Don't see my feet!!

Well, when did I write my blog last time? July 1st? I have been slacking off for a month...

The reader might have been gone away. :'( I wish you guys will come and read my blog again.

It's not an excuse but I really haven't been feeling well these months. Now I feel better, so I'd like to start learning languages which I've held off for a while: Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Persian and English.

I just found Pontia's blog My Persian Courner has updated. Her blog introduces Persian culture, language and beautiful places in Iran. She also shares some Persian musics with its lyrics and English translations. I love it! :)

Today I learned a new word from her latest post which means something is more expensive than it should be. (Visit her blog if you want to know how to say it in Persian!) In Japanese, we say it as ぼったくり /bottakuri/.

それって、ぼったくりじゃない？

/sorette bottakuri ja nai?/

Isn't it a rip-off?

Here's one more expression which is related to this word.

足元（あしもと）を見（み）る

/ashimoto wo miru/

足(あし)/ashi/ means "leg" or "foot", and the meaning of 足元（あしもと）/ashimoto/ ranges over "step" and "underfoot". 見（み）る /miru/ is a verb "to see" or "to watch". So it literally means "to see one's feet".

If I said 足元を見られた, it means that I was taken advantage of my helpless condition. Let's say I was walking on my way home from shopping. I carried a big shopping bag full of fruit and vegetables but I was still a long way from home. I was exhausted but there was hardly any taxi. Fortunately, I found a taxi and hailed it. The taxi driver said it's 3000 yen, but I (and the driver) knew it was much more expensive than it should be. But I had no choice but to accept it because I was too tired to walk home. The driver "saw my feet".

Have you ever had 足元を見られた experience?

That's all for today! thank you for reading and feel free to leave your comment! :)

Feeling Sluggish in Summer

I found an interesting video on Youtube! :D

I don't feel like doing anything because of the summer heat... *sigh* Actually, I'm still 体調が悪い these days. Well, but I have to cheer myself up!



*Japanese Word of the Day*
夏（なつ）バテで、体（からだ）がだるい。
/natsubate de karada ga darui/
The summer heat got me feel sluggish and unenergetic.

*夏バテ /natsubate/ suffering from the summer heat, getting exhausted from summer heat

Do you feel unenergetic, tired and worn out during summer? Or if you're losing your appetite because of the summer heat, that must be 夏バテ!!

夏 /natsu/ summer + バテる/bateru/ (to be worn out) = 夏バテ

*体 /karada/ body

*だるい /darui/ to feel sluggish, to feel heavy



That's all for today! Thank you for reading!

Something's wrong with...?

I think summer is the coldest season in Taiwan. It's indeed boiling hot outside, BUT, once you get on a bus or train, you will understand what I mean. It's freezing cold!!! Guess what will happen if you're exposed to the extreme temperature swings everyday? Well, I feel sick...

So, today I'm going to tell you about how to say "not feeling well" in Japanese.
These are the 3 most common expressions.

(1) 具合(ぐあい)が悪(わる)い。/guai ga warui/

(2) 調子(ちょうし)が悪い。/choushi ga warui/

(3) 体調(たいちょう)が悪い。/taichou ga warui/

All these phrases can be translated as "I'm not feeling well". Let's see their nuances of meaning.



(1) 具合 and 調子 can also be used for machines but 体調 can't.

体調 is only used when we talk about health or body condition, as it has 体 (=body) in its word. 調 of 体調 is of 調子, which simply means "condition".

体調　＝　体（body）＋　調子（condition）


(2) We use 調子 when we're talking about its performance.

Then what's the difference between 具合 and 調子? It's just my opinion, but I guess 調子 also means "performance" as well. I couldn't find the dictionary which says it means "performance", though.

Let's say, you are good at playing tennis. One day you're palying with your friend but you can't play as good as you usually do. Your friend would ask you:

どうしたの？今日(きょう)は調子(ちょうし)が悪(わる)いね。
/doushita no? kyou wa choushi ga warui ne/
What's wrong? You are not yourself today.

Since he's talking about your performance, it can't be 具合 in this case.

Or, if you play very well in your match, your tennis coach would say:
その調子(ちょうし)！！
/sono choushi/
Way to go!!

You cannot say その具合(ぐあい). It sounds very strange.


(3) 具合 sees its condition. 

It basically means "condition". We often use it with other verbs.

仕事(しごと)の進(すす)み具合(ぐあい)はどう？
/shigoto no susumi guai wa dou/
How's your work coming along?
進む（go ahead）＋ 具合 ＝ how it goes, the degree of progress

肉(にく)の焼(や)け具合(ぐあい)がちょうどいい。
/niku no yake guai ga choudo ii/
The meat cooked just right.
焼く（grill, bake, fire, roast）＋ 具合 ＝ how it cooked, the degree of doneness
You can also say いい具合(ぐあい)に焼けている。


具合(ぐあい)がいい / 具合(ぐあい)が悪い also mean "convenient / inconvenient".
今(いま)その話(はなし)をされると具合(ぐあい)が悪(わる)い。
/ima sono hanashi wo sareru to guai ga warui/
It's inconvenient for me to talk about it right now.

I think the key of the meaning of 具合 would be 合 (=to fit, to suit, to adjust, to match). 具合が悪い indicates that it doesn't fit what you want. You don't feel as well as you usually do. Or the schedule dosen't suit you.



Well, that's all for today. Thank you for reading!

Loan Words in Japanese

*Japanese word of the day*
外来語（がいらいご）
/gairaigo/

Guess what this word means! As you see, it consists of 3 Kanji characters: 外(がい) + 来(らい) + 語(ご). Perhaps you've learnt each Kanji of it. 外, which is also read as /soto/, means "outside".
You know the verb 来(く)る /kuru/, "to come", don't you? And the last Kanji 語, it means "words" or "language". 日本語(にほんご) Japanese, 英語(えいご) English, 中国語(ちゅうごくご) Chinese...

The words came from outside? Yes, 外来語 means "loan words"!

There're many 外来語 in Japanese. Most of them are from English words. Here're some tips to make good use of them to build your vocabulary!

(1) They're written in Katakana

新(あたら)しくオープンしたカフェで、ランチセットをオーダーした。
/atarashiku oopun shita kafe de, ranchi setto wo oodaa shita./
I ordered lunch set in the newly opened cafe.

オープン(おーぷん) /o-pun/ open
カフェ(かふぇ) /kafe/ cafe
ランチセット(らんちせっと) /ranchi setto/ lunch set
オーダー(おーだー) /oodaa/ order

I do recommend you to learn Katakana since it is written everywhere!

(2) Just add vowels

In Japanese, consonants aren't pronounced independently.  That's why all sylabbles in Japanese , except 5 vowels あ/a/ い/i/ う/u/ え/e/ お/o/ and ん/n/, are consist of a consonant and a vowel. You'll get it if you see 50 sounds table!

スマイル(すまいる)はプライスレス(ぷらいすれす)！
/sumairu wa puraisu resu/
Smile is priceless!

スマイル(すまいる) /sumairu/ smile
プライスレス(ぷらいすれす) /puraisu resu/ priceless

It seems that if the first syllable of the word is sequence of consonants, like "smile" or "price", we tend to add the vowel sound "u". The pronounciation of "s" of "smile" becomes /su/, and "p" of "price" becomes /pu/. Isn't it? :D

Also, when a consonant ends a word, we have to add a vowel to pronounce it. The word "lunch" ends with "ch", but we pronounce it as /ranchi/. Let's see other loan words that end in "ch" or "tch".

ビーチ（びーち）/biichi/ beach
キャッチ（きゃっち） /kyacchi/ catch
コーチ（こーち）/koochi/ coach
スクラッチ（すくらっち）/sukuracchi/ scratch

Now I found that the pronunciation of "ch" wich is at the end of the word is usually changes into チ/chi/ in Japanese.

How about the words ending in "t"?
ポリグロット（ぽりぐろっと）/porigurotto/ polyglot
リスト（りすと）/risuto/ list
ホット（ほっと）/hotto/ hot
カット（かっと）/katto/ cut

And the words ending in "s" or "x"?
サーカス（さーかす）/saakasu/ circus
ミックス（みっくす）/mikkusu/ mix
リラックス（りらっくす）/rirakkusu/ relax
ワックス（わっくす）/wakkusu/ wax

Yeah, there must be some patterns!

The words ending in "l".
コントロール（こんとろーる）/kontorooru/ controll
ルール（るーる）/ruuru/ rule
ショッピングモール（しょっぴんぐもーる）/shoppingu mooru/ shopping mall


The syllable ん/n/ is kind of speciall. It's a consonant without vowels but you can use it at the end of the word.
カン（かん）/kan/ can
トーン（とーん）/toon/ tone

If the original word ends in "ng", it will be ん/n/ or んぐ/ngu/.
バン！（ばん）/ban/ bang!
ピンポン（ぴんぽん）/pinpon/ pingpong
ホンコン（ほんこん）/honkon/ Hongkong
キングコング（きんぐこんぐ）/kingu kongu/ king kong

And "m" inside the word is also pronounced as ん/n/.
ハンバーガー（はんばーがー）/hanbaagaa/ hamburger
コンプレックス（こんぷれっくす）/konpurekkusu/ complex
*In Japanese コンプレックス usually indicates "inferiority complex"
コンピューター（こんぴゅーたー）/konpyuutaa/ computer



*QUIZ*
How do you pronounce these words as loan words in Japanese?

(1) Princess
(2) Camp
(3) Punch

That's all for today! Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you like this post! Please try the quize and feel free to leave a comment. See you again ; )

Who Gives It To Whom?

*Japanese Word of the Day*
教（おし）えてくれてありがとう！
/oshiete kurete arigatou/
Thank you for letting me know!



The other day, my friend asked me that what くれて in this sentence means.
I think it's a very good question, so I'd like to share my answer with you guys. ;)

You know ありがとう/arigatou/ means "thank you", and 教(おし)える/oshieru/ means "to teach" or "to tell". This phrase can be translated as "thank you for teaching me" or "I appreciate your advice".

教えてくれて is consist of two verbs, 教える and くれる.
Let me show you some example sentences to see what the verb くれる/kureru/ means when it is used alone.

おじいちゃんはいつもお菓子(かし)をくれる。
/ojiichan wa itsumo okashi wo kureru/
Grandpa always gives me some snacks.

彼氏(かれし)がプレゼント(ぷれぜんと)をくれた。
/kareshi ga purezento wo kureta/
My boyfriend gave me a present.
*Here, くれた is the past tense of くれる.

母がおこづかいをくれた。
/haha ga okozukai wo kureta/
My mother gave me some allowance.

早(はや)く水(みず)をくれ！！
/hayaku mizu wo kure/
Give me water quickly!!
*くれ is the imperative (command) form of くれる. It sounds very rude. If you want something, you'd better to use the polite form of it, ください.

レシートをください。
/reshiito wo kudasai/
Please give me a receipt.

Now, did you notice that the object of くれる is always "me"?
Grandpa gives me blablabla, my boyfriend gave me blablabla, please give me blablabla... You don't have to add 私に/watasi ni/ "to me" when you use くれる because I know くれる always indicates that the speaker is the one who's given something.

But, in the other words, くれる basically cannot be used when the object is not yourself. It sounds a bit strange if you say 母が妹におこづかいをくれた. Sometimes we'd say like this but it implies another meaning.

Well, then how should I say "to give something to someone else"?

In this case, you should use あげる/ageru/ instead.

母(はは)が妹(いもうと)におこづかいをあげた。
/haha ga imouto ni okozukai wo ageta/
My mother gave my sister some allowance.

Both くれる and あげる mean "to give", but the point of view is totally different. Let's look at some example sentences of あげる.

後(あと)であげるね。
/ato de ageru ne/
I'll give it to you later.

犬(いぬ)に玉(たま)ねぎをあげてはいけない。
/inu ni tamanegi wo agete wa ikenai/
You must not give a dog onions.

窓(まど)からパン(ぱん)くずをあげた。
/mado kara pankuzu wo ageta/
I gave (fed) crumbs through the window.

You know, Japanese language often omit the subject of the sentence. So it might be "I gave crumbs through the window" or "An old lady gave crumbs through the window" or somebody else did. It depends on the context. Also, this sentence doesn't mention that to whom I (or somebody else) gave crumbs.

Please have a look at the sentence below.

窓(まど)からパン(ぱん)くずをくれた。
/mado kara pankuzu wo kureta/

Now I changed the verb of the sentence (あげた → くれた). You still don't know the subject of the sentence, but you can guess who got crumbs. It's me (the speaker of the sentence)! As I said, くれる suggests that the speaker is the one who gets something.

We won't say あげる when the speaker is the one who gets something. So 彼氏が私にプレゼントをあげる sounds unnatural.


And one more important property of this verb―gratitude! :)
When I say パンくずをくれた, it implies that I appreciate the one who gave me crumbs. Maybe I was too hungry? Or I love crumbs? Who cares! XD Anyway, this verb くれる shows that you feel thankful, or you are happy to get something.

What to say when you're not happy to get something? Or you don't want to use the words which contain gratitude? For example, your dad gave you a thick math book for your birthday. If you love math (do you?!), then you can say:

父(ちち)が誕生日(たんじょうび)に数学(すうがく)の本(ほん)をくれた。
/chichi ga tanjoubi ni suugaku no hon wo kureta/
My father gave me a thick math book. (and I'm happy to get it)

But if you don't like math and you're not happy at all to get such a present, you should say like this:

父(ちち)から誕生日(たんじょうび)に数学(すうがく)の本(ほん)をもらった。
/chichi kara tanjoubi ni suugaku no hon wo moratta/

もらう/morau/ is a verb which means "to get" or "to receive". So the subject of this sentence is "I", but I just omitted it. The full sentence is: 私（わたし）は父(ちち)から誕生日(たんじょうび)に数学(すうがく)の本(ほん)をもらった。 You can say 父にもらう or 父からもらう. Here I used から to avoid repetition of に (父に誕生日に...).

→ See more explanation of から!

By the way, I guess you've learnt ください as "please". Yes, it means "please" when it's used with other verbs. You can also use くれ to ask someone to do something, but it sounds arrogant.

窓(まど)を閉(し)めてください。
/mado wo shimete kudasai/
Please close the window.

一緒(いっしょ)に来(き)てください。
/issho ni kite kudasai/
Please come with me.

ほっといてくれ。
/hottoite kure/
Leave me alone, please.


OK, now let's look at the first sentence 教えてくれてありがとう. What くれる of 教えてくれる means? The role of くれる isn't same as ください in above sentences, I think.


Let's compare two sentences.

(1) 友達(ともだち)が私(わたし)におもしろいゲーム(げーむ)を教(おし)えた。
/tomodachi ga watashi ni omoshiroi geemu wo oshiete kureta/

(2) 友達(ともだち)がおもしろいゲーム(げーむ)を教(おし)えてくれた。
/tomodachi ga omoshiroi geemu wo oshiete kureta/

Both can be translated as "My friend told me about an interesting game." What are the differences between them? I want you to remember that くれる implies the speaker feel thankful about it. You can see that the speaker of (2) probably feels happy to know about the game. Or, he thinks what his 友達 did was good for him.

Do you get the picture? :)

姉(あね)が一緒(いっしょ)に来(き)てくれた。
/ane ga issho ni kite kureta/
My sister came with me. (And I appreciate about it)

彼（かれ）はいつも私（わたし）に話（はな）しかけてくれる。
/kare wa itsumo watashi ni hanashi kakete kureru/
He always speaks to me. (And I think he's very kind)

来（き）てくれて嬉（うれ）しいよ。
/kite kurete ureshii yo/
I'm glad you came.



We often use it with other verbs when we ask something casually.

ちょっと窓(まど)を開(あ)けてくれる？
/chotto mado wo akete kureru/
Can you open the window? (And I'd be appreciate if you'd do that)

この文章(ぶんしょう)を直(なお)してくれる？
/kono bunshou wo naoshite kureru/
Can you correct these sentences for me? (And it'd be very helpful if you could)

Sometimes it sounds a biiiiit arrogant. So we tend to use くれない, which is the negative form of くれる. If you want to make it more polite, you can say くれますか instead of くれる. And also, くれませんか sounds more soft.

Agh, I know it's confusing though...

くれる？ ＜ くれない？ ＜ くれますか ＜ くれませんか？
Casual  -----------------------------> Polite
Which should I use? Well, it depends on how close you guys are. :P


今度(らいしゅう)の日曜(にちよう)、僕(ぼく)とデート(でーと)してくれませんか？
/raishuu no nichiyou, boku to deeto shite kuremasen ka/
Will you please go on a date with me?

忙(いそが)しいから、また今度(こんど)にしてくれない？
/isogashii kara, mata kondo ni shite kurenai/
I'm busy, can't it be at some other time?

By the way, when Japanese people say また今度 "maybe next time", most of the time it implies that she doesn't want to go. :(



Ohh, I wrote a lot! I did it! haha
I hope it would be of your help. :) Please let me know if you have any questions or if you want more examples. Thank you for reading, 読(よ)んでくれてありがとう！；）

See ya!

Hooked On!!

*Japanese Word of the Day*
最近（さいきん）、絵(え)を描（か）くのにハマ（はま）ってるんだよね。
/saikin, e wo kaku no ni hamatterun dayone/
I'm recently hooked on painting a picture!!

*最近（さいきん） /saikin/ recently, these days

*絵（え） /e/ a drawing, a painting, a sketch, a illustration
― 絵（え）を描（か）く /e wo kaku/ to draw/paint a picture

*～にハマ（はま）っている /...ni hamatte iru/ to be hooked on, to be into
When we speak, this い is often omitted.

You may thought what の between 絵を描く and ハマってる means. It's one of the particles! It's added after a verb to change it into a noun. Sometimes we use こと instead of の. (Or, we use の instead of こと sometimes?? I'm not sure...)

◎ 絵を描く　の　にハマってる。
◎ 絵を描く　こと　にハマってる。
× 絵を描く　に　ハマってる。

Read this post to know the other usage of の. :)
→ の＝of ?



Actually, I'm into painting with oil pastels! I recently upload some of my paintings on Pinterest. Please visit my page if you're interested. :3

And I want to add one more phrase today.
最近（さいきん）、ハマっていることはありますか？
Guess what it means, and let me know your answer! haha





By the way, I found a very interesting blog post!!
How to Write in Japanese - A Beginner's Guide
This is a step-by-step guide to reading and writing Japanese, Kana and Kanji.



That's all for today! Thank you for reading. See you next time! :)

Related post:
Kanji Lesson
Japanese is easier than you think!

How long do you stay?

*Japanese Word of the Day*
何泊（なんはく/なんぱく）する予定（よてい）？
/nanhaku(nanpaku) suru yotei?/
How many nights do you plan to stay?

三泊（さんぱく）四日（よっか）だよ。
/sanpaku-yokka dayo/
For 4 days and 3 nights.

You can say only 三泊（3 nights） instead of 三泊四日(4 days and 3 nights), but we usually say the latter. 泊 means "to stay" and it's pronounced as はく/haku/ or ぱく/paku/.

・一泊（いっぱく）二日（ふつか） 2 days and 1 night
・二泊（にはく）三日（みっか） 3 days and 2 nights
・三泊（さんぱく）四日（よっか） 4 days and 3 nights
・四泊（よんはく/よんぱく）五日（いつか） 5 days and 4 nights
・五泊（ごはく）六日（むいか） 6 days and 5 nights

*～泊する/...haku(paku) suru/ to stay ... nights
・一泊（いっぱく）する
・二泊（にはく）する
・三泊（さんぱく）する

*予定（よてい）/yotei/ a plan
*～する予定 /...suru yotei/ I'm going to ...

今週（こんしゅう）の日曜日（にちようび）何（なに）か予定（よてい）ある？
/konshuu no nichi-youbi nanika yotei aru?/
Do you have any plans for this Sunday?
明日（あした）は友（とも）だちと遊（あそ）びに行（い）く予定（よてい）。
I'm going to hang out with my friends.



I took a trip to Matsu Island, which is one of the small islands in Taiwan. It was a 4-day trip (三泊四日). I stayed in a pretty village, Chinbe Village, which has a beach right in front of it.

Chinbe Village

The hotel I stayed

It was foggy on the last day. All flights cancelled due to dense fog, so I tried to get a ferry ticket instead. It would take 7 hours from the island by ferry but it was the only way to go back. There were a lot of people in the small port. It was exhausting and stressful... I couldn't buy a ticket after all. They ran just one ferry a day, and they were close the next day.

I heard that there was another route to go back to Taiwan: Take a ferry to China first, and then take a plane to Taiwan. So I tried anything I could do. It was hard but a great practice speaking Chinese! :'D Unfortunately, the ferry also cancelled. I had to wait until the fog was cleared. I ended up staying 2 more days!


Anyway, it was a nice trip.