Month: April 2017

どちらかが彼女を殺した～第２章～３

Published by

This is the last part of chapter 2 and it goes from page 76 to 96. (See my notes on the previous part) Inspector Kaga finally entered the stage at the end of the previous part. Even if he did appear earlier, we didn’t know it was him (well, I guess that, like me, every fan of Kaga knew he was the detective looking so scrupulously at those receipts). I realize that I really like Kaga, his cool and clear way of thinking, the thoroughness with which he digs every details, his discreet way of asking the good questions and his overall personality. He does have a painful episode in his past, but it didn’t lead him to alcoholism, unpleasantness or depression. Higashino Keigo’s way of writing is such that the reader cannot always follow Kaga’s thoughts. There are several focalizations in his novel, the reader is not always following the detective work, and is not always allowed in Kaga’s head. For example, at the beginning of this part, we still don’t know what Kaga …

My three daily anki decks 2: kanji

Published by

I talked about my deck of words in this post. As for my deck of kanji, a note gives two cards which are: 1- Anki displays the kanji and some words using this kanji. I must know the kanji’s approximative meaning and I must pronounce the words. Note that I don’t bother saying all the pronunciation of the kanji, I just can’t remember them all, and anyway, it would not be useful for me to do so. I try to be practical and what is useful to me is to know how words are pronounced so I just focus on the words. As you can see, I visually separate the on and the kun readings. This really helps me! As for the words, they are all in my deck of words, which means that I am supposed to know their meaning. Anki displays the meaning and the pronunciation of the kanji, I must write the kanji and I should also write the words, but to be honest I often skip this step… If you like …

すーちゃん～４

Published by

Ready for the 4th story of すーちゃん! p.25 to 31. I’ll try to write more from now on, I realize that posting only vocabulary may seem too dictionary-like. “悪いけど… even if you don’t meant it”. Haha. I remember exactly the first time I learnt ”悪いけど”　it was in the Ghibli studio film Ocean Waves. Not my favorite one, but a good one to learn Japanese. When I heard that expression for the first time in the film, I found it very strange because so obviously hypocrite. If you really think that something is bad, why ask for it? That’s why I find what Maichan says so funny. 権力・けんりょく　power, authority 屈折・くっせつ　bending, refraction, inflection, warping, distortion…. mmh つけ方・つけかた　way of affixing sth…. ねじ曲がる・ねじまがる　to be twisted, to be wrapped, to be distorted Well, to be honest, I don’t understand what Maichan is saying… I have searched for unknown words and I know all the grammar but the first half of p.26 just don’t make sense to me. If I were just reading for pleasure, I would just skip this part …

Roots and stamina

Published by

Prompted to reflect on Roots and writing a blog about Japanese learning, I naturally had a look at how to say “root” in Japanese. The interesting thing is that the character to say «root» (根・こん) also means “perseverance”, “stamina”, “mental energy”. So, reflecting on roots being the source of our stamina and energy, I looked up to find inspiration in the air and… I saw it. The onion I bought two weeks ago and forgot on the lower shelf, with no water and almost no light, was growing little roots and magnificent leaves, proud like a tropical palm tree on a sunny beach, between the spaghetti packs and the canned cat food. Now, I’m almost tempted to take the onion on the lower shelf as my role model. Even in the most precarious situation, the onion remembered that roots, as tiny as they may be, give perseverance, stamina and energy and it achieved what it wanted to achieve, it grew to become something better, it didn’t care about the lack of resources, about having no …

どちらかが彼女を殺した～第２章～２

Published by

My reading notes for the second part of chapter 2. 練馬区・ねりまく　is a special ward in Tokyo. Now, I have always wondered what was exactly a 交番・こうばん. It seems to be a small neighborhood police station. In the novel, two police officers　警官・けいかん come from the nearest 交番 to secure the area while the detectives　刑事・けいじ　will later come from the police station of Nerima: 練馬警察署・ねりまけいさつしょ. Sometimes, I just learn words without really know their meaning. So I was dummingly learning 交番 = police station, 警察署 = police station. Now I think I know the difference, at least, one difference. 差し支える・さしつかえる　to interfere, to hinder 差し支えなければ・さしつかえなければ　if you don’t mind, if you don’t mind my asking 所属・しょぞく　attached to, belong to 急遽・きゅうきょ　hurriedly, in a hurry 殆ど・ほとんど　nearly, pratically, mostly. (Many words that are usually written in hiragana appear in kanji in novels) 全く・まったく　an another example of usually in hiragana words written in kanji. 迂闊・うかつ　careless, studid, thoughtless 顔を歪める・かおをゆがめる　make a grimace 立ち直る・たちなおる　to regain one’s footing, to get back on one’s feet おだて flattery 隙間・すきま　gasp, opening 特殊・とくしゅ　special, paticular, peculiar, unique 感電死・かんでんし　electrocution 咄嗟・とつさ　moment, instant 遺体・いたい　corpse, remains 解剖・かいぼう　dissection, …

A photo of the book cover of 星の王子さま, the Japanese version of Le Petit Prince

星の王子さま～２

Published by

My reading notes for the second part of Le Petit Prince in japanese. (p11 to 16). The narrator meets the Little Prince for the first time and draws several sheep. (Notes for the first part) 砂漠・さばく　desert 不時着・ふじちゃく　emergency landing (不時・ふじ　means emergency, unexpectedness) 整備士・せいびし　mechanic (person). 整備・せいび　means maintenance, servicing, outfitting and it is one of those words I have difficulties to remember because I don’t know exactly in which context they are used and because they have so much synonyms. Thanks to 整備士 I can somehow figure out this word better… やりとげる・遣り遂げる to accomplish 覚悟・かくご　resolution, readiness, preparedness かなた・彼方　means other side, there, across. It certainly emphasis here that the narrator is far from everything 眠りにつく・ねむりにつく to fall asleep 大海原・おおうなばら the ocean ただなか・只中　the middle いかだ・筏 a raft 漂流・ひょうりゅう drifting, drift 変わる・かわる　here, it means certainly «to be uncommon, unusual». French says : « une drôle de petite voix », a funny little voice. ヒツジ・羊・ひつじ　sheep In French, the little prince says « s’il vous plaît… dessine-moi un mouton ! » which is cute because, being a child, he mixes up polite and …

About those “boring hobbies”

Published by

At school, I remember we sometimes had to fill forms about where we lived, what our parents were doing and so on. I had difficulties in filling two fields: what I want to do when I grow up and what are my hobbies. Because at school, my hobby was: reading books. And later, my hobbies were: reading books and learning languages. But reading books was boring, it was not a hobby, it was what we did at school. A hobby had to be something fun, something one does outside the school, something that sounds thrilling like sport, travel, music. Most children would write down their extracurricular activity like judo or violin… but I had none, I never have had. When I later complained to my mother that she should have sent me to the piano class she replied that I was the one who didn’t want to go. Well, sure, I loved to stay at home with my books. This was the world that suited me, in which I felt comfortable, and in fact, in …