国語

See also: 国语 and 國語

Japanese

Kanji in this term
国	語
こく Grade: 2	ご Grade: 2
on’yomi

Alternative spelling
國語 (kyūjitai)

Etymology

From 国 (koku, “nation”) +‎ 語 (go, “language”). The sense of "Mandarin" is derived from Taiwanese usage of the identical Chinese word 國語／国语 (guóyǔ).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) こくご [kòkúgó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ko̞kɯ̟ᵝɡo̞]

Noun

国(こく)語(ご) • (kokugo) 

1. a language; a national language

   ２(に)か国(こく)語(ご)放(ほう)送(そう)

   nika kokugo hōsō

   bilingual broadcast

   • 2018, “Nippon daihyō jugoshin Kawashima Eiji ga nanaka kokugo o ayatsureru wake”, in Yomiuri Shimbun‎^[1]:

     日(に)本(ほん)代(だい)表(ひょう)に密(みっ)着(ちゃく)取(しゅ)材(ざい)する元(もと)川(かわ)悦(えつ)子(こ)氏(し)に、川(かわ)島(しま)が ７(なな)か国(こく)語(ご)を操(あやつ)れるようになったわけを解(かい)説(せつ)してもらった。

     Nihon daihyō ni mitchaku shuzai suru Motokawa Etsuko-shi ni, Kawashima ga nanaka kokugo o ayatsureru yō ni natta wake o kaisetsu shite moratta.

     Etsuko Motokawa, who has been covering the Japanese representative closely, explains that Kawashima has acquired good command of seven different languages.

2. (specifically) the Japanese language

   国(こく)語(ご)辞(じ)典(てん)

   kokugo jiten

   dictionary of the national language; Japanese dictionary

3. Mandarin; Standard Mandarin (Guoyu)
   • 2018 June 2, “Taiwan no wakamono de ‘chūinfugō’ ga aisareteiru wake [Why Taiwan’s young people love ‘bopomofo’]”, in Nippon.com‎^[2]:

     現(げん)在(ざい)の台(タイ)湾(ワン)人(じん)が台(タイ)湾(ワン)ナショナリズムを主(しゅ)張(ちょう)する際(さい)、そこには台(タイ)湾(ワン)の国(こく)語(ご)と中(チュウ)国(ゴク)の普(ふ)通(つう)話(わ)の違(ちが)いはどこにあるのかという問(もん)題(だい)に直(ちょく)面(めん)する。

     Genzai no Taiwan-jin ga Taiwan nashonarizumu o shuchō suru sai, soko ni wa Taiwan no Kokugo to Chūgoku no Futsūwa no chigai wa doko ni aru no ka to iu mondai ni chokumen suru.

     For Taiwanese people currently asserting Taiwan nationalism, articulating the differences between Taiwanese Guoyu and Mainland China’s Putonghua has emerged as an issue.

Synonyms

• (the Japanese language): 日(に)本(ほん)語(ご) (Nihongo), 邦(ほう)語(ご) (hōgo)