Nani Kashira?
My Japanese homework includes the instruction, "List three of your favorite Japanese words." Really, sensei? Surely there are better questions you could have put in that spot.
Mostly, though, I just find it annoying. Questions like that sound like something you'd find on a meme. And I can never think of an answer. Or rather, I vastly overthink my answer. For instance, one of the most interesting Japanese words to me at present is 島国根性 (shimaguni konjou). It means "island country mentality" and translates as insularism. I like it. I like that I know it. However, it's well beyond the level of the class. Will sensei think I went and looked something up to try and sound learned? Is it possible for me to balance a word like that with more common terms? Will that just look silly? (The equivalent of "duck, peanut butter, Machiavellianism?") But if I add in other words of an equivalent level - I also know how to say polytheism and pediatrics - does that just make it worse? Fishing for praise? Lookit how smart I are! But the alternative is to think of an essentially random list of three words that mean nothing to me and make me feel stupid. (Kitties! Play! Happy!)
See?
Mostly, though, I just find it annoying. Questions like that sound like something you'd find on a meme. And I can never think of an answer. Or rather, I vastly overthink my answer. For instance, one of the most interesting Japanese words to me at present is 島国根性 (shimaguni konjou). It means "island country mentality" and translates as insularism. I like it. I like that I know it. However, it's well beyond the level of the class. Will sensei think I went and looked something up to try and sound learned? Is it possible for me to balance a word like that with more common terms? Will that just look silly? (The equivalent of "duck, peanut butter, Machiavellianism?") But if I add in other words of an equivalent level - I also know how to say polytheism and pediatrics - does that just make it worse? Fishing for praise? Lookit how smart I are! But the alternative is to think of an essentially random list of three words that mean nothing to me and make me feel stupid. (Kitties! Play! Happy!)
See?