Here are two links to Facebook photo albums which have photos from the last few weeks:
Shinsaibashi and Arima-onsen
Sanda and Rokko Fall Colors
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Japanese Language
Hola,
It's been quite a while since I've posted, I know. However, the important thing is that I beat Parker and post before he does.
As you undoubtedly know, they speak this crazy language called Japanese here in Japan. For me it's quite difficult, so I'm going to do my best to outline why I have so much trouble with it.
First off, word order and grammar are almost the exact opposite of English. In English, usually the verb comes at the beginning or in the middle of the sentence. In Japanese it usually comes almost at the very end. The idea that I wouldn't know what was going on in the sentence until the very end bothered me for quite a while when I first started studying, but I've become accustomed to it. The larger problem for someone coming from English and Spanish to Japanese is that you almost have to think backwards. For me, that is less of a problem at this point. I'm finding difficult to explain how it was so difficult, which I suppose is a good sign.
Particles are another difficult Japanese linguistic concept for non-native speakers. As was demonstrated by my teacher mixing hers up several times, it can be confusing for Japanese people as well. Particles are the short words and syllables which designate the different grammatical parts of the sentence.
For example: sensei (teacher) wa (particle) tomodachi (friend) ni (particle) kami (paper) o (particle) agemasu (gives).
Translation: The teacher is giving my friend a paper.
In Japanese: 先生は友達に紙をあげます。
The particle "wa" designates sensei as the giver. The particle "ni" designates the friend as the receiver. The particle "o" shows that paper is the object.
If you switch the particles the meaning is quite different: 先生に友達は紙をあげる。
"Sensei ni tomodachi wa kami o ageru" in (rough) romaji.
Now the meaning is "My friend gives the paper to the teacher.
A few syllables can change the meaning in practically any language, but the structure of Japanese isn't particularly natural to most native English speakers. The particles are an ever-present part of life, and some get easier. Others, however, are still quite frustrating and the supposed English language explanations can't capture the nuances of the differences between them.
Japanese is taught as a series of grammatical structures which are used depending on a variety of things, but mainly the situation and how it affects the other people around you. From my point of view this leads to a very structured language which is difficult to make flow as English and Spanish do. However, with time certain structures get faster as you use them more often. Then you can add the less familiar ones into your speech. The same may be true of any language, but I find that Japanese often seems to be made of nothing but formulaic grammatical structures combined, spliced, and grafted together to make conversation.
Another common difficulty is counting. Depending on what you are counting the numbers change. Sometimes you just add another word onto the existing numbers (or some form of them.) Other times, the number is recognizable. The number four is either "yon" or "shi". When counting days, it becomes "yo ka".
Lastly: reading and writing. Japanese is made up of 3 different writing styles which are all combined together. The three styles are katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Katakana and hiragana (hereafter referred to as "kana") are syllabaries, meaning every character corresponds to a syllable.
For example (in hiragana): か き く け こ (ka ki ku ke ko)
Now, the same in Katakana: カ キ ク ケ コ
The k sounds look similar in katakana and hiragana (luckily) but others don't look so similar. For example, ro is ろ or ロ。
Now we can add in kanji. Kanji are based on Chinese characters. Some are exactly the same as their Chinese counterparts (down to pronunciation), while others are look nothing like the Chinese equivalent. Kanji are (as many Japanese people reassure me) even difficult for Japanese. (Not at the level I'm at.) There are thousands of kanji. It is commonly said that about 3,000 are needed to read a newspaper. Practically all kanji have a meaning of some sort attached to them and are quite logical when you break them down. For example, 歩く. The first character is kanji and the second hiragana. The kanji is, in this context, pronounced as aru and has the meaning "to walk." if you look at it closely you can divide it into two parts: 止 and 少. You could roughly say it has the meaning of "small stops". Most kanji can be broken down this way and often I can understand the meaning of signs and other writing but have no idea how to pronounce it.
In writing, all three of these are combined together. An example comes from a bit of an essay which I wrote for a course recently about American and Japanese styles of comedy. It's probably at about the level of Japanese ten year old, just not as fluent.
日本のコメディーの主人公は若者です。だいたい、高校生とか大学生です。日本の「僕たちと駐在さんの７００日戦争」と言う映画の主人公は高校生です。「ワォーターボーイズ」と「スワィングガールズ」も主人公は高校生です。シコふんじゃったは大学生です。アメリカのコメディーの中では高校生とか大学生の主人公がいる映画が多いけど、これはとても小さい見本です。実は、他のアメリカのコメディーの主人公は若い大人です。
Despite all this, communication isn't always as complex as it appears here and there are lots of borrowed words from English. The trick is to figure out what the original English word was before it was adopted by the Japanese, shortened, rearranged, and thrown into regular conversation.
Now I should actually go do my homework instead of describing what I need to work on.
It's been quite a while since I've posted, I know. However, the important thing is that I beat Parker and post before he does.
As you undoubtedly know, they speak this crazy language called Japanese here in Japan. For me it's quite difficult, so I'm going to do my best to outline why I have so much trouble with it.
First off, word order and grammar are almost the exact opposite of English. In English, usually the verb comes at the beginning or in the middle of the sentence. In Japanese it usually comes almost at the very end. The idea that I wouldn't know what was going on in the sentence until the very end bothered me for quite a while when I first started studying, but I've become accustomed to it. The larger problem for someone coming from English and Spanish to Japanese is that you almost have to think backwards. For me, that is less of a problem at this point. I'm finding difficult to explain how it was so difficult, which I suppose is a good sign.
Particles are another difficult Japanese linguistic concept for non-native speakers. As was demonstrated by my teacher mixing hers up several times, it can be confusing for Japanese people as well. Particles are the short words and syllables which designate the different grammatical parts of the sentence.
For example: sensei (teacher) wa (particle) tomodachi (friend) ni (particle) kami (paper) o (particle) agemasu (gives).
Translation: The teacher is giving my friend a paper.
In Japanese: 先生は友達に紙をあげます。
The particle "wa" designates sensei as the giver. The particle "ni" designates the friend as the receiver. The particle "o" shows that paper is the object.
If you switch the particles the meaning is quite different: 先生に友達は紙をあげる。
"Sensei ni tomodachi wa kami o ageru" in (rough) romaji.
Now the meaning is "My friend gives the paper to the teacher.
A few syllables can change the meaning in practically any language, but the structure of Japanese isn't particularly natural to most native English speakers. The particles are an ever-present part of life, and some get easier. Others, however, are still quite frustrating and the supposed English language explanations can't capture the nuances of the differences between them.
Japanese is taught as a series of grammatical structures which are used depending on a variety of things, but mainly the situation and how it affects the other people around you. From my point of view this leads to a very structured language which is difficult to make flow as English and Spanish do. However, with time certain structures get faster as you use them more often. Then you can add the less familiar ones into your speech. The same may be true of any language, but I find that Japanese often seems to be made of nothing but formulaic grammatical structures combined, spliced, and grafted together to make conversation.
Another common difficulty is counting. Depending on what you are counting the numbers change. Sometimes you just add another word onto the existing numbers (or some form of them.) Other times, the number is recognizable. The number four is either "yon" or "shi". When counting days, it becomes "yo ka".
Lastly: reading and writing. Japanese is made up of 3 different writing styles which are all combined together. The three styles are katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Katakana and hiragana (hereafter referred to as "kana") are syllabaries, meaning every character corresponds to a syllable.
For example (in hiragana): か き く け こ (ka ki ku ke ko)
Now, the same in Katakana: カ キ ク ケ コ
The k sounds look similar in katakana and hiragana (luckily) but others don't look so similar. For example, ro is ろ or ロ。
Now we can add in kanji. Kanji are based on Chinese characters. Some are exactly the same as their Chinese counterparts (down to pronunciation), while others are look nothing like the Chinese equivalent. Kanji are (as many Japanese people reassure me) even difficult for Japanese. (Not at the level I'm at.) There are thousands of kanji. It is commonly said that about 3,000 are needed to read a newspaper. Practically all kanji have a meaning of some sort attached to them and are quite logical when you break them down. For example, 歩く. The first character is kanji and the second hiragana. The kanji is, in this context, pronounced as aru and has the meaning "to walk." if you look at it closely you can divide it into two parts: 止 and 少. You could roughly say it has the meaning of "small stops". Most kanji can be broken down this way and often I can understand the meaning of signs and other writing but have no idea how to pronounce it.
In writing, all three of these are combined together. An example comes from a bit of an essay which I wrote for a course recently about American and Japanese styles of comedy. It's probably at about the level of Japanese ten year old, just not as fluent.
日本のコメディーの主人公は若者です。だいたい、高校生とか大学生です。日本の「僕たちと駐在さんの７００日戦争」と言う映画の主人公は高校生です。「ワォーターボーイズ」と「スワィングガールズ」も主人公は高校生です。シコふんじゃったは大学生です。アメリカのコメディーの中では高校生とか大学生の主人公がいる映画が多いけど、これはとても小さい見本です。実は、他のアメリカのコメディーの主人公は若い大人です。
Despite all this, communication isn't always as complex as it appears here and there are lots of borrowed words from English. The trick is to figure out what the original English word was before it was adopted by the Japanese, shortened, rearranged, and thrown into regular conversation.
Now I should actually go do my homework instead of describing what I need to work on.
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