JapanesePod101.com Blog

治療の予約をしようと歯科医院の診察券を見たら、電話番号が「37-6480」と書かれていました。これは、日本人にとってはとても覚えやすい数字です。なぜかというと、「みんな、むしばゼロ」と読めるからです。 日本語では数字を「いち、に、さん…」と読むだけでなく、「ひ（ひとつ）、ふ（ふたつ）、み（みっつ）…」とも読みます。これらの読み方を組み合わせて別の意味を生み出し、数字を当てはめて連想しながら覚えると、より一層、強く記憶にとどめることができます。 特に、歴史の年号を覚えるときにはこのような覚え方が威力を発揮します。日本史の年号で最も有名なのは、鎌倉幕府成立の年とされる「1192年」。これは、「いいくに」と読めるため「いいくに　作ろう　鎌倉幕府」と関連付けた文章と共に暗記しやすいからです。 2の平方根√2は1.41421356…ですが、数字の並んでいる通り、左から順番に暗記しようと思っても容易ではありません。しかし、「ひとよ　ひとよに　ひとみごろ（一夜　一夜に　人　見頃）」と読み換えれば9個の数字を簡単に覚えることができます。 このような読み方を「語呂合わせ」と言います。「語呂」とは、「ことばや文章の続き具合、調子」のことを指し、ことばの続き方を調子よく合わせることで、単なる羅列に過ぎない数字も、おもしろい意味を生み出して覚えたり、宣伝したりすることができるのです。 ＝＝＝ In order to make an appointment at the dentist, I looked at the patient registration card and saw the phone number 37-6480.  This number... Show more

 Hi everyone! Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we're going to present pictures of kanji seen in various places in Japan taken by the team members at JapanesePod101.com. That's right - kanji seen and used everyday! The theme for this week is kanji found in a Japanese-language operating system of a computer. Let's take a look! ① 終了オプション (shūryō opushon) = shut down options When you’re ready to shut down your computer for the day, this is the button you press to see the different options. We have one word in kanji, 終了 (shūryō), and one word in katakana, オプション. 終了 means “end” or “completion”, and オプション means “options”. So literally this means “completion options”, or “shut down options”. In an English-language OS,... Show more

Shichi-Go-San (七五三 seven-five-three) is a traditional festival day in Japan when parents celebrate the growth of their children and pray for their future and well-being when their daughters turn three or seven and their sons turn three or five．Originally, this event was held on November 15th.  However, these days people often celebrate it on the nearest weekend because it is not a national holiday. There are some regions where they don't celebrate sons who turn three years old. Parents usually dress their daughters in kimono and their sons in hakama, which are formal Japanese skirtlike trousers. They then take them to a shrine or temple to celebrate their growth and pray for their health. They also take family pictures as a keepsake. ... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary In any society, a bridge is perhaps the most visible symbol of trust. And this kind of trust seldom comes into question. When most of us see a bridge, we assume it can handle the cars, trains, and gale-force winds bearing down on it. Lately, though, people in my neck of the woods realize that they can't take bridge safety for granted at all. In September, inspectors found a significant crack on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. (They wouldn't have done an inspection except for a rare circumstance, so this discovery shook our confidence considerably.) Crews labored to fix the problem, only to have the repair job fail weeks later, sending 5,000 pounds of steel crashing down... Show more

Hi everyone! Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we're going to present pictures of kanji seen in various places in Japan taken by the team members at JapanesePod101.com. That's right - kanji seen and used everyday! The theme for this week is kanji seen on an electric water heater pot. Let's take a look! ① 給湯 (kyūtō) = hot water supply The word written on this button is 給湯 (kyūtō), which means “hot water supply”. This is the button you press for hot water to come out. 給湯 (kyūtō) = hot water supply ● 給 (kyū) = grant, bestow ● 湯 (tō/yu) = hot water Sample Sentence: 「給湯」ボタンを押すと、お湯が出る。 ”Kyūto” botan o osu to, o-yu ga deru. If you press the “kyūtō” button, hot water will come out. ② ロック解除 (rokku... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary I came across an intriguing word: 過渡 (kato: (1) crossing; ferry; (2) transient; (3) changing old to new)     to pass by + to go through (life) It catches my attention for several reasons. For one thing, the spelling (but not the pronunciation) of the yomi reminds me of Kato Kaelin, made famous in the days of OJ's trial, then quickly forgotten. I love finding words such as karen and shaun, whose romanized versions are first names in English. Those "Names" in Kanji ... Beyond that, I like that 過渡 has such disparate definitions: "ferry" versus "transient." If you think poetically, this makes sense; as a boat glides across the water, its... Show more

Baseball fans in Japan and abroad are celebrating the win of the Yankees in the World Series, and the performance of one player in particular - Japanese baseball player Hideki Matsui, who helped lead the Yankees to victory and was named MVP. Matsui, who has been playing with the Yankees for seven years, is the first Japanese player ever to receieve the honor of MVP. Despite having been with the Yankees for seven years, Matsui still does his interviews all in Japanese. Here is one of his interviews conducted right after the Yankees amazing win with the original Japanese and an English translation.  Hideki Matsui interview ―今の気持ちは？ 松井秀喜外野手「最高ですね。この日のために１年間頑張ってきたわけですから。何年もここ（ヤンキース）にいましたけど、初めてここ（ＷＳ優勝）までこれて最高です」  ― Well, how... Show more

細かいところまで物事をきちんと行なう人や、決まりや約束を守って正確に処理する人を評して「几帳面だね」と言います。ところで、この「几帳面」ということばは、どのようにして生まれたのでしょうか。 まず、「几帳」とは、平安時代の貴族に愛用された移動式カーテンのことです。几帳は、おおまかに言って、Ｉの文字の上下の横棒を長くしたような形の木材と、布でできています。中心の棒の両側に、上の横棒から一枚ずつ布を掛けて、下の棒まで垂らしたものを想像してみてください。 平安時代、貴族の部屋は壁やふすま、板戸などが少なく、がらんとした大広間でした。そこを、この几帳によって間仕切りして使っていたそうです。貴族の調度品ですから、布にはきらびやかな模様が織られていたり、美しい刺繍が施されていたりしました。もちろん、布を垂らす木材も切り口や削り口をなめらかに丸く加工し、細かく刻み目を入れるなどの装飾がなされたとのこと。その刻み目は、細部にわたって丁寧に仕上げられていました。 几帳面の「面」は、削り落とされた後に出てきた「表面」を意味しています。このことから、江戸時代以降、「きちんとしていること」や「規則正しく正確である様子」などを指して「几帳面」と表わすようになったのです。 さて、あなたの性格はいかがですか。几帳面ですか？ ＝＝＝＝＝ A comment commonly made to a person who is detail oriented, keeps promises and is very accurate is kichōmen or 'very thorough'.　 Let's see how this word came about. ... Show more

 Hi everyone! Welcome to Everyday Kanji! In this series, we're going to present pictures of kanji seen in various places in Japan taken by the team members at JapanesePod101.com. That's right - kanji seen and used everyday! The theme for this week is kanji found on signs inside the train station. Let's take a look! ① 乗車券 (jōshaken) = ticket (usually refers to a train or bus ticket) 乗車券 (jōshaken) is a ticket used to ride a train or a bus. In this picture you can see the vending machine where you buy tickets for the subway. This word is includes the word 乗車 (jōsha, boarding) plus the word for ticket, 券. 乗車券 (jōshaken) = ticket (usually refers to a train ticket) ● 乗 (jō) = ride ● 車 (sha) = car ● 券 (ken) = ticket ... Show more

Quick Links Welcome to Kanji Curiosity | The Basics | Glossary As I mentioned last week, the etymology of 残 (ZAN, noko(ru), noko(su)) contains the idea that it's cruel to hack someone up until nothing remains. But perhaps that's a glass-half-empty perspective. The glass-half-full view would be, "Hey, look! Something remains! In fact, what we have here are human remains!" The 残 kanji figures into many words about things left behind. For instance, take the following expression: 食い残す (kuinokosu: to leave food half-eaten)     to eat + to leave behind This verb has a noun form: 食い残し (kuinokoshi: leftover food)     to eat + to leave behind Just two weeks ago, we saw another... Show more