it will give the impression of you being an air head.