celticflower's blog

But I felt like writing a bit of something anyway.

I've been too tired to study Japanese or enjoy much of anything related for several months now, but on the upside I like pop group Arashi -嵐 and recently spent the last of my Christmas money getting their latest album, Beautiful World, and the Boku no Miteiru Fukei concert DVDs so not a complete loss :)

Still very much interested in learning, but it's very very slow going for me which is frustrating. Memory's crap too! Trouble is I want to learn it all, so started mostly with writing the basic kana properly and am still on Katakana.

Another bad translation attempt! If anyone wants to correct it please do :)

I think the first two pages went okay, but 3-5 are iffy *lol*
Gosh, and this is a baby book, I'm doomed! ;)

桜
「さくら」
Cherry Tree (Cherry Blossoms)

１．あっ、桜のつぼみ!
もうすぐ、桜が咲きます。

「あっ、さくらのつぼみ!もうすぐ、さくらがさきます。」

Ah, the cherry tree is in bud.
Soon the cherry tree will bloom.

2.１月。沖縄で、桜が咲きます。
きれい!

「いちがつ。おきなわで、さくらがさきます。きれい!」

January.
In Okinawa the cherry trees bloom.
Pretty!

3．九州、四国、本州、北海道は、まだ寒いです。

「きゅうしゅう、しこく、ほんしゅう、ほっかいどうは、まださむいです。」

If anyone's bored and can translate Japanese to English I wouldn't mind some words of wisdom on my attempt to decipher the first few lines of a novel. I am very curious about it.

The mind boggles really, it's way, way above my skill level, but I wanted to try it as I can't find them in English anywhere yet :-)

It's posted at my Livejournal account if you prefer, but I'll add the basic here too.
http://citlecrewolf.livejournal.com/4919.html

Having another look at variations/representations of my name in Japanese.

This is a tattoo site and the Katakana and Hiragana match with some other sites I looked at:
http://www.takase.com/Names/NameInJapaneseC.htm

輝 。 Bright (ki) 。 クレア 。 くれあ 。 kurea 。 Clare

[Kanji-Katakana-Hiragana-Romaji-English]

I've put it in my signature, but does it make sense?

I like this site that makes keyrings etc. too [bit expensive], you can change the meanings of the Kanji to personalise your product more, though how anyone would recognise it as your name is beyond me :)

Wakaishu ya
shinu ga iya nara
ima shiniyare
hito-tabi shineba
mo shinanu zo ya

[Oh young folk -- if you fear death, die now! Having died once, you won't die again.]

(Frontispiece). Calligraphy by Japanese Zen master Hakuin ( 1685-1768). The poem is written above the character (shi, death).

http://www.questia.com/read/59933743?title=Japanese%20Death%20Poems%3a%2...

I came across a pack of Japanese playing cards an online friend sent me a few years back from Germany, bit of a convoluted way to get here, but who cares :)

I also found my chopsticks, I think these are Chinese, or rather they have Chinese writing on them. Think I’ll have a go eating with them… after I look up how to hold them properly, should be fun as I’m clumsy at the best of times! This is my version of living dangerously *lol*

Link is here if you want a quick look:
http://claremc.co.uk/thejapanesepage_blog/japanesepage_blog_01.html

Nice aren't they? :)