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Jan 03, 2007

• On New Year's Resolutions
  Good for you, dadako!
  
  1. Achieve "the" thing, no matter how difficult, painful, or hard it may be ...

Dec 25, 2006

• On Learning Japanese and English by Ourselves
  I received an e-mail from a Canadian friend of mine who lives in Tokyo with his Japanese wife and a baby boy. He lives in Japan for several years and speaks very good Japanese.
  The title of the e-mail was “HAPPY HOLIDAYS / 良い音塩”.
  
  I wondered … 良い音塩 … Yoi Oto Shio? … nice sound salt?
  Hmmm… Why are sound and salt nice?
  I should have noticed sooner, but I was half asleep at that time and I thought this must be a some kind of joke.
  
  Yes, of course, he wanted to write “Yoi otoshi o! よいお年を！” (Happy New Year!), but he typed “o” instead of “wo”, so よいおとしお was changed to 音塩, not お年を.
  
  Yoi otoshi (w)o よいおとしを！is a phrase you say to someone whom you won’t see until next year. Almost same as “Happy New Year!”, but more like “Have a Nice New Year's Day!”. よいおとしをおむかえください is more formal way of saying this.
  “Happy New Year” is translated into Japanese as
  Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu あけましておめでとうございます
  and is followed by
  Kotoshimo (dozo) yoroshiku onegai itashimasu ことしもどうぞよろしくおねがいいたします
  (I would like to ask for your continuous support/friendship/business in the New Year.)
  
  The last two Japanese phrases are a kind of formality when you see someone for the first time in the New Year.
  Just memorize this magic words and every Japanese people would be so much impressed how good your Japanese knowledge is!

Dec 22, 2006

• On Learning Japanese and English by Ourselves
  My pleasure, Sirus2400 :-)
  
  Please feel free to write any questions or comments !
  日本人の方でも英語の質問があったらどうぞ！
  
  お互いにそれぞれの言葉を教え合える場にできたら嬉しいな。

Dec 21, 2006

• On Learning Japanese and English by Ourselves
  Today, I was planning to have lunch with a good friend of mine from University. She works for an English language newspaper in Tokyo as a reporter, so she is always very busy.
  
  When I arrived at a place where we were supposed to meet, I noticed a voice mail message of my cellphone from her. (I must have been in a subway when she called me.)
  Well, something urget happened and she has to write an article about it as soon as possible, and she asked me to postpone our lunch.
  
  In Japanese, last-minute cancellation like this is called "Dotakyan ドタキャン".
  
  ドタキャンする
  (back out at the last minute)
  ～をドタキャンする
  (cancel ～ in the last minute)
  
  ドタキャンis an abbreviated word from どたんば（土壇場）でキャンセルする.
  
  Dotanba 　土壇場　どたんば　
  (last minute/ last ditch)
  
  This abbreviation is believe to have started among entertnainment business people, but is now used by anyone, any age group, but in rather casual situations.
  
  Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan. So I belive many people have to work on 25th. If you have a plan to spend time with your loving one(s) on Christmas night, forget about work, go home early, and have a great Christmas!
  
  No "ドタキャン" please ;-)

Dec 17, 2006

• On Learning Japanese and English by Ourselves
  どういたしまして ;-))
  
  "Walls have ears." and “If these walls could talk” are different, right? You can't keep a secret is the meaning of the first one and the second one (also the title of a movie, I believe) is translated just もしこの壁が話せたら, lots of things happens or are said in private that nobody knows about it.
  Just opposite meaning .... English is sooooo difficult.
  
• On Learning Japanese and English by Ourselves
  I think both 「一石二鳥」 and 「隣の芝は青い」 have been used in Japane for a long time, and they are not translations from English. 「隣の芝は青い」 is also translated into English as "Blue are the faraway hills."
  
  In English people say "Walls have ears." We Japanese say 「壁に耳あり、（障子に目あり）」. This is also an old expression in Japanese. Latter part 障子に目あり is obviously Japanese origin because there were not 障子 in English speaking countries.
  "Money talks." 金がモノを言う is also interesting.
  
  But, again, I am not a linguist, and there can be a connection between these Japanese and English expressions.

Dec 16, 2006

• On Learning Japanese and English by Ourselves
  どういたしましてyuuwakuさん、J→②◇Dец¢е◇さん。
  Like English, Japanese is very flexible language. Usually there are several ways to say the same thing. But if you go back to the original meaning of the words used in the phrase, you will understand slightly different shades of meanings. That will help you understand when and how you should use the phrase, I guess.
• On Learning Japanese and English by Ourselves
  とんでもない or とんでもありません is another formal way to say "Don't mention it" ,"There is no need to thank me" or "No need to apologize me".
  In this case, someone who said "Thank you" meant similar feeling like "I am sorry to bother you." or "I don't know how to thank you". Very polite way, and you can use it in business situation. I believe this is more often used as a response to an apology.
  とんでもない originally means unexpected, unbelievable. So this means the peson wasn't expected the words of thanks or apology.

Dec 15, 2006

• On Learning Japanese and English by Ourselves
  Learning Japanese and English by Ourselves (7)
  
  “Thank you.” “Don’t mention it.”
  This conversation is common in English. It puzzled me when I went to the US for the first time and someone told me this. Why shouldn’t I mention it?
  In English, as a response to “Thank you” there are several phrases, like “No problem.” “You are welcome.” or “Don’t mention it”.
  
  How about Japanese.
  
  Arigatou (gozaimasu) ありがとう（ございます）
  (Thank you.)
  Doitashimashite どういたしまして
  (You are welcome)
  Iie iindesuyo いいえ、いいんですよ
  (Don’t mention it,)
  Betsuni iiyo べつにいいよ
  (No problem. You bit! [casual])
  Kini shinaide　 きにしないで
  (Don’t worry about it./ Don’t mention it, [casual])
  
  Between friends, sometimes どういたしまして is a little bit awkward because it is rather formal way to say “You are welcome.”
  
  Please try to use other phrases if you have a chance.
  
• On Learning Japanese and English by Ourselves
  Learning Japanese and English by Ourselves (7)
  
  “Thank you.” “Don’t mention it.”
  This conversation is common in English. It puzzled me when I went to the US for the first time and someone told me this. Why shouldn’t I mention it?
  In English, as a response to “Thank you” there are several phrases, like “No problem.” “You are welcome.” or “Don’t mention it”.
  
  How about Japanese.
  
  Arigatou (gozaimasu) ありがとう（ございます）
  (Thank you.)
  Doitashimashite どういたしまして
  (You are welcome)
  Iie iindesuyo いいえ、いいんですよ
  (Don’t mention it,)
  Betsuni iiyo べつにいいよ
  (No problem. You bit! [casual])
  Kini shinaide　 きにしないで
  (Don’t worry about it./ Don’t mention it, [casual])
  
  Between friends, sometimes どういたしまして is a little bit awkward because it is rather formal way to say “You are welcome.”
  
  Please try to use other phrases if you have a chance.
  

People on aqua

Dec 07, 2007

• Chisa says
  Hello! I just dropped by and thought I'd say your photos on Flickr are beautiful and very professional looking. I also took a look through the Learning Japanese and English group - I'm learning Japanese in classes at the moment, and your contributions to the group were really helpful!

Oct 14, 2006

• former user says
  You look very classy on this picture!
  What was the occasion?