Japanese Advent Calendar 2022 🎄 🇯🇵

:spiral_calendar: :christmas_tree: Japanese Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 7 :christmas_tree: :spiral_calendar:

December 7th

Today’s Kanji:

Kun’yomi: しの.ぶ、 しの.ばせる

On’yomi: ニン

Meaning: endure, bear, put up with; conceal, spy, sneak

:fountain_pen: Kanji writing

Kanji writing practice

My first try tried being sneaky just like the Kanji’s meaning. Nice try, but I noticed the messy diagonal stroke that was supposed to be curved.

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@softlyraining
Thank you for giving me a little peek behind the scenes – I never would have guessed that your writing was digital all along. :exploding_head:
The digital calligraphy pen would also explain the unusual ink colour. Besides, it’s really neat that Samsung Notes has the option of displaying those notebook squares which helps with Kanji writing practice. :slightly_smiling_face:

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December 7

Winter song
Kanji writing
Origami

Kanji writing

Origami

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@Midnightblue thanks for the kanji writing reference. I had a chance to read the first part about the seven main groups and looks pretty useful, but haven’t gone through all 214 radicals just yet. :sweat_smile:

@softlyraining well done writing digitally! How do you control your strokes? I wish I could do the same to lessen my paper waste, but it’s so hard for me to make the transition…

@pyororon i love the variety of pens you’re using. can I also ask what kind of pens they are? Or has that already been asked before? Sorry if it has.

Song was just okay for me too, but I was curious what you were referring to @Beyond_Sleepy when you said this?

Are you talking about the profile photo not being consistent? Or being a bunny?

No notes for everything today except some replies to posts cause I got in late. 家事をしなければならない. :sleepy:

Recently (re)learned that grammar point on Bunpro today and it’s one of my pet peeves… Double negatives are soooo confusing!

<<day 6 day 8>>

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Sounds like fun!
I participated in the “Read Everyday Challenge”

I’ve been actively doing these things recently:
-trying to read (to the best of my knowledge/ability) social media posts, then translating them & learning words, vocabulary & phrases/ sentences from them, then adding them to my anki deck to learn.
-I’ve ‘learnt’ a song & listen to it almost daily. I want to be able to sing it (not there yet).

I’d like to participate in this too.

I’ll try these (at least 1 a day):

  • Translate a sentence a day
  • Study a grammar point a day
  • Listen to a different Japanese song every day
  • Read about a different Japanese tradition every day

This will be fun!

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reply

Yup. Or more like, this used to be their pfp but they got rid of it without replacing it, but it still represents them in a advent calendar video link. Huh.

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:u7981: Advent of Ascending Kanji - Day 07 :secret:

Seven stroke kanji: 呂

Spine; backbone
Kun: せぼね
On: ロ; リョ

Practice

I like this one, it’s a fun kanji to write.

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Dec 8

Kanji in Ascending Stroke Order
Strokes:8

Kun: なが.い、 おさ
On: チョウ

Words of the day: なが ( long visit, overstaying), ちょう (match fixing; put-up job; fixed game), なが (patient; unhurried; leisurely), れいちょうるい (primates)


長 means long, senior, superior, and it’s a Jōyō kanji taught in grade 2, JLPT level N5, WK level 6.

Here’s a video of Japanese Calligrapher Takumi teaching us how to write it (2:07 mark):

Here’s the stroke order:

And variations: (that last one again!)

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Day 8

< day 7 day 9 >

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Dec 7 :christmas_tree:
Kanji Writing
Chose 初 today, I struggled a lot with trying to keep the balance on this one.

Writing

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Thanks and of course! They are, from top to bottom, a sarasa gel pen, a pentel felt tip, a pentel brush pen, an akashiya sai watercolor brush pen, mechanical pencil, glass pen, a fine tip fountain pen, and the last one’s just a paintbrush and gold ink. The glass pen is my favorite for this, the friction with the paper seems to make it easier to control the strokes.

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:spiral_calendar: :christmas_tree: Japanese Advent Calendar 2022 – Day 8 :christmas_tree: :spiral_calendar:

December 8th

Today’s Kanji:

Kun’yomi: うけたまわ.る、 .ける

On’yomi: ショウ, ジョウ

Meaning: acquiesce, hear, listen to; be informed; receive

:fountain_pen: Kanji writing

Kanji writing practice

Today’s Kanji’s looked more intimidating than it actually was once I started writing it. Still a few merciful days left before the Kanji start getting more complex. I wonder how crazy the 24 stroke one is going to be but I’m not sure I really want to know beforehand. :upside_down_face:

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December 8

Winter song
Kanji writing
Origami

Winter song

The ending of the video was kind of shocking to me!

Honestly haven’t been understanding any of the songs except for picking up a few words that sound familiar. And then also practicing reading while listening to the song again. So I think I’ll just note down phrases that struck me after reading the translation.

Today’s phrases:

  • 季節が去って, 僕は大人になっていた「きせつがさって、ぼくはおとなになっていた」The seasons passed, and I’ve become an adult
  • 無関心なふりして 「むかんしんなふりして」I’ve been pretending to be indifferent

Not so sure if the tenses are correct.

Kanji writing

Words of interest not yet mentioned:

  • 長い目「ながいめ」long-term view
  • 長引く「ながびく」to be prolonged, to drag on
  • 長寿「ちょうじゅ」long life, longevity
Origami

New vocab:

  • 縁「ふち」edge
  • 幅「はば」width
  • 裏返して「うらがえして」flip over

The part when she says なかを広げていきます was so nerve wracking for me. I thought I was gonna rip my paper. But then when it finally unfolded to be the center of my bow it was so satisfying.

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@pyororon Oh wow! I do not know half of those pens. Will have to explore the stationery to find them! Not happy with the daiso brush tip I’m using. It’s getting worn out and becoming thicker by the day, when I’ve literally just used it for 8 days.

Anyway, your kanji writing of 初 is so beautiful! It can’t be the first time you’ve written it! I wish i could write that expression in japanese but my japanese is so basic, I can only say 初めてですか。

<<day 7 day 9>>

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I read 指環 by 江戸川乱歩 yesterday morning but then was too busy in the evening to post about it. I enjoyed it, but not my favorite by him. This took the form of dialogue between two men who had been sitting near each other on a train during an incident with a ring.
This is the 朗読 I listened with.

This sentence absolutely threw me:

いつまでも、左様然さようしからばでもあるまいじゃないか。

左様然さようしからば means something like そうであるならば or そうならば according to my dictionary. I think as a whole it means something like ‘Well isn’t that always the case’ but grammatically it was a pain to pick through :weary:

I’ll probably do my reading for today in the evening.

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Hm, I’d venture a slightly different interpretation though :sweat_smile:

Sentence dissection

いつまでも、- “forever”
左様然さようしからば - “like that” 左様 - Jisho.org plus “farewell” 然らば - Jisho.org
でもあるまい - this is just であるまい with も thrown in for contrast/emphasis, i.e. “shouldn’t”
じゃないか。- “isn’t it”

So to express the meaning in normal English:

This shouldn’t be the last time we’ve bumped into each other, don’t you think?

But maybe that’s wrong, and 然らば actually means “in that case” like you suggested? Even then, I think the meaning is inverted to what you said due to まい? :thinking:

Comments and corrections are welcome, as always!

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If it helps, here is the full context:

しかし、不思議ですね。とうとうあの指環は出て来なかったというじゃありませんか。どうも、不思議ですね。
B …………
A …………
B ハハハハハハ。オイ、いい加減にしらばくれっこは止そうじゃねえか。この通り誰も聞いているものはいやしねえ。いつまでも、左様然さようしからばでもあるまいじゃないか。

It’s pretty far into the conversation and doesn’t matter a lot to the overall story, but it’s still a :exploding_head: sentence. I’m not particularly confident in my answer, but not totally sure of yours either :sweat_smile:

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Ah, with that context my “farewell” interpretation doesn’t make sense, I agree :sweat_smile: So I guess I need to switch to my variant 1b: “It shouldn’t stay like that forever, don’t you think?” (probably that the ring did not show up?) :grin:

Anyways, thanks for sharing the grammar puzzle! I’ll leave you to it now :sweat_smile:

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December 8

Kanji writing
Origami
Song
Mystery book reading


Kanji writing

Origami

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December 8

I did:

  • Translate sentences (try to read posts & then find out the meaning)
  • Listen to the same song I’m trying to learn
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:u7981: Advent of Ascending Kanji - Day 08 :secret:

Eight stroke kanji: 毒

Poison; virus; venom; germ; harm; injury; spite
Kun: n/a
On: ドク

Practice

Day 8 of trying to learn how to write non-wobbly.

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Dec 9

Kanji in Ascending Stroke Order
Strokes:9

Kun: うみ
On: カイ

Words of the day: かいぞく (pirate, sea robber), いる (dolphin), くら (jellyfish), うみどり (seabird)


Posting this a little early, as I may not have time tomorrow. 海 is a Jōyō kanji, taught in grade 2. It’s JLPT level N4 and WK level 6. I like it both for its shape and its meaning.

Here’s a video of Japanese Calligrapher Takumi writing it (and other sea-related kanji)

Here’s the stroke order:

And variations:

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Today’s reading was 猫の事務所 by 宮沢賢治. Unclear publish date, but it feels 明治 or maybe 大正. I read it with this 朗読 which modernized it a bit.

I…kind of hated it. Such an uncomfortable read. Reminded me a lot of 闇祓 and why I haven’t finished it. Psychological cruelty just gets under my skin.

Tomorrow is 北大路魯山人, a brand new author for me!

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Would you be willing to tell me a bit more about what the story is about? I’m curious, because in the Studio Ghibli film 猫の恩返し , there’s a place also called 猫の事務所 and now I’m curious if it’s named after the story you just read. Although the Ghibli one is a very nice place, ha, ha!

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