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Note: I understand the risk that this question might be considered "too localized". However, my hope in asking isn't just to translate this one instance, but to use it as an exploration of how and why standard Japanese words can get modified by a native speaker so as to deviate so far from the textbook that they become unparsable to a learner.

One thing I find somewhat frustrating about my level of Japanese is that my ability to understand people rapidly drops off the more they add character to what they say.

So, for example, I can't understand the crazy rantings of a man who, for some reason, is walking down the street shouting at the top of his lungs.

Which is what I encountered today when walking through Aoyama Ichome. The guy, who didn't look particularly crazy, was walking along, shouting at the top of his lungs to no one in particular.

It frustrated me that I couldn't understand him. He rolled his Rs too much, shortened his words, and possibly used slang I didn't get. At one point (not in the recording), I made out the words 娘【むすめ】(daughter), and ですか. That was it, though.

I followed behind him for a bit and recorded him using Soundcloud, which you can listen to here. The sound quality is better than I expected, but still a little quiet.

However, I know that in English I would be able to cut through the noise and make out what he says. In Japanese, I can't parse his words.

Can anyone make out what he is saying, and in addition offer some analysis of the types of modifications that make his words so hard to parse?

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  • IMHO, such a question is not necessarily "too localised". The title definitely could be improved, though...
    – Dave
    Commented Aug 22, 2011 at 8:03
  • @Dave: I'm open to suggestions. I honestly couldn't think of any better way to describe it.
    – Questioner
    Commented Aug 22, 2011 at 8:09
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    +1 for following a crazy guy just to record his rant!
    – istrasci
    Commented Aug 22, 2011 at 19:13
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    @Dave M G: Stay safe man. You don't wanna get in trouble with bouryoku-dan-ish people. And the guy sounds like he might be one of those people. More likely he's just drunk, is on drugs or something, but that's still dangerous enough! And no, I couldn't understand what he was saying. Commented Aug 23, 2011 at 0:53
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    @Enno Shioji: Thank you for your concern! I think the risk was worth it, though, as I aspire to pull in real world examples of Japanese in use, and crazy ranting people is definitely a real world scenario you won't get in a text book ;)
    – Questioner
    Commented Aug 23, 2011 at 7:03

1 Answer 1

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It sounds like this person is suffering from hallucination, or he is reading an avant‐garde poem. Can't pick all. phirru's comment on the audio is overall wrong. It may be a political protest, but there are parts that are clearly not serious, like うなぎの遊園地.

まだ済んでねえんだよ。[...] 馬鹿野郎が。あ?青山の御本堂。うなぎの遊園地。檻から散歩してんのか?ケンジタカノ。等々力で御長女がそうして[...]したんだよ。なー。何のあれしたんだよ?

  • ケンジタカノ is either a name タカノケンジ (unknown how it is written) read in first name- family name order, or is a 検事 named タカノ.
  • あれする is a typical phrase mainly used when you cannot phrase your thoughts immediately, similar to the English you know, ....
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  • Thanks for the transcription! Reading your text and then listening to what he says, I can start to pick out more words, though even still I have a hard time making out a lot of them.
    – Questioner
    Commented Aug 23, 2011 at 6:37

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