bad romance
Huzzah, it's a somewhat coherent article on US-China relations! Somewhat. Equating "the USA" with "the West" is not at all accurate, for one thing. If you mean the USA, say the USA! If you mean "the West," which generally means western European countries + the USA + Canada and Australia (kinda sorta sometimes when American writers remember that they exist), then bloody say so! Grr. There's no excuse for such sloppiness in (intelligent) political journalism.
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The registration for the JLPT is coming up, and I need to decide which level I should take. I'm also trying to pick up the pace of my Japanese studies, since I've felt stagnant for the past few months. I would say that studying Japanese is no harder than studying any other language-- I was just as terrible when I was studying French-- but Japanese just adds extra levels of hurt to what one expects. I mean, the three alphabet thing? Annoying, yes, but you could do it. Even kanji wouldn't be so bad . . . so they have two readings. Well, that wouldn't be so bad. Except sometimes they have three readings. Or four. Or five.
And then sometimes you run into a word that just isn't in the damn dictionary. I had that problem today-- the word こむ occurred in my textbook, and I didn't know what it meant. I entered it in the dictionary, but the only definition that came up was 込む-- right reading, but the wrong kanji. After painstaking effort I managed to enter 混む (right reading, right kanji) . . . and there were no results. It didn't exist.
Finally in frustration I asked one of my colleagues. She glanced over my shoulder. "Oh, yes, they're the same," she said. "The 込-kanji is the usual way to write it. But sometimes we write it 混む. Actually I prefer that way."
It turns out that 混む is a shortened form of 混雑する, which means "(to be in a state of) confusion, disorder, congestion." I guess by using the 混 kanji it gives that extra implication to the simple meaning of the phonetic こむ, which simply means "to be crowded" by itself. Which is cool and all, but.
First, "こ" is not listed as a reading of 混 at all; the dictionary reading is listed as "こん." None of the other example words use the "こ" reading; they all use either "こん" or "ま," the other reading. Which means that ONLY IN THIS INSTANCE, the reading changes from "こん" to "こ."
Second, HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE MEANING OF A WORD IS WHEN THE DICTIONARY DOESN'T EVEN LIST IT AS A WORD?!?!?!
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH.
But hey, at least I'm never going to forget what こむ means!
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Which reminds me, randomly, of being in elementary school. I was terrible at spelling, genuinely terrible. We had spelling tests every week, and if you got a certain number right you got a star on a chart posted in the classroom. I never once got a star.
I remember asking my teacher at the time how to spell a word, and receiving the perplexing answer "look it up in the dictionary." Which deeply confused me, because how was I supposed to look it up in the dictionary when I didn't know how to spell it?
I never got to sign my name on the tooth poster, either. I didn't start losing my baby teeth until 4th grade, when everyone else had long since lost theirs and the teachers didn't bother with tooth posters anymore.
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This is so cool! Here's some more from TIME! I am of the opinion that scientific knowledge does nothing to lessen mystery and wonder. Looking at a cloud and knowing that it's made of thousands of suspended water droplets does not make it any less awesome than it was when people thought it was the spirit of a dragon, or a strange floating land where the gods hung out. Both of those are cool, but a quintillion suspended water molecules are also way cool. I mean, lightning generated by the force of rocks and rushing lava being propelled forth from the bowels of the Earth at incredible speeds? That's frickin AMAZING!!!
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Why I don't buy Apple products. No matter how shiny they are. It's the same reason I didn't buy an Amazon Kindle (which is already starting to feel outdated . . . oh tech, the lightning speed at which you develop, grow strong, eat your parents, spawn, and are eaten in your turn).
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I randomly turned to two of my students who were in the teacher's room. "Would you like a cookie?" I asked them.
This prompted five minutes of discussion, speculation, and consultation as to what I had asked them, what it meant, and what the appropriate answer was. Finally one of them tried, "yes?"
I gave them each a cookie, and then laughed about it for five minutes.
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On Alice in Wonderland
Went to see Alice in Wonderland, which was great fun but not as great as I'd hoped. I enjoyed it, aye, but I think it would have been better had it been longer. The movie kinda zoomed along with scarcely a chance to enjoy the ride.
And why the heck doesn't anyone ever stay in Wonderland? It's always "okay, adventure's over, back to the real world!" Oh, I understand the reasons-- the fantasy world exists to teach the protagonist lessons that will then be applied to the protagonist's real-life problems-- but it also prioritizes the "real world," when clearly the "fantasy world" must be just as real in order for actions to have consequences and the plight of said world to be effective. There are of course leftover ties-that-bind in the "real world," but does that mean the ties formed in the fantasy world are less important or less strong? And in this case Alice returns to the "real world" just so she can leave said ties in search of adventure!
Heading off . . . to China, apparently. Although as soon as that came up my floodgate of modern Chinese history knowledge came up and I was all "gaaaah nooooo do you have any idea what's happening there or what's going to come up next? Opium Wars! Boxer Rebellion! Sino-French War! Sino-Japanese War! gaaaaaahhhh!" And also, "what do you mean, the first ones to trade with China? Did I hear that right? Maybe I didn't hear that right . . ."
suspension of disbelief suspension of disbelief suspension of disbelief . . . .
misspaulette said, "and now she can meet up with Captain Jack Sparrow on the high seas!" Granted she's probably a century or so late for that, but it would be a fun fanfic . . .
******************************
The registration for the JLPT is coming up, and I need to decide which level I should take. I'm also trying to pick up the pace of my Japanese studies, since I've felt stagnant for the past few months. I would say that studying Japanese is no harder than studying any other language-- I was just as terrible when I was studying French-- but Japanese just adds extra levels of hurt to what one expects. I mean, the three alphabet thing? Annoying, yes, but you could do it. Even kanji wouldn't be so bad . . . so they have two readings. Well, that wouldn't be so bad. Except sometimes they have three readings. Or four. Or five.
And then sometimes you run into a word that just isn't in the damn dictionary. I had that problem today-- the word こむ occurred in my textbook, and I didn't know what it meant. I entered it in the dictionary, but the only definition that came up was 込む-- right reading, but the wrong kanji. After painstaking effort I managed to enter 混む (right reading, right kanji) . . . and there were no results. It didn't exist.
Finally in frustration I asked one of my colleagues. She glanced over my shoulder. "Oh, yes, they're the same," she said. "The 込-kanji is the usual way to write it. But sometimes we write it 混む. Actually I prefer that way."
It turns out that 混む is a shortened form of 混雑する, which means "(to be in a state of) confusion, disorder, congestion." I guess by using the 混 kanji it gives that extra implication to the simple meaning of the phonetic こむ, which simply means "to be crowded" by itself. Which is cool and all, but.
First, "こ" is not listed as a reading of 混 at all; the dictionary reading is listed as "こん." None of the other example words use the "こ" reading; they all use either "こん" or "ま," the other reading. Which means that ONLY IN THIS INSTANCE, the reading changes from "こん" to "こ."
Second, HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE MEANING OF A WORD IS WHEN THE DICTIONARY DOESN'T EVEN LIST IT AS A WORD?!?!?!
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH.
But hey, at least I'm never going to forget what こむ means!
******************************
Which reminds me, randomly, of being in elementary school. I was terrible at spelling, genuinely terrible. We had spelling tests every week, and if you got a certain number right you got a star on a chart posted in the classroom. I never once got a star.
I remember asking my teacher at the time how to spell a word, and receiving the perplexing answer "look it up in the dictionary." Which deeply confused me, because how was I supposed to look it up in the dictionary when I didn't know how to spell it?
I never got to sign my name on the tooth poster, either. I didn't start losing my baby teeth until 4th grade, when everyone else had long since lost theirs and the teachers didn't bother with tooth posters anymore.
******************************
This is so cool! Here's some more from TIME! I am of the opinion that scientific knowledge does nothing to lessen mystery and wonder. Looking at a cloud and knowing that it's made of thousands of suspended water droplets does not make it any less awesome than it was when people thought it was the spirit of a dragon, or a strange floating land where the gods hung out. Both of those are cool, but a quintillion suspended water molecules are also way cool. I mean, lightning generated by the force of rocks and rushing lava being propelled forth from the bowels of the Earth at incredible speeds? That's frickin AMAZING!!!
******************************
Why I don't buy Apple products. No matter how shiny they are. It's the same reason I didn't buy an Amazon Kindle (which is already starting to feel outdated . . . oh tech, the lightning speed at which you develop, grow strong, eat your parents, spawn, and are eaten in your turn).
******************************
I randomly turned to two of my students who were in the teacher's room. "Would you like a cookie?" I asked them.
This prompted five minutes of discussion, speculation, and consultation as to what I had asked them, what it meant, and what the appropriate answer was. Finally one of them tried, "yes?"
I gave them each a cookie, and then laughed about it for five minutes.
******************************
On Alice in Wonderland
Went to see Alice in Wonderland, which was great fun but not as great as I'd hoped. I enjoyed it, aye, but I think it would have been better had it been longer. The movie kinda zoomed along with scarcely a chance to enjoy the ride.
And why the heck doesn't anyone ever stay in Wonderland? It's always "okay, adventure's over, back to the real world!" Oh, I understand the reasons-- the fantasy world exists to teach the protagonist lessons that will then be applied to the protagonist's real-life problems-- but it also prioritizes the "real world," when clearly the "fantasy world" must be just as real in order for actions to have consequences and the plight of said world to be effective. There are of course leftover ties-that-bind in the "real world," but does that mean the ties formed in the fantasy world are less important or less strong? And in this case Alice returns to the "real world" just so she can leave said ties in search of adventure!
Heading off . . . to China, apparently. Although as soon as that came up my floodgate of modern Chinese history knowledge came up and I was all "gaaaah nooooo do you have any idea what's happening there or what's going to come up next? Opium Wars! Boxer Rebellion! Sino-French War! Sino-Japanese War! gaaaaaahhhh!" And also, "what do you mean, the first ones to trade with China? Did I hear that right? Maybe I didn't hear that right . . ."
suspension of disbelief suspension of disbelief suspension of disbelief . . . .
misspaulette said, "and now she can meet up with Captain Jack Sparrow on the high seas!" Granted she's probably a century or so late for that, but it would be a fun fanfic . . .