… is progress nevertheless.
Yes, the sixth book in the Triple Threat Investigation Agency is close to complete (maybe another month with rewrites/editing). Then, I’ll be posting about Mo-Mo’s Dead and so is Disco till you beg for mercy. 😉
But that’s not the progress I’m excited about (well, not as much). It’s been a year since I started studying Japanese! I can read Hiragana and Katakana now. Granted, I may not necessarily know what’s being written—someone could be calling me some rather unpleasant name—but damn! I can read it!
I’d never have thought I’d get that far. It’s a challenge to be sure, because Japanese has three—count ‘em—three alphabets. Now, the Kanji, well, that’s going to take some mastering. But I figure if I’ve gotten this far, where I excitedly read names of Japanese restaurants and stores as I saunter past and give myself a thumb’s up for being able to do so—then I can go, progress, even further!
In English, it’s subject – verb – object. In Japanese, it’s subject – object – verb. I’m slow in class. I need to digest information . . . wrap my head around the fact the verb comes at the end (that, in essence, a sentence is reversed). I’m going to the park. = To the park, I am going. These are manageable. It’s when you get to the complicated statements. What particle do I use? Preposition? What’s the polite way to ask or say something? The casual way? What do you mean “wa” is “ha” and “wo” is “o”, and . . . ?! And the fact that Japanese only has past and present tense should make it easier. Should.
But it’s all good. I love challenges, and this one’s perhaps the biggest, most trying one yet. But I’m going to master it. It may take me a decade, but who’s in a rush? 😉
Infinitesimal progress … is progress, nevertheless.
Have you been to Japan? Do you plan to visit?
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I’ve never been, but I’d like to go next year. If I go, though, I want to make sure it’s for at least 3 weeks; there’s so much to see and do!
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How wonderful. My mother always loved their cotton blue/white kimonos.
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They are beautiful, aren’t they? Thank you very much. 🙂
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I forgot to mention, my daughter went to Japan a few years ago. She went to a place where they make you up as a geisha. Wow, I would not have recognized her on the street. It was AMAZING!
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I imagine she had a wonderful time! That would be fun, something different to do. I’d better do some intensive research re “must do”. 🙂
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