Archive for the ‘Learning Japanese’ Category

“My first two years in Japan were spent teaching English… The students… studied English- or should I say, English was taught in their presence. Nothing ever seemed to sink in. Years of classes and endless tests and still they couldn’t master the intricacies of a simple ‘How are you?’ When I tried to have the most elemental of English conversations with them they looked at me with blank expressions, shrugged their shoulders, and said ‘Wakaranai’ (’Huh?’) They did this, I believe, just to annoy me. Don’t get me wrong, these teenagers were polite and studious and well-mannered, but they were still teenagers, and teenagers are pretty well insufferable anywhere you go on this planet.” (more…)

Talk to most Japanese people about Sudoku and they will have no idea what you are talking about. The standard Japanese name is “nambaa geimu” (number game)

(Thanks to Anthony for the post title)

Why are adults quite happy to been seen in public reading manga comics?

First of all, the vast majority of Japanese adults would in fact be highly embarrased to be caught reading a manga, let alone a pornographic one, in public. The salarymen you seeing reading dodgy comics and magazines on trains are the same who slurp their pasta, spit on the ground etc. in ways that well mannered Japanese never would. Manga does remain more popular amongst adults than in other countries, though. Amongst the salaryman population, this is because they hardly have the energy to read anything more demanding, especially as reading difficult kanji can put a strain on even strong readers. There is also no social pressure to spend your free time productively and an acceptance of reading manga etc. for nostalgic reasons.

See http://japanexplained.wordpress.com for much more of the same

They avoid using the expression in this IHT article on the Japanese government policy on getting people to dress down for the summer, but I think it is a good opportunity to continue my occassional “Japanese English” series of posts:

Japanese English Compound Nouns Expressions

Which of these ‘Japanese English’ expressions would you find in the Oxford English Dictionary? Which wouldn’t you find but a native English speaker might guess the meaning of anyway? Which would definitely need explaining? How would you explain them?
Walkman/ Paper driver/ Salaryman/ Anime / A short short/ Hello work/ J-pop / Golden week/ Pair look/ Recruit suit/ Long seller/ Cosplay/  One man bus/ Karaoke/ A sayonara homerun 

Choose the correct explanation for what Japanese people mean when they use the Japanese English expressions below (the other explanations are what English native speakers might think the expressions mean the first time they hear them):
Cheek dance = people who are dancing very close/ a person who is moving their face as they swish water around in their mouth after they clean their teeth
High teens = young people who are taking drugs/ people who are between 15 and 19
A girl hunt = when men go out to pick up women/ the time women go out to look for men
No make = the time when you wear no lipstick etc./ a product that has no branding
Season off = a holiday that is very long/ the time when most people don’t take a holiday
A cutter = a knife that you use on paper / a person who takes out bad scenes from movies
A nighter = a baseball game that takes place after dark/ a person who spends all evening in a disco
High miss = a young lady who is tall/ an older lady who isn’t married
Home drama = a soap opera or a domestic accident
Easy order = a semi-tailored suit or a drive through take out restaurant
Health meter = bathroom scales or a blood pressure monitor
Free talking = a hands-free phone or an open discussion
A magic pen = a marker or something that writes with invisible ink
Non pro = being an amateur or being against something
To crank in = to start an old car or to start shooting a film
A meat shop = a pickup bar or a butcher’s
A plus driver = an elderly motorist or a Phillips screwdriver
A TV game=a quiz show that is on TV or a video game that you can play on your TV
A mini theatre= a cinema that seats few people or a home entertainment system

Business and technical English
Without using any words in the expressions, explain what any one of the Japanese English expressions below mean. When your partner thinks they know which one you are talking about, they will say the number of at that expression. Tell them if that was your intention.

1. cool biz
2. An OL
3. CM
4. salary loan
5. The dollar shock
6. The oil shock
7. Golden hour
8. Minus driver
9. Symbol mark
10. Excellent company
11. Base up
12. A Y shirt
13. Pocketable
14. Order made
15. Building money
16. An OB
17. Tunnel company
18. paper company
19. a one man president
20. main bank
21. Image up
22. Country risk
23. a non bank
24. image down
25. name value
26. minus image
27. cost down
28. level up

Answer key

Cheek dance = people who are dancing very close
High teens = people who are between 15 and 19
A girl hunt = when men go out to pick up women
No make = the time when you wear no lipstick etc
Season off = the time when most people don’t take a holiday
A cutter = a knife that you use on paper
A nighter = a baseball game that takes place after dark
High miss = an older lady who isn’t married
Home drama = a soap opera
Easy order = a semi-tailored suit
Health meter = bathroom scales
Free talking = an open discussion
A magic pen = a marker
Non pro = being an amateur
To crank in = to start shooting a film
A meat shop = a butcher’s
A plus driver = a Phillips screwdriver
A TV game= a video game that you can play on your TV
A mini theatre= a cinema that seats few people

1. cool biz: Dressing down for the summer
2. An OL: Office lady- a female office worker
3. CM: Commercial message: An ad
4. salary loan: A loan from a consumer loan company
5. The dollar shock: When the yen was revalued
6. The oil shock: When the price of all suddenly went up
7. Golden hour: prime time
8. Minus driver: a normal screwdriver
9. Symbol mark: a logo
10. Excellent company: a blue chip company
11. Base up: a pay rise to your or everyone’s basic pay
12. A Y shirt- a white shirt- a business shirt
13. Pocketable- portable/ fits in your pocket
14. Order made- custom made
15. Building money- making monet
16. An OB- old boy
17. Tunnel company- a paper company
18. paper company
19. a one man president- a manager who makes all the decisions on their own
20. main bank- …that your company does business with
21. Image up- improving your image
22. Country risk- a risky country to invest in
23. a non bank- other sources of credit
24. image down-
25. name value- the value of a brand name etc.
26. minus image
27. cost down- reducing costs
28. level up- improving the level

Spent a crazy amount of money in the UK in July, so August holiday is at home in Tokyo. It’s hot, it’s humid and the white noise of the cicadas can quickly turn from soothing to irritating, but it’s not so bad really. Electricity bills are ridiculously high but using the aircon and/ or fan seems to make them go up much less than you’d expect and traditional Japanese clothes, houses, festivals etc. are basically designed with the summer in mind:

Stuff you can only really do and/ or appreciate in the summer in Japan:

Watch fireworks (almost every weekend night)
Buy and wear tatami-lined, wooden or straw sandals and maybe yukata (summer kimono) or jimbei (pajama-like shorts and thin wrap over shirt set)
Matsuri (street festivals)
Take your laptop and/ or a book down to one of those beach bar places in Enoshima, Kamakura or Miura Kaigan (all within an hour or so of Tokyo) and sit there at your little wooden table in the sea breeze all day for a couple of thousand yen, taking a dip if you feel like it and your sun protection is strong enough
Outside cafes and restaurants- good ones in Tamachi (Shibaura), Shinagawa (Tennozu Isle), Doutor coffee in Funabashi etc. etc.
Watch the dragonflies over a park pond or make a collection of dead semi (cicadas)
Boat rides from Kasai Rinkai koen park up the Sumida river etc.
Party boats from Takeshiba pier (Hamamatsucho)
“Stamina don”, eel etc. to give yourself the strength to go on
Kakigori (shaved ice) with many colours and flavours- any with condensed milk particularly recommended. Maybe even buy your own shaved ice machine in the shape of Hello Kitty.
Bonding with strangers, especially old ladies, by saying “Atsui da ne” at bus stops etc.
Stand outside a department store pretending to meet a friend and enjoy the aircon from up to 5 meters away from the door
Beer gardens on department store roofs. Just don’t expect a garden- nothing will be green- or even real beer if it’s a nomihodai (drink all you like deal) as it will be probably be low tax happoshu fake beer made with peas
Iced black bean tea, mugi tea etc. etc.
Strange flavours of ice cream, e.g. green tea and red beans
Cheap and cheerful ice lollies, e.g. the bright blue Gari Gari-kun with its unidentifiable but delicious flavour

(started as an answer of mine to a post on Dave’s ESL Cafe: http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=55069

Any other ideas or suggestions?

There are only five possible reasons why there are more bad English teachers in Japan than elsewhere, and as is usually the case when there are several explanations it is probably a combination of all of them. The possible reasons are:

1. Worse teachers come to Japan
2. The good teachers leave Japan
3. The worst teachers stay in Japan
4. People who are bad teachers and stay in Japan continue teaching instead of getting another job
5. People actually get worse at teaching due to being in Japan

I’ll deal with number one here and the rest will have to wait until it’s less hot and my brain starts working.

Why do worse teachers come to Japan?

1. People who go to European countries and Latin America often do it because of an interest in learning languages and so are more likely to be suitable language teachers. This is rarely the case in Japan.
2. Conversely, people who are interested in things like Japanese language and cultural things like haiku and calligraphy can tend to be over-intellectual and have problems talking to teenagers who are ignorant of their own high culture and have few ideas about their country or the world.
3. People who decide to completely escape from everything by going halfway across the world and are quite happy to not see their friends and family for years to do so are likely to be more emotionally unstable and have less social skills than people who pop back home once a month or so on Easyjet. Such people are likely to be a strain on their DoS, for teaching and other reasons.
4. Ditto for people who come to Japan due to an overwhelming interest in otaku things like anime, female J pop duos or Japanese bullet trains. They often do not have the best social skills and this can be a problem when teaching, especially in one to one classes.
5. Ditto for people who come to Japan because they can’t get a girlfriend back home.
6. The dating opportunities for men and lack of dating opportunities for women etc. means teachers are overwhelmingly male. Men are not generally as serious about their teaching as women, or at least there is a macho culture of not showing interest that can start to really have a negative effect.
7. The lack of well respected chains like Bell and International House puts professional teachers off applying for jobs in Japan
8. The low standards many language schools have (not even a CELTA or equivalent needed) puts professional teachers off, even when they are offered increased pay for qualifications and experience, because it makes the school look unprofessional
9. The way the schools in Japan recruit from abroad is more likely to attract people who had no previous interest in teaching than the types of advertising etc. used by chains in other countries

Wow, that was a longer list than I expected. Looks like it might be a while till I get down to talking about the effect of the expression “English conversation school ” in number 5 in the first list (sorry Katie!)

Why are ramen noodle places so popular in Japan?

Ramen has the two main junk food nutritional groups in full: salt and fat. It is therefore the perfect food for people who would have a doner kebab in the UK. The main reason there are so many restaurants, though, is simply that the ingredients are cheap but people will pay a fair amount of money for it and therefore it is good business- just like coffee shops.

Everything else Japanese is explained here.

Required by me, that is, as I am putting it on here to remind myself, but you are also required to click on at least once!

Japanese Manners and Etiquette links

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?…node_id=632142

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e622.html

http://www.japan-zone.com/new/etiquette.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_etiquette

http://www.thejapanfaq.com/FAQ-Manners.html

Japanese Culture — A Primer For Newcomers
Culture Shock 101
http://www.thejapanfaq.com/FAQ-Primer.html

Links found on gaijinpot forums. Thanks, fellow gaijin!

Had one of those classic “Japan is the strange mix of the traditional and the incredibly new” moments this morning (cue photos of maiko with mobile phones or temples right next to Tokyo Tower). My mobile phone alarm, which is always on manner mode (vibrate), buzzing on the table set off an absolute chorus of similar sounding horny male cicadas in the tree outside. Luckily the ami-do (nets on the windows) were closed and my J-phone mobile, though 4 years old and therefore embarassingly out of date (no TV function!) does at least remain a virgin.

The ancient, traditional part of my  semi (cicada) Japanese story is the absolute fascination the Japanese have with these noisy little buggers. Part of it is them being the ultimate sign of the tsuyu rainy season finishing and summer really beginning- hence their pride of place in haiku poetry, where a subtle reference to the seasons has always been de rigueur. Partly it’s the Asian love of background noise that blocks out all thought- hence also students saying “My favourite music is BGM (background music)” and endless bosa nova loop tapes in cafes and posh restaurants. My other new theory is that the Japanese are more positive about their cicadas because they behave themselves better than cicadas in the Med- the ones in Turkey took to clinging to the jumpers of screaming girls in a stubborn and annoying way not unlike a Turkish waiter insisting that you choose his restaurant. Probably no connection to national characteristics though…

Why are the Japanese so into ”kawaii” (cute)?

As long as it is socially acceptable, there is no reason why having a picture of a kitten should not make you feel warm inside. Being around cute stuff makes you feel good. And anything that makes you feel good can be addictive. It should also be noted that “kawaii” is also used by some people with such a wide range of meanings it could even be translated just as ‘good’ rather than ‘cute’.

Why do the Japanese sometimes answer yes/no questions in English with the answer ‘maybe’? One reason could be being asked a question that is not standard in Japanese. For example, “genki desu ka” is often given as the translation of “how are you” but is in fact very rarely asked, perhaps because it could be seen as intrusive. Another is that there are many ways of being vague in Japanese but they are not taught ways to be vague in English. For example, “so desu ne” (That’s so) and “so desu ka” (Is that so) can be given many fine shades of meaning including doubt by changes in intonation etc. These are probably the phrases in their head when they say ‘maybe’. 

Why do Japanese streets have no names?

All Japanese communities, including parts of cities, have always been like little villages where everyone knows everyone else and so there is no need to have street names or even house numbers in order. This was even more so in Tokugawa times, when blocks of Tokyo streets would be surrounded by walls and watch towers dividing them from other parts of the city.

Thanks to Laurent for the top two questions. Keep them comng, everyone.

This series of posts also sprouted their own blog- Japan Explained. Give it a click and give it a go!