The particle 「 に 」

Another announcement for Japanese 001 about particle use, this time about 「に」. I used Google IME for all of the various 顔文字 in the previous post and this one as well.

こんにちは みんなさん！
Today I'd like to talk about the particle

に

So, how do we use 「 に 」?
Well, we have learned 3 ways so far:

We use 「 に 」 when we talk about where something is, like "in"

れいぞうこ が だいどころ に あります。

We use「 に 」 to indicate were we are going "to"

がっこう に いきます。

Lastly, we use 「 に 」 to say what we are doing "for" an occasion (like breakfast!)

あさごはん に すし を たべます。

Keep Studying!
＼(^o^)／ ｶﾞﾝﾊﾞﾚｰ

The Particle 「 を 」

I’m the TA for a Japanese 001 course, and I’ve been making little announcements for the students via the online course management system. Here’s one that teaches the function of 「を」.

Today let's talk about the particle：

を

Well, 「 を 」 doesn't mean anything.

(ﾟДﾟ；) ｗｈａａａ?

Don't fret! It doesn't have a meaning, but it has a FUNCTION!

(゜o゜) ｔｅｌｌ ｍｅ ｍｏｒｅ...

「 を 」 Just lets us know that the verb has a direct object.
for example:

しゅくだい を します。

In this sentence, 「 を 」 tells us that the direct object of the verb 「 します 」 is the noun 「 しゅくだい 」.

Which would otherwise mean, Do homework.

＼(^o^)／わかりました!

So... in conclusion, don't forget to do your 「 しゅくだい 」 !

じゃまた！

Japanese Apps for Android

 

(made with Androidify)

Hey everyone! Go on over to NihongoUp to read my guest post on Japanese Apps for your Android phone. Then, go download them and try them out!

http://nihongoup.com/blog/android-japanese-apps/

Using Google 日本語入力

When I initially found out that Google had produced a Japanese IME, I was pretty excited to try it out. I installed it in November of 2010, and I haven’t used any other IME for writing in Japanese since. Of course, I’ve used the default Microsoft IME that just comes along with Windows 7, which hasn’t really made any significant improvements since I first started using the Microsoft IME back when I was still using Windows XP. I’ve also used ATOK, which seems to be on every computer I’ve ever used in Japan. I’ve always disabled ATOK in favor of the Microsoft IME, but since downloading the Google IME, I’ve been more than completely satisfied, I get CRAZY EXCITED every time I use it!!

ｷｬ━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━!!

Google IME gives you suggestions. Way more suggestions than any other IME. It also gives suggestions based on what you’ve previously typed. You can turn that setting on and off as you like, but I quite prefer it, especially if I’m writing Katakana words.

Another great feature, as you can see in the video, is that it suggests the year in various formats.

For example, you type ことし(this year)
suggestion 1 is 今年 (lit. this year)
2 is 2011 (the numerical year)
4 is 平成23年 (the imperial year)
etc.
I really like that it automatically suggests the imperial year, which is always so difficult for me to remember, but is important to know for certain kinds of official-type documents.

(・∀・)ｲｲﾈ!!

Wondering what that katakana word is in English? Nooo problem!! Type ラジオ and you will get the English “radio” as your 6th suggestion.

It also suggests less-commonly-used Kanji for commonly used words like “France” = フランス = 仏国

Making special characters is easy. For a heart ♥, type はーと.
For any of the following types of star, ☆, ☆彡, or ★ just type ほし.

Last but not least, and my most favorite thing about Google IME, is that it has over 500 kaomoji to choose from!!!

ヮ(ﾟдﾟ)ォ!

For the huge selection, you can type in your onomatopoeia word, like ワオ, or you can type かおもじ to get the full list and choose from the 500+ suggestions.

The only thing that I miss from using the Microsoft IME is the IME Pad, which lets you physically write out the Kanji or its radical on a little notepad, and look up the correct character from there. Its helpful when I know the shape (or root radical) of the character, but not the reading. I keep the Microsoft IME around in case I need to use this feature, but since the Google IME has so many helpful suggestions, I rarely use this anymore.

And in true Japanese style, there’s a comic about what exactly an IME is, how it works, and it features the developers! Very cute.

As for me, I really enjoy using this application over my pre-installed Microsoft IME. If you’d like to try Google 日本語入力 You can download it at this address:

http://www.google.com/intl/ja/ime/

Happy typing!

予餞会

Last week was our yosenkai (send-off) for our third-year students. Most schools tend to have some kind of event for graduating students, whether it be from elementary, middle, or high school. There’s another word for send-off,  送別会 (soubetsukai) which is fairly common, but yosenkai, the word our school uses, is a kind of fancy word that denotes that the event is specifically for graduates, and the ‘sen’ can be written with either 餞 (hanamuke, which means ‘parting gift’) or 饌 (‘sen’ that comes from 饌米, or “rice that is consecrated for a deity”). Whatever way you choose to write it, they all basically mean the same kind of event these days.

The wind ensemble and the dance club performed, as well as the baseball club and a couple of other groups. The music teacher asked me to do a last minute collaboration with him. He asked me to choose a song (!!!) at the very last minute, so I ended up settling on “Good Riddance (Time of your Life)” by Green Day, since I figured that was appropriate for a high school send-off (Ha, maybe like 12 years ago). Also, I didn’t really have time to learn how to play anything new, and I didn’t really feel like playing anything original, since I didn’t feel like my songs would fit with the event. Lastly, I was asked to do this the day before the actual send-off, I just… happened to know how to play it, and the chords were simple enough so the music teacher could ad-lib an accompaniment during the bridge of the song. I don’t teach the third-year students, so I don’t know them very well, but I was glad that I got to participate in the event. Some of the kids even knew who Green Day was, go figure. Getting a chance to play at the Kiryu performing arts center was really awesome, even if the song I was covering wasn’t all that great... The most important thing is that the kids had fun, and I had fun too!

(sorry for the poor quality photos! The school photographer gave me actual, physical, photographs! I took photos of his photos with my phone, since I don’t have a scanner.)

日本語能力試験

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) is something that I, a student of Japan and its language, have been battling with for some time now. Many of you may remember an old post of mine containing a quote from Miyazaki Toten that reeked of despair and frustration. Not long after that, many of you e-mailed me and tweeted at me and left supportive comments and talked to me and just really gave me a lot of hope. I hope you all remember the follow-up post, where I decided to pick myself up and dust myself off. I will say now that yes, even now, I get frustrated, but I am now miles (kilometers?) from where I was when I wrote about giving up.

A while back, I had a conversation with Lindsey (!!!) about studying for the JLPT. She had made this awesome study plan and said something to the effect of, “we’re both teachers, we plan lessons for our students, why not do it for ourselves?” I mean, I had all of the materials sitting right in front of me, I hadn’t really been utilizing them to the full extent I could have been.

So I threw myself into studying. I picked up those books and dug into them. I bought a notebook to write down all of the grammar points I was learning and the practice exercises that went along with them. I mean, I actually needed to physically write everything down into this notebook, instead of just circling the answers in the practice text. I found that if I actually did the writing myself, I was more apt to remember what was written down. Following this mindset, I also bought a graph paper notebook and used it to practice new kanji as well as some kanji I knew, but wasn’t entirely sure of how they were written. Luckily, I sit next to one of our school’s Japanese teachers in the office, and he gladly helped me when I wasn’t entirely sure of stroke order, usage, etcetera.

Wow was he helpful, and never ever once condescending or confusing. Sometimes when I ask people questions about word usage or idiomatic phrases, they tend to go off on a nihonjinron tirade that never really ever answers my original question and always succeeds in me saying “yes, I agree, you speak a difficult language…” but never following with, “… can you freaking help me now?!”

I think that perhaps the difference between him and all of my other Japanese teachers was that my teachers were teaching Japanese to me as a foreign language. Whereas, he teaches Japanese to high school students as like.. their first language. I mean, he’s the equivalent of what my English teachers were like in high school, making us read great novels and write essays and papers about them. Not so concerned with the correct-ness of the language, but more about how one communicates with it and its usage and written form. I wish I could have taken all of my Japanese in college from a teacher like him, but I suppose it was best that I learned my basics the way I did!!

I finally invested in an electronic dictionary, as time was of the essence!! It was, hands down, the best purchase I’ve ever made it my life!! I know how to use a regular-old paper Kanji dictionary, but let’s face it, those things are a pain in the butt to lug around and looking up kanji using the STEP method takes a fair amount of time. The electronic dictionary is a huge time-saver and convenience. I can even save all of the entries I’ve looked up with a flashcard feature, and review them later on. It has a pronunciation guide, thesaurus, encyclopedia, business dictionary, cookbooks, medical dictionary… etc. Totally a great purchase, even if it did set me back a couple hundred bucks.

Lastly, I’ll talk about the texts I used. I will provide links to them on Amazon.co.jp, along with their reviews.

日本語総まとめ問題集 [2級文法編] and日本語総まとめ問題集 [2級漢字編]

these two texts are published by Ask publishing. When I looked at them in the bookstore, I appreciated the fact that they contained English explanations and (in the Kanji book) lots of useful vocabulary. Unfortunately, the English translations are poor and are in need of serious revision. When I was making my own notes in my notebook, I translated the example sentences myself so they would be easier to relate to and understand. The other axe I have to grind with these books is the fact that they have lots of really negative sentences in them, that just… kind of make you want to give up studying! They don’t really create any kind of positive attitude toward language learning!

For example:

• この手紙の日本語は間違いだらけだ。
  The Japanese in this letter is filled with mistakes.
• ひらがなさえ書けないんですから、漢字なんで書けません。
  I can’t even write hiragana, so of course I can’t write kanji.
• 今の実力では、試験に受かりっこない。
  It is impossible to pass the test with my current abilities.
• この作文は、日本語がめちゃくちゃで直しようがない。
  The Japanese in this essay is so bad that it’s impossible to fix.

実力アップ!日本語能力試験2級漢字単語ドリル

I mainly bought this book to take and read on the train to and from work. It’s a nice size for commuting, and it comes with a red plastic plate so the words and furigana printed in red disappear and force you to memorize the vocabulary. It’s nice for short-term memory recall practice, but as a regular study method, I would personally steer clear of this kind of book.

and lastly,

日本語能力試験N1・N2 試験に出る読解―40日完成
Wow! I really loved this text the most out of all of them. Reading comprehension is probably my weakest section of the test, but this book is great as far as explaining the types of questions, giving you wonderful explanations of how to break down sentences and truly get a grasp of what you’re reading. However, this book is written entirely in Japanese, which makes it a little tiresome at first. I figured that since I’m taking a N2 test I should at least be able to read 80% of this book, so I shouldn’t complain that it’s written all in Japanese – that is what I’m aiming for. I WANT to be able to read and understand 100% of the book! So. I did my best and made my way through the N2 practice problems, and I did very well with this text, and I highly recommend it.

I’d also like to mention that I used all of these texts in conjunction with the mass amounts of Japanese I already know. I do have a degree in this stuff, and without my background, I think it might be hard for an independent learner to work with these texts. On the other hand, everyone is different, and who am I to say what works for me may not work for anyone else!! I encourage everyone to find their own style and way to study whatever it is you’re passionate about! For me it happens to be Japanese. I loove Japanese. I love how it rolls off of my tongue and I love writing it mostly! I like all of the little idiomatic expressions and I even like the things that challenge me like humble speech and transitive/intransitive verb pairs. I think it’s really cool. Anyway. I’ll stop gushing over how much I enjoy this language and keep my fingers crossed that I did well on my test this year!!

Speech Contest...

Every year at Penn State, the Japanese department held its “三分スピーチコンテスト” (three minute speech contest," so I am fairly used to giving speeches in Japanese. When I found a notice on my desk at school for a speech contest here in Ashikaga, I figured I’d dig up one of my old speeches and give it the old college try. So, it  turned out that I had received the flyer a couple of days past the deadline, but my wonderful English coordinator at school called up the community college (who was organizing the event) and asked if it was OK if I faxed the application ASAP. Naturally, this was no problem. I was in!
So, a couple of Saturdays ago, I gave my speech.
I was given a chance to visit Shiga prefectural prison during my last stint in Japan, at Kansai Gaidai, and since the topic was open, and I had gained a lot of insight about Japanese culture from the experience, I figured… hey.. why not talk about what I saw that day at the prison, I’m sure not many people have that chance, and I’m sure it would be interesting, maybe a little boring, but kind of interesting…maybe.
However, I do not believe this was the case at all. I think that I got such a poor response to it because it was not very humorous or cute like the other speeches. Maybe they didn’t understand it? I really have no idea what happened, except that the response from the audience was hardly adulation.
Besides this, the people that I invited to come and watch didn’t show at all (not one of them!). I was really bummed, so when I got up in front of that room, I was really nervous. The only person I knew was one of the judges, and she’s one of my bosses at the BOE. This nervousness also probably attributed to the fact that I was difficult to understand.
Anyway. I ended up leaving before they started breaking out the food & drink, mostly because I didn’t know anyone and every time I tried to talk to anybody they would avert their gaze and walk quickly away from me. Had I not explained in the speech that I had gone to the prison as a mere visitor and not as a criminal?
Each of the contestants wound up with a lovely medal, a box of leaf pies (which are not made of leaves… just shaped like them), and a JLPT level-1 practice book. It was really interesting to listen to the other speeches as well. I wish I could have gotten to talk to the other contestants, but they were busy with their guests and I guess whoever else came to see them.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and I also really hate to complain in such a public way, but this was honestly a really bad day for me. As for me, I don’t think I will participate in the speech contest ever again. I felt, for the most part, unwelcome, and my level Japanese is nowhere near most of the other contestants’. I suppose if I were to do it again, I’d choose a cuter topic. Maybe Hello Kitty.
In conclusion, I will leave you with the full text of my speech for your reading enjoyment: (It was kind of short, but I was trying to keep it brief and account for pauses after sentences.)
関西外国語大学で留学している間に、日本の現代史と政治問題の授業の為に滋賀県刑務所を見学しました。皆さんに日本の刑務所の生活について説明します。
法務省は受刑者を罰するだけではなくては社会復帰を促進させます。刑務所で受刑者は社会に入り直す準備をしています。刑務所に入所する時、受刑者は作業の為にプレイスメントテストを受けなくてはいけません。テストの点によってどんな作業に入るかが決められます。受刑者に専門教育があったらその専門を生かした作業に入ります。
受刑者は厳しい予定を守ります。毎日早く起きて、ご飯を食べて、各々の部屋を出て、工場に入る前に点検をさせられて、作業を始めます。作業しながら話す事はできません。刑務所と色々な会社はよく請負工事を取り決めます。滋賀県刑務所に行った時、受刑者が畳と塗り物を作ったり、電子機器に配線を入れたりするのを見学しました。毎年刑務所祭りで売る為の模型船と木彫りを作ったりもします。
更にどんな作業をして、どのぐらい働くによって食べる量を決めます。滋賀県刑務所で普通の受刑者は千六百カロリーが食べれます。自分達の為に野菜を作ったり料理したりするほかに滋賀県の受刑者は刑務所の庭園で庭仕事をしたり、風呂を掃除したりします。
また、滋賀県刑務所で色々な部活動をします。例えばスポーツとか書道部とか合晿隊などを受刑者はおこなれます。滋賀県刑務所長は「この部活動は受刑者の社会の付き合いで助けます」と説明しました。部活動に参加するのは特権です。滋賀県刑務所で受刑者は他の受刑者や看守と問題を起こしたりたら部活動に参加できなくて、一日独房に監禁土れます。そこでは、正座で座ります。
日本でもアメリカでも刑務所に行ける一般人はほとんどいないです。アメリカで刑務所に行ったことはありません。滋賀県刑務所に行ったことは珍しい経験だと思います。本当にすごいチャンスでした。確かにこの経験から日本の文化と社会についてたくさん学びました。

日本語

I suppose that since I’ve studied Japanese for quite some time now, I often get tired of the extremely patronizing “you’re so good at Japanese!” after I’ve only uttered something like “good morning” or “nice to meet you.” Not long after these remarks, many people go on to say “Japanese is so difficult.” This, according to Greg Smits, is somewhat a source of national identity for people. It's like a little taste of Japanese nationalism. He says in his online text that:

“Indeed, for many in Japan this alleged difficulty is a mild source of pride in one's national identity (e.g., "Yes, I speak a very difficult language--how impressive"). According to linguists, however, it does not make any sense to say that a particular language is "difficult" in absolute terms. If that were really the case, then children in some parts of the world would master the stages of language acquisition significantly faster or slower than children in other places. If, for example Japanese is really an unusually "difficult" language in absolute terms, Japanese children would learn to speak at a slower pace than children in places where an "easy" language is spoken. In fact, however, children all around the world acquire language in the same sequence of states, and, on average, at the same speed.”

Personally, I think it has to do a lot with 日本人論 ("theories of Japanese cultural or racial uniqueness", as my dictionary defines it), which is a topic for another time and place. Smits even covers the truths behinds the myths of this “alleged difficulty”:

“Much of the talk in Japan about the alleged "difficulty" of Japanese is actually not about the language itself but about the writing system used to represent the language. Writing is not language² but a system for representing language in a durable medium. Unlike the case of languages, which are all about equally "difficult," at least in terms of the speed children acquire mastery of them, there is wide variation in the efficiency of writing systems. As it is written today, Japanese employs a relatively inefficient writing system (as does English, with its inconsistent, often illogical spelling). Though a simple alphabetic script could handle Japanese quite well, owing to the early contact with China, the first Japanese exposure to writing was Chinese characters. Unfortunately, Chinese characters are not well suited for writing Japanese.”

I took a class from Dr. Smits while I was studying at Penn State. I’m pretty sure that he got sick of the constant “日本語上手ですね!” after simple words and phrases after all of the living/traveling in Japan that he did. I’m pretty sure that’s what motivated a lot of this commentary on language that appears in his textbooks. Anyway, even if it’s not, it’s exactly the same as I feel about it.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is don’t try and patronize me with your insincere “tatemae” flattery. It gets really old.

If you want to read more stuff by Dr. Greg Smits, you can read his online textbooks (which I have found to make for some really good reading) and his book “Visions of Ryuku” is available on Amazon. The entrance to the site is at http://www.east-asian-history.net