yokujitsu/翌日

yokujitsu (よくじつ、翌日) - next day

Today is the "next day" for my list of words from yesterday. There are a couple new ones from today, as well. I guess the list wasn't that long, but I'm trying to keep the lists (other than the テニスの王子様 Genius vocabulary lists) short enough that I can remember their context.

isogashii (いそがしい、忙しい) - so busy
kitai suru (きたいする、期待する) - expect, hope for something
chanto (ちゃんと) - straight, clearly, properly; chanto shita (ちゃんとした) - proper
shiten (してん、支店) - branch (office, store)
nara (なら) - if
gokiburi (ごきぶり) - cockroach

Also, Jo finally has her own blog! I helped make it :)

keiyoushi/形容詞

keiyoushi (けいようし、形容詞) - adjective

There are many nouns that can be turned into adjectives by adding -no/の to them. I found a couple in my list of words for today:

mukashii (むかしい、昔) - a long time ago, ancient days; plus -no/の - old, ancient, former
touzen (とうぜん、当然) - of course, naturally; plus -no/の - natural, rightful

kuzu (くず、屑) - trash
hachimaki (はちまき) - headband
mushimen (むしめん、蒸しめん) - steamed noodles (like mushy mien! ;)
sagishi (さぎし、詐欺師) - fraud

I have a lot of words today, so I'll save some for tomorrow. Here's a preview:

yokujitsu (よくじつ、翌日) - next day

kaitou/怪盗

kaitou (かいとう、怪盗) - thief

From the first six episodes of Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne:

kodoku (こどく、孤独) - lonely
aibou (あいぼう、相棒) - partner
nazo (なぞ、謎) - mysterious, weird
kyaku (きゃく、客) - guest; okyaku-sama (おきゃくさま、お客様) - polite form
dorobou (どろぼう、泥棒) - thief

Random word of the day:
tonkachi (とんかち) - hammer

GetBackers/ゲットバッカズ

gettobakkazu (ゲットバッカズ) - GetBackers

dakkanya (だっかんや、奪還屋) - retrieval service, GetBackers
from dakkan suru (だっかんする、奪還する) - recapture

There are a lot of different agencies that compete against each other in the GetBackers. The main characters find lost things and bring them back. The services themselves all end with the suffix -ya/屋 to indicate that they are an agency that performs that type of service.

mamoruya (まもるや、守る屋) - protection service; from mamoru (まもる、守る) - protect
hakobiya (はこびや、運び屋) - transport service; from hakobu (はこぶ、運ぶ) - carry, convey

Okay, so maybe there aren't that many different services. But it always seems like a lot when they are going up against each other.

Random words of the day:
tareru (たれる、垂れる) - droop
konomi (このみ、好み) - preference, inclination; different kanji (木の実) - nut

On a different note, I've decided to keep the new dictionary, because apparently there aren't that many good Japanese-English/English-Japanese dictionaries out there. The one I'd used at school is probably still the most comprehensive and easiest to use. This new one has more words I come across in anime and manga, probably because it's more recent by ten years. I've noticed that the registration for the blue headwords they advertise is a little off on some pages--the blue bumps up against the black, or the spacing is off-center. I guess it's okay, though, because I'm getting used to using it, and I've even made use of the kanji section in front.

テニスの王子様 - Genius 250

ketsudan (けつだん、決断) - decision, determination
doryoku (どりょく、努力) - effort, exertion, endeavor
akirame (あきらめ、諦め) - resignation, give up
kekka (けっか、結果) - effect, result
hodo (ほど、程) - around, about
amaku suru (あまくする、甘くする) - sweeten
ikioi (いきおい、勢い) - momentum, power, enery; ikioi no aru (勢いのある) - viorous
jiki (じき、時期) - time, season
shiki (しき、士気) - morale, spirits
nuku (ぬく、抜く) - pull out, draw
kokoromachi (こころまち、心待ち) - anticipation, expectation
somosomo (そもそも) - in the first place
daiyaku (だいやく、代役) - stand-in, substitute
kanchi (かんち、完治) - complete recovery
mitomeru (みとめる、認める) - accept, admit, acknowledge
wake (わけ、訳) - reason, cause
otosu (おとす、落とす) - slacken
nozomu (のぞむ、望む) - wish, hope
tokoro ga (ところが) - but, while, however
otoroeru (おとろえる、衰える) - weaken, ebb away
teido (ていど、程度) - degree, measure

kotoba/言葉

kotoba (ことば、言葉) - language, phrase, word

aisubeki (あいすべき、愛すべき) - lovable
yukai (ゆかい、愉快) - zany
zurui (ずるい) - not fair, underhanded
mukatsuku (ムカつく) - be mad
nite iru (にている、似ている) - be alike, be close
ayashii (あやしい、怪しい) - suspicious
manzoku (まんぞく、満足) - contentment, satisfaction

magirawashii/紛らわしい

magirawashii (まぎらわしい、紛らわしい) - confusing

hirameki (ひらめき) - brainstorm, lightning
kirameki (きらめき) - blaze or glint

honoo (ほのお、炎) - flame
honnou (ほんのう、本能) - instinct

oboreru (おぼれる、溺れる) - drown, be drowned
oboeru (おぼえる、覚える) - remember

saigo (さいご、最後) - last
saikou (さいこう、最高) - best, top

hitsuji (ひつじ、羊) - sheep
hitsugi (ひつぎ、柩) - casket, coffin

bara (ばら) - rose; bara-iro (ばらいろ、ばら色) - rose-colored
nayamu (なやむ、悩む) - bother, get worried
terasu (てらす、照らす) - illuminate, shine, light
jimi (じみ、地味) - conservative, modest

musicals/ミュシカル

myuujikaru (ミュージカル) - muscial

From the gospel-style song from the Bleach Rock Musical:
tomatte (とまって、止まって) - stop; from tomeru

From the first two lines of "Now and Forever" from テニスの王子様 Dream Live 1st:
kodoku (こどく、孤独) - loneliness, solitude
giri giri (ぎりぎり) - at the last moment, just barely
yureru (ゆれる、揺れる) - sway, shake, shudder, swing, wag

Jo's request:
oshii (おしい、惜しい) - regrettable, unfortunate; be precious (I don't know how it's used in the last context, though...)

テニスの王子様 - Genius 249

I've found that it takes me about an hour and a half to read a twenty-page manga. This is looking up almost every other word, except names when I can recognize them. And typing them up so that I can keep track of them. At this rate, it'll take me longer to read the fifty or so more I have to go until I catch up than it took me to watch the entire 178-episode anime series.

kikan (きかん、帰還) - return
chuumoku (ちゅうもく、注目) - publicity
kega (けが、怪我) - injury
waki (わき、脇) - side
zuibun (ずいぶん、随分) - really, very, a lot
yakusha (やくしゃ、役者) - actor
sorou (そろう、揃う) - be complete, be equal/the same, assemble
chikai (ちかい、近い) - near
ma (ま、間) - interval, space, time; room
masu (ます、増す) - increase
okureru (おくれる、遅れる) - be late, behind schedule
moushiwake arimasen (もうしわけありません、申し訳ありません) - I'm sorry
sorosoro (そろそろ) - soon, now
shuuryou (しゅうりょう、終了) - ending, termination; different kanji (修了) - completion
tokoro de (ところで) - by the way
kin'niku (きんにく、筋肉) - muscle
sara ni (さらに、更に) - again, further, in addition

atarashii/新しい

atarashii (あたらしい、新しい) - new

I got a new dictionary today, along with Barron's pocket grammar and vocabulary books, as well as a book on particles. I'm still getting used to the new dictionary. It's slightly smaller and much more durable than my old dictionary, but I've been using my old dictionary for about nine years now. The pages flip nicely and conform to my hands. The new dictionary still needs to be broken in.

The layout of each entry is a little confusing, too. They use a different color for the main word, but for the Japanese side, they put the kanji or hiragana before the romanized version, so there aren't any clear indentations on the page. (They're there, but you can't see them very well because the indentations are made with the Japanese words in the plain typeface preceeding the headword.) I like that there is a kanji list at the beginning, though, with the government list of about 2000 everyday kanji and their pronounciations.

sameru (さめる、覚める) - open (eyes), wake up
tayoru, tayori ni suru (たよる、頼る；たよりにする、頼りにする) - rely on, depend on
erabu (えらぶ、選ぶ) - choose, pick; erabareta - selected
kimeru (きめる、決める) - decide
tsuyoi (つよい、強い) - strong, forceful
oseji (おせじ、お世辞) - flattery
tachiba (たちば、立場) - position

テニスの王子様 - Genius 248

tenisu no oujisama (テニスの王子様) - Prince of Tennis

Here are some of the words I had to look up to read the Prince of Tennis manga Genius 248 (all twenty or so manga pages, which means they're mainly pictures). I haven't read Japanese in a while, so it took me a really long time. Plus, the new characters all speak with Osaka accents, so I have to guess at the real endings of the words. I guess I should get used to the accent, though, seeing as how I'll be living in Kansai-ben central.

oitateru (おいたてる、追い立てる) - hurry someone, chase away
boushi (ぼうし、帽子) - cap, hat
zubutoi (ずぶとい、図太い) - brazen
shinkei (しんけい、神経) - nerve (like Taiwanese "shin kyeng")
-sura (すら) - even
mekakushi (めかくし、目隠し) - blindfold
osore (おそれ、恐れ) - fear
tariru (たりる、足りる) - be sufficient
seishi suru (せいしする、制止する) - control, halt, stop
you (よう、様) - look like, sound like
iyo iyo (いよいよ) - finally
kinchou (きんちょう、緊張) - nervousness, tension
hiku (ひく、引く) - draw, pull
kanari (かなり) - fairly, moderately
shinkoku (しんこく、深刻) - serious, grave

iro-iro/色々

iro-iro (いろいろ、色々) - various

bakudai (ばくだい、莫大) - vast, immense
shingin suru (しんぎんする、呻吟する) - groan
bankai suru (ばんかいする、挽回する) - regain, recover, retrieve
sumire (すみれ、菫) - violet (plant)
nashi (なし、梨) - pear

sports/スポーツ

supootsu (スポーツ) - sports

I've taken a liking to sports anime recently, partly because they're fun to watch, and partly because they're easier for me to understand. A lot of sports terms, including most of the names of the sports themselves, are borrowed from the English. Tennis, soccer, basketball, and even bowling and billiards and curling can all be referred to by a Japanese pronouciation of the English name.

Some sports have acquired a sort of contraction of their English names in Japanese because the English versions are too long if they want to be specific, like American football (ame fuuto/アメフート) and volleyball (baree/バレー or biichi baree/ビーチバレー). Baseball (yakyuu/野球) is the only sport I've heard referred to mainly by its Japanese name, although they also use the English.

Most of the sport-specific terms are borrowed from the English as well. In fact, tennis is played almost entirely in English, which makes it easy for me to follow :) The English words have different meanings sometimes, like "home in" instead of "home run" or "spike" instead of "cleats," but they're pretty easy to remember. Even if most of the sports terms I hear are from English, there are still plenty of Japanese words that I hear repeatedly because of watching sports anime. Here are a few:

shouri (しょうり、勝利) - victory
katsu (かつ、勝つ) - to win
makeru (まける、負ける) - to lose
hashiru(はしる、走る) - to run
tobu (とぶ、跳ぶ) - to jump (with a different kanji, 飛ぶ, the same pronounciation could also mean "to fly")
utsu (うつ、打つ) - to hit
nerau (ねらう、狙う) - to aim at or target

kuru-kuru/くるくる

kuru-kuru (くるくる) - dizzy; kuru-kuru suru (くるくるする) - feel dizzy

mawaru (まわる、回る) - spin, turn; mawasu (まわす、回す) - cause to spin or turn
rasen (らせん、螺旋) - (n.) spiral, curve
kaiten suru (かいてんする、回転する) - revolve, rotate

fuuin/封印

fuuin (ふういん、封印) - means of closing; fuuin suru (封印する) - to seal

I hear this word a lot for some reason. I think it's because I'm always watching sports or fighting anime where moves get sealed off a lot. I just heard it used in Hikaru no Go/ヒカルの碁 when a move was sealed off by the opposing player. It's also used in Cardcaptors when Sakura captures the cards.

sentaku suru (せんたくする、洗濯する) - washing clothes
jitsu wa (じつは、実は) - actually, in fact
kangaeru (かんがえる、考える) - think, consider
kizuna (きずな、絆) - bond, tie
zehi (ぜひ、是非) - definitely, really

hirugohan/昼御飯

hirugohan (ひるごはん、昼御飯) - lunch; see also ranchi (ランチ) from the English

I asked Jo what she wanted for lunch tomorrow, and this was her answer:

kamaimasen (かまいません、構いません) - don't mind, don't care; see also kamawanai (かまわない、構わない)

I don't know what I want, either. I guess we'll just have whatever I feel like buying or making tomorrow...

Also, random word of the day:
kujaku (くじゃく、孔雀) - peacock

hajimemashite/はじめまして

hajimemashite (はじめまして、初めまして) - pleased to meet you

To commemorate receiving a position to teach English in Japan for a year, I've decided to start this blog to help me study Japanese. I've got Barron's to help me review, but so far, I haven't memorized too many words from the book. Here's what I've got from randomly flipping through and doing conversations with Jo today:

sakki (さっき) - just now, just a little while ago
taitei (たいてい) - usually
eki (えき、駅) - train, bus, or subway station
benri (べんり、便利) - convenient