Parents are usually right

I had an opportunity to participate in an exchange visit between Taiwanese junior high school students and first year students at a local Towada junior high school today.

It was a lot of fun taking pictures, observing how the (Japanese) students interacted with their guests and vice-versa, and helping to encourage conversation by speaking (in English) to both the Japanese and Taiwanese students.

Listening to the Taiwanese students and teachers' Chinese, I felt a little frustrated (with myself), however. Coming from a Chinese background, the words and sounds of the language were oh so familiar, but having given up learning Chinese after only one year of Chinese school (which I failed), they were also pretty much indecipherable.

About the only thing I could understand (apart from the really basics of the basic, like "thank you") was the part of their school song where they sang "Wo ai [school name]," meaning "I love [school name]."

After the school song they also performed a classic/popular Taiwanese song (most sang but some students played instruments--trombone, saxophone, violin and flute). I have no idea what the name of the song is, but I definitely knew it--and knew it well enough to be able to hum along pretty much from the get go.

Living in Japan (so close to China/Taiwan), I've definitely thought before that it would've been a huge asset if I could speak Chinese, but today I really felt a strong sense of regret that I never learned Chinese. Not just because it would be useful and/or make finding a job easier, but because I felt like I'd cut myself off from a big part of my heritage by not being able to understand/speak Chinese.

Listening to the song (the name of which I can't remember) I felt a strong sense of nostalgia. Thinking back to my childhood, I can remember watching Chinese dramas and movies (particularly action ones) with my mother and family. A lot of Chinese DVDs have English subtitles nowadays, but if I wanted to share them with, say, Japanese friends, I'd have to try to get along with reading Japanese subtitles (and my Japanese reading isn't nearly proficient enough for that). If I understood Chinese it would be no problem, but...

Way back in grade one when I told my parents I wanted to quit Chinese school (again, after failing  first grade--so you can guess how indifferent of a student I was), my parents told me "OK, but you'll regret it in the future."

They were right.

Contractions and abbreviations

(This has been sitting in my post list as a draft for a while, so since I had some time today I figured I'd finally post it.)

Spoken and manga Japanese is full of contractions/abbreviations. Some of them are widely known and used while others are not. It can make things rather difficult for a non-native speaker. Here's a short list of some of the random ones that I often use/hear or have simply stuck in my head:

konbini コンビニ = convenience store コンビニエンスストア
(Ubiquitous in Japan and actually very very convenient)

shaapen シャーペン = sharp pencil シャープペンシル
mechanical pencil

K.Y. = kuuki yomenai 空気読めない
can't read the atmosphere, clueless

goukon 合コン= goudou kompa 合同コンパ
group blind date (a group of guys meets with a group of girls in equal numbers)

konkatsu 婚活= kekkon katsudou 結婚活動
marriage hunting; activities leading to marriage (e.g. dating, courtship, etc.)

enren 遠恋　= enkyori renai 遠距離恋愛
long distance relationship

enkou　援交 =  enjo kousai 援助交際
dating with compensation; schoolgirl prostitution
(Got this from the Kimi ni Todoke 君に届け manga. My Japanese teacher friend was more than a little surprised when I asked her what it meant.)

konmisu コンミス = concert mistress コンサートミストレス
apparently the concert master/mistress is second only to the conductor in an orchestra

paarii パーリー = part leader パートリーダー
eg. the trumpets' (part) leader
(Got this from the Aozora Yell: Yell for the Blue Sky 青空エール manga, whose main character is part of the school brass band. I think the short form sounds an awful lot like the French/Japanese pronunciation of "Paris"...)

*TKG = tamago kake gohan 卵かけご飯
a dish of rice (gohan) topped with  (raw) egg (tamago), usually mixed with a little soy sauce
(*some boys in one of my junior high school made this one up)

*daijoubanai = daijoubu de wa nai 大丈夫ではない
not OK
(*another one made up by some of my junior high school boys)

Fellow students of Japanese, what are some of your "favourites"?
(Incidentally, mine are TKG and daijoubanai even though probably because they were made up by my students and therefore aren't widely used--kind of like an inside joke.)