Learn Japanese

おはなしシリーズ

いっすんぼうし

ohanashi shiri-zu

rough translation:

story series

issunboushi
(who happens to be the inch high samurai; reminiscent to the tom thumb character)

page 10

translation pending

translation pending

translation pending

translation pending

page 9

六人目だ… これで
(_{ろくにんめだ… これで})

roku nin me da kore de

six people eyes arrest here
he is the sixth victim…

intro

シーン　1
銀眼の斬殺者
(_{ぎんがんのざんさつしゃ})

shi-n 1gin gan no zansatsu sha

scene one
silver gun’s massacre now
silver eyed slayer

はやくちことば – hayakuchi kotoba
fast-talking language or tongue twisters

here are a few from wikiquote

• 隣の客はよく柿食う客だ。
  o Transliteration: Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku da.
  o The neighbors’ visitor eats a lot of persimmons.

• バスガス爆発ブスバスガイド
  o Transliteration: Basu gasu bakuhatsu busu basu gaido.
  o bus gas explosion ugly bus guide

• 裏庭には二羽、庭には二羽、鶏あり
  o Transliteration: Uraniwa niwa niwa, niwa niwa niwa, niwatori ari.
  o In the back yard there are two chickens and in the front yard there are two chickens

• 瓜売りが瓜売りに来て瓜売れず売り売りかえる瓜売りの声
  o Transliteration: Uriuri ga uri urini kite uri urezu uri uri kaeru uriuri no koe.
  o A melon vender came to sell melons, but no melon was sold; O, the voice of melon vender who is back, selling melons.

• 東京特許許可局
  o Transliteration: Tōkyō Tokkyo Kyokakyoku
  o Tokyo Special Patent Approval office

another, which is my favorite, i found on youtube

せんごくごくごくあかまきがみ　おとぎとぎとぎあおまきがみ
せんごくごくきまきがみ　おとぎとぎとぎあかまきがみ　
あおまきがみきまきがみ

sen goku goku goku a ka maki gami
otogi togi togi a o maki gami
sen goku goku ki maki gami
otogi togi togi a ka maki gami
a o maki gami ki maki gami

why do i really want to learn japanese and what will i do with this acquired knowledge?

i find anime interesting and fun to watch for leisure. i have seen quite a large amount, along with a majority of the most innovative stories. this exposure has raised my expectations of quality anime to the point that the average series is nothing but a bore.

manga is an oddity to me, i love reading and i am a visual thinker but i have difficulty pulling enjoyment from reading them. it is as if manga is stuck in limbo between a strictly textual novel and a completely visual story.

i may enjoy japanese literature but without comprehension of kanji it makes the task an improbability.

the above is the typical reason why people want to learn japanese, but my motives are different. i most basically want to travel and experience ways that are different then those that i am surrounded by everyday. this includes attempting to understand different people, different cultures and different ways of thought, but those are tertiary reasons.

i want to learn japanese so i can study graphic design in osaka. but what does it matter if i study there or i study here? graphic design follows similar fundamental rules, if it doesn’t then it is something else. these i can learn any place, design is now a global profession.

although, what i may learn are rules that are specific to japanese communication, but will i be designing for japanese consumption?

i may learn style that is popular in japan, but styles are arbitrary, they come and go.

in the end it comes to this, how will i capitalize upon the time and effort i put fourth to learn this language? what will i do with it and what will it do for me? because if you don’t use it, you loose it.

edit: i made this my new goal ( befriend the japanese girl )

turns out there is a japanese international student who is studying at my school this semester. i would like to meet her and talk to her in japanese but i am a shy person and my japanese is hardly comprehensible.

she is from the sozosha college of design in osaka, japan; that is the school i wish to study abroad for a semester. the primary reason i am learning the language is to understand the japanese concept of design.

i have 11 weeks to make a friendship; this will be difficult.

じいさま　ばあさま　おいら　みやこを　みてきたい。

いっすんぼうしは　はりを　かたなにして　こしに　さし　おわんにのって　かわを　のぼっていきました。

みやこに　ついた　いっすんぼうしは　はじめに　だいじんの　やしきに　いきました。

jii-sama obaa-sama oira miyako wo mitekitai.

issunboushi wa hari wo katana nishite koshini sashi owan ni notte kawa wo nobotte ikimashita.

rough translation:

grandpa and grandma, we oppose the capital.

issunboushi with a hero’s needle sword went up the river to an old shrine, riding in a miso soup bowl with a rice bag poker.

issunboushi arrived at the capital and first went to the ministers mansion.

i am still working on this goal. it is love and hate learning; i enjoy using what i have learned but i often get frustrated by the enormity of this task.

this week i felt confident with my kana progress and decided to attempt reading a childrens story, written entirely in hiragana; none of that tricky kanji yet.

the task brings back childhood memories of learning to read for the first time; remember seeing spot, seeing spot run. it amuses me to listen to myself attempting to stutter my way through a sentence, let alone comprehend the words i am saying.

after nearly an hour, i completed one page. i successfully romanized the hiragana and developed a translation that makes google translate sound intelligible.

むかし　むかし　こどもが　いない　おじさんと　おばあさんが　かみさまに　おねがいを　すると　こゆびくらいの　おとこのこが　うまれました。

なめは　いっすんぼしにしましょう。

ふたりが　たくさん　ごはんを　たべさせたのご　いっすんぼうしは　とても　げんきに　そだちました。

mukashi mukashi, kodomo go inai ojii-san to obaa-san ga kami-sama ni onegai wo suruto koyubikurai no otokonoko ga umaremashita.

namae ha issunboushi ni shimashou.

futari ga takusan gohan wo tabesasetano go issunboushi he totemo genki ni sodachimashita.

laugh very hard at my extremely literal translation:

long ago, a child within grandfather and grandmother, god please, thereupon a little dark boy was born.

name is issunboushi, lets go.

the couple a lot of meals, issunboushi exceedingly vital upbringing.

i finally marked 100% correct on a katakana test. katakana took significantly longer to familiarize myself with, in comparison to hiragana.

i feel comfortable at transliterating sentences from kana to romaji, until i come to kanji and then it is like a brick wall.