Memories
I lived on Okinawa for several years and I like to say that the only Japanese I remember is ... not a very nice phrase to yell at another driver. But that's not true. Until very recently, the only word I had for cicada was Sammy (or sami) which was what everyone there called them. I have a vivid memory of pestering Keiko, our maid, to tell me what they were called in Japanese. She serenely replied "Sammy". "NO!" I insisted. "That's what WE call them. What do YOU call them."
It wasn't until I was watching an episode of Inuyasha in Japanese a few years ago that I realized she was right. I heard the word "sami" in the stream of language when the captioning was talking about some sort of flying insect (a wasp, there was another prefix that I didn't get as well).
At that time, I was in 1st & 2nd grades, I had three older siblings and three younger but many of my memories of that time are of me, alone with Keiko as she created patterns, cut out fabric and sewed clothes for my mother. That's what she was doing when I was asking her about the samis.
It wasn't until I was watching an episode of Inuyasha in Japanese a few years ago that I realized she was right. I heard the word "sami" in the stream of language when the captioning was talking about some sort of flying insect (a wasp, there was another prefix that I didn't get as well).
At that time, I was in 1st & 2nd grades, I had three older siblings and three younger but many of my memories of that time are of me, alone with Keiko as she created patterns, cut out fabric and sewed clothes for my mother. That's what she was doing when I was asking her about the samis.