ポリグロット(数か国語に通じる人)を目指して~
中国人の父にオランダで育てられました。 日本語を勉強しながら、ベトナム人の彼氏と一緒に暮らしています。

Friday 21 February 2014

Japan, Nihon or Nippon 日本, ?
















Japan;
Linguists believe the name Japan derives from the attempts of Marco Polo pronouncing the early Mandarin Chinese word for Japan which is 日本国 pronounced in pinyin as 'Rìběnguó', and literally means 'Country of the Sun origin'. Marco Polo's attempts resulted in 'Jipangu'.  Also many people believe that the word originated from Malaysia. The Malay word for Japan, 'Jepang' also came from the Chinese language. This word was encountered by Portuguese traders in Malacca and it is believed that the traders were the first to bring the word to Europe. 

にほん or にっぽん ?
The Japanese name for Japan can be read as 'nihon' or 'nippon' (onyomi) and are both written with the same kanji;日本 , ‘nichi’ means sun or day and ‘hon’ means base or origin. Put them together and you get ‘ base of the sun’ . You might also have read ‘base of the sunrise’  somewhere which comes from the Chinese point of view. From China, the sun rises from the side of Japan. This is also the source of the popular Western term ‘ land of the rising sun’.

When combined, ‘nichi’ often loses the final -chi sound and creates a small pause between the first and second syllable of the compound. When we want to romanize this, the pause is often represented by doubling the first consonant of the second syllable. Compounds with ‘hon’ often change into -bon or -pon. Therefore there are two possible ways to pronounce 日本.  While both are correct (and also frequently used) ‘nippon’ is often preferred for official purposes like money, stamps and international matters. 'nippon' is also used for a longer period of time then 'nihon' which is said to have derived from the Kanto accent.
Although 'nippon' is the more obvious way name to pronounce 日本, a recent survey showed that 61 percent of Japanese people read it as 'nihon', also it is a lot more popular with the younger generation.

 In Japan there is no official document defining the pronunciation of 日本 . An attempt was made by the Ministry of Education in 1934, when they started a major investigation in the national language including their recommendation of  naming the country 'nippon' for once and all. However the government simply ignored their request.
Another move was made more recently in 2009, when a member of the Lower house made a more liberal move and submitted a request asking the government to decide on an unified pronunciation, whether it be 'nippon' or 'nihon'. The government replied that they saw no reason to take official steps, since both terms are in wide usage nowadays. You can either applaud their indecision as a way of saying they had some bigger issues to deal with, or you criticize them for their laid back attitude.

What do you think of the governments decision? Do you use 'nihon' or 'nippon'?


 ~Mei mei

Friday 14 February 2014

Black Day, Asian day for singles? 블랙데이 - Jjajangmyun 자장면 Recipe

In case you don't have that  special person to celebrate Valentine's Day or White Day with, don't worry, the Asians have a special day for you too. It is called 'Black Day' 블랙데이. Black Day is celebrated on April 14th and is mostly celebrated in South Korea. At this day the Koreans mourn a little over the fact they didn't get any gifts earlier (on Valentine's or White day) and then celebrate their singleness by getting together with other single friends. If you want to follow their tradition you just have to wear something black and eat some dark coloured food like the famous jjajangmyun 자장면


Jjajangmyun is Black Day's signature dish and consists of white noodles covered in black bean sauce. Although jjajangmyung is written like 자장면 , it is pronounced as 짜장면with a 'J' as in 'jam'. Jajang (자장) means 'fried sauce' and myeon ()means 'noodle'.
It is actually a Chinese-Korean dish which some Chinese immigrants brought to Incheon. Unlike other Korean noodles, jjajangmyun is made of white flour instead of potato starch. The noodles are made by hand, and after that shortly boiled. When the noodles are cooked,  pork,vegetables and sea cucumber are added which make the base for the sauce. Last but not least they add black bean paste and a good stock. Some corn starch can be added also if the sauce isn't thick enough. jjajangmyun is considered as a national dish of Korea and the perfect comfort food for Black Day.
If you want to take it to a whole other level there are even many jjajangmyun eating contests this day!

Although jjajanmyun may sound like a dish for the loners which can make your teeth stain, it is really delicious. I highly recommend you to try it so I have the recipe for you below!
  
Recipe;
 This recipe makes four servings;
- Pork belly, diced in easy to eat cubes or strips
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup diced potatoes
- 1 cup diced onions
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- +/-  3 large table spoons black bean paste
- corn starch
- Water
- Sesame oil
- Your favorite vegetable julienned ( I recommend cucumber or Korean radish)
- Korean noodles of your choice 

1.        Heat a wok or a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the meat and cook until the edges are slightly browned.
2.      Add the carrots and potatoes and sauté for 1/2 minutes. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onions turn translucent.
3.      Add the black bean paste to the pan and combine. Make sure everything gets  evenly coated. Gradually add some water and bring to a high simmer. ( be careful not to add to much).
4.      Let the sauce simmer until it thickens, this will take about 3 to 4 minutes. The sauce has to stick to the noodles, but not too much either. If your sauce is not thick enough, you can add some cornstarch.
5.      Turn off the heat and add some sesame oil, stir until combined. Pour the sauce on top of the noodles. Garnish with your fresh vegetables.

I hope you enjoyed reading my post!
~ Mei mei

Saturday 8 February 2014

Geisha; the artists of Japan

















Geisha 芸者 or Geiko 芸子(in Kyoto dialect) are professional female artist aiming to entertain their guests during dinners, banquets and other occasions. They are extremely well trained in a variety of Japanese arts like traditional dancing, preforming music, games  and other skills.
The word Geisha consists of two Kanji; Gei and Sha, Gei   means ‘art’ and Sha   means ‘doer’. Like all Japanese nouns there is no plural version. Apprentice Geisha are called Maiko which literally means dancing child.  The word consists of two characters also. ‘Dancing’ and ‘child’.

Origin
The Geisha originated from serving girls called ‘saburuko’. These girls where most of the time without a family.  Some of them offered sexual services while the other girls which had better education, preformed at social gatherings to entertain guests. In the traditional Japan, sexual delights where not a taboo and it was very common for Japanese men to search a courtesan for some pleasure. They even build the so called pleasure quarters in the 16th century. Outside the pleasure quarters prostitution was illegal. Inside the quarters they had yuujo 遊女 ‘play women’ which were legal. The highest rank of yuujo preformed erotic dances and skits. This art was called kabuku which means ‘to be wild and outrageous’. This was the beginning of Kabuki theater.
As these quarters quickly began to grow to large entertainment centers, the yuujo offered a lot more than sexual services. Each of them began to develop a special skill and some of them were even renowned artists, poets or calligraphers. Before Geisha the odoriko (dancing children) appeared. When they grew out of their teenage years they adopted different names which depended on their skill. The first woman who ever called herself a Geisha was a Fukagawa prostitute. She was a skilled singer and samisen-player and a huge success making female Geisha extremely popular in Fukagawa. After that the Geisha became more spread over the country and often worked solely as entertainers and no more as prostitutes.
Still many Geisha worked as prostitutes imprisoned in the pleasure quarters, in order to protect the business of the Oiran 花魁
Eventually the Geisha evolved and many of them became professional entertainers, while others still offered sexual services which was still legal up until the 1900s.  

Influence of the second world war
In the period of the WWII many Geisha were forced to stop because they had to work in factories or had to move. With the Americans coming to Japan, prostitutes started to call themselves ‘Geisha girls’ to attract the attention of the American soldiers and the original Geisha lost their status. In 1940 all the teahouses ‘ ochaya’ and bars were forced to close, so that all employees could work in factories. A year later, they were allowed to reopen. The few Geisha that continued rejected all western influences and hoped to rebuild the Geisha image with the traditional ways of Japan. It was up to these few Geisha to bring back the traditional standards and keep their image clean.

Becoming a Geisha
The training of the Geisha starts around the early age of 9. Some of them were raised in an ‘Okiya’ 置屋which is a Geisha house. They were given food, kimono’s, very expensive training and board. These debts must be repaid to the Okiya with the earning she makes. The repayment continues until she has paid for all her debts. After that she is permitted to move out and work independently. In the 1950s the Okiyas disappeared with the outlawing of child labor.
The apprentice Geisha, so called Maiko will start their training by observing a full-fledged Geisha at work. She must find  an older Geisha which will act as her mentor. They call their mentor ‘onee-san’お姉さん which means older sister. They have to follow their onee-san everywhere and they must obey her as well. The mentor trains her Maiko in all the required skills such as conversing,  playing shamisen, dancing and other requirements. The onee-san will even help her pick a name to use in her career.
Maiko’s are very beautiful to look at, they were colorful kimonos with a very low, loose hanging collar in the back which accentuates the back of the neck. Also there are 5 different hairstyles a Maiko can wear which show the different stages of her apprenticeship. The hairstyles are decorated with ‘Kanzashi’ traditional Japanese hair ornaments.

Geisha today
Although there are not many Geisha left today, you will have the highest possibility to see one in Kyoto. Kyoto's most famous district is Gion 祇園 which is known as one of the 5 Geisha districts (hanamachi). Nowadays it's not impossible for tourists and outsiders to see Geisha and Maiko. They are still very exclusive and expensive and often require an introduction from someone who is already a customer. However with the tourism growing in Kyoto there are some hotels and travel agencies which offer lunch or dinner with the entertainment of Geisha and Maiko for any tourist with a sufficient budget.
Every day at Gion Corner at the end of Hanami-Koji, the Geisha and Maiko give a show which is aimed at tourists. The show gives an introduction to several Japanese arts. In April you can watch the Miyako Odori which are daily dance performances by Maiko. There are four one-hour performances every day which costs around 2000 – 4000 yen per person.
Shijio Avenue also located in Gion district, is a popular shopping are with many stores selling local products like sweets and crafts.
There are also several Maiko studios in Kyoto where you can dress up as a Maiko or Geisha, some of them are especially aimed at tourists.

Outside Kyoto in the Higashi Chaya district in Kanazawa you can find a former ochaya which is open to the public as a museum. You can see a traditional tatami room here and exhibits of various items such as utensils, accessories and instruments.

Whenever you see a Geisha or Maiko don’t start making pictures out of the blue. Act respectfully.


I hope you enjoyed a little history again~

~ Mei mei

Thursday 6 February 2014

The two best apps for learning Japanese on Iphone and Android (so far)



Since it's in my reach to use both Android and Apple devices I'm going to review a few apps which claim to help you with your Japanese. In daily life I use a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and I also own a tablet from Samsung. My boyfriend is a huge fan of Apple so he has an Iphone 5S and an Ipad Mini. With so many devices lying around it wasn't really that difficult to test a couple of apps on these popular devices. Today I will give an introduction to the two best apps I have found so far.

Human Japanese;web page
Supported on; PC, Mac, Iphone, Android, Windows Phone

Highly praised by the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal this is indeed quite an amazing app.
You can download two versions; Human Japanese and Human Japanese Intermediate. I have downloaded the first version which is free. It takes some time to download though. When I opened the app it gives an easy introduction on how to navigate trough the app. When you have finished the introduction you can start with the first chapter. The first chapter is another introduction, this time they will introduce the Japanese language to you. The explanation is easy to read and very detailed. If you don't like a lot of reading this might not be the right app for you though, after six pages of reading we arrive at the next chapter. The next chapter covers pronunciation. After ten pages of detailed information there is a quiz to put your fresh skills to the test. After that there is a short summary on chapter two and then we arrive at the next chapter. This is basically how the whole app works. There are seven chapters which you can study for free. For the other 33 chapters you need to upgrade to the full version. The main menu allows you to fast forward to the quizzes and have a look at the dictionary. Although it is a lot of reading, the subjects are very interesting and easy explained.
The full version is available for +/- $9,99.
If you think you've got the basics down you can download Human Japanese Intermediate. In this version they will explain more advanced topics and you can practice your Kanji. I suggest you to go trough the free seven lessons first and have a look. It is really worth it!

Overall rating; Human Japanese
Visual / layout; 4/5
Information; 5/5

Pro's;
- Clean layout
- Detailed information

Con's;
- The amount of reading can get a little boring for some people.
- The layout looks really large and a little ugly on my tablet.
- Only seven lessons in the free version.


Mirai iStart Japanese;web page
Supported on; Apple devices only

I don't want to be mean but the app I thought of most useful was this one, which is only available for Apple devices. (Don't be sad though, I'm still on my journey finding even more useful apps which are compatible with other devices too!) Mirai is a Japanese study app which let's you listen to a series of Japanese pod casts all under the supervision of a penguin with glasses. In every lesson you will follow a basic conversation visualized with speech bubbles that have English grammar explanations.  For the Japanese bubbles you can toggle between romanized words and Japanese script. For every lesson there is a vocab section an a quiz at the end. You will even learn how to write some Kanji in the writing section where they show you the correct stroke order. The free version has 20 lessons for the full version you have to purchase a subscription which costs +/- $3,60 a month. Although you get some good things for your money, I still don't like the idea of a monthly subscription. I really hope you give this a try because the free lessons can teach you a lot of new information. If you have conquered all the 20 lessons you can just delete the app and search for a new one right? If you're really interested in this app but don't have an Apple device you can check out their blog here, where you can learn the Kanji of the day (with stroke order!) and listen to 10 Japanese pod cast lessons!

Overall rating; Mirai iStart Japanese
Visual / layout; 5/5
Information; 4/5

Pro's;
- Beautiful layout
- Informative lessons which don't take a lot of time
- Writing section
- 20 (!) free lessons

Con's;
-  Not completely free either
-  Only compatible with Apple devices


Conclusion;
Actually these aren't the best apps out there I think, I will have to continue searching for even better ones. If you want me to test out a particular app please let me know. You can comment below or send me a message and I will be happy to try out some new apps for you.















Thank you for reading.

~ Mei mei

Sunday 2 February 2014

The Chinese should change their writing system! - Happy year of the Horse!

The biggest struggle of people who learn Chinese is of course their writing system. Not only students who study Chinese on a daily basis struggle with this, but it is also a huge issue for people who want to start learning Chinese. They want to try studying Chinese as a second language, but are held back by all the difficult characters and never actually start because they fear they will fail mastering the characters. Have you ever had the same thoughts? I know I did, and even the Japanese Kanji seemed like a lot of characters to me.
I got inspired to write this post when I read an online discussion. The original article gave an introduction to the concept of Chineasy. A huge discussion was going on in the comment section with quite interesting thougts and opinions. The comment which started the discussion was; ''The Chinese should change their writing system!''

Chineasy
Chineasy is an award-winning concept which makes it easier to remember all the Chinese characters. I will give an introduction and a full explanation about Chineasy after I have purchased the book.

Discussion
A man posted a comment below the article stating the Chinese should change their writing system to a phonetic system like our Latin system. He said this because he also felt it is too hard to learn all the complicated characters as a foreigner. Although it might sound drastic changing the whole alphabet, this actually happened in 1926 in Turkey. In the early years Turkish was written using a form of the Arabic script. However, the Arabic script is rich in consonants but poor in vowels while Turkish is the complete opposite. After years of public debating, people opposing from the idea and people supporting the idea, the Turkic republics of the Soviet Union adopted the Latin script. Which boosted major changes in Turkey.

Reform of the alphabet
Why can't we do this with Chinese? I read this question a thousand times in the comments. People call the alphabet 'unpractical' and 'complex' but is it really that unpractical? The Chinese can easily read ancient books and writing because the characters have stayed the same. Phonetic scripts are based on pronunciation which constantly change. Also although there are many dialects in Chinese, everyone can understand each other by the written form.
But there are actually many answers to the question at the top. For example; there are way too many homophones in Chinese like 'shi'. When they are written in Pinyin it becomes shi1, shi2, shi3 but even then there are too many forms of only shi3. Changing the script sounds a little crazy now right? If you are really persistent writing Chinese in a Romanized alphabet take a look at pinyin.info . On this website they even have an article about the attempts of the Chinese adopting the Latin alphabet. So you can't say they didn't gave it any thought at all.

I also wanted to say; Happy year of the Horse! I wish you all a lot of wisdom and prosperity in the new year. And I hope all of you lucky Horses have a good year!
























Thank you for reading.

~Mei mei