11-21-2016, 04:20 PM | #451 |
Droppin' CDs and beats
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Ah, the reading direction reasoning slipped my mind ^^;
But yeah I'm with you Talon. I still find it particular though how two very similar boxes (even by design), made by the same company, yet have a different order of text! Maybe, I guess, with the Mario Pikachu one, they wanted to take a more traditional take? *shrugs* And the fact that although the text is a bit slanted, the image of the box is more vertical than horizontal, so... I mean look at the picture from the auction page: Edit: Just for comparison's sake, here's some other of Nintendo's hanafuda boxes: Spoiler: show Last edited by OkikuMew; 11-21-2016 at 04:40 PM. |
11-21-2016, 08:19 PM | #452 |
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Yeah both of those have the order reversed (they would read LtR as 大統領 [president] and マリオ [Mario], respectively). It must be some kind of nod to the traditional hanafuda cards or something of that sort
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11-22-2016, 08:49 PM | #453 |
Droppin' CDs and beats
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Huh. Seems the one that was actually in order is the one odd out! XP It's still strange and funny though! At least I know it's something to keep in mind when reading things that are more in a "traditional" context. Good thing it isn't a long text though, because I would find it confusing to start reading and it feels like non-sense at first but then you go "wait a minute, it's written right to left" ^^; Out of pure curiosity, is there situations like that that happened to you guys?
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11-22-2016, 10:01 PM | #454 |
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Not really, no. But I was already used to RTL reading conventions. The closest example I can think of when I began studying Japanese is when you see words that are each other's backwards order. So like ...
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02-07-2017, 06:53 PM | #455 |
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A Japanese variety show polled news announcers across Japan for their top 10 hardest-to-say words in Japanese. For those who don't want to watch the video (or who can't understand it very well) the top ten are, in descending order Spoiler: show Even if you can't understand it very well, it's worth watching to see all the professional announcers bungle words. |
02-14-2017, 10:59 PM | #456 |
Droppin' CDs and beats
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>Talon
Oh alright, so just a question of getting used to see them in whatever order to mean the same thing. >Jeri That was quite the interesting video. I didn't really understand what was being said (I'm still very much a beginner ^^;) but it was still great to see the difficult words being said with the Hiragana displayed, so I was able to read it aloud, and agree that they are difficult to pronounce, like tongue twisters... Admittedly though I found the sumo wrestler's name fairly easy to say, despite my limited practice/experience. In other news, I've actually been keeping up on what I said last time about finally learning how to read Japanese (and at the same time following up on a new year resolution about it) and guess what? I've actually made some major progress! \o/ While I used to know only very few Hiragana by heart, I know fully know how to read Hiragana (although admittedly I still mix up し and ち, and have trouble remembering the dakuten variants) and a few basic kanji, along expanding my vocabulary a lot! ^^ It may not be much, but I still feel proud of myself for getting improvements despite my restricted time to study I thought it would be interesting if I put here the study sources I've been using, in case some fellow UPNers want to start learning but taking perhaps a different route than usual:
Hope this will help someone in the future Now off I go back to studying! |
03-06-2017, 10:01 PM | #457 |
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In 2015, I flirted with the idea of taking the N2 but ended up not registering for the exam because of prior obligations that autumn. Last year, the same flirtation arose -- and this time, I determined to make good on it. I quickly decided that I would prefer to sit the N3 first. It would help serve as a diagnostic tool, and given the horror stories I'd read about online, not to mention my own difficulties with the N2 practice tests, I could avoid wasting years sitting an N2 I'm not ready to take were my level more deteriorated than I realized. Signing up for the N3 was first and foremost a motivator. I used my registration to get myself to formally review material I've sat on for nearly 10 years. I used the looming "threat" of the exam, and the very real payment of $60 to register and an additional $60 to make the trip to Chicago and back, as a sort of "fire" lit under my own ass to get me to study seriously. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. For the first time since 2007, I formally studied Japanese rather than casually absorbing it. It felt really nice. It was hard, satisfying work. I ended up studying for the months of October and parts of November. The exam was on December 4, the first Sunday of the month. Because of the short time window, my thoroughness, and a few other factors, I was actually not able to complete all of what I would have liked to have reviewed before exam day. (As we speak, after a three-month sabbatical, I am working on and have been working over the past week towards completing this.) But I did make fairly good progress. And like I said: the effort I put in was very satisfying. You can find an explanation of the JLPT exam levels here. The scoring for the 2017 JLPT N3 was such that a passing score for each section was 19/60 and a passing score for the exam overall was a 95/180. You can read more about scoring here. If you have any questions, either about the exam itself or about my studying regimen, feel free to ask. For now, I'll wrap this post up by saying that my next goal is the N2. This is "the big one," the one that really makes a difference on your resume. The N3 is like "Oh that's nice, dear," but the N2 is what gets you hired as a translator for a Japanese or American corporation with ties to the other country. Anecdote pulled from my own life: a friend's friend applied for a job with Subaru here in Lafayette and they told her she needed to get certified for the N2. She signed up for the exam, she passed, she re-applied, and they hired her within the week. My personal hope is that with an N2 certification I can possibly open some doors within my own fields of interest.
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03-08-2017, 07:22 AM | #459 |
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I took N2 a couple years ago - I managed to do pretty well on everything except the listening, which is why I ended up flunking despite a pretty good score overall.
Don't ignore listening kids. |
04-01-2017, 10:18 AM | #460 |
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隣の花は赤い (tonari no hana wa akai, lit. "the neighbor's flowers are red" / "the flowers next door are red") is the Japanese version of the English saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."
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04-02-2017, 10:45 AM | #461 |
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I was explaining 思う "to think; to believe" vs. 考える "to think" to a coworker yesterday, shortly followed by 思う vs. 信じる "to believe [in]". He remarked that it was difficult to wrap his brain around how a language could have more than one verb for thinking or for belief.
Unrelated to this conversation, I was just now looking up a particular application of the verb kakeru that was new to me and was reminded, courtesy of WWWJDIC, just how many definitions there are for kakeru, both in the sense of "we have multiple different words for the same homophone" and in the sense of "even within a given spelling we have so many different definitions." Observe: (Click for full size) Spellings 駆ける, 掛ける, and (as a boy's name) 翔 I would say are all very common. (欠片/欠けら as kakera the noun I would say is too.) And within 掛ける, we have twenty-four different applications in the Japanese language, applications many of which would be covered by different words in English. You "hang" a picture, you "hoist" a sail. Things "take" time, they "cost" money. You "make" or "place" a phone call, you "fasten" a lock, you "sprinkle" sand ... I had forgotten just how many different applications kakeru takes in Japanese. It's a bit nuts, honestly. And it's a good case study for second-language acquisition when looking at the Japanese native speaker who acquires English as a second language. Having to go from, in your native tongue, one word which covers aaaaaaall these bases to having to go to 24+ different verbs and having to keep straight in which scenarios you use which ones ... Man!
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04-02-2017, 01:37 PM | #462 |
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It does sound intimidating having to learn a whole new set of words just to eg speak formally vs speak casually. In English, you speak the same way formally as you do casually except you stop saying "dude" and "fuckin".
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05-01-2017, 01:18 AM | #463 |
我が名は勇者王!
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Conjugate help?
The line in GaoGaiGar, to my ear sounds like: "Niseimono ni wa nakete honmono ni wa aru mono." "Sore wa" "Yuusha no akashi da!" ... "No fake possesses that which makes the real thing real." "That is" "The proof of a hero!" ... "nakete" isn't a word a recognize. For some reason I want to think of it as a contraction of naka de, with "naka" meaning "inside". But that might be the wrong way of looking at it. I still am bad at Japanese grammar, so listening to lines like this is how I try to get better. Granted I'm not sure "nakete" is correct. The vowel is silent. It just comes across as "nakde" or "nakte".
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05-01-2017, 12:13 PM | #464 |
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Nisemono and nakute. It's the linked clause form of ない, "not [being, existing; having]".
Using a basic い adjective in 青い aoi "blue", I'll explain:
"It's blue, big, and new." 青くて、大きくて、新しい。 The て form allows you to form strings, as in English, rather than having to awkwardly produce a series of short independent sentences. But it can also be thought of here as permitting you to string clauses. You have the main clause, "Something which the genuine article possesses," and then you have attached to that the preceding clause, "That the fake doesn't possess". て form is a must-learn for all first-year students of the language. If you haven't studied it yet, I'd recommend you look into it. It has a broad range of applications, including:
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06-04-2017, 01:09 PM | #466 | |
ようせいのお姫様
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Quote:
A more correct sentence would read "母は本当に俺の娘です" Let me know if I misinterpreted what you were trying to say, though! |
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08-29-2017, 09:07 AM | #467 |
我が名は勇者王!
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I'm trying to write a rhyming, accurate "Yuusha-Oh Tanjou" translation. There's a bit of a problem.
One line: 今だ! 超人合体だ! 超人合体 sure looks like "superhuman fusion". Not "super human, combine", although I'm not sure if this is an intentionally vague part of Japanese that can't be visualized, or it's missing a period there to really emphasize the noun in the sentence. In the song itself, it sounds like IMA DA. CHOUJIN. GATTAI DA. Lyrics can stretch sentences out though, so I don't know. Am I fine translating this either way?
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あなたの勇気が切り開く未来
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08-29-2017, 04:28 PM | #468 |
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I would lean towards "superhuman fusion" if I wasn't given any context but I could see it being parsed the second way with the right context.
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09-12-2017, 07:26 PM | #469 |
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The 2017 JLPT will be held in North America on December 3, 2017. The American Association of Teachers of Japanese, or AATJ, has a website for Americans wanting to take the JLPT. I am certain that Canada and other countries have similar organizations who provide similar resources to help prospective test takers.
No point in keeping it a secret: I've gone ahead and registered for the N2. I do not expect that I will pass, but for me the motivations for taking the exam are similar to what they were before with the N3. External assessment of proficiency. Proverbial "fire under my ass" / "carrot on a stick". Studying for true fluency anyway and so why not stop along the way to take the test. This year, though, attaches a rather meaningful bonus. I can discuss that more later in the event that I do pass. In the United States, registration costs $60 non-refundable. You then have to factor in travel expenses as well. Registration closes towards the end of the month (September 29 @ 9:00 PM Eastern Time), so you still have several weeks to consider if you're on the fence. There are many good arguments against taking an exam like this. There are also good arguments for taking it. Consider your individual circumstances and decide accordingly.
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09-13-2017, 07:02 PM | #470 |
Caffeinated
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Why am I subscribed to this thread...
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10-24-2017, 11:05 PM | #471 |
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I'd like to know the story behind 即席 sokuseki. It translates to "extempore; impromptu; improvised; ad-lib; off-the-cuff" in English, but with the two characters that comprise it being 即 "instant" and 席 "seat", I feel like there has to be a story there. Google was unhelpful; I found someone asking for the etymology and being redirected to the etymology of the English loanword インスタント instead. Other pages merely provided definitions, not etymologies. (FWIW, searched for 即席 語源.)
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10-25-2017, 02:39 PM | #472 |
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So I've wanted a good Japanese etymology reference for some time, but it seems that the only real good one is a large reference book that only exists in print (日本語源大辞典). I wanted to see if I could find it in Japan but physical copies are kind of pricey and it would have been hard to transport, so I never did get one. There is, however, apparently a copy in a library at Harvard (I'm in Boston now for those who don't know), which I might try to get my hands on, so perhaps I can get you a satisfactory answer?
EDIT: This is proving a bit harder than I thought but I do want to get access to this book - stay tuned.
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Last edited by Jerichi; 10-25-2017 at 03:12 PM. |
11-01-2017, 04:47 PM | #473 |
Oh, hello
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Do you know how old the word is? The only context I know of for "seat" in terms of the translations you listed is the phrase "to fly by the seat of one's pants," or to make something up as you go along. It's a long shot, but hey there's the word.
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12-03-2017, 10:43 PM | #474 |
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Took the 2017 JLPT N2 today. Perhaps more details later, but for right now before I forget: my two favorite reading sections from this year's exam.
1. 3rd grader Shōta writes in to a children's magazine asking why it is that birds can fly yet humans can't. Japanese Beakman writes back, explaining the significance of birds' weight-to-size ratio; he also explains that even if we were to give humans artificial wings that could account for our body mass and size and were proportional to that of birds the wings would have to be as long as three buses lined up end to end and this presents its own fair share of physics problems for the human. 2. An (iirc) art student explains, by means of sharing with us his own tale of discovery, why it is that you can erase pencil normally but you can't erase it once it's been traced over with pen. I really enjoyed these reading sections. Both the practice exam and the real exam that I took last year had at least one or two really amusing reading sections, and I am glad to see that the tradition continued on this year's N2. I only wish that more standardized tests' reading sections were as interesting, and that the JLPT's listening section could have as interesting of conversations as the reading section has essays.
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12-05-2017, 02:34 PM | #475 |
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スモモ (李) sumomo = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_salicina
梅 ume = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_mume "Most of the fresh plums sold in North American supermarkets are Prunus salicina cultivars. They are grown on a large scale in a number of other countries, for example, they dominate the stone fruit industry in Western Australia." Interesting. ==================================== I actually found my answer from a Google search made prior to posting and decided to share. From this Chinese language student's WordPress, 北 Sound loan. Original meaning 'to run away from battle/conflict (still preserved in the modern expression 敗北 bai4bei3 'suffer a defeat') formed by two 人 (人) 'person' standing up against each other's backs (see Seal script). Character borrowed for the meaning 'north' based on its sound.Fascinating. :o So apparently 北 did not originally mean north, but rather connoted the idea of fleeing. And was later given to "north" as a character because they shared the same reading. Even more fascinating to me is that we had a character for "fleeing from battle" before we had a character for "north"! O_o I mean ... the importance of having a "north"-dedicated character is fairly obvious: "north" has all but usurped 北's role as a character, with me having no idea that it had anything to do with fleeing or battle (敗北 aside) before today. Even Breen simply agrees: 北 [JIS] 4B4C [Uni] 5317 [部首] 21 [教育] 2 [画数] 5 [音] ホク [訓] きた [名] きら ほう ほっ ほつ [英] northwith only one solitary root meaning given for the character: "north".
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