Work and Rewards ・仕事と褒美

First some comments on the World Baseball Classic. 

よかったですね！日本は世界の野球の優勝になりました。　息子とよくゲームをみたので、彼は最後のゲーム時に学校に行けなければならなりませんでした。そして、一人で見ました。面白くて、楽しかったです。まつざかといちろといろいろプレーやは見に楽しかった。

Well, it was great.  Jonah and I enjoyed watching many of the games together and following the news on the internet.  We liked several of the teams, and especially enjoyed watching the U.S. play because of all the star players.  We also enjoyed watching Albert Pujols, Jonah's favorite player, on the Dominican Republic.  But we were rooting for Japan.  Unfortunately, Jonah had to go to school the day of the game, but he and a bunch of other boys got to watch some of it with the school librarian.  I watched it myself at home with popcorn.  It was a great game.  Very exciting.　　I really enjoyed watching Ichiro, and of course, Matsuzaka (who is one of Jonah's favorite players on HIS team, the Seibu Lions), and also many other players were very fun to watch.  Like Kawasaki.  Comitted errors, then redeemed himself with that reach through the catcher to score a run at home.

So, recently, I've been too busy doing stuff to write about it.  But today I decided to do a post, so I've spent a long time studying the Japanese that I want to write.  It will still be wrong, but it really does take a lot of effort.  People think that just by living in a foreign country you will absorb the language and it's just not so.  Martin and I both study very hard and take every opportunity to practice, but it is very slow going. 

LANGUAGE EXCHANGE AND MORE    I often eat meals with various Japanese friends to socialize and do language exchange.  Thursday night, I got together with a small group of friends.  Everyone there, except me, can speak English and Japanese and at least one other language.  (Russian, German, Dutch, French, and Chinese).  It was good practice, and an inspiration for me.  The food at Devi Fusion is always delicious and cheap.

よく日本人の友達と日本語と英語で話しに会います。木曜日に小さいグルプとレストランに行きました。　私以外は皆さん３つ言語を話すことができます。私にはいい練習とインスピレーションだった。いつもＤｅｖｉ　Ｆｕｓｉｏｎは安くて、おいしいです。

THE WORD PLAY IN JAPANESE Saturday morning, Monica had a basketball game so I went along to watch.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a good photo of her handling the ball, but here's a pix of her with her team after they played their game. 

That reminds me.  After my last post, my teacher, Matsui-san, gave me a little lesson on the word PLAY.  The word PLAY, in Japanese, is 遊ぶ　ASOBU.  So, I thought I could just say, "Monica can play the clarinet" OR "I played catch with Jonah." OR Albert plays for the Cardinals.  WRONG.   Here's the correct way to say those (I think): 

モニカはクラリネットを吹奏ことができます。　monika ha kurarinetto wo suisou koto ga dekimasu.

Using the word 吹奏 (suisou) which means blow, and is used instead of play when you are talking about musical instruments that require blowing. 

For pianos and violins and other string instruments, you must use the verb 引く　（hiku) which means pull instead of the word play.

ジョナと私はボールを投げたり捕ったりするおとです。  jyona to watashi ha bouru wo nagetari, tottari suru kotodesu.  Instead of saying "we played catch" you say we threw the ball and caught the ball.

アルバートはカージナルスのためにプレーしている。　aruba-to ha ka-jinarusu notameni pure-shiteiru.   (Albert does play for the Cardinals.)  But the point here being, that you use the third alphabet, katakana, to spell out the word play, and then add the verb do at the end.

The times that you do use the word play, are when children are playing, which is easy enough, OR, if  you are spending time with someone, not working, you would use the word play.  In English, we probably use other words, such as "hang out", "spend time", "visit", etc. instead of play.

SATURDAY NIGHT SKATE CANCELED FOR RAIN, so we turned it into a very fun trip to a Fish Restaurant in Tsukishima.  (means Moon Island).  Papa-san wrote up a nice thing about it.  Please take a look at his blog.

http://silver.ap.teacup.com/papahank/226.html

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SUNDAY BABY VIEWING 

日曜日に友達の新しい赤ちゃんに初めて会いました。彼の目は父親に似ています。

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of meeting my friend's new baby for the first time.　Several of us went to their house and had a good time.  The baby is adorable.　

.photo by Hesaki-san

MONDAY WELCOME HOME   Martin goes on frequent business trips, but this last one was especially long, so we took him out for a welcome home dinner to Zest.

主人はよく出張に行ってけど、それは特に長かったです。　そして家族は自転車でレストランにようこそ帰りなさいのデイナーに行った。

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MY NEW EXERCISE ROUTINE　　Recently my health hasn't been so good, so I decided to try to go to TAC and exercise every day.  (We'll see how long I can keep this up.) So, I ride my bike there, then do yoga and work-out, then, to reward myself, I sit in the massage chair there in the locker room.

最近あまり元気じゃないですから、毎日ＴＡＣで運動をしょうと決めた。自転車で行って、ＴＡＣでヨガとトレーニングをして、後で褒美を取ります。ＴＡＣのロッカールームでマッサージの椅子を使います。

Comments

[Silverpipe]

>People think that just by living in a foreign country you will absorb the language and it's just not so.

That is exactly what I'm going through!
But I admire your effort. Keep up the good work!

Good point about the word "play" in Japanese.
You are right. 吹奏 does mean blow. But if you want to use as a verb, 吹く(fuku) or 演奏する (ensou suru)is more natural.

私はフルートを吹きます。
watashi wa flute wo fukimasu.
I play the flute.

先生は観客の前でフルートを演奏しました。
sennseiwa kankyaku no mae de flutewo ensou shimasita.
The teacher played the flute in front of the audience.

先生の演奏は素晴らしかったです。
sennseino ennsouwa subarasikatta desu.
She played wonderfully. or Her performance was wonderful.

The word 吹奏is often used as a noun like 吹奏楽(wind instrument music)。

引く(hiku) is pull
弾く(hiku) is play string instrument

there's a word for "play catch " which is 　キャッチボール

ジョナと私はキャッチボールをしました。
johna to watashi wa kyachibo-ru wo shimashita.
Johna and I played catch.

play for the Cardinals
the tricky part is "for"
Japanese often make mistakes when writing in English, play "at" the Cardinals.
This is because we say,

アルバートはカージナルスでプレーしている。

のために means "for the sake of"

Forgive me for being so picky!
Hope you are feeling better, after all those excercises!

[パメラ]

Thanks. I don't think you are being picky at all, to me it is more helpful to have my own mistakes corrected and explained, than to study a book that is correctly written to begin with.

I'm feeling great. I was lucky to attend two Ohanami's today. After City Run, about 8 of my skating pals went with me to Aoyama cemetery and sat under tree #59 which was about 90% bloom. After that, I skated to Shinjuku Gyoen, and met the family and friends for another fun time. That park was very crowded and the cherries were at about 50-60%.

Two very different scenes, both nice.