The Matten Blog

今日の随筆：

最近色々な悩みが浮かんできている。何に専攻しようか、どんな仕事が好きなのか、何か思いきれない。ずっと医者になろうかとここまで思ってたけど、最近深く考えてて本当に医者でいいのという質問を真剣に出した。私はずっと母や親類に「医者になったらいいね」と「あなたの性格は医者にふさわしいね」と言われてたし、自分もほかには熱心のある学 問がなかったし、「まあ医者になろうか」という思いで済んだ。けど今大学の半年を過ごしてから、成人としての未来とその長さをもっと実感してきた。 本当は興味が入っているキャリアをしたいことが分かった。今はそんなものを探している。見つかるといいと思う。

Today’s random post:

Recently, I’ve been worrying a lot. I can’t decide what I want to major in, what kind of job I would like. I had always thought that I’d be a doctor, but now that I’m contemplating deeply, I’m seriously starting to question whether I really that’s what I really want or not. I was always told by my family that I should be a doctor or that I would make a good one. There was also nothing else that I felt really passionate about, so I decided that I might as well be a doctor then. But now, as I’ve progressed through my first semester at college, I’ve felt the reality of my future as full-fledged adult in society as well as the long days ahead of me. I realized that it’s important to go into a career that I’m interested in. I’m searching for something like that right now, and I’ll be glad if I can find one.

*Disclaimer（免責）: I don’t guarantee 100% accuracy of the Japanese, although I think the grammar is at least correct even if the wording is not the best. Also, the English is not a literal translation but hopefully got the meaning across.

*I hope you guys are using Rikaichan (the Firefox app I wrote about earlier) by now. It’ll help you read whatever Japanese you don’t understand just by running your mouse over it!

要するに、人生は短い。ようするに、じんせいはみじかい。

Yousuru ni, jinsei ha mijikai.

In a word, life is short.

文章分析・Sentence Analysis:

*要するに — In short, to put it briefly, to sum it up

後に続く文章・Follow-up sentence:

そうですね。時の立つのが素早い。

Yeah it sure is. Time flies by.

学生は平日学校に通う。がくせいはへいじつがっこうにかよう。

Gakusei ha heijitu gakkou ni kayou.

Students go to and from school on weekdays./ Students attend school on weekdays.

試してみないと分からない。ためしてみないとわからない。

Tameshite minai to wakaranai.

If you don’t try, you won’t know.

*この場合、「知らない」を言っては不自然だから、気をつけるんです。

*Be careful not to say “shiranai”, because it’s incorrect in this case.

試験は７０％を超えるとパスです。しけんはななじゅうパーセントをこえるとパスです。

Shiken ha nanajuupaacento wo koeru to pasu desu.

If you get over a 70% on your exam, it’s passing. (Passing is 70% and over)

I’m sure all of you have hit a point before where you felt that you just weren’t as interested in studying Japanese as you were. The most scary thing about this feeling is that when you feel this way, you may really forget about how great Japanese actually is and how much you want it to be a part of your life. So does this mean that you really just aren’t interested anymore? NO! because if you are reading this right now, you probably got re-interested again at some point, am I right? In actuality, what you probably experienced is only how you were feeling at that present, but you aren’t thinking of the future when later on when you (and you always inevitably do if you have ever been motivated enough to start Japanese) return to study the Japanese language.

This feeling of lacking interest in Japanese is something I’ve had to cope with extensively in my 4 and 1/2 years of studying Japanese, so much that it was worth making this post for. For me, the biggest reason for my slumping periods was simply SCHOOL. I started learning Japanese that summer before I entered high school, but when freshman year kicked in, I was so busy trying to get adjusted to high school life, keeping up with friends, homework, clubs, and everything else I had to do that quite frankly—and very unfortunately—I didn’t even have much time to to think about Japanese. There was just no presence of Japanese in my family and friend circles nor in my classrooms, so it just kind of dwindled away. The scary part was that I was aware that Japanese wasn’t a priority in my life anymore, but I just didn’t care :( It wasn’t until winter break that I was able to get a little remotivated to pursue some Japanese but once school started in January, it was the whole thing all over again. This cycle reoccurred for me almost at EVERY school year.

So right now I have just finished my first semester of college and am on winter break. Yep, you guessed it, I didn’t get to do much Japanese during the school year. Yep, I started posting things on tumblr only a few days ago. BUT this time, because I’m writing this comment, I am determined NOT to let this school business interfere with my studies and posting! School is right around the corner, and I know I will be overwhelmed with probably more pressing short-term priorities, but now I am mature enough to know what I want in the long-run and that is to learn the Japanese language to a fluent level.

So my tip for you guys is to imagine yourselves sometime in the future, maybe 5 years or so from now. What do you want to have done? Sure you can have done a whole lot of things by then, but is mastering Japanese one of them? Even if you don’t think it is that important right now, WAS it one of your priorities?

One thing I’ve learned through just the process of studying Japanese is that your present feelings are very unstable —like the wind, they change on whim, sway, are manipulated. What is better is if you use your mind and think back on how you have felt on a more long-term scale about your attitude towards the Japanese language. Once you can do that and decide that you really want Japanese to be a part of your life, then it’ll feel like you’ve made a contract with the language that you will make yourself fulfill because YOU HAVE TO, just like you have to go to eat, go to school, sleep, or anything else that you need to do.

Well that’s what will hopefully work for me, as I approach this new semester at college. Keep up with me as I will be continuing to post things on a regular basis! :D

皆さん、一緒に頑張りましょう。そして、新年明けましておめでとうございます。

講演者は時折メモを参照した。こうえんしゃはときおりメモをさんしょうした。

Kouensha ha tokiori memo wo sanshou shita.

The speaker occasionally referred to his notes/ looked at his notes.

*時折に特別の表現を覚えておくことで、自然な日本語を身につけます。

*Somtimes through remembering special expressions, your Japanese sounds more natural!

モールで昼食を取ったんです。ひゃっかてんでちゅうしょくをとったんです。 Mooru de chuushoku wo totta ndesu.

I had lunch at the mall.

There are many ways of saying “to have lunch”:

お昼を食べる・取る。おひるをたべる・とる。

昼食を取る。ちゅうしょくをとる。