水泳大会
The English phrase swim meet is translated into Japanese as 水泳大会.
What does it mean word for word?
The term 水泳大会 is composed of 水泳 (suiei) meaning 'swimming' and 大会 (taikai) meaning 'convention', 'tournament' or 'large-scale competition'.
Did you know?
- In Japan, the phrase 水泳大会 is frequently associated with the 'school swim' culture where students wear specific school-issued caps to maintain uniformity.
- The character 水 in 水泳大会 is a pictograph originally designed to look like flowing water, reflecting the language's ancient visual roots.
- Japanese often uses 'loan words' from English for specific swimming strokes, such as フリー (furī) for 'freestyle', even when using the Japanese term for the meet.
Examples in context
- 来週、水泳大会があります。Raishuu, suiei taikai ga arimasu.There is a swim meet next week.
- 水泳大会の準備は大変です。Suiei taikai no junbi wa taihen desu.Preparing for the swim meet is hard.
- 彼は水泳大会で優勝しました。Kare wa suiei taikai de yuushou shimashita.He won the swim meet.
Example conversation
Two friends are talking about their weekend plans at school.
- 大翔 Hiroto今週末、水泳大会に出るの？Konshuumatsu, suiei taikai ni deru no?Are you participating in the swim meet this weekend?
- 陽葵 Himariうん、大翔くんも出る？Un, Hiroto-kun mo deru?Yes, are you participating too, Hiroto?
- 大翔 Hiroto僕は観客として応援に行くよ。Boku wa kankyaku toshite ouen ni iku yo.I'm going to the swim meet to cheer as a spectator.
- 陽葵 Himariありがとう、頑張るね！Arigatou, ganbaru ne!Thank you, I'll do my best!
