I've been fuly immersing myself lately into my Japanese studies. For one thing, I'm on my own now for while. For another, I'm almost entirely stuck indoors - I've managed to earn myself an 'intercostal myalgia' which is basically a torn muscle in my ribs. So I've been off work for a good coupla weeks, with no real ability to go out, and with no one else in the house. Fun...
As a consequence I've been watching NHK and playing my Nihongo games on my phone almost constantly.
One thing that's cropped up, that I'm not 100% sure about, is this: good/bad. Which is dame/ii, right? I always thought it was, but now I see "dame" can mean "closed"; "ii" open. I'm now hoping that the closest comparison is that "ii" could be said to mean "cool" whereas "dame" could be "not cool". Can anyone confirm/deride this? The reason I ask, is that since I always believed "dame" to mean "bad", I have used the phrase "watashi no Nihongo wa dame desu" to mean "my Japanese is bad", yet when I put it into Google Translate, it (rather ironically) read "I do not eat my Japanese". No idea where that came from, so either me or it (likely both) need more lessons...
Now, having used this phrase many a time (to a generally mixed response), I hope Google have dropped a ball here. But having used Google even more times than I've spoken (or tried to) Japanese, I know them to be pretty damn good at most things. So I'm having a crisis of confidence here -what actually does "dame" mean? And, for that mattter, what means "good"?
Another great thing about NHK (if you're in the UK it's found on Sky channel 516) is the documentaries. I'm currently watching a lovely short film about the pilgrimages made on the isle of Shikoku - I recently watched the J-horror film Shikoku which was about the same thing (albeit with an horrific twist), and thoroughly enjoyed it. And this brings a whole other level of legitimacy to the story.
It's hard to describe my feelings about Japan, beyond the obvious (love). I feel an outsider when I'm there, of course. But every single other time I've felt 'outside' of something, it's been because I've had no real connections to it. I guess I have no real connections to Japan, but still, I feel ... involved. Attached. It sounds entirely ridiculous, but in this World Cup I find myself experiencing national pride towards the Blue Samurai. I don't just mean I want them to do well; of course I do. That's natural. But I get defensive towards criticism of the team, and - perhaps more importantly - I am moved by the national anthem. It's a 'national' anthem - and I'm nationally British. So why would Kimayago hold sway over me? I have no idea, but it apparently does.
Of course, I am hoping for an English victory in the World's Greatest Sporting Tournament Ever. The wonderful outcome in 1966 was a long, long time ago, and it deserves to be repeated. But nothing would make me happier than our method of victory being, say, a 5-4 victory over the Blue Samurai at Jo'burg on July ll...
All this is exceedingly unlikely of course, but on the offchance, C'MON EN-GER-LAND and GANBARE NIPPON!
As a consequence I've been watching NHK and playing my Nihongo games on my phone almost constantly.
One thing that's cropped up, that I'm not 100% sure about, is this: good/bad. Which is dame/ii, right? I always thought it was, but now I see "dame" can mean "closed"; "ii" open. I'm now hoping that the closest comparison is that "ii" could be said to mean "cool" whereas "dame" could be "not cool". Can anyone confirm/deride this? The reason I ask, is that since I always believed "dame" to mean "bad", I have used the phrase "watashi no Nihongo wa dame desu" to mean "my Japanese is bad", yet when I put it into Google Translate, it (rather ironically) read "I do not eat my Japanese". No idea where that came from, so either me or it (likely both) need more lessons...
Now, having used this phrase many a time (to a generally mixed response), I hope Google have dropped a ball here. But having used Google even more times than I've spoken (or tried to) Japanese, I know them to be pretty damn good at most things. So I'm having a crisis of confidence here -what actually does "dame" mean? And, for that mattter, what means "good"?
Another great thing about NHK (if you're in the UK it's found on Sky channel 516) is the documentaries. I'm currently watching a lovely short film about the pilgrimages made on the isle of Shikoku - I recently watched the J-horror film Shikoku which was about the same thing (albeit with an horrific twist), and thoroughly enjoyed it. And this brings a whole other level of legitimacy to the story.It's hard to describe my feelings about Japan, beyond the obvious (love). I feel an outsider when I'm there, of course. But every single other time I've felt 'outside' of something, it's been because I've had no real connections to it. I guess I have no real connections to Japan, but still, I feel ... involved. Attached. It sounds entirely ridiculous, but in this World Cup I find myself experiencing national pride towards the Blue Samurai. I don't just mean I want them to do well; of course I do. That's natural. But I get defensive towards criticism of the team, and - perhaps more importantly - I am moved by the national anthem. It's a 'national' anthem - and I'm nationally British. So why would Kimayago hold sway over me? I have no idea, but it apparently does.
Of course, I am hoping for an English victory in the World's Greatest Sporting Tournament Ever. The wonderful outcome in 1966 was a long, long time ago, and it deserves to be repeated. But nothing would make me happier than our method of victory being, say, a 5-4 victory over the Blue Samurai at Jo'burg on July ll...
All this is exceedingly unlikely of course, but on the offchance, C'MON EN-GER-LAND and GANBARE NIPPON!
