Lol, What Am I Doing?

高士其

It’s not difficult to learn a foreign language; it’s just like making friends. These friends become more and more familiar after meeting each day, and then nothing can come between them.

-Gao Shiqi

japanese vocab: emotions ♡  

嬉しい • うれしい • ureshii • happy/glad

悲しい • かなしい • kanashii • sad

寂しい • さびしい • sabishii • lonely

恥ずかしい • はずかしい • hazukashi • embarrassed/shy

つつしまない • tsutsushimanai • lazy

怖じる • おじる • ojiru • scared

怒る • おこる • okoru • angry

詰まらなそう • つまらなそう • tsumaranasou • bored

なごやか • nagoyaka • calm

すうっと • sutto • relieved

呆れる • あきれる • akireru • shocked

激昂 • げっこう • gekko • excited

煩がる • うるさがる • urusagaru • annoyed

まごまご • magomago • confused

yojijukugo of the day:

What a smart game

Would love to play it if I had language friends

A lot of people want to study Japanese but think it’s too hard and that they will never succeed. That is really a myth, though. Here is why Japanese is actually easy.

1. All verbs are regular, there are only 2 exceptions 

If you know French, this must sound like a dream to you. In other languages [like French] there seem to be more irregular verbs than regular ones. Not in Japanese, though. There are 3 groups of verbs, the first 2 being regular and very easy to conjugate. The third group consists of only 2 irregular verbs!

2. Easy pronunciation 

Japanese doesn’t have any exceptionally hard to pronounce letters. Unlike Arabic, German or Finnish, Japanese should be quite easy to pronounce for English speakers. Also, Japanese isn’t a tonal language like Thai or Chinese. 

3. No genders, plural or articles

Anyone who studies a romance language [and many other languages that have that] knows how frustrating it can be when you use the wrong article or verb ending. In Japanese, it doesn’t even exist, so nothing to worry!

4. Grammar is easy!

That’s true. It’s just completely different from English, but that doesn’t make it hard. After a while, it will feel completely normal. The best part about the grammar is that you can build a whole sentence with just one word. For example, if you wanted to ask somebody in English if they did their homework, you’d say ‘did you do your homework?’ Kind of long, isn’t it? In Japanese, you can ask by using only the verb ‘to do, can, be able to’ - like this: ‘done?’ Also, spoken, you can drop many words if you don’t really need them, especially particles! So if you’re not sure what particle to use, chances are you can just easily leave it altogether without the sentence losing its meaning. It’s easy to build sentences that seem to end in ‘…’, but that’s completely normal in Japanese and everyone will understand.

5. Tons of resources

Sadly, there are some languages people don’t really care about or not a lot of people want to study/ are interested in. Japanese is not one of those languages. There are hundreds of books about Kanji alone! And so many courses for every level. Also, it doesn’t matter what you’re interested in - anime, manga, books, movies, game show, video games, dramas, music - it’s all out there and super easy to find, so you definitely will find something you can listen to or read to practice your skills.

6. Kanji/the writing systems are hard?

No. They aren’t. It’s just a huge workload, it takes time and effort, but they are not hard.

At first, having to learn 3 writing systems will seem exhausting. But believe me, later, when you start reading, you will be so glad! You can detect if a text has a lot of foreign words at one glance if it has a lot of Katakana, for example, and you could say a lot more on twitter because of the syllabaries!

So actually, the 3 systems put together makes everything easier to read!

Spanish Filler Words

1) Bueno: Well

Ex: “bueno, no importa” = “well, it doesn’t matter”

2) O sea / Es decir: I mean, in other words, that is to say

Ex: “El jefe no me ha hablado todavía, o sea / es decir, de verdad no sé.” = “The boss hasn’t talked to me yet, so in other words, I don’t really know.”

3) Así que: So, therefore

¿Así que al final fuiste al restaurante? = So you ended up going to the restaurant?

4) Pues: Well

Ex: Pues… no sé, tengo mucho sueño = Well… I don’t know, I’m really tired

5) Mira = Look / look here

Ex: “Mira, sólo digo que a mí no me parece una buena idea.” = “Look, I’m just saying that I don’t think that it is a good idea.”

6) Che: Hey, hey buddy ( mostly used in Argentina but also used in Uruguay and Valencia, Spain)

Ex: “¡Che! ¿Qué tal, hombre?” = “Hey! What’s up, man?”

7)  A ver: Let’s see

Ex: A ver… ¿qué podemos hacer esta noche? = Let’s see… what can we do tonight?

8) Vamos a ver: Let’s see

Vamos a ver qué hay para hacer esta noche = Let’s see what there is to do tonight

9. Está bien / Dale = Okay, a synonym of Spanish in Spain is “vale”

Ex: “Mañana te llamo, ¿dale? – ¡Dale! / Está bien.” = “I give you a call tomorrow, okay?  – Okay!”

10) Tipo / como = Like

Ex: “Es tipo / como el pie Americano” = “It’s like the American pie”

11) Entonces: So, therefore

Ex: “Entonces, cuando vas a visitar a tu abuela?” = “So, when are you going to visit your grandma?’

12) Este: Uh, umm, ah

Ex: “Sí, este… rompí tu telefono” = “Yeah, umm…I broke your phone”

13) A propósito / por cierto: By the way

Ex: “A propósito, ¿sabes dónde está María?” = “By the way, do you know where Maria is?”

14) Luego: Then (it can also mean “later” in another context)

Ex: “Fui a la farmacia y luego a casa” =  “I went to the drugstore and then home.”

15) Por lo menos: At least

Ex: “Por lo menos no te quemaste” = “At least you didn’t burn yourself”

16) ¿Sabes?: You know?

Ex: Es muy importante para mí, ¿sabes? = It’s really important to me, you know?

17) Por fin: Finally, at last

Ex: “¡Por fin! ¡Estás aquí!” = “Finally! You’re here!”

“Por fin, tenemos la tarea de todos.” = “At last, we’ve got everyone’s homework.”

17) Quizás / tal vez: Maybe, perhaps

Ex: “Quizás/ Tal vez no debí haberme comido toda sea comida” = “Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten all that food”

18) Aunque: Although, even though

Ex: “Aunque está lloviendo, voy a ir al gym” = “Even though it’s raining, I’m going to the gym”

19) Además: Moreover, besides, also, and occasionally used as “too”

Ex: “El queso es demasiado suave, demasiado débil, y además huele muy mal.” = “Cheese is too soft, too weak, and besides, it smells terrible.”

20) Sin embargo: However, nonetheless, nevertheless

“Entiendo que el queso no es tan fuerte como el acero, pero sin embargo voy a hacer un carro con él.” = “I understand that cheese isn’t as strong as steel, but nevertheless I’m going to make a car out of it.”

21) De hecho: actually

beber agua - drink water

hidratar - moisturise

(la) constancia - perseverance

(la) mascarilla - face mask

(la) cutis/piel - skin

limpiar - clean

(el) maquillaje - make-up

desmaquillarse - remove make up

tocar suavemente/untar - dab

(la) loción - lotion

(la) crema - face cream

(la) leche limpiadora -  cleansing lotion

(el) aceite - oil

(el) algodón - cotton

(el) agua - water

(la) espuma - foam

humedecer - to wet

emulsionar - to emulsify

(la) comisura - corner

(la) barbilla - chin

(la) nariz - nose

(el) tónico - toner

(la) arruga - wrinkle

(el)  folículo - follicle

(la) bolsa - eye bag

(el) párpado - eyelid

Opuestos (Opposites) Part 1

Bajo: short

Alto: tall

Largo: long

Corto: short

Joven: young

Viejo: old

Pequeño: small

Grande: big

Lento: slow

Rápido: fast

Frío: cold

Caliente: hot

Sucio: dirty

Limpio: clean

Duro: hard

Blando: soft

Cerrado: closed

Abierto: open

Encendido: on

Pros: Wow, I’m now familiar with sounds and a writing system which I used to find foreign! I can form basic sentences and I have a small vocabulary of everyday words!