Maybe you'll have to settle for mediocrity, so here is the dubstep song stuck in my head. It's called "Centipede" by Knife Party. It's a rather popular song at the moment, and for good reason! It has a great bass drop! The Japanese kanji for centipede is 百足 (pronounced "mukade"). Haha just think of the Japanese version of the song! It's be like "'Makade' *Wub wub wub wub*"! That would be quite interesting. In this kanji, the 百 means "hundered", and the 足 means "foot". This describes a centipede perfectly. I find it interesting that this kanji has a direct relationship to the actual word in which it describes, unlike many other kanji characters.
All this talk of kanji begs the question 'why am I learning kanji as a beginner?'. Well, this is an excellent question, actually. Kanji is tailored for the more advanced Japanese linguists. This is essentially the opposite of what I am. Hirangana and katakana are traditionally viewed the best forms of writing to start learning Japanese in. For the most part, this is correct. Kanji, however, is a huge part of the Japanese culture, and essential to learn at one point or another. Lots of Japanese words can be translated into kanji! And it's kinda good to learn kanji's symbols alongside the writing you're studying in my opinion. It makes it a lot easier because i'm in "learning mode".
When people learn to write in Japanese, they typically learn the "strokes" or lines to draw in order to form the character rather than the actual character itself. That's because of the rumor that a native writer can tell, by means of stroke order, the writing of a native vs someone learning Japanese as a second language. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but if you make the character look authentic, I'm sure you'll be fine. Many learners of kanji based on complexity of the character in the form of number of strokes. It's absolutely ridiculous that people think that the symbol 時's meaning is more complex than the symbol 厄 because it contains more 'strokes', or looks more complex than the latter character. The complecated looking symbol "時" actually means something simple. It means "time". The simplistic looking symbol "厄" expresses an idea that is far more complex than the previous symbol. In this case, it means "an adversity".
So today, I studied and used mostly kanji. One of the methods that really helps me learn and reinforce what I actually learned for the day is actually teaching it to someone else. Among those I give such "Japanese lessons" to are my girlfriend, Ashley, and a friend of mine named Tafari!
Tafari and I sit next to each other in math class. We get a kick out of picking on our teacher, and making our fellow classmates laugh. We find it amusing to raise our hands, and when we have the collection of students' attention we say nonsensical things like pick up a calculator, point to it and say "Kore wa mizu desu ka" (これは水ですか), which means is "Is this water?"! It's hilarious and lots of fun! I'd do it if you're a student!
So we were just joking around, and this totally mean girl that we kinda pick on (in good fun of course) for being so combatant toward us said something stupid and cruel to us. So we said "insulted" her in the worst way you can insult an American girl (besides calling her "fat".) using words that I already know! We called her Shiro Gomibako, (白 ゴミ箱), which translates directly into "White trash". Needless to say, she was angry, but it was HILARIOUS, and totally worth the slap across the face!
Well, I think it's time for me to go! See ya!
so how long you been with your girlfriend?
ReplyDeleteNot long enough.
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