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Old 11-30-2012, 06:50 PM   #76
Talon87
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kindrindra View Post
Out of curiosity, do the radicals in a kanji affect it's pronunciation at all?
They can. There are different classes of kanji, which you can read about here. One of the classes is 形声文字 keisei moji, which literally means "characters (文字) whose shape (形) determines their voice (声)." As Wikipedia reports, this is the largest category of kanji, though kanji that belong to it can also belong to some of the other categories.

To give an example of a keisei kanji, 銅 is composed of 金 (specifically gold, but more generically metal) and 同. The second character means "same" (as in the Japanese 同じ onaji). So why did they use it? Because the ancient Chinese called copper dou and the ancient scholars also called 同, a character they'd already invented, dou. So they appropriated it. The radical on the left tells the reader that the entity is a metal while the radical on the right tells the reader how to pronounce the word. "The metal which is dou ... ah, copper!"

But you should recognize that many characters do not follow this pattern. To give another metal example, consider iron, 鉄. The left part once again is 金 to connote that it's a metal, but the right component is 失 whose reading is shitsu, not tetsu. Now, the reading for either 鉄 or for 失 may have changed over time, but if you assume that neither has, this clearly violates the pattern. To give a better example, the character for numbers or "to count," 数, has an onyomi of すう and a kunyomi of かず but it doesn't gain either of these from any of its three components. 攵 to the right is ホク, のぶん, ぼくづくり, or ぼくにょう. 女 to the bottom left is ニョ, ニョウ, ジョ, め, or おんな. And 米 to the upper left is ベイ, マイ, メエトル, こめ, or よね.

Also, keep in mind that the position of the radical doesn't guarantee who is lending meaning and who is lending reading. That stated, typically you find radicals on the left which lend meaning and radicals on the right which lend reading. For example, the first syllable in 紅茶, 工場, and 江河 is read kou for all three words. And do you notice a pattern? That's right: 工 is read kou and you can decipher that 紅 and 江 are also probably read kou without even knowing what the characters mean. And then, at least in the case of 江, the clue is given in the left radical. (江 when read kou means a large river, and the radical on the left is the left water radical.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kindrindra View Post
And, speaking of pronunciation, is the Kun or On pronunciation preferred?
It's not really a matter of preference. There's a right way to say a word and a wrong way to say it, and whether the right way is the kunyomi (Japanese native) or the onyomi (Japanese-ified Chinese) depends on the word. As a very, very, very general rule of thumb (emphasis: not always true!), the kunyomi is used with stand-alone words while the onyomi is used in compound words. To give some legit examples:
  • sakana "fish" but 人魚 ningyo "mermaid"
  • ushi "cow" but 牛乳 gyuunyuu "cow's milk"
  • aka n. "red" but 赤飯 sekihan "red rice"
  • ki "tree" but 木曜日 mokuyoubi "Thursday"
But I want to also stress to you how this general rule can fall apart, so to give some counter examples ...
  • when the compound word is really just one root plus a suffix, for example ...
    • 友達 tomodachi "friend(s)" (where とも is the kunyumi, the onyomi being ゆう as in 友人 yuujin)
    • 父上 chichiue (respectful, archaic) "Father" (where ちち is the kunyomi, the onyomi being ふ as in 祖父 sofu "grandfather")
  • compounds which just happen to take the Japanese reading period, so like ...
    • names (like 鈴木 Suzuki or 川口 Kawaguchi)
    • 甘酒 amazake "sweet sake" (from あま and さけ, both kunyomis)
    • many more, I gtg, I am late for a meeting ^^;

Anyway, the point is, it's not like you can just decide which one you like the sound of more and go with that. 赤飯 is always read せきはん, never あかはん. 駄犬 is always read だけん, never だいぬ. As a general rule to guide the beginner, you can think "kunyomi = when the word's used on its own, onyomi = what I use when it shows up in compound words." But really, you should learn words (including compound words) on a case-by-case basis and note how they're read. There are plenty of common words, too, for which the onyomi is what modern Japanese use in common parlance or for which an onyomi is all that they have. 本 hon "book" (with its kunyomi reading as もと meaning "origin") and 象 zou "elephant" are two examples which come to mind.

Sorry, gtg. ^^; Hope this helps. Sorry if it's rushed.
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Old 12-09-2012, 11:16 AM   #77
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Talon's Words of the Day (December 9, 2012)

Wow, time flies. So many words I wanted to share as they came up in songs or shows this week. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk.

Beginner: 届く "to reach, to arrive, to get through, to get at, to be attentive, to pay attention, to be delivered, to carry (e.g. sound)"
reading: とどく

Non-Beginner: 睨む "to glare at"
reading: にらむ
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Old 12-15-2012, 07:06 PM   #78
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Talon's Words of the Day (December 15, 2012)

Beginner: 実に adv. "truly, indeed, quite"
reading: じつに
example: 実に面白い。 "Truly fascinating."

Non-Beginner: 恐らく adv. "probably; perhaps"
reading: おそらく
example: おそらく彼女はまだ日本にいるだろう。 "I dare say she is still in Japan."
other notes: often paired with だろう/でしょう, as in the example provided, but by no means obligatorily. The two, each conveying the idea of probability, are synergistic in such sentences where they are paired.
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Old 12-17-2012, 01:31 AM   #79
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Talon's Words of the Day (December 16, 2012)

Tonight's words come from a track titled "芥川龍之介の河童 ~ Candid Friend" that I just so happen to be listening to right now. 芥川龍之介 happens to be a Japanese author from the early 20th century, but the characters in his name will be useful for tonight's late lesson.

Beginner: 竜 or 龍, n. "dragon"
reading for 竜: onyomi: リュウ, リョウ, ロウ kunyomi: たつ いせ
reading for 龍: onyomi: リュウ, リョウ, ロウ kunyomi: たつ
other notes: The beginner needs only know how to read these, specifically to recognize them as ryuu, "dragon." Pretty sure these have shown up before in an earlier session as I recall teaching 竜巻 tatsumaki "tornado; twister", lit. "dragon scroll", and if you want to learn the kunyomi of たつ, that's fine. But these are actually a good submission for tackling Kindrindra's question a week or two ago when he asked about when to use kunyomi and when to use onyomi. I told him:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
It's not really a matter of preference. There's a right way to say a word and a wrong way to say it, and whether the right way is the kunyomi (Japanese native) or the onyomi (Japanese-ified Chinese) depends on the word. As a very, very, very general rule of thumb (emphasis: not always true!), the kunyomi is used with stand-alone words while the onyomi is used in compound words.
But 龍 and 竜巻 should demonstrate for you just how much my emphasis on "not always true!" was appropriate. Because as we see here, the common reading for "dragon" is the onyomi (りゅう) while the kunyomi can show up in compound words (as in たつまき).
 Why teach these words to beginners? Well, I think you will see them often enough, though maybe not in your very first semester, and also ... you will doubtless notice that 竜 bears a striking similarity with another character you're sure to see tons, 俺, おれ/オレ, the storied first person pronoun. Please do note though that while they look similar, they are different, and not just because of the radical on the left of 俺. (Look closely at the top of 竜 vs. the top of 俺's right radical.)

Non-Beginner: 芥 n. "trash, garbage" (also "dust", "mustard", et al)
reading: onyomi: カイ ケ kunyomi: からし ごみ あくた
other notes: "Why," you may be asking, "is Talon teaching me the word ごみ? I learned that back in like my first year." Yes, yes you probably did. But pay attention to the reading あくた and the paired kanji 芥. These are the lesson for the non-beginner.

And I guess while it's up there ...

Non-Beginner: 河童 n. "kappa"
reading: かっぱ
components: 河 カ "river" + 童 ぱ "child"
other notes: 童 (わらべ; わらんべ; わらし; わらわ; わっぱ) is an archaic word for child, one I pretty much never come into contact with. (It shows up in the occasional compound word.) 河 on the other hand is quite common. Regardless, you guys all know what a kappa is, and know you'll know how to read (or, if you practice, even write) the word for yourselves!
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Old 12-22-2012, 10:35 AM   #80
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Okay, I wasn't sure what other thread I could post this particular question, but it's about Japanese vocabulary so I thought this would be the right place.

Can anyone in this thread explain to me the difference between the words bakemono, kaibutsu and monsutaa (monster) in the Japanese language?

I've heard all three being used, but rarely more than two at the same time (monster + bakemono, for example). Is the difference in speaker (adult/child), seriousness of use ("monster at work" vs. "serial killer is a monster"), or is there some other explanation?

This also appears in anime/manga titles: see Monster, Bakemonogatari and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, for example. The contents of the respective titles have led me to believe that the difference is in the seriousness of the context...
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Old 12-22-2012, 04:22 PM   #81
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Academic debate abounds about what, if anything, distinguishes the various terms in Japanese for monsters and other paranormal entities. Just like in English with how we have "ghost," "ghoul," "poltergeist," "banshee," "spectre," "phantom," "phantasm," "spirit," and so on, so too do the Japanese have lots of different words for ghosts, and it's anyone's guess whether a particular speaker is using that word in the most academically rigorously correct sense or not. (Aside: I would argue that the common, standard word for ghost in Japanese is 幽霊 yuurei.) I bring this up since you mention 化け物 bakemono and even お化け obake is a term that can be taken to mean "ghost" in English, context depending. (You've probably heard the expression in anime/manga before via お化け屋敷 obakeyashiki "haunted house", lit. "ghost mansion".) But I say "context depending" since お化け can also mean goblin, apparition, or monster.

化け物 bakemono, likewise, is listed in the dictionary as carrying all of these potential meanings: "goblin; apparition; monster; ghost; phantom; spectre". I would personally probably translate it as "monster" by default myself, but context really does inform here which English translation is best.

怪物 kaibutsu and モンスター monsutaa I don't hear used as often. Both strictly mean "monster." So like, Frankenstein could be a kaibutsu, but Casper the Friendly Ghost could not. Noteworthy for you is that kaibutsu's kanji literally mean "mysterious/suspicious/bewitching/strange thing." The first character being one of two common spellings for the adjective 怪しい / 妖しい ayashii (whose context-driven definitions include that long list I just wrote and then some.) This comes up in the interesting fusion word 妖怪 youkai (see the kai from kaibutsu again?), which is another common word used to describe a laundry list of paranormal entities. (The dictionary lists "ghost; apparition; phantom; spectre; demon; monster; goblin".)

Sorry if this isn't as helpful as you'd have liked. I can't really comment on your theory about seriousness other than to offer an incredibly vague feeling that 怪物 kaibutsu sounds more severe (and so I guess more serious?) to me than 化け物 bakemono does. Bakemono, to my ear, sounds more folksy or "common speech." But this is only a vague feeling. I wouldn't claim anything definite.
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Old 12-24-2012, 09:27 PM   #82
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Talon's Words of the Day (December 24, 2012)

Beginner: 天使 n. "angel"
reading: てんし
components: 天 テン "heaven" + 使 シ "use"

Non-Beginner: 新た adj-な. "new" or adv-に "re-"
reading: あらた
other notes: contrast with beginner 新しい あたらしい "new", standard adjective for "new". Note syllabic inversion (あらた vs. あたら[しい]).
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Old 12-27-2012, 01:22 PM   #83
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Talon's Words of the Day (December 27, 2012)

Beginner: 選ぶ v. "to choose"
reading: えらぶ

Non-Beginner: 選択 n. "choice"
reading: せんたく
components: 選 セン "choice" + 択 タク the counter for choices, options, etc.
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Old 12-28-2012, 05:31 PM   #84
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Beginner: 体 n. "body"
reading: onyomi: タイ, テイ kunyomi: からだ, かたち
components: the 人 radical ("person") + 本 (here as "root" or "origin", not "book")
other notes: this is what they taught us in school as the common default. However ...

Non-Beginner: 身体 n. "body"
reading: しんたい, but alternatively からだ
components: 身 シン "body" + 体 タイ "body"
other notes: this is quite common yet was something not taught to us in school. It was something I picked up very early on from reading erodoujinshi (obviously; given the nature of such works, of course it would come up a lot), but it's a perfectly normal word. In fact, this is the default spelling of からだ in the Microsoft Windows IME! So I dunno why they taught us 体 all by its lonesome in school and never 身体 but whatever. Just to give you some examples of how safe and important this word is for anyone to know and use in practice, consider words like 身体能力 しんたいのうりょく "physical ability", 身体障害 しんたいしょうがい "a (physical) handicap" (with 身体障害者 しんたいしょうがいしゃ as "physically handicapped person"), etc. But even more importantly ...

Non-Beginner: 身 n. "body", "oneself", and much more!
readings: onyomi: シン kunyomi:
other notes: This is a kanji the intermediate student should really know for its onyomi and the advanced student shall inevitably pick up for its kunyomi. Both readings are used (it depends on the word) to, as you saw before, convey the meaning of "corporeal flesh" or "the body." For example, 赤身 あかみ means "lean meat" (lit. "red flesh") and 全身 ぜんしん means "the whole body." But the kunyomi, み, can also be used as the first person pronoun "one, oneself." I first picked this up this past February when playing a game set in a fantasy setting (with stereotypical Western kingdoms). It was the pronoun of choice used by the main character, the queen. 「み」 this, 「み」 that, 「み」 「み」 「み」. I'd never really encountered it before then, or if so it hadn't really stuck until that experience. But I just thought I would let you know about it. I get the impression that it is an archaic take on 自分 じぶん "oneself", the first person pronoun of choice used by characters like Takeshi (Brock) from Pokémon, amongst others.

And you might think I'm done, but I have one more important thing to leave you with, and it's related to today's characters, so I'd better teach it now ...

Beginner & Non-Beginner alike: the three じしんs
  1. 自信 n. "self-confidence; confidence (in oneself)"
  2. 地震 n. "earthquake"
  3. 自身 n. "by oneself; personally"
I've listed these off in the order I personally was exposed to them earliest or most often; your results may vary. However, I think you will agree, even as a beginner student, that you are well familiar with the first reading. It is used all the time in conversations, more often than I can even believe, so I think many beginners will pick it up just through exposure alone loooooooong before they formally learn it in school or through self-taught formal studies. The second reading, "earthquake", is another one you'll hear a lot. (While "earthquake" has several readings, じしん is by far the most common.) But the third one is quite common too, yet something I think most students will not pick up until their intermediate years of study. In fact, one of my most common experiences with 自身 has been when native speakers I am speaking to have asked me for clarification (or given me quizzical looks) when I said 「じしん」 and meant it as 地震 or 自信 (usually 自信). They were like, 「一人で?」 ("You did it by yourself?") and I would have to clarify, "No, no! I mean [explanation]." So yeah. Watch for this. じしん, じしん, じしん. The moras on "earthquake" and "confidence", when completely isolated from other words, appear to follow a down-up pattern, i.e. jiSHIN. The moras on "by oneself," on the other hand, follow an up-down pattern, i.e. JIshin. See: "earthquake" sound sample vs. "confidence" sound sample vs. "by oneself" sound sample. As always though, please recognize that syllabic moras can shift depending on the syllabes' placement amongst other words in the sentence. Just offering these sound samples since it is a good habit for you to form to learn not only the reading and spelling of words but the correct spoken emphasis as well. You wouldn't say waTERmelon or basKETball in English, and it's the same general principle with the words you learn in Japanese or any other language.

Last edited by Talon87; 12-28-2012 at 05:33 PM.
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Old 01-01-2013, 08:43 PM   #85
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Talon's Words of the Day (January 1, 2013)

Let's have fun today with some holiday-relevant expressions.

Beginner: 明けましておめでとうございます!int. "Happy New Year!"
reading: あけまして おめでとう ございます
components: Usually written in pure kana, the あけます comes from 明ける. (See below.) Thus, the sentence roughly translates to "Congratulations on making it through another year!" if you take it to mean the "to end" meaning, celebrating the end of the previous year rather than the beginning of the new one; but it means "Congratulations on the dawn of a new year!" if you take it to mean the "to dawn" meaning. Perhaps part of the beauty, thus, is that it simultaneously means both things. A fond farewell to the previous year and a warm welcome to the new one, all combined in three simple words.

Beginner: 開ける v.t. "to open"
reading: あける
other spellings: 空ける, 明ける
other notes: when written as 明ける, it carries the meanings "to dawn; to grow light" and "to end." (See above for elucidation on this concept.)

Non-Beginner: some other ways to say "Happy New Year!", copied and pasted straight out of WWWJDIC:
  • 賀正 【がしょう(P); がせい】 (n) A Happy New Year!
  • 謹賀新年 【きんがしんねん】 (int) Happy New Year!
  • 恭賀新年 【きょうがしんねん】 (exp,n) Happy New Year!
  • あけおめ (exp) (abbr) Happy New Year
  • 頌春 【しょうしゅん】 (n) Happy New Year
  • 慶春 【けいしゅん】 (exp) Happy New Year
I won't even claim to know any of these because I do not. I have only ever heard people say あけまして(おめでとうございます). あけおめ is clearly a slang abbreviation on the familiar version, but the others all appear to be traditional expressions, several with probable Chinese influence. Perhaps part of the reason I wouldn't have heard ones like 頌春 or 慶春 before is because the Japanese relocated their New Year's celebrations to January 1 to match the Western world but those terms have "spring" clearly embedded within them, referencing the traditional New Year's situated closer to the vernal equinox.

Many of these are pretty decipherable for the intermediate or advanced student. 賀正 consists of 賀 "congratulations" and 正, as in 正月 (the traditional name for the first month of the year), so I guess it'd literally translate to something like "Congratulations [on making it to yet another] January!" or more generally to "Happy January!" 謹賀, not gonna lie, never seen this before tonight. Looking it up, it apparently means "wishes of happiness." And thus 謹賀新年 is "Wishing you happiness in the new year!" 恭賀 means "respectful congratulations" and thus 恭賀新年 is a perhaps more humble way of saying "Happy New Year!"

So yeah. You should try some of these out with your Japanese friends, family, and teachers. And of course, あけましておめでとうございます!
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Old 01-02-2013, 12:27 AM   #86
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"If you don't use it, you lose it." I figured it would be a smart idea to quiz you guys on the vocabulary words. By putting it into the format of a quiz (especially one written by someone other than yourself), I think it will challenge you to see if you've really learned these words or not. If you have not, don't feel bad! Turn it into positive, motivating energy to go back and re-learn the words. And if you have retained them, great! That's the goal.

Quiz 01 - words from Oct 18-25 2012
Quiz 01 Answers

Quiz 02 - words from Oct 26 2012
Quiz 02 Answers

Right now, there are only two quizzes up. The first quiz only covers ~8 official words for each of the two levels of study. It also has a lot of supplementary vocabulary (from the explanations I've provided in each post), but since none of those were official Word of the Day words, I didn't think it'd be fair to quiz you on them with equal weight to the actual Word of the Day words. The second quiz covers the many different words for women (beginner) and wives (non-beginner) discussed in one particular Word of the Day post.

If the idea is popular, I'll try to make quizzes for the remaining vocabulary. I can also scrap the supplementary vocab (or include it in the midst of the quiz proper, your guys' call) once we get more Word of the Day words going on.

The documents are in the Open Office Document (.odt) file format. They should be compatible with modern versions of Microsoft Office. If for whatever reason you cannot open these files and no one else has yet brought it to my attention, please do so. If it's been brought to my attention, then rest assured that I am on it.
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Old 01-09-2013, 11:41 PM   #87
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Talon's Words of the Day (January 9, 2013)

I swear! Time really does fly. There were a bunch of words I wanted to teach over the course of the next 2-3 updates ... but I've forgotten what they were. ^^; I only remember that they were a category of related words and I think they had to do with a professional class or societal role or something ... but I'll be darned if I can remember them.

Well, perhaps because I watched Senran Kagura earlier today, "ninja" was the first occupation that popped into my head just now. So let's go with that, as it's actually a good springboard for some words for both the beginner and the intermediate student.


Beginner: 者 n. "person"
reading: onyomi: シャ kunyomi: もの

Beginner: 物 n. "thing; object"
reading: onyomi: ブツ モツ kunyomi: もの

Notice anything? That's right: both "person" and "thing" can be read as もの. ^^; So, as with most things in Japanese, what informs you as to whether people are talking about objects or things in spoken conversation? Context! But in the written word, there are two radically different kanji (thanks to the ancient Chinese scholars) to help you to appreciate the difference. To say nothing of the fact that both characters are primarily heard in their onyomi forms anyway. And while usually it's 物 that you'll hear as もの, there are some important exceptions where you'll hear or read 者 as もの, such as in 「何者なんだ?」 なに もの なんだ? "Who's there?" / "Who are you?" / "What [kind of person] are you?"

Now, I mentioned ninjas, didn't I? But that's for our non-beginners. ^^; Feel free to take a gander though if you like!

Non-Beginner: 忍ぶ v.t. "(1) to conceal oneself; to hide; (2) to endure"
reading: しのぶ
components: 刃 やいば "blade" + 心 "heart; spirit", so literally "the spirit of the blade"

You will encounter this verb semi-frequently; but the following derivative of it, you will hear frequently!

Non-Beginner: 忍び込む v.i. " to sneak in; to creep in; to steal in"
reading: しのびこむ
components: 忍 from before + 込む こむ which, when used as an auxiliary verb, connotes the idea of "to go into", "to put into", and various other things

And now for the ninjas you've been patiently waiting for ...

Non-Beginner: 忍者 n. "ninja"
reading: にんじゃ
components: 忍 + 者, so literally "one who conceals oneself", "hide-person", etc.

Non-Beginner: 忍び n. "shinobi; ninja"
reading: しのび
other notes: actually an abbreviation of 忍びの者 しのびのもの, which of course is the kunyomi form which has been supplanted by the more succinct onyomi form 忍者 にんじゃ

Non-Beginner: くノ一 n. "(1) female ninja; (2) (col) woman"
reading: くのいち
other notes: ninja fans are sure to recognize this as the label for a female ninja. But to be perfectly honest with you, I tend to encounter other terms a heck of a lot more often even in stories dealing with female ninjas. I know that this one's a fan favorite in the DOA and Naruto franchises, so in it goes!

Non-Beginner Bonus: 手裏剣 n. "shuriken"
reading: しゅりけん
components: 手 シュ "hand" + 裏 リ "reverse; bottom; out of sight, hidden from view" and many other meanings + 剣 ケン "sword". Thus literally "the sword hidden in the hand".
other notes: the individual components should all be recognized by the intermediate student, but I would only expect an advanced student to be able to see this word at a glance and read it correctly immediately. Definitely tests your knowledge of 裏's onyomi since you'll almost always read 裏 as うら in words.
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Old 01-10-2013, 10:36 AM   #88
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I've noticed a lot of compound verbs containing 込む; what does that mean in isolation and how productive is it?
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Old 01-10-2013, 11:26 AM   #89
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I've noticed a lot of compound verbs containing 込む; what does that mean in isolation and how productive is it?
込める and 込む form a transitive-intransitive pair, so perhaps it's best to answer in that context. 込める means "to load". Thus, 込む, you might say, is "the intransitive form of the verb 'to load'." But there is a subtlety on the nature of that loading, and that's that it's usually quite loaded, i.e. stuffed or jam-packed. And so 込む is often translated on its own as "to be being stuffed; to be being packed into." I see that WWWJDIC offers a similar translation, but they're sort of cheating with tenses, simplifying it to "to be packed" (as in, the packing has already happened), and then in their sample sentences they justify this definition by providing 込んだ rather than 込む in nearly every instance.

Anyway, I bring up 込める and loading because I think you can appreciate what's really going on here. Rather than say "to be stuffed; to be crammed" is the translation of 込む, we might say "to be loaded" is. But you should realize that simply saying "to be loaded" doesn't convey that subtle concept of being stuffed -- you might load something in and the space you loaded it into not really be stuffed at all -- and I guess for that they'd use, as we might expect, the passive voice on 込める, i.e. 込められる.

I also bring up loading, even though you didn't ask about auxiliary verb usage, because this is the most common place you're probably going to see 込む being that you use computers a lot and if you use them in Japanese mode then a lot of your software might say things like 読み込み中 ("Loading ...") or similar. So it's important for you to see that, in the reverse direction (going from English to Japanese), the Japanese saw our use of the word "load" in computer lingo and matched it in their language to 込む, or auxiliary uses thereof.

The only examples I have of stand-alone 込む are all R18 (and I've none immediately on hand), so I'll leave it to you to enjoy the more worksafe examples of stuffed buses and supermarkets that WWWJDIC offers in its sample sentences section.

Last edited by Talon87; 01-10-2013 at 04:38 PM. Reason: important typo
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Old 01-10-2013, 12:21 PM   #90
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Ah okay. Now that I think about it a bit more, I recall Genki using 込める as vocabulary, glossing it as "to be crowded", as in 場所を込める。that makes sense.
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Old 01-10-2013, 04:37 PM   #91
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Talon's Words of the Day (January 10, 2013)

I still can't remember the words I wanted to teach you guys. >_< ^^; Hopefully they'll come to me. For now, let's just grab some words from this episode of Gintama I'm watching right now ... Oh wow, he just said 忍び込め. And last night after I posted, I opened up a comic and on Page 01 there was 忍び込む. What did I tell you guys? It's insanely common. I borderline considered labeling it a beginner's word, but in the end decided against it since I self-taught 忍ぶ in like my third year of studying the language. Would've felt strange to list that expression alongside the likes of "cat" and "dog". But yes: it's damn common. Anyway, let's see here ...

Beginner: ご褒美 n. "reward"
reading: ごほうび
components: ご politeness marker + 褒 ホウ "praise" + 美 ビ "beauty"
other notes: the naked noun is simply 褒美 but you'll almost never hear it or see it used without the politeness prefix ご. I actually just did, which is why I'm pointing it out to you. I'd say I encounter this word several times a day and it's always ご褒美. The beginner is expected merely to know how to spell the word in kana, as both 褒 and 美 are intermediate-level characters.

Beginner Bonus: 褒める v.t. "to praise"
reading: ほめる
other notes: as with ごほうび, I don't expect the beginner to know how to read the kanji here. But just listen for this word in any shows you watch. You'll hear it a lot, particularly in the passive past voice, 褒められた (ほめられた, lit. "I was praised [by an understood third party]!" but translated into English typically as "He/She/[The third party's name] praised me!").

Non-Beginner: 将軍 n. "shogun"
reading: しょうぐん
components: 将 ショウ "leader; commander; general; admiral" + 軍 グン "army; force; troops; war; battle"
other notes: if you're just now learning military words, shogun's a great one to get under your belt. The 将 is the same 将 as in 将来 しょうらい "future; prospects", and the 軍 of course is the same 軍 as you hear in so many military terms. 軍曹 ぐんそう "Sergeant", 軍人 ぐんじん "soldier", and so, so many words which use it as "army".

There you go. Two random words (and one bonus related word) taken from this scene I'm paused on in Gintama. I'll see if I can't remember that family of words I was planning on teaching ...

Last edited by Talon87; 01-10-2013 at 04:40 PM.
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Old 01-11-2013, 03:57 PM   #92
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Talon's Words of the Day (January 11, 2013)

Still eluding me. Today, we're going to cheat and do three different families (two of them related) of Non-Beginner words. But I'll still do a Beginner word afterward as consolation.

Non-Beginner: ときめく v.i. "to throb; to flutter; to palpitate"
reading: -- (written in kana; no kanji, not even ateji)

Non-Beginner: ときめき n. "palpitation; throbbing"
reading: -- (written in kana; no kanji, not even ateji)

I'll forever associate this word with Tokimeki Memorial, arguably the most famous dating sim in history.

Non-Beginner: 煌く or 煌めく "to glitter; to glisten; to sparkle; to twinkle; to glare; to gleam"
reading: きらめく
radical components: 火 "fire" + 白 "white" + 王 "king"

Non-Beginner: 煌めき n. "glitter; glimmer; sparkle; twinkle"
reading: きらめき; キラメキ

This I'll forever associate with the anime I first heard it in, Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar.

Now here comes a synonym that you'll also hear a lot:


Non-Beginner: 輝く or 耀く or 赫く or 燿く or 煌く v. "to shine; to glitter; to sparkle"
reading: かがやく
radical components (of 輝): 光 "light" + 軍 "army"

Non-Beginner: 輝き n. "radiance"
reading: かがやき

You may have noticed a subtle grammar lesson slipped in here, and that is one of the ways in which the Japanese form nouns. Just as in our language, they have many ways of doing this; and just as in our language, one of their ways is to "noun a verb". The way they do it is by retaining the -ます form stem while dropping the -ます. So for example, 輝きます --> 輝き, ときめきます --> ときめき, and so on. You can't just go around doing this to every verb you encounter ^^; , but it's something for you to have fun with in your studies as you observe which verbs follow this pattern and which do not.

So where is the beginners' word, you ask me? Okay, okay, calm down. ^^; I have something for you guys too, and it's topic-relevant:


Beginner: 星 n. "star"
reading: onyomi: セイ , ショウ kunyomi: ほし
radical components: 日 "sun" + 生 "life"
other notes: this is a fun word taught to children in 2nd Grade in Japan, and it comes up in lots of fun places even for the intermediate student. Planet names (e.g. Mercury 水星 すいせい, Mars 火星 かせい, etc). Compound words like "shooting star" 流れ星 ながれぼし lit. "flowing star". But yeah, nearly ten years later and this is still one of my all-time favorite characters to draw calligraphically. I hope you like it too.
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Old 01-12-2013, 07:22 PM   #93
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Talon's Words of the Day (January 12, 2013)

Listening to one of my favorite songs of all time, I was pleased to see many of the words recently taught here showing up in the song lyrics. 願い星 (ねがいぼし, lit. "wishing star", i.e. a shooting star), 煌めく世界 (きらめく せかい, "the sparkling world", referring to a utopian world), and so on. Here, I'll share with you the lyrics page here.

Since I still can't remember that class of words I was going to teach, let's pick some words from the lyrics page just linked to.


Beginner: 声 n. "voice"
reading: onyomi: セイ ショウ kunyomi: こえ, こわ-
other notes: the kanji is taught in the 2nd grade, so you should go ahead and learn it now. The word is commonly こえ, and takes せい for its reading almost exclusively in compound words like 声優 せいゆう "voice actor" (lit. "voice gentle/kind") or 女声 じょせい "female voice". You may have heard of the famous one-man anime project 星の声 ほし の こえ, brought over to the West as Voices of a Distant Star. (There's no "distant" in the original title. ^^; )

Non-Beginner: 憧れる v.i. "to long for; to yearn after; to admire; to be attracted by"
reading: あこがれる
radical components: 心 "heart" side radical + 童 "child; juvenile"
other notes: This is one I think the intermediate student might easily be tempted to dismiss as a word he shan't bother with memorizing right now, but ... well, that's your call. ^^; But I think you'd be quite surprised, if you haven't noticed it already, how often this word pops up, both for its "long for; yearn for" reading as well as for (as in the song lyrics provided above) its "look up to; admire" reading.

So ... many ... words there ... that I am just tempted to throw at you all in one go. @_@ But I will resist. I'll just have to remember to teach them some other day.
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Old 01-13-2013, 11:00 PM   #94
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Talon's Words of the Day (January 13, 2013)

Beginner: お弁当 n. "bento (boxed lunch)"
reading: おべんとう
note on components:
Quote:
bento originates from the Southern Song Dynasty slang term 便當 (pinyin: biŕndāng), meaning "convenient" or "convenience." When imported to Japan, it was written with the ateji 便道, 辨道, and 辨當. In shinjitai, 辨當 is written as 弁当.
What does this mean? First, ateji is a way of writing words which formally lack kanji based on their sounds. So for example, 便道 was an ateji for the word bentou because 便 is read ben and 道 is read tou so put them together and you get bentou. Second, shinjitai refers to those kanji which were simplified after WW2. There are far, far fewer than there were in mainland China, but some famous examples include 學 → 学 ("to learn") and 國 → 国 ("kingdom; country"). Well, it just so happens that 辨當 (an ateji for bento) became 弁当 after the war. So that's the story behind why 弁当's characters make no sense for its modern meaning of a boxed lunch.

Non-Beginner: 疑う v.t. "to doubt; to distrust; to be suspicious of; to suspect"
reading: うたがう
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Old 01-15-2013, 09:30 PM   #95
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Okay, noticed something which raised a bigger question. You see, I already knew 'Hoshi' for star and 'Sora' for sky, but it wasn't until watching Angelic Layer that I realized that 'Hoshizora' meant 'Starry Sky'. Once I found out that, and then later remembered Sora, I could easily see that it was a compound word, but... I was curious at how the 'so' had switched to it's voiced version.

So. My question. Compound words. How do they work and is this normal?
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Though, I also dislike the concept of lamenting the current day while wishing to re-experience the past. At least, my modern attitude is to try and make each new day magical even if it's not, since exclusively reminiscing about the past is too pathetic.
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Old 01-15-2013, 10:36 PM   #96
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Originally Posted by Kindrindra View Post
Okay, noticed something which raised a bigger question. You see, I already knew 'Hoshi' for star and 'Sora' for sky, but it wasn't until watching Angelic Layer that I realized that 'Hoshizora' meant 'Starry Sky'. Once I found out that, and then later remembered Sora, I could easily see that it was a compound word, but... I was curious at how the 'so' had switched to it's voiced version.

So. My question. Compound words. How do they work and is this normal?
First, this is perfectly normal. Even common.

Second, not all compound words' second components' leading consonants voice like this. In fact, many of the words which come second in the sequence and whose leading consonants are voiced in some words (like sora in your example of hoshizora) will then be unvoiced in other words despite still coming second in the sequence (to use sora as an example again, 美空 misora "beautiful sky").

Third, I can't claim to know the full rhyme and reason to this, and I think there's evidence in the living language that neither do all modern Japanese: because there are a number of words for which both the voiced and the unvoiced versions are considered legitimate. It's sort of like how in English we say that you can write either fillet or filet and how people will pronounce these either as fil-AY or as FILL-it. Off the top of my head I can't think of some great common examples, but a quick example I found here for you is 初空 which can be read either as はつそら or as はつぞら.

Fourth, I'm sure there are rules to it though. Just like how in English people can explain to you the story behind pluralizing -en vs. pluralizing -s vs. irregular plurals (like foot vs. feet) and so on.

Fifth, probably like a lot of uneducated native speakers ^^; , I've learned most of them rote through repeated exposure. So like, I know it's あおぞら for 青空 "blue sky", I know it's ながれぼし for 流れ星 "shooting star", I know it's からだじゅう for 体中 / 身体中 "throughout the entire body", and so on.

EDIT (before posting): Just looked it up on Wikipedia to see if they might word things more eloquently or even offer the rules I confessed ignorance to, and ...

Quote:
In modern Japanese, Rendaku is common but unpredictable.
Source: Wikipedia article on rendaku

Not surprised. Like I said, I think a lot of modern Japanese simply rote memorize the words without really appreciating the rules behind them. It's no different than how you, as a native English speaker, simply know that it's rough ("ruff"), dough ("doh"), and bough ("bow", same sound as in "OW! That hurt!" or as in "cow") but you've probably no idea why. And as a result of this rote memorization without appreciation for the underlying rules, we are seeing the language evolve in real time as people repeatedly guess a reading for a word that is quite wrong but they do so enough times and in enough numbers that the nation is forced to admit that erroneous pronunciation as a legitimate alternative ... one which may likely end up supplanting the original.
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Old 01-15-2013, 11:50 PM   #97
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So. My question. Compound words. How do they work and is this normal?
Same question, completely different direction with the answer. The answer I gave last time, on rendaku, is what I'm pretty sure you were after. But this next answer is a valuable lesson too!

In English, we have Danish, French, Latin, Greek, and a hodgepodge of other linguistic influences. Japanese is much the same, and in its case its big Latin+Greek+French blob is Chinese. This is evident at the very foundational level of Japanese script, with the vast, vast majority of Chinese characters (what the Japanese call kanji) having at least two readings: one that is Chinese in origin, called an onyomi, and another that is indigenous to Japan, called a kunyomi. This, you should already know. I've written on it before, and if you've been studying the language, you're sure to have already come across this concept. So why do I bring it up now? Well ...

In Japanese, there are many compound words which have both native Japanese readings and Japanese-Chinese readings. Typically, the native Japanese reading will sound cruder, more common, less scholastic, less positively intense, or more negatively intense. Vice-versa, the Chinese reading (or more correctly the Chinese-Japanese reading) will sound more refined, more scholastic, more positively intense, or less negatively intense. This is something you're already used to seeing in English. Latin or Greek words in our language will often sound more technical or scholarly than their native English equivalents. (For example, "green" vs. "verdant", "to do with horses" vs. "equestrian", or "near shadow" vs. "penumbra".)

These rules may not always apply, particularly for words for which there was an indigenous way of saying the word but that has been largely lost as the Chinese-Japanese way of saying it has become ubiquitous, thus lending the indigenous word some archaic charm. This too you're used to seeing in English. (For example, consider simple English grammar forms in the King James Bible that are no longer in use, e.g. thou, dost, ye, and so on.)

So, having prefaced them to this extent, some actual Japanese examples.

Example 1. 殺人 vs. 人殺し
殺人 is read さつじん and means "murder". If you want to make it the person, you add 者 and it becomes 殺人者 さつじんしゃ "murderer". Now, flip the characters around (and add a kana character) and you get 人殺し, the native word, which is read ひとごろし and can mean either "murder" or "murderer". (Incidentally, Kind, this is another example of rendaku. The word is ordinarily ころす, not ごろす.) But perhaps the better English analogy for 人殺し would be to say "killer", with "murderer" reserved for 殺人者.

Example 2. 切腹 vs. 腹切り
切腹 is read せっぷく and is the ritual samurai suicide which involves, amongst other things, the slicing of the stomach, hence 切 (cut) 腹 (stomach). When you say seppeku, it sounds a bit more formal. The same exact action but referred to in the native reading is 腹切り (or alternatively 腹切, without the hanging り), which is read はらきり. This is why you've heard some people call it seppeku and others call it harakiri. It's both. They're the exact same thing. It's just that one has the kanji in one order and with the Chinese-Japanese reading (切腹) while the other has the kanji in the reverse order and with the native Japanese reading.

Example 3. 昼食 vs. 昼ご飯
So now that I've made you lose your proverbial lunch with those two grisly examples above , how about looking at different ways to say "lunch"? On the one hand, we have 昼食, read ちゅうしょく. This is the Chinese-Japanese reading. On the other hand, we have 昼ご飯, read ひるごはん. This one's a little stranger to explain, since it's a combination of native Japanese in 昼 ひる "noon" and ご飯 ごはん "meal" which is the politeness marker ご for onyomi words followed by (you guessed it) the onyomi word 飯. Regardless, the example still stands: a Chinese-Japanese way of saying the word, and a slightly less Chinese-Japanese way of saying it.

These three examples should hopefully illustrate the point I am making here, which is that, in answer to your question quoted above, some compound words take the onyomi while other compound words take the kunyomi; and whichever it is that they take will influence how they are perceived by your audience and how suitable they are for a given situation.

Last edited by Talon87; 01-15-2013 at 11:55 PM.
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Old 01-18-2013, 06:30 PM   #98
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Listening to one of my favorite songs of all time [...] Here, I'll share with you the lyrics page here.

So ... many ... words there ... that I am just tempted to throw at you all in one go. @_@ But I will resist. I'll just have to remember to teach them some other day.
And once again I found myself listening to it. Whilst reading the manga in Japanese. So I remembered this post, checked the lyrics, and sure enough it's a treasure trove of fun, valuable vocabulary for all ages.

From the line 一緒に行こうよ we have ...


Beginner: 一緒に adv. "together (as in "let's go together")"
reading: いっしょに
other notes: the root word, 一緒 いっしょ, is also used frequently.

From the line いつか夢を叶えたい we have ...

Non-Beginner: 夢 n. "dream"
reading: onyomi: ム , ボウ kunyomi: ゆめ , くら(い)
other notes: one of my favorite kanji ever. [/just sayin'] You'll see it a lot in the word 夢中 むちゅう which carries a lot of various English sub-meanings like "entranced", "in a daze," "in a deep sleep", etc. Literally it's "in the middle of dreaming."

Non-Beginner: 叶う v. "to come true (as in a wish)" , 叶える v.t. "to grant (a wish), to answer (a prayer)"
reading: かなう for 叶う , かなえる for 叶える
other notes: almost considered putting this one in the Beginner's section but decided against it since I personally didn't learn it in my first few years of study. YMMV. It's a pretty common verb as related to its domain of prayers being answered, wishes being granted, etc.
  A notable song in a well-known visual novel carries the name 願いが叶う場所, lit. "The place where wishes are granted" or ever so slightly more loosely "The place where wishes come true." If you already like the song, I bring it up since the Power of Association® should help you to retain 叶う.

Bonus Exercise: From that Clannad YouTube link, here's one comment: 「涙止める方法教えてください。」 Translate that.
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Old 01-20-2013, 12:27 AM   #99
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Talon's Words of the Day (January 19, 2013)

Beginner: 自 "auto-"
reading: onyomi: ジ シ

Pretty sure I've mentioned this one before in other words' definitions, but we'll draw special attention to it all on its own this time. Some sample words which make use of it, all words for the beginner:

自転車 n. "bicycle" (じてんしゃ, lit. "self turn/revolve vehicle")
自動車 n. "automobile" (じどうしゃ lit. "self moving vehicle")
自動販売機 n. "vending machine" (じどうはんばいき lit. "self moving selling machine")
自分 n. "oneself" (じぶん)
自己紹介 n. "self-introduction" (じこしょうかい)

The 2nd year student should know how to read and write the first, second, and fourth of those words written above. Reading the other two is an exercise for the third year student; writing, for the third or later still.

Non-Beginner: other uses of 自
reading: kunyomi: みずか(ら), おの(ずから), おの(ずと)

This is something of an advanced lesson IMO, though I suppose this partly illustrates why I refrained from separating the intermediate from the advanced levels of study and simply lumped them together as "non-beginner." Because one man's advanced is another man's intermediate and vice-versa. Anyway, some sample words:

自ずから明らか adj. "self-evident"
reading: おのずからあきらか

自ずと adv. "naturally; eventually"
reading: おのずと

自ら adv. "for one's self; personally"
reading: みずから

That last one you'll hear a lot, actually, and is probably a great example of an intermediate vocab word using a non-じ reading of 自.

These next two I'm just including for fun. Biblical language translated into Japanese, yay! [/totally for advanced students ]


汝自らを知れ exp. "Know thyself"
reading: なんじみずからをしれ
other notes: I could write an entire post on 汝 and its ten different readings and meanings. I think I just might!

天は自ら助くる者を助く exp. "Heaven helps those who help themselves"
reading: てんはみずからたすくるものをたすく
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Old 01-20-2013, 09:56 AM   #100
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Fun related etymology lesson that this post reminds me of!

Do you know what a rickshaw is?

In Japanese, it is called a 人力車 (じんりきしゃ). That literally translates to "Person-Powered Vehicle", which is what a rickshaw is.

See if you can figure out the connection!
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