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Work in Japanese - Understand the differences and meanings

Everyone knows the Japanese for their great dedication to work. It really seems like the Japanese love to work, doing 10 to 13 hours of work. While on the other side of the world some Brazilians complain about the 8 hours of work. Japanese have different thoughts and culture.

Beyond culture, I stopped and started analyzing the meaning and origin of the word "trabalho" in languages derived from Latin such as Portuguese and Spanish, and I noticed the remarkable difference in relation to the term in Japanese. In this article, we will examine a little about this subject and note that even the words show their great difference.

Work

The word "trabalho" has its origin in the Latin term "TRIPALIU": a designation of a torture instrument made of three (tri) sticks (paliu). Thus, originally, "trabalhar" means to be tortured on the tripaliu.

Japanese work - understand the differences and meanings

Who were the tortured? Slaves and the poor who could not pay taxes. Thus, those who “worked”, at that time, were the destitute people. From then on, this idea of working as being tortured began to give understanding not only to the fact of torture itself, but also, by extension, to the productive physical activities carried out by workers in general: peasants, artisans, farmers, bricklayers, etc.

The meaning of the word work contributes to an unpleasant view of this daily activity so important in the life of man. Even today, working is seen as a punishment imposed on citizens. Fortunately the Japanese don't see work that way.

Shigoto - 仕事

The Japanese language has a bit of German, Chinese, and sign language. Why did I say that? The Japanese language uses Chinese ideograms, and its words are formed by combining other words, similar to German. Additionally, reading and learning kanji is akin to sign language. Thus, understanding the meaning of words can be a bit more complex.

The meaning of the word shigoto is quite simple, but it has several undefined meanings. One of the main meanings of shigoto is "to do something" and "to serve something."

Despite the kanji - Meaning to serve (tsukaeru), its reading is pronounced as "shi" which is derived from the verb "suru - 為る", which means to do.

And "goto - 事" is a phonetic version of "koto" which is a general word to refer to something, or some thing. So the best meaning for the word shigoto would be "To do something".

The meanings of the kanji "koto - " are: Cause, fact, thing, issue, case, incident, event, circumstances, fact, accident, problem, reason.

It was clear that Japanese work has no bad meaning. We can notice that in their culture and lifestyle. But take it easy, there are many other words related to work, and we will still examine them.

Words derived from shigoto - 仕事

As I mentioned, the Japanese language looks a lot like German, here is a list of words related to work or some activity that derives from the kanji 仕 and 事.

Words derived using the 2 kanji 仕事:

Kanji Hiragana Romaji Meaning
仕事着 しごとぎ shigotogi Work clothes, business suit
大仕事 おおしごと Ōshigoto big job, big task
手間仕事 てましごと shigoto theme tedious work, troublesome work
分の良い仕事 ぶんのよいしごと Bun no yoi shigoto profitable work, good job,
仕事師 しごとし shigotoshi worker, entrepreneur
仕事台 しごとだい shigotodai bench, work table
一仕事 ひとしごと hitoshigoto task, a job
畑仕事 はたしごと hatashigoto work in the fields, work on a farm
庭仕事 にわしごと niwashigoto Gardening

Words related to the kanji 仕:

Kanji Hiragana Romaji Meaning
給仕する きゅうじする Kyūji suru Serve
奉仕活動 ほうしかつどう Hōshi katsudō Voluntary service
神に仕える かみにつかえる Kaminitsukaeru serve God
仕業 しわざ Shiwaza Ato, action
仕形 しかた shikata method, means
仕方ない しかたない shikatanai There's no way
仕始める しはじめる shihajimeru start
仕直す しなおす shinaosu redo
Finishing しあげ finish Termination, completion
仕込み しこみ shikomi training, preparation
仕返し しかえし shikaeshi Revenge, retaliation

Some words using the kanji 事:

Kanji Hiragana Romaji Portugues
Fact じじつ Jujutsu fact, reality
事実上 じじつじょう Jijitsujyou Virtually
Circumstances じじょう Jijyou situation, circumstances
Important だいじ Taiji Important, valuable
housework かじ Kaji I work at home
Meal しょくじ Meal Meal
fire かじ Kaji Fire
accident じこ Self Accident
Reply へんじ Reply Answer
Construction こうじ Kouji work, repairs
Article きじ Article article, report
appointment ようじ Youji task, subject
remarkable みごと Mikoto Magnificent, irable

Other words for work

バイト = Baito - Abbreviation of "アルバイト" (arubaito), a German word"arbeite" what does "trabalhar" mean. Used as a slang or to refer to part-time jobs.

働き= Hataraki - activity of a person or machine (is working)
作業=Sagyou - service, work, an activity or task. (execution)
労働 = Roudou - formal term used for labor laws and conditions (contract)
勤務= Kin mu - used to designate service in of time, period, or location. (shift)
手数=Tesuu - service fee, expedient, fee, inconvenience (bank fee)
職= Shoku - for employment, job, position. (position)

There are many other words related to work, unfortunately we can't talk about them all. That's the end of it, I hope you enjoyed the article. xD