About Japanese and English expression etc

I study listening English everyday. Sometimes I find very interesting English expressions. I think many non-Japanese would think same thing which I feel when they study Japanese. There are many phrases in Japanese too. Those are not a problem for me. But English ones are difficult.



I use a study materials for first grade English test. I think most of all Japanese don't understand what "Yeah, I've been meetings where you could cut the tension with a knife" mean immediately. It sounds someone cut something strained, I thought might be someone injured someone's extended arm or something. At least, It would take some seconds to image tension with a knife means intense atmosphere. "Knife" is confusing.



There are very difficult words too. "arthroscopic surgery", "bone spur", "magnetic resonance imaging". "arthroscopic" is not commonly used word. I didn't know what "bone spur" mean even in Japanese. As to last one, I know MRI but I didn't know the word "magnetic resonance imaging". I can image MRI from "Magnetic" and "resonance", but I would miss hearing during I am imaging it. When I take a test, I often skip hearing unknown word though.



We use "MRI" or "MR" in Japanese too. I have entered into it several times. Some contracted word is better to understand but there are contracted word I can't understand. For example, "VCR". When I hear this word for the first time, I felt my blood stream has stopped because I got be confused. We don't use this contracted word in Japanese. And I forgot about Video cassette recorder because I use DVD since several years ago. I was confused by "GPA" too. I may understand "Grade point average" though.



There are many words which seems to be easy to understand but difficult to understand immediately. "Fast-forward", "Earthshine", "High explosive", "brainchild". I have to hear and understand immediately some English words which I haven't hear on the test. I can understand some words by understanding context. Those are easy words for reading test. But these can be difficult on listening test. Its speaker speaks very fast for Japanese.In the case of that there are another words which I don't know, those words can confuse me.



I think my friend who study Japanese read this blog. Well, for example, you know 隔靴掻痒? It sounds Kakkasouyou(かっかそうよう）. This word is from China. It means "frustrating". Some people sometimes use this word but this is not common word in conversation. I think it is difficult to image the meaning for non-Japanese. 隔(Kak,かっ,) means disagreement, distance, gap, interrupt, interval, remove and etc. 靴(Ka,か) means shoes. 掻(sou, そう) means to have a scratch on something. 痒(you,よう) means itch. I think no one can understand what this word mean immediately except people already leaned this word.　"隔靴掻痒たる感があります。, Kakkasouyou taru kan ga arimasu" means "I am frustrating". I think Japanese people would be astonished by you if you use this word. haha. It is a very formal word but it is not common. This word is originated from Chinese classic literature, I like this kind of words.



風林火山(Fuu-rin-ka-zan) may be difficult to understand. This is very famous in Japan. This word is originated from Sun Tzu. 風 means wind. 林 means grove, (forest?). 火 means fire. 山　means mountain. Many Japanese understand what this phrase means. It is a contracted word of 疾如風、徐如林、侵掠如火、不動如山. It means, well, "Fast action is like wind, quietness is like forest, invasion is like fire, no-moving is like mountain." A war lord, 武田信玄(Takeda ShIngen), used the word as letters of a army flag. This year, NHK is broadcasting a Drama about a strategist of Takeda Shingen. Its original piece was written by 井上靖 (Inoue Yasushi.). It reminds me that my friend said it is written by 横山やすし(Yokoyama Yasushi). But 横山やすし(Yokoyama Yasushi) is a comedian. I think Japanese would understand the humor. As I recall, Inoue Yasushi was a prospect for Novel Prize but Kawabata Yasunari get the prize, I'm not sure though. I prefer Inoue Yasushi to Kawabata Yasunari.



The novel 風林火山 was written by Inoue Yasushi some decades ago. It was my first history novel book to read. I was 9 years old and I became a big fan of history novels since then. I become good with Japanese class thanks to the novel. The TV drama is arranged and the story line is so interesting. I think people in San Francisco would see the Drama in English in near future.



Well, to learn English is fun. I have to watch baseball game.



Have a nice day.



I took the photo at Yasukuni shrine.