AboutSteve Battisti Expertise I`m always willing to give help, or at least my opinions on things related to Japan. I think I`m especially strong at helping out non-native Japanese speakers with the language. Also, helping others understand the culture, such as U.S. businessmen who have to do business with Japanese. I`m not doing translations right now, unless it`s just a phrase or a word. More of a language and general Japanese culture guy than a travel/history expert.
Experience 10+ years of studying Japan and Japanese language. I lived there for 5 years, one as a student, four as a businessman. Most importantly, I lived there because I wanted to live there, not because someone sent me there!
Expert: Steve Battisti Date: 3/6/2008 Subject: Word Translation Please
Question Hi, can you tell me the Japanese word(s) for baby birds? Also for the word
mama bird?Also, if you could write out how to pronounce them I would be so
appreciative!!
Thanks so much!
tonya
tonya
Answer Hi Tonya,
A baby bird is a "kotori". "ko" means "child" and "tori" means "bird." The pronunciation would be something like "koh-tour-ri" The Japanese "ri" actually sounds pretty close to an American "dee". So, something more like "koh-toh-dee", but not quite a hard "d". Not sure if that makes sense.
I'm not certain there is a specific word for a mother bird. "hahaoya" or "haha" means "mother". So, you could say something like "kotori no hahaoya" (The baby bird's mother.) "Ha-ha-oh-ya"
Another common word for the "parent bird" is "oyadori" ("oh-ya-do-ri"), although this is gender-neutral.
I'm not sure this quite helps. If you could give me a sense of the context in which you need to know this, it might help give you a better answer!
