Etymology of Sasuga

流石　(Sasuga)
The word represents the feeling you have when a person whom you expect to perform well does, in fact, perform well, and you feel a sense of awe all over again at their amazing feat.

To learners of the language, sasuga is a little frustrating in that it's one of those ridiculous ateji words whose reading and kanji characters don't match. But there's a cute little story about why sasuga is written this way today:

Etymology of Arigato

The word "arigato" (有難う), or "thank you" in Japanese, finds its roots in the word arigatashi (有り難し), an archaic adjective describing rarity.

Words to Express Condolences in Japanese

A quick translation from an all-around useful site on Japanese funerals.

When you want to express condolences to a Japanese friend or acquaintance over his or her loss of a loved one, the appropriate phrases are:

TP#9: 英作文：京都大学2006前期

問題：
子供の頃にわたしが毎週欠かさず観たあるテレビ番組があった。 その主役はどこにでもいそうな犬で、そいつがある町にふらりとやってきては、そこで起こった事件の解決に協力し､人間からほめられる前に姿を消して、また次の町に向かって旅をつづけるのだ。わたしをとりこにしたのは、一つの場所に安住せずに、たえず動きつづける、その姿だったに違いない｡

TP#8: 英作文：京都大学2006前期

問題：
ものの見方や好みは人さまざまである。たとえば、駅前のハンバーガー店は、人々にとってどのような意味を持つだろうか。 多くの人にとっては、ハンバーガーを味わう場であろう。しかし、肉が苦手な私にとっては、ハンバーガーを楽しむというよりは、仕事帰りにちょっと立ち寄り、コーヒー一杯で一日の疲れをいやす、くつろぎの場である。本を持ち込み、書斎代わりに使うことも少なくない。

TP#7: 英作文：京都大学2007前期

問題：
教育とは何かを考えるときに、私が決まって思い出すのが小学校の恩師の顔である。先生は、私たち生徒に、物事に真剣に取り組むことを教えてくださった。その教えは、これまでの私の人生の指針となっている。今から考えると、先生の教えが私の心に響いたのは、先生の尊敬できる誠実な人柄によるところが大きかったように思う。教育において考慮すべきことは、教える内容だけではなく、教える側の人間性でもあるのだ。

解答例：
When I think about what education is, always comes to mind the face of my favorite grade school teacher. He taught us to labor in earnest. That teaching has formed the philosophy of my life. Thinking back now, it is certainly because of my teacher's sincere character that (I respected him and) his lesson resonated with me so profoundly. Thus, in education not only the content of a lesson but the nature of the teacher must be taken into account.

Translation Notes:
恩師 former teacher, old teacher
取り組む tackle, engage in, work on
→ 物事に真剣に取り組む to labor in earnest, to toil in earnest, to tackle our responsibilities seriously
指針（ししん） guiding principle, guideline, philosophy
誠実な人柄（せいじつなひとがら） sincere character, straightforward personality
考慮（こうりょ） take into account/consideration
人間性 humanity, [perhaps] personality

「先生の尊敬できる」という部分を英訳に含めるのがややこしい・・・

TP#6: 英作文：京都大学2007前期

問題：

最近久しぶりに旅行して実感したのですが、田舎の夜空には星が驚くほどたくさん見えます。科学的に考えれば、汚染がなく空気がきれいだからでしょうが、風景はそれを見る者の心を映すとよく言われます。雑事に追われて忙しいだけの生活からしばしの逃避行したあの時の私は、もしかしたら、めずらしく無邪気な子供のように心が澄んでいたのかもしれません。

TP#5: 自由英作文：東京大学2011前期

問題：
次のKiyoshiとHellenの会話を読み、空所①と②をそれぞれ15-20語の英語でうめよ。①と②のそれぞれが複数の文になってもかまわない。
(Nishikawa) Kiyoshi: Have you read today's newspaper? Apparently, in England, it's illegal to sell pets--even goldfish!--to children under the age of sixteen because they may not be able to take proper care of them. Offenders can be put in prison for one year.
Helen: Wow! (1) ________________________________
Kiyoshi: Yes, that's true. But (2) ________________________________
Helen: I guess you're right.

TP#4: 自由英作文：東京大学2011前期

問題：
次の英文を読み，その内容について思うところを50ｰ60語の英文で記せ。
ただし，understand と pain は，一度しか用いてはならない。
It is not possible to understand other people's pain.

TP#3: 英作文：京都大学2005前期

問題：
女性が従来学問の世界で十分活躍できなかったのは、男性中心で作られてきた社会に原因があったことは疑う余地はありません。とくにわが国は従来年功序列の社会でありましたので、出産、育児のため女性が休むことは昇進の面で著しく不利でありました。今後は休んだ後の復職を容易にするとともに、復職後業績を上げれば速やかに昇進できる体制を作り上げて行かねばなりません。

TP#2: Difficult Japanese Phrases

Some of the most difficult words to translate are those that are context sensitive, or need wildly different translations depending on context. I'll take a look at four tricky Japanese → English interpretations in context today: ① もったいない (mottainai), ② しょうがない (shou ga nai, also 仕方ない shikata nai), ③ 面倒くさい (mendoukusai), and the pervasive Japanese ④ よろしくお願いします (yoroshiku onegaishimasu)。

① 三連休が仕事で潰れそう。もったいない...
I'm going to lose my whole three day weekend to work. What a waste.
Alternatively: What a shame.

Translation Practice #1

This is a foray into the world of Japanese university entrance exam translations (大学入試英作文), with some notes on the things I learn along the way.

Without further ado, let's get started! Today's source is a list of 2009 private university problems from the ticc PukiWiki.

四季の移り変わりがはっきりしている我が国で、とりわけ色とりどりの花が咲く春と紅葉に彩られる秋になると、自然がとても美しいと感じる。（津田塾大、2009）

Hatsugen Komachi: The website where Japan comes to complain

The Japanese people have a reputation for hiding their personal feelings, especially amongst people who are not immediate family. But thanks to the wonders of the internet, the fine art of guchi (愚痴), or "complaining" can be done totally anonymously.

One place such website where Japanese people vent their frustrations and ask for advice is the Yomiuri Newspaper's hatsugen komachi (発言小町 or "small village of speech"). Let's take a look...

Japanese Tidbit: 私立 vs 市立

Although Japanese is a relatively rule-abiding language when compared to English, there a plenty of foibles and ticks when it comes to the art of combining kanji. Let's take a look at some tricky kanji that have different readings when spoken.

Today's culprits: 私立, 市立, and 公立.

Official JEES Sample Questions for Revised JLPT (2012)

Since the revised JLPT began, JEES has continued to provide sample problems for the exam on its official website each year. The problems are presented in official style, very similar to what examinees will actually see on the tests themselves. MP3 files are included for actual listening practice. These materials are all freely available from the official JLPT website, and some description of problem types and problem design are available there as well for you to learn about the test designers' intentions.

A Forum Full of JLPT Prep Materials

Another Vietnamese source: The forum Tieng Nhat Club appears to contain a wide variety of materials for JLPT study. Both old materials (1~4級対策) and new materials (N1-5対策) are mixed together. The forum requires a registered account to browse threads.

Official JEES Sample Questions for Revised JLPT (2009)

Before the first year of the revised JLPT exam, people were scrambling to find materials to study with. In anticipation, JEES arranged for the release of practice problems similar to what might appear on the new N1-5 style exams.

These problems were made freely available as PDFs and have been mirrored in dozens of locations online--you may have encountered them before, but if not, they are worth a look in your studies. They include examples of all the different test sections for all levels of the test, and they even include audio files and sheets to mark your answers on akin to the real exam answer sheets. (The answers to the problems are provided as well, in separate PDF files.) You can still find all of these files at the official JLPT website.

If that link no longer works, however, you can find the same PDF and audio files mirrored at Tanos.co.uk.

The JLPT: Sentence arrangement problems

Seeing as how LP has been busy posting Japanese Language Proficiency Test prep materials, I figured I would make my own small contribution to the world of test preparation with some hints on how to conquer the dreaded "sentence arrangement problems" (bun no tatekumi mondai 文の立て組み問題)found on the higher levels of the JLPT.

JLPT Practice Problems: Meguro Language Center

The Meguro Language Center is a Japanese language school in downtown Tokyo. In addition to JLPT prep classes in their center, they offer a variety of practice problems and self-assessment tools for JLPT hopefuls. I downloaded and skimmed through all of their freely available materials when I was prepping, and I'm happy to see that they've redesigned and re-released a lot of their materials to reflect the N1-5 test revision.

You can check out the materials on the Meguro Language Center website.

A JLPT N1 Practice Test (2010)

In previous articles, we've covered some sources of past JLPT exams for download or sale. Unfortunately, many of the downloadable ones are outdated and do not reflect the redesigned N1-5 style test, and I'd again urge test-takers to take a look at the official past problems available for sale at bookstores or through Amazon.

However, example exams are slowly beginning to spread around the Internet. Today we'll look at another one aimed at you N1 hopefuls, a practice exam put out by a Japanese language school in Seoul. (Unfortunately the listening script is not included.)