The Opposite Words In Japanese

伊達メガネ

伊達メガネ (だてめがね) - glasses that are just a fashion accessory, not something one needs because of bad eyesight

The first word, 伊達, means “elegance, having style, doing something just for show” and メガネ is, of course, “glasses”.

Sometimes, when we are presenting, our bodies act completely irrationally. Sweating, stuttering, or just shutting down completely are all things I have encountered during public speaking; behaviour that is usually connected to extreme danger and fleeing behaviour. Completely unnecessary, as your teacher won’t kill you (hopefully), but trying to convince your body to be just as rational is a tough task. Turns out that this is exactly what we’re going to do. 

The basis for this (personal) advice all lies in my musical training, where posture is extremely important. Performance practice lessons have taught me one important thing: you can trick your body into thinking it’s okay, and with that, your audience. disclaimer: I have posted this information before in a slightly different way. Regard this as an updated version. Hopefully one with better spelling.

hoooooow???

Stand up and try to follow these instructions. I’m your only audience right now, so mistakes aren’t a problem. 

Start by relaxing your shoulders. Many people tense their shoulders when they’re anxious, which is a very natural reaction. However, tension in your shoulder automatically reaches through to your back and arms, and even your neck, tensing up your entire upper body. It’s confirming to your brain that yes! this is scary! Well, brain is wrong and we’re going to prove it wrong by relaxing our shoulders. Just let them hang down (make sure you don’t start leaning forward though, it should be just your shoulders). Doesn’t that immediately feel more relaxed?

Keep your feet a little bit apart, firm on the ground. This sends the message to your brain and audience that a single push will not have you fall over. Standing with your legs closely together simply isn’t as stable, and you want to radiate stability and confidence. Even if you’re feeling dizzy, this simple way of pretending will keep your feet on the ground. Literally. 

Chin up, back straight, eyes at the audience. I used to tend to look at the ground, or to lean forward. No, no no! You want to maintain an open posture, and to address the entire audience. When you do this, you’ll look more secure, and maybe you’ll even notice people will listen to you more closely. Make sure you address the entire room, and not just one spot. if you’re scared to look at faces, look at the back wall. But not just one spot, find some nice different wall spots to look at. 

What to do with your hands? I know I used to put my hands in my pocket, or fidget with something. Instead, try to talk with your hands more. When you’re using gestures, people will usually pay more attention to what you’re saying, and they’ll sometimes understand more easily (if you’re interested as to why, message me). 

Do not hide. This is special advice to musicians, too. I used to hide behind my music stand because it was nice and safe. During public speaking it’s easy to hide behind some notes or to stand behind other people of your group, maybe. Don’t. Remember, fake the confident posture till you make it. 

When you’re finished, don’t stop pretending just yet. When people ask how it went, always say it went okay. This is so so so important! Because if you’d say “ugh it was awful!! So many things went wrong, I suck at presenting!” they’ll start thinking hmm, yeah, there were indeed some mistakes… Could have been better. Whereas if you just say it was okay or good, or even decent, they’ll hardly even question it and will most likely remember the positive aspects, as humans tend to do. 

I promise this works, at least to some extent. It may not help you get rid of anxiety right away, especially in really severe cases, but it can help you feel more at ease in front of a group. After that, you can start working on other things, such as volume, intonation, powerpoint use etc. 

Just take a few seconds before you start talking to breathe, focus on those muscles, and to follow this with an amazing presentation (and a good grade). 

You can always send me an ask for advice on public speaking! Even though I’m not a professional coach or whatever, I have overcome my speaking anxiety and maybe I can be of any help at all <3

Japanese Counters

Counting in Japanese may seem difficult when you first try to tackle it. That’s because of all of the different counters used. Instead of thinking of them as a new speaking rule, try to think of them in the same way as they are used in English. For example; 12 PIECES of paper 6 SLICES of pizza 4 BOWLS of soup and so on Here are the counters you’ll need to know

 人(にん/ nin) > People 

  一人 (ほとり/ hitori) > one person 

 二人 (ふたり/ futari) > two people 

 三人 (さんにん/ sannin) > three people 

 四人 (よんにん/ yonnin) > four people 

 五人 (ごにん/ gonin) > five people 

冊 (さつ/ satsu) > Bound Objects  

一冊 (いっさつ/ issatsu) > one bound object 

二冊(にさつ/ nisatsu) > two bound objects 

三冊(さんさつ/ sansatsu) > three bound obj. 

四冊(よんさつ/ yonsatsu) > four bound obj. 

五冊(ごさつ/gosatsu) > five bound obj. 

台 (だい/ dai) > Mechanical Items 

一台(いちだい/ ichidai) >one mechanical obj. 

二台(にだい/nidai)> two mechanical obj. 

三台(さんだい/sandai)> three mechanical obj 

四台(よんだい/yondai)> four mechanical obj. 

五台(ごだい/godai)> five mechanical obj. 

杯 (はい/ hai) > Liquid in glasses, cups, or bowls 

一杯(いっぱい/ippai)> one cup/glass/bowl of 

二杯(にはい/nihai) > two cups/glasses/bowls 

三杯(さんはい/sanhai)> 3 cups/glasses/bowls 

枚 (まい/ mai) > Thin Flat Objects -

一枚(いちまい/ichimai)> one piece of paper 

二枚(にまい/nimai)> two pieces paper 

三枚(さんまい/sanmai)>three pieces of paper 

四枚(よんまい/yonmai)>four pieces of paper 

五枚(ごまい/gomai)>five pieces of paper 

本 (ほん/ hon) > Long Cylindrical Items 

一本(いっぽん/ippon)> one pencil** 

二本(にっぽん/nippon)>two pencils 

三本(さんぼん/sanbon)>three pencils 

四本(よんほん/yonhon)>four pencils 

五本(ごほん/gohon)> five pencils

匹 (ひき/ hiki) > Animals 

一匹 (いっぴき/ippiki) >one animal 

二匹 (にひき/nihiki) > two animals 

三匹 (さんびき/sanbiki) > three animals 

四匹 (よんひき/yonhiki) > four animals 

五匹 (ごひき/gohiki) > five animals 

 **pencil was used here just as an example of a long cylindrical object. 

~In most situations the Chinese origin numbers are used for the counters listed above, but note the words for 1 person and 2 people employ the native Japanese numbers. 

 Here are the native Japanese Numbers: 

 一つ > ひとつ > hitotsu > one 

二つ > ふたつ > futastu > two

三つ > みっつ > mittsu > three 

四つ > よっつ > yottsu > four 

五つ > いつつ > itsutsu > five 

六つ > むっつ > muttsu > six 

七つ > ななつ > nanatsu > seven 

八つ > やっつ > yattsu > eight 

九つ > ここのつ > kokonotsu > nine 

十 > とお > too > ten 

**Native numbers are used for things like round objects, furniture, mountains, starts, and other very abstract ideas I also made a song for memorizing the native numbers a while ago, if you’re interested : http://youtu.be/MOupUC5WGVI For example: 

1.) 問題が二つあります。>mondai ga futatsu arimasu> there are two problems.  

2.) ソファーを一つ買います。>Sofaa wo hitotsu kaimasu > I will buy one sofa 3.) 紙が二十三枚あります。>kami ga nijuusan-mai arimasu > There are 23 pieces of paper 

4.)犬が一匹います。> inu ga ippiki imasu > There is one dog.

There’s this theory that in any given language, there are 600 basic words that are really, really good to know, because, you guessed it, they are the most common. Up next: a long list of determiners, including numbers (below the cut because wow, long).

this　－　これ

that　－　それ・あれ

my　－　私の（わたし）

your　－　あなたの

his　－　彼の（かれ）

her　－　彼女の（かのじょ）

It’s a bit rude to use ‘his’ and ‘her’ like this (and 彼女 by itself often means ‘girlfriend’, too), so often you’d use [name]の instead for the same result.

its　－　Nounの

our　－　私達の（わたしたち）

all　－　全部（ぜんぶ）・全て（すべて）

some　－　何らか（なん）

no　－　ありません・ない・なし

any　－　何でも（なん）

many　－　たくさん

much　－　多い（おお）

more　－　もっと

a few　－　少ない（すく）

several　－　複数（ふくすう）

whole　－　全体（ぜんたい）

a little　－　少し（すこ）

a lot of　－　大いに（おお）

both　－　両方（りょうほう）・とも

neither　－　も (In a negative sentence!)

each　－　それぞれ

every　－　毎〇〇

Ex.　毎年（まいとし）＝every year

other　－　他の（ほか）

another　－　もう

same　－　同じ（おなじ）

different　－　違う（ちがう）

such　－　そういう

Keep reading

There are two forms of sentence structure you can use with prepositions.

topic は something の position(preposition) に　あります・います

something の position に subject が あります・います

Boston Post, Massachusetts, April 3, 1921

03.10.17 // 23/100 days of productivity // handwritten

i’ve decided that alongside my general duolingo/lingodeer/etc app time, i’m going to devote my handwritten studies to the stuff I’d need to pass the JLPT N5. I’ve missed the cutoff for this year, but I figure that gives me ample time to make sure i’m fully prepared for next year! Also, I’ve been woeful in my kanji study, so it’s probably a good idea to start taking it seriously.

it’s also day 3 of @athenastudying ‘s October Study Challenge! I keep forgetting about the time difference and getting confused as to why i’m a day ahead  (o>艸<)

ig: @hinodestudies

A small list of verbs! Tomorrow I will post a note sheet for conjugating verbs. For now, just remember that ます is present tense when dealing with verbs. 

指切り

ゆびきり- “finger cut-off”- pinky promise

In Japan, they say a song when pinky promising.

指切

ゆびきり

Finger cut-off

拳万、

げんまん

ten thousand fist-punchings 

(拳万 means if you break your promise you get punched 10,000 times. 拳万 can also be told as “linking little fingers to confirm a promise”.)

嘘ついたら

うそついたら

whoever lies 

針千本呑ます

はり せんぼん の〜ます

has to swallow a thousand needles.

指切った。

and cut my finger.