Curiosities Of A Language Enthusiast And Learner Of Japanese

言語の類似

2009-11-29T17:30:00.000-08:00

最近、とても忙しいのでブログを忘れちゃった～><

新しい記事を書こうと決めた～!

私は外国語に興味があるので、三年半前に日本語を勉強始めようと思っていました。今、日本語の上で、韓国語と中国語を勉強しています。韓国語と中国語を勉強始めた時に、日本語にとても似ているのを気付きました。たとえば、日本語には「茶」は「ちゃ」と言います。韓国語と中国にも「茶」は「ちゃ」です。三つの言語には｢茶｣が同じです。日本語の「三年」と言えば、中国語には「サンニエン」と言って、韓国語には「サムニョン」と言います。どうして日本語の単語は韓国語と中国語の単語にそんなに似ているかしらと思ったのでちょっと研究しました。

五百年ごろに、韓国からの学者は日本に来て、中国語の漢字を教えました。韓国には、漢字がもうよく使われたので韓国人の学者は、日本人は漢字を採用するのを手伝えました。第七の世紀には漢字がだんだん流行りました。日本語には中国語の漢字の発音と意味がちょっと変わったけど、まだまだ似ているままでした。でも、もちろん、中国語は日本にはあまり使われませんでした。それは漢字の音読みと訓読みの種かもしれません。たとえば、「年」の漢字の訓読みは日本語の単語の「とし」ですが、「年」の「ねん」と言う音読みは中国語の「ニエン」です。

日本語と韓国語と中国語の類似は、ヨーロッパの言語の類似のようだと思います。英語とフランス語とスペイン語とイタリア語などの種はラテン語なので、全部が似ています。

本当に面白い～ぃ！

～玲～

Names

2009-09-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Partly because I don't think many people know about my blog and partly because I kind of forgot I had a Blogger account. Ooopss...

I have a predicament though, and so I figured this was a good place to mull it over.

I'm considering changing the Japanese kanji of my name.At the moment, the symbols I'm using for Rachel are 莉知絵琉 which read as れい(rei) + ち(chi) + え(e) + る(ru). My problem, however, is that both 莉 and 琉 are very rarely used, and to make matters more complicated, I'm using their least known readings. Usually 莉 is read as り("ri") not れい("rei") and usually 琉 is read as りゅう("ryuu") not る("ru").
Western names in Japanese can be tricky. Some are downright impossible.
For instance, the closest you could hope to get to the name "Kathy" would be カシー(kashii) and Sylvia would be translated as something like シルビア(shirubia). And those are just with the Japanese alphabet
Finding a Western name in Kanji is very challenging. I'm lucky that Rachel is so easily written.

Anyway, I've narrowed the options I have down to a few (okay, really several)combinations.

For the first character, れい(rei) can be either:

莉　which means Jasmine and is the character I am using now for my name. However, it’s rare.

黎 which means Dark or Black. This one looks okay, but it doesn’t appeal to me as much as the other two choises.

玲 which means Sound of Jewels (weirdly random and specific meaning right? I mean, sound of jewels banging together or what?) This one is my first choice, but one of the readings is れ(re) and one isれい(rei) so I don’t want people misreading my name too much.

For the second character, which is ち(chi) I have narrowed it down to two choices the they both have the same meaning and the same reading:智 means Wisdom
知 means Wisdom and is the character I am currently using in my name.

The third character is for え(e)
恵 means Blessing/Favor/Grace

絵 means Picture or Drawing and it is the character I am currently using for my name.

The fourth, and final, character is for る(ru) and they both mean lapis lazuli
琉 which is the character I am using right now

瑠 which is more common that the other.
So right now I am using 莉知絵琉
I can either keep my name like that (which is hard to read) or change it.
I like either 玲智恵瑠 or 黎智恵瑠 best, I just need to see if they’re readable.
Only reason I haven’t changed it yet is because I already have written all over things, I have a handmade hanko with and I’d have to thoroughly go through and change all of those things if I ever change my name.

Oh well… I guess if I do it though I better do it sooner rather than later.

If I’m having this much trouble deciding the kanji for my name then naming kids in Japan, China, and wherever else they use Kanji for names must be a pain…

My First Attempt at an Essay in Japanese

2009-02-28T17:43:00.000-08:00

I wrote this essay in Japanese a few days ago. A friend was nice enough to check it for me, and she helped me fix it up. I admit I was pretty proud that I had managed to write an essay in Japanese, but then I translated it. I laughed so hard! It sounds like a five year old wrote it. Which is to be expected I'm sure. But I'd like to find someone who can help me make my Japanese sound a little more refined and mature, instead of little short phrases like a caveman.
I guess all I can do is keep writing writing writing and reading reading reading until I just slowly improve!
Enjoy! ~ﾚｲ~
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音楽の素敵な流れ
音楽はとても素晴らしいものだと思います。昨日の夜、私はジャズの音楽会へ行きました。UNTのケントン音楽堂で、L5というジャズのバンドは六曲を演奏しました。五人のギター奏者ベース奏者ドラム奏者とコンダクターは一緒に、その音楽会のために、一生懸命練習して頑張ったに違いません。音楽会は八時から九時まで続きました。音色は音楽堂の中に舞ったし、心の内で音楽のビートをガンガン感じました。忙しい日の終りに、とても疲れた私は元気になりました。曲の間に、奏者は一人ずつ立って、ソロを演奏しました。演奏中、全ての奏者とコンダクターは頭でビートをきさんでいたのでちょっと笑いましたが、私は気付かずに真似しました。音色が私を幸せにしてくれたのです。UNT大学の音楽科には、とても上手な奏者がいます。去年の秋に、L5のCDを買ったので、私は今L5の音楽を好きに聞けるのでよかったです。
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The wonderful flow of music
I think that music is very splendid thing. Last night, I went to a jazz concert. At UNT’s Kenton Hall, a jazz band called L5 performed six songs. Without a doubt, the five guitarists, the bassist, the drummer, and the conductor all practiced and tried their very best for this performance. The concert lasted from eight to nine. The tones of the music danced around the music hall and I felt the beat of the music in my heart. I had been so exhausted at the end of a busy day, but I became well again. During the songs, each musician stood up one at a time and performed a solo. Throughout the entire performance, the performers kept the beat with their heads. I laughed a little at them, but I was doing the same thing without even realizing it. The mood of the music made me feel so happy. There are very talented musicians in the UNT College of Music. Last autumn, I bought an L5 CD, so now I can listen to their songs whenever I want to. Nice!

日本語の仕事 - Jobs in Japanese

2009-01-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

専攻や、副専攻や、日本語の仕事の機会
Majors, Minors, and Japanese language job opportunities

今の私は、大学生ですよ!!短大に入りました。大学に転学したいのです。心理学か、社会学か、語学かを専攻したいし、日本語を副専攻したいです。大学の日本語の教師を連絡しました。教師によると、私は上級の日本語の授業を受ければいい。

I'm a college student now!! I got into a junior college and I want to transfer to a university. I'd like to major in psychology, sociology, or linguistics and I want to minor in Japanese language. I've contacted the Japanese professor at the university I want to go to and according to them, my Japanese is good enough for their higher level classes!

日本語の副専攻は、どんな仕事が出来ますか?? 答えが簡単ですわねぇ!! 色々な日本語の仕事があります。本当に、選択が多い!

So what kind of jobs are possible with a minor in Japanese?? The answer is easy!! There are a lot of jobs for Japanese. Really, there are a ton of options.

一番明らかな仕事は翻訳者だね。日本語を翻訳できるアメリカ人が本当に珍しいでしょ! だから、観光客のため、会社のため、外交のため、何でものための翻訳者の仕事ができますね!

The most obvious job is a translator. Americans who can translate Japanese are probably pretty unique! So someone could be a translator for tourists, a company, diplomacy, or anything!

でも、もし翻訳者になりたくないならば、教えることもできます。先生とか、教師になることができます。英語と日本語を教えることが少し難しそうですが、楽しくて面白い仕事みたい。

But, if someone doesn't really want to be a translator, they could also teach. They could become a teacher or professor. Teaching English as a foreign language or Japanese as a foreign languages seems pretty difficult, but it also sounds like a fun and interesting job!

もっと珍しい仕事が欲しいならば、外国人に文化を教えることができますね! つまり、アメリカ人に、日本の文化と礼儀を教えれます。日本人に、アメリカの文化と礼儀を教えれます。そんな仕事が本当に珍しくて楽しいでしょ!

If someone is looking for an even more unique job, they could teach culture to foreigners. In other words, they could teach Japanese culture and manners to Americans, and American culture and manners to Japanese. A job like that would really be fun and different!

だから、日本語は珍しい副専攻だけど、楽しい仕事の機会が多いだと思います。

So, Japanese is a unique minor, but I think there are a lot of fun job opportunities that come with it!

その上で、日本の文化は、とても静かで興味深い文化と思います。日本の文化は私の日本語の勉強の原因です。日本の芸術とか、音楽とか、まぶしいお寺やお城がとてもすてきだと思います。

On top of all that, I think that Japanese culture is very peaceful and it's really interesting. Japanese culture is actually the reason I study Japanese. I think that Japanese art, music, magnificent temples, and castles, are all so wonderful!

それでは! 日本語を勉強しましょうねぇ! 笑

(みんなさんへ、私のブログが分かりにくくて読めないならば、教えてください。正しい日本語を説明してください。ありがとうございます!よろしくお願いします!)

So! Shall we go study Japanese?? lol

(Ok everyone, if my Japanese blog was hard to understand or if it was unreadable, please let be know! Please explain proper Japanese. Thank you!)