JSLL #41 - Yuki Onna, part 6

Hiding in the hut.

Sentence 1:

二人はその板の上に横になり、いつの間にか眠ってしまいました。

ふたりはそのいたのうえによこになり、いつのまにかねむってしまいました。

Grammar

The first clause is a masu-stem, the second is a ～てしまう-construction, which we've discussed before.

The sentence also contains these idiomatic expressions:

• の上に literally means "on (に) top (上) of (の)"
• 横になる means "to lie down and rest" (literally "to become horizontal").
• いつの間にか means "before one knows, before one realizes"

Words

• 上 means "top, above." We've seen the kanji before, but only as part of a two-kanji word. Here, we see it in maybe it's most common use: の上に = on top of.
• 横 means "horizontal, sideways, side."
• 眠る means "to sleep"

Kanji

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
横	N3	25
眠	N3	10, all related to sleep

Translation

The two of them lay down on the board, and ended up falling asleep before they knew it.

Sentence 2:

しばらくすると巳之吉はあまりに寒いので目を覚ましました。

しばらくするとみのきちはあまりにさむいのでめをさましました。

Grammar

A と-clause (when-clause) followed by a ので-clause and finally the main clause.

The と-clause, しばらくすると, is familiar from Urashima Tarou: "After a short while."

The ので-clause contains the idiom あまりに, "too (much), overly, excessively." ので itself is a particle after an adjective or verb that means "because."

The main clause is the past tense of the idiom 目を覚ます, "to wake up", literally "to awaken the eyes."

Vocabulary

• あまり as a noun means "remainder, remnant" but is much more often used as an adverb with a negative verb, meaning "not very," "not much."
• 寒い is an i-adjective that means "cold" --but only when referring to the weather or to yourself, not when referring to, say, water.
• 覚ます means "to awaken" (transitive verb)

Kanji

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
寒	N3	7
覚	N3	25

Translation

After a little while, Minokichi woke up because it was very cold.

JSLL #40 - Yuki Onna, part 5

What will the two men do without a ferry?

Sentence 1:

二人は仕方なく河原の船頭小屋へ入り、吹雪がやむのを待つことにしました。

ふたりはしかたなくかわらのせんどうごやへはいり、ふぶきがやむのをまつことにしました。

Grammar

This sentence is once again a masu-stem clause (before the comma) and a polite past clause (after the comma). The first clause is straightforward; the second clause contains two verbs that are nominalized, one with の and the other with こと. It also ends with the polite past of する, connected to a verb with ことに. This construction (verb + ことにする) means "to decide to verb."

Vocabulary

河原 (かわら) is a new word meaning "dry riverbed" or "river beach."

船頭小屋 is a new word. We encountered the first half 船頭 (せんどう, "ferryman") earlier. The new part is 小屋 (こや, but it becomes ごや in this compound, and it means"hut"). So it means "ferryman's hut."

やむ is also a new word. It's normally not written in kana, and for good reason: there's 病む, "to fall ill" and 止む, "to stop, to cease" (an intransitive verb). We'll see that the second verb is the one used here.

Kanji

Here are our new kanji in this sentence:

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
河	N2	14
原	N3	54
屋	N4	42

Translation

The translation of the sentence is:

二人は仕方なく河原の船頭小屋へ入り、吹雪がやむのを待つことにしました。

The two had no choice but to enter the ferryman's hut on the dry riverbed, and decided to wait for the blizzard to stop.

Sentence 2:

船頭小屋には火もなく、畳二枚ほどの板が敷いてあっただけでした。

せんどうごやにはひもなく、たたみにまいほどのいたがしいてあっただけでした。

Grammar

The part before the comma is an adverbial phrase ending in もなく, which means "Without even..."

Vocabulary

火 (か) means "fire."

畳 (たたみ) means "tatami," the straw mats used as floor coverings in traditional Japanese rooms (which are also measured in tatami). Tatami have a size of about 90 by 180 cm (or 3 by 6 foot)

枚 (~まい) is a counter for flat objects.

ほど has multiple meanings, one of which is "about, around, approximately."

板 (いた) means "board, plank"

敷いてあった is a te+aru-form (described in the previous post) of 敷く, "to spread out"

だけ means "only"

Kanji

Most of the kanji in this sentence are pretty high-level.

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
火	N5	42
畳	N2	5
枚	N2	7
板	N2	17
敷	N1	14

Translation

There wasn't even a fire in the ferryman's hut, only a board that had been spread out, about two tatami in size.

JSLL #39 - Yuki Onna, part 4

 Will our hero lumberjacks make it home? Find out next.

Let's chew on our sentence, which has some new words and kanji.

しかし、川へ来ると、渡し舟の船頭はもう帰ってしまい、舟は向こう岸へつないでありました。

しかし、かわへくると、わたしぶねのせんどうはもうかえってしまい、ふねはむこうぎしへつないでありました。

Parsing the sentence, it has a と- (or when-) clause at the start, a clause ending in masu-stem next, and a polite past tense next.

The when-clause is straightforward: However, when they came to the river,...

The masu-stem clause has some new words: 船頭 means "boatman, ferryman" and もう means "already."　Armed with this knowledge, you should be able to figure out that this clause translates to:

..., the boatman of the ferry had regrettably already gone home, and... 

The new word 船頭 has a familiar kanji 船 on its left, which is an alternative way to write 舟, "boat," a word occurring multiple times in this sentence. The second kanji is 頭 which means "head" as a standalone word. 頭 is an N3 kanji occurring in 37 common words.

Turning now the last clause, let's first check the ending: it's a te-form つないで followed by ありました。The use of a te-form + ある signifies that someone did something for a purpose, and that purpose has been achieved. The te-form つないで comes from つなぐ, which means "to connect, to link; to tie, to fasten, to restrain." My translation of this part would be:

..., and the boat had been fastened to the bank across.

(I don't exactly know why the へ particle is being used here.)

Together, we get:

However, when they came to the river,  the boatman of the ferry had regrettably already gone home, and the boat had been fastened to the bank across.

JSLL #39 - Yuki Onna, part 3

 What does the snow from the previous post portend? Maybe we'll find out next.

そして、あっという間にひどい吹雪になりました。二人は仕方なく仕事をやめて帰ろうと歩き出しました。

そして、あっというまにひどいふぶきになりまた。ふたりはしかたなくしごとをやめてかろうとあるきだしました。

In the first sentence, we learn an idiomatic expression: あっという間に. The translation for this "in a flash" or "in the blink of an eye." If we look at the literal meaning though, we first look at the word 間. There are actually three words, all written 間, with distinct pronunciations and different (but similar) meanings. In this case, it's the word pronounced ま, and it means "time, pause; space; room." Preceding this word is a qualifying clause consisting of いう ("to say"), と (the particle following the quote) and あっ, which represents an "Ah-" stopped mid-word. So the phrase means "in the time it takes to say 'Ah!'"

The verb is なる, which combines with に to mean "become." What it becomes is ひどい吹雪, the i-adjective ひどい, which here means "severe" or "extreme," followed by 吹雪 (ふぶき) of which we recognize the last kanji 雪 ("snow" on its own).  The first kanji 吹 is an N3 kanji occurring in 7 common words that means "to blow" (typically the wind). Together, it means "blizzard."

Translation: 

Then, in the time it takes to say "Ah," a terrible snowstorm started.

The second sentence is 二人は仕方なく仕事をやめて帰ろうと歩き出しました:two clauses joined by a te-form. The first half contains a new kanji 仕, occurring in two words, and a new kanji 事, which combines with the 仕. 

The phrase 仕方なく is in the dictionary as "helplessly, reluctantly, as a last resort" but it has an inner structure. 仕方 means "way, method, means, resource, course" and なく signifies a negative. So it suggests "there's no (other) way/means." The second occurrence of 仕 is in 仕事, "work" or "task."

• 仕 is an N4 kanji occurring in 37 common words
• 事 is an N4 kanji occurring in 115 common words. On its own, it's pronounced こと, and means "thing, matter, fact." Written in hiragana, it's very commonly used as a nominalizer, much like の as explained in previous posts. For example, we saw it in the previous post in the sentence ある冬の日のことです。

The verb in the te-form is やめる, "to stop" (transitive verb). So the first half of the sentence reads:

Seeing no other way, they stopped their work and...

The second half ends with the verb 歩き出しました, "[the two of them] started walking" or "[the two of them] walked out [of the forest]." Just before this is 帰ろうと, which is a new verb form of the verb 帰る ("to return, to go home") followed by the particle と. The verb form is called the volitional, and in most contexts, it's translated as "let's X" or "why don't we X." For example, 行きましょう！ is a typical exclamation, meaning "let's go!" The plain version of this would be 行こう！ 帰ろう is also a plain form. But when it's followed by と, it means something else "trying to X" or "in an effort to X."

So the entire sentence reads:

Seeing no other way, they stopped their work and walked out of the forest in an attempt to go home.

JSLL #38 - Yuki Onna, part 2

 Let's do a few more sentences from the story Yuki Onna ("Snow Woman").

ある冬の日のことです。巳之吉と茂作はいつものように二人で森の中へ行って木を切っていました。すると、にわかに黒い雲が出て来て、雪が降り出しました。

あるふゆのひのことです。みのきちともさくはいつものようにふたりでもりのなかへいってきをきっていました。すると、にわかにくろいくもがでてきて、ゆきがふりだしました。

The first sentence is like a similar sentence in Urashima Tarou. The only new thing here is the word 冬, which means "winter." 冬 is an N4 kanji found in just 10 common words. The whole sentence, then, translates to:

It was a winter's day.

In the second sentence, the new grammar point is the phrase のように. In the previous story, we've encounter のような meaning "resembling" or "like" when applied to nouns: 木のような漢字 = "a tree-like kanji, a kanji that resembles a tree." のように means "in the manner of" or "like" when applied other types of words. In this case, it follows  いつも "always" --so いつものように means "like always" or "as usual." Armed with this knowledge, you can translate the entire sentence as:

Minokichi and Mosaku has gone into the wood with the two of them, like always, and were cutting trees.

The third sentence has quite some new words and kanji, so I'll reproduce it:

すると、にわかに黒い雲が出て来て、雪が降り出しました。

• すると has its own dictionary entry: "and then, then, thereupon"
• にわかに also has its own dictionary entry: "suddenly, unexpectedly"
• 黒い is an i-adjective that means "black." (When "black" is used as a noun, it's 黒 without the i.)
• 雲 means "cloud." Note how it resembles 雪, "snow," another weather phenomenon. The top half of both kanji are simplified versions of 雨, the kanji that on its own means "rain."
• 降り is the masu-stem of 降る, "to fall" or "to precipitate": this verb is always used in combination with some kind of precipitation, like rain, snow or hail. So 雪が降る means "it snows" (literally "snow falls").

The kanji that are new in this sentence are:

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
黒	N4	22
雲	N2	5
降	N3	24

The third sentence has this translated:

Then, suddenly a black cloud appeared, and it started snowing.

JSLL #37 - Yuki Onna, part 1

Reading Urashima Tarou has taught us many grammar rules and kanji, not to mention a lot of vocabulary. That means we can do our next Japanese Stories for Language Learners (JSLL) story faster. We won't be revisiting old kanji or grammar rules, and I won't transcribe to romaji anymore (if you haven't mastered hiragana, go study it first).

We'll start off with the title and first three sentences.

雪女

昔々、北国のあるところに、巳之吉と茂作という二人の木こりがいました。巳之吉はまだ若くて、老いた茂作に奉公をしていました。二人はいつも渡し舟にのって川を渡り、はなれた森へ木を切りに行っていました。

In hiragana:

ゆきおんな

むかしむかし、きたぐにのあるところに、みのきちともさくというふたりのきこりがいました。みのきちはまだわかうて、おいたもさくにほうこうをしていました。ふたりはいつもわたしぶねにのってかわをわたり、はなれたもりへきをきりにいっていました。

The title

雪女 consists of two kanji:

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
雪	N3	11
女	N5	45

雪 on its own means "snow" and the word 女 means "woman." The combination is the name of a spirit in Japanese folklore, and is best translated as "snow woman."

The first sentence

昔々、北国のあるところに、巳之吉と茂作という二人の木こりがいました。

No new grammar here, but several new words and kanji:

北国 means "northern lands, northern regions" and consists of these kanji:

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
北	N5	29
国	N5	158

巳之吉 is a proper name, Minokichi, and so is 茂作, Mosaku. The kanji in these names are:

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
巳	N1 (jinmeiyou kanji, “name kanji”)	1
之	N1 (jinmeiyou kanji, “name kanji”)	4
吉	N1	6
茂	N1	1
作	N4	73

木こり means "lumberjack" and contains the kanji 木 ("tree"), an N5 kanji in 35 common words.

On a side note, the kanji 人 ("person") is used in this sentence as a counter, for people obviously.

You should be able to figure out that the sentence translates to:

Once upon a time, in a place that is of the northern lands, there were two lumberjacks called Minokichi and Mosaku.

The second sentence

巳之吉はまだ若くて、老いた茂作に奉公をしていました。

Grammar: this sentence introduces us to the fact that i-adjectives can behave like verbs in several ways: they can be made negative, they can be given past tense, and they can have a te-form. In this case, the i-adjective 若い ("young") can be made into a te-form by first putting it into the adverbial form 若く and then adding て.

Vocabulary and kanji:

• まだ means "still" or "only"
• 奉公 means "live-in apprenticeship" and has 2 new kanji:

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
奉	N1	4
公	N4	92

The translation:

Minokichi was still young, and did a live-in apprenticeship with the aged Mosaku.

The third sentence

二人はいつも渡し舟にのって川を渡り、はなれた森へ木を切りに行っていました。

Grammar: The sentence combines 2 clauses using a masu-stam in the middle. The clause on the left also has a te-form inside of it. It also uses a masu-stem of a verb followed by に and a verb of movement: 切りに行っていました. This translates to "go [to some destination] in order to VERB."

Vocabulary and kanji:

• いつも means "always"
• 渡し舟 means "ferry" (we already knew that 舟 is "boat," and we'll learn now that 渡る is "to cross")
• 川 means "river"
• 渡り is the masu-stem of 渡る, "to cross"
• はなれた is the plain past tense of 離れる (はなれる, typically written with a kanji though), "to be separated, to be distant"
• 森 means "forest" (not surprisingly, it consists of three 木 "tree" kanji combined --and in case you were wondering, there's also 林, which is a smaller forest, a copse, grove or thicket).
• 切り is the masu-stem of 切る, "to cut."

Several new kanji here:

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
渡	N3	24
川	N5	19
森	N2	2
切	N4	84

As for a translation, that would be:

The two of them would always board the ferry and cross the river, and would go to a distant forest in order to cut trees.

Review: "NPR's Embedded: Alternate Realities"

The "Embedded" podcast by NPR released a three-episode miniseries called Alternate Realities. The pod, hosted by reporter Zach Mack, is a personal project: the topic is Zach's father (who asks to remain nameless), who has adopted some pretty out-there viewpoints: he follows a YouTube "prophet" who predicts dire, apocalyptic developments in the near future. Zach and his father don't see eye to eye, and the same is true for Zach's sister Kira, who came out to her dad, was told that her lesbianism was "a choice" and is subsequently no longer on speaking terms with him.

Zach has argued with his father about these weird opinions till he was blue in the face, without making any headway. But, somewhat to his surprise, his dad is willing to put his money where his mouth is: at the beginning of 2024, he bets Zach $10,000, to be paid at the end of the year if a list of 10 predictions fails to come true. This outlandish list predicts that Obama, Biden and a bunch of other people will be arrested for treason, and the U.S. will be under martial law, by 31 December 2024.

His son makes the podcast around this bet, talking to experts about these kinds of conspiratorial viewpoints, and about what will and won't work to get people like Mr. Mack out of the proverbial rabbit hole. He also talks to his dad about the alienation from friends and family that his views have caused, and how he's spending money on canned food and other survival stuff because he thinks the end may be nigh.

Predictably, New Year's Eve 2024 rolls around with none of dad's predictions having come true, and equally predictably, Mr. Mack rationalizes this by saying there's a slight delay on all these dramatic developments, so he was kind of right. But fair's fair: he pays his son the $10,000 as agreed. In the meantime, he's become estranged from his wife as well. The miniseries ends without a real resolution: the father is sticking to his guns, and his son, daughter and wife still have difficulty accepting this.

I think there are two important points that the miniseries doesn't address.

First, the fact that Zach's father seems pretty unfazed by the fact that zero of his ten predictions have come true when he said they would. Not only that, he also seems pretty blasé about having to fork over ten thousand bucks. 

There's a telling moment somewhere mid-podcast where Mr. Mack casually remarks that even if he's wrong, he still got something out of this bet, because he got to spend time with his son. When I heard this, I kept listening to see if Zach would come back to this remark, but he doesn't. 

My theory is this: Zach's father bribed his son to spend time with him, because Zach won't give him the time of day otherwise. Did Zach's dad actually believe that his predictions would come true? Maybe, maybe not. What he did know is that it would be worth it anyway. It's evident from the podcast that people generally shun him; it's the price he pays for his outrageous beliefs. This "bet" is just his way of being less lonely, without compromising his delusional mindset. Best of all, his interactions with his son are about those beliefs.

Second, there's what I consider the intolerance exhibited by Zach, his sister and his mother. Don't get me wrong: I completely and 100% disagree with everything Zach's dad claims to believe. He indeed lives in an alternate reality. 

But at the same time, his opinions are mostly just that: opinions. He comes across as a generally kind person, who is fully aware that other people don't agree with him and find him kooky, and is OK with that. But as he says to his son, "I can't pretend not to believe what I believe, and you wouldn't want me to pretend." 

He disagrees with his daughter's so-called "choice" to be a lesbian, but he still says he loves her, and doesn't want her out of his life. He spends money on survival gear out of the joint account of himself and his wife, but I wonder if it amounts to the $10,000 he paid his son. I also get the impression that he's not proselytizing. (That's pretty typical: many conspiracy theorists are only too happy to arrogantly be the one "true believer" surrounded by people too "stupid" to realize the real way of the world.)

If you knew someone like this, someone you love, who was behaving like this, would that be enough to kick them out of your life? Maybe Americans, who famously used to avoid the topics of politics and religion in polite conversation, are more rigid in this than Europeans. To me, as a European, this mentality is pretty alien. For example, I don't believe in God, but it doesn't follow that I need to push religious people out of my life --least of all members of my family. To quote Tanita Tikaram, "I don't care about their different thoughts / Different thoughts are good for me."

Inadvertently, Zach reveals himself to be not as liberal as he considers himself to be. It's one thing to have a cold, aloof attitude toward his father; it's quite another to turn him into a podcast project for NPR, putting out not just his insane beliefs but also his sad, lonely existence for all the world to see. If this podcast has a villain, it's not who I expected it to be.

JSLL #36 - Urashima Tarou aftermath - the grammar

 In a short amount of space, the Urashima Tarou story in this book deals with a whole bunch of grammatical constructions. Here's an overview of the grammar points found in this little story:

～て form

Every verb has a て-form, which serves multiple purposes, but is most commonly used to connect two clauses (for example, 絵を描いて笑いました。= "I drew the picture and smiled.") The connection is normally sequential (verb1 and then verb2), but it can also be causal ("Because I drew the picture, I smiled"), purposeful ("I verb1'd in order to verb2") or instrumental ("By verb1-ing, I verb2'd").

Polite form versus dictionary (plain) form

Verbs can exist in a polite form (or masu-form, for example, 見ます) and a plain form (見る). The plain form is also called dictionary form because dictionaries list this form. 

～ている ending

Verbs ending in a て-form followed by a form of いる indicate that the action described by the verb is ongoing (progressive) or completed.

i-adjectives, na-adjectives

Adjectives come in two forms: those ending in い and those ending in な.

お- prefix for respect

The お- prefix for respect in front of a noun indicates a respectful attitude toward the listener.

～さん suffix for normal respect for a person ("Mr/Ms")

The ～さん suffix indicates a normal level of formality and respect for the person being mentioned. Unlike in English, where Mr/Ms is normally combined only with a surname, the Japanese さん can follow a surname or a first name. To be even more respectful (say, toward royalty) use ～さま instead, also written ～様.

Counters

When indicating a specific number of things or people, it's not enough to just mention the number, but also the counter. Japanese has many different counters, some for broad categories (flat objects, cylindrical objects, small crumb-like objects) and some for narrow categories (animals small enough to pick up). Japanese writes, for example, "seven cats" as the word for "cats," the particle associated with the noun in this particular sentence, the number "seven," and the counter for small animals. Thus "I saw seven cats" becomes 猫を七匹見ました: 猫 = cat, を = the object particle, 七 = seven, 匹 = counter for small animal.

～てやる ending

Verbs ending in a て-form followed by a form of やる indicate that the action described by the verb is a favor toward someone of lower social status.

Relative clauses modifying a noun phrase

If you place a clause directly before a noun phrase, that clause qualifies the noun phrase. For example, 私が見るカラス is the subject 私 (わたし, watashi, "I"), the verb 見る, "to see," and the noun カラス ("crow"). So this means "the crow that I saw." Note that the verb of the qualifying clause is always in the dictionary/plain form (見る, not 見ます).

Onomatopeia

In Japanese, onomatopeia are almost always a doubled two-syllable word, say, パクパク (pakupaku, referring to gobbling up food, from which Pac-Man gets his name). Japanese has many of these, and unlike in English, they don't always refer to imitations of sounds.

～ます-stem followed by 始める

This construction means "begin to X," where X is the activity that is beginnen. For example, the verb 歩く is "to walk"; the ます-form is 歩きます; 歩き始める is "to begin to walk, to start walking."

Quotations

A quotation of the type Yoshi said, "Let's go" would render in Japanese as 吉さんは「行きましょう」と言いました。In the Japanese, the subject/topic comes first, then the quote, enclosed in the Japanese quotation marks 「」, then the particle と matching the introductory comma in the English, and then the attribution "said."

Honorifics

Beyond the simple polite ～ます-form, Japanese has an elaborate system to indicate additional politeness, respectfulness, and humility/modesty. Verbs may be written in a different way, or replaced by entirely different verbs (a bit like saying "imbibe" instead of "drink").

Three forms of "to be"

I wrote an entire blog post about this.

なる "to become"

To say that something or someone becomes adjective, there are two constructions: if the adjective is an i-adjective (赤い "red"), remove the い at the end, replace it with く, and put なる after it. k紙は赤くなりました = "The paper became/turned red." If the adjective is a na-adjective (きれい, "pretty, clean"), put に after it and then なる. 部屋はきれいになりました = "The room became clean." 

～ます-stem to signify "and (then)" between clauses

Instead of connecting two clauses through a て-form, you can instead use the (less frequently used) ます-stem of the first verb. The meaning is similar, but more limited: it can only mean the two actions described by the verbs are simultaneous or sequential. It cannot be used to indicate a causal, purposeful or instrumental connection.

て-form followed by ください

This construction translates to an imperative of the verb followed by "please." Despite the pleasantries, this construction is often closer to a command than a request.

たり…たり…する verb enumeration

You can create a non-exhaustive enumeration of clauses. All clauses end in the plain past tense of a verb, followed by り. The last one additionally adds a form of the verb する. For example, 食べ物を食べたりビールを飲んだり音楽を聞いたりした = "I ate food, drank beer and listened to music."

Adverb form of い-adjective

By replacing the い at the end of an い-adjective and replacing it with く, you replace the adjective with an adverb. For example, 早い means "quick," and 早く means "quickly."

～たい to indicate the wish of the speaker

To express what in English means "I want to verb," Add たい to the ます-stem of a verb. For example, 飲みたい means "I want to drink."

～て-form followed by a form of しまう

This construction can signify doing something completely and with determination, or unintentionally and regrettably.