Honda Sayings
What are Honda-goroku?
(本田語録)
本田語録 = Honda sayings
Keisuke Honda did commentary for some of the Japan games for the 2026 World Cup and his phrases became famous because he got very excited and spoke very casually (often using Kansai dialect)
dialect = different language used in an area (e.g. Kansai-ben, Tohoku-Ben)
accent = is mainly different pronunciation
Can you translate these sayings into English?
「11番めっちゃうざいわ。何て名前？」
「審判、お前がイエローや！マジで！」
「今のシーン、VTR見たいですね」
「今のファウルやん！」
「いや、それちゃうって！」
「イケイケどんどん! やてこれ！」
「喋りすぎて、のど乾いた。ちょっと水飲みます。」
「W杯観るの疲れるわ。まだ40分！？」
Translations:
「11番めっちゃうざいわ。何て名前？」 = "That No. 11 is so annoying. What's his name?"
annoying = it makes me a little angry
「審判、お前がイエローや！マジで！」 = "Ref, you deserve a yellow card! Seriously!"
「今のシーン、VTR見たいですね」= “I want to watch that scene on VTR!"
He wanted to say “VAR” = Video Assisted Referee. VTR is a Video Tape Recorder「今のファウルやん！」= “That was (totally) a foul!”
「いや、それちゃうって！」= “No way! That’s totally wrong! / That’s ridiculous!”
「イケイケどんどん! やてこれ！」= “Go go / Don’t stop / Keep going! I'm telling you!”
「喋りすぎて、のど乾いた。ちょっと水飲みます。」= “I talked too much so I’m thirsty. I’m going to drink some water.”
「W杯観るの疲れるわ。まだ40分！？」 = “Watching the World Cup is tiring / exhausting! It’s only been 40 minutes!"
exhausting “eg''-zaws-ting” = very tiring
Honda did commentary on 2 channels: NHK and Nippon TV
Do you think his style was different?
On Nippon TV, Honda had more freedom. He was like a cheerleader and he could shout loudly.
NHK is more serious so the other commentators often corrected his mistakes and answered his simple or funny questions. Many fans said it felt like Manzai.
What is Manzai?
What is the difference between the 突っ込み and ボケ?
Manzai = Comedy Duo / Double Act
ボケ = The fool is crazy, silly or foolish
突っ込み = The straight man is serious and often gets angry at the fool
In the US and UK comedy duo's were popular until the 1980’s but now they style of humor is seen as old fashioned.
Laurel and Hardy
Lucy and Ricky
Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie