オースチンは四季がないけれどもいろいろな天気がある。
日照りと雷雨と「ひょう｜あられ」と大水と台風とトルネードはぜんぶがある。雪がない。
でも四季は春と秋と同じぐらい。
南の風が吹く時にあたたかい。
けれども北の風が吹く時にさむい。
冬は秋よりちょっと寒い。
春は花がたくさん咲くので、一番「うつくしい｜きれいだ」。
そして十月から五月まで天気がほとんどいい。
六月から九月まで夏だ。
毎日はいつもむし暑くてたまらない。
昼の気温は40度よくだ。
いつもたくさんゴキブリとかだ。
私は夏が一番きらいだ。
長い夏の後ですずしい風の秋のできもちがいい。
そしてオースチンに四季の中で秋が一番好きでしょう。
Generally Speaking
Austin doesn't really have four seasons, although it has lots of different kinds of weather. Drought, thunderstorms, hail, floods, hurricanes, and tornados--we have them all, except for snow.
As for the four seasons, spring and fall are about the same. When the wind blows from the south [from the Gulf of Mexico] it's warm. However, when the wind blows from the north [from the Arctic down through the Great Plains], it's cold. Winter is just a little colder than fall. Spring is the most beautiful season because all the wildflowers are in bloom. So from October to May, the weather is usually nice.
Summer begins in June and can last through September. Everyday it's unbearably hot and humid. Daytime temperatures can reach 100F degrees or more. And there are many cockroaches and mosquitoes. I hate summer the most (of any season).
After the long summer, the cool breezes of autumn feel wonderful. So, I think, in Austin, fall is my favorite season.
質問とコメント
1. This is another homework assignment. I was having a hard time writing it until I decided to imagine trying to explain Austin weather seasons to you all: Kiyo, Ken Loo, Eri, Pikey Dude--even Kurt, Jason, and Jeremy. Then it was a lot more fun.
2. We have to write our homework out by hand...which is a good thing...but I'm more creative and try more difficult sentences on the computer.
3. The tornado link shows the tornado that hit Jarrell, Texas in 1997. It killed 27 people, and hundreds of cattle. Jarrel is only about 35 miles north of Austin.
4. On average, we have 10 days of temperatures reaching or exceeding 100 degrees F each summer. In 2000, however, we had 40 days and reached our all time high of 113 degrees in September. (Usually by September, the weather is beginning to cool off.
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反戦の人は先週の木曜日にオーステンでだった。
オーステンの新聞のしゃしん で。
反対運動は五十人をたいほされる.
On Thursday, there was a big anti-invasion protest in Austin. Protesters gathered at the University of Texas and marched 5 blocks south to the Texas state capitol building (where George W. ruled as governor of Texas). The protesters continued marching south down Congress Avenue (which is the main street in Austin leading from the river to the steps of the capitol). At the Congress Avenue Bridge, they blocked traffic and refused to disperse. The police used pepper spray and arrested 50 people.
The strange thing, for me, is that the fight between the police and protesters broke out just as I was driving JQS to work. He works across from the university, and we drive a route that is parallel to Congress Avenue, but a couple of blocks west. Had I known that there was a protest going on so near to my house, I would have gone and joined it. But I didn't find out until I read the online news the next day.
This photo is from Austin's newspaper...I linked to the other photos they carried, but usually they keep there archives available for only a week. So I don't know how long that link will be good.
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今日雨が降ったので、日本語を勉強する。
昨日日本語の先生はこの質問があった。「日本の映画の中で何が一番好きですか。」
質問がちょっとむずかしい。
これは日本語の映画多いが好きだよ。
1986年ぐらい「たんぽぽ」を見た。おかしくてたのしかったよ。
「ラン」と「かげむしゃ」と「七人のさむらい」が好きだけど、「たんぽぽ」が一番すだった。
でも1991年「となりのトトロ」を見た。とてもすごくて、なつかしくて、きれいだったよ。
宮崎さんの映画ぜんぶはいいですね。でも「となりのトトロ」が一番好きだよ。
それから「ワンダフルライフ」を見た。おもしろくて、へんだ。一番好き思うけど。見たの。見て下さい。
ええ？まどの外に見る。
今から晴れだ。じゃあ「バイ。バイ」
Generally Speaking
It's raining today, so I'm going study Japanese. Yesterday, our Japanese teacher had a question [for us | for my class]. "What is your favorite Japanese movie?" Wow! It's hard [for me] to say...There's lots of Japanese movies I like. In 1986, I saw "Tampopo". It was funny and enjoyable. [Of course, I like the classics like] "Ran," "The Seven Samurai," and "Kagemusha", but "Tampopo" remained my favorite. But in 1991, I saw "My Neighbor Totoro". It was great! so beautiful and nostalgic! All of Miyazaki's movies are wonderful, but I love "Totoro" the most. And then I saw "Afterlife". It's so interesting and strange. I think it's my favorite. Have you seen it? Go see it!
Hmmm. I just looked out the window. Now it's bright and sunny. Well...bye.
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三月十七日は「St. Patrick's Day」です。
三月十七日も息子のたんじょうびですよう。
どして息子の名前は「Joseph」ですか。
どして「Patrick」ないんでしたか。
おばあさんは三月十九日生まれでした。
三月十九日は「St. Joseph's Day」ですから。
「ジョセフ君何才ですか。」
未年に生まれです。
Generally Speaking
March 17th is St. Patrick's Day. It's also my son's birthday. [Everyone asks me] why did you name him "Joseph"? Why didn't you name him "Patrick". Well, my grandmother's (Joseph's great-grandmother) birthday was March 19th. March 19th is St. Joseph's Day. [Joseph was supposed to be born on her 70th birthday, but came two days early.] So, you see, he's named for his great-grandmother.
"How old is Joseph?" Well. he was born in the Year of the Sheep.
質問とコメント
1. My grandmother's name is Mary. She couldn't be named for her patron saint directly because her older sister was born on the exact same date, ten years earlier. Her older sister's name was "Josefina".
2. Wow! My kid is all grown up. Now I'm old enough to be a grandmother. But I'm glad I'm not. Yet.
3. Congratulations to Kurt and Naoko whose son was born today. We're looking forward to hearing all about bringing up baby in Japan. (I bet Kurt is going to be too busy and too tired to blog!)
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これは「scarecrow」です。
こわいわね。ちがう。こっけいですね。
頭は牛の頭です。日本語で「とうこつ」ですか。
からすはオーシテンにがありません。
たぶん「scarecrow」は利きます。
「scarecrow」は日本語で何と言いますか。
Generally Speaking
This is a scarecrow. Scary, huh? No. It's more funny than scary. The head is made out of a cow's head, rather, a cow's skull. (Is "とうこつ" how you say skull in Japanese?) In Austin, we don't have any crows. Hey, maybe that means the scarecrow works! How do you say "scarecrow" in Japanese, anyway.
質問とコメント
1. Finally we had a sunny warm day. I spent most of it in the garden: mowing the grass, weeding, and pruning trees. But I took a little time out to look at other people's gardens in our neighborhood. These people have a garden in our neighborhood on a vacant lot about one mile south of our house. They've but up some other strange yard sculptures, but earlier this month, this scarecrow appeared.
2. I associate scarecrows with cornfields in Kansas. They are usually made of straw stuffed into old workclothes. You don't see many scarecrows around here, because Texas is primarily ranch land, not farmland. But in the olden days, people used to use cattle skulls as decorations on their fences and houses. I guess because there wasn't anything else. So this is a pretty unusual design, but it certainly has a Texas feel to it.
3. The thing that sets this scarecrow off as pure camp is the pink flamingo on the its shoulder. The plastic pink flamingo is the ubiquitous garden fixture in gardens less refined.
4. We don't have crows here. The first time I saw a crow was in Japan. Whoa! They're big! We have smaller birds that are similar (black and noisy) called grackles. And mockingbirds (our state bird) and bluejays. I've never put up a scarecrow, but sometimes I put up bird netting to keep them away from my tomatoes and corn.
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これは恥ずかしいですよ。
私はアメリカ人と言いてから恥ずかしい。
Ludicrous は日本語で何と言いますか。
Generally Speaking
This is so embarrassing! I'm ashamed to say I'm an American. How do you say "ludicrous" in Japanese?
質問とコメント
1. With the world on the brink of war on two fronts, I can't believe that our elected officials have nothing better to do than to rename food in the Congressional Cafeteria. The French are probably laughing in the streets. It's not like we named French fries in honor of them, anyway; they probably considered it an ethnic slur.
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今週は春休みですよ。
大学生は海へ行くからすぎ飲みます。
オーシテンで「SXSW」も。
多いブローグ人はオーシテンにきました。
「SXSW」はたのしくておもしろい、でもあんまり安くないよ。
Generally Speaking
This week is spring break. The college students go to the beaches at South Padre Island and drink too much. In Austin, it's also SXSW. (Which stands for south by southwest--where Texas is on the map of the US. SXSW began as a music festival which attracted a lot of new talent. Somewhere along the way, a film festival sprouted, premiering independent films. Now we have technology sessions, with a lot of discussion about, what else?, blogging.) A lot of bloggers have come to Austin. Movable Type's Ben and Mena Trott are here. (Each are speaking at different sessions.) It sounds fun and intersting, but the tickets ain't cheap.Permalink.
In Japanese class, we've been conjugating adjectives. It's simply not enough to know the rules for conjugation. I have to train my muscle memory, just like in learning to ride a bike or drive a stick-shift. The only way I can get my mouth around some of these words is to write them down and then repeat them over and over.
The adjective that is both the most difficult and the most fun for the class is 温かかった（あたたかかった）. We can never say it without cracking up. The one that always trips me up is 少なくない（すくなくない）. In fact, all of the adjectives that end in 〜nai are confusing because they already sound negative. I notice, though, that they all have a negative association: dirty (きたない), few (すくない), boring (つまらない).
I've created some adjective flashcards as a study aid. Feel free to try them. I'm sorry to say that I haven't developed a satisfactory method for creating a print-friendly version. My longterm goal is to make them about the same size as business cards and print them on card stock.
The cards show the root of each adjective in large type. To the right, are the various endings in small type. Combine the two to read the whole word. I study it this way so that I can visualize the root and whether it's kanji only or a combination of kanji and hiragana. For each kanji, I include the furigana so that these cards double as kanji practice cards.
If you haven't studied adjectives yet, the conjugation might not be apparent. It goes like this.
| い (plain, non-past affirmative) |
| かった (plain, past affirmative) |
| くない (plain, non-past negative) |
| くなかった (plain, past negative) |
| くて |
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昨日はAJMのたんじょうびだった。
彼は40才だ。
「おじいちゃん」と言いています。
でも彼は私よりわかい。
来週の週末にパーティーをある。
昨日はレストランに行った。
彼はしょうくじが好きだった。でも私は美味しくなかった。
プレゼントは「PS２」だ。
たぶん男の子だけど。
Generally Speaking
Yesterday was AJM's birthday. He's 40! I'm going to start calling him "Gramps". Actually, he's younger than I am. Next weekend we'll have a party. Yesterday we went to a restaurant (to celebrate). He liked the food, but I didn't think it was very good. As for presents, he's getting a Playstation 2. I think he's just a boy at heart.
質問とコメント
A lot of new grammar in class this week. We are finally learning the informal past tense of both verbs and adjectives. Kiyo said that blogs, like journals and newspapers, are typically written with informal (plain) forms. I hadn't learned them yet. That's why I've always used the ~masu forms.
Because this is new to me, I had to write it in the formal first and then translate it into informal. Right now, all these different tenses are a jumble in my brain. It seems like we use one tense for months, and then in one week we learned several. It's a bit confusing. I need go go do some homework now.
You know, 40 used to be considered old--or at least well into middle-age. Now people are more active, getting married and having kids later. So 40 doesn't seem "old" to me. But that might just be because I passed it a long time ago.
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Q: コーヒーとお茶とどちらの方が好きですか。
A: 朝ごはんはコーヒーの方が好きですよう。午後にお茶の方が好き。
Q: ワインとお酒とどちらをたくさん飲みますか。
A: あかいワインの方をたくさん飲みます。でもお酒を白いワインよりたくさん飲みます。
Q: 牛肉と鶏肉とどちらの方が美味しいですか。
A: 牛肉の方が美味しいです。
Q: 仕事と大学とどちらの方が楽しいですか。
A: 大学の方がずっと楽しいです。
Q: Mの車とAJMの車とどちらのほうが新しいです。
A: AJMの車の方が新しい。でもMの車はAJMの車より速いです。
Generally Speaking
Which do you like more, coffee or green tea? | Do you like coffee or green tea more|better? | Do you like coffee more than you like green tea?
For breakfast, I like coffee better. In the afternoons, I like green tea better.
Do you drink more wine or sake?
I drink more red wine than sake. But I drink more sake than white wine.
Is beef more delicious than chicken? (British, formal) | Which tastes better, beef or chicken? (American, informal)
(I think) beef's better (tasting).
Which is more fun, work or school? | Work or school, which is more fun (for you)? Is work more fun than school?
School is much more fun. | School's way more fun (slang).
Which car is newer, M's or AJM's? | Is AJM's car newer than M's?
His car is newer, but mine is faster.
質問とコメント
Isn't it always the way...you think you know something until you try to do it. Yes, there's quite a distance between theory and practice. Unfortunately, most of my knowledge tends to remain theoretical. That's what makes learning a language such a challenge for me. Language is skill, like playing tennis, or playing the piano. Theory might improve your performance, but nothing beats practice.
This week in school, we are learning comparitives. One of the purposes of this blog was to practice whatever grammar or vocabulary I'm learning in class. But I found it hard to stick to the pattern, even with a Q&A format. By the way, I always write in Japanese first and then translate my Japanese back to English. With this pattern, there are two very different translations. I put them both in. One sounds formal and one sounds more casual. And I'm not sure I say either.
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