1. Nunca he sido un gran partidario de la publicidad ecologista, principalmente porque son demasiado sentimentalistas, pero hay días que dan al clavo.

2. Encontré una forma que de alguna forma me satisface para escribir el apodo que me dió mi familia. 浩二 (Aunque hay otras tantas, ésta siento que es la adecuada) Si no me equivoco tiene un elemento Kanji, lo que es lo usual en japonés. La otra que me ha servido es こぢ pero ésa es una construcción con el silabario, mientras que la primera es el nombre de varios dudes. コヂ las dos últimas son como escribiría un gaijin. El seudónimo que tomé sería algo así: ネカトル (Dado que el katakana es usado para palabras de origen extranjero). Lo construí con el silabario y lo corroboré con internet.

3. Es posible que vaya al Garbanzo el fin de semana, a lo que viene a ser el Thanksgiving. Aún no sé, ya me estaba acostumbrando a ir y este año no se iba a poder.

Bonus: También me tienen sonriendo los mensajes de mi diosa Shiksa.

Bonus II: si quieren sonreír, vean la parte gris del lado derecho de este blog, casi a la altura de la barra.

I’ve wanted to do this rant for so long.

Now, let’s all just ignore the fact that the moment you say, “I’m learning Japanese,” the entire internet swarms on you and starts chanting “Weeeeeaboooo. Weeeeeabooooo,” until you run away crying because any attempt at defending yourself/finding a sane person fails. So. Let’s begin.

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As most people know, Japanese writing in weird. It’s all swirly and some of it is boxy and some of it is Chinese. Yeah. There’s three freaking different scripts to learn. Hiragana (the curvy ones), katakana (the boxy ones) and kanji (the Chinese ones). Once you memorise all the hiragana, you have to memorise all the katakana. Then you have to attempt to remember at least some the thousands upon thousands of kanji characters, not to mention all the different ways of saying the same bloody characters there are. It’s kinda like English, but we spell them differently (y’know, their, they’re, there…)

It doesn’t help that a lot of kana is very similar. め (me) and ぬ (nu) are really freaking similar and I keep mixing them up. き (ki) and さ (sa) are hard to write. At least, for me. But my handwriting sucks. And then, remembering the freaking ten ten and whatever the two lines are called… ‘h’ sounds use the lines to turn into ‘b’ sounds (‘ha’ turns into ‘ba’) and ten ten change it to a ‘p’ sound (‘ha’ to ‘pa’). Maybe I’m just an idiot (I probably am), but I keep mixing them up. ARGH.

And then we have katakana. Look here (I’m sorry if Japanese script doesn’t work on your computer). ソ　シ　ツ　ン　Look at them. How the hell are you supposed to tell them apart. (so, shi, tsu, n).

And while we’re on the topic of katakana (which is used for foreign words), the Japanese are very good at butchering English words until they’re something completely different. In my textbook, one ‘English’ phrase was Clean Up Japan Day. It was: クイーンウップジャパンデイ(i can’t get that ‘i’ to be small, dammit). That says: kuriin uppu jyapan dei. Can’t you just say it in Japanese? Leave my poor language alone, dammit.

It’s not all bad. Orange juice is orenji jyuusu, news is nyuusu etc. But it’s still really, really confusing.

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I have one word I wish to complain about: あたたかい (atatakai). Warm. Simple word, right? Was warm. あたたかかった (atatakakatta). Try saying that. Go on. It wasn’t warm. あたたかくなかった　(atatakakunakatta). That’s not as bad, but still…

And then there’s the three different verb groups and their rules. The ‘can’ form, and the different particles. Particles in general (they link words to one another, creating sentences. けんじくんのじてんしゃ　(kenji kun no jitensha) Kenji-kun’s bike. the ‘no’ make’s it possessive, which makes it Kenji’s. Here’s a more complicated one for you けんじくんはじてんしゃでまちに行きました。(i think that’s right… kenji kun wa jitensha de machi ni ikimashita). The particles are bold. That should be (Japanese is confusing) ‘Kenji-kun went to town by bike.’ The ‘wa’…just has to be there. It links Kenji and his bike. The ‘de’ links the bike and the town, indicating the bike as how he got to the town (again, I think so) and ‘ni’ goes with any verb that indicated that the subject is going somewhere. JAPANESE MAKES NO SENSE. NEITHER DOES ENGLISH, ACTUALLY. (oh, and just so you know, that ‘wa’ is actually a ‘ha’. confused us all in year 7.)

So yeah. Kanji is just hard to write (and remember) and katakana is quite confusing. Oh, and trying to say large numbers. That’s fun. Lots of fun. (that was sarcasm, in case you didn’t pick it up).

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All that said, Japanese is a lot of fun and I recommend that you try it, even you pronounce everything wrong (desu is pronounced ‘dess’, ikimasu is pronounced ‘ikimass’, ‘r’ sounds are actually this annoying  sound that is somewhere between a ‘r’ and a ‘l’. Ugh. I hate trying to say words with ‘r’ sounds). It’s a really good language to learn. And plus, you get to tell off the twelve-year-olds that misuse “kawaii” Enjoy!

-Keishi

Here is another recipe from the Nintendo cooking game しゃべる！ＤＳお料理ナビ. To catch up on Japanese cooking vocabulary, be sure to check out my previous recipes (Yellowtail Teriyaki, Cashew Chicken, and Roast Chinjao).

This time, it’s a popular dish found at many Japanese restaurants all over the world. It’s tonkatsu, which is a thin, deep-fried cutlet of pork. Also, the vocabulary section is a little different than usual. After our hiragana lessons, you should be able to read hiragana, so no romaji will be provided. But if you get stumped, check the comments section for the correct readings. Anyway, let’s get cooking!

とんかつ – Tonkatsu

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

Preparation:

In a small pot, add 6 Tbsp tonkatsu sauce, 4 Tbsp ketchup, and 2 tsp mustard. Stirring constantly, heat under low heat until warm.

Cut the cabbage leaves into thin strips, then briefly soak in a bowl of cold water. Drain and set aside.

Using a pestle or rolling pin wrapped in plastic wrap, lightly pound the meat until it’s flattened to a even thickness throughout. With a knife, lightly make 3-4 horizontal indentations into each piece of meat, making sure each cut goes through both the muscle and fat. Season the top of each cutlet with some salt and pepper. Discard the plastic wrap.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then set aside.

Prepare three separate plates with flour on one, panko on the next, and the beaten eggs on the other. Dip the pork into the flour mixture, coat evenly, then shake off the excess. Next, dip the meat into the eggs. Then place the pork into the panko and make sure that it’s coated evenly. Do the same for all 4 pieces.

Take a cookie sheet or other flat pan and line it with a layer of paper towels. In a pot suitable for frying (deep and heavy), heat the frying oil until it reaches 160°C (320°F). Use a kitchen or candy thermometer, or test the oil by dropping in a small piece of bread. If it turns brown quickly, the oil is ready. The Japanese recipe suggests sticking dried cooking chopsticks into the oil. When bubbles rise from the wood, the oil is hot enough. Gently place a piece of breaded pork into the oil, but beware of splashing! Fry until the meat rises to the surface of the oil and the frying sounds begin to sound “metallic.” (This is what the Japanese recipe says. I would let it fry until it’s a nice golden brown.) Lift the meat from the oil using a strainer, and place on the paper towel-lined pan. Repeat with the rest of the pieces of pork.

Cut each fried piece of pork horizontally into small bite-sized strips. Plate next to the rinsed cabbage, and serve with the lemon, tomato, and parsley as garnishes. Serve with the tonkatsu sauce mixture and 4 tsp of mustard (divided).

Vocabulary:

Joan den astean bezala, aste honetan ere hitz berri batzuk ikasi ditugu hiraganaz idazteko ohitura hartzeko

Hauek dira aste honetako hitzak:

“Eu quero chá.”
o “hoshii” funciona como o verbo querer, mas somente para casos em que está acompanhado de substantivos ou verbos na forma “-te”.

“I want tea.”
“hoshii” is used as the verb want, but only whith nouns or verbs in the “-te” form.

“Eu quero que compre chocolate.”
-exemplo de uso do “hoshii+verbo-te”.

“I want sb to buy chocolate.”
-example of “hoshii+verb-te” usage.

Foto: jeltovski/Morguefile.com

Hittil måtte alle japanske nettadresser være skrevet med latinske bokstaver. Men nylig besluttet ICANN, som styrer verdens domenenavn, at andre tegn blir tillatt.

Det betyr at japanerne kan bruke de tre “alfabetene” kanji (kinesiske tegn, japanerne bruker 6000 forskjellige), hiragana (japanske tegn som representerer lyder, omtrent som våre bokstaver) og katakana (et alfabet som brukes til å stave utenlandske ord og navn).

Men Hiroshi Koreeda fra Japan Network Information Center, som styrer japanske domenenavn, sier til Japan Times at brukervennligheten ikke vil øke dramatisk i Japan, blant annet fordi brukerne er vant til å bruke latinske bokstaver.

Hallo alle zusammen! Ich dachte mal ich stelle mich mal vor ..

はじめまして。アレカサンダ　です。まいんつ　だいがく　の　がくせえ　です。いま　いちねんせえ　です。せんもんは　ふぃろそふぃ　です。じゅうずうさい　です。どおよ　ぞろしく。

Für die, die keine Hiragana/Katakana lesen können:

Hajimemashite. Arekasanda (=Alexander =D) desu. Maintsu daigaku no gakusee desu. Ima ichinensee desu. Senmon wa firosofi (=Philosophie) desu. Juukyuusai desu. Doozo Yoroshiku.

Und für die, die gar kein Japanisch können ;D

Es freut mich Sie kennenzulernen. Ich bin Alexander. Ich bin Student der Universität Mainz. Ich bin im ersten Semester. Mein Hauptfach ist Philosophie. Ich bin 19. Auf eine gute Zusammenarbeit.

Luuuuustig, nicht wahr? Ich find’s cool :3 Gute Nacht dann! Ich muss noch Vokabeln lernen ..

All hiragana tables are now finished.

1. http://bagnzor.org.pl/nihongo/hiragana1.pdf
2. http://bagnzor.org.pl/nihongo/hiragana2.pdf
3. http://bagnzor.org.pl/nihongo/hiragana3.pdf
4. http://bagnzor.org.pl/nihongo/hiragana4.pdf

Have fun learning ひらがな and 日本語

In the end, I’m skipping the whole week again. Reason? I’m ill and lazy. I don’t really feel like knowledge from school will help me in my future. Rather than studying I’m focusing on gamedev and learning languages.

Anyway, I’m going to create materials for people who want to learn Japanese… Yes I know, I’m not that good myself but I know at least  Hiragana, Katakana and some Kanjis. So you guys go here:

http://bagnzor.org.pl/nihongo/

All of these are pdf files containing tables or printouts that are supposed to help you improve your handwriting. I’ll make rest of hiragana stuff and make katakana tables tomorrow. Stay tuned.

When learning Japanese conversation, or developing conversational skills in general, it’s important to develop “situational fluency.” Language learners should anticipate common situations they’ll run into, and prepare their language skills to meet the demands of those situations.  Of course each Japanese language learner has different demands, some might be traveling to Japan later on, others might have more immediate needs in their current workplace.  This article will cover very useful Japanese conversation for any language learner that plans on traveling to Japan, and staying in a hotel.

Before getting into the specifics of Japanese conversation vocabulary at a hotel, it’s important to prepare you for the cultural experience you’ll encounter. Japan is a service nation, from McDonald’s to Uniqlo you’ll encounter some of the best customer service on the planet. The hotels are no exception, from extra clean sheets to bowing at every turn to little knick knacks in your room, the hotel is the epitome of Japanese customer service.

Let’s start with something simple for Japanese Conversation, if you already have a reservation and you’re just looking to check -in:

チェックインをお願いします　

The word for check-in in Japanese sounds just like the English word, in Katakana it reads: チェックイン (Chi e ku i – in) You use “onegaishimasu” as a more formal version of “please”, so this phrase means Check in, please.

私の名前はビルです。わたしのなまえはびるです。

The above phrase, adding in Kanji as well as hiragana and katakana means my name is Bill.

部屋を見せてください。

The above phrase uses the command phrase, “please” or kudasai. The verb 見せる（みせる）means to show, and 部屋（へや）means room, please show me the room.

Now here’s some beginning phrases for Japanese conversation if you don’t have a reservation. It gets a little more complicated here:

ようやくをしたいんですが 　ようやく means reservation. This is a very useful phrase and is used at either restaurants or at hotels. The correct way of asking for a reservation is literally like above, “I would like to make a reservation but…” “But” in Japanese, especially when used with the たい or “to want” form, means to lighten the request, to ask politely.

Naturally the next question you’ll have to answer is how many people per room. Below is how to answer one person (hitori) through three people (san nin)

一人　ひとり

二人　ふたり

三人　さんにん

If you’re on a budget, you might ask how much per room:

部屋代は一泊いくらですか？部屋代(へやだい) heya is a word we learned previously, literally meaning room. When you combine this with the character 代dai, it literally means “the price of the room”. To ask per night, you ask:　一泊（いっぱく）(ippaku) means one night, or in this context it means per night, and then of course how to ask how much, or ikura desu ka?

Here’s how you say one night (ippaku) through three nights (sanhaku):

一泊　いっぱく

二泊　にはく

三泊　さんはく

And finally, before going to your room you’ll have to ask “When is check-out?”

チェックアウトは何時ですか？ チェックアウト　as with Check-in, Check-out is also in katakana, and resembles English. The second part of the sentence is nanji desu ka, literally what time?

So now you’ve learned the basics of Japanese conversation at a hotel. One of the drawbacks to Japan and learning Japanese conversation however, is with excellent customer service comes “keigo”, very formal Japanese language. You the customer of course do not have to worry about using keigo when you speak, but when the front desk or concierge speaks to you in Japanese they’ll be using keigo. Therefore when learning Japanese conversation for hotels it’s important to learn both the formal versions of keigo, and of course more rudimentary forms of Japanese for yourself. This article covered the rudimentary Japanese, next article we’ll work on the keigo.

aiueo-Japanese order

aeiou-European order

Here is a site on Hiragana stroke order and sounds http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/self/site/hiragana/hiragana.html. Unfortunately, this particular resource does NOT show written Hiragana… just stroke order as if when you write it, the hiragana show up the same as if you were typing.

ikirutte ittemo ne
ironna ikiruga arundane
boku to kimi ga ikiteiru ikiru to
inu ya neko ga ikiteru ikiru to
soreto ne soreto ne
ano hana ano ki ga ikiteru ikiru to
kono hito ano hito sono hito
sorezore no kotoba ga ikiteru ikiru
ano isu kono tsukue sono hon
minna ikiteru
itsuka jibun mo
nanikawo umitai ne

This week my goal is to work on kana.

I learned most of them last year, but have forgotten much.

Esta semana mi meta es practicar kana.

Aprendí mucha kana el año pasado pero se me olvidó mucho.

nomes de frutas

leitura:

BUDOU KIUI

ICHIGO SAKURANBO