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So many wives! – history about 妻(つま), 嫁(よめ), 女房(にょうぼう), 奥さん(おくさん), 家内(かない) and かみさん

Posted on September 15th, 2017 by Art Vandelay
I believe many of you have learned vocabularies about “wife”. As shown in the title, there are a lot of different ways to call “wife”. I know. I know. Quite confusing, right? In the following weeks, I will introduce the history about where these “wives” come from and when to use of each of them. This weekend I will start from妻(つま) and 嫁(よめ).
 
妻
 
The very first 妻(つま) was mentioned in the 古事記(こじき or ふることふみ) which is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan written in 奈良時代(ならじだい) A.D. 712. It says,
 
“私の名はアシナヅチといい、妻の名はテナヅチという。”
(わたしのなはアシナヅチといい、つまのなはテナヅチという)
My name is アシナヅチ, and my wife’s name is テナヅチ.
 
According to historians, there was no official marriage regulation at that point. Instead, a marriage would be acknowledged as long as mutual parents permit. That is, in奈良時代, wife means the female who is permitted by parents to live with a male. It is similar to the contemporary meaning. Therefore, we can conclude that the meaning of 妻 has been inherited from the ancient times. So it is appropriate to use 妻 when a man introduces his wife.
 
嫁
 
Now let’s guess. Do you think嫁 is appropriate to introduce your wife? The answer is no.
 
The very first嫁 was mentioned in the名語記(みょうごき) written in 鎌倉時代(かまくらじだい) A.D. 1275. It says,
 
“子息が妻をよめとなつく。”
(しそくがつまをよめとなつく)
Son’s wife should be called as よめ.
 
It implies that the male’s parents call their daughter-in-law as嫁. But why? Because, in the past, when parents introduce their daughter-in-law, they usually say
 
“うちに良い女が来てくれた。”
(うちによいおんながきてくれた)
“There is a good girl has come to our house.”
 
Please pay attention to “よいgood” and “女girl”. 女 is used to be pronounced as “め”. Therefore, 良い女 = to良(よ)い女(め) = よいめ, eventually become よめ. 嫁 means “son’s wife”, so it is not appropriate to use it on your own wife.
 
Enjoy your weekend!

A common mistake about the passive verb (受身形)

Posted on September 9th, 2017 by Art Vandelay
In your beginning stage of Japanese learning, I believed you had put a lot of time on the transformation between different formats of verbs such as “て形” “ます形” “受身形” etc. And I believe you would simply use the transformed verbs in a sentence without a second thought. Unfortunately, some transformed verbs cannot be directly used even the grammar is correct. Today I will introduce a common mistake made by most students about “受身形”.
 
You might have seen sentences constructed by 受身形 verbs as follow.
1. 源氏物語は紫式部によって書かれた。
2. この雑誌は多くの人に読まれている。
3. 入学式が学校によって行われた。
4. 窓ガラスは隣の太郎に割られた。
 
However, if you have ever said something like No. 5, you must be careful.
5. 日経新聞は隣の太郎に読まれた。
 
You may ask why No. 4 is correct but No. 5 is wrong. The key is about the emotion of the speaker. Most passive form verbs are used to state a fact which means the subjects are usually unspecified and broad. The special case like No. 4 is also correct not only because it stated the fact, more importantly, but you could read the feeling about the speaker. It sounds like the speaker is blaming or informing “隣の太郎”.
 
In contrast, it is difficult to feel anything from No. 5. Therefore, remember NOT to compose a passive verb and a specific subject in a sentence together unless you could express your emotion from it.
 
I hope you like it. See you next time!

意志動詞と無意志動詞 – Consciousness & unconsciousness verb

Posted on September 2nd, 2017 by Art Vandelay
Today I will introduce the last part of consciousness and unconsciousness verb by showing another tip. Sometimes we need to distinguish the appropriate situations when to use these two types of verb. Here are the basic rules.
 
– When show the willing/opinion of the speaker
“しよう”, “つもりだ”, “ことにする”, etc. When you want to express your willingness in such way, you should use consciousness verb.
– In contrast, when you use expressions such as “ているところだ”, “ておく”, “てあげる”, the unconsciousness verb is appropriate.
– In the meantime, you should use the consciousness verb when express “order”, “forbidden” or “wish”.
 
In the end, I would like to say that you don’t need to worry too much about all the details because it takes a long time to catch the sense of a language. The only goal is to speak the language as fluent as you can. Therefore, if you are still confused, forget all the grammar and just say the words because the practice has always been the key.
 
Enjoy the weekend. See you next time!

The 2017 Japanese Film Festival

Posted on September 1st, 2017 by Art Vandelay
Hello, Students!!!
 
The Japanese Film Festival asked us to share the following information that may be of interest.
 
 
Seeking passionate volunteers for the 2017 Japanese Film Festival
 
If you’re interested in this exciting opportunity to share your interest about Japan and joining our team, please register here by 8 pm, Wednesday 6 September.
 
The hours are flexible, and there are a number of rewards for participants including film festival tickets, t-shirts, and a great community.
 
Are you interested in attending the film festival?
 
The dates for the festival are Friday 13 – Sunday 22 October.
Tickets will go on sale on Thursday 15 September.
The venue for the festival is Dendy Cinema (Canberra Centre, 148 Bunda St, Canberra ACT 2601).
 
For more details on this year’s festival, visit the 2017 Japanese Film Festival website.

意志動詞と無意志動詞 – Consciousness & unconsciousness verb

Posted on August 25th, 2017 by Art Vandelay

Today we will expansion regarding 意志動詞 and 無意志動詞. First, let’s go through a new situation where a consciousness verb is used as the unconsciousness one.

– 明日から毎日泳ぐ。(I will keep swimming from tomorrow.)
– 手紙を書こうかなあ。(I will write a letter.)

“泳ぐ” and “書く” are consciousness verbs above. However, you will see how they are used as unconsciousness verbs as below.

– 気づいたら、1キロも泳いでいた。(I have been swimming for 1 kilometer when I noticed.)
– 違う住所を書いちゃった。どうしよう。(I wrote a wrong address. What should I do?)

Next, I will introduce some verbs that could be used as both consciousness and unconsciousness verbs.

Consciousness way
– キムさんは頑張って弁護士になった。(He worked very hard and became an attorney.)
– こんなことは早く忘れよう。(Let’s forget this.)
– またあいつか！明日雷を落としてやれ。(It’s him again! I will rebuke him tomorrow.)

Unconsciousness way
– 5時になりました。(It’s 5:00.)
– この人の名前は忘れちゃった。(I forgot that guy’s name.)
– 昨日トイレで財布を落としたようだ。(I probably lost my wallet at the toilet yesterday.)

Enjoy the weekend. See you next week.

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