chouhatsumimi

[chouhatsumimi]

https://twitter.com/kszy4793/status/1303220712316915713

日本人の知らない日本語　なるほど～×爆笑！の日本語“再発見”コミックエッセイ https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B009IBYTS6/

[chouhatsumimi]

Today, something very different! Because I just re-watched The Shining (and Doctor Sleep, for good measure), I thought you should know that Jack Torrance's iconic line, "Here's Johnny!" was translated as "お客様だよ！"

You could back-translate it as "A customer is here," or "The guest has arrived," or maybe even"You've got company" (though that tends to have a different connotation in movie dialogue). Since "Here's Johnny!" was a cultural reference and that couldn't be translated directly anyway, you really have carte blanche, I guess.

客 means customer, client, visitor, or guest. It can be used both in the hospitality industry sense and in the sense of having a guest or visitor at your house. It's read キャク or カク.

様 is used here as a polite or honorific suffix (-さま). It can also mean way, manner (of), or situation. It's usually read さま or ヨウ, but in rare cases might be さん or ショウ.

Putting it together, お客様 【お きゃく さま】 means customer, visitor, or guest. There's also お客さん 【おきゃくさん】, which is a step down in politeness.

Also, on the subject of iconic lines and catchphrases, I saw a subbed episode of Friends a while back, and when Janice said "Oh. My. God," it was translated as "ヤダ！マジ？ウソ���" (roughly, "No way! Seriously? You're kidding!" but very juvenile and girly). Great work, whoever translated that.

[chouhatsumimi]

日本に戻りたいという気持ち

日本を出てカナダに戻ってきてから、もうそろそろ２年になります。 時間の問題。。。 日本に引っ越してきて、新たな環境に馴染むのにかなり時間がかかりました。カナダで日本語をちゃんと勉強していましたが、「家で独学する」は「日本で日本人と日本語で喋る」とは格段に違いますね。 コミュニケーションを取るためには、正しく喋る必要があります。その上に、人の話を理解するために、しっかり集中する必要があります。私の母語の英語のように、無意識的に言葉を使うことは日本語ではできません。そのため、時差ボケが治っていても、すぐに疲れてしまいました。 だんだん時間が経つと、疲れずに日本語が使える時間が増えてきて、１日中使えるようになりました。（もちろん、日の終わりにいつもとても疲れていましたが） なので、日本語を使うことに慣れて、新しい近所に馴染んで、いい関係を築いたら、日本にいられる期間は６ヶ月間しか残っ…

[chouhatsumimi]

there's a fine line between being wary of manipulation and becoming completely paranoid because you get very close to the realisation that pretty much all human interaction involves doing things we hope will lead to a result we like

[chouhatsumimi]

Katakana Quiz: ベア

Level: impossible

There's no guessing this word, even in context, unless you already have an idea of what it means (at least, I was completely stumped)

Hints & answer under the cut!

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Hint #1 (context)

直接人件費: テクニシャン増員、ベア+8%

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Hint #2: this is a contraction of a longer phrase in katakana

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Answer: ベア　→　ベースアップ　→　base up　→　increase in base salary/pay

[chouhatsumimi]

Endlessly diabolical how you can't say words like rape and suicide uncensored without either being criticised by idiots or punished by conglomerates.

[chouhatsumimi]

Katakana Quiz: ベア

Level: impossible

There's no guessing this word, even in context, unless you already have an idea of what it means (at least, I was completely stumped)

Hints & answer under the cut!

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Hint #1 (context)

直接人件費: テクニシャン増員、ベア+8%

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Hint #2: this is a contraction of a longer phrase in katakana

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Answer: ベア　→　ベースアップ　→　base up　→　increase in base salary/pay

[chouhatsumimi]

oh and that gap in my resume is when i was digging my own grave

[chouhatsumimi]

huuuuge fan of little phrases you can add to the end of your sentences just for fun. "if you even care" and "btw" and "I fear" have done sooo much for my vocabulary. if you even care

[chouhatsumimi]

[chouhatsumimi]

Duolingo alternatives

Duolingo’s been in the news for going all AI. Of course, if AI is your bag, that’s cool. But if you’re interested in learning language from resources made by real native speakers and humans…

Here are some suggestions…

Speaking/Listening

-Innovative Language (known for JapanesePod101, koreanclass101, spanishpod101 and their collection of 30+ language programs - teaches languages through conversations (you listen to a convo between two native speakers and then get it explained). Lessons are about 5–10 min on average in audio/video format https://www.innovativelanguage.com/online-language-courses

Pimsleur - similar approach as above but lessons are longer - 30 min and audio only - https://www.pimsleur.com

Reading

LingQ - learn by reading native content and breaking down the words inside. https://www.lingq.com/en/

ReadLang - a browser based tool that translates articles and books you read. https://readlang.com

Satori Reader - (for Japanese) - read level appropriate stories (my fav for reading)

Vocabulary

Anki - not sure if this needs extra explanation - most language learners love Anki’s flash card approach https://apps.ankiweb.net

Clozemaster - learn words in sentence context (instead of just words alone) https://www.clozemaster.com

[chouhatsumimi]

Oh I have!!! Also!!

I think I made it to vol 8 way back, I am extremely extremely bad about finishing things...

I think if you click the Ouran tag I have some vocab lists on my blog if those help at all! I found it significantly harder to read than other manga because of how fancy they talk lol.

Have fun though~~ so exciting!!!

my full set of ouran high school host club just got delivered today EEEK I'm so excited to start rereading it in japanese!!

[chouhatsumimi]

'Sumimasen' will get them really far too!

If they're interested in it, I'd say katakana would be worth it.

Honestly if they have the time to put into it, you can get realllly far in Japanese with few words since it's acceptable to drop so much (and pick it up from context) so if it's something they want to do, I think it'd be worth it.

My friends are coming to visit me in rural Japan in a few months and they are asking if it's even worth it to study any Japanese

I told them it's always nice to be able to say basic greetings like hello and thank you.

I also said it would be super beneficial to learn how to read katakana, since it only takes a few days (or even hours) and it is very frequently used on menus // used for English words, so even if you don't speak Japanese you can order シーザーサラダ or コカ・コーラ if you know it says shiizaa sarada or coca cola.

any thoughts?

[chouhatsumimi]

[vocabulary] サシで？ 🥺 *pangs of jealousy*

Here’s a neat little phrase I stumbled across recently. 

I was telling a Japanese friend that I'm going out for a meal with another friend, and he dropped this on me:

サシで？

I had no idea what it meant, so I asked. Turns out, サシ comes from 差し向かい, which means “face to face.” So when someone asks 「サシで？」, they’re basically saying, “Just the two of you?”

It is used with the で particle, like in:

サシで飲む to have a private drink

or

サシで話す to talk one-on-one

From サシで飲む also comes the noun サシ飲み (a private drink), which seems to be pretty common.

It can also be written in kanji as 「差し」.

Now you can ditch your 二人きり and use サシ instead to impress your Japanese friends ;)

[chouhatsumimi]

link: https://bsky.app/profile/brainvsbook.bsky.social/post/3llc72lyhu22j

google translate defaulting to chinese at first

okay but for those of us with interests in both the murderbot and the daomu biji fandoms this is kinda hilarious

(english-side-only really, i get that the kanji and hanzi are completely different)

our good (air)ship murderbot! thanks google

[chouhatsumimi]

Katakana Quiz: ベロア

Can you guess what this is in English?

Hint below the cut!

(I 100% failed this one, I had no idea what it was)

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One more hint: this word wasn’t originally English, either.

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Answer: “velour" or "velours" (originally French, now also an English word)

(A fabric that's like velvet, but less plush)

Bonus: シュシュ means hair scrunchie! Apparently that's from French as well, chouchou ?