Archive for Learning
July 24, 2008 at 9:40 pm · Filed under Learning, Thinking
To end the day I sip tequila for happy tequila day.
I don’t know anything about tequila except that it’s more than the burning liquid people shoot back with salt and lime. This tequila is sweet and citrus-y. I love holding it under my nose.
Gregor’s take: “It’s nice…I’m enjoying this. Very nice aftertaste too. Delicate aroma.” (swishing around mouth a bit) “Powerful reaction. I dunno. It taste like any other spirits you know. When it hits your tongue your throat you have that kind of breathtaking moment. Soft and subtle aftertaste….man you type fast.”
September 22, 2007 at 11:14 pm · Filed under Experiences, Learning
今晩英語と日本語を交換するためにバンクバーに住んでいる日本人に会いました．彼は北海道からですけど，カナダへ来る前に東京に住んでいました．今までカナダに５ヶ月ぐらいいて，子供たちに日本語を教えています．たぶんそれですから，彼はしんせつだし，ゆっくり日本語で話してくれました．私は日本語でしゃべられて，うれしいです. ２週間で１回会ってもいいと思います．忘れないように．．.
明日もっと年を取る人に会うつもりです．水曜日にそのお祖父さんは私にカフェで話しました．「私に手紙を書いてくれるか？」と言いました．私は「いいえ，論文です．手紙だったら，もっとうれしそうかも知れない」と返事しました．５分後，お祖父さんはエメールアドレスが書いてある紙を渡して，「じゃあ，手紙を書いて送ってください」と言いました．帰りながら，どうしようかを考えていました．子供の時いつも「知らない人に話すのは危ないよ！」を聞きましてが，私の研究の興味は知らない人の中にコミュニケーションが出来るようにな研究です．その興味を否定したくない．(Can I say that? I don’t want to contradict myself.) 金曜日にエメールを送って，返事をまらいました．「もう一回A.S.A.P.に会いたいです！」そして，明日２時にカフェで会う予定が出来ました．面白そうと思います．
ああ，英語のバージョンを書いた方がいいですが，疲れた！ 明日…
tomorrow (technically):
Tonight I met with a guy from Japan for English and Japanese language exchange. He has been in Vancouver for 5 months, teaching English to young children so he is sensitive to use words that I can understand and to speak slowly and clearly. At first I was scared to speak in Japanese because I have not had the experience in Vancouver and I thought that most of our meeting would be in English. But actually we talked a lot in Japanese. Even though he can say a lot with his English, I think that he appreciated being able to switch to Japanese at times.
I hope that we can meet for language exchange again. In the meantime, I feel more motivated to continue my studies, or at least maintain my current level until after my thesis is finished. I think that trying to write (my blog) in Japanese might help. I will probably have many mistakes and use words in the wrong context but…it’s fun. No really, if you understand Japanese, please correct me in the comments.
June 23, 2007 at 2:51 pm · Filed under Learning, Words
Many of you probably know that many Japanese words are written using one of more kanji, each kanji having it’s own meaning. Sometimes the meanings of the individual kanji do not seem to relate to a word formed using them but usually they do. Take for example 電話, “denwa” or “telephone”. The “den” (電) means electricity and the “wa” (話) means conversation (roughly). The thing I love is that sometimes you come across words and the meanings of the kanji they can be written with give you a new perspective or sense to the word concept.
Example: 大抵 (taitei) means “usual” used in a sentence like “on usual days…”
大 has meaning of “big” and
抵 has meaning of “resist”
Learning that, I started to see the “usual” as being “big resistance” (ie. to change).
January 29, 2007 at 4:21 pm · Filed under Learning
Is this the food pyramid here? I kind of like it.
