Noraneko (野良猫 - Stray Cat)

Oct 23, 2017 13:24
There are many "noraneko" (野良猫) in Japan.

Norameko means a cat that lives in the human living area and is not owned by a particular person.

Here the "nora" (野良) means "field," and "neko" (猫) means "cat."

Also, if the cat becomes a wild animal outside the sphere of human habitation, it will called "noneko" (野猫).

Incidentally, if the noraneko has a bad habit such as stealing something belongs to human beings, the cat will be called "doraneko" (どら猫).

The national Japanese manga/anime "doraemon" (ドラえもん) comes from the doraneko.
野良猫

日本には、野良猫が沢山います。

野良猫とは、人間の生活圏で生活する猫の内、飼い主の居ない個体を意味します。

ここで「野良」は "field," 「猫」は "cat" を意味します。

また、山野で野生動物となった猫は、「野猫」と呼ばれます。

ちなみに、野良猫の中でも盗みを働く猫のことを、「どら猫」と言います。

日本の国民的漫画・アニメ「ドラえもん」は、どら猫に由来します。
No. 1 stephenmac7
  • Norameko means a cat that lives in the human living area and is not owned by a particular person.
  • A "noraneko" is a cat that lives where humans live, but is not owned by any particular person.
  • Here the "nora" (野良) means "field," and "neko" (猫) means "cat."
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Also, if the cat becomes a wild animal outside the sphere of human habitation, it will called "noneko" (野猫).
  • If the cat becomes a wild animal in the country, it is called a "noneko" (野猫).
  • Incidentally, if the noraneko has a bad habit such as stealing something belongs to human beings, the cat will be called "doraneko" (どら猫).
  • Incidentally, if the noraneko has a bad habit such as stealing private property, the cat will be called "doraneko" (どら猫).

    Incidentally is a little strange here. You may want to use "interestingly" or "on the other hand" instead.

  • The national Japanese manga/anime "doraemon" (ドラえもん) comes from the doraneko.
  • The Japanese manga/anime "doraemon" (ドラえもん) comes from this word.

    It is more natural to just skip the word national.

There is an expression in English that 野良猫 translates to: a stray cat.

Toru
Thank you so much for correcting my post!
Yes, I wrote "stray cat" in the title. I think that many Japanese people know the term because "Stray Cat" is a popular character of Japanese manga "JoJo no Kimyo na Bouken."

By the way, previously I treated Japanese words as countable nouns, such as "a noraneko/noranekos," but some commenters said that it's unnatural. (Now I'm confusing.) Do you think that I should regard Japanese words as countable nouns in most cases, or only some cases such as "noraneko?" (I understand some words like anime and manga are uncountable.)
stephenmac7
To be honest, there is no strict convention about this. In general, we use articles with Japanese words but rarely pluralize them. However, when the word has become fully adopted into English like tsunami, it would be best to pluralize. Most people, especially those don't know any Japanese, will not notice.
Toru
Thank you for the comment, I understand well! :)