A couple weeks ago I bought this cute, small modular white stapler from Japan (made by Midori). I didn’t buy it just because it was from Japan, but I had been going through my items and realized I needed a new stapler. Went on amazon and found it.
It uses mini staples and when I first got it I had no idea what kind of staples to buy for it. Clearly doesn’t use the standard size. Searching for extra small staples doesn’t work. But while looking at the packaging again today I realized it said “10号針使用”. I recognized all the kanji except 針(means needle basically or something pointy which in this case would be the staples). I recognized 使用 as seperate kanji for “use”. So when I looked it up in the dictionary I realized I was on the right track and then looked up no 10 staples and found the right size! Not going to buy them right now but it’s good I finally was able to figure it out.
Edit: am contemplating making this a small things log for myself, since study logs are not my style
Learning a foreign language is like unlocking the bottle universe your home language had locked you in… and shows just how much bigger the world actually is
Idk I think in this situation it’s a little harsh to say that but I will agree that learning a language opens up opportunities, whether tiny like this or bigger
It is the small things that make your day. I read a Chinese wall hanging for a Chinese restaurant because i knew the Kanji for China and food. That made me proud as heck. It’s the small things.
Right next to our office is an elevator. There’s a sign at the entrance in English & Japanese telling you not to use it in the event of an earthquake or fire.
Me, pre-WK: Huh, something something earthquake and fire something something.
Me, WK-Level 10ish: I can totally read the entire sign. Has 使用 in it.
Started reading how many 専用駐車場s there are in this place. 販売機s too. I guess my 発音 is improving because I order at the McDonald’s drive thru and they don’t switch to English and let my 注文 continue in the 日本語s. Weird stuff guys, weird stuff!
Next fun thing to learn: standard battery sizes. Instead of AA and AAA batteries, it’s 単3形 and 単4形. And then there’s 9V形, which I’m sure you can tell what that one is.
So this one time my husband and I went tromping through some hills behind a temple. Lovely walk through the woods kinda thing. Then when we reached the main road, we saw a sign saying something like マムシ注意 . Ok, so I know those kanji…what’s マムシ? Mothereffin pit vipers. I coulda used that on the other entrance to the trail! Woulda noped away ffrom those nope ropes in a hurry.
so did you go down the path before you realized what it meant? Or did you just not bother? One time when I visited India I was in a mountain town. The view from the terrace was very pretty, but then I heard a rattling sound behind me…
