Browsing the blog archives for December, 2011
on Thank you for visiting our blog. At the end of 2011, we’d like to express our appreciation for your support. This is how we feel. What does your on means? I would answer that it is your gratitude for what you owe to somebody. Dictionaries give us different answers. Its basic meanings are a favor, [...]
hiki, hitsu When we count animals, we put this character after numbers. Its reading is hiki, biki, or piki. The first sound alters according to the number. Here is how we count 10 little pigs. Kobuta is a little pig. 1 little pig … ippiki no kobuta 2 little pigs … nihiki no kobuta 3 [...]
kō, kan This character depicts a shell of a tortoise and its tail. A shell of a tortoise is kōra, of which the ra means a net. Both the back of the one’s hand and the instep is kō. We call them te no kō and ashi no kō respectively. Another thing that has a [...]
ō We call Europe yōroppa and write it in katakana. There is a kanji version. Japan once closed the country to outsiders except the Chinese and the Dutch from 1639 to 1853. Before closing the country, it had visitors from Portugal. The word yōroppa came from Portuguese. Each syllable was replaced with kanji according to [...]
kuru-u, kuru-oshii, kyō Kuruu means to go crazy. Who becomes mad? When this verb is used, not only human beings but also timepieces can be its subject. There is a possibility that both could behave abnormally. When a clock shows the wrong time, you can say, “to kei ga kurutteiru,” inflecting the verb. When the [...]
shiru, jū Jū and jūsu (juice) look similar but jūsu sounds more sophisticated and it is written in katakana. Most words written in katakana are Western loan words. Calligraphers rarely write katakana. They prefer kanji, which are originally imported from ancient China. Even if they cannot read kambun, texts written only in kanji, it is often [...]
sen We use this as part of some words. Sengen is declaration. Senden is advertising or publicity. Senkyō shi is a missionary. Senkyō is missionary work. Once an election campaign starts in any Japanese town, you must see campaign vans and hear candidates shout hoarsely. Such noisy cars are called gaisensha. Write the dot on [...]
aya-shii, aya-shimu, kai Something weird, dubious, or strange is described as ayashii. Kaibutsu is a monster. Kaiki means strange and mysterious. Kaiki shō setsu means Gothic stories. Kwaidan is a novel written by Koizumi Yakumo (Lafcadio Hearn). The kwai of Kwaidan is today’s character and dan means stories. Write a dot to the left. Write the [...]
tsukue, ki Tsukue is a desk. Things either on or under a desk are not considered to be valuable. “Kijō no kūron” and “kijō ron,” which are literally theories on a desk, imply theories that are made up in one’s brain and that you cannot use in reality. Ron means a theory. Kika expresses your humility [...]
tada-shi, tadashi, tada Tadashi or tadashi is either a conjunction or an adverb. It means “except” or “but.” Put this before the sentence implying that the rules you have just said or written do not apply to cases that you are about to say or write. Tada, which is usually used with nomi, shika or [...]