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nnozomiAlong with the general global worry I have one particular, somewhat related personal worry at the moment which isn’t going anywhere and will just have to play itself out over the time required; I suppose it’s the least I deserve. Otherwise, it’s spring and there are cats and I have (non-work-related) projects I’m excited about, life should be enjoyed when it can be.
Small language stuff. Xi-laoshi taught me 谷子店 in Chinese. 谷子 literally means “valley” or “grain,” but here it’s used for its sound value of guzi, which is phonetic for グーズ gūzu in Japanese, which in turn is phonetic for “goods” in English and in this case refers to fannish-type goods or what I think would be called merch…
Ear in Japanese is 耳, mimi. Worm, as in our pink wiggly friends on the sidewalk after rain, is ミミズ, mimizu. Therefore by all rights an earworm, as in the song, should be a mimimimizu (or, more efficiently written, 耳ズ), but unfortunately it’s just the English word transcribed. (Chinese apparently does use 耳虫 or 耳朵虫!)
I never remembered to say thanks for votes in the what-should-I-translate-next poll, here (if you still have an opinion or a question, feel free to let me know now as well!); in accordance with the majority vote, I’m working on Li Kotomi’s essays, but I may branch out into a novel or similar as well for added fun, since we’re hitting the dead time of the fiscal year. In passing Li introduced me to Selinker’s idea of interlanguage, which you’d think I would have come across before; I guess I did, just didn’t know there was a word for it. Reminds me, among many other examples, of Japanese-speaking teenagers learning Korean and sticking Korean verb endings on Japanese words to get by when they didn’t know the vocabulary (similarly, my frequent joke that if I don’t know a word in Chinese I can just use the Japanese word and add 子, cf 妻子，筷子，栗子 and so on), or the farmboys’ preferred use in English of Chinese duplication (我来试试, let me try try).
Latest farmboy words: 不灵(了), it won’t work, a wish won’t come true; 望梅止渴, to comfort oneself with illusions (literally, to quench thirst by thinking of plums); 冰美式, an iced Americano, exactly what the characters say; 珐琅锅, a ceramic pot a la Le Creuset; 抬杠, to argue for the sake of arguing; 举一反三, to infer many things from one thing; 香饽饽, very popular, delicious, the belle of the ball.
Music: Gabriella Liandu singing Speak Low and Bach via Cuba.
Writing and translation: As noted above, I’m working on Li Kotomi’s essays, but they go quite slowly because there’s a real need to think about each word, as she does. Also, she’s often writing about Japanese in Japanese, which is hard in the technical sense to translate—her childhood misunderstanding of the word 召し上がる, for instance, which relies on the characters used. Likewise, she writes “「中間言語」という硬い漢語に飽きたら「真ん中の言葉」と和語に言い換えてもいい,” for which I tried “We could also dismiss the intimidating Romance-language sound of ‘interlanguage’ and replace it with ‘the words in the middle,’” substituting Romance-language for 漢語 or words written/pronounced entirely in Chinese characters…is that a legal move on my part? Also there’s a place where she writes “不可能だと思っていた。思い込んでいた”—which I rendered as “I thought—I misconceived—that I could not,” and I wonder a little if she’s just playing with the variations of 思う in Japanese or also has the Chinese 以为, to think something wrongly, in the back of her head.
Translating/attempting some Chinese stuff for fun, not for public consumption; very difficult but still a fantastic way to acquire more vocabulary and phrasing.
v e r y s l o w l y with my original thing, mostly because until today I had a lot of work and my brain wasn’t up to it; determined to get back to 500 words a day. My timeline suggests that, in accordance with my usual screwed-up pacing, now (roughly halfway through the book lol) is when things actually start HAPPENING, which should be fun. I have about a million plot strands of various thicknesses going on, and theoretically I almost sort of kind of know how they all fit together, and I think it COULD be very good, but that’s a very large subjunctive.
Photos: Capybaras from the zookeeper school, also…what are they called…maras? I always think of them as Zen rabbits, for their habit of sitting still and staring off at the day after tomorrow as if meditating. Green-eyed monster (politely taking time off from cuddling to be photographed). Also more plum blossoms, camellias (or sazanka?), and an alley with a flower curtain. 
Be safe and well.
Small language stuff. Xi-laoshi taught me 谷子店 in Chinese. 谷子 literally means “valley” or “grain,” but here it’s used for its sound value of guzi, which is phonetic for グーズ gūzu in Japanese, which in turn is phonetic for “goods” in English and in this case refers to fannish-type goods or what I think would be called merch…
Ear in Japanese is 耳, mimi. Worm, as in our pink wiggly friends on the sidewalk after rain, is ミミズ, mimizu. Therefore by all rights an earworm, as in the song, should be a mimimimizu (or, more efficiently written, 耳ズ), but unfortunately it’s just the English word transcribed. (Chinese apparently does use 耳虫 or 耳朵虫!)
I never remembered to say thanks for votes in the what-should-I-translate-next poll, here (if you still have an opinion or a question, feel free to let me know now as well!); in accordance with the majority vote, I’m working on Li Kotomi’s essays, but I may branch out into a novel or similar as well for added fun, since we’re hitting the dead time of the fiscal year. In passing Li introduced me to Selinker’s idea of interlanguage, which you’d think I would have come across before; I guess I did, just didn’t know there was a word for it. Reminds me, among many other examples, of Japanese-speaking teenagers learning Korean and sticking Korean verb endings on Japanese words to get by when they didn’t know the vocabulary (similarly, my frequent joke that if I don’t know a word in Chinese I can just use the Japanese word and add 子, cf 妻子，筷子，栗子 and so on), or the farmboys’ preferred use in English of Chinese duplication (我来试试, let me try try).
Latest farmboy words: 不灵(了), it won’t work, a wish won’t come true; 望梅止渴, to comfort oneself with illusions (literally, to quench thirst by thinking of plums); 冰美式, an iced Americano, exactly what the characters say; 珐琅锅, a ceramic pot a la Le Creuset; 抬杠, to argue for the sake of arguing; 举一反三, to infer many things from one thing; 香饽饽, very popular, delicious, the belle of the ball.
Music: Gabriella Liandu singing Speak Low and Bach via Cuba.
Writing and translation: As noted above, I’m working on Li Kotomi’s essays, but they go quite slowly because there’s a real need to think about each word, as she does. Also, she’s often writing about Japanese in Japanese, which is hard in the technical sense to translate—her childhood misunderstanding of the word 召し上がる, for instance, which relies on the characters used. Likewise, she writes “「中間言語」という硬い漢語に飽きたら「真ん中の言葉」と和語に言い換えてもいい,” for which I tried “We could also dismiss the intimidating Romance-language sound of ‘interlanguage’ and replace it with ‘the words in the middle,’” substituting Romance-language for 漢語 or words written/pronounced entirely in Chinese characters…is that a legal move on my part? Also there’s a place where she writes “不可能だと思っていた。思い込んでいた”—which I rendered as “I thought—I misconceived—that I could not,” and I wonder a little if she’s just playing with the variations of 思う in Japanese or also has the Chinese 以为, to think something wrongly, in the back of her head.
Translating/attempting some Chinese stuff for fun, not for public consumption; very difficult but still a fantastic way to acquire more vocabulary and phrasing.
v e r y s l o w l y with my original thing, mostly because until today I had a lot of work and my brain wasn’t up to it; determined to get back to 500 words a day. My timeline suggests that, in accordance with my usual screwed-up pacing, now (roughly halfway through the book lol) is when things actually start HAPPENING, which should be fun. I have about a million plot strands of various thicknesses going on, and theoretically I almost sort of kind of know how they all fit together, and I think it COULD be very good, but that’s a very large subjunctive.
Photos: Capybaras from the zookeeper school, also…what are they called…maras? I always think of them as Zen rabbits, for their habit of sitting still and staring off at the day after tomorrow as if meditating. Green-eyed monster (politely taking time off from cuddling to be photographed). Also more plum blossoms, camellias (or sazanka?), and an alley with a flower curtain.
Be safe and well.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-14 09:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-15 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-14 09:59 am (UTC)谷子店 is fascinating, wow! Language is so great, it does so many fun things. :D
In passing Li introduced me to Selinker’s idea of interlanguage, which you’d think I would have come across before; I guess I did, just didn’t know there was a word for it.
Yeah, same, or if I'd heard it before I didn't retain it. Very useful!
or the farmboys’ preferred use in English of Chinese duplication (我来试试, let me try try)
I love that!
Likewise, she writes “「中間言語」という硬い漢語に飽きたら「真ん中の言葉」と和語に言い換えてもいい,” for which I tried “We could also dismiss the intimidating Romance-language sound of ‘interlanguage’ and replace it with ‘the words in the middle,’” substituting Romance-language for 漢語 or words written/pronounced entirely in Chinese characters…is that a legal move on my part?
I don't know the first thing about Japanese, but in my unqualified opinion that's entirely fair. *g* If the goal is to be readable as an English-language text, it has to make sense in English, you know? You could maybe add a footnote explaining the substitution. (I might even go further and say "Latinate" ...)
and I wonder a little if she’s just playing with the variations of 思う in Japanese or also has the Chinese 以为, to think something wrongly, in the back of her head.
Oooh, very neat! That would make sense to me. 以为 is such a useful word, every language should have it! *g*
Cheering you on for your original thing!
no subject
Date: 2025-03-15 12:08 pm (UTC)You could maybe add a footnote explaining the substitution. (I might even go further and say "Latinate" ...)
Both excellent ideas, thank you!
以为 is such a useful word, every language should have it!
Isn't it? So handy just to be able to express that in a single word.
and thanks for good wishes for writing <3
no subject
Date: 2025-03-14 10:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-15 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-14 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-15 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-14 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-15 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-14 10:51 pm (UTC)"Zen rabbit".... cute.........
no subject
Date: 2025-03-15 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-15 09:33 am (UTC)<333
Fascinating chain of translations to get to 谷子店! And a shame Japanese doesn't have 耳ズ. (I hadn't heard of 耳虫 or 耳朵虫, will need to try to remember that they exist!)
my frequent joke that if I don’t know a word in Chinese I can just use the Japanese word and add 子, cf 妻子，筷子，栗子 and so on
Hah, also often true going from Cantonese to Mandarin. Mandarin seems to really like 子!
for which I tried “We could also dismiss the intimidating Romance-language sound of ‘interlanguage’ and replace it with ‘the words in the middle,’” substituting Romance-language for 漢語 or words written/pronounced entirely in Chinese characters…is that a legal move on my part?
Hmm... I feel like as a reader this would throw me off unless there was a footnote, because from your translation, it sounds to me like she really was talking about a Latinate word, and I very well might take it literally. I do think the translation works well, but I'd prefer an accompanying note explaining that in the original the reference was to Chinese.
(The Zen rabbit is very cute! I had to go google them just now -- I've probably seen them on nature programs, but I don't think I've ever seen one at a zoo or anything. They look adorable but huge!)
no subject
Date: 2025-03-15 12:10 pm (UTC)Well, at least according to Baidu (or was it wikipedia.zh? I forget). I asked a-Pei in Taiwan and she said they would say 洗脑歌, which is funny in itself.
I'd prefer an accompanying note explaining that in the original the reference was to Chinese.
yeah, that is a smart idea and I should do that, thank you. I already have several footnotes varyingly marked as [footnote in original], [translator's footnote] and so on lol, thank goodness for the power of annotations.
They look adorable but huge!
They are quite large! I don't know if they're snuggly, but they'd be a lapful and then some.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-16 02:19 am (UTC)she’s often writing about Japanese in Japanese, which is hard in the technical sense to translate
I can imagine!
also…what are they called…maras?
I've never seen one before! Cute!
no subject
Date: 2025-03-16 01:03 pm (UTC)I had never seen one of those before until I started walking past the zookeeper school! They are very cute.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-16 09:09 am (UTC)The farmboy words and idioms are interesting as usual.
Good luck with the translations and the writing. <3
no subject
Date: 2025-03-16 01:04 pm (UTC)and thanks <3
no subject
Date: 2025-03-16 05:12 pm (UTC)Ear in Japanese is 耳, mimi. Worm, as in our pink wiggly friends on the sidewalk after rain, is ミミズ, mimizu. Therefore by all rights an earworm, as in the song, should be a mimimimizu (or, more efficiently written, 耳ズ), but unfortunately it’s just the English word transcribed.
Darn, what a lost opportunity!
Oh, that is fascinating about interlanguage.
Japanese-speaking teenagers learning Korean and sticking Korean verb endings on Japanese words to get by when they didn’t know the vocabulary
Heh, similarly, back in the day when I was taking Japanese, my study partners and I would stick Japanese verb endings on English words and invent new “English word+します” phrases when our vocabulary couldn’t match our conversation ambitions.
Yay for getting back to the original thing! *cheering you on*
Awww, the capybaras and Zen rabbit (love that!) and cat! Excellent catitude: it doesn’t look like it was just cuddling, but that’s very Cat of it. Lovely plum blossoms. ♥ And I adore the flower canopy over the alley.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-17 01:53 pm (UTC)my study partners and I would stick Japanese verb endings on English words and invent new “English word+します” phrases when our vocabulary couldn’t match our conversation ambitions.
Ha! I think I've been there :D
Excellent catitude: it doesn’t look like it was just cuddling, but that’s very Cat of it.
yes, exactly! who ME, show up for scritches? Never. 🐈 And I felt quite lucky to run across the flower canopy in a half-hidden back street.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-02 11:58 am (UTC)I was so confused when Zhou Shen mentioned it (because this was the concert day) - eventually I got roughly what 'white day' was about from the context of what he was saying, but there were some rather large question marks hovering over my head first
no subject
Date: 2025-04-03 11:26 am (UTC)