Learn to Read Japanese: Firefox Furigana Add-Ons

If you’re a student of Japanese and have gotten into hiragana and kanji, you’re probably familiar with “furigana”. “Furigana” is the name for the tiny hiragana (alphabet) written above or to the right of a kanji to show how it's pronounced, which can vary depending on several factors. 

(Images courtesy Wikimedia Commons.)

Seen mostly in children’s books to help the little guys along, or for adults when a rare kanji is used, furigana are also found in textbooks for learners of Japanese. But what if you could add furigana above kanji in online text, any text, turning any Web page into an instant learning opportunity?

It sounds too good to be true, but as I learned today there are Firefox add-ons for just that. :D Here are two:

Furigana Inserter

Ahahahahhaa… oh dear God, I spent over an hour trying to get this to work, with the teasing promise of “furigana anywhere online” driving me on. Remember the old “The princess is in another castle?” video game line? Imagine an add-on like that.

“Download this… and this… and this… oh, and this thing you’ll need to download to open the third thing, and oh yeah, you’ll need to have a special program to run this one, and another program to get the first special program to run, and I hope you're a coder because we're doing shell commands…”

The only reason I’m even mentioning this one is because I’m on a Mac and perhaps the install is easier on other platforms. No tips because I couldn't get it installed.

Furigana Injector

So, beaten, buried under downloads, and about to give up, I remembered that somewhere someone had mentioned a different add-on, this one called “Furigana Injector”.

I went. I clicked. I followed directions. All in all, three minutes later I had this beautiful Web page to look at!

This is an article about the World Cosplay Summit going on now in Nagoya, if you're curious. :)

Tips for Injector: When you install, it lets you set the level of kanji you want to ignore and not put furigana over. The lowest level leaves out the easiest 100 kanji.

However, if you'd like all kanji with furigana, you can change that once it installs. Open Firefox, go to Tools, Add-Ons, and then click the Preferences button for Furigana Injector. Erase all the kanji in the text box and then close the box.

On another note, the installation instructions say a little 振 icon will appear in your status bar, but I don't have one. Instead I go to the section of the webpage I want, right click, select "Inject" from the  振 dropdown menu, and give it a second. The "Inject Whole Page" option doesn't work for me, but I've read from other users that it may just be slow depending on what page you're on.

Injector doesn't play nice with the awesome dictionary app Rikaichan, meaning you won't be able to mouse over with Rikaichan after you've added furigana. Rikaichan will also tell you pronunications when you mouse over words, but I prefer the all-at-once "textbook" presentation of Injector, and will probably just do a run-through with Rikaichan for words I don't know before adding Injector to help me read through an article.

So it's not a perfect fit for a Mac, but considering what it does and that it does it for free, I'm quite happy with it. :D

Have you had experience with either of these add-ons or a different one? Let me know what you think of them.

 

A Happy 2012 to You and Yours!

The Year of the Dragon is almost here! I hope all of you, my readers, have a happy, healthy, and successful 2012. :)

In Japanese, there are two ways to say "Happy New Year!" One is said leading up to the 1st and figuratively means "I hope you have a good year." Literally it's "Please welcome a good year."

良いお年をお迎えください。
"Yoi otoshi wo (omukae kudasai)."
yoh ee oh toh shee oh oh moo kai koo dah sigh

As soon as the clock changes to midnight, the greeting becomes:

新年あけましておめでとうございます！
"Shinnen akemashite omedetou (gozaimasu)!"
Shee nen ah kay mash tay oh meh day toh go zai mahs

...which is literally "Congratulations on the opening of the new year!" but is the equivalent of "Happy New Year!"

If the person you're talking or writing to is a coworker, teacher, or someone you work with, etc. you can also add:

今年もよろしくお願いします。
"Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu."
koh toh shee moh yoh rosh koo oh neh guy shee mahs

This means "Let's do our best together this year as well," implying a continuing working relationship between the two of you.

Getting Started With Japanese Calligraphy

"The Four Treasures" (文房四宝 bunbou-shihou) is a nickname for the tools of traditional Japanese calligraphy: the brush, the inkstone, ink and paper. I find doing calligraphy very soothing and relaxing, because it's simple and straightforward and allows me to focus wholly on the writing in front of me and leave behind whatever stress or worries I've got at the moment.

If you've ever wanted to try this fun and challenging art for yourself, called shodou 書道 in Japanese, check out this video I found for a simple, short introduction.



She's simplified her set-up for beginners, which is nice, and has skipped the traditional paper in favor of thicker, more forgiving printer paper. If you don't have any tools at all, you can still try shodou out. Here's what you need and what you can substitute until you can get ahold of the real deals, if you decide to pursue shodou further. :)

1. Calligraphy brush - Any painting brush with a pointed tip
2. Japanese calligraphy paper - Printer paper or newspaper.
3. Sumi ink - India ink, black watercolor paint mixed with just enough water to become liquid. (Normally you grind an inkstick onto an inkstone to make your ink, but that's a skill in itself so many students use pre-bottled ink for practice.)

For practice, here are a few characters animated to show you how to write them:

Easy: Heart - Kokoro (koh-koh-roh)

Medium: Beauty - Bi (bee)

Hard: Love - Ai (eye)

Beyond the tools needed, the biggest tip I would give is to be sure you're following the correct stroke order when you write each character. Kanji, the Chinese characters imported into the Japanese language, have a correct way they are written.

If you follow the correct stroke order, your character will look much better than trying to wing it on your own. If you're learning the Japanese language, calligraphy can be a great way to reinforce your handwriting skills in general by practicing stroke order every time you write a character.

Most kanji dictionaries will tell you stroke order, and several sites online can help as well. The one I used above is Yamasa Online Kanji Dictionary, a site that gives animated stroke order examples for basic kanji.

Jim Breen's "Kanji Lookup" is more thorough. Choose from the dropdown menu how you want to find the kanji, enter your info, then click on the calligraphy brush symbol on the far right of the definition to get an animation that shows where to begin in red.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions, and I'll help if I can. Good luck! :)

Learning Japanese with Lang-8

If you don't have the time or money to pursue formal classes, learning a foreign language can be tricky and discouraging. Interaction with native speakers can be hard to come by, especially if you're in an area where there just aren't many to begin with.

Lang-8 is an amazing example of the power of the Internet. Relying on the basic goodness of people, it works more or less like this: You keep a journal in the language you're learning, and native speakers will correct what you write. In return, you correct journals written in your own native language.

While there is a premium version with some nice features, Lang-8 is free to use. If you are at a level where you can read and write basic sentences in at least hiragana (the most basic Japanese alphabet), I'd definitely recommend it for Japanese-language learners.

The only thing that I don't like about Lang-8 is that I'm not sure at times of what's appropriate (for example, if you friend someone, do you have to correct all of their entries they ever make? How long of an entry can you make and reasonably expect others to correct it? etc. ) but I guess as with a lot of the new social media the rules are still being made up as we all go along.

If you decide you'd like to try Lang-8 out for Japanese, here's a handy phrase you can use when someone corrects your entry. 添削をありがとうございます。(Tensaku wo arigatou gozaimasu - Thank you for your corrections.)

Learn Japanese with Maru!

You've probably seen the adorable Japanese cat "Maru" of Youtube fame, but if you're studying written Japanese, the blog Maru's owner keeps for him is a great way to practice your reading skills outside of a textbook and have fun at the same time.

Two nice features are that Maru's owner includes English translations and usually writes in the polite -masu form for the Japanese, so it's a good mix of both authentic Japanese and beginner-friendly structure.

Here's the blog and below is one of Maru's videos:

Translations: Yukata Fashion - Anecan July 2010

Over on the Immortal Geisha forums, user "tzippurah" is known for uploading a ton of Japanese magazine scans related to kimono. I asked her for permission to translate and repost some of her scans as there's not a lot of translation into English about kimono and such. And it's a fun way for me to work on my Japanese!

She kindly agreed and has my great thanks: I'm not sure when or how often I'll be putting translations up, but I'll try to do a variety of things.

Today is a spread from Anecan July 2010 focusing on women's yukata (summer kimono). The small print is too tiny for me to read, but from what I can see most of it is outfit rundowns with the usual ad copy, item name, and cost list.

(I think in the translation process I learned about six new ways to say "stylish"!)

 Red and pink: eternally beloved colors! With the colors of "Scarlet and Cherry Blossoms," a subtle cuteness for adults… Whether in Western-style clothing or Japanese, red and pink are popular colors.

If you are a maiden dressed in the color and pattern of cherry blossoms, is the old saying "People prefer eating dango sweets to looking at flowers" really true after all?

Wishing for stylish florals… through the magic of yukata, a prediction likely to come true!

 "White and Off-White": a beauty of quiet elegance

A white yukata ensemble finished with crisp designs: must-have accessory? A heart that loves chic sophistication.

 Top: Clad in flower designs… If we stand, Chinese peonies. If we sit, tree peonies. When we walk, our silhouettes will be lily flowers, perhaps?

 In "Shades of Indigo and Light Blue", lively girls!

Thumbs up from traditionalists! Let's enjoy midsummer in cool, refreshing colors.

Culture: Rain Woman

Tonight, after a very long dry spell, rain is drumming steadily on the roof of the house. In honor of the storm, our topic is "rain woman", "ame onna" 雨女.


Any woman who rain seems to follow is an "ame onna." If every outdoor party or event you go to gets rained out, you might find yourself being called this.

While in Japan I made friends laugh with my own tweak on this, jokingly labeling myself "jishin onna" (earthquake woman) as it felt like they happened right after I moved to a new place. Of course, when you come from Houston, where the ground never moves, you're a bit hypersensitive to the Earth wiggling. ^_^;

Getting to Know Asia: Mandarin Chinese

Continuing this series, the purpose of which is to help learn what is Japanese by learning what is not, tonight we're going to touch very briefly on the differences between spoken Japanese and spoken Mandarin (Chinese).

It may seem like a random thing to differentiate between, but it can be helpful at times for beginning Japanese learners. (For example, if a friend sends you a Youtube TV clip and wants to know what they're saying, you can at least know that you're not understanding because it's a different language, not because your Japanese is poor.)

Spoken Japanese is largely monotone, like English. We may go up or down depending on our emotions, but the meaning stays the same no matter what our tone is. "Great!", with high-pitched, real excitement, is still "Great." when we drag it out in a lower, sarcastic tone.

Mandarin, on the other hand, has four different tones, and the same word said with each tone has a completely different meaning. There are great audio examples of a single word, "ma", and its different tones and meanings here.

To hear the changing tones of Mandarin in action, check out the opening scene of the 2002 Jet Li action movie Hero, a gorgeous and interesting martial arts movie (the talking starts about two minutes in).

For comparison, watch the trailer for the 2001 Japanese film Onmyoji, an entertaining historical action/mystery about legendary onmyoji (a kind of sorcerer) Abe no Seimei.

Rokuyou: Lucky and Unlucky Days of the Week

If you've ever seen a Japanese calendar, even if you can't read any you might have seen a cycle of kanji characters that appear on each day and repeat after six days.

These are "roku-you" 六曜 (roh-koo-yoh, "six days") and are a traditional sort of repeating horoscope laid down over the normal seven day week.

 A 2010 calendar from Microsoft Office, with the "six days" listed under each date.

The rokuyou days range from luckiest of all, "Tai-an" 大安 ("Big Luck/Peace"), down to "Butsu-metsu" 仏滅 (basically "The Day Buddha Died"), with a range in between of varying luck at different times of day or luck involving your friends.

While people don't pay much attention to the rokuyou in their daily life, they're popular enough that wedding halls charge the most on Tai-an, the most popular and auspicious day for ceremonies, and many funeral halls/crematoriums are closed on "Tomo-biki" (a lucky day outside of noon but also with the meaning of "friend pull"or sharing luck with friends, avoided in the case of the funeral homes due to the desire to keep the deceased from pulling their friends along to the grave).

Language: Counting

English is routinely called one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn. There is one instance, though, where English is nice and easy: counting. One piece of paper, one rose stem, one person. All of these are the word "one".

In Japanese, "one" varies. Long story short, "ichi" (each-ee) is "one" in general, but needs different add-ons to work in some situations and gets replaced entirely in others.

One piece of paper - ichi-mai (-mai is used with things that are flat) 一枚

One bottle of beer/rose stem/etc. - ippon (hon/pon/bon is used with cylinder shapes) 一本

One person - hitori (counting people uses funky exceptions for one or two people, but evens out to regular numbers plus "nin" from three on: hitori (1 people), futari (2 people), san-nin (3 people), yon-nin (4 people), etc. 一人

The good news in counting is that if you're just starting out in Japanese, there's a default general counting system (-tsu) used with many items and understood even if used improperly with things like the examples above.

Hitotsu (1 thing) 一つ
Futatsu (2 things) 二つ
Mittsu (3 things) 三つ

Remember, these are different than if you're just counting out loud, "1, 2, 3", which would be "Ichi, ni, san". Hitotsu and such are used when counting things.

There are many more specific counters, everything from books to animals, but again, if you're just starting don't be overwhelmed and focus on the "tsu" system first. It's how Japanese kids learn themselves, I've been told. :)

Language: A Boring Thing

Another quick post!

Humility is a big deal in Japanese culture, and one of the ways this humility shows is in gift giving. When handing a present to someone, it's good manners to say "Tsumaranai mono desu ga", as you give it. (tsoo mah rah nigh moh noh des gah)

This means "(This is) a boring thing, but... (please accept it)". It doesn't matter if it's the most fun, expensive, fabulous present in the world that you think is a perfect match for the recipient: it still becomes "a boring thing" when you give it and translates more like "Here's a little something I picked up for you..."

Culture: Tallying Up Numbers

In English, if you want to quickly tally up something or count something, you write out four vertical hatch marks and one angled across on the fifth. In Japanese they do it differently: it's still in sets of five, but instead you write the character for "correct", 正, which happens to have five strokes total.

The first is left to right across the top, second is down the middle, third is across to the right, fourth is the left vertical line going down, and last is the horizontal one left to right across the bottom. Here's an animation showing how to write it if that last bit made no sense!

So "two" would be a "T" shape, four would have everything but the bottom line, and so on.

Language: The Lack of "The"

A quick post tonight... sometimes people ask how you say "the" in Japanese. This one is easy: there is no "the" in Japanese. There's also no "a" or "an".

"The dog" = "Inu"
"A dog" = "Inu"

How do you tell the difference? Context is your biggest ally in figuring out if the person is talking about a random dog or a specific one.

While this can be tough for English speakers to get used to, it's better than the opposite case, like in German!

In German everything is male, female or neuter so "the" could be, depending on the grammar, one of five or six (it's been awhile since I've studied!) possibilities.

Language: Japanese Cursing vs. English Cursing

How do you cuss in Japanese? This is one of the questions I sometimes get asked when people find out I can speak (some) Japanese and lived in Japan, but it's not a straightforward situation. (Please skip this post if you're at work or prefer your posts PG-rated.)

With English, cursing is pretty simple. You have certain words that can't ever be used in polite conversation, even if they're directed at life in general and not the person you're talking to.

Japanese isn't that simple, so if you're reading this looking for a laundry list of words that correspond to the English versions, you're SOL. (Sorry, I couldn't resist. ;) ) There are several that are like English curse words in that they are inherently rude enough they're bleeped on TV (I'll leave you to find those for yourself), but compared to English most are more fluid in their meaning.

In Japanese, sometimes a single word can be translated multiple ways into English. "Sugoi" is one of them (and not a curse word!): it can mean "great/awesome/wonderful/amazing/etc.". That's how you have to look at most Japanese curse words and cursing. One word can slide up or down on the "offend-o-meter" depending on how it's used.

"Kuso" (K'soh) is one of them. If you drop your wallet and everything falls out, you might mutter "kuso" to yourself. Here it would be roughly the same as "Damn."

 If you slap it in front of another word, it can become stronger. "Kuso-gaki" ("Gaki" here means boy or child), if you're shouting it at someone, it could in truth be fairly translated as "little bastard", "little shit", or even "fucking brat" if enough anger were behind it (though many anime translators will tone it down to, I imagine, maintain lower ratings?). If you were muttering it to yourself, it'd be closer to "stupid brat" or "damned kid".

Speaking casually when the situation requires you to be more formal is disrespectful enough to count in feeling as cursing as well. There are more levels of speech in Japanese than English, so shifting down a level or more when you're not supposed to shows definite disrespect. It's sort of like if you met the Pope and greeted him with "How's it hanging, Papi?", but several times worse.

This is a problem Japanese-to-English translators can run into when trying to accurately convey meaning in movies, books and anime. The character may literally be saying, for example, "I won't do that," but depending on the level of speech they use the feeling might be more like "The hell I'm doing that!" or "There's no fucking way I'm doing that." Which one do you go with, or do you try to strike a balance?

Anyway, the more you learn, the more you can pick up on these nuances when listening to subbed programs and the more you can enjoy the feel of what's going on.

Culture: Yes, I Hear You vs. Yes, I Will Do That

This is a fine detail that can lead to big misunderstandings, so it's worth mentioning if you're going to be talking with anyone in Japanese.

In Japanese, to show that you're listening to someone, you'll tend to say, moving down the scale of formality, "hai" or "ee" (said "eh") all the way down to the "nn" grunt. All of these words mean "yes" normally, but here they just mean "Yes, I hear you." They do not mean the person agrees with you or agrees to do what you're asking of them.

It's sort of like the English "yeah" or "uh-huhs" you'll hear people use to show they're paying attention.

In Japanese, to show that you have heard and agree to do whatever is being asked of you, you'll often say things like "Wakarimashita" (wah-kah-ree-mah-shta, formal) or "Wakatta" (wah-kah-tta, casual), or "Sou desu"/"Sou da" ("Yes, that's true") if you're simply agreeing wtih their idea or observation.

"Wakarimashita/wakatta" usually means "I understand (lit. I understood or have understood)" but the feeling when you respond to an order or request with it is "I have understood and will do it."

For the anime or movie fans out there, listen carefully when big bosses are giving orders and you'll typically hear some "wakarimashita"s from the underlings.

Language: Ne!

Even if you don't know any Japanese, you can start picking out the word "ne" pretty quickly in anime, movies, or real-life conversations. "Ne" usually appears at the end of sentences and gives the feeling of agreement (ne. ne!) or seeking agreement (ne?).

It's a wonderful short-cut, and once you learn it you may find yourself using it even when you're speaking English (I do with a couple of my fellow Japan ex-pats randomly).

"This is tasty, --isn't it?--" = "Kore wa oishii desu --ne--."

"X, isn't it?" = "X, ne?"
"X, are you?" = "X, ne?"
"X, would he?" = "X, ne?"

You get the idea. All of those cases and others like them in English become "ne" in Japanese. You can even answer with a ne in super casual situations.

"Atsui ne." (It's hot, isn't it?)
"Ne." (Yeah.)

Another easy-to-find example is what I call the "sou desu ne" girls on TV talk shows. "Sou desu ne." (soh des neh) means  "That's so, isn't it?", and these girls, usually young and pretty, sit next to older male hosts and seem to spend most of their time nodding and saying "sou desu ne" in response to whatever the male host is saying (Man: "Our next guest is very talented." Girl: "Sou desu ne."). It can be a bit grating on American eyes and ears, but culturally it fits well within Japanese media expectations.

Colors: Tea, Mice and Peaches

While not every color in Japanese is named after a thing, as a languages geek and visual person in general I find some of the traditional words fun for the images they present. Today, you can also find modern names based on English words ("pinku" for pink, etc.), but they don't quite have the same flavor as the originals. Some examples:

Cha iro 茶色- Tea color - light brown
Nezumi iro 鼠色- Mouse color - grey
Momo iro 桃色- Peach color - pink

Language: "Moshi Moshi"

As I've mentioned before, Japanese has a lot of set phrases that are very handy as they're used all the time in certain situations.

One of them is "moshi moshi". I've noticed more and more Americans seem to know this word, but they're unaware of when it's actually used. "Moshi moshi" means "hello," but is only used on the telephone. It is never used to greet someone standing in front of you.

The history of this phrase is rather cool: way back when people used to say "moshi" (from "mousu" 申す, "to speak") to call out to someone and start a conversation. However, they would say it twice to prove they were living, warm-blooded people who weren't ghosts or ghouls.

Ghosts can't repeat the sound "moshi". So if you heard a single "moshi" coming from behind you, it was best to not turn around. If you turned and answered, the ghost would steal your soul.

With the invention of the telephone, this tradition carried over to it (if you think about it, being on the phone is like having your back turned in that you can't see the person).

Language: Three Ways to Say "Welcome!"

A quick post tonight!

Depending on the situation, if you want to welcome someone there are a few different ways to say it.

"Welcome to Texas" or a place would be "Texas e youkoso" _____ へようこそ (___ eh yoh-koh-soh)

"Irasshaimase" いらっしゃいませ (ee-rah-shai-mah-sey), or its more casual form "Irasshai" いらっしゃい (ee-rah-shai), is how clerks say "Welcome to our shop/restaurant/etc." to customers.

If someone has left the house they live in, when they come back they'll say "Tadaima!" ただいま (tah-dai-mah) "I'm back!", to which people in the house would respond with "Okaeri/Okaeri nasai!" お帰り／お帰りなさい (oh-kai-ree/oh-kai-ree-nah-sai) "Welcome home!"

Culture: Phrases for Entering a House

Many moons ago, I watched the original Juon (The Grudge) in Japan. At the time I watched it without subtitles and my Japanese wasn't at its best, so whole parts of the plot escaped me. I finally got around to watching it yesterday and it's definitely creepier when you actually understand the nuances.

Anyway, it also reminded me of a couple of handy set phrases you usually don't pick up on unless someone teaches you (in my case it was the movers coming to my house, and me pestering them about what they were saying and why ;) ).

Gomen kudasai (goh men koo dah sigh) - You've probably heard each of these words separately, but together they have a specific meaning: "Is anyone home?/May I come in?". The literal translation would be more like "Begging your pardon," but it's used when you want to enter someone's house, especially to announce yourself if no one's immediately apparent. "Shitsurei shimasu", a similar phrase, is used when entering into a particular room with people in it.

Ojama shimasu (oh jah ma shee mahs) - Literally, "I'm in the way/a bother/disturbing you" but in meaning more like "I'm coming in!" This is used when you actually enter another person's house.

If you happen to catch Juon at some point, you can hear the teacher Kobayashi using these two when he comes to do a house visit with one of his students.