Kia ora Kowtow
I’ve always tried to avoid saying the name of a particular NZ fashion brand – Kowtow.
…Fly me to the /ksks/: A brief look at Southern Ryūkyūan phonology
Ever since hearing Madoka Hammine talk about the Southern Ryūkyūan language of Yaeyama on the excellent Field Notes podcast, I’ve had a hankering to learn more about this language family.
What I’ve discovered over the past couple of weeks has been fascinating. So I couldn’t help but share some interesting snippets.
…QWERTY hurts while kana charms: Changing my keyboard layout to type in Japanese
The past few months I’ve been hitting the kanji study hard. Between the two web-apps I use, I’ve regularly been reviewing at least a couple of hundred items a day. What this has really driven home for me is that QWERTY is just not a great fit for typing Japanese. Sure, it does the job, but it feels a little… off. Like wearing your belt one hole too tight. Off-balance almost.
…Sucker for etymology
Heading into work this morning, I read an excerpt from Rose George’s new book Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Mysterious, Miraculous World of Blood on the Guardian. This particular section of the book documented the author’s visit to the “UK’s only leech production business.” Personally, I had no idea there was still a market for medicinal leeches in the UK, but by the sounds of it business is pretty good.…
For goodness shake
Visiting the ubiquitous Japanese coffee chain Komeda’s the other day, my girlfriend noticed something odd about the menu.
…Ten-ten points for creativity
Recently I’ve been travelling around Iwate Prefecture. At Morioka Station I was grabbed by the name of a nearby department store.
…Old wave Japanese
The other day I learnt the Japanese word for ‘reception’ (as in ‘cellphone reception’) - 電波 denpa/dempa. The two kanji that make up this word are 電 den ‘electricity’ and 波 ha ‘wave’. Naturally, its primary meaning is ‘electromagnetic waves’.
…Character building: a review of kanji learning web app WaniKani
Today, I’m going to give my thoughts on the kanji learning web app Wanikani.
…Why Japanese people don't do 'ikehana'
The phonology of Japanese has always felt tidy to me. There’s a small set of phonemes - around 20. Syllables are generally CV (consonant vowel) or CVV1. It’s a moraic language. Simple. Recently though, there’s been a nagging question in the back of my mind.
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