Mostly language-learning-related rambling
Aug. 6th, 2020 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnozomiDaily life: Please take it as read from now until at least the end of September that every entry I post begins with “It’s hot and humid and horrible and I hate summer,” because it’s always going to be true. I chose to live in this city and I love it, but oh my God I hate its climate so much.
My husband got me to go play tennis (or, you know, attempt at a sub-novice level to do so) yesterday; given how much music he listens to on a regular basis that he wouldn’t otherwise for my sake, it’s the least I can do to go wave a tennis racket around every now and then for his. On the other hand, ow.
My grape tomatoes are now up to bra height, and still fruiting regularly, bless them. See below for various colorful spicy things.
Music: Bits of Figaro here and there; “Dov’e sono” is so simple and so exquisite, the absolute essence of Mozart.
Books: Looking at Sakai Toshihiko’s The Optimistic Prisoner for writing research. My copy is one of the original editions of 1911, in surprisingly good shape, complete with occasional characters replaced with ○○○ where the censor red-pencilled the original content. Sakai was a left-wing activist, writer, editor/publisher, feminist, and general early-20th-c. good guy, kind, humorous, practical, and honorable; there’s a fantastic biography of him by Kuroiwa Hisako which is in my one-day-I-will-translate-this-book pile. His letters to friends and family from prison are, allowing for the context, delightful and compulsively readable. Here’s a very scratch translation of February 24, 1909, with which I empathize very much:
Chinese: How I follow (or don’t) the Chinese subtitles in the Lost Tomb thing, completely self-indulgent rambling. (Also I now have a screencap of the moment from episode 4 when Wu Xie says to Xiao Ge “I want to ask you a question,” which I can now use every time I want to pester my long-suffering friend about Chinese.)
In episode 11, when Wu Xie is warning Liu Sang again to keep his damn mouth shut, he says 我(的)肺的事、你不能告訴大家—the thing with my lungs, you can’t tell everyone. The first half of this is almost word-for-word readable for me—in Japanese it would be 私の肺の事, replacing 我 (still recognizably the first-person pronoun, but archaic) with 私 and using the Japanese connective particle instead of the Chinese one, but still basically the same words in the same order. (Okay, also I think Wu Xie would probably say ore instead of watashi in this context, but that’s another can of worms. I want to know when the hypothetical Japanese-speaking Wu Xie would say boku, because it would be adorable.)
The second half, while all the characters used except 你 do exist in Japanese, is miles away. The word order in Chinese is you-not-can-tell-everyone, while in Japanese it would be something like （おまえは）みんなに教えてはならない or 誰にも教えるなor maybe 人に言ってもらっては困る, oh dear, anyway something like (you)-everyone-to-tell-must-not. 不能 does not make syntactical sense (?) in Japanese, but is within a stretch of correct interpretation based on the character meaning. 告訴 and 大家 are both words in Japanese too, but linguistic drift has made the meanings almost unrecognizably different: the former is “tell” (C) vs “sue in court” (J), the latter “everyone” vs “expert person.” So, easier to read because I already know the damn characters, but still requiring knowledge of the Chinese meanings/usage in order to make sense. And that’s just one line that I can actually understand on the spot, never mind the zillion others I can’t follow at all…. Still, I am having linguistic fun as well as all the rest, I won’t complain.
(That scene also amuses me in general. Liu Sang would sort of like to say “thanks for saving my life,” but he can’t bring himself to just come out and say it, and Wu Xie is too exhausted and too tense to be patient or thoughtful with him (“Um…” “Um what?”); they’re both so prickly.They need a (to?) hug. Edited to add: in episode 12, Liu Sang finally manages to say thank you! and they have a moment! Xiao Ge, that is how you create chemistry with Wu Xie. Take note.)
Writing: Making slow but reasonably steady progress. I think the whole framework is more or less there now, but there is a LOT of plot and feelings with which it’s to be filled in. It is possible I should schedule my day-job work efficiently and arrange a whole day for myself once a week or so with nothing to do but write. Theoretically doable, but scary!
Photos: Some pink and white flowers (the brighter pink ones are crepe myrtle, I think), my chilis that really need picking, and the first habanero of the year (with a coin for scale).
Be safe and well.
My husband got me to go play tennis (or, you know, attempt at a sub-novice level to do so) yesterday; given how much music he listens to on a regular basis that he wouldn’t otherwise for my sake, it’s the least I can do to go wave a tennis racket around every now and then for his. On the other hand, ow.
My grape tomatoes are now up to bra height, and still fruiting regularly, bless them. See below for various colorful spicy things.
Music: Bits of Figaro here and there; “Dov’e sono” is so simple and so exquisite, the absolute essence of Mozart.
Books: Looking at Sakai Toshihiko’s The Optimistic Prisoner for writing research. My copy is one of the original editions of 1911, in surprisingly good shape, complete with occasional characters replaced with ○○○ where the censor red-pencilled the original content. Sakai was a left-wing activist, writer, editor/publisher, feminist, and general early-20th-c. good guy, kind, humorous, practical, and honorable; there’s a fantastic biography of him by Kuroiwa Hisako which is in my one-day-I-will-translate-this-book pile. His letters to friends and family from prison are, allowing for the context, delightful and compulsively readable. Here’s a very scratch translation of February 24, 1909, with which I empathize very much:
Honestly language learning is pretty damn foolish anyway, but it’s a lot of fun. I gave myself a hard time over starting on French. A bird in the hand and all that, one oughtn’t to be having too many affairs, and I have a terrible habit of being dilettantish; look at the fuss I made over learning Esperanto last year and how quickly that fell off. I did think many times that instead of fooling with French I should go back and concentrate on German. But I just couldn’t resist giving it a try. It’s not as if I have to end up fluent, all I need is to be able to read the footnotes in English texts with a dictionary. No, never mind that, it would be interesting just to be able to do a bit of comparative study on the grammar. No, forget all that, it’s just so much fun to start new things from scratch as a way of getting through the day. As I get older and the future gets shorter, picking up new bits of work for myself gives me a feeling that the road ahead is longer, with more to look forward to. So I’ve finally plunged in, and once having done so I’m eager to move ahead. I may not be what I was as a boy, but I feel I’d like to prove to myself that I haven’t completely lost it either. So I’m studying quite eagerly. When I wake up in the night, I count un, deux, trois, quatre to myself in French up to one hundred, a pleasingly innocent custom, you’ll agree.
Chinese: How I follow (or don’t) the Chinese subtitles in the Lost Tomb thing, completely self-indulgent rambling. (Also I now have a screencap of the moment from episode 4 when Wu Xie says to Xiao Ge “I want to ask you a question,” which I can now use every time I want to pester my long-suffering friend about Chinese.)
In episode 11, when Wu Xie is warning Liu Sang again to keep his damn mouth shut, he says 我(的)肺的事、你不能告訴大家—the thing with my lungs, you can’t tell everyone. The first half of this is almost word-for-word readable for me—in Japanese it would be 私の肺の事, replacing 我 (still recognizably the first-person pronoun, but archaic) with 私 and using the Japanese connective particle instead of the Chinese one, but still basically the same words in the same order. (Okay, also I think Wu Xie would probably say ore instead of watashi in this context, but that’s another can of worms. I want to know when the hypothetical Japanese-speaking Wu Xie would say boku, because it would be adorable.)
The second half, while all the characters used except 你 do exist in Japanese, is miles away. The word order in Chinese is you-not-can-tell-everyone, while in Japanese it would be something like （おまえは）みんなに教えてはならない or 誰にも教えるなor maybe 人に言ってもらっては困る, oh dear, anyway something like (you)-everyone-to-tell-must-not. 不能 does not make syntactical sense (?) in Japanese, but is within a stretch of correct interpretation based on the character meaning. 告訴 and 大家 are both words in Japanese too, but linguistic drift has made the meanings almost unrecognizably different: the former is “tell” (C) vs “sue in court” (J), the latter “everyone” vs “expert person.” So, easier to read because I already know the damn characters, but still requiring knowledge of the Chinese meanings/usage in order to make sense. And that’s just one line that I can actually understand on the spot, never mind the zillion others I can’t follow at all…. Still, I am having linguistic fun as well as all the rest, I won’t complain.
(That scene also amuses me in general. Liu Sang would sort of like to say “thanks for saving my life,” but he can’t bring himself to just come out and say it, and Wu Xie is too exhausted and too tense to be patient or thoughtful with him (“Um…” “Um what?”); they’re both so prickly.
Writing: Making slow but reasonably steady progress. I think the whole framework is more or less there now, but there is a LOT of plot and feelings with which it’s to be filled in. It is possible I should schedule my day-job work efficiently and arrange a whole day for myself once a week or so with nothing to do but write. Theoretically doable, but scary!
Photos: Some pink and white flowers (the brighter pink ones are crepe myrtle, I think), my chilis that really need picking, and the first habanero of the year (with a coin for scale).
Be safe and well.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 05:55 am (UTC)*hugs, but from afar because hot and humid*
My regular city of choice is hot and dry, and I love it; the East Asian humidity is the actual worst.
My copy is one of the original editions of 1911
Wow, that's amazing! And I love this little excerpt. Language learning is fun! I wish I could do away with the "must become fluent" voice at the back of my head. Not because I don't want to be fluent, because obviously I do, but it's stressful.
Yay and good luck with writing! And I love your gardening pictures :)
no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 01:46 pm (UTC)quoted for truth, sigh...
I wish I could do away with the "must become fluent" voice at the back of my head. Not because I don't want to be fluent, because obviously I do, but it's stressful.
It's like you were saying about finishing your fic--I would like to have become fluent, you know? I guess we need to enjoy the process more :)
and thanks! I can't take credit for the flowers, though, just the peppers.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 06:32 am (UTC)Haha, so true.
And aww, cute little habanero. ♥
no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 01:48 pm (UTC)And aww, cute little habanero. ♥
♡ It went into some green curry with a nice fruity bite!
no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 07:39 am (UTC)And this is why I wax lyrical about how simple Chinese grammar is, which seems to puzzle people around me. When your yardstick is Japanese, then boy howdy!
I love these little linguistic thoughts, keep them coming! :D
no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 01:49 pm (UTC)lol, I know what you mean. Chinese makes my brain feel like it's in a tug-of-war between Japanese and English, though, which is stressful (but also fun!).
I will happily ramble about vaguely linguistic-related things any time (and hope other people will do the same) :)
no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 10:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 01:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 06:38 pm (UTC)That does sound like it sucks! Personally I like heat, but I hate humidity.
look at the fuss I made over learning Esperanto last year and how quickly that fell off
So relatable! *g*
The second half, while all the characters used except 你 do exist in Japanese, is miles away. The word order in Chinese is you-not-can-tell-everyone, while in Japanese it would be something like （おまえは）みんなに教えてはならない or 誰にも教えるなor maybe 人に言ってもらっては困る, oh dear, anyway something like (you)-everyone-to-tell-must-not. 不能 does not make syntactical sense (?) in Japanese, but is within a stretch of correct interpretation based on the character meaning. 告訴 and 大家 are both words in Japanese too, but linguistic drift has made the meanings almost unrecognizably different: the former is “tell” (C) vs “sue in court” (J), the latter “everyone” vs “expert person.”
As someone who knows exactly zero about Japanese, this is totally fascinating to me. Thank you for sharing!
And one of these days I really am going to have to actually put some effort into learning Chinese characters instead of waiting to just passively absorb them. (That does work somewhat! But at a glacial pace, LOL.)
It is possible I should schedule my day-job work efficiently and arrange a whole day for myself once a week or so with nothing to do but write. Theoretically doable, but scary!
That sounds like it could be a great plan! But not if it would end up just being stressful.
Gorgeous photos again, too.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-06 09:34 pm (UTC)I know! (This is why I am obsessed with reading people's diaries and letters, because it's basically like spending time on DW, only a century ago.)
As someone who knows exactly zero about Japanese, this is totally fascinating to me.
I'm glad it made even a little sense; I just had fun trying to write down how my brain actually works. And if you are able to absorb Chinese characters passively even a little, I'm impressed; the one and only reason I can get anywhere with Chinese is having the Japanese background so I'm not learning the characters from scratch...
I think I probably could take Sunday and say no work, only writing? I've gotten so used as a fortunate freelancer to doing work and writing and reading/fannish stuff/etc. a little bit at a time each on all days, it would take some adjustment, but I might give it a try in a week or two and see what happens. (The absolute worst outcome is that I run screaming from the writing file and get some day-job work done ;) )
(and glad you liked the photos!)
no subject
Date: 2020-08-09 09:43 am (UTC)Great flowers! The second one especially looks like artfully draped fabric. <3
Xiao Ge, that is how you create chemistry with Wu Xie. Take note.
Heeee. I wish I could see the chemistry, too. The main disadvantage of this fandom is that there are so many possibilities. So many preconceived allegiances from the previous installments and the books. It's not like Guardian, where everyone ships the same thing by definition (and I wasn't really consciously aware of how much of a difference that makes until now). I am already foreseeing the problem that I will ship something else than everyone else. And I'm not sure how to feel about that. Not like I'm going to let that diminish my enjoyment of the show, but it might make me less inclined to write.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-09 11:09 am (UTC)The second one especially looks like artfully draped fabric.
Yes, that's just what I thought--even more so when I took the picture, with the wind ruffling the flowers' skirts :)
I don't know--I'm enjoying Liu Sang's gradual conversion to Wu Xie, but I don't have strongly shippy feelings about anyone in the show, I think. More like, was it xparrot? who said that basically everyone in sight becomes devoted to the task of keeping Wu Xie alive and well against all odds, while Wu Xie does his damnedest to make it hard for them... . I quite enjoy this diagram ;)