# Go



## Isidore Demsky

In English the word "go" means to move from one place to another, but I understand that in Japanese it can mean "mistake," or the numeral five.

Is that true?


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## SoLaTiDoberman

In a sense, it's true.
But I don't like to think in that way.

For example, "knight" and "night" are completely different word in English although the pronunciation is the same, right?

"誤 (wrong, mistake)"　 and "五 (five)" are completely different words in Japanese. Even the pronunciation is different from the English word, "go." Only the same thing is the spell when those Japanese words are written in alphabet.


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## Isidore Demsky

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> ..."knight" and "night" are completely different word in English although the pronunciation is the same, right?
> 
> "誤 (wrong, mistake)"　 and "五 (five)" are completely different words in Japanese. Even the pronunciation is different from the English word, "go"...


Understood.

But is it true that in spoken, conversational Japanese, the two words we're discussing here (the word meaning five, and the word meaning wrong) are exact homophomes (pronunced exactly aike, like "night" and "knight" are in English)?

Thhat's what I want to know.

Thank you.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

Yes, they are.


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## Isidore Demsky

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> Yes, they are.


That's what I thought.

The Chinese have superstitions based on homophones, and consider five an unlucky number when combined with a number they consider auspicious (because five sounds like "not" in Cantonese.)

There would seem to be a similar reason to consider five unluky in Japan.


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## karlalou

Isidore Demsky said:


> But is it true that in spoken, conversational Japanese, the two words we're discussing here (the word meaning five, and the word meaning wrong) are exact homophomes (pronunced exactly aike, like "night" and "knight" are in English)?


The Chinese character 誤 is pronounced just like number five, 五（ご） in Japanese, but 誤 alone is not really a word. It could be like a mark to indicate wrong, but usually it should be combined with another letter to be a word such as 誤変換 or 正誤表. The genuine Japanese word to mean wrong is 誤り(あやまり) or 間違い(まちがい).

The sound ご in Japanese can be other letters too, such as 語 to mean 'word', 御 to add politeness, 後 to mean 'back' or 'behind', or 碁 is a traditional board game, and there are more letters to be read as ご.


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## Isidore Demsky

karlalou said:


> The Chinese character 誤 is pronounced just like number five, 五（ご） in Japanese, but 誤 alone is not really a word. It could be like a mark to indicate wrong, but usually it should be combined with another letter to be a word such as 誤変換 or 正誤表. The genuine Japanese word to mean wrong is 誤り(あやまり) or 間違い(まちがい).
> 
> The sound ご in Japanese can be other letters too, such as 語 to mean 'word', 御 to add politeness, 後 to mean 'back', or 碁 is a traditional board game, and there are more letters to be read as ご.



Thank you.

How are 誤り(あやまり) and 間違い(まちがい) pronounced?


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## karlalou

Isidore Demsky said:


> How are 誤り(あやまり) and 間違い(まちがい) pronounced?


あやまり is like ah-yah-mah-lhi.
まちがい is like mah-chi-gah-e.


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## Isidore Demsky

karlalou said:


> あやまり is like ah-yah-mah-lhi.
> まちがい is like mah-chi-gah-e.


Thank you.

Would these words be more authentically Japanese then 誤変換 or 正誤表?



> It could be like a mark to indicate wrong


You mean like on a school paper?



> The genuine Japanese word to mean wrong is 誤り(あやまり) or 間違い(まちがい).


Why are these words more genuinely Japanese than 誤変換 or 正誤表?



> The sound ご in Japanese can be other letters too, such as 語 to mean 'word', 御 to add politeness, 後 to mean 'back', or 碁 is a traditional board game, and there are more letters to be read as ご.



I've found that in any language or culture, human nature often focusses on the negative.

I've also found that it's often possible to dispel superstitions by showing them to be inconsistent.

For example, though the word for "four" (shi) is a homophome for a word meaning death, I believe it's also a homophome for a word meaning blessing.

I knew someone who dealt with her own fear of the number 13 (a western superstition) this way (by remembering that her father, who she loved dearly, was born on the 13th day of the month.)

It would be extremely interesting (and helpful) to me, if the sound ご in Japanese could mean the opposite of an error or mistake.

I understand oriental languages are full of homophomes.

Is there a word meaning true, correct, or right that's pronounced with the ご sound in spoken (conversational) Japanese?


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## Schokolade

Isidore Demsky said:


> Would these words be more authentically Japanese than 誤変換 or 正誤表?
> Why are these words more genuinely Japanese than 誤変換 or 正誤表?


誤り(あやま-り/ayama-ri) is a *native Japanese word* (和語), and the reading 'ayama(-ri)' is '*Kun'yomi*' (Japanese reading).

The character 誤 is read as 'go' in *Kanji compounds* such as 誤解(gokai, misunderstanding), 誤用(goyō, misuse), 誤訳(goyaku, mistranslation), etc. The reading 'go' for 誤 is '*On'yomi*' (Sino-Japanese reading).



> For example, though the word for "four" (shi) is a homophone for a word meaning death, I believe it's also a homophone for a word meaning blessing.


You probably mean 幸せ(*shi*awa-se, happiness, blessing) or 喜び(*yo*roko-bi, joy, pleasure) (which are native Japanese words). These are not exactly homophones for 4 (shi, yon, yo-, etc.) but yeah they share the same sound.



> It would be extremely interesting (and helpful) to me, if the sound ご in Japanese could mean the opposite of an error or mistake.
> Is there a word meaning true, correct, or right that's pronounced with the ご sound in spoken (conversational) Japanese?


Hmm I can't think of any, I'm afraid.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

The letter 御 ("go") is used like a prefix, "miss-" or "dis-" in the English language. For example, "respect" changed into the opposite meaning when you attach "dis" to it; "disrespect."
変換 means translation.
誤変換　means "miss-translation."

誤り（ayamari) is a word itself, meaning "a mistake" in English.

Make sense?


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## Isidore Demsky

Thank you.

Is the letter 御 ever used as a suffix (changing the meaning of the word)?


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## karlalou

Isidore Demsky said:


> Is the letter 御 ever used as a suffix (changing the meaning of the word)?


No, I don't think so. It's used to add respect or politeness.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> The letter *誤　*("go") is used like a prefix, "miss-" or "dis-" in the English language. For example, "respect" changed into the opposite meaning when you attach "dis" to it; "disrespect."
> 変換 means translation.
> 誤変換　means "miss-translation."
> 
> 誤り（ayamari) is a word itself, meaning "a mistake" in English.
> 
> Make sense?



Sorry for the confusion.
The letter was merely a careless typo.

It was actually a 誤変換 (lol) because 御 and 誤 have the same typing as "go."
I thought I chose 誤 instead of 御　when I typed it.


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