What does it mean to write? Writing is a very simple task one can do with only a pen and paper. And yet, the possibilities are endless. This popular series from last year comes back with a new lineup of interviewees. To everyone who is involved in writing on a daily basis, what does it mean to write?

What does it mean to write?

Hiroaki Iima【2】
SEASON2 vol.4
Hiroaki Iima

No one can handwrite
my own words but me.

Lexicographer Hiroaki Iima compiles example sentences for Japanese dictionaries by constantly studying words and events when watching TV, browsing the internet, and walking around town. When he comes across an interesting phrase, he writes it down with a pencil and paper so he won’t forget it. When posting on Twitter or speaking at a lecture, he includes handwritten notes as a means of clarifying something is his own opinion. We asked Iima what it means, as a linguistic professional, to write.

ProfileHiroaki Iima

Japanese dictionary lexicographer. Born 1967 in Kagawa Prefecture. Graduated from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Waseda University and later also received a doctorate degree from Waseda University. Senior staff writer for the Sanseido Japanese Dictionary. Spends his days gathering modern example sentences from various places, such as newspapers, magazines, books, the internet, and around town. Has published several books about the Japanese language.

Twitter: @IIMA_Hiroaki

Table of Contents

Whatshisface and mid-heeled shoes.

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What else do you take notes about?
Iima
There’s a movie called “Deeper than the Sea,” where someone tells an old lady, “I respect you.” She shoots back, “If you’re going to respect someone, then make it Mother Theresa or that astronaut, Whatshisface, or something.” The movie used the word “nanchara” for “whatshisface.”
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Nanchara.
Iima
That word, nanchara, isn’t even in the most recent dictionary. Our book, the Sanseido Japanese Dictionary, purports to pay special attention to the latest new words, but it didn’t include nanchara. We’ve decided to include it in this eighth edition, our latest revision, which we’re currently working on.
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That’s really interesting. I’m not sure I would have even noticed that if I was watching.
Iima
Well, I don’t think your average person would notice something that small. If you were noticing that much during the movie you wouldn’t even be able to enjoy it. I’m often asked if I’m able to follow the story when I’m paying that much attention to the lines of the actors and actresses, and it’s actually fine for me. People normally carry on conversations with their family as they watch TV together, and that’s just your brain multitasking. So I can enjoy a film and pay close attention to the lines at the same time.
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What genres do you usually watch on TV when you’re collecting phrases?
Iima
I’ve got shows that I make sure to record every time, such as the 7 PM news on NHK and those long-running morning drama serials. When I watch the recordings and follow the lines they’re saying, there’s a ton of material for me to use. The morning serials are like a fixed-point observation. I only have a hard time when I haven’t recorded something I’m watching, so if there’s a phrase I hear I’ll repeat it over and over while I scramble to grab something to jot it down. If there’s no paper, I’ll write on a nearby envelope or something.
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Do you mainly take notes—for example, your sentence-collecting—when you’re walking around town and watching TV?
Iima
I actually get most of my collection from print media. If I read a popular book and find a word I don’t recognize, I write it down in the blank space at the top of the page. Once I finish reading the book I write down all my notes on the computer.
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So you use that empty margin at the top for note-taking.
Iima
When I read a mystery novel by Seicho Matsumoto, for example, there were so many words that stood out to me. One was “mid-heels.”
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Mid-heels?
Iima
Not high heels, and not low heels.
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Oh, so the height was right in the middle.
Iima
And when you hear it, you can picture what it’s trying to say, right? I don’t think the word mid-heels is going to land in the dictionary, but I want to keep the fact that it showed up in a novel in the back of my mind.
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Writing by hand is what lets you just jot a note down when you see it, right in the margin.
Iima
I’ll input the sentences into a computer in the final steps, but I write notes by hand in the blank spaces of books. I’ll even jot down words that may or may not already be in the dictionary, just so I know to check later.
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So if it turns out it was already in the dictionary, then that just means the dictionary is doing its job.
Iima
Exactly. If I look it up and it’s already there, I feel relieved.
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With all these words you collect, there must be many that don’t make it into the dictionary because of revision timelines or space issues.
Iima
The Sanseido Japanese Dictionary has words for over 80,000 entries, but there are tens of thousands more that don’t make it in. There’s no point in collecting words that will never make it in, but it is important to list out more words than we’ll eventually print to keep a broad selection to choose from. I’m not setting out to include every word I find; when I put a word in the dictionary, my goal is to resolve confusion and answer any questions that many readers might find themselves with. Trendy words, or new words that have only shown up in the past year or two, are a better fit for the online dictionaries.
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What does it take for a dictionary to resolve confusion and answer questions for many readers?
Iima
You need to include all kinds of information that can help explain a word and demonstrate its use in a sentence. In addition to entries that detail the meaning of a word, the Sanseido Japanese Dictionary includes even more data. It’ll explain the context of the era for each entry as well, such as “This third usage first appeared in the 1980’s and grew in popularity in the 21st century, while the fourth usage appeared afterward.”
Iima
It’s not about pulling various bits of information from the internet; what we present to the reader is an organized body of knowledge that comes from our own independent research. Everyone finds themselves confused by a word at times in daily life. And there’s a lot to know about an unfamiliar word—how long it’s been in use, whether it’s impolite, how it differs from a word that’s somewhat like it. You can’t answer all those questions by sifting through a big, jumbled mix of accurate and inaccurate information online. The internet is a good resource, but the value of a printed dictionary is that someone has already gathered the materials and done the research, and can now present their results.
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It feels like the nature of dictionaries will continue to change over time. We started this “What it means to write” series to explore why we still write things by hand in the era of the smartphone, so it felt very relevant to include a discussion about dictionaries. Thank you for your time.
Iima
I’m glad I was able to provide some insight. Thank you for meeting with me.

(End)

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