べた = ベタ = beta (colloquial)

「はい、ベタだけどフランスのお土産！」

= Hai, beta dakedo furansu no omiyage!

= I know it’s very cliché but here is a souvenir from France.

(うわっ！ホントベタ….)

= Uwah! Honto beta….

= Oh my…It IS really cliché….

Hi everyone!

ただいま〜〜！！ ( = Tadaimaaaa!!) I am baaaack! !happyface!

Thank you for waiting for me and my lessons. I had a really nice vacation in France.

I mentioned once in my お土産= omiyage = souvenir, gifts lesson , it is important for Japanese to bring back gifts when they travel.

See, I brought you a tacky Eiffle tower key chain. Do you like it? :)

This kind of souvenir is considered to be べた ( = beta(= cliché, stereotypical which is nothing new and you can find it at many tourist spots.

So today’s slang is,

:u:

ベタ/べた=beta

adjective : ベタな/べたな  ( = betana)

Note : You can write them either in katakana or hiragana

It means cliché, stereotypical, too typical, corny, old hat

It originally means “ありきたりな” ( = arikitarina ) ordinary, nothing special, very common

and refers to small newspaper articles which deal with small local news.

 

So ベタなお土産  ( =  betana omiyage ) are the typical things for the area and everybody can guess where you got from.

 

Not just a thing but also when we hear a predictable cliché line = ベタなセリフ ( = beta na serifu）that we hear often in old TV dramas or movies,we say

:u:

「べた〜!!」

= Betaa!!

= It is so cliché.

Note : 〜 is used when we stretch out the sound and it looks cuter or more comical than ー.

What kind of lines are considered to be ベタ  ( = beta)?

Ex. 「君は僕の太陽だ！」

=Kimi wa boku no taiyou da!

=You are my sunshine!

 

Comedians especially in Kansai area, say

「ベタやな〜」(=betayanaa) to tease other comedian when they see  ベタなギャグ  ( = betana gyagu ) = cliché gag

Note : やな〜 ( = yanaa) is Kansai dialect of だな〜 ( = danaa)

Also cliché drama situation are called ベタ ( =  beta)

ベタなテレビドラマ

= Beta na terebi dorama
= TV shows full of predictable behavior or lines.

For example, in

boucingheart! 恋愛ドラマ

= renai dorama
= romantic TV drama

A girl and boy are talking alone in the classroom. She likes him, but he doesn’t get how she feels. Finally she gets frustrated and jumps out of the classroom saying

「〜君のバカ！」

= ~ kun no baka!

= You stupid!

Or

a couple in love running around the beach or splashing water on each other. A boy or girl shouts to the ocean saying,

「（name) が好き！／好きだ！」

= (name) ga suki! / sukida!

= “I love you + name!”

(Note: 好き！= Suki! = female speech /  好きだ＝ sukida = male speech)

Beaches are often used for the location for ベタなドラマ=betana dorama

For example, a frustrated young guy is running around the beach and shouts towards the ocean.

「ばかやろ〜！！」

= Bakayaro~!!

= F**k!!!

Collecting small stones and lining them up and making a heart shape or picture of an umbrella (*相合い傘 = aiaigasa) with your name and your loved one’s name is very ベタ( = beta).

Note : 相合い傘 = aiaigasa = to share an umbrella

Also,

ベタなサスペンスドラマの最終回

= Beta na sasupensu dorama no saishuukai

= Typical ending of a suspenseful TV drama

is always on the top of the cliff = 断崖（ = dangai）where they can see the ocean deep down.

I’ll keep going,

An old family who lives in a small room and a bedridden mother talks to her child coughing

「ごめんよ、母さんが体が弱いばかりにお前に苦労をかけて」

= Gomenyo, kaasan ga karada ga yowai bakari ni omae ni kurou wo kakete.

“I’m sorry. I made trouble for you by getting sick.”

If you want to know more about ベタ ( = beta) stories or lines, you can search them on the net. There are books of ベタ ( = beta) collections.

Also there used to be a very fun TV quiz show where panelist guess what is going to happen next as they watch fake ベタ ( = beta) dramas.
I couldn’t find the video but this is the commercial video.

These are all cultural so you may not get many of them but at least you understand why some Japanese people say

「ベタだなあ…」

=beta danaa..

= It is so cliché!

in certain situations.

 

マギー先生より= Maggie Sensei yori = From Maggie-Sensei

Nobody likes my ベタなお土産 = betana omiyage…= cliché souvenir !ryouwink!

Give me some good examples of ベタ ( = beta) lines that you know.

***

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