I’ve been studying Japanese for a while, and yesterday my class had to give 2-minute speeches. We were allowed to read it, but I tried not to since this is stuff I should be able to say naturally by now. However, I stumbled a lot and it’s really bothering me. It’s one thing to know vocabulary and grammar, it’s an entirely different thing to speak it. I’m sure I’m using two entirely different parts of the brain.
I feel like Japanese, or at least what I’ve been exposed to, is a lot easier that English and Spanish. Or to put it another way, I feel like it’s more disciplined. It’s not an exception minefield like batshit crazy English. Spanish has some strange rules and exceptions – for example, the fact that words have gender. You have to say “el carro” (the car, male, ends in o) or “la pluma” (the pen, female, ends in a), but you have to say “el mapa” because it’s a greek word… what? With most western languages, the verb “to be” is all fucked up, since it’s the verb that people use the most and it’s evolved unchecked. In English it’s “am, are, is, are, are”. In Spanish it’s “soy, eres, es, son, son”. The Japanese equivalent, “です” or desu, is just that. And it’s like that with all verbs, they don’t depend on the subject (they are modified based on other things, but that’s predictable). I can appreciate how hard it is for a Japanese speaker to learn all the (batshit) crazy rules and exceptions of the English language.
Another thing that I love about Japanese is that it’s spoken like it’s written. Syllables are always said the same way, and as far as I know, there are only two exceptions – ha is pronounced “wa” when used as a topic marker, and wo is pronounced “o” when used as a direct object marker. Spanish is the same way, but with more exceptions. English though? Man, it’s just batshit insane when it comes to pronunciation. There’s just no rhyme or reason. I was very young when I learned English and I don’t remember having a lot of difficulty, but I can understand why older folks have problems. E sounds like “ii” in “meter” but like “ee” in “metro”? Or the word “bait”, how did that a turn into an e?
Latin has been incredibly helpful. I studied it in high school, and it’s probably the most useful thing I got from there. It’s very helpful with grammar, because you learn that language can be very different. Latin declension prepared me to expect words in any order, as long as its role is clearly defined. Japanese is a Subject Object Verb language. It only requires that the verb go at the end, but still, the order of words is completely different from English and Spanish. Anything other than the verb can be in any order, but the role of a word is indicated by the use of particles, syllables like wa, ni, or o, attached as suffixes, which is very similar to Latin.
Anyway, enough about language, here’s my speech.
私は ボストンに すんで います。
Watashiwa bosutonni sunde imasu
I live in Boston
そして 父は マイアミに すんで います。
Soshite, chichiwa miamini sunde imasu
and my dad lives in Miami.
父は 先生で、五十二さい です。
Chichiwa senseide, gojuunisai desu.
Dad is a teacher and 52 years old
大きい めがねを かけていて ひげが はえて います。
Ookii meganeo kaketeite higega haete imasu
He wears big glasses and has a mustache
わたしは 一人子 です。 でも、私の メキシコに すんでいる 家族は にじゅうごにん ぐらいの 家族 です。
Watashiwa hitoriko desu. Demo, watashino mekishikoni sundeiru kazoku nijuugonin guraino kazoku desu
I’m an only child. But, my family living in Mexico is around a 25 person family.
大きい 家族ですね。
ookii kazoku desu ne.
It’s a big family, no?
父は 兄弟が 七人 います。 父は 上から 三番目 です。
Chichiwa kyoodai shichinin imasu. Chichiwa ue kara sanbanme desu.
Dad has 7 siblings. He’s the third one from the top.
私の 家族は プエブラや メリダに すんで います。
watashino kazokuwa pueblaya meridani sunde imasu
My family lives in Puebla and Merida.
プエブラは メキシコ シティの となりで、 メリダは クバの となり です。
Pueblawa mekishiko shitino tonaride, meridawa cubano tonari desu.
Puebla is close to Mexico City, and Merida is close to Cuba.
まいとし 十二月 ごろに メキシコに いきます。
Maitoshi juunigatsu goroni mekishikoni ikimasu.
I go to Mexico every year around December.
私は メキシコりょうりが だいすき です。 とても おいしい ですね。
watashiwa mekishikoryooriga daisuki desu. Totemo oishii desune.
I really like Mexican cuisine. It’s very delicious, isn’t it?
ボストンに いい りょうりが ありません から、 ことし なつにも メキシコに いきます。
Bosutonni ii ryooriga arimasen kara, kotoshi natsunimo mekishikoni ikimasu.
Because there isn’t good (mexican) cuisine in Boston, this year I’m going to mexico in the summer as well.
そぼは りょうりが じょうず です。
Sobowa ryooriga joozu desu.
My grandma is good at cooking.
