Tuesday, November 13, 2007

En-wa Nihongo doko desu ka?



I know an iddy bitty bit of Japanese. My wife and I actually took several months of conversational Japanese tutoring before our last visit but I have forgotten most of it from non-use. The phrase in the title means, "where is the Japanese garden?" Or a more important "where" question, "toiru-wa doko desu ka?" Where is the toilet? The ever-popular gaijin phrases, "kippu, ni hon, onegeashimasu" (two tickets, please) or "biru, kudesai" (beer, please). You can always fall back on "Nihongo-wa wakarimasu sen. Eigo-wa wakarimasu ka?" That is, I don't speak Japanese. Do you speak English? Now I could have written any of that incorrectly but I'd never realize it now. Just basic language in Japanese isn't too hard but counting things is fiendishly difficult for Westerners. It takes forever to explain why so Google it if you are curious.

The Japanese Garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden contains this lovely little zig-zag path over the water's edge. In season, the planter boxes peaking up through the surface are bursting with irises.

TOMORROW: If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

5 comments:

Olivier said...

bravo, cela ne doit etre pas facile d'apprendre le Japonais, moi qui n'arrive deja pas a apprendre l'anglais ;o)

Bravo, this should not be hard to learn Japanese, I who do not already a learning English ;o)

Anonymous said...

I didn't understand a bit of the title but I know a picture that I like!

Kate said...

Everything is so well groomed and maintained!

Anonymous said...

kao ga iyode...(that's all i know and i'm not sure but it means something like very beautiful--of course I was thrilled to be able to use it here!)

Hyderabad Daily Photo said...

Indeed it is difficult. But from the point of view of the Japanese people, it must be difficult to learn English as well - a loaf of bread, a slice of bread and so on. Here is an interesting article about how difficult Japanese is. It is called "So you want to learn Japanese".
http://www.gastonl.com/?p=900

There is a good site for just listening and learning Japanese.
http://www.japanesepod101.com
It used to have a basic section which was free, but I think the site has changed now and only the eval period is free. Nonetheless it is a good one for those visiting Japan and want to pick up the language and culture.