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.
Table of Content
Job
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.
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, as in German. And its reading and learning of kanji is similar to sign language. Therefore, understanding the meanings of the 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 仕 - 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 - 事" 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 work, |
| 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 |
Related words using 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 | act, 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 |
| 仕上げ | しあげ | shiage | 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 |
| 事実 | じじつ | Jijitsu | fact, reality |
| 事実上 | じじつじょう | Jijitsujyou | Virtually |
| 事情 | じじょう | Jijyou | situation, circumstances |
| 大事 | だいじ | Taiji | important, valuable |
| 家事 | かじ | Kaji | I work at home |
| 食事 | しょくじ | Shokuji | Snack |
| 火事 | かじ | Kaji | Fire |
| 事故 | じこ | Jiko | Accident |
| 返事 | へんじ | Henji | Reply |
| 工事 | こうじ | Kouji | work, repairs |
| 記事 | きじ | Kiji | article, report |
| 用事 | ようじ | Youji | task, subject |
| 見事 | みごと | Migoto | Magnificent, admirable |
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 terms 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
