Learning Japanese From Zero

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
golyplot
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1719
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:41 pm
Languages: Am. English (N), German, French, ASL (abandoned), Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12230
x 3385

Re: Learning Japanese from zero by listening: 2021 Log

Postby golyplot » Tue Jun 15, 2021 1:57 pm

Recently, I listened to the episode where Noriko interviewed Steve Kaufman. He didn't sound at all like I expected, to the point where I briefly wondered whether Noriko had gotten a young Japanese guy to pretend to be Steve to prank people.
1 x

golyplot
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1719
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:41 pm
Languages: Am. English (N), German, French, ASL (abandoned), Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12230
x 3385

Re: Learning Japanese from zero by listening: 2021 Log

Postby golyplot » Thu Jun 17, 2021 3:07 am

At long last, it's time to read some Yotsubato again!

とーちゃん
あでかけ
してます
DADDY'S OUT RIGHT NOW

What's with the あ in there? Should that be a wa or ga particle?

まぁいいや
中でちょっと
待たせて
THEN I'LL JUST WAIT FOR HIM INSIDE

Why is it using the causative form here?

入らせて
ください
PLEASE LET ME IN

I just remembered that the causative can mean "to let someone do X" as well as "to cause X", as appears to be the case here. I'm guessing that this explains the previous example as well, it's just that they left off the "kudasai" for some reason. As if Japanese wasn't hard enough to understand when they didn't leave half the sentence implied!

After doing some searching in Tae Kim's guide, it appears that you can in fact make a casual quest just by using the -te form and omitting kusadai. How confusing! Especially since -te is also used to mean quotation. Arrrgh!

アメ
いる
WANT SOME CANDY?

I was very confused by this, but per Jisho, iru can also mean "to be wanted" in addition the most common meaning of "to exist". Japanese homophones strike again! Why Japanese people, why?

はいんな
DON'T GO IN!!

I know you can make a casual command with -na, but where did the extra ん come from? Another casual abbreviation?
0 x

vonPeterhof
Blue Belt
Posts: 879
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2015 1:55 am
Languages: Russian (N), English (C2), Japanese (~C1), German (~B2), Kazakh (~B1), Norwegian (~A2)
Studying: Kazakh, Mandarin, Coptic
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1237
x 2831
Contact:

Re: Learning Japanese from zero by listening: 2021 Log

Postby vonPeterhof » Thu Jun 17, 2021 5:35 am

golyplot wrote:とーちゃん
あでかけ
してます
DADDY'S OUT RIGHT NOW

What's with the あ in there? Should that be a wa or ga particle?

It's transcription error of お.

golyplot wrote:I was very confused by this, but per Jisho, iru can also mean "to be wanted" in addition the most common meaning of "to exist". Japanese homophones strike again! Why Japanese people, why?


Well at least in this case most of the conjugated forms are different (e.g. いらない "not needed" vs. いない "not present"), plus it helps that いる in the sense of "to exist" only applies to living things, so the range of contexts where these verbs could be confused for one another isn't as wide as it could have been.

golyplot wrote:はいんな
DON'T GO IN!!

I know you can make a casual command with -na, but where did the extra ん come from? Another casual abbreviation?

Not so much of an abbreviation as the number of morae is still the same, but it is common in informal speech for the verb endings with the suffix -r- to assimilate into -n- like that (I think it tends to only occur in verbs with the pitch accent on the root, like いんな or わんない, but don't quote me on this [Edit: never mind, just recalled すんな and たまんない as common examples of this happening in unaccented verbs]).
1 x

golyplot
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1719
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:41 pm
Languages: Am. English (N), German, French, ASL (abandoned), Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12230
x 3385

Re: Learning Japanese from zero by listening: 2021 Log

Postby golyplot » Sat Jun 19, 2021 3:06 am

金星を
見つけてみよう
"LET'S TRY AND FIND THE CONSTELLA-TIONS"

How the heck did Venus manage to get turned into "the constellations"?


In other news, I've listened to the song Kitakaze many times over the last year and a half without knowing anything about the lyrics or what they meant. It always sounded to me like the refrain went "kitakaze ga kono maji...". However, tonight, I finally got around to looking up the lyrics, and it turns out it actually says "machi", not "maji". I listened to it again after looking up the lyrics, and I can now clearly hear him say "machi". It's really interesting how expectations can affect perception like that.
1 x

golyplot
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1719
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:41 pm
Languages: Am. English (N), German, French, ASL (abandoned), Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12230
x 3385

Re: Learning Japanese from zero by listening: 2021 Log

Postby golyplot » Wed Jun 23, 2021 7:11 pm

Last night, I finished watching Drifting Dragons. One thing that occurred me is that I seem to like shows with a female protagonist more often. I'm not sure why.

Here are my rankings of the anime I've watched to date:

Male main character:
Liked:
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
Neutral:
Hunter x Hunter
Polar Bear Cafe
Love, Chunnibyou and Other Delusions
Toradora
Disliked:
Sword Art Online
One Piece
Beastars
Teasing Master Tagisan
Hated:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
One Punch Man

Female main character:
Liked:
K-On!
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online
Bofuri
Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun
Drifting Dragons
Neutral:
Violet Evergarden
Aggretsuko
Disliked:
Cardcaptor Sakura
Cannon Busters
BNA: Brand New Animal
Hated:
N/A
2 x

golyplot
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1719
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:41 pm
Languages: Am. English (N), German, French, ASL (abandoned), Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12230
x 3385

Re: Learning Japanese from zero by listening: 2021 Log

Postby golyplot » Sat Jun 26, 2021 5:04 am

Tonight, I tried watching an episode of Love, Chunibyou, and Other Delusions with English subtitles so I could actually understand what was going on. Apparently, there's a character named 五月七日 which is read "Tsuyuri". I know name readings can be a bit odd, but how does that make any sense at all? Her ancestors had to be trolling. That's like saying that your name is written "Raymond Luxury Yacht" and pronounced "Throatwobbler Mangrove".

Also, tonight I finished listening to Noriko again and started Momoko again. I was surprised when Noriko said she's not good at Keigo despite being a Japanese native. I guess I don't have to feel bad about not trying to learn it then.
1 x

vonPeterhof
Blue Belt
Posts: 879
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2015 1:55 am
Languages: Russian (N), English (C2), Japanese (~C1), German (~B2), Kazakh (~B1), Norwegian (~A2)
Studying: Kazakh, Mandarin, Coptic
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1237
x 2831
Contact:

Re: Learning Japanese from zero by listening: 2021 Log

Postby vonPeterhof » Sat Jun 26, 2021 8:15 am

golyplot wrote:Apparently, there's a character named 五月七日 which is read "Tsuyuri". I know name readings can be a bit odd, but how does that make any sense at all? Her ancestors had to be trolling. That's like saying that your name is written "Raymond Luxury Yacht" and pronounced "Throatwobbler Mangrove".

There's a few Japanese surnames that are written as dates and pronounced as events that were associated with those dates in the old lunar calendar. The only other one I can think of right now is 四月一日 ("watanuki", literally meaning something like "removing the cotton" and referring to switching from cotton-padded winter clothes to summer clothes). "Tsuyuri" means the start of the rainy season, which would have taken place near the start of the fifth month of the lunar calendar (corresponding to early to mid June).

golyplot wrote:Also, tonight I finished listening to Noriko again and started Momoko again. I was surprised when Noriko said she's not good at Keigo despite being a Japanese native. I guess I don't have to feel bad about not trying to learn it then.

I remember asking some of my Japanese coworkers how they were taught keigo at school, and their answers essentially boiled down to "we weren't". That explained a lot, from the Japanese equivalent of Yahoo Answers being chock full of Japanese people asking how to formulate this or that phrase in polite correspondence to the existence of the phenomenon of manual keigo.
5 x

golyplot
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1719
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:41 pm
Languages: Am. English (N), German, French, ASL (abandoned), Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12230
x 3385

Re: Learning Japanese from zero by listening: 2021 Log

Postby golyplot » Sat Jun 26, 2021 3:07 pm

Wow, that's crazy. TvTropes lists another one that shows up in Detective Conan - 八月一日/Hozumi. Also, there's apparently another character in Chunibyo with the name 子子子子 using four different readings of that kanji.
2 x

golyplot
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1719
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:41 pm
Languages: Am. English (N), German, French, ASL (abandoned), Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12230
x 3385

Re: Learning Japanese from zero by listening: 2021 Log

Postby golyplot » Sun Jun 27, 2021 5:39 am

Today, I read an (English) article about WeWork and was pleased to be able to read the word (赤字) that appears onscreen in one of the photos in the article. It's so cool that my Japanese managed to actually prove useful for once, even if it was a really trivial thing.

Incidentally, does anyone know what the katakana in the corner next to EBITDA means?

Image
0 x

vonPeterhof
Blue Belt
Posts: 879
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2015 1:55 am
Languages: Russian (N), English (C2), Japanese (~C1), German (~B2), Kazakh (~B1), Norwegian (~A2)
Studying: Kazakh, Mandarin, Coptic
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1237
x 2831
Contact:

Re: Learning Japanese from zero by listening: 2021 Log

Postby vonPeterhof » Sun Jun 27, 2021 7:25 am

golyplot wrote:Incidentally, does anyone know what the katakana in the corner next to EBITDA means?

イメージ comes from the English "image", but it often means something like "depiction" or "visualization" and used as a disclaimer that a visual aid isn't necessarily an accurate representation of reality. In this case it probably means that the curve shown below is just visualizing negative EBITDA and that its shape should not be taken as an exact mirror of the actual situation.
3 x


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: emk and 3 guests