Archive for 'Language'
Yes or NO – tag questions Posted by eriko1 on Oct 21, 2021
This time, I am going to talk about tag questions (付加疑問文 fuka gimonbun). I know that these are confusing to Japanese students learning English, and I bet the Japanese learners must be sharing the same confusion (混乱 konran). So what is a tag question in English? You didn’t go to see the movie last night…
Variety Makes Life Richer – Writing System Posted by eriko1 on Aug 27, 2021
Like many people in the world, I started playing Animal Crossing New Horizon on a Nintendo Switch that my son had brought back from Kyoto. It was extremely hard to get one in the US or Japan due to the very high demand (需要 jyuyo), so that was great. The great thing about the Switch…
Be careful not to be ディスられる by trying to be hip Posted by eriko1 on Mar 24, 2021
In the last blog (Flattening Accents), I wrote about the trend of flattening accents. I am going to list more language trends (トレンドtorendo) among Japanese young people in this blog. Combine English words+ suffix ru バズる （buzz + ru) = to go viral ディスるor disる (disrespect + ru) = to disrespect ググる (google + ru) = to…
Flattening Accents Posted by eriko1 on Mar 15, 2021
I have been always interested in teenage vernacular (特有の言葉 tokuyu no kotoba). My senior thesis was on the teenage vernacular in Southern California. Teenagers are experts (専門家senmonka) in creating new words as they are not bound by rules. They are creative in any language. Some new words are born and die, while others gain status…