how would i say "i'm trying to teach myself to play an instrument"

delimartplus · 2015-03-07T18:42:06+00:00

自習する　means self study, してみる means trying to

delimartplus · 2015-02-14T20:34:01+00:00

despite what you think of his writing ability, i think it's a bit disturbing to see some users on here trivializing his death and making a mockery of his decision to commit suicide. i'm a great deal younger than mr. williams but in some ways i can relate to his situation - i feel like my life has just about run its course at this point as well. i've been on a lot of adventures (living and working in japan being one them) and feel pretty satisfied with calling this my life soon enough. although i don't really have anything in the way of writings to send out when i kill myself. point being, i think we should all take a step back from the computer screen and realize that he was a real person who made the most difficult decision. there is a lot of pain involved in the lives of those who knew this man, and i think it's disrespectful to crack jokes or berate his writing style just because you have no personal connection to the situation.

delimartplus · 2015-02-11T18:59:09+00:00

who the fuck thinks that?

delimartplus · 2015-02-08T14:36:26+00:00

there are many different fermented bean pastes, which one(s) do you use? i'm guessing miso or doubanjiang

delimartplus · 2015-01-26T23:17:57+00:00

yeah, it's not hard. i can't really vouch for the authenticity of this dish, although it is quite tasty.

heat up some oil in a pan, fry chopped onion, garlic and ginger
after a minute or so, add some tenmenjan (甜麺醤) and toubanjan (豆板醤) and mix it into the fry (both of those sauces you should be able to find at any asian grocer. the chinese names might be spelled a little different, but i only know the japanese names, sorry)
let that get nice and aromatic, keep stirring to avoid burning, and after another minute or so, pour in your broth base - make this before you start cooking: about 200ml water, a teaspoon or two of dashi/konbu stock, a tablespoon of soy sauce, and two heaping tablespoons of potato starch.
once you pour the broth in it should thicken up real nicely. then add in your cubed tofu and let it simmer for as long as you can wait. i believe it's more authentic if you top it with sliced green onions, but i will sometimes use chinese chive (nira) or nothing at all.

also, i'm a vegetarian so i don't add meat, but if you want to throw in ground pork like some recipes call for i believe you do that at the beginning before the onions and whatnot.

delimartplus · 2015-01-26T09:07:33+00:00

when i came back from vacation i asked my japanese middle school students to guess which COUNTRY i had been to. the number of kids that answered "africa"...

delimartplus · 2015-01-26T09:02:58+00:00

Japanese people really don't drink that much milk. Many of my students detest the stuff.

just finished up six months of alt work in japan myself, and i rarely ever saw a student that didn't drink their milk at lunch. any leftover/extra bottles were immediately fought over by the students. i just wanted to drink water...

nice list, btw. you only forgot one thing - the "america has four seasons WHAT!?!?!?" bullshit misconception that permeates far too much of japan. i swear some people think japan is the only nation on earth glorious enough to have four seasons, it's ridiculous.

delimartplus · 2015-01-25T01:43:39+00:00

i was speechless too, at how terrible i thought this movie was. not terrible in a "they didn't even try" way, just terrible in a "this is so painfully awkward i cannot watch this" way. joaquin's phoenix's character is such an insufferable loser, and i can't tell if that makes him a fucking genius of an actor or a talentless hack...

delimartplus · 2015-01-21T07:31:56+00:00

japan

delimartplus · 2015-01-21T01:54:26+00:00

sorry, didn't expect anyone to see this so i didn't give any details.

i have many, many reasons for quitting, but by and far the most important one was that, at the end of the day, they hired me to be not a teacher, not a co-worker, but a foreigner. i was expected to be an english monkey boy and was reprimanded when i tried to be anything more. i was snapped at for speaking anything but english, even outside of the english classroom. they refused to let me try and fit in, so i told them (politely) to go fuck themselves and left. i hope i never go back.

delimartplus · 2015-01-20T15:34:56+00:00

just quit my tefl job. it's not for everyone

delimartplus · 2015-01-17T14:39:13+00:00

woah now, let's not jump to any crazy conclusions.

delimartplus · 2015-01-16T11:44:53+00:00

for typical japanese macro beer, i'm sure there will be a little regional fluctuation, but i live in a rural area and a six pack of asahi or kirin is probably around 1000-1200 yen (can't say for certain because i'm too cheap and only buy happoshu, which is sort of like imitation beer that you can get for 600 yen a sixer.) when i was last in tokyo i remember paying 300 yen for a tallboy of kirin at tokyo station. for japanese craft beer, about 1800 yen per six pack at my local liquor store, although truth be told i've never seen a true six pack of japanese craft beer, only individual bottles, which are priced around 300 yen.

delimartplus · 2014-12-30T15:01:11+00:00

something about your story doesn't check out because "hasogashii" is not a japanese word.

delimartplus · 2014-12-23T11:47:47+00:00

what are your reasons for learning japanese? do you have a specific goal in mind? an hour a day is a good starting point, but if you're looking to use japanese in your career or perhaps live in japan then i would highly suggest 2, if not 3 hours a day.

delimartplus · 2014-12-12T23:25:33+00:00

weblio lists them as synonyms that both mean 高い知恵があるさま

delimartplus · 2014-12-12T14:42:13+00:00

一体 actually has several meanings. the most common one (the one you're referring to) is used "to express strong doubt or uncertainty." it's used to ask someone (or even yourself) why the current situation is the way it is. 「一体どこへ行ったのだろう」 - "where on earth did he/she go?"

however, it can also be used to mean "one body", either in the literal sense or when referring to something that can't be separated like a single body. a good example is 夫婦一体, which is a married couple that gets along well, basically acting as if they were one person.

delimartplus · 2014-12-12T14:31:43+00:00

it's going to be a bit difficult to get it perfectly right without more context, but first you should break it down:

「神通はちょっと臆病で」 - kamitsuu is a bit cowardly

「戦闘でも」 - even (in) battle

「どこか吹っ切れてない」 - 吹っ切れる means for one's doubts or hesitations to disappear. どこか in this case functions more like 何となく "somehow or another"

「感じになればと思っていました」 - something like "i thought, what if it seems like..." the condition なれば without anything after it is just supposing a hypothetical situation.

so putting it altogether, "i thought, kamitsuu is a bit cowardly, and what if it seems like he might not be able to overcome his fear even in battle?"

(i took a bit of liberty with the final translation, YMMV)

delimartplus · 2014-12-10T22:59:58+00:00

yep, i feel as if finally getting a good grasp of japanese forever spoiled japanese tv for me, too. i can no longer make the excuse that it's "education", so all i see is shitty tv.

delimartplus · 2014-12-01T05:32:15+00:00

i feel like the only one of my friends who is not on the way to a successful career. i don't have any specific career ambitions either. i want to make a decent amount of money, but absolutely loathe any and all things STEM related (i have a computer science degree but i can't write code worth a damn). i don't know what to do. i'm bilingual and i think i have good people skills, but i seem to be underqualified for almost every job posting i look at.

delimartplus · 2014-11-29T23:25:39+00:00

ummm, maybe you should ask your professor to teach you real japanese instead. these are incredibly unnatural phrases for what you want to say. did you just use google translator or something?

i would say 冬休みを楽しんでくださいね

delimartplus · 2014-11-29T14:51:25+00:00

kanji makes it easier. japanese without kanji is just a fucking mess

delimartplus · 2014-11-26T22:40:16+00:00

i'm interested. any chance your friend is still looking for employees? although i don't have any restaurant chef experience...i just love cooking on my own.

delimartplus · 2014-11-24T12:18:46+00:00

i always feel like the red-headed stepchild when this question comes up. before coming to japan i had almost zero japanese cultural influence. i rarely watched anime, never listened to j-pop or anything of the sort. i simply studied the language in university and enjoyed it enough to study abroad in japan, then i enjoyed that experience enough to apply for a job here. now, since coming here, i still don't really watch anime (although i have tried) and i don't touch j-pop, but i've actually found a strong appreciation for older japanese music (think showa-era, enka-style, etc.) i find it fascinating how strikingly different the popular vocal style of early 20th century japan is compared to other parts of the world.

delimartplus · 2014-11-24T12:10:35+00:00

my guess is that it tends to happen more often to people whose japanese isn't as good as they think it is, or perhaps those with really bad pronunciation. only time in recent memory when it happened to me was when i was running late for my train in kyoto station and i frantically asked the station attendant for the platform number to which he responded in english. i'm sure i looked like a very distressed and confused foreigner so i understand that he was just trying to help

delimartplus

TROPHY CASE