A walk in the snow

It is fun to walk in the snow, if it is a short distance.

It has snowed a lot in Tokyo today.

We Japanese say "snow falls" instead of "it snows."

<with formal subject>

English: it snows

Dutch: het sneeuwt

German: es schneit

French: il neige

<without subject>

Spanish: nieva

Italian: nevica

<snow + falls>

Japanese: 雪が降る (yuki ga huru)

Korean: 눈이 내린다

Chinese: 下雪

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert

Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert was conducted by
Mr. Welser-Möst.

First I got an impression of him as an elegant serious type.

In a middle of a tune, he took a stuffed animal from a box and
handed it to a performer who had just played a solo part.
He continued with a goose, an elephant, a viking cap, a wood spoon, etc.
He finished the tune with a chef cap on his head and
a wood spoon in his hand.

It was fun.

Japanese: ぬいぐるみ Nuigurumi

Korean： 봉제　인형 (縫製人形)

English: stuffed toy

Chinese： 充填玩具

French: peluches
"peluche" means plush.

Italian: animali di peluche
animals of plush

German: Kuscheltiere
"kuscheln" means to snuggle.

Dutch: knuffeltje
"knuffelen" means to hug.

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

giorno 31 Iron Road

Italian:  "ferrovia"
ferri=iron, via=road

Japanese: 鉄道
鉄=iron, 道=road

Korean: 철도
철=iron , 도=road

Chinese：铁路
铁=iron, 路=road　

French：chemin de fer  
chemin=path, fer = iron

Spanish：ferrocarril
carril=path, (ferro) = iron

German：Eisenbahn
Eisen=iron, Bahn=road

<wallflowers, or going my wayers>

English: railroad

Dutch: spoorweg
spoor=trace, weg=road

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

A vest for swimming

I took KLM and found out that they call a life vest "zwemvest."

There is no such thing as a heroic resolution,　but just a vest for swimming.

In other languages,,,

Japanese 救命胴衣　vest for saving life

Chinese　救生衣　cloth for saving life

Korean　구명 조끼　vest for saving life

Italian　　"salvagente"
"Salvare" is "to save."

Spanish　"chaleco salvavidas"　 vest for saving life

French　　"gilet de sauvetage" vest for saving life

Well, then only in Dutch..?

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

How about these characters?

There exist no "f" sound in Korean.

For imported words, "f" is represented by "p"

For example, "waffle" becomes "wapple."

I think this sounds cute.

However, sometimes it is inconvenient.

Korean characters consist of a consonant part(s) and a vowel part.

For example, like this.

카 [ka], 키 [ki], 쿠 [ku], 캐 [ke], 코 [ko]

If you reverse left and right of the consonant "ㅋ",

It look like "F", isn't it?

Then [fa, fi, fu, fe, fo] sounds can be written like this.

In Japanese, a character ヴ [v] is used only for imported words.

In Italian, letters j, k, w, x, y are used only for imported words.

May be it is high time to introduce a new character representing "f" in Korean.

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

I don't want to say I am busy

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

Tons of work to do.
Actually, I feel like I cannot afford to spend my time writing a blog entry.

Japanese : 忙しい　[isogashii]
I don't like this Kanji character, which means "no spirit".

Chinese ： 忙碌 [mánglù]

Korean： 바빠 [pappa] Sounds cute.

Dutch： druk

English： busy

Afrikaans ： busy
This does not sounds like Dutch but sounds like English.

French： occupé

Spanish and Portuguese ： ocupado

Italian : occupato

Vietnamese：bận rộn
This one really sounds like busy.

cha cha cha cha

The Cha-cha-cha is of course the name of a cheerful dance.

In Japanese, チャチャチャ　[cha cha cha] sometimes represents
sound of hand claps for example when encouraging a favorite player.

In Korean, 자자 자자 [ cha cha, cha cha ] means
"Let's go to bed, Let's go to bed."

If you pronounce it more plosively,
찾자　찾자 [ cha cha, cha cha ] means
"Let's make a search, Let's make a search."

(J120326)
--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

pastel

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

Of course, pastel is a stick or crayon with soft gentle color.

In English, French, Dutch, Vietnamese, ... it is pastel.

And also in other languages,

Italian: pastello

Japanese: パステル　[Pasuteru]

Korean: 파스텔 [pastel]


However, in Spanish, "pastel" means a cake.

In Brazil, "pastel" means a deep fried pastry with filling in it.

Yum-yum.

Yes/No

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

In Korean, "네" [ne] means Yes.

In Dutch, "Nee" [nei] means No.

When I first started learning Korean
after having lived in the NL for a while,
saying "네" [ne] when I meant yes was extremely difficult.

In Korean, "예" [je] also means Yes.

This may be easier for English speakers
since it sounds like English "Yes."


English:  yes/no

Japanese:  はい　(hai) /いいえ (iie)

Korean:  네 (ne)/아니오 (anyo)

Chinese:  是 (shi)/不是 (bushi)

French：  oui/non

Spanish：   sí/no

Italian:   sì/no

German：  ja/nein

Dutch:  ja/nee

Russion:  да/нет