wake up and smell the coffee

This form works well when you're talking about something outside your control or about someone else. However, when you're expressing a hope about your own actions, things work a little differently. Instead of using the plain form, it's more natural to use the potential form of the verb: 早く寝られるといいな — "I hope I can go to bed early." 映画に行けるといいな — "I hope I can go to the movies."

今日は図書館に漢字を勉強しました。その漢字辞典は意味と言葉を探しました。例文もあります。とても有用です！

漢字を書くのがとても楽しいですね！もっと手書きを練習したいです。✍️ 💕

今日の漢字：

化 (change, transform) 🔄

花 (flower) 🌸

竹 (bamboo) 🎍

早 (early, fast) 🌞

My textbook gives the example:

その話が本当だとしたら、うれしいです。

But I could also use なら here, right?

The other example is:

飛行機で行くとしたら、いくらぐらいかかりますか。

Could I use なら here too? I feel like the answer's either no or technically yes but it's not very natural. The textbook suggests you could use "行く場合は" instead.

I also tried to write my own example:

ね、えみちゃんは振られたことになったそうだ。それとしたら、おそらく日中泣き通する。

let's do なら first because this is the one that i personally feel is not made very clear by textbooks and such.

なら = "if, as you say..."

sometimes なら is called "assertive" なら, but personally i don't feel like that's a very helpful qualifier...for me, i like to think of it as a conditional based on assumptions. the gist is often something like, "assuming what you say is true/will happen..."

so, we can see now why なら doesn't exactly fit with the example from your textbook:

その話が本当なら、うれしいです。 = if that story is true (as you say it is/as it seems to be), then i'm glad.

i don't think this sentence is grammatically incorrect or unavailable; however, it means something different than what i believe your textbook is going for. so let's go to 〜としたら to see the other option.

〜としたら = "if it were the case..."

there's waaaaay more to be said on the 〜たら form than i'm going to write in this post (rest assured i've written about it extensively elsewhere LOL), but i'll say that anything to do with 〜たら has the potential to be "unreal," meaning you can use this form to talk about things that haven't actually happened.

the phrase 〜とする means kind of like "to assume" (in this case), so in that sense it is similar to なら. however, the assumption that comes from 〜とする is often an imaginary one:

Xなら = if X is in fact true (as the evidence suggests)

Xとする = imagining for a moment that X were true...

see the difference? 〜とする has the ability to deal in "unreal"-ness, which なら doesn't.

so, if we tack a conditional ending onto 〜とする, we get this kind of sentence:

その話が本当だとしたら、うれしいです。 = if that story were true (assuming for a moment that it is, though really i don't know), i would be glad.

hopefully the nuance comes out with my translation here. using 〜としたら puts the conditional squarely in the realm of unrealness, i.e., things that can't be confirmed (at the time of speaking) to be true or false.

examining the 例文

so, probably at this point we can make a judgment on op's practice sentence. our goal here (i believe) is to get a sentence that means, "it sounds like emi got dumped. if that's true, she was probably crying all day." here's the original that was proposed:

ねえ、えみちゃんはフラれたそうだ。それ❓だとしたら❓、おそらく一日中泣き通していた。 = it sounds like emi got dumped. ❓if that were true❓, she would probably have been crying all day.

what do you guys think? for my part, i think なら is our better option here! that's because of the first sentence: since there's a 〜そうだ ("i heard") clause, we have evidence that the situation is actually true. that means we don't have to relegate ourselves to unrealness or imaginging that the situation might be true.

ねえ、えみちゃんはフラれたらしい。それなら、おそらく一日中泣き通していた。 = it sounds like emi got dumped. if that's true (which it seems to be), she was probably crying all day.

by using なら, we can show we're relying on external evidence to make this if-then claim.

on the other hand, we might find 〜としたら in a situation more like this:

えみちゃんは最近元気なさそうだよね。フラれたとしたら、こんなうっとうしい感じでもするでしょ？ = emi has seemed kind of down lately. maybe if she had been broken up with, she would be feeling as depressed as this?

in a case like the above, we don't have much good evidence to suggest emi has actually been dumped; rather, we're speculating on the cause of her bad mood. so, we can use 〜としたら to talk about that unreal situation, i.e., a situation that can't be confirmed.

There are two types in Japanese Onomatopoeia. One is 「擬音語(ぎおんご/Gi-on-go)」 which is “written sound” as we hear, and the other is 「擬態語(ぎたいご/Gi-tai-go)」 which is “written sound of status” as we look or feel.

1) 「擬音語(ぎおんご/Gi-on-go)」: “sound” onomatopoeias

As examples, let’s compare onomatopoeias for some animal sounds in Japanese and English.

犬（いぬ/Inu）「ワンワン(Wan-wan)」 Dog: “Woof woof” “Bow-wow”

猫（ねこ/Neko）「ニャー(Nyaa)」 Cat: “Meow”

牛（うし/Ushi）「モー(Moo)」 Cow: “Moo”

豚（ぶた/Buta）「ブーブー(Buu-buu)」 Pig: “Oink oink”

にわとり（Niwatori）「コケコッコー(Kokekokkoo)」Rooster: “Cock-a-doodle-doo”

2) 「擬態語(ぎたいご/Gi-tai-go)」 “status” onomatopoeias

This type is onomatopoeias of “status”. An easy-to-understand example is “わくわく(Waku-waku)” which became famous through “SPY x FAMILY.” “Waku-waku” means being excited or thrilled about something you look forward to. Although the status does not have that sound, we can imagine Anya’s facial expression and emotions just by seeing the word.

By using onomatopoeias, we can describe the situation or the person’s feelings in detail with simple and short words. For example, if you want to say “It’s raining,” here are some onomatopoeias, from the lightest to the heaviest;

①「雨(あめ/Ame)がポツリポツリ(Potsuri-potsuri)と降(ふ/Fu)っている」…Raindrops are falling at intervals.

②「雨がポツポツ(Potsu-potsu)降っている」…Just a few raindrops are falling.

③「雨がパラパラ(Para-para)降っている」…Raindrops are falling continuously

④「雨がしとしと(Shito-shito)降っている」…It’s quiet, but certainly raining continuously.

⑤「雨がザーザー(Zaa-zaa)降っている」…It’s raining hard and making a fair amount of noise.

⑥「雨がドシャドシャ(Dosha-dosha)降っている」…It’s raining dangerously hard.

Onomatopoeias have existed since before manga and anime existed, but manga has made us more familiar with them, and they have enabled us to share delicate expressions with visual images using just a few words. So I think you’ll be familiar with them naturally while watching anime or manga, without extra effort to memorize them.

Hereunder I’ll pick up some lines with onomatopoeias from Season 1 episodes;

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From Episode 1 : Maomao

猫猫「たかがウワサ話に何を真剣になってるんだ。こんなのは、ただの憶測にすぎない。すぎないが…ちいとばかし、行ってみるか。そそそそそ…」

Maomao “Takaga uwasa-banashini nanio shinkenni natterunda. Konnanowa tadano okusokuni suginai. Suginaiga…chiito-bakashi itte-miruka. Sososososo…”

Maomao “Why am I taking a rumor so seriously? It’s all just conjecture. But still… I guess I can take a quick peek.”

Episode 13 : Serving in the Outer Court

壬氏「勉強の方はやっているのか？」

Jinshi “Benkyono-howa yatte iru-noka?”

Jinshi “Are you studying?”

猫猫「そそそそそ…」

Maomao “Sososososo…”

Maomao “Sneak, sneak.”

壬氏「おい！」

Jinshi “Oi!”

Jinshi “Hey!”

猫猫「そそそそそ…」

Maomao “Sososososo…”

Maomao “Sneak, sneak!”

「そそそそそ…」: sneak, sneak. (This onomatopoeia might be newly created in this anime.)

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From Episode 4 : The Threat

猫猫「ぴょーん、ぴょん。仕方ない。もう一度、作り直すか」

Maomao “Pyōn, pyon. Shikata nai. Mo ichido, tsukuri-naosuka.”

Maomao “Boing boing. Oh, well. Guess I have to cook it again.”

「ぴょん(Pyon)」： Jumping, 「ぴょーん(Pyoon)」: Jumping (higher or longer)

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From Episode 5 : Covert Operations

やぶ医者「お待たせしました、壬氏さ…しゅん」

Yabu Isha “Omatase shimashita, Jinshi-sa……Shun.”

Quack Doctor “Thank you for waiting, Master Jinshi- Oh.”

「しゅん(Shun)」: Get disappointed and depressed a little

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Episode 6 : The Garden Party

貴園「実際、若いの。だって、主上様を産んだのが…こしょこしょこしょ」

Guien “Jissai, wakaino. Datte, shujo-samao unda-noga… Kosho-kosho-kosho.”

Guiyuan “She is young. She gave birth to the emperor when she was…”!”

「こしょこしょ（Kosho-kosho）(with more comical nuance)」「こそこそ(Koso-koso)」： Talking in secret

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From Episode 6 : The Garden Party

桜花「ムカ～ッ！」

Infa “Mukaaa!”

Yinghua “Grr!”

桜花「キ～ッ！猫猫に謝りなさいよ！！」

Infa “Kiii! Maomaoni ayamari-nasaiyo!!”

Yinghua “Apologize to Maomao!”

「ムカッ(Muka)」 「ムカーッ(Mukaa)」「キーッ(Kiii)」： Getting angry

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From Episode 6 : The Garden Party

猫猫（へえ…こうして見ると、なかなか…。思ったより、お偉いさんなのか。やはり、武官に交ざっても違和感がない。

へえ、さっきの武官も、末席だが、年齢を考えると出世頭か？あのキラキラした宦官はいないけど、まあ、どうでもいい。おっ、それより毒見だ）

Maomao (Hee… Koshite miruto, naka-naka… Omotta-yori, oerai-san nanoka. Yahari, bukanni mazattemo iwakanga nai. Hee, sakkino bukanmo, masseki-daga, nenreio kangaeruto shusse-gashiraka? Ano kira-kira shita kanganwa inai-kedo, maa do demo ii. O, soreyori, dokumi-da.)

Maomao (He looks pretty good there. I guess he’s higher up than I thought. He doesn’t seem out of place among the military officers. Oh look, that officer from earlier. He’s at the very edge, but given his age, I guess that’s still impressive? Our glittering eunuch isn’t there, but who cares? More importantly, food tasting.)

猫猫（…新しいかんざし。宦官もかんざしをもらうのか。そういえば、襟も少し乱れてる。いつものキラキラさもない。うっ、宴席で姿を見ないと思ったら、そういうことか。でも、今なら年相応の青年に…というか、だいぶ幼く見える。こちらのほうが、まだいいな）

Maomao (…Atarashii kanzashi. Kanganmo kanzashio morau-noka. So-ieba, erimo sukoshi midareteru. Itsumono kira-kirasamo nai. U, ensekide sugatao minaito omottara, so-iu Kotoka. Demo, imanara toshi-so’o-no seinenni… to iuka daibu osanaku mieru. Kochirano-hoga mada iina.)

Maomao (A new hairpin? So the eunuchs gets hairpins, too? His collar is a little disheveled, too. Plus his normal glitter is gone. Is that why he wasn’t at the party? But right now, he’s acting his age more than usual… Or rather, he looks quite a bit younger. I prefer him like this, somewhat.”

猫猫（しおらしい。無茶なことを言っているのは承知の上か。いつも通り、無駄にキラキラしてればいいのに。ここ最近の壬氏様は、以前よりもずっと子供のように見えて仕方ない）

Maomao (Shiorashii. Muchana koto’o itte-irunowa shochino ueka. Itsumo-doori, mudani kira-kira shitereba iinoni. Koko saikinno Jinshi-samawa, izen-yorimo zutto kodomono-yoni miete shikata-nai.)

Maomao (How modest. He realizes he’s asking for the impossible. He should just be excessively shiny like his usual self. For a while now, Master Jinshi has seemed much more childish than before.)

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From Episode 7 : Homecoming

猫猫「チョキチョキチョキ…カチャカチャカチャ」

Maomao “Choki choki choki… Kacha kacha kacha.”

Maomao “Clip clip clip. Clunk clunk clunk.”

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From Episode 7 : Homecoming

猫猫「シャーッ！」

Maomao “Shaaaaa!”

Episode 14 : The New Pure Consort

猫猫（ハッ！大事な教材を見せるわけにはいかない！）「シャーッ！」

Maomao (Ha! Daijina kyozai’o miseru-wake-niwa ikanai!) “Shaaaaa!”

Maomao （I can’t let him see my precious teaching material.）

シャー！(Shaaa!) ： Hissing sound of cats or snakes.  It can also show water flowing or something else, depending on the situation.

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Episode 12 : The Eunuch and the Courtesan

壬氏「どよどよ…いじいじ…じめじめ…」

Jinshi “Doyo-doyo… Iji-iji… Jime-jime…”

Jinshi “Wah, wah, boo-hoo, sob, sob…”

「どよどよ…」: Negative aura stagnates around there.

「いじいじ…」: sulking

「じめじめ…」: humid, muggy, gloomy mood

These words express how depressed Jinshi is, and he isn’t actually crying. I guess they’re translated into “Wah, wah, boo-hoo, sob, sob…” since there was no suitable short word.

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From Episode 13 : Serving in the Outer Court

白鈴「フフッ、つやつやのぷるぷるに仕上げておいたから」

Pairin “Fufu. Tsuya-tsuyano puru-puruni shiagete oita-kara.”

Pairin “We got her all dolled up for you.”

「つやつや」: glossy, shiny, dewy

「ぷるぷる」： jiggly, texture like a jelly 

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From Episode 13 : Serving in the Outer Court

猫猫（この間やけど薬の実験したから、ぐちょぐちょなんだよな～。しみる～！）

Maomao (Kono aida yakedo-gusurino jikken shita-kara, gucho-gucho nan-dayonaaa. Shimiruuu!)

Maomao (I just tried out some burn medicine the other day, so it’s really messed up right now. Stings!)

「ぐちょぐちょ」： wet and dirty, soaked and dirty

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From Episode 15 : Raw Fish

猫猫（フグの毒…！あのピリピリした痺れがいいんだ…ああ、食べたい）

Maomao (Fuguno doku…! Ano piri-piri shita shibirega iinda… Aa, tabetai.)

Maomao (Pufferfish poison… I love how it tingles and stings. Oh, I really want some now!)

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From Episode 18 : Lakan

猫猫（何の薬だろう…？）「フン…ぺろり」（…芋の粉か？壬氏様の薬だよな？）

Maomao (Nanno kusuri daro…?) “Fun…Perori.” (…Imono konaka? Jinshi-samano kusuri dayona?)

Maomao (I wonder what kind of medicine this is.) “Lick.” (Potato flour? This is for Master Jinshi, right?”

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From Episode 21 : How to Buy Out a Contract

猫猫（こういうのはベラベラ話さないんだな）

Maomao (Ko-iunowa bera-bera hanasa-nain-dana.)

Maomao (So, he doesn’t blab about that.)

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From Episode 21 : How to Buy Out a Contract

やぶ医者「んん…似てなくもないねえ。唾液を混ぜたら、糊もドロドロじゃなくなるのかねえ」

Yabu Isha “Nn…Nite-nakumo-nai-nee. Daeki’o maze-tara, norimo doro-doroja nakunaru-noka-nee.”

Quack Doctor “Hmm, I suppose so. Maybe mixing saliva into glue would make it less sticky as well.”

「ドロドロ」: muddy, thick, with a nuance of “dirty”

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Episode 22 : Blue Roses

小蘭「大丈夫だよ～。ぽい！」

Shaoran “Daijobu dayooo. Poi!”

Xiaolan “It’s fine.”

✨ Announcement ✨

The Seitokai Japanese Bookclub will be splitting into two different clubs - one for novels and one for manga!

Beginning in September 2024, we will have two separate clubs so that those who are looking to challenge themselves with novels will be able to look forward to reading novels consistently, and those looking for manga will have a dedicated manga bookclub as well.

To get in on the fun, join us on the Seitokai Discord server and grab one or both of the Japanese Book Club [Novel] or Japanese Book Club [Manga] roles (under the #roles channel), then submit your suggestion for September's club (until August 10th) to the Bookclub Suggestions channel.

This change is also happening because we noticed that, while all book club choices are made through voting, we're not hitting each area. For some, they just want a quick read that can be done with a manga and others want to work on longer, in-depth pieces of literature for their reading comprehension. All are valid here, so we hope to cater towards those wishes! (And if you're somebody who wants to read news articles and discuss that with others, that's also a section within the server.)

Please bear with us as we work out the kinks with this new version of the book club, as there are some differences between mangas and novels that we must take into account when deciding what methods work best for running the Novel club.

A beautiful and interesting name I'd never seen before! 善如寺 is read Zennyōji or Zennyoji. It belongs to only about 480 people, but all the kanji are quite useful!

善 can be read よ.い, い.い, よ.く, よし.とする, or ゼン. It means virtue, goodness, or good. Specifically, it means good as in morally good, or good in an elevated context; for everyday normal things that are pleasant or agreeable, use 良い (also read よ.い or い.い).

如 means in the manner of, like, or the same as. It's read ごと.し, ジョ, or ニョ.

寺 is read てら or ジ. It's the reason that, for a second, I assumed that this house was a very, very boring-looking temple. (More on actual temple and shrine names here.)

Also, 寺 is useful as a radical too!

侍 (+亻person) = Samurai

待 (+ 彳 going-person) = Wait

持 (+ 扌 hand) = Hold, have

詩 (+ 言 word) = Poem, poetry

特 (+ 牛 cow) = Special

時 (+ 日 day) = Time

痔 (+ 疒 sickness) = Hemorrhoids

There's a temple in Taitō (where else?) where you can pray for relief from piles. It's called Honshō-ji (本性寺), and the god of haemorrhoids, who was originally a mere mortal called Okada Magoemon (岡田孫右衛門), was buried here.

He was a sake merchant in Edo, and he suffered so horribly from haemorrhoids that he became a priest in an attempt to cure himself. He didn't succeed, and on his deathbed a few years later he vowed to become a god and help others with the same affliction.

His spirit was enshrined at this temple, and soon rumours of miraculous cures spread. Eventually Okada, deified as Shūzan Jiun (秋山自雲), was worshipped at several temples in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Most of these have disappeared, but you can still visit Honshō-ji and Okada's grave (last two photos) in Taitō.

First of all, I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying learning Japanese! 😆 The Japanese way of counting things is obviously very hard to remember! It's often cited by Japanese people as a typical example of the unreasonableness of the Japanese language: When counting long objects such as sticks or rope, the particle "本(hon)" is used, but when written in kanji, it will be like "一本(1)," "二本(2)," "三本(3)", but they are read as "ippon," "nihon," and "sanbon," respectively. Even though they all use the same kanji! 😅 (This is probably what you're studying, right?) Even native speakers cannot explain this regularity, but I'd be happy if you found this kind of unreason interesting. :)

Regarding the question of what kind of experience it is for native speakers to learn different readings of the same kanji, I think native speakers often know the word by sound first, and later understand that "Ah, this kanji is used for this word. This may be something that can only be experienced through the listening of Japanese many times.

Also, although you may already know this information, it is actually possible to guess the reading of kanji by guessing.

For example, in the case of the kanji "枝(eda)" used in Nagito's surname:

In some cases, this is read as "shi" in some kanji compounds. For example, "枝(eda)" can be combined with the kanji "葉(ha)" in Yasuhiro's surname.

If you combine the kanji "枝(eda)" and "葉(ha)", it will be "枝葉(shiyo / shiyou)". The word "枝(eda)" means "branch" and "葉(ha)" means "leaf," but when both are combined to form the word "枝葉(shiyo)," it means "non-major or non-essential things.

I think the reading "葉(yo)" is unfortunately reading you have to memorise it, but as for "枝(shi)", it's a reading that can be guessed. This is because the kanji "支", one of the parts used in the kanji "枝(eda)", is read as "shi".

For On reading* of kanji, the reading of the parts composing the kanji is often used in this way. If native speakers encounter a kanji they do not know how to read, they use this rule to predict the reading. (*Kanji has two general readings: Kun reading and On reading. In the case of "枝", "eda" is Kun reading and "shi" is On reading.)

For example, a slightly more difficult kanji than "枝" is "肢," which is also read as "shi". This is a kanji means the branched parts of the body, mostly the limbs.

Thus, as long as you learn the basic kanji that are used as parts of other kanji, you will be able to read them by guessing rather than by memorizing them. 😄

You may already know or be aware of this: "支" means something that is branched. A similar example is the kanji "岐", which means "forked road".

Now, after reading all of this, you might think: "Wow, kanji is very easy to understand! And the reading of this kanji must also be "shi"! 😄

...Unfortunately, it is not that easy, and that is the complication with Kanji. Actually, the kanji "岐" is read as "ki".

Native Japanese speakers often fall into this trap as well! 😅

In most cases, the only way to read kanji correctly is to memorize it, but if we don't know it, we try to guess the reading from the parts. But this is just a matter of luck, and it often fails. 😭

However, as I showed earlier in the picture, kanji is something that can already convey meaning by its shape. So even native speakers often encounter kanji that they are not sure how to read, but they may guess that it probably means something like this from the parts and ignore what the reading is.

Even between native speakers, the other person may be speaking with an incorrect reading, but it can also be guessed by imagining the parts used for the kanji. For example, there is a kanji compound "分岐" that is correctly read as "bunki," but suppose the person I am talking to reads it as "bunshi. Even in such a case, I can think that the person probably thought it was "分岐" because the character for "岐" has a kanji part "支," so the person read it as "bunshi. (Most of the time I will point out the misreading to the person, but sometimes I will just ignore it because I can understand what they were trying to tell me.)

The same is true for the same kanji with different readings. For example, the kanji compound "枝葉(shiyo)" introduced earlier can actually be read as "edaha," but in that case it simply means tree branches and leaves. So it is one of those kanji compounds that uses the same kanji but has a different meaning when read differently. But even if you didn't know that it should be read as "shiyo," I don't think you'd have much trouble, because I think you'd be able to understand the meaning of the sentence in which that compound is used based on the image of the kanji.

In conclusion, even for native speakers, it is difficult to memorize how to read each kanji. In most cases, we know at least one basic reading for basic kanji, but rarely do we know all the other different readings. So we often try to read it somehow by guessing from the parts the kanji uses. And as a result, we often get it wrong. 😅 But I think we can guess what they are trying to say from different aspects of each other, so I don't think we care too much.

I use colour coding to denote pitch accent in my Japanese vocab posts because I find it helpful for me personally and, you know, this is my blog. But I've started compiling all my vocab into a LibreOffice spreadsheet (finally) so I can search for it easily and also organise it by category for easier studying.

I still like including the vocab I've come across on my JLPT journal logs because 1. every time I write it out it helps my brain flag it as "familiar word I should know" (and usually by the third or fourth time I'm at least like "clearly this is a word I need to practice" and go out of my way to learn sample sentences/mnemonics to help me learn it) and 2. when I look back through my blog, it's always motivating to see words that I use regularly/comfortably were once words I had to look up.

But I'm wondering, should I continue to include pitch accent colour coding? It takes time on my part (albeit not a huge amount) and I'm not sure if anyone else actually finds it helpful. If it is helpful then I'll continue to include it, but if not I'll spare myself the effort.

What do you think?

So I looked this up and

It looks like 単元 means teaching unit or module.

I looked up "monad" and:

It looks like monad means a unit, in terms of the smallest division that you can find.

To double check, I looked it up in Japanese:

Roughly, "a learning plan put together for a specific educational purpose".

So, it looks like 単元 means a teaching module in this case. Which makes sense since the title is 単元一覧 (or teaching module list).