apocolypse writing & japanese

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Perisie . Jul 16 2010 00:43. Posts 801

someone on tlnet recommended the book Earth Abides. its about a guy who goes by himself up a mountain and when he comes back civilisation is destroyed. you can get it on thepiratebay (post apopcolypse ebook collection).

the book is written very simply which encouraged me to try my own version. usually i overcomplicate my writing spending hourrrs on a few paragraphs trying to reword my cleverness again and again. but this is showing me that you can just write simply and straight forward and its still really interesting because its a continual exploration/journey.

***
The night air was warm and still. I lay back on the bonnet of my car, a white cigarette between my pursed lips, and stared at the stars. I thought of how small we were beneath that bespeckaled black sheet. How the sky formed a blanket that encased our world so that the sounds of a cricket were as significant as one million miles.

It had been thirteen days since I had any glimpse of humanity, yet I was no more lonely than when I had first arrived. My studies had continued to be engaging and my supplies plentiful - although there were a few unlucky afternoons where fish had been particularly evaisive. The log cabin I had hired stood leak-free around my warm bed and I felt secure in this vacation as if I was in the tallest of hotels.

The issue with the gas, which had ran out abruptly during dinner, would be rectified by a short drive to town tomorrow morning. As the thought crossed my mind I became conscious of the car beneath me and wondered if it would start alright. A quick test of the ignition put my concern at rest. Walking to town was not a problem, but the hassle of organising repairs in the middle of my solitude was a sour thought.

I settled back on the bonnet and closed my eyes, listening half-heartedly as bats flittered between brushy trees and insects chimed like rusty bells. I felt some insurmountable peace with the world, as if all of perfect beauty was contained in my private spot above the valley. No other noise nor oily touch nor prong of fear could spoil my little world.

The following morning...
***

as you all know i started learning hiragana. the other day i read a bit more about japanese and found its a lotttttttttttt harder than i imagined.

japanese writing consists of:

a) hiragana. these are about 40 symbols that denote specific phonetics. eg there is a symbol for "ni", "ka", "yo" etc.

b) katakana. these are about 40 different symbols that are used instead of hiragana when the word is eg certain names, certain non-native words like "television"

c) kanji. these are 2000+ unique symbols that represent individual words, and are used in most writing such as books and newspapers.

d) kanji can have multiple meanings, which you can figure out by their context in a sentence (and maybe by pronounciation?)

e) each kanji has TWO completely different pronounciations that must be learnt. these are used depending on whether the kanji is used by itself or in combination with other words.

EXAMPLE:

the word "tree"
is written with a unique kanji symbol
is pronounced "moku", "boku" or "ki" depending on how it is used in a sentence
can be written using hiragana

although japanese grammar seems (at first glance) really simple, actually writing japanese is seriously hard!!!

here is a table of the 2000 essential kanji , from wiki

learning just those would be straight forward if you didnt have to learn TWO+ completely different pronounciations for each one!

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Last edit: 16/07/2010 00:48

Perisie . Jul 16 2010 14:14. Posts 801

why has my awesome story blog got only 6 views is there something wrong with the title ? :/

Jhyun88 United States. Jul 16 2010 16:32. Posts 1383

Sounds like you're writing a poem more than a story lol...

I want to try learning Japanese too! Seriously considering trying it. I speak Korean and English fluently but seems nowadays knowing 2 languages is pretty much basic. I must know 3 or 4!

Japanese pronunciation doesn't seem very difficult as it's sorta similar to Korean and I'm used to hearing a lot of Japanese :x
I wonder what would be a good place to start

Perisie . Jul 16 2010 17:28. Posts 801

japanese pronounciation is very very easy, and grammatically its quite simple too (i think)

but learning japanese writing is a monster of a task

theres only 1 way to start...and thats by memorising hiragana, then katakana, then kanji and their pronounciations

at the same time you can "apply" what you've learnt by making sentences and learning the grammer

feel free to join me on our quest, add me to msn or skype and we can practice together with simple greetings etc