How do I spell my name again?

Next week is the beginning of the new school year in Japan. Japanese students are required to keep small name tags sewn to their school uniforms, and the school is currently working in conjunction with the parents to get the tags made before the opening ceremony on Monday. This morning the secretary received a phone call from a parent saying that her child’s name tag was misspelled, in other words, one of the kanji characters was wrong.

The child’s name included the character 希 (ki) but whoever prepared the name tag accidentally used the character 季 (ki). She described this error by saying “The name tag uses the ki (季) in kisetsu (季節/season), but it should be the ki (希) in kibou (希望/hope).” Japanese people describe kanji in names using this method because there are many kanji characters with the same phonetic reading.

Written Japanese is comprised of hiragana (平仮名) and katakana (片仮名), both of which have specific phonetic sounds attached to each symbol, with katakana characters mostly used for loan words or speech emphasis, and kanji (漢字), Chinese characters used to represent the root of speech parts, such as nouns, adjectives and verbs.

Thus a word such as 食べる (taberu/to eat), is a combination of the kanji character 食 (read as shoku in combination with other kanji characters and ta when on its own) and the hiragana characters べる(beru), which are always read the same way. There are numerous readings given to each kanji character, referred to as the 音 (on) and 訓 (kun) readings, and many kanji characters which are read the same way but have entirely different meanings or strokes, which leads to all sorts of problems for staff who deal with names all day, such as the secretaries at my school.

It is also generally assumed that foreigners cannot read kanji, even if they can speak Japanese, and I have had many faux pas committed against me under this assumption. For example, I once received an email written entirely in hiragana and rendered almost illegible to me because the sender saw my foreign name, which was written in the special foreign word alphabet, katakana, and assumed I couldn’t read kanji, despite the fact that I wrote to him in it.

Later today at lunch, we were alerted to another kanji name error, this time the parent had made a mistake in the kanji character when giving the name to the school. They had actually forgotten which character was used in the spelling of their child’s name. The teachers seemed irritated, but not surprised, as though this sort of thing had happened before.

They began to discuss it and one teacher told us about a girl he met who could never remember how to write the kanji for her name, it was too difficult, so she always wrote her name in katakana.

And that, they said, was pretty sad.

More from Language Log about the Japanese gradually forgetting their kanji characters here.

JLPT Level 2 合格！

Why…what do we have here?

………..

\(^_^)/ 

Don’t panic! I’m a translator!

 

Broody=Bloody

Wohkka=Vodka

juise=juice

wokka=vodka

ram=rum

jin=gin

orenji=orange

spesial=special

Eigg=Egg

Haruki and Jay

At the age of 29, a bar owner attended a baseball game and suddenly decided he could become a writer.  He became one of Japan’s most famous contemporary authors.  He is Haruki Murakami.

I was writing and writing every day, then when that darkness came, I was ready to enter it. It took time before that, to reach that stage. You can’t do that by starting to write today and then tomorrow entering that kind of world. You have to endure and labor every day.          

 A Harvard professor of Japanese translated the majority of Murakami’s works, including the gory and violent.  He is Jay Rubin.

When you translate, you do not just passively absorb what’s on the original page, you get actively involved in imagining every detail the author put in there – every sight, sound, smell, touch and taste – and in finding the right words for them in your own language. It may be possible to translate technical documents passively and mechanically, but not literature. And the kind of active involvement required in the translation of literature takes time. You stay with the text far longer – probably longer than the author ever did. In the case of a blood-soaked scene, this can mean a lot of excruciating days at the computer.   

 Interesting insight into the task of fiction translation and more unfortunate reasons to expand my already bloated library.

 Good thing I have Library Thing!

I’m told I’m turning Japanese

[Pearl enters a 1st grade class room in rural Japan]

1st grader: It’s Pearl-sensei!
Pearl-sensei: Hello!
1st grader: Pearl-sensei, where are you from?
Pearl-sensei: I’m from America.
1st grader: I thought you were from Italy, but America, huh?
Pearl-sensei: Yes, America.

[Several minutes elapse and class begins. Suddenly 1st grader stands up and points towards the front of the room in excitement]

1st grader: I’ve got it! You’re Japanese!
Pearl: No, I’m American.
1st grader: But you’re speaking Japanese! You’re American, but you’re speaking Japanese! You’re Japanese!
Pearl: I’m American.
1st grader: You’re Japanese!
Pearl: I’m American, but I can speak Japanese.
1st grader: You’re Japanese!

[Class resumes]

-The End-

How to speak Utopian

I’m so consumed with studying today that I walked around the teachers’ office with a mechanical pencil dangling from the elbow of my sweater for some time without realizing it. It snapped me back into reality and I decided to write a blog post to celebrate.

A Mexican friend of mine, who lives in Japan with his fluently English-speaking Japanese wife, once told me that we are living in Utopia. With great healthcare, polite people, low crime rate, tasty and healthy food, and beautiful scenery, how can you disagree?

I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorite phrases I am currently studying from my Utopian grammer workbook in preparation for my Utopian Proficiency Test. These are the English translations provided with the book.

—-How to speak Utopian:

I’ve been feeling rather tired, because of continuous overtime work.
There’s nothing to do, but do it as much as you can.
The reason I get so angry is because I care so much about you.
You washed it? Even still, it’s not clean, is it?
Even though he’s healthy, he pretends he is sick.

Since I am driving, I will have juice instead of beer.
He is not only a good student, he is a good athlete as well.
My family doesn’t have a bicycle, let alone a car.
Everyone, let’s enjoy drinking and forget about work.
I would like my sushi without wasabi please.

You forgot something again? Oh well…
So that I wouldn’t disappoint my parents, I did my best.
It is rude to speak to your superiors that way.
In contrast to the rising population in the cities, the population in the countryside is falling.
It’s about the size of a grain of rice.

The less baggage you have, the better.
If you don’t improve your bad living habits, you will not be able to be healthy.
Admission is free only for those who are 70 years or older.
Recently, not only women but men as well wear make-up.
I bought a cell phone. Now that I have just this, I don’t need a watch or a camera.

As a woman and as an actress, she is the best, but as a wife, I wonder?
I watch TV programs about environmental problems.
It’s not that I hate it, but I don’t eat very much meat.
My mother dropped everything and looked after my father in the hospital.
It is said there is no budget, but on the other hand, the budget is being used wastefully.

With the increase in the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, Global warming will continue to increase.
I will reply after consulting my family.
The food at this restaurant comes in small portions and looks nice, so it is suited for women.

There is a saying, “a small but happy home.”
Toys should be safe above all.
I have no choice but to continue my unpleasant job for a living.
Even if I am not well, in a letter to my family, I will write that I am well.
Starting with his appearance, he looks sloppy. He is probably the same in other aspects.

There may be some Japanese customs that are very strange when seen from the foreigner’s perspective.
I want to eat it, but I don’t want to get fat. To eat or not to eat, this is how I think.
Think about the role of our nation in the international community.
We welcome you regardless of nationality.

Study even though you are not taking the entrance exams.
Medicine is meant to be bitter.
It is hard commuting on a packed train everyday.
Not everything is good in excess.
Just because you have money, it does not mean that you are happy.

—–Now repeat after me please…

Middle School Survey/ 中学校のアンケート

Here are my answers to a survey my students gave me about my town.

The survey translation is in italics, my answers are not:

Nice to meet you! I’m *******, a 3rd year student at ****** Junior High School. I am collecting information under the theme “Is Tsubame City an easy city for foreigners to live in?” We would appreciate your cooperation in taking this survey. Thank you.

Q1: What do you think of Tsubame City’s natural environment?

The rice fields and mountains are beautiful.

田圃と山が美しいです。

Q2: Compared to your hometown, are prices more or less expensive?

Mostly the same, but fruit and DVDs are much more expensive.

だいたい同じだけれど、果物とDVDはアメリカよりとても高いです。

Q3: In your everyday life, when are times when you think, “This is different from my hometown.”

In America, it is not unusual for a non-white person to speak English. But in Japan, it is very unusual for a non-asian person to speak Japanese. I think it is very strange.

アメリカでは白人では無い人が英語を話せるのは珍しいことではありません。でも、日本では日本人以外の人が日本語を話せるのはとても珍しいことです。不思議な感じがしました。

Q4: What interests you the most about Tsubame City’s culture?

The food culture is very fun. The origin of foods or how foods are healthy is very important here; I like it.

食べ物の文化はとっても面白いです。日本人が原産地とか栄養の知識に興味を持っているのはいいことだと思います。

Q5: Is the food delicious?

Yes, very!

はい、とっても！

Q6: Is your workplace good?

Yes, the teachers and students at Yoshida are very kind to me. I enjoy working here.

はい、先生方と生徒も私にとても優しいです。働くことを楽しんでいます。

Q7: Do you ever feel sad as a foreigner? If so, what times?

I feel sad when people just see “foreigner” and don’t see “person.”

”外国人”として見られてしまって、”個人”として見られていない時は悲しい感じがします。

Q8: While you are living in Tsubame, are there ever times you think, “They really ought to change that.” What times for example?

I wish that there was central heating in schools and homes. It is too cold sometimes.

学校と私のアパートにセントラルヒーティングが欲しいです。時々寒すぎます。

Q9: Do you want to continue living in Tsubame?

I prefer big cities like Tokyo, but for now, Tsubame is nice.

東京のような都市のほうがすきだけれど、今のところ、燕が良いです。

Q10: Henceforth, what do you want Tsubame City to become?

I’m not sure, but I’m looking forward to seeing it.

良く分かりませんけれど楽しみにしています。

That’s all of the questions. I think they will be very useful for my class. Thank you for cooperating with my survey.

I sent the survey to three other JET teachers in the area and asked that they might send back their English answers before today so that one of my teachers can translate them for the students at my school to use for their class project. No one has sent back answers yet.

A Delivery

[Knocking on door]

Delivery Man: “A delivery for you.”

[Pearl opens door]

Pearl: “Good evening, how much is the package?”

Delivery Man: “Ah, you already paid in advance so just sign here please.”

Pearl: “Okay.”

Delivery Man: “You can speak Japanese?”

Pearl: “Yes.”

Delivery Man: “Thank you very much for your business.”

Pearl: “Okay.”

[Pearl closes door]

–The End–

Happy Birthday

Today’s my birthday. Yay, I’m 25.

Today I figured out a new way to study Japanese that, for some peculiar reason, didn’t occur to me before. I take my homemade flashcards from words I gleaned off of quiz websites and run 5 or so cards, then I rerun that same 5 cards several times very fast mouthing the reading and thinking the English meaning in my head. Then I add another 5 cards and run them the same way.

The difference in this method is the speed at which I have to recall them; if I can’t recall them immediately I move them back to the original pile. I’m at a little bit of a crunch for time before the JLPT 2 and already this method is helping me learn faster. I’ve decided to also apply this method to my bass practice and see that I can’t make similar progress.

I had one class today. The students refused to say the class greetings in English, which they are required to do. In rare form, I got angry at the end of class and told them they were rude.

After living here for a year and understanding the attitude that produces such disregard for English, and hearing the students mumble about “foreigners” and how similar and ignorant we are when I am standing up in front of them during class, it is difficult for me to see such behavior as simple adolescent antics. When you live here, you become English, and disregard for it becomes disregard for you. I see it as a product of this society as a whole and it infuriates me.

I’m translating an opinion piece I found in the newspaper written by a Japanese as a call to other citizens to abandon this cultural attitude; more on this later when I’m finished with it.

Really, I love living here most days, I really do. Tonight my friends are throwing me a birthday party and I feel lucky. I’ve never been thrown a birthday party by my friends before.

Cultural Monopoly

I’m curious if all the people in Houston who disapprove of the addition of Celcius to the evening forecast because “if you live in America, you should learn our customs and language” are aware of the fact that their fellow Texans are going over to foreign countries, like Japan, and refusing to learn the language, like Japanese, or fully adapt to the cultures of the countries they are living in.

Maybe they’d be amazed to learn that that also goes for nearly all of other the Americans living overseas. That there are people who have lived here for more than a decade, have families, work for the Japanese government, and still can’t speak a complete sentence in Japanese.

Or maybe not.

Why does the American media insist on promoting the idea that American culture is one at risk? Why is it that when something even the slightest bit “American” gets threatened, we’re up in arms? Literally or figuratively?

The American media should do more to show the truth; not that our culture and country is under threat of dying, but rather threatening the cultures of the rest of the world. Through arms or otherwise.

Is something as trivial as the use of Fahrenheit really how we define ourselves as Americans?

It’s not how the rest of the world defines us.