「いいお天気ですね」
I was talking with Mr. Yamada, a guard at my school, today.
Anything not in parentheses is exactly as it was said, or at least as close an approximation as my memory will allow.
Me: おはようがおざいます！げんきですか？ ("Good morning. Are you well?")
山田: So-so.
Me: 今日、いいお天気ですね～
山田: Breakfast.
Me: ...
山田: It's...
Me: "... good weather today"と言っていいと思います。 ("I think you should say 'It's good weather today'")
山田: イッツ、グー、ウェザー (ittsu guu weezaa)
Me: Er, that's pretty close.
And then I explained how to make a TH noise. The mechanics of it aren't so hard, but there is no TH sound in Japanese, so many find it very difficult to say words with TH in them, such as "the", "them", and "thespian".
Anything not in parentheses is exactly as it was said, or at least as close an approximation as my memory will allow.
Me: おはようがおざいます！げんきですか？ ("Good morning. Are you well?")
山田: So-so.
Me: 今日、いいお天気ですね～
山田: Breakfast.
Me: ...
山田: It's...
Me: "... good weather today"と言っていいと思います。 ("I think you should say 'It's good weather today'")
山田: イッツ、グー、ウェザー (ittsu guu weezaa)
Me: Er, that's pretty close.
And then I explained how to make a TH noise. The mechanics of it aren't so hard, but there is no TH sound in Japanese, so many find it very difficult to say words with TH in them, such as "the", "them", and "thespian".
Labels: japanese language
posted by William at
11/05/2008 11:43:00 AM
2 Comments:
So in Japanese class the other day the teacher was trying to put the name Colin Firth into katakana and I was thinking how weird it must be for Japanese people to try to say either the soft or hard version of "th," both being completely absent from their native language. She ended up writing the name as コリン フアース (Corin Fuasu) which made me smile.
Hey, comments be fixed.
That 'thespian' comment reminded me of the production of 'Get Bill Shakespeare Off The Stage' in Junior High.
Post a Comment
<< Home