TsukuBlog

Today, I refined my understanding of the word かしら (kashira). This　word is put at the end of a sentence to make it into a　question or request for confirmation.

For example, if you want to go home, you could ask your boss the following.

帰っても良いでしょうか。
kaette mo ii deshou ka
Nuance: May I go home now?

If you are talking to one of your colleagues, however, you can use this instead. (This is kind of a standard way to say it — not overly polite, but not casual.)

帰っても良いですか。
kaette mo ii desu ka
Nuance: Can I go home now?

If you are chatting with friends, the following are fine.

帰っても良いかしら。
kaette mo ii kashira
Nuance: Do you mind if I leave?

帰っても良いかな。
kaette mo ii kana
Nuance: I wonder if it’s okay for me to leave. (Implies more doubt, like asking oneself in addition to asking the listener)

かしら is mainly used by women, but you will hear certain men use it too sometimes (very rarely). かしら is a casual way to ask a question (or ask for confirmation), but it has a nice sound, so it leaves the listener with a good impression — AS LONG AS the listener is your friend and equal and not your superior.

I always thought that かしら was higher on the “politeness scale” because one of my very good (and very polite) friends uses it all the time. What I realize now is that she uses it with me because I am her friend AND she wants it to sound nice. My mistake was thinking that she uses it only because it is polite. (And that is a serious mistake in my thinking, because I should have recognized that she wouldn’t be using very formal language with me.)

This is one of the most difficult things about learning Japanese. The choice of words depends on the relationship between the people who are talking, their gender, the situation, etc. This is, I’m sure, true of all languages to a certain extent, but it is extremely well developed in Japanese. This means that the usual language learner’s trick of learning by mimicking what is said to you doesn’t always work in Japanese, and can even be quite detrimental to your language development. (For example, it is very common to hear foreign men speak in a somewhat more feminine way because they learn by listening to their Japanese girlfriends and wives.)

Words in another language are like tools in your dad’s workshop. Even if you know what a lot of them are, if you don’t know how to use them, they are worthless, or worse yet, they may even hurt you. This means that it is important to give as much attention to learning the USAGE of the word as the MEANING by looking up examples of the word in use (http://www.alc.co.jp is good for this), asking your colleagues, and testing out the usage of words on good friends (since they are, hopefully, least likely to be offended if you use the wrong level of politeness).

So, to sum up, if you are a woman, you might want to try using かしら to make your Japanese sound more refined — remembering that it just sounds nice and is not particularly polite. Just be sure to take account of the relationship between you and the listener (and all the other usage variables) before you do!

On Sunday, April 27th, the Ibaraki Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching will offer two presentations. All are welcome. There will be no charge. No pre-registration is necessary.

Date: Sunday, April 27
Place: Ibaraki Christian University, Hitachi Omika
Cost: Free
More info: http://www.kasei.ac.jp/jalt/

Morning Session (Part 1): 10:00 (Registration from 09:30)
Doing Culture Ethnographically/Study Abroad Programs
by Elaine Gilmour, Associate Professor, Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University

This presentation examines what an ethnographic approach to teaching culture is, and suggests components for a community based ethnography course. We’ll also consider the point of such a course from the students’ perspective, by looking at questionnaire response data provided by students who have participated in Study Abroad programs during their university experience.

Lunch Break: 12:00-14:00

Afternoon Session (Part 2): 14:00
Actually Teaching Listening
by Alastair Graham-Marr, ABAX
Teaching listening effectively means teaching both phonology and knowledge of discourse. A working knowledge of the phonology of natural connected speech, elisions and liaisons, weak forms and reductions helps students with their ‘bottom-up’ decoding skills. Developing student knowledge of discourse, particularly of scripts (those discourses in English that tend to follow a set pattern) helps them with their ‘top-down’ predictive skills.

JALT Ibaraki chapter meetings are open to all interested in learning and teaching languages. Abstracts for the presentations and access information for the venue, as well further information for future events are available on the chapter website.

Electronic dictionaries are good because they can help you look things up quickly when you are on the go, and they often have a few tools to help you study. However, most Japanese-English electronic dictionaries are designed for Japanese people, so some of them cannot be used well unless you already know kanji. It is important to find a dictionary that is “foreigner-friendly”, meaning that you can use it even if you do not know how to read kanji (yet).

I have owned two electronic dictionaries in the past. Both of them were Canon Wordtanks. However, the last time I bought an electronic dictionary was in 2001 and they have changed a lot since then. It used to be that Canon was the only one that foreigners could use, but now there are lots of choices. (And I am not sure if the current model of the Wordtank is still foreigner-friendly.)

If you are thinking of buying an electronic dictionary, you might want to try asking around to see what people are buying these days. A good place to ask about this is TAIRA, a local mailing list that includes about 1000 members. There should be a few people on the list who have recently purchased an electronic dictionary and who are willing to give you advice. This topic comes up on TAIRA every now and then, so you can also look in the archives for some general advice.

Advice about models
* Japan Shop (Since this shop is mainly for people who are not already in Japan, you might want to use this site to compare models and then buy the one you choose at one of the local electronics shops.)

See also…
* Electronic Dictionaries: A Buyer’s Guide (Dated, but still useful.)
* How to Choose a Good Dictionary (Mainly for paper dictionaries, but some general points to consider.)
* Article on Kanji Dictionaries in Alien Times

As Shaney has mentioned on TAIRA a while ago, Alien Times is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month. Wow!

Did you know that the back issues of Alien Times were handed out during the Tsukuba International Exchange Fair last month? I had a chance to talk to quite a lot of people during the fair, and I was thrilled to find out that almost all non-Japanese speakers I’ve talked to were either Alien Times readers or someone who at least knew Alien Times. That was great considering that some of those people don’t even work or live in Tsukuba! I’ve also met several non-Japanese speaking people who came to the festival to get the information on Tsukuba because they were thinking of moving here, so they were delighted to see a free English-language publication!

A lot of Japanese college, high school and even junior high school kids were also excited to see “free English-language study materials,” so they took the back issues without any hesitation. Quite a lot of them told me that they hardly understand the contents of Alien Times but would still love to read the articles with dictionaries in their hands :)

Some adults, on the other hand, reacted completely different. A couple of Japanese men in their late 40s or in their 50s came to talk to me after staring at a pile of Alien Times for a while. No, they didn’t come at the same time, but they both started the “argument” the same way.

Their argument?

Well…, they both started the conversation with me by saying;
“Do you know the term ‘Alien’ isn’t a very nice way to call a foreigner(s)?”

I politely answered yes and politely told them that the word “alien” also means “foreigner,” so the name Alien Times isn’t inappropriate in a way. Again, those guys reacted to what I have said the same way. They asked me if I knew that the term ‘alien’ is no longer in use at Narita Airport….

(　｀Д´)ﾉ Arrrrrrgh!! you smarty pants!

I knew why both of them were telling me the identical stuff. Actually, I knew what they were going to say before even they opened their mouth because there was a quiz show on TV just a few days before the festival, and one of the quiz questions happened to be about this ‘alien’ issue at the airport. Narita Airport had been using “ALIEN” for the signs above its immigration counters, but had stopped using it after receiving numerous complaints from foreign travelers in 1980s.　Obviously, many people began associating the word “alien” with “space alien” since that popular movie came out in 1979.

I was channel-surfing, and happened to watch just that part of the quiz show, so I had expected that someone would come at me with that argument. Some other adults didn’t try to argue with me, but did ask me that question or give me other negative reaction.

One very important fact those people forgot about was that Alien Times was and is being published by the “aliens” themselves!

Excerpt from “About Us” page of Alien Times:

While some people find the name “Alien Times” to be a bit strange, especially now that we are not referred to as aliens very much anymore, we decided to keep the title of the newsletter as it was in 1987 so that we remember how it all started.

I must’ve caught those men off guard when I told them that the people who are involved in Alien Times are foreigners, but I had to show one guy the back page of Alien Times to show the names of the staff to prove it! Those guys weren’t convinced, that is, they still thought that “I” should change the name even when I told them the brief history of Alien Times, but what I should’ve done from the beginning was to just tell them that I, a Japanese, am not the one who makes Alien Times….

(　｀щ´)ﾉ Grrrrrr!!

In case you are wondering, Japan isn’t the only country that uses “alien” in its official documents. I was once an alien in the United States though I’m sure the usage of ‘alien’ varies from state to state.

I’d also like to clarify that the Japanese word we use for foreigners is 外国人(がいこくじん、gaikoku-jin). 外 means outside, 国 is country, 人 is person, so it simply means “a person from outside of the country.” The word for space alien is エイリアン(alien) or 宇宙人(うちゅうじん、uchuu-jin). 宇宙 means outer space, and since 人 is the letter for person, 宇宙人 means “a person from outer space.” So don’t get upset when you see “alien” written on your document because we don’t think you are an “alien.”

Over the next couple of years, there are going to be some revisions to the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.

1. A new level will be introduced between levels 2 and 3 in 2010, making 5 levels in total. The new system will then consist of levels N1 to N5.

2. From 2009, levels 1 and 2 will be offered in July and all four levels will be offered in December.

3. The questions that have appeared on past tests will no longer be published.

(Source: http://www.jees.or.jp/jlpt/pdf/20080525_jlpt_kaitei_report_en_pre01_0718.pdf)

Also, it seems that they are going to offer a test site in Ibaraki this year.

(Source: http://www.jees.or.jp/jlpt/en/jlpt_guide.html)

Why not buy some furniture?

This is from the back of a truck seen in Tsukuba. There is another branch of this company in Tsukuba called Style Shop, a much better name if you ask me.

(I have been asked to add some points for clarification, so I am reposting this message. Please read the following carefully if you are thinking of applying for these classes.)

International students and researchers and their families are eligible for free Japanese classes taught by undergraduate and graduate students who are majoring in Japanese language education at the University of Tsukuba. The lessons are offered so that the graduate students can practice their teaching skills. The classes are videotaped and people observe the lessons from the other side of a one-way mirror. (These classes are not associated with the regular Japanese classes offered by the International Student Center at the university.)

Students should be able to read and write hiragana and katakana. If you are not familiar with these Japanese alphabets, they will send you a list so that you can learn them before the classes begin.

Students are divided into two classes according to the results of a placement test. J1 meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and J2 meets on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Students must agree to attend all classes.

The classes run from Monday, April 23 to Wednesday May 30. There are three 40 minute periods per day and students must attend all three classes. Period 1 is from 3:30pm to 4:10pm, period 2 is from 4:15pm to 4:55pm, and period 3 is from 5pm to 5:40pm. The content of the classes includes basic vocabulary, elementary grammar, everyday conversation, and cultural activities. Classes are held at the University of Tsukuba and the tuition is free. There are no classes during Golden Week (April 30 to May 4).

If you want to apply, send an email with your name, sex, nationality, native language, occupation, address, phone number, and email address to jissyu_yaru2007[AT]yahoo.co.jp by April 7, 2007. It is not possible to enroll in the classes after this date. The number of participants is limited, so it may not be possible for all applicants to participate in the course.

[ This class has already reached maximum enrollment. Thank you. - Feb.20, 08 ]

Tsukuba Gakuin University students, who are studying to be Japanese language teachers, will be offering free Japanese course for non-Japanese speaking residents of Tsukuba. This course will be an ideal course for stay-at-home parents of preschool-age kids who are 3 years old and older because another group of students at TGU will be offering free exercise course for preschool-age children while their parents take the Japanese lessons! These students are the ones who contribute wonderful Japanese language articles to the Alien Times every month, so I am very sure that those who take part in this course will have fun learning Japanese!

Applicant eligibility: Resident of Tsukuba who can read Hiragana. Please note that priority will be given to those who are from non-Chinese character (kanji/漢字) cultural zones.

**************************
たのしく日本語を学ぼう　日本語教室のお知らせ
日本語の先生になりたい学生といっしょに日本語を勉強しませんか？
いつ：2008年3/3 3/5 3/7 3/10 3/11 3/13 全部で６回
9:30～12:20
どこで：筑波学院大学（つくばがくいんだいがく）（つくば市吾妻）
いくら：￥０
だれに：日本語初級の外国人　ひらがなが読める人
なにを：簡単な日本語の会話
そのほか：３さい～５さいくらいのお子さんがいる人は、お子さんといっしょに
大学に来てください。お子さんたちは、大学の学生といっしょに簡単なスポーツや
ゲームをしましょう。（保険（ほけん）\500）

メールをください。kanakubo[at]tsukuba-g.ac.jp
２月に一度大学にきてください。説明をします。
２月２５日（月）まで、うけつけます。
筑波学院大学　金久保紀子

Let’s learn Japanese with univ. students!
Tsukuba Gakuin University are going to have Japanese language class on March. Intstructors are all students who expect to be Japanese teachers.

Date&Time：2008年3/3 3/5 3/7 3/10 3/11 3/13 Total 6days
9:30～12:20
Place：Tsukuba Gakuin University (Tsukuba Azuma)
Fee：￥０
Level：Beginners with Hiragana reading skill
Contents：Japanese daily conversation
You can come with your kids( Three years old or more).
We prepare Kid’s exercise class（insurance\500）

Feel free to send us an email. kanakubo[at]tsukuba-g.ac.jp
We will have briefing on February. Contact us before Feb. 25
KANAKUBO Noriko @Tsukuba Gakuin University

[ This class has already reached maximum enrollment. Thank you. - Feb.20, 08 ]

There will be two free 寄席(yose or traditional Japanese storytelling show) at Seibu department store tomorrow. Free 寄席s are Seibu’s bimonthly events, so keep checking their website for the next ones as well: Seibu’s events page

Bimonthly Free Yose
When:
June 2, Sat. From Noon and 2pm*
*整理券(seiriken or numbered tickets) will be handed out to first 30 people from 11am and 1pm in front of Seibu Hall.
Where:
Tsukuba Seibu Hall (6th floor of Seibu Department)

落語家(rakugo-ka or comedic storytellers) who will be performing are:
柳家　〆治(Yanagiya Shimeji - watch his video here) and
古今亭　朝太 (Kokontei Chota - watch his video here)

[Please go to 落語協会/Rakugo Kyokai or Rakugo Association's websit for other "yose" information and for the list of "rakugo-ka." You can watch other 落語家 videos here.]

- What is Rakugo (from Japan America Society of Greater Cincinnati website)
- What is Rakugo? (from wiki)

Other events this weekend:
Namiki High School Festival
Yasato Pottery Festival
Map and Survey Festival
Mongolia Exhibition
Michi no Ichi (arts and craft fair)
Science Day and Environment Day at Ibaraki Nature Museum

You’d think that if you were going to paint it on your vehicle, you would get someone to check it first.

Try going to http://www.rikai.com and using its helpful tool. The tool is especially useful for determining the meaning of some unknown Chinese characters. It can go both ways: Japanese –> English or vice versa. I am sorry to inform some of you (Japanese readers) that it works better from Japanese into English than the other way around. That and it probably works best for those whose Japanese level is intermediate or higher.

You can either plug in a website address or some text and the mouse pointer automatically defines some kanji. Just point and read! I often use it to read domestic news in Japanese because Japanese news translated into English often lacks essential details or at times, juicy background information!

You can even use this to ‘cut and paste’ messages sent from Japanese friends or colleagues. Because rikai.com is not a translating machine like Babelfish (Altavista), there is much less room for error. Try it out when you have the chance! I hope it makes your life in Japan a little easier.

This is not an April Fool’s joke. One of my friends found this coffee in a vending machine at a local research institute. I took the picture with my very own camera.

I learned a new four-character kanji (yo ji juku go, 四字熟語) the other day, so I thought I would share it with you today.

四捨五入
ししゃごにゅう
shi sha go nyuu
meaning: rounding up (if five or more) or down (if four or less), rounding off

四 = 4
捨 = throw away
五 = 5
入 = keep (literally, insert)

Clever little compound word!

Why don’t you chat in Japanese with us?

I’m Takashi Kusumi. I restarted ‘Nihongo de oshaberi’ that means ‘Let us enjoy talking about many things in Japanese’ here at the Tsukuba Information Center. We can talk about anything. It is fun.

Anyone can join us. The best thing is, it is free!

You don’t need to be fluent in Japanese at all. Please come join us.

Time: 13:30-15:30
Date: the second and the fourth Friday every month
Place: at the sofa area of Tsukuba Info. Center

A reservation is unnecessary.

にほんごで おしゃべりタイム

日本語(にほんご)でおしゃべりしませんか?

どんな話題(わだい)でも、片言(かたこと)の日本語(にほんご)でも、楽(たの)しくおしゃべりしましょう。

年齢(ねんれい)、性別(せいべつ)、国籍(こくせき)、日本語(にほんご)の技術力(ぎじゅつりょく)は関係(かんけい)ありません。

とにかく ワイワイ ニコニコ お話(はなし)しましょう。

日本語(にほんご)上達(じょうたつ)間違(まちが)いなしです。もちろん予約(よやく)は不要(ふよう)で、無料(むりょう)です。

皆(みな)さんのご参加(さんか)をお待ちしています。

久須美(くすみ) 孝(たかし)

A message from Keyaki no Kai

Nihongo Keyaki no Kai will start its Autumn Japanese Language Class on October 16th. Foreign people who live in and around Tsukuba may attend the class.

The Introductory Class is designed for the students who are learning Japanese for the first time. Beginner I Class is for students who can read and write HIRAGANA and KATAKANA, and can engage in simple conversation. Beginner II Class is for students who have studied Japanese for more than 6 months and can understand verb and adjective changes.

TIME and PLACE
From October 16th (Tue) 2007 to March 4th (Tue) 2008
17 classes in total
Tuesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Tsukuba Information Center (next to Nova Hall)

COST
Students are required to purchase a text book (1500 yen) at a book store. Every student has to pay 3000yen for miscellaneous expenses (including photocopying expenses) on 2nd October, at registration.

REGISTRATION and PLACEMENT
Registration takes place on Tuesday, October 2nd from 10:00 to 12:00 at the Tsukuba Information Center. If you can’t come on that day, you can pick up the application form at Tsukuba Information Center.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Tsukuba-shi Nihongo Keyaki no Kai
TEL: Ms. Kuruta 029-887-7221 (from 19:00 onward) or Ms. Hattori 029-852-3483
E-mail: nihongo0311[AT]yahoo.co.jp

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) has four levels (4 is the lowest, 1 is the highest) and it is probably the most widely known and accepted test of Japanese ability. This year, it is being held on Sunday, December 2, 2006. This test is only held once a year, so it is important to remember to apply on time if you want to take it. The basic application period runs from July 2 to September 11, 2007. The application package costs 500 yen. The test itself costs 5500 yen.

Applications for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) are sold at the following stores in Tsukuba.

Yuhodo Bookstores
Azuma 3-8-7 (029-852-3665)
Sakura 1-14-1 (029-857-8633)
Umezono 2-25-10 (029-851-1161)

Kumazawa Bookstore
Onozaki (in LaLa Garden) 029-860-5197)

Maruzen
Tennodai 1-1-1 (on University of Tsukuba campus) (029-858-0424)

See also…

• Japanese Language Proficiency Test (official site)
• JLPT Communication Square
• Meguro Language Center (good resource for preparing for the test)
• Shaney’s page on Studying Japanese (some resources to help with level 4 — not as extensive as MLC above, but might help anyway…)

I posted a message to TAIRA last week about a company that will let you learn Japanese through online lessons.

This morning I found out that NHK also offers lessons online, although these ones don’t seem to be interactive.

Has anyone used these services? Any comments about them? Others you can recommend?

December 12 is Kanji Day. The kanji that represents the current year is announced at Kiyomizudera (temple) in Kyoto on this day every year.

Two years ago, the kanji was 災 (wazawai), which means “disaster”, because of the huge earthquake in Niigata that happened that year. Last year, the kanji was 愛 (ai), which means “love”. I believe the choice of that character had something to do with the Expo held in Aichi and the marriage of the imperial princess, Norinomiya (now known as Sayako Kuroda). This year, the kanji is 命 (inochi), which means “life” because of the birth of the imperial prince’s son, Hisahito, and also the lose of life due to bullying.

What kanji (or word) represents this year for you?

Read a short satirical commentary on the practice of choosing a kanji to represent the year. Funny stuff.

Have you seen the ads on TV of people using Nintendo DS to learn kanji? I just saw one on TV this morning and I have been trying to find out more information about the whole thing. The software is called Kanken DS (漢検DS) because it is made by the people who produce the Kanji Proficiency Test (漢字能力検定, kanji nouryoku kentei, which is often shortened to 漢検, kanken).

It seems that the software is available through Amazon.co.jp for 3391 yen (which is less than it sells for at K’s Denki where it was about 3900 yen). The Nintendo DS machine itself costs about 22,000 yen and is also available through Amazon.co.jp (or for a bit less than that on kakaku.com).

Here is a little thingy that will let you test out the interface. Unfortunately the sample questions are quite hard, but you should be able to get a feel for the software anyway.

In Tsukuba City and the rest of Ibaraki Prefecture we are everyday exposed to two types of Japanese. One,of course, is Standard Japanese (hyojun-go), the language of Edo’s elite, so successfully propagated throughout the archipelago by NHK, and the other, the more earthy, highly syncopated local dialect — Ibaraki-ben. The most famous feature of this Northern Kanto hogen (dialect) is the application of PE, or BE at the end of a sentence. For example, the standard Japanese — nan desu ka (what is it?) — is more usually intoned — nan da pe — by locals (especially the older ones).

It is also important to know, while you are here, that certain basic words in standard speech have a DIFFERENT MEANING when spoken in Ibaraki-ben. Let me tell you what happened to my friend and I the other day to give you an idea of what I mean.

A friend was visiting , and I wanted to show him around my neighborhood, which is filled with historical and natural curiosities (if not wonders). We were walking past some vegetable fields when a farmer caught sight of us. He looked a bit distressed, wiped his sweaty brow, leaned back against a small tree and muttered, as if to himself –AH KOWAI !

My friend, who has been diligently studying Japanese (hyojun-go, of course), took strong offense at this. He had learnt that kowai meant SCARY and imagined that the farmer had seen two foreigners approaching and fearfully vocalized his xenophobia with something like — YIKES!

My friend’s interpretation was in fact COMPLETELY OFF THE MARK. This is because in Northern Kanto, as well as in parts of the North-East (Tohoku) kowai means TIRED. The farmer was actually just expressing his exhaustion after hard work on a hot day and probably even wanted to go onto some small talk with us. I would have translated what he said with a colloquialism like — jeez, I’m bushed, or gosh, I’m pooped!

In my experience, the older farmers who have never studied English can deal and converse (in Japanese of course) with foreigners in a much more comfortable and relaxed way than their more educated counterparts who feel the pressure of having to speak English. I would recommend striking up conversation with local farmers as a way of practicing Japanese and also getting to know some extremely kind, generous, and in many ways knowledgeable people.

I hope to write more about our local lingo in future postings. In the meantime, always keep in mind that there is more than one Japanese you will be hearing while you are in Tsukuba.

With big festivals interrupted by rain (Hojo Matsuri) and Joso Gakuen’s disappointing early departure from this summer’s high school baseball tournament in Koshien, you can probably hear it, in one of its many variations, more often these days than usual. An emotional and sing-song SHA-MEH-NAH or SHANNEN-NA  are the ways it can be most commonly heard. Usually as a form of resignation, consolation or rationalization.

This is the local way of saying shikata ga nai (仕方がない), or the same expressions more casual form -sho ga nai (しょうがない), which could be translated into English as: ”Well, what can ya do?”, or “That’s the way it goes”, or “Nothing can be done about it”.

There is NO one set way to translate this archetypal Japanese expression into English, but there is a large array of fatalistic idioms and expressions which can be chosen from.

Please remember that many native Ibarakians that you meet do not use the local dialect. Still there are MANY who love and cherish it and will be very happy to hear it coming from your lips.

Recently you might have heard sha-meh-nah to console kids disappointed that their festival had been cancelled: Amedakara SHA ME NAH.

Or disappointed High School baseball fans muttering SHANNEN-NA to themselves.

Do your best with the local lingo, biu if you don’t wanna…

SHA-MEH-NAH!

Here’s the detail of “日本語教育の部屋(Japanese-Language Education Room)” mentioned in the October issue of the Alien Times (please see ‘Tsukuga Gakuin University Events.‘)

————————————————————————————–
Hi, there!
We are students at Tsukuba Gakuin University who are studying Japanese Education. Our college festival, KVA Festival will be held on October 27th and 28th. We are designing the Japanese Exhibition for the festival. Why don’t you join us?

You can…
*learn various languages such as Korean, Thai, Indonesian, Brazilian and so on.
*check if your Japanese is correct or wrong.
*see our teaching materials.
*experience some Japanese culture such as nurie (coloring line drawings), origami and so on.
*get information about Japanese Education.

Day: October 27th & 28th
Time: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Place: Tsukuba Gakuin University (3-1 Azuma, Tsukuba, Ibaraki)

If you have some questions, please e-mail at kanakubo[at]tsukuba-g.ac.jp (KANAKUBO Noriko).
We are looking forward to seeing all of YOU!
————————————————————————————–

For other KVA events this year, please visit ‘Global Communication Movie Party.’

There is a new web application called Mango that can help you learn the basics of Japanese (and a few other languages). First sign up for an account, and then once you login with your new account, you can choose which language to study. The lessons are given in slides and they include both visual and audio information (make sure you have your sound and speakers turned on).

I didn’t look at all of the slides in the first lesson (there are about 100 slides per lesson, and 101 lessons in total), but it seems that they give good advice. See, for example:

In Japanese, pronouns are often deleted when they are obvious from the context. This results in sentences without subjects and transitive verbs without direct objects. The literal translation of the expression 「おげんきですか？」 is close to “Are you fine?” However, the subject “you” is actually missing from the Japanese sentence.

This is from Slide 6 of Lesson 1. I like how they give detailed information like this from the start. A lot of Japanese textbooks gloss over this sort of information and you are left wondering about a lot of key points.

If you have used Mango or decide to give it a try based on this post, please give us your opinions on it in the comments. From what little I have seen of it, Mango seems like a useful and informative application, but I would like to find out from our readers whether it actually helps you learn Japanese effectively.

There is a sushi shop in Tsukuba called Kaneki Zushi. I am not a connoisseur of sushi, but I have some friends who are, and they tell me that Kaneki makes good sushi. It is “kaitenzushi” (the plates circulate around the room), but it is not 100 yen per plate like some such restaurants.

Anyway, the reason I brought up Kaneki is because something caught my eye when I was there the other day: the signs for the bathrooms.

Which one would you choose for yourself? Remember, you really have to “go” and you don’t have time to mess around!

They are very cool kanji indeed, but not very foreigner friendly.

I was going to write the answer in the comments section, but I think it would be more fun to ask the blog readers to guess. If you know what the answer is, or you want to guess, please use the comments section.

Perhaps it would be fun to make a “Guess the Tsukuba Kanji” game?

Photo taken near the JR Ushiku Station

I was waiting at stoplights last night, and saw these E-words. If “table were” the only “innocent mistake” I saw, I wouldn’t have snapped this picture!

When it comes to languages that use script different from the Roman alphabet used in many European languages, a perennial problem is how to best represent the sounds of those languages in “romaji,” as romanized script is called here in Japan. Of course, if foreigners take the time to learn the local language and its writing system, then they can communicate directly with that. Needless to say, that is not a realistic option for those who can’t devote years of study, and even then, one still needs to at least begin with a romanized representation of the words one is learning. So, how were the various systems of romanization developed, and which is to be preferred?

With respect to the Japanese language, if a foreigner unfamiliar with Japanese sees a word such as “syukai,” how likely is it he or she will pronounce it “shukai?” About the same chance as the proverbial “snowball in hell,” since what usually comes out is something like “sai-yu-kai.” “Syu” makes sense from the standpoint of the Japanese phonetic system, where it is written as a combination of “し” (pronounced “shi” but sometimes written as “si,” another source of confusion) and “ゆ” (“yu”). In combined form, then, it comes out as “しゅ”, which logically could be romanized as “syu.” The problem is, of course, that a foreigner will likely think this represents two separate syllables, “sy” and “u,” and pronounce it accordingly. Thus, from that standpoint, “shu” is clearly a better choice.

So the question that really needs to be addressed is, “For whom is the romanization being produced?” Presumably, it is for the foreigner who hasn’t learned that language and needs a romanized writing system to be able to at least come close to correctly pronouncing unfamiliar words and names. It would seem, then, that the principle for deciding on a romanization system should be just that — namely, what system will make it easiest for such foreigners to most closely approach a proper pronunciation. In reality, however, this seemingly obvious principle is often overridden by all sorts of other competing factors, including cultural pride and politics.

Romanized Japanese is relatively easy to deal with, when compared to certain other Asian languages. Some, of course, are inherently difficult to represent in a romanized system, as various indicators need to be added to express such things as tones and other linguistic aspects not found in western languages (the tonal language of Chinese being a prime example of that).

The linguistic turmoil going on in Korea is an interesting example of how political considerations have trumped the pragmatic need of a romanization system designed for foreigners. Prior to the “turn of the century,” you would fly into “Kimpo” airport and perhaps take a trip to the southern city of “Pusan” to eat some “kimchi.” According to the newly imposed romanization system, however, to do the exact same thing today, you fly into “Gimpo” airport and take a trip to “Busan” to eat “gimchi!”

No, the Koreans have not suddenly changed the way they pronounce these words, and from what I, a foreigner who has only superficially studied Korean, can tell from what I actually hear them say, it sure sounds like the old system accurately portrayed these and numerous other words, whereas the new system at first glance just seems “nuts.” The Korean linguists who developed the new system, however, were not “nuts,” and there actually are logical reasons behind the need for a new system. It seems that the rationale presented is that in this age of the internet, the former “McCune-Reischauer” system caused too many problems. What was needed was a system that used only the ordinary English letters required by the internet and also could have a one-to-one correspondence between a certain Korean sound and its romanized equivalent. (In other words, two distinct Korean sounds shouldn’t look the same in romanization.)

While that is certainly a necessary property of modern romanized writing systems, in the case of Korea, it seems that politics also played a major role. The name of the former system, McCune-Reischauer, gives a hint of what is involved here. The new system, by the way, is called the “Sejong system,” and is named after the famous King who first commissioned scholars to come up with the ingenious “hangul” writing system over 500 years ago.

You’ll no doubt recognize the name “Reischauer,” as he was the American ambassador to Japan following WWII, among with many other notable achievements. His parents had come to Japan as missionaries, and so he was born and raised in Japan. Being fluent in Japanese and familiar with the culture, he was of immense importance in U.S.-Japan relations during and after the war. During the summer of 1937, Edwin Reischauer was on his way to China to research a paper he was writing in Japan, but the turmoil that took place in China at that time forced him to lay over in Korea for a couple of months.

The Japanese, who had ruled Korea since 1910, had come up with their own romanization system for use in Korean, but it had numerous problems, and so Reischauer worked together with a missionary named George McCune to devise a better system that could more accurately represent Korean sounds. That system was formally adopted in 1939, and it served well for many years, until the issue of the internet arose. The problem was that it included “diacritic” marks on some vowels to distinguish them, but these could not be used for web and email addresses. What was needed was a system that used only regular alphabet letters that would also have a one-to-one correspondence with specific sounds represented in hangul letters. (Similar issues exist in Japanese, with the lengthening of certain vowel sounds. For instance, the “o’s” in “Tokyo” are technically lengthened “o’s” that can be more accurately written as “Tōkyō.” But “ō” is not “internet-friendly.” It could be written with “oo” or “oh” to indicate this distinction, but most people deem it unimportant, and so “Tokyo” it is.)

So, are such distinctions in Korean so important that a slightly modified McCune-Reischauer system couldn’t be devised? While the subtleties of Korean pronunciation are beyond my expertise, it would certainly seem that the wholesale changes brought about by the new “Sejong system” involve a whole lot more than just making the system internet friendly. When I asked a friend of mine who is a long-term resident of Korea about this issue, he said, “When the decision to change the romanization was made, the foreign community was locked out of the process and a group of Korean linguists made all the decisions. Of course, Koreans resented the McCune-Reischauer system because of its Japanese connections and because it was done by foreigners.”

Just like any other sovereign people, the Koreans are, of course, free to make their own system whatever they want it to be. Just because native English speakers pronounce alphabet letters a certain way doesn’t mean that everybody has to follow suit. After all, are we going to dictate to the French that they shouldn’t spell “Bordeaux” the way they do and should instead change it to “English-friendly” “Bordoe?” Obviously not.

There is, however, a huge difference between that and the situation in Korea. Not only is there the issue of foreigners getting very confused by the difference between what the romanized spellings would seem to indicate and the way Koreans actually pronounce those words, but also, many Koreans are equally confused about English pronunciation because they are trying to sound out words based on the Korean romanization they are learning. The problems are so pervasive that there is active discussion going on about trying to revise the system again.

Frankly, I’ll take the problems with “romaji” we have here in Japan to the issues the Koreans face. Somehow, the linguistic issues surrounding “taking a trip from Tukuba to Tōkyō to eat some susi” don’t seem nearly as daunting as “flying into Gimpo Airport and taking a trip to Busan for some Gimchi.” Nevertheless, it would be nice to be consistent here in Japan as well, and “take a trip from Tsukuba to Tokyo to eat some sushi!”

For years I had been under the mistaken impression that this ubiquitous summer-blooming tree was called a salisbury tree, always thinking that perhaps it had been introduced from England. This was just my assuming that SARU SUBERI was the katakana influenced pronunciation of the well known British Cathedral town (and in fact that is exactly how the Japanese WOULD pronounce it).

I felt a bit embarrassed when I finally discovered the true meaning of the Japanese tree name,
saru (monkey), and suberi (slide). It seems that this unusual moniker came about as a reference to these trees’ smooth, barkless trunks, which make it difficult even for monkeys to climb. Thus it is the monkey-slide tree and not the Salisbury.

These trees originally came from Southern China and became popular in Japan during the Edo Period (1600-1868). Though they are still used in Japan, the Chinese characters used for this tree have a completely different meaning from monkey-slide: 百日紅 literally means “one hundred days red”, and would normally be read in Japanese as hyaku nichi ko, though as in the case of many flowers and trees, a completely different reading must be memorized.

These Chinese characters were selected for good reason. The sarusuberi (crape myrtle in English) is a very long blossoming tree. One of the longest, in fact, and that is why you have one-hundred days of red (though, the tree can also have white flowers).

This tree wood is very hard and slow growing. Sometimes it is used as a post in the alcoves (tokonoma) of Japanese style rooms. In the intense heat of August, while most other flowers wither away, the sarusuberi will be keeping the neighborhood in full-color. Just don’t try to climb it!

Tsukuba Center for Institutes is offering Japanese classes for foreign researchers and their families in Tsukuba.

Classes go from May 8 to October 19. Applicants must be foreign researchers or members of their families (over 15 years of age) and must attend both days (Tuesdays and Fridays). Deadline to apply: April 16, 2007.

Classes are scheduled from 9:30am to 11:30am on Tuesdays and Fridays. Researchers may be able to attend these classes during their working time, as the Tsukuba Center for Institutes provides these classes as a service to local research institutes.

See: http://www.mexttci.go.jp/tci/jplesson-e.html

In the summer months, you cannot help but notice clusters of tachi-aoi (hollyhock) growing wild on the sides of country roads or beside vegetable patches. You can’t miss them because of their height. As tall as sunflowers but not as heavy looking, they are graceful yet imposing and come in red, white and pink blossoms which bloom up and down their long, lean stems.

It is my interest in these very common and uncelebrated flowers that led me to the discovery of a bizarre state of affairs in the world of Japanese-English translation — especially in regard to the names of certain plants.

Knowing the roadside flowers to be tachi-aoi (立葵) and confirming that the same flowers were called hollyhock in English, I tried to learn more about their history and cultural associations. At first I was surprised that the ancient Aoi Matsuri Festival (葵祭) was often referred to as the Hollyhock Festival in English guidebooks and other texts.

I also discovered that the  J-League 2 soccer club representing the capital of Ibaraki was called The Mito Hollyhock. This name was chosen because the crest of the great Tokugawa Family which ruled the Mito Domain for centuries consisted of  3 futaba-aoi leaves. This crest has been made extremely famous by the classic TV series Mito Komon. The Wikipedia article on hollyhock also said that that flower was the symbol of the Mito Clan.

At first I was excited. These flowers that I alone seemed to be interested in appeared to have highly distinguished historical and cultural associations. I wanted to write about this. Luckily , I started to dig further.

I did this because I still had lingering doubts about the connection between aoi and tachi-aoi. I had been to the Aoi Matsuri and seen that the  Aoi associated with that festival was a leaf. I had even taken one as a souvenir and kept it in my wallet. The seal of the Mito Clan also consisted of  3 leaves (representing the 3 branches of the Tokugawa Family).

The leaves on the Mito Crest and the aoi leaf in my wallet looked NOTHING like the leaves of the hollyhock (tachi-aoi).Photos in field guides also showed me that tachi-aoi was the roadside flower, but I could find no pictures of aoi in any bookstore flower guide.

To make a long story short, I became slightly obsessed with getting to the bottom of this mystery. At the library I was able to confirm that the scientific name of tachi-aoi(hollyhock) was Althaae rosea , and that the symbol of the Mito Tokugawa and of the Aoi Matsuri was a plant with NO COMMON ENGLISH NAME but known as Asarum caulescens among botanists and futaba-aoi among the Japanese (see photo. These two plants have NO CONNECTION other than being PLANTS and having the character aoi (葵)in their names.

Finally, I went to the Tsukuba Botanical Garden to consult with Dr. Tadamu Matsumoto. He was also astonished that the Mito Soccer team had been called Hollyhock, as there was no botanical connection between futaba-aoi (the highly esteemed leaves on Mito Komon’s emblem) and the common roadside tachi-aoi (hollyhock).

There is obviously a big problem with translation when dealing with the names of plants which are not familiar to the translators. These types of errors occur not only in Wikipedia and blogs but also in respected journals, dictionaries and encyclopedias. I fell victim to such a mistaken translation when writing about the Boy’s Day (Tango No Sekku) traditions in Japan (Tango no Sekku over the Ages).

In my article I mistakenly wrote that the Japanese put irises(the Japanese term is shobu 菖蒲） in their baths and on their rooves on that day. I had gotten this translation from very respectable source books. However, I later realized that the shobu used is NOT an iris(hana-shobu) at all but a completely unrelated plant called CALAMUS(related to taro) by botanists and which was believed by the ancient Chinese and Japanese to have the power to expel evil and bad luck.

For me hollyhocks are amazing flowers and are worthy of having a soccer team named after them. But I’m sure that the citizens of Mito will not be pleased to learn that their team is named after the TACHI-AOI and NOT the  revered FUTABA-AOI.

It’s like calling the Seibu Baseball club The Azarashi (sea lions) instead of The Lions. Why not? They are both mammals!

No, I didn’t mistype “pay day.”
Today really is “Pear Day” or 梨の日 in Japan.
You may ask “why today?” since pears won’t be in season until fall.

OK, today is July 4 (oh, happy birthday America!), or 7月4日(shichi-gatsu yokka) in Japanese. Some of you may already get the idea, but July 4 was designated Pear Day purely because of 語呂合わせ(goro awase) or word play. As many of you already know, there are a few ways to read numbers in the Japanese language. Number 7 can be “shichi” or “nana” and 4 can be “yon” or “shi.” Since pear in Japanese is 梨(なし) or “nashi,” July 4 (7-4 or “na” “shi”) is the perfect day to celebrate 梨の日(nashi no hi).

Another such “語呂合わせ-Day” is coming up soon, and that is 納豆の日(natto no hi) on July 10. Natto, of course, is the fermented soybeans Mito City, the capitol of Ibaraki is famous for. March 10 is “Mito Day” by the way, and Mito celebrates that by holding various events, natto eating contest being one of such events.

Lots of people — both foreign people and Japanese — have asked me why I like living in Japan. I have about a million answers, but one that would definitely make my personal “Top Ten List” is the complexity of the Japanese language. I love the fact that I could stay here for the rest of my life and still be able to learn something completely new about Japanese — a new word, a new kanji character, a new turn of phrase — every single day. (This is definitely my “inner linguist” speaking.)

Today, I learned a new (and almost completely opposite — don’t you love it??) meaning for a word that I already knew.

The word is 断る (kotowaru)。

Until today, I thought that this word meant (and only meant) “refuse”. However, I learned today, that it also means “to get someone’s approval in advance”.

Consider the following situation. (It’s a strange situation, but this is a story about language learning, not how to write believable scenes!)

You and your colleague, Mary, send funny emails to each other all the time. One day, Mary forwards one of your emails to your boss. You don’t particularly want your boss to see these silly, private exchanges between you and Mary, so you say:

次回私のメールを上司に転送するときは、あらかじめ私に断ってください。
jikai watashi no mail wo joushi ni tensou suru toki wa, arakajime watashi ni kotowatte kudasai.
The next time you want to forward one of my emails to the boss, please let me know in advance.

Mary tells you that Tom asked her to forward the email to the boss, so you say:

次回私のメールを上司に転送するよう頼まれたら、断ってください。
jikai watashi no mail wo joushi ni tensou suru you tanomaretara, kotowatte kudasai.
The next time someone asks you to forward one of my emails to the boss, please refuse.

Okay, the situation is a little bit strange, but do you see where things go awry? 断ってください (kotowatte kudasai) can either mean “please let me know in advance” or “please refuse” — two rather different concepts. The probability of confusing second language learners with this word (especially by using the “get approval” meaning, as the &