Hey, I'm Kuma. Today, I want to explain how to say animal name in Japanese.
To tell the truth, in Japan, there are a lot of animals called by English names. However, some animals have Japanese original name. Probably, you don't have opportunity to know these names. In this article, I explain about these animal names.
I explain 5 animals name in order. If you finish reading this article, you can know 5 popular animals names in Japanese.
5 animal names
- dog
- cat
- bear
- elephant
- dolphin
dog
The first animal is dog. Japanese people call dog "いぬ(Inu)". It's really simple. If you want to say puppy, you should say "こいぬ（Koinu）".
The additional information
Do you know the famous dog in Japan? The dog is "はち（Hachi）". He is known as a faithful dog. Hachi waits for his owner for 10 years after his owner died. This story impressed many people and he became really famous. In Shibuya there is the statue of Hachi, and it is one of the most famous sightseeing spots in Tokyo.
Cat
After I teach the name of dog, I should explain how to say cat in Japanese. Japanese call cat "ねこ(Neko)"
The additional information
There's a famous proverb related to Neko in Japan.
ねこにこばん
Nekoni Koban
It’s the same meaning of “cast pearls before swine” in English.
こばん（Koban）:an oval gold coin.
This proverb expresses that even if the thing is precious, there’s no meaning for people who don’t understand that value. There’s no meaning if a cat gets an oval coin so this proverb means like this.
Bear
The third animal is bear. We call bear くま（Kuma) in Japnanese. There are some popular characters related to Kuma in Japan like Rilakkuma（リラックマ） and Kumamon(くまモン）. It’s easy for you to memorize the word Kuma if you like Kumamon,haha.
Elephant
Do you know how to say elephant in Japanese. It’s a short word. We say ぞう（Zou）. There’s a really famous song for kids in Japan, The title of song is “ぞうさん（Zousan）“.
Dolphin
If you want to say dolphin in Japanese, you can say いるか（Iruka）. Iruka is really popular in Japan, When you visit an aquarium, you can watch dolphin-show,which Japanese calls “Iruka show”.
At last
Today, I explained the name of animals. I’m happy if you learn new knowledge from this article. In this blog, I teach you Japanese, you please check articles. See you!