Upper-Intermediate - Studying Japanese (D0555)

A:啊哟,你这么用功,在学日语!
Wow, you're so hard-working, studying Japanese!
āyō, nǐ zhème yònggōng, zài xué rìyǔ!
B:嗯,刚开始的。岁月不饶人啊,现在学点东西可真费劲。
Yeah, I just started. Time and tide wait for no man. Studying stuff now is really tiring.
Ng4, gāng kāishǐ de. Suìyuè bù ráorén a, xiànzài xué diǎn dōngxi kě zhēn fèijìn.
A:日语和汉语不是挺像的嘛。总比学英语容易吧。
But Japanese and Chinese are really similar, right? It's got to be easier than studying English, anyway.
Rìyǔ hé hànyǔ bù shì tǐng xiàng de ma. Zǒng bǐ xué yīngyǔ róngyì ba.
B:我以前也这么想。现在发现,日语只是开头简单,比如书写、发音什么的。可是想学得深一点就难了。
I used to think that. Now I find that Japanese is only easy in the beginning, for writing and pronunciation and stuff. But if you want to dig deeper in your studies it's difficult.
Wǒ yǐqián yě zhème xiǎng. Xiànzài fāxiàn, rìyǔ zhǐshì kāitóu jiǎndān, bǐrú shūxiě, fāyīn shénme de. Kěshì xiǎng xué de shēn yīdiǎn jiù nán le.
A:日语里不是有很多汉字吗,我们中国人自己琢磨琢磨就明白了。不过,除了汉字,还有些怪怪的符号。那是什么呀?
Doesn't Japanese have lots of Chinese characters? We Chinese can just put some thought into it and then we'll get it. But besides Chinese characters there are also some weird symbols. What are those?
Rìyǔ lǐ bù shì yǒu hěn duō hànzì ma, wǒmen zhōngguórén zìjǐ zuómo zuómo jiù míngbai le. Bùguò, chúle hànzì, hái yǒuxiē guàiguài de fúhào. Nà shì shénme yā?
B:你说的是平假名和片假名吧,那是日语的注音符号。在日语中,同一个发音对应着平假名和片假名两种写法。平假名是从汉字的草书演化过来的,用于一般的书写。片假名源于汉字的偏旁部首,主要是用来表示外来语或强调的。
You're talking about hiragana and katakana. They're the phonetic writing system of Japanese. In Japanese, the same sounds correspond to both the written forms of hiragana and of katakana. Hiragana evolved from the grass script form of Chinese characters, and are used in typical writing. Katakana originated from the radicals of Chinese characters, and is mainly used to express foreign loanwords or emphasis.
Nǐ shuō de shì píngjiǎmíng hé piànjiǎmíng ba, nà shì rìyǔ de zhùyīn fúhào. Zài rìyǔ zhōng, tóng yī ge fāyīn duìyìng zhe píngjiǎmíng hé piànjiǎmíng liǎng zhǒng xiěfǎ. Píngjiǎmíng shì cóng hànzì de cǎoshū yǎnhuà guòlai de, yòngyú yībān de shūxiě. Piànjiǎmíng yuányú hànzì de piānpáng bùshǒu, zhǔyào shì yònglái biǎoshì wàiláiyǔ huò qiángdiào de.
A:噢,这个我知道,日语里有好多从英语直接音译过来的词。
Oh, I know this: a lot of English words were directly transliterated into Japanese words.
ō, zhège wǒ zhīdào, rìyǔ lǐ yǒu hǎo duō cóng yīngyǔ zhíjiē yīnyì guòlai de cí.
B:嗯,不过它们还是比较有日本特色的,完全听不出原来是什么。
Yeah, but they still have Japanese characteristics. You can't tell at all what they were originally.
Ng4, bùguò tāmen háishi bǐjiào yǒu rìběn tèsè de, wánquán tīngbuchū yuánlái shì shénme.
A:那日语中的汉字都是繁体字吗?
So are the Chinese characters in Japanese all traditional characters?
Nà rìyǔ zhōng de hànzì dōu shì fántǐzì ma?
B:繁体占多数,还有一些日式简体字,和我们简体字的写法不太一样。比如“出発”的“発”。中文里就没有这个字。
Traditional characters comprise the majority, but there are also a few Japanese character simplifications that are somewhat different from our simplified characters. For example, the "patsu" in "shuppatsu." This character doesn't exist in Chinese.
Fántǐ zhàn duōshù, hái yǒu yīxiē rìshì jiǎntǐzì, hé wǒmen jiǎntǐzì de xiěfǎ bùtài yīyàng. Bǐrú " chū 发" de "发". Zhōngwén lǐ jiù méiyǒu zhège zì.
A:怎么听起来这么复杂?
Why does it seem so complicated?
Zěnme tīng qǐlai zhème fùzá?
B:复杂的还在后面呢。比如一字多音,还有语法。我总结下来,发现和汉语越接近的语言对我们来说反而越难学,因为你会用汉语的思维去解读。
The really complicated stuff is still coming. For example, the multiple readings for each character, and the grammar. In the end, I've discovered that languages too similar to Mandarin are actually harder to learn, because you'll be applying your Chinese concepts when deciphering them.
Fùzá de hái zài hòumian ne. Bǐrú yī zì duō yīn, háiyǒu yǔfǎ. Wǒ zǒngjié xiàlai, fāxiàn hé hànyǔ yuè jiējìn de yǔyán duì wǒmen láishuō fǎnér yuè nánxué, yīnwèi nǐ huì yòng hànyǔ de sīwéi qù jiědú.
A:哎,我觉得只要是语言,都不好学。你看英语,和咱们中文一点都不相干,我不是也学不好吗?
Ah, I think that as long as it's a language, it's always going to be difficult. Take a look at English. It's not at all similar to Chinese, but I can't even learn it, right?
āi, wǒ juéde zhǐyào shì yǔyán, dōu bù hǎoxué. Nǐ kàn yīngyǔ, hé zánmen Zhōngwén yīdiǎn dōu bù xiānggān, wǒ bù shì yě xuébuhǎo ma?

Key Vocabulary

岁月不饶人suìyuè bù ráorénTime and tide wait for no one
费劲fèijìnto put forth a lot of effort; tiring
琢磨zuómoto ponder over
平假名píngjiǎmínghiragana
片假名piànjiǎmíngkatakana
演化yǎnhuàto evolve
外来语wàiláiyǔloanword
解读jiědúto decipher
相干xiānggānto be concerned with; to have to do with

Supplementary Vocabulary

来源láiyuánsource
记忆力jìyìlìmemory; ability to remember
省力shěnglìto save energy
万事开头难wànshì kāitóu nánthings are always difficult at the start