buruburu ぶるぶる, gatagata がたがた

Onomatopoeia can be simply defined as words which imitate sounds such as bang, whack, ding or pop in English. But in Japanese, it gets a bit complicated.

Basically, there are two types – giango ぎあんご (voice/sound) words and gitaigo ぎたいご (action/emotion) words.

I love these words because they are funny to say and easy to remember.

Here are a few:

dokidoki どきどき　= if one’s feeling nervous, as if one’s heart is throbbing
kirakira きらきら　= sparkling like seeing fireworks
giragira ぎらぎら　= shining, glittering like gold
pikapika ぴかぴか　= flashing
buruburu ぶるぶる　= shaking like in cold weather
gatagata がたがた　= shaking excessively

Giving praises

Praises

ナイス　naisu (nice)
がんばってね　ganbatte ne (good luck)
やったね　yatta ne (yes!)
すごいね　sugoi ne (great!)
すばらしい　subarashii (fantastic)
グッド　guddo (good)

Happy New Year!

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu. 明けましておめでとうございます｡

There many ways to say 'Happy New Year' in Japanese. Here is a simple and most frequent phrase used.