#learning through reading

Step 1 of 「伝える力」 が伸びる! 12歳までに知っておきたい語彙力図鑑 focuses on teaching you synonyms for words you would typically use to describe your emotions. There are synonyms for words like やばい, エモい, and the like. This particular post will focus on the information that they've given about やばい。

The book also ranks the words' difficulty level, with 1 star being an "of course you know this" to 5 stars being "even adults probably don't know this and you're about to blow them away with your vocabulary and make them pull out their dictionary." Because of this, you may see words that you encountered quickly as a Japanese learner (that a native speaker 12 year old may not have encountered yet) and vice versa on the list below.

やばい

Because やばい is a word that can be used to express nearly any emotion (much like how OMG can be used in many contexts in American English), the book did also make sure to put the contexts in which the alternative word would be appropriate.

危うい (あやうい)- dangerous; in danger; facing imminent danger ❖This is to be used when dangerous situations are imminent. The way they described it was "危険が迫っている状態" ▶︎Their example: 危うい所でピンチを脱出した。

危険 (きけん)- dangerous; risky; uncertain; precarious; in danger ❖This is to be used when a situation may lead to not-so-good/dangerous outcomes. ▶︎Their example: そんなに高い所からジャンプしたら、危険だよ。

驚異的 (きょういてき)- wonderful; astounding; marvelous ❖This is to be used when something passes a level of surprise that you can express. ▶︎Their example: 大谷選手の達成した記録は驚異的だ。

最高 (さいこう)- best; supreme; wonderful; highest; maximum; supreme ❖This is to be used when describing something of the highest status/dignity/ranking. (This is relative in comparison to other things.) ▶︎Their example: 夏休みに友達と見に行った映画が、最高に面白かった。

素晴らしい (すばらしい)- wonderful; splendid; magnificent ❖ This is used to describe something that's elegant/praiseworthy/splendid, things that are desirable, and things that admirable. ▶︎Their example: 富士山の山頂から眺める景色は、息をのむほどに素晴らしい。

Yojijukugo (四字熟語)

This section also includes four-character compound idioms (yojijukugo) that can be associated with the word we're focusing on expanding our vocabulary from.

絶体絶命 (ぜったいぜつめい)- desperate situation with no escape; being driven into a corner; being cornered; last extremity ❖ You would use this when you find yourself in a situation that there's no conceivable way you could think of making it out in the way that you truly desire. ▶︎Apparently you can use it in phrases like this 「絶体絶命のピンチ」 BONUS: I found an example online that also uses it to mean "stalemate" and the example is a cop and a suspect both pointing a gun at each other.

最上無二 (さいじょうむに)- there is nothing else like it in this world; it's an unparalleled marvel ❖They listed this one at 5 stars (aka, the adults are gonna be surprised that you know this and also go look it up) and I can certainly see why--I couldn't find any official English translations of it. Here's the definition the book gave: この世に二つとなく、最もすばらしいこと。「最上」は最もすぐれていること、「無二」は同じ物がないことを意味するよ。

SOMEONE PLEASE CORRECT ME IF MY UNDERSTANDING OF THIS LAST YOJIJUKUGO IS INCORRECT SO THAT I CAN LEARN IT PROPERLY!! I BESEECH THEE!! I IMPLORE YOU!!

Hi friends! I've been trying to broaden my horizons by reading Japanese news articles about topics I wouldn't typically read or talk about in Japanese as an attempt to learn new words.

Today, I read Hiragana Times' article entitled "Are robots enemies or friends of humans?" It was a brief article that mentioned how in the West we view A.I. and robots as a sign of impending dystopia and we have media like the Terminator and the Matrix that show us at odds with A.I., while Japan views them as friends/helpers and have media like Astro Boy and Doraemon that depict them as being helpful. Do you think this is true? I find that a lot of nuance is lacking from the article, but I wonder if this is because the magazine is intended for Japanese-learning foreigners, so they may cut down on things in order to make the translations appear less intimidating. One of the cool things about Hiragana Times is that it's entirely bilingual!

Here are some of the vocab words I picked up:

人工知能 [じんこうちのう] artifical intelligence (A.I.)

搭載 [とうさい] being equipped with

親しむ [したしむ] to be intimate with; to befriend

受け入れる [うけいれる] to accept; to receive; to agree

一方 [いっぽう] on the one hand; on the other hand; meanwhile

欧米 [おうべい] the West; Europe and America

象徴 [しょうちょう] symbol (of something abstract); (symbolic) representation

見なす [みなす] to regard (as); to consider (to be); to deem; to look upon (as)

業務 [ぎょうむ] task; actions; affairs; duties

効率化 [こうりつか] making efficient; optimization

貢献 [こうけん] contribution (furthering a goal or cause); services (to a cause)

懸念 [けねん] worry; fear; anxiety; concern

1月2日 Summary:

Ashikaga Yoshimasa built (or ordered the building of) the Silver Pavilion temple, but died before it was completed. He is also known as the creator and patron of the Higashiyama period culture (tea ceremony, flower arrangment, Noh theatre), as well as being the potential cause of the Onin-Bunmei War due to split feelings on his successor.

Vocab below the break:

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