日本語の道

漢検考え

日本語能力試験の勉強で漢字を書く必要はあまりないし、ブログとかメールとかをパソコンで書いてしまうから漢字がほとんど書けなくなった。駄目駄目！ということで最初からやり直そうと思ってる。

この間ネットを見てて、ロンドンでも漢字検定を受けることが出来ることを知った！漢字検定を受けるなら漢字を書く練習になりそうだよね。まずは８級か７級の挑戦しようと思ってる。簡単な漢字もいっぱいあるけど、簡単に読めても書けない漢字が多いはず。

Arare Hyou

霰（あられ）－　hail
雹（ひょう）－　hail

二つの言葉があるんですが、意味は全く同じですか？使い方は違いますか？

あられという菓子は美味しいですよね。一つ目の違いですね。

霙

今日の漢字は。。。

霙

みぞれ(sleet)という言葉知ってるけど漢字で書かれてるのを初めて見た。なぜか分かんないけどなかなかきれいな字。

最近イギリスはすごく寒い。イースターの週末に雨が降ったり、雪が降ったり、霙が降ったりして、寒かった！そんな天気でテニスをしてる人っておかしいよね（笑）。でも楽しかった！！！

漢字検定

日本語能力試験の情報を調べてみたら、次挑戦したいことを見つけた！それは英語でいうと「Kanji Aptitude Test」なんだけど確かこれは日本人も受ける漢字検定ではないですか？

前のリンクをクリックして、Kankenのリンクもあった。「かんけん」は漢字検定の省略ですかね？

日本に住んでたときに漢字検定を受けようと思った。でも8級の本を買って読んで見たら難しいと思った。それは別にいいんだけど8級だと小学生と一緒に試験を受けることになる。恥ずかしいでしょう？！だから受けることをを止めてしまった。

漢字全く書けなくなる前に漢字検定の勉強をすればいいかもしれない。ロンドンでも受けることが出来るなんて驚いた。

ごめん

今日初めてごめんを漢字で書かれたのを見た。

御免（ごめん）　-　Sorry

へーーー

Writing Kanji

勉強のため久々に漢字を手で書くことにした。私の字はすごくきれいというわけではないけれど漢字を手で書くと美しいなと思う。しかもいつもパソコンの漢字を見てるので自分が書いた字を見ると新鮮なかんじがする。

スポーツで手が痛いなと思ってたが、よく考えれば久しぶりに手で漢字と言葉を書いてるからだ！

Miso Soup

みそを漢字で書けますか？

昨日日本人の友達と漢字の難しさを話した。なぜか分かんないけどその友達が「漢字でみそしる書ける？」と言って、数秒後「えっ、あたしも書けなくなった！」と言い出した。

イギリスには住んでるのもあるんだけど日本人も漢字を忘れることを知って嬉しかった！ヾ(´▽｀;)ゝウヘヘ

英語がかなり上手な人だけど、その友達が週末英語学校に行きたいと言ったら俺は「日本語学校に行ったほうがいいと思います」と笑っちゃった。言いすぎて悪かったけど冗談をうけるが分かる人で気にしてないと思う。Hさん、これを読んでないと思いますが大変失礼しました。

Kanji Power

漢字がありすぎ！

今日完全マスター漢字1級の41ページを勉強した。でも1ページから41ページまでの漢字を全部暗記したわけじゃない。何回も復習しないとね。

後100ページくらい…

07.04.08 Words

拗ねる（すねる） - To sulk
横着（おうちゃく）­ - Laziness, dishonesty
頑丈（がんじょう） - Sturdy, strong (c.f. 丈夫)
頑固（がんこ） - Stubbornness

DS Lite

クリスマスのプレセントで任天堂のDS Liteとマリオカートをもらった！

←黒いDS Liteはかっこいでしょう？！

飛行機でマリオカートをいっぱいやってもうかなり上手い！時間があったときにDS Liteをルーターと接続して（「つながって」のほうがいいかな？）友達と挑戦してみる。

イギリスのDS Liteは日本のソフトも使える。それで日本にいる間に200万人漢検というソフトを買った。ゲームが問題を出して、それからタッチペンで答えを書くんだ！すごい勉強になる！

日本語能力試験の勉強ばっかりしていて漢字を書く練習をしてない。このソフトを使うと漢字が書けなくなっちゃったと思う。

毎日電車で漢字を書きましょう！

Of Course

Here's another kanji you don't see very much:

勿論（もちろん）

Also, how about this one:

暫く（しばらく）

Receive Kanji

今日初めて「もらう」の漢字を見た。

メールをして貰えますか？

A couple more

経由（けいゆ） Go by the way, via
漏れる（もれる） To leak out, be omitted...

Word List

推薦（すいせん） 　　 recommendation
宛て（あて）　　　　　addressed to
駆け足（かけあし）　　running fast, double time
歓送会（かんそうかい）farewell party
我侭（わがまま） 　　 selfishness

Here a small list of interesting kanji/words I came across today.

Review 2 Kyu

Lately, whenever I find time to study a little Japanese, I've been using my 完全マスター漢字2級 book, as I've found there are loads of great words in it that I don't know or have forgotten (a little disheartening, but you've got to look at it positively).

My aim is to review all 56 exercises fairly swiftly, but if I go through the extensive kanji list from beginning to end it might end up taking too long.

Twin Kanji

Don't you think the following words, which use「々」to represent duplicate kanji, are interesting?

少々（しょうしょう）
着々（ちゃくちゃく）
別々（べつべつ）
順々（じゅんじゅん）
次々（つぎつぎ）
広々（ひろびろ）
若々しい（わかわかしい）

What is the name for 「々」, anyway?

Enough+

In one of last year's posts, 十分・充分, "showta24" posted a kind comment. I had forgotten the following, so thought it was worth reposting:

十分　　　enough
十二分　　more than enough

Maple Hands

Until recently I only knew the word 紅葉 in terms of the colour that leaves turn in autumn.

紅葉（こうよう）　Autumnal colours

There are some other meanings:

紅葉（もみじ）　a (Japanese) maple; red

Note that もみじのような手 means delicate little hands. Why is that?

Blog Power

A number of my Japanese friends read my English blog. Some, I have recently found, are using my posts for their English study. I think I should try the same. Here is an interesting post from NavyBlue-san's blog.

Here are a number of kanji which I couldn't read properly:

溢れる あふれる - to flood, to overflow, to brim over
欧米 おうべい - Europe and America, the West
互換 ごかん - interchangeable
充電 じゅうでん - charging, electrification
縮小 しゅくしょう - reduction, curtailment
熟す こなす - to break to pieces, to digest, to handle easily
撤退 てったい - evacuation, withdrawal, repeal, retreat
添付 てんぷ - appended, attached
汎用 はんよう - generic, general purpose, all-purpose
敷居 しきい - threshold
呆気 あっけ - taken aback, dumbfounded

NavyBlueさん、ありがとうございます。
勉強になりました！

Verb Combo

One thing that you may find initially confusing while learning Japanese are compound verbs like 飛び出す(とびだす). This means to 'jump out', 'dash out', etc. Many like this example have obvious meanings, while others are not so obvious.

I came across a number of different examples from a textbook earlier today:

雨が降り続いています（ふりつづく）> continue to fall
うわさを打ち消す（うちけす）> deny
仕事を引き受ける（ひきうける） > undertake/accept a job
通り過ぎた（とおりすぎた） > went past (a place)
車を組み立てる（くみたてる）> put (a car) together
道路に飛び出してはいけない（とびだす）> dash out

Bent Shaver

Today's new word: 反る（not 剃る）e.g. the slightly curved surface of a cricket bat.

剃る（そる）ー　shave
反る（そる）ー　curve, be warped, to bend (backward)

Sushi

今日ロンドンのWillesden Greenの鮨清（すしせい）という寿司レストランに行って、久しぶりにお寿司を食べた。日本に住んだことがあるのに今日は5回目くらいかな。寿司は食べれば食べるほど好きになるけど大好きだと言えない。日本人の友達によると鮨清は結構美味しい。ロンドンにいる方は時間があれば是非食べに行ってくださいね。

ところで、「寿司」の漢字は前から知ってるけど「鮨」の漢字は今日初めて知った。何で二つの漢字が必要かな？

レストランの住所：Sushi-Say 鮨清. 33B Walm Lane, London NW2 5SH.

Twisted

捻る（ひねる） to twist, to turn (a switch) on or off...

今日テニスをやっているとき足首を捻ってしまった。痛っ！来週テニスが出来るようによく休んでおきます。

Heisig & Kanji

In an effort to tackle the kanji again, I've dusted off my copy of Rembering the Kanji Vol. 1 by J. Heisig. This book was discussed first here, and after buying it, here.

It has been a bit of a slog trying to get back to the point I had reached the first time I used the book. In fact, I am still some way off. Unfortunately, as I hadn't reviewed my imagery/stories, many of these kanji have been long forgotten - exactly what we are trying to avoid!

I hope to make it far further this time around, but who knows.

Writing Kanji

２年前完全マスター漢字 JLPT 2級を買ったけど少ししか使わなかった。今日漢字の復習をやろうと思って、この本を開けて、ちょっと勉強した。

２級の漢字だといっても、全部出来ると言えない。この本が終わったら、買っといた完全マスターJLPT 1級を勉強するつもりだ。

何ヶ月ぶり手で漢字を書いてみた。楽しかったな。これからも書く練習しよう！

Drink

I came across this word today:

呑ん（のむ） to drink, to gulp, to swallow

Interestingly, it has the same sound as 飲む. Perhaps not a coincidence? Does this word have more of an emphasis on the action of gulping/swallowing rather than merely drinking?

十分・充分

日本語能力試験３級を受けたとき「「じゅうぶん」は漢字でどう書きますか」という質問があった。漢字があるの？！って思った。４つの答えの中から「重分」を選んでしまった。正解は「十分」だった。忘れられないな。

最近もう一つの「じゅうぶん」を知った…充分！

十分と充分は全く同じ？違い教えてください。

Dismal Vocab

Last night I sat down to start the JLPT 2003 1級 文字・語彙 paper. What a shocker!

When I tried the 2004 paper most of my answers were guesses at best, or using educated guesses to piece together kanji compound words etc. Still, I managed just over 50%. Not as bad as it could've been, I thought at the time.

The 2003 paper shows how bad it could have been... I battled through the paper, guessing my whole way through, even more so than the 2004 paper. I scored a dismal 38%! Perhaps I was dreaming to think I might score higher than 50% in the real exam. We'll see.

Son & Toku

損する　そんする　to lose
得する　とくする　to make a profit

A friend used the first term, そんする, when she was talking about going to the supermarket to find it closed and having to go back later. So rather than 'lose', perhaps 'lost out' or 'wasted time' would be a better translation?

とくする can be used, for example, when you feel like you've got something for a good price; when you pick up a cheap bargain. Maybe in this case it would be similar to かちがある - value for money?

To Exist

My startling find of the day is the following kanji:

ございます, 御座います　to be, exist (teineigo)

This reminds me of the time I first saw the kanji for います、居ます.

Reading Ideas

This is an idea I came across for kanji recognition/reading which I thought I'd share.

Get a Japanese friend to sit down with you and pick an interesting article from a newspaper/leaflet etc. Then, instead of trying to read it word-for-word from start to finish, try just reading the kanji/kanji-verbs, skipping the other parts. Where you get stuck, your study partner can kindly come to the rescue.

I've found this really useful and can be less tedious and a nice change from slogging through a long article from start to finish.

To Hold Back

引っ張る（ひっぱる） - to drag, pull, stretch...

I've heard this quite a lot recently, especially when used with regards to sport. I am guessing it can mean 'to hold people back', as in the following example - which interestingly uses 足.

皆さんの足を引っ張ってしまってごめんなさい。

Kanji Variation

I've come across kanji lately which have similar meanings to kanji I already know but look slightly different.

逢う - あう - to meet (with drama or pathos)
観る - みる - (oK) to view (i.e. flowers, movie)

Are the nuances different to 会う and 見る?

Plum Rain

梅＋雨＝つゆ（梅雨）？

What's the connection of rainy season to plums? For those of you in Japan, I am a bit envious. We could use some rain in England right now (except it would ruin the tennis at Wimbledon).

Latest Book

In an effort to rekindle some lost motivation I've shelled out for Rembering the Kanji Vol. 1 by J. Heisig. You may recall a discussion of the book which you can refer to here. I won't re-write much about it except to say that the book offers a systematic method of learning how to write the kanji by 'story telling'. Thanks to Roy for bringing the book to my attention in the first place.

After paying £20 for this book I have found that it has been distributed and is widely available on the Internet for 'free'. Of course, I prefer the print version and at least I am supporting the author. Obviously, I am just trying to console myself.

Five Senses

Sight - 視覚 - しかく
Touch - 触覚 - しょっかく
Hearing - 聴覚 - ちょうかく
Taste - 味覚 - みかく
Smell - 嗅覚 - きゅうかく

Appetite

The first word I learnt for 'appetite' was 食欲 （しょくよく）. Today I've learnt a new one, 食い気 （くいけ）. The new word has a much lower frequency value.

食欲 （しょくよく） - appetite - freq. 677
食い気 （くいけ） - appetite - freq. 179

Related only by 「気」 another word I came across was:

色気 （いろけ） - interest in the opposite sex, sex appeal, glamor, sexual passion, romance, desire, seductiveness, charm, sensuality... What a lot of defintions...

Calligraphy

書道 （しょどう） and 習字 （しゅうじ） are both calligraphy, right? I thought they were in essence the same thing but my calligraphy teacher points out that they are different. Consulting my dictionary I find 'calligraphy' and 'penmanship' for these terms respectively.

According to my teacher 習字 is more about learning to write characters - as can be seen from the kanji which make the word while 書道 is more of an art form. A flowing artistic piece is therefore 書道 and not 習字. It's not something I'd really thought about before.

Book Battle

Whether or not the extensive discussion from the past post will continue or not here I don't know, but seeing as it has become long and is slightly off (the original) topic I am making a new post. Also, the following links may be more useful and easier to spot for other people here rather than buried in the comments section of the last post. So, the book:

Remembering the Kanji, James W. Heisig.

The basic idea behind this book is learning the kanji characters without the on/kun yomi using your imagination to keep them firmly in your memory. The second book moves on to the readings.

It's an interesting idea to leave aside the yomi-kata and learn the characters first. Using imaginative stories for remembering things is hardly a new idea, but by using 'principles' or a common set of building blocks this feels like much more of a complete memory system rather than making up totally different stories for every part of every kanji.

I've only read some of the preview so can't really give a totally useful comment but I'd suggest you have a quick look and join the discussion!

> Book preview (quite a sizeable chunk)
> Kanji clinic review

[Links and discussion credit: Roy & Tae Kim]

Kanji Cards

A friend yesterday showed me the kanji cards he is making by hand. And the other day I was reading Roy's post about kanji cards. These two things combined with the JLPT results being released have got me thinking I should start revising my kanji.

I have my first set of Tuttle flash cards which I have never really used. The idea of making cards by hand just sounds ideal but I know I'd never get around to it - or complete it if I started.

But what I realised after studying for the 2 kyu JLPT is that while I can recognise far more kanji compounds I can probably write fewer kanji than when I was studying for 3 kyu. So, firstly I'm interested in revising the kanji I should know and being able write basic kanji without straining my brain for 2 minutes before each stroke comes to mind!

Back to repetition? The daily (as much as possible) diary seemed to help a while back. I guess it just comes to down to sticking at it, whatever way you do it.

Hiragana Kanji

'Hiragana' has kanji: 平仮名
Likewise, so does 'katakana': 片仮名

Zuibun

随分寂しい > ずいぶん さびしい

Strangely, this is part of a Christmas e-card I received from a Japanese friend.

Decisions

According to my friend she is 優柔不断 （ゆうじゅうふだん）, someone who is bad at making decisions. Ah, me too, me too...

Bullet Kanji

Presenting my kanji of the day (well 2nd of the week anyway):

弾（たま）,　bullet

This kanji has a few readings and meanings. The reason it caught my eye is because it's the ダン in 爆弾（ばくだん） meaning bomb.

Also, note to myself: 弾む（はずむ） means bound, while shockingly ピアノを弾く（ひく）!

Wounded Word

By coincidence I saw a kanji that I recognised from an e-mail in my kanji book:

傷

傷 （きず） - wound. Here are some compounds that were listed for this kanji:

傷つく - to be hurt
傷心 - to be heart broken
感傷的な - sentimental

I wonder if I should've known this for the JLPT. Anyway, it's this week's kanji.

Cute

I was just browsing the kanji for the JLPT at www.kanjisite.com when I came across 可 (ka)　possible, approve. Then I looked down the list of example compounds and was shocked to find:

可愛い　（かわいい）　ー　cute

Wow, it's shocking when such a common word has kanji that you never knew about it.

Cool

かっこういい！Cool, handsome etc. How many times have I said that in my life (the same number of times as I've said it in the last 2 years, but anyway)?

In all this time I haven't known it's exact spelling because half the time it's transformed by katakana, shortened, lengthened, you name it - because it's an exclamation word, that's understandable (I look at too much purikura & strange keitai emails).

My best guess would have been かっこいい but obviously I wasn't listening hard enough - or perhaps it's just shortended in speech like すみません and ごめんなさい?

So, the other day I was asking someone if this word was related to かこ, as in someone's clothing/style. I didn't understand the reply and unfortunately got confused. Then for some reason I came across the word in my dictionary:

格好いい (かっこういい)

With these common kanji it all seems to make more sense!

Another One

This follows the exact same pattern as the post about よろしく. Today's kanji for a familiar word is for いる - 居る. A word I see every day and yet I didn't know the kanji for it. Why do Japanese people often miss out simple kanji and write difficult kanji when they write? It doesn't make any sense to me.

This came from the keigo section that I've been avoiding in my grammar book. There are tables full of difficult versions of otherwise familiar words. I don't know half of them but still managed to answer the questions... somehow.

Yoroshiku

In my 99円 shop I saw a little picture of the manager on the wall with his little introduction. At the end it had the usual よろしくお願いします... or did it? In one of those 'I've never seen the kanji for that before' I saw that よろしく was 宜しく. Hmm, interesting...

Bike Ticket

Today I renewed my bike parking ticket near the station for an extortionate 6900円! It will last until the end of January 2005 though, so I won't have to worry about it for a while.

Anyway, today's word for me to remember:

更新（こうしん）　　　renewal, update, renovation

I double checked this word before asking for my ticket. The conversation went something like this:

すいません…更新お願いします。
はい。あぁ、もう過ぎてますね。
Errr…すいません(*oops*)！三ヶ月お願いします！