日本語の記録 @alittlepracticeeveryday - Tumblr Blog

Project 3 - Work Conversations

There are very few effective ways for a second language learner to practice keigo without being enrolled in a specialized class or working for a Japanese company. Here's one method I've come up with. Not only does it allow you to practice keigo, but it also helps point out professional words that probably aren't in a dictionary.

Write a transcript in your L1 of a conversation you had that day at work, no more than a 5 minute exchange.

Translate the conversation into Japanese using keigo as would be appropriate (i.e. if it was a conversation with your boss, you would be using humble language and they would be using casual speech)

Keep a list of the specialized vocabulary you had to track down

Practice having the conversation in Japanese, recording it if you like.

Feel free to add your own attempts below

#learning japanese #langblr #japanese #日本語 #japanese language #japanese langblr #keigo

Project #2: Complexification

(Inspired the book How to Sound Intelligent in Japanese: A Vocabulary Builder, which isn't really great at building vocabularies)

Pick a topic out of a recent conversation you've had. Not small talk, but a genuine discussion, such as the reactive over-policing of women's bathrooms or the poisonous adulterants put into food before and even after the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.

Record your best attempt at discussing what you know and think about the topic in your current level of Japanese, jotting down the words you are grasping for while you speak.

Look up these words and then try again, recording the attempt.

Read a short article about the subject, and write down any vocabulary you think might be useful.

Without referencing your word lists, make another attempt to address the topic, recording it.

Now, referencing your word lists, make a Japanese script of what you want to say, and record it. Commit it to memory, if you can

Now, without referencing anything, make a similarly sized script in your L1. Translate it as best you can with the vocabulary you have. Are there still any words you couldn't translate? Look those up.

Record the final draft.

Add all words to a flashcard deck, if you like. Feel free to make a transcript of each recording if you like, which I like to do generally, but you suffer diminishing returns with a project like this

Add you own projects below!

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corvid-language-library

This month I have been asking my 3rd-4th graders what vegetable they like and I have been FIGHTING them on whether melon is a vegetable or not and it's got me thinking that the Japanese word 野菜 and the English word vegetable do not actually overlap as neatly as I have been led to believe

corvid-language-library

I've also had a fair few kids say "strawberry"

alittlepracticeeveryday

湿度や気温の高い日が続くと、みずみずしい野菜や果物がひときわ美味しく感じられます。メロンやスイカも出回り始め、キュウリ、トマトなどの夏野菜が食卓にのぼる機会も多いのではないでしょうか。ところで、メロン、スイカ、キュウリ、トマトは、それぞれ野菜か果物かご存知でしょうか。今回は、知ら

This article explains a bit, but basically anything that can be grown and harvested within the same year is a "vegetable", which includes the entire gourd family, as well as strawberries. Anything that takes 2+ years to harvest (woody or herbaceous) is a "fruit tree". However, the Ministry of Agriculture is not unreasonable, and decided that any plants among the "vegetable" category that are "used in a fruit-like manner" may be called a "fruit-like vegetable".

(検索：野菜の基準）

alittlepracticeeveryday

Lang Project #1: Translation

Choose a short manuscript (for Japanese, Aozora Bunko, a short story on Syosetu, or even an article on note, etc.) ideally short enough to translate in one sitting.

Read quickly (refrain from taking notes or looking up words if you can)

Translate into L1 as close to the original's intent/style as possible (this time use the dictionary heavily, even using MTL to help you along when stuck)

Put into your language jar of chaos (a google drive folder, desktop folder, a drawer, an actual jar on your desk)

At the end of the week, pick a manuscript out of your jar at random (if storing in a folder, name the file something random like TL_5/11 or "translation_may 11")

Attempt to translate back into the original language as best as possible.

Highlight/underline/bold differences between the original and the translation you produced.

Objectives: deep comprehension, vocabulary recall, guided composition, discourse-level problem-solving.

Reblog with your own attempt; the original, the L1 translation, and your L2 translation!

alittlepracticeeveryday

Amber

https://www.gia.edu/JP/amber-description

Amber is an organic gemstone. Organic gemstones are composites made of the biological processes of living creatures or formerly living creatures. Amber is millions of years old, formed from fossilized tree sap.

Scientists and collectors prize amber specimens which have trapped animals or bits of plant matter. The ancient organic material, having been encased in amber, is a fascinating time capsule.

Amber can be found underground. It can also be unearthed in lakes and carried away to sandy beaches or coastal rocks. Germany, Poland, and the Baltic seaboard which forms part of the Russian border are to this day important sources for amber.

alittlepracticeeveryday

琥珀は生物の宝石。生物の宝石は生物学的な仮定やもと生物からの物質。何億年の後で樹液から形成される。

科学者と集める方にとって生物や植物の一分が囲まれている琥珀を重視する。その琥珀の中に古いものは不思議なタイムキャプサル。

土に見つける。湖を出て、海岸や岩場まで運ばれる。ドイツ、ポーランド、ロシア国境のバルチック海岸は今まで大切な産地。

alittlepracticeeveryday

Original:

琥珀は、有機質宝石です。有機質宝石は、生体、またはかつては生体であった組織と生物学的プロセスからもたらされたものです。琥珀は、何億年も前、古代木の樹液が硬化し化石化して形成されました。

科学者や収集家は、動物が囚われていたり植物の断片が含まれている琥珀を珍重します。こうしたいにしえの生物の小片は硬化した琥珀の中に閉じ込められ、興味深いタイムカプセルとなっています。

琥珀のなかには、地下で発見されるものもあります。また潮によって解き放され、運ばれて砂浜や海岸沿いにたどり着くものもあります。ドイツ、ポーランド、ロシアの国境と接するバルト海岸は、今も尚琥珀の重要な産出地です。

alittlepracticeeveryday

Words I knew but didn’t utilize (“what I translated into English” followed by what I tend to think the definition is):

生体 “living creature” organism

組織 “composite” organization

硬化 [omitted in TL] hardening

化する [-ation in “fossilization”] turn into

カプセル “capsule” capsule

地下 “underground” basement

沿い [omitted in TL] along a path

と接する “forms part of the border” deal with **to border on, to be adjacent with

New words:

有機質ゆうきしつ “organic gemstone” organic material

もたらす “made of” to bring about

古代木こだい・き [omitted in TL] ancient tree

化石　かせき “fossilization” fossile

収集家　しゅうしゅうか “collectors” collector

囚われる　とらわれる “trapped” to be captured

断片　だんぺん “bits” fragment

珍重　ちんちょう “prize” highly esteem, prize

解き放され　ときはなす　”unearthed” to set free

砂浜　すなはま “sandy beaches” sandy beach

バルト “Baltic” Baltic

産出地さんしゅつ・ち “source” place where produced