2009年6月21日日曜日

Names and Addresses #7

1.Are feelings, emotions and facial expressions universal across borders, happy, sad, etc..?
Yes, I think so. For example, it cries when it is sad, and it laughs when it is happy. The middle of the forehead is wrinkled if angry, and the corners of the mouth fall if crying. It's common all over the world.

2. Try to name as many feelings as possible in Japanese. ( 10 minimum) Then, write the English translation.
楽しい interesting  
悲しい sad
悔しい regrettable   
面白い funny
恥ずかしいashamed  
嬉しい pleased
苦しい hard      
退屈 boring
怒る angry      
幸せ happy
好き like       
嫌い hate
羨ましい envious  
嫉妬 jealous

3 Are there any feelings in Japanese that cannot be translated into English?

Yes, I have. For example...

  • When I go into someone’s room: 失礼します
  • When I go out: いってきます/いってらっしゃい
  • お蔭様で

     

2009年6月4日木曜日

Greetings

1. H ow do you greet members of your family? (mother, father, older brother, younger brother, grandparents, etc)
There are 5 people in my family, father, mother, sister, ground father and me.
I always say “Ohayou” in the morning and “Oyasumi” before go to bed.



2. How do you greet people that are important in society?
I greet them more polite way than my family. For example “Ohayou gozaimasu”.
And I never say “Konnichiwa” to my family but I usually say it to important people in society.


3. Do you greet people from the opposite sex in a different way?
No, I don’t use different way.


4. Do you hug anyone? If yes, who and when. If no, why not?

Yes, I sometime hug someone. For example, my foreign friends and cross friends who I don't have a chance to see them for a long time.

2009年5月18日月曜日

World Religions

Q1. Is it different for different people? How so and why?

When it greets the people other than the family and the friend like the teacher and neighbor, I become polite. For example, “Ohayou”→”Ohayougozaimasu”. Because they are mostly senior to me.

Q2. Do you touch people when you talk to them? Why? Or Why not?

I sometime touch people only when I talk to my friend. Because I think that touching is friendly.

Bddhism

1) Visit a grave “HAKAMAIRI”
2) Say “Itadakimasu and Gochisousama”
3) Eat OSECHI at New years day
4) Light up lantern for household Buddhist altar during OBON
5) Observe five seasonal festival for example March 3rd, May 5th and July 7th.

I don't know why we do these things. Because I had done them from my earliest recollection. However, I guess that reason Japanese has the custom of expressing gratitude for everything.

2009年4月27日月曜日

Swine Flu

U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency Over Swine Flu
Responding to what some health officials feared could be the leading edge of a global pandemic emerging from Mexico, American health officials declared a public health emergency on Sunday as 20 cases of swine flu were confirmed in this country, including eight in New York City.
Other nations imposed travel bans or made plans to quarantine air travelers as confirmed cases also appeared in Mexico and Canada and suspect cases emerged elsewhere.
Top global flu experts struggled to predict how dangerous the new A (H1N1) swine flu strain would be as it became clear that they had too little information about Mexico’s outbreak — in particular how many cases had occurred in what is thought to be a month before the outbreak was detected, and whether the virus was mutating to be more lethal, or less.





Search All NYTimes.com

Sunday, April 26, 2009