Japanese lesson no. 2
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
I had my second Japanese lesson tonight. It was a bit frustrating, as happens when you're resuming studies of a language this alien to English. The instructor had asked me to read a vocabulary page in advance of the class, but then during the class asked me to do some reading from a lengthy text (as follow). There were several words involving kanji that I didn't know and it was a mess. We've agreed that while this is good for learning to read the language I just don't have enough grammar and I'm downgrading to an easier book.
皆さんは日本の四つの大きな島の名前を知っていますか。日本はユーラシア大陸の東にある島国で国の７０％は山です。日本には東京のような、世界によく知られている都市がたくさんありますが。皆さんはどんな都市の名前を聞いたことがありますか。
This is as follow.
皆さんは日本の四つの大きな島の名前を知っていますか。
"Does everyone know the names of Japan's four big islands?"
日本はユーラシア大陸の東にある島国で国の７０％は山です。
"Japan is an island country in* eastern Eurasia, and the country is 70% mountains."
*It doesn't specifically say "in", it says "Eurasia has Japan in the east" which sounds more like "to the east of Europa". Perhaps in Japan they consider themselves apart from Eurasia the way that the British speak of "the Continent". Typical 島国.
日本には東京のような、世界によく知られている都市がたくさんありますが。
This one is a bit tougher sledding. I think what they mean is "The country has a number of cities known around the world; like Tokyo." The purpose of the "ga" marker at the end of the sentence is one of those (many) things you only pick up by use; it turns the sentence from a claim to a suggestion, like "The country has a number of cities that if I may say so are known around the world; like Tokyo."
Typical 日本人.
皆さんはどんな都市の名前を聞いたことがありますか。
This roughly means "Of which of Japan's cities has everyone heard?"
It then referenced a map (地図, literally "earth drawing"). What tipped me off that I might not be quite at this level yet was that I had to learn the written forms of:
皆さん (everyone; common in the spoken language)
都市 (city; instead of 'toshi' I've always used 'machi')
大陸 (continent!)
島国 (island country)
Also, I didn't know "のような" as an expression or phrase among others.
I'm hoping that I'll be at this level in a six-twelve months and it's clear that the vocabulary is useful but the degree of vertigo was a bit much for the second class.