Hey everyone,
I’m really sorry that I haven’t been around to answering comments and commenting on your posts for the last few days. I’ll get around to it tomorrow.
I gave myself a sort of “GET OFF YA ASS, PRACTISE YOUR FUCKING JAPANESE, STOP EATING SO MUCH CRAP AND REMEMBER TO FIND THIRTY YOU STUPID LAZY IDIOT” boot-camp type thing over the last few days, which is why I haven’t gone near my computer for a while. And believe me, I feel so much healthier and better already. Now, I just gotta keep the habits.
Japanese was still a little tough, seeing as I’m mainly self-teaching with a computer program that I couldn’t use during my no-computer period, but I got by with notes and with the activity book Hannah gave me. One thing that pissed me off though, is that the activity book comes in a set with 2 audio cds, the teacher’s booklet and a course book. Basically, if you don’t have the other material, especially the course book, then you have almost absolutely no idea what your doing. One guess who doesn’t have a course book -_-.
But, thanks to the hours I gave myself without distraction, I managed to finish 11 pages. These pages contained stuff like word puzzles, crosswords, “read the description and fill in the questions”, “copy the sentences in the following dialogue”, kanji number dot-to-dot, translate blah-blah’s letter etc. The one activity I had major trouble with, but felt the most satisfaction upon completion, was the full-page, ‘fill in the speech bubbles’ comics. I’ve completed one, but the next one I’m completely stuck with. They are just very badly drawn explanation wise. I have to assume that the person whose speech bubble is to the left and/or up the top goes first within each square, but its so difficult! And NONE of the facial expressions/ gestures match with the dialogue to choose from! Especially the last picture. This kids like 8 ( ). The 8 is his eyes, and the brackets are his OMFG freakout like open-mouthed expression. Sentences to choose from (translated by me of course):
- What grade are you in?
- (あのう) What is in 1st period? (Does あのう mean ‘umm’? I couldn’t work it out.)
- 7th grade.
- Sport is 5th period. English is 6th period.
- What do you have in 2nd period?
- What’s your name?
- Maths.
- Maths first and second period.
- What subjects do you like?
- Sports.
- (えっと) 2nd period maths. (I’m guessing it means ‘hmm’, but I don’t know)
- Masashi. (I’m pretty sure this is the kids name.)
So, the only thing I can think of to the kid’s expression is either he is saying Maths or Sports in a “oh no I hate the subject” sort of way, or maybe i’m translating some stuff wrong. Even if I have, I’m proud with my efforts. I did not know the words for sports, maths, period (as in timetable), subject, grade before starting that page and the preceding page, but using the small clues I think I’ve translated it almost all right.
Anyway, tonight I decided to try again at the test found here. I really don’t know why, as I’m nowhere near good enough to translate things without a dictionary, and I don’t have any original transliterations and/or translations of lyrics that haven’t been uploaded. I guess I just started doing it for the fun of it. Anyway back to the test, I only know hiragana, katakana and the basics of kanji numbering, so its been a rough night with the kanji, but I’ve managed to use a few kanji lookup tools, translators and online dictionaries to get me along. I’ve managed to complete half of the test so far and learn a few kanji along the way; heres what I’ve got.
Original:
人気小説 “涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱” から, 新作コスチュ一ムが登場する.
ハルヒ仕様の髪飾りリボンと, 県立北高校の男子制服の2種類だ.
My romaji transliteration:
Ninki shousetsu “Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu” kara, shinsaku kosuchu ichi mu ga toujou suru.
Haruhi shiyou no kami kazari ribon to, kenritsu kita koukou no danshi seifuku no 2 shurui da.
My translation:
From the popular novel “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”, a new costume has been introduced. It comes with a hair ribbon in Haruhi’s style, and the North High School youths’ uniform comes in two varieties.
The translation is very rough sounding to me; I was trying to think of better wording for the first sentence especially but everything I thought of sounded just as unnatural. Its fustrating me to no end, but its almost 2:30am now, so I’ll come back to it tomorrow.
A big hi to Coby, the first person to visit my blog who is a friend in real life! I haven’t told people about it, but I put the website in my msn for any curious peoples =) Anyway, こんにちは コオビイちゃん! [Hello Coby-chan =)]
Wow, this post is like 800 words… not good for a post titled “quick update” haha.
Before I go, one important piece of info *snicker*If I’m ever talking to any of yous over the phone/webcam convos/ in RL etc, and I happen to say something like “she put my fracking clean shorts into the dishwashing machine!”, or “I overloaded the dryer again tonight cos I was too tired to do the dishes”, please ignore me. My brain, for some wacked-out reason, is wired to say dishwasher for the dryer/washing machine, and dryer/washing machine for the dishwasher. It can’t be helped. Its natural to me. I’ve had about 4 conversations today that were either about the dishwasher or the dryer, and they all turned into arguments. I only worked out a few hours ago that I had been asking Mum questions like, “Why do the cups in the dryer have crap in them still?” and “Have you seen a yellow button in the dishwasher by any chance?”
-headdesk–headdesk–headdesk–headdesk–headdesk–headdesk–headdesk–headdesk–headdesk-
