Elle's Adventures

Japanese has a lot of different suffixes for names, the most well known being ~san (Yamada-san, Honda-san, etc). In the past it was often translated as Mr., Ms., Mrs., or Miss. However, we obviously don't seem to use these in normal conversation! Well for me at least, the last time I did was in High School. Of course we still see it regularly in letters. I have one JTE who hasn't realised that this little part of English has changed, and there is no need to translate ~san anymore. All the students in her classes are now referred to as Mr. Okada, Ms. Yamaguchi, etc. I want to correct her on this; friends are calling each other Mr and Ms and it's really odd for me. But now I feel it is too late... But what I was getting at! There is another suffix, very famous among anime fans. This is ~chan. It's basically a cute way of saying someone's name. Amon friends, they shorten their name and add on ~chan. For example, Su-chan (Suzuka), Non-chan (Nozomi), and the list goe...

Speaking and listening to Japanese has always been my weak point;  I always found it much easier to focus on reading and writing. But of course I want to be able to communicate verbally to a much higher degree within the smallest amount of time possible. Yesterday at school the Grade 2 students were off on a field trip, so the school was significantly quieter. I felt brave enough to venture to the Grade 1 floor and try and find some kids to talk to during lunch. Luckily I found a group of girls, who of course exclaimed 英語分かんない！eigo wakannai, or "I don't understand English!" I don't know why they bother to yell this at me every time I see them. I tell them that simple English is enough, but if they really want to talk to me Japanese is okay. I usually just stick in a few English phrases that they should know. Anyway, as I was speaking to them I was amazed that words were just flowing out of my mouth without really thinking. I was explaining the differences between ...

tabemono wo kuchi ni irete shaberu no ga gyougi no warui koto da - it is bad manners to speak with your mouth full (of food) Once again, this is a sentence from my dictionary. This particular dictionary is made for Japanese people wanted to learn English, but it can work both ways. The quote made me wonder; is this a rule that exists in Japanese culture, or was it put in there to teach the Japanese about manners in foreign countries? At school it doesn't really help to watch children for obvious reasons, but I have seen many of my teachers talking with a lot of food in their mouths, and it really isn't nice for me! Also, I find it interesting that it is okay to bring a bowl of food to your mouth and shovel it in with your chopsticks; this is something that I know is acceptable, whereas in Korea that is bad manners. While I'm here, I always make a point not to talk with my mouth full, even if someone important is talking to me. I just can't do it! However, I often br...

kiji no mama de hito to tsukiau - he associates with people just as he is Another entry in my electronic dictionary. This reminded me of Dede :) And then it got me thinking, like always, the differences between Japanese and English. Often, I understand what people are saying, but translating it into English directly is near impossible. It's a really strange sensation. But it then got me thinking about how much the phrases that I say in English with Japanese people (who understand English) are different when compared to talking with native English speakers. I can't think of any examples at the moment, but I'll be sure to add some in when I do!