Understanding Rikai markings

If you have been using Rikai, you will notice the beginning information in parenthesis. This is the Part of Speech markers used in edict.

Below is a short list of common POS markers that you will encounter. For a full list refer to Jim Breen’s eDict Lexographical Details.

adj-i	adjective (keiyoushi)
adj-na	adjectival nouns or quasi-adjectives (keiyodoshi)
adj-no	nouns which may take the genitive case particle `no'
adv	adverb (fukushi)
adv-n	adverbial noun
conj	conjunction
ctr	counter
exp	Expressions (phrases, clauses, etc.)
n	noun (common) (futsuumeishi)
n-adv	adverbial noun (fukushitekimeishi)
n-pref	noun, used as a prefix
n-suf	noun, used as a suffix
pn	pronoun
pref	prefix
prt	particle
suf	suffix
vi	intransitive verb
vn	irregular nu verb
vs	noun or participle which takes the aux. verb suru
vs-i	suru verb - irregular
vt	transitive verb

Starting over with Harry Potter

I have been reading the Harry Potter books in Japanese since I left Japan. Thought it might help me remember my Japanese after moving to Singapore.

Reading the first book was a breeze. My Japanese level had advanced in a year working in Japan in a non-English environment. I could recognize most kanjis and I could even read words I was not familiar by the characters and the context.

The second was relatively slower but still manageable. It was at this time that I was tempted to buy the Kanji Reading Pen. My friend in Japan bought one for himself and said it was quite handy. I could not make up my mind which pen to buy and I ended up buying nothing. Nevertheless I finished book two with flying colors.

Then there was Book 3. And still here is book 3. I guess it has almost been two years since I first picked up book three and up to now I am not even halfway. And when I skim through the pages, I can no longer recognize the kanji, even the most common ones. I guess I could say I have not given Japanese as much importance as I previously had since the need was no longer there, there was no opportunity to speak it, and I was also on my way to learning French.

But I suddenly got back the motivation to pick up the language again a few days ago. Although I may not be able to practice it in conversations, I can still measure my progress by listening to anime, which my boyfriend is a big fan of. Some days I take with me book 3 to work hoping I can inch a few paragraphs or maybe a page more.

It also delights me that people still somehow find their way into my blog.

Anyway, since my level has dropped since my last post here, I will be reviewing some basic grammar, vocabulary and kanji along the way. I may not be able to categorize them by JLPT levels as I used to but I will try my best to organize my posts as best as I could. I will start my review/study/lessons from book 1 (not that the book order really matters for the level).

And if you are interested in the French version of Harry Potter, head over to my French learning blog – Petit Frog. I am a total beginner in French so the bigger challenge is there 🙂

Well then, hope to see you around for my first lesson with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone ^_^

 

Strictly speaking… in Japanese

厳密に言えば
genmitsu ni ieba
strictly speaking

気持ちがいい vs 気分がいい

＊Note that there expressions convey different meanings and need to be used carefully.

気持ちがいい is used when the speaker feels good upon being exposed to an exterior stimulus. 気分がいい is used when the speaker expresses a great feeling coming from inside himself such as psychological exhilaration or a physiological sense of well-being.

今日は天気がよくて、気持ちがいいです。
薬を飲んで、熱が下がったので、気分がいいです。

Sentence 1 means that one “feels great in breathing fresh air or being out on a sunny day after a long spell of rainy or cloudy weather.”

Sentence 2 means that the speaker feels his physical condition is good.

~ni tomonatte

~に伴い / ~に伴う / ~に伴って
~にともない / ~にともなう / ~にともなって
~ni tomonai / ~ni tomonau / ~ni tomonatte

There are two usages for this expression:

Ａ                             

意味：　～にしたがって　・　～につれて
As~ ; With~ (accompanying, following something)
接続：　[動–辞書形；名]＋に伴って
例文：　
        人口が増えるに伴って、いろいろな問題が起こってきた。
        じんこうがふえるにともなって、いろいろなもんだいがおこってきた。

        じんこう – population
        ふえる – increase
        いろいろ – various
        もんだい – problem, question
        おこってきた – (lit) come to happen.

             Okotte is the te-form of okoru which means to happen. The Vte-form + kuru (past tense : kita) means come to V, or get V. This pattern is used with verbs of change. e.g.

                    このごろ寒くなって来たね。
                    It has gotten colder recently.

                    このごろ – recently
                    寒くなって – become cold

             Be careful not to confuse this with the other pattern Vte-form + kuru which describes that the speaker leaves the place, does something, and returns. Similar to the expression Vmasu-form/N + ni ikimasu/kimasu. e.g.

                    ちょっとたばこを買って来ます。
                    Im just going out to buy some cigarettes.

                    ちょっと – a little [while]
                    買って – to buy (kau)

B                            

意味：　～と一緒に　＜同時に起きる。＞
With~ (happen at the same time)
接続：　[名]＋に伴って
例文 1：　
        地震に伴って、火災が発生することが多い。
        じしんにともなって、かさいがはっせいすることがおおい。

        地震 – earthquake
        火災 – fire
        発生することが多い – likely to occur. 発生する means to occur

例文 2：　
        自由には、それに伴う責任がある。
        じゆうには、それにともなうせきにんがある。

        自由 – freedom
        責任 – duty

• に伴って can indicate a causal relationship (imi A: similar to につれて and にしたがって), but it can ALSO be used for situations that arise simultaneously (imi B: 同時に起きる)
• Remember that ～につれ is used with verbs of change and ～にしたがって express continuous process.

Technorati Tags: JLPT, Level 2, Grammar, Nihongo, Japanese Language

Rikai / Pera-pera

I found Rikai, a Firefox plug-in, last year and I’ve been using it since. It shows you the meaning, reading and other information of a hovered word. This plug-in is Mozilla Thunderbird compatible.

Pera-pera  is a modified version of Rikai. It has an additional export functions that allows you to export the highlighted word to the file of your choice.

Kanji Study – Monday Tuesday

Today we will learn 8 kanji – year, month, day, and the 7 days of the week.

Kanji	English	On	Kun	Link1	Link2
年	year	nen	toshi	click	click
日	day, sun	nichi	hi	click	click
月	month; moon	gatsu or getsu	tsuki	click	click
火	fire	ka	hi	click	click
水	water	sui	mizu	click	click
木	tree	moku	ki	click	click
金	gold	kin	kane	click	click
土	soil	do	tsuchi	click	click

Click on Link1 value to open jlpt-kanji.com page.
Click on Link2 value to open japanesepage.com page.

The kanjis 日 to 土 are used as days of the week in Japanese.

If you take its On-yomi (On-reading) + youbi, you get the Japanese days of the week

	Japanese	English
	Nichiyoubi	Sunday
	Getsuyoubi	Monday
	Kayoubi	Tuesday
	Suiyoubi	Wednesday
	Mokuyoubi	Thursday
	Kinyoubi	Friday
	Douyoubi	Saturday

No WOTD for 3 days

I havent been able to post a word of the day since the 26th. 😦 sumimasen.
Tomorrow, I will be posting three words of the day. 😉
I will also be starting the kanji lessons tomorrow and I will be listing down the vocabulary (with their kanji) that we have taken up since last week.
That would be 5 posts due for tomorrow. 🙂 plus at least one grammar point.

ja ne.
oyasuminasai.

Hiragana Writing Lessons

konnichiwa

Gomenasai. I cannot post new Hiragana Writing lessons as I mistakingly uninstalled my Office 2003 and I do not have the installer right now. (I use the Document Imager feature of 2003 to make page prints of the pdf file.)

If you still want to continue practicing your Hiragana and maybe proceed with the Katakana script, you may download the pdf file at Meguro Language Center Download site. (Note: to save the pdf file i linked here, right click “pdf file” and click Save Link As. Clicking the link will open the pdf file in a new window.)

We will try to catch up when I get the chance to reinstall my Office. 🙂

じゃ、またね。

Hiragana vs Katakana

Hiragana: The hiragana script (written ひらがな in hiragana) is a cursive script still mostly used for:

* Particles, e.g., が ga, の no, and は ha (pronounced wa).
* The endings on verbs, e.g., る ru, た ta, ます masu, etc.
* Grammatical words such as この kono ‘this’.
* Words where there are no suitable Chinese characters or the Chinese characters are too difficult for ordinary use, e.g. 林檎 ringo ‘apple’ is normally written in hiragana as りんご.

Children first learn to read and write in hiragana.

Katakana: The katakana script (written カタカナ in katakana) is a blocky-looking syllabary now mainly used for

writing:

* Foreign words, e.g., デパート　depaato ‘department store’, クレジットカード　kurejitto kaado ‘credit card’, コンテナー　kontenaa (freight) container’, etc.
* Scientific names of plants and animals, e.g., ゾウ　zou ‘elephant’, トビ　tobi ‘kite’, even ヒトhito ‘person’.
* Onomatopoeic words, e.g., ガタガタ gata gata ‘rattling/rickety sound’.

Ja, mata ne.

Source: http://www.cjvlang.com/Writing/writjpn.html
Note: The site also contains the topic “Could Kanji be replaced with Kana?”. You can read there several good reasons hy hiragana have failed to replace Kanji.