Japanese Graded Readers 2:3:15: 一休さんーその二ー

Since I've gotten graded readers and couldn't let them be -- kanji study can wait! -- I'm going to put some of the vocabulary here.  (Making lists of kanji here helped; maybe vocabulary will help too.)

...and brag a little more on them.  They tend to have a quirky or funny ending if the story's not 悲しい.  The story of ソーピー was too sad.  The stories of the 木村 family and 一浪さん the young policeman aren't.  Go get 'em right now.  The cheapest place I've found so far is CD Japan -- shipping is major, but the price is still better than Amazon.

Here are vocabulary from Level 2, Volume 3:  「一休さん、ーその二ー」.

安国寺                Ankokuji, a historic temple near Fukushima.
本堂                   main temple building
仏様                   Buddha
ろうそく            candle
おしょうさん     high priest
お坊さん            priest
お経                   sutra, Buddhist scripture
息をかける       breathe
困った               troubled
連れる               take someone somewhere
橋                       bridge.  (Fun fact:  it's haSHI not HAshi.  Pitch accents)
渡る                   cross over
ニコニコ           with a smile.  But it shows up here in ひらがな.
端                       edge.  (Also haSHI)
真ん中               middle

Japanese Graded Readers 1:2:7: 寿司・すし・SUSHI

いくら                       salted salmon roe
トロ                           fatty tuna
わぁい                       Wow
まぐろ                       tuna
たい                           sea bream
赤貝                           ark shell clam
ほたて                       scallops
さび抜きて               抜きて is omit.  Best I can figure is that さび is a typo or an
                                   abbreviation for わさび. ?
ネタ                           top side of nigiri (the part that's not rice)
つけます                   apply (sauce)
鮒ずし                       a type of sushi made from salted aged fish
いなり寿司               sushi in fried tofu
押し寿司                   sushi rice and ingredients pressed in a mold
にぎり寿司/握り寿司: sushi with a blob of rice topped with something, often fish
ちらし寿司               sushi rice in a bowl with ingredients sprinkled on top
屋台:                          food cart
値段が変わります   price varies
すし飯                       sushi rice
塩鮭                           salted salmon

A mnemonic table for vocabulary; reading to the kid

私は時々mnemonicsを作ります, for vocabulary (not just kanji).  Here's a page that has the spreadsheet I have used.  It's a great way to make funny stories to help remember the word.  I admit I use it sparingly.  But you might like it.

https://www.mechakoichi.com/mnemonic-method-for-learning-japanese-vocabulary/

In other news:  I've started reading Japanese Graded Readers to my son.  He is interested enough in the stories he can tolerate the constant back-and-forth between Japanese and English.  I think it would drive me crazy. :)

Japanese Graded Readers 0:2:8, 11-12

わに                      gator
おかえりなさい    Welcome home
がんばって           Go for it/do your best
助けて　　　        Help!

漢字が終わりました！

誉, honor:                   A table loaded with gifts, and a speech, in honor of your amazing wonderfulness.
庸 , ordinary, work:    Hand using mortar and pestle in a shop -- just an ordinary job.
粛, solemn, quietly:   Hand quietly secrets rice into a dark, foreboding pool.  This
                                   matches the etymology though there's no water symbol apparent.
濁, impure:                  Use net to sieve bugs out of the water -- that's one gross stream.
陥, collapse:                You're carring something from days gone by, by the handle…
                                    you'll stumble if you try to traverse that hill.
墜, fall:                        Army unit 隊 falls to the ground 土.
華, flower, petal, showy: Maybe it looks like a showy flower, plus the grass symbol at
                                    top.
From earlier:  

徴, indications:           At the crossroads near the mountains, the king seeks teaching
                                    to learn the signs.  So now:
微, secret, tiny, 1 millionth:       At the crossroads near the mountains, he learns a
                                   most secret , tiny teaching:   the millionth digit of pi.


ヤッターーー! 終わりました！2018年4月21日土曜日.  And my last 漢字, the final, tiny bit of my secret code (only shared by about a billion people but who's counting?), is 微, び.  I think I will give a 微小：a smile.

Japanese Graded Readers 2:2:9: トルストイ民話集

ルパシカ  kupashka:  peasant shirt.  I'd never heard of it either.  The picture suggests it's
                something ornate and nice, not very peasant-y.  IDK, but it's not just
                "shirt" or the story's end makes no sense.
よく         good.  So よくなる, become good, means to get well
-なさい    please do.  As in:  買いなさい, 持ってきなさい.
なくて     not need.  Inflected ない.  IDK.
民話         folklore
-集           collection

Japanese Graded Readers 1:3:12: 着物

奈良時代                Nara period: 700's.  Nara as the capital (mostly).     
平安時代                Heian period: 794-1185.  Buddhism introduced.  Mostly peaceful
                               (平安 means peace).
鎌倉時代                Kamakura period:  1185-1333.  Samurai developed, Mongol horde.
室町時代                Muromachi period:  1336-1573.  Zen, contact with West,
                              Christianity banned.
江戸時代                Edo period:  1603-1868.  Tokugawa shogunate, Edo as capital,
                              isolationism, what I'd call high culture.
明治時代                Meiji period:  1868-1912.  Meiji's reign.  Japan industrializes.
大正時代                Taisho period: 1912-1926.  Tiasho's reign.
昭和時代                Showa period: 1926-1989.  Hirohito's reign.

小袖                       basic Japanese robe, short-sleeved
袴                          divided skirt, especially for men
帯                          obi (belt)
成人                       adult
花嫁                       bride
花婿                       groom
羽織                       formal coat
留袖                       married woman's ceremonial kimono

Japanese Graded Readers 2:2:8: 一寸法師 (One-inch boy)

一寸              1 "sun," about 3 inches
法師              boy, apparently
打出              strike/tap
小槌              gavel
打出の小槌  magic hammer that can give you wishes

Japanese Graded Readers 2:1:5: 一休さん

お坊さん                   boy/priest
安国寺                       Ankokuji, a temple
仏教                           Buddhism
茶碗                           teacup/tea bowl
将軍                           shogun
縄                               rope
つかまえます           catch
早く                           quickly
出して                       take out

B&N out; Amazon in

I was linking to B&N for printed content, but they've booted me both from their affiliate program (no surprise; this blog gets very little traffic) and from selling my used books through them.  The latter was annoying, because some of these books are pricey, and selling them back can take out some of the sting.  So I've taken down those links and replaced them with Amazon links.

Ah, well, Amazon rules the world.

So eventually I'll be selling back those graded readers through Amazon.

And if I haven't mentioned Amazon Japan... I should.  Shipping is high to North America as you'd expect.  But they've got the stuff.  They've got stuff on Kindle.  You can set it so that it talks to you in English, which helps.  Check it out.

漢字を仕上げろ -- 第3節

賓, VIP/guest:               One 一, or a few 少, paying 貝 people under our roof 宀.
繁, luxurian:                  It'll take every 毎 beating stick 攵 you've got to get
                                       through these thready 糸 vines.
寛, tolerant/feeling at home:  Under my roof宀, looking 見 over the details 艹
                                      together 共 , feeling OK with it all.  共 isn't there, but I'm reaching here.
玄, hidden/occult:         Picture a small thread hidden under a lid.
畜, livestock:                Taxman says, Where's your livestock? I hid them away. 
                                       In the field.
蓄, amass/raise:           If you want to amass livestock, you're going to need grass.
寡, widow:                    Only one head 頁 under the roof  宀 as she's been divided 分 from her husband.
景, scenery:                  Sun over the capitol 京 makes it a good day for sightseeing.
影, shadows:                Sunbeams 彡 on the scenery cast shadows.
範, model/limit:             Person slumped by car, because he's disappointed to find it's only a bamboo model.
窮, destitute/cornered: Two individuals, one self 身 and another 己 (but that one's got a tail -- homeless man and his dog? hiding under a roof:  cornered and desititute.

Alternatively, let it be one self hiding under a roof -- but he's got a bow 弓 so watch out!  The first is more historically accurate, if that matters.

賓繁寛玄畜蓄寡景影範窮

Japanese Graded Readers 2:1:2: 桃太郎

返して                        return
何回もいいました    said many times
旗                                flag
きじ                            pheasant
暮らしました            lived (as in, happily ever after)

漢字を仕上げろ -- 第2節; koohi mnemonics

So I see that koohi.com lets you browse other people's mnemonics.  It seems like a good idea for these few remaining kanji.

Oh, wow, these are weird.  Maybe just weird enough to use.

I'll still make my own here:

匿, hide:            A young 若 one should hide in a nook, with an air hole
                            to the right.  (Maybe we're in a fairy tale.)
鎖, chain:          Metal 金 that is sparkly (the lines going all round) to the eye 目.
                            Like a watch chain, in the Japanese Graded Reader story
                            クリスマスプレセント("The Gift of the Magi" by O'Henry.)
累, involvement/continually:  Your mind (田, as in 思う) continually follows
                           the thread of whatever you're involved with.
覇, supremacy/champion:   At the rodeo, the champ is the one who dares to make
                           his flesh 肉 go up to the wild cow 革 and put a hat 覀 on it.

...but these are inspired by koohi's peanut gallery.

尋, inquire:       The top is a broom. The middle is エロ, which is 日本語で
                           "erotica," e-ro.  The bottom is sometimes a hand.  So:  You're
                           sweeping under the bed and pull out エロ with your hand.  Looks
                           like somebody has some 'splaining to do.
逓, relay/parcel post:  Put a cornstalk (the thing with the 2 crossbars and roots
                           in a package (the roof-y thing) and send it on its way.
敏, cleverness: Cleverness is grasping every 毎 teaching 攵.  (Not koohi.)
繁, luxuriant:     A clever one can make thread into luxuriant cloth.



匿鎖累覇尋逓敏繁