March 30, 2020     Monday

Hiatus Post        

Link to Nakama online:  Here's the link!:

https://kupdf.net/download/nakama-1-textbook-japanese_5afab2dde2b6f5b7601d5650_pdf

令和2年3月30日  　　月曜日

休けい時間　きゅうけい　じかん　

　

Time of Intermission (after Spring Break)

みなさん、お帰りなさい。Welcome back.  

How have you been doing during during the past week?   I have thought about you often and hoped you were able to have fun in spite of having to be careful.

Now we’re gently getting back to doing a bit of studying and learning.

Here’s the link to a song about family members and dango dumplings (traditionally 4 dumplings with sweet sauce, on a stick) that is fun: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfI3JiY5xS4&feature=youtu.be

だんご３兄弟（きょうだい）　The 3 Dango Brothers     

Part of the joke is that it’s a tango, a dance from Argentina that became very popular in Japan a few years ago.  If we were in class now, we’d be starting to sing this and learning some words for brothers at the same time:

                               Oldest brother       長男　　ちょうなん　

　　　　　　   Second brother      次男　　じなん

                                Third brother          三男　　さんなん

Please click on the link and listen, and try to sing along a little bit.  Send me questions about words or ideas you don’t understand.

Japanese 3-4

So what did you do last week?  日本語で

先週　私　は　映画　を　見ました。 Last week I watched movies.

友達　と　話しました。　(I ) talked with (my) friend.

食べました　が、りょうり　を　しませんでした。(I ) ate but ( I ) did not cook.

ジーンズ　を　はきました。(I ) wore jeans.

宿題　　　しゅくだい　　　Homework　

　

1.     Write 4 sentences about what you did during the break, using the past tense, as in my sentences above.  At least one sentence should be about what you wore, using the vocabulary in Nakama Lesson 8.

2.     Send me 2 questions about the song, Dango 3 Kyoudai

3.     Find a Japanese popular song that you like a lot and send me the link.  I’ll share your songs with the others in the class, if you like.

Japanese 5-6

Special kanji:  休む　　やすむ       キュウ　　to rest

                             (    イ＋木　Person by a tree, resting)

　　　　　 Also used for words like spring vacation and lunch break

                                                                   春休み　　　　昼休み

                                                               はるやすみ　　ひるやすみ

                                 And used in the word for break, intermission    

                                     休憩

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 きゅうけい

I have been doing a lot of reading and writing during the break, including haiku.  Here’s a famous one by　芭蕉 Bashou  (called a川柳 senryuu in this case because it contains no seasonal reference）.   The word “glasses/spectacles” is in it, not common word in haiku, or in any poetry that I know of.

呼び声に

細く長くは

眼鏡売り

 yobikoe ni hosoku nagaku wa meganeuri

Voice calls from the street

Incantation long and thin

Spectacle peddler                             translation/paraphrase by Kimmel

 the vendor of spectacles

 calls out in a thin

 and long voice                                  translation by Gabi Greve

.

(senryu)

megane uri, meganeuri　眼鏡売り　selling glasses,

 exchanging old ones for new ones

 One of the first pairs of glasses in Japan was in the possession of Shougun Tokugawa Ieyasu, now preserved at Kunouzan Toushou-guu  久能山東照宮., a shrine in Shizuoka Prefecture.

The vendors and repairmen of glasses were big news, and startling to many people, in the beginning of the Edo Period　(1603).  Later on, people got more used to them. The vendors  carried their merchandise in a wooden box with glasses painted on them.

They called out from the street in order to advertise their merchandise, using a loud, high-pitched voice,

meganeeya megane　めがねーーーや　めがね

(There were still many people who could not read or write in the beginning of the Edo period.)

 .

 MORE about spectacles in Japan

 http://darumasan.blogspot.jp/2012/02/megane-glasses.html 

So what shall we talk and write about today?  Let’s go back to thinking about our family members, describing them and talking about what they are wearing, as in Lesson 10 of Nakama.

Examples:

せ　が　高い　兄（あに）　は　めがね　を　かけて　います。(My) tall older brother is wearing glasses.

            (You could also break this up into 2 sentences, if this seems difficult. 

                       兄　は　せ　が　高い　です。　

                       兄　は　めがね　を　かけて　います。)

忙しい　母（はは）赤い　赤い　くつ下　を　はいて　います。(My) busy mother is wearing red socks.

金ぱつ　の　妹（いもうと）は　緑色　の　ワンピース　を　きて　昼ごはん　を　食べて　います。 (My) blonde younger sister is wearing a green dress and eating lunch.

宿題　　　しゅくだい　　　Homework　

　

1.     Write 4 sentences describing family members, and then, using the continuative/progressive –te imasu tense, tell what they are doing, as in my sentences above.  See  Nakama Lesson 10.

2.     Send me 2 questions about the song, Dango 3 Kyoudai

3.     Find a Japanese popular song that you like a lot and send me the link.  I’ll share your songs with others in the class, if you like.