I've done it!

Hi, I'm probably a couple of months late on this, but I got my JLPT N5 certificate!
That means I've passed the N5 exam. I should be on cloud nine because of that, but I feel rather depressed. And the reason for that is my score. Because my reason for taking this exam was to check my progress, getting 91 out of 180 was very disappointing. 

Anyway, no reason to dual on a past, when the future has so many opportunists. This year I'll try my luck at N4. It's going to be harder then N5, but I have no other option rather then to keep going forward.

JLPT here we go

I have finally found a time to go to the Japanese embassy to register for the JLPT test. It was on 10 of September. The date of the exam is 5 of December. And the registration ended in 14 of September. Why!? It's a good question, but knowing the Japanese, they need need a lot of time to prepare for anything and this exam is not an exception. 

This year I'll take the easiest exam N5. This time will be low on participants (blame COVID-19) but at least the test will be held. I still have time to prepare properly, but the two and a half months which left, not making me fill less stressed. Of course I have taken a course to prepare for the test. It included a lot of grammar, speech and listening practice and some kanji. but I still feel un prepared. Now, to get accustomed with the question types, I need to start practicing on the exams from previous years. And don't forget the kanji. It's going to be hellish 2.5 months. Wish me luck.

Skip Beat! - anime review

Skip Beat! (スキップ・ビート!) was adapted from the manga series of the same name. It was fun and easy to watch. The main character development and her unwavering determination is very inspiring. The drawing style, is anime typical style with all the exaggerated emotion showing and visualization of inner conflicts. It looks like a typical anime for girls, but its funny side allows it to be of a more generic demographic genre.

Relies date: October 2008

No' of episodes: 25

Demographic genre: Shoujo

Teaser: Kyoko Mogami is a 16 year old girl who discovers that her boyfriend (a beginning pop singer) is using her as a maid and money provider. Heartbroken and furious, she decides on revenge - to become more successful in show industry then her ex-boyfriend. 

To be or not to be

To be or not to be, this is the question (Shakespeare). And in Japanese it's a good question. The reason for this is simple - Japanese have two verbs with meaning "to be", ある (aru ) and いる (iru). And in this post I'll try to inspect the difference between them. So let's start.

Usages of this verbs
If you look for a simple explanation, when to use ある and where いる, the answer will be:

いる - for living things. Ex. ねこが います (neko ga imasu) - there is a cat.
ある - for not-living things. Ex. くるまが あります (kuruma ga arimasu) - there is a car.

Simple, right? No so quickly.  If the cat is dead, it will be referred to あります (arimasu). And if the car is moving in the street, it will be referred to as います (imasu). And now you'll say WHAT? WHY?
The rule of います (imasu) and あります (arimasu) goes like this:

いる - for animated things.
ある - for not-animated things.

Examples of usage
And now for the examples. Here the situations we can use these two verbs. 

Statement of being: 
へやに ほんが あります (heya ni hon ga arimas) - there are books in the room.

つくえの うえに ほんが あります (stukue no ue ni hon ga arimasu) - there is a book on the desk.

Possession: 
わたしは ほんが あります (watashi wa hon ga arimas) - I have books.
Note: typically the わたしは (watashi wa) is omitted. 
Something happening:
あしたは おまつりが あります(ashita wa omatsuri ga arimasu) - tomorrow a festival will take place.

Questions and answers

Asking questions:

へやに だれが いますか (heya ni dare ga imaska) - who is in the room?

へやに なにが ありますか (heya ni nani ga arimaska) - what is in the room?

Answering:

へやには だれも いません (heya ni wa dare mo imasen) - There is no one in the room (a person)

へやには なにも いません (heya ni wa nani mo imasen) - There is no one in the room (an animal)

へやには なにも ありません (heya ni wa nani mo arimasen) - There is nothing in the room (a thing)

Yes/No questions:

やまださんが いますか (yamada san ga imaska) - Is Mr. Yamada present?

ほんが あります (honga arimaska) - Is there a book?

Answer:

はい,  やまださんが います (hai, yamada san ga imasu) - Yes, Mr. Yamada is present.

いいえ, やまださんは いません (iie, yamada san wa imasen) - No, Mr. Yamada is not present.

Note: pay attention that in negative answer, が is switched to は.

Note: If the form of the example appears only for あります, it will be the same for います and vice versa.

I hope this post was helpful and clear all the misunderstandings. If you still have questions, you are more the welcome to ask them.

Anime - brif overview

Before reading this post, I recommend you to take a look at the post about manga. Manga and anime have many similarities like drawing styles, genres categories, etc. So in order to prevent repetition, this post will include references to the manga post.

 

 

Anime - the best Japanese invention of the 20th century. Well, it's strictly my opinion and I won't blame anyone who is not agrees with me. My passion for anime was one of the reasons I have started to learn Japanese. I had a strong desire to understand first hand what the characters are saying, and to catch the implications and nuances which inevitably get lost in translation. The challenge became an obsession, but in the end I think it will be worth it.  

 

Welcome to anime world

Like any other video media, the anime has a genre, story-line, age restriction, visual effects, "camera angles" and detectors work. But contrary to filming, anime has no problems with poor actor performing or dangerous tricks execution. You can say that every Disney and Pixar movie has the same characteristics. Yes and no.

While in Disney the drawn animations have recognizable and trivial drawing, anime drawing style plays a crucial part at the decision making. Poorly drawn anime can drive away potential audience. But very detailed one can cost a fortune to produce. Therefor, most of the art studios trading between the two options, while trying to preserve a unique style.

There is also the target audience. While Disney an Pixar targeting mainly children, anime have productions for all age types and tastes.

 

The short history of anime

To make it short, I won't go into detail about development of Japanese animation in general. But I have to mention the most critical milestones.

 

1907 - The year of the oldest animation filmstrip. It called "Katsudo shashin" translated as "moving picture", and its creator is unknown. The filmstrip containing 50 frames and its duration is 3 sec.

1917 - Can be marked as a start year of animation development in Japan. The animations gradually became longer, their duration extended from a couple of minutes to half an hour.

1933 - Still in black and white, but now for the first time with voice-overs "Chikara to onna no yo no naka" or "The world of power and women" was released.

1945 - The first feature-length film was released. "Momotaro: Umi no shinpei" translated as "Momotaro: sacred sailors" was a propaganda film for the world war II.

1958 -  The first colored animation film in Japan was released. "Hakujaden" known as "The tale of the white serpent" was a major project, involving 13,590 staff members. It also one of the first Japanese animated films to be released in America and became known as "Disney of the east".

1961 - The first animated TV series was released. "Instant history" and "Otogi manga calendar" are two seasons of this series. Each season contains 321 episodes of about 3 minutes length for episode

1963 - It's an important milestone for the anime we know today. "Tetsuwan atomu" in English adapted as "Astro boy" depicted big eyes, crazy hair style, and many other embodied aesthetic that later became familiar worldwide as anime.

1968 - Another major change in anime drawing style "Taiyou no ouji horusu no daibouken" translated as "The great adventure of Horus, prince of the sun". The change in detailed drawings was a "cost-cutting" method. The important senses were drawn in more detail then the others.

1968 - Was released the first adult-oriented animated film, named "Senya ichiya monogatary" or in English "A thousand and one night".

1970s-1980s - The popularity of anime worldwide grow and its different gainers are established.

1983 - Was the first time, computer graphics ware used in anime. And the pioneer anime was "Golgo 13".

1983 - First OVA was created.

1990s-2000s - The anime became rooted in the worlds media and it looks like it is not going to disappear any time soon. 

Types of anime format

• Featured films - Like regular featured films, have a plot development which usually culminates at the end and the story ends. Their duration is mostly between 60 to 120 minutes.
• Anime series - The story has been told continuously over a span of many episodes. The series has a strict episode length around 22 - 25 minutes. Usually one season lasts around 12 episodes.

If you'll watch anime series, you should know the term "Filler". It's an episode or a bunch of episodes (or even a season, like in the famous anime "Bleach") which go off the road of the main story line. They can tell a side story, or make fun of the main characters, but mainly they are just "filling" the space and annoying. They are created mainly for the purpose of delaying the mainline story because the corresponding manga is not ready yet.

If you want to avoid fillers, you can find "filler lists", which will include all the filler episodes for the anime you are currently watching, so you can skip them and save your time.

• OVA - An abbreviation of "Original Animation Video". A more flexible format for an anime. It can consist of one or more episodes. Its duration usually goes around 30 minutes, but can easily be 20-60 minutes length. 

 

Genres:

Like as previously said, Anime is strongly relying on manga and there are many similar aspects between the two. On such aspect is genres. And in order to prevent repetition, I recommend you to read the manga post.

 

Drawing style:

The the first thing that we should clarify, is the difference between Japanese anime drawing style and western drawing style. The main anime differences are:

• More detailed shadowing 
• Very expressive eyes
• Usually more carefully drawn clothes and hair
• More vivid coloring
• Exaggerated showing of emotions
  

For example, take a look at Mulan:

 

Other then this, anime has many drawing styles. Some of them more realistic, some skipping over the details. It depends on the drawing period, the production company and the budget.

 

The evolution of art in general influenced the anime drawing style dramatically over the years. New techniques, new equipment, new innovative minds. All this pushing the anime (and manga) to new levels. For example "Astro boy" and unrecognized character from nowadays:

Drawing styles are like fashion - changing with time. The drawing which was cool at 80s, now looks outdated and even boring.

 

Typically, the budget of the movies is larger then the TV series. You can see the difference by looking at the examples below. The rule of thumb is - the longer the series, the poorer the quality.

Garden of words (Movie - 46 minutes):

 

Compulsive Gambler (2 seasons - 12 episodes each):

 

Naruto (Part 1 - 220 episodes, Part 2 - 500 episodes):

 

Now for the drawing style itself. As I was saying, each studio has its own unique style. And you can  even recognize the studio by its style. The color palettes, the shading, the detalization, are only part of the factors. 

Many times the fans take a character (Itachi from Naruto for this example) and trying to style him as part of another anime. Then you clearly see the style difference.

That's it for now. I hope that this short introduction to the world of anime was fulfilling. Of course if now you want to try watching anime, you probably will become overwhelmed by the amount of released works. Therefore, I'm starting a new series of posts, making an overview on the best anime I have watched. Of course it will be strictly my opinion, so feel free to disagree. 

JLPT or "How to measure your Japanese proficiency"

JLPT - Japanese Language Proficiency Test (or 日本語能力試験 Nihongo nouryouku shiken), the standardized Japanese proficiency measurement exam for non native-speakers.

I have decided to take this test to see my level of Japanese, but the COVID-19 ruined my plans for the previous year. This year I have eight months left to prepare for the test, which will be held in December (I hope).

So before taking the test, I have to know everything about it. 

 

General

The first JLPT test was held in 1984 and since then was revised at 2010, so be careful with the materials you are facing to prepare for the test. Make sure the are relevant and up to date. 

The test held once or twice a year (July and December) in 62 countries. The list of test sites and contact information is here.

 

Format

The test has five levels of difficulty N1, N2, N3, N4, N5 (1N - the toughest, N5 - the easiest) and divided to two sections:

Reading - To measure the knowledge level, the examinees answer questions about Kanji, vocabulary and grammar.

Listening - To check the language comprehension, examinees listen to a dialog and answer the written questions that follow after. 

 

Note: All the questions are multiple choice questions.

Note: The exams have no order. For example, you don't have to take N5 if your level of Japanese is N4.

 

Scoring

An impotent part of the exam is scoring, and it's not as straight forward as it might seem. The calculation of the test scores is not based solely on number of correct answers, but scaled basing on IRT. In short, the answering patterns are scored and not the individual questions. For more detailed explanation, visit this page.

A passing score for the exam is not so simple either. Every section of the exam has its passing mark, which is different for every exam level. The exam also has an overall passing mark for all the exam sections combined. This method prevents from examinees who score poorly for one of the sections, to pass the exam. Which is logical, I assume, but very stressing.

 

 

I will be examining every test level more closely in other posts, but you can read more in this guide.

Manga - brif overview

If you didn't live under a rock for the last two or three decades, then the term "Manga" will sound familiar for you at least remotely. But other then the knowledge of Manga being a Japanese comics, containing characters with big eyes, not many researched the topic further.

You can quickly fix it by reading this short post.

The origins  

The word manga (漫画) literally means "cartoon picture". The term became widely used at the end of the 18th century, with publication of picture books such as "Shiji no Yukikai". But the works of that time were very different from the manga we know today. The change in style was made after the world war II, when the American comics was introduced in Japan. But no matter how far this influence changed the Japanese comics, it still stays unique and developing in it's own direction.

An interesting turn in Manga history was in the 60s. Until 60s Manga was intended mainly for children. But then came artists who created manga for adults, featured with serious subjects and complex plot. Around that time the gekiga (劇画) drawing style was developed. Depicting more realistic characters and fitting perfectly for the manga genre for adults.

After becoming popular in many demographic layers in Japan, the manga didn't stop there. It went into the wide world and particularly conquered it. The manga became spread worldwide at 70s and early 80s. Since then, it became popular in many countries. For example, in France at 2011 manga represented 40% of all the comics books sold. At Germany the parentage in 2007 was 70%. 

Nowadays, the digital Manga is taking the lead. And while the printed books sales become fewer and fewer, the Internet digital sales incising every year. This only shows that no metter the media, the manga stays popular as ever.

Specifications

What are the unique features of manga , compared to other comics? The first thought that will jump to everyone mind will be - the drawing style. Well, yes and no. Manga has many different drawing styles, from the chibi (ちび or チビ) characters for children to very realistic ones in gekiga style. And of cores everything in between.

Another distinct feature of manga comics is coloring. The manga is drawn in black and white, even today. I think the main reason for this is faster and cheaper production purposes. I found that for mangaka (漫画家) meaning "cartoon picture performer", who draws the manga, one page of manga takes up to 10 hours to draw. One chapter has 20 pages at average. Release rate is once a weak or once a month (depending on the number of pages). From these numbers can be concluded, that the manga is drawn by more then one mangaka artist.

An interesting feature, typically used in manga, is exaggerated emotions expressing. An when I say "exaggerated", I mean, they have spatial drawing symbols to express specific emotions such as anger, nervousness, confusion etc. Here some of them:

One more critical point to be addressed in relation to manga is the order of reading. Many beginning manga readers, including myself, are confused about the order of the dialogs. The reason to this is simple. Manga reading order is different from the western comics many accustomed to. The main rule for reading manga is from right to left and top to bottom. Here an example from wikiHow:

 

But pay attention! Some of the translators swapping the pages horizontally, "to make it easier on the readers". And it serves as another reason for confusion because it can create many paradox situations. For example, senses featuring driving in the car in Japan or UK suddenly drive in a right sided car. Or the logos and prints on shirts will be reversed. Even the dialogs can be confusing while the character pointing to the left but referring to something on the right.

Despite or because all the differences from the western comics, Manga serves as an interesting  alternative. 

Genres

While comics associated with content for children, genres in Manga are very diverse and vary from content for children to adult content. In addition to the regular genres like action, horror, romance, etc. Manga is also divided to age and sexual preferences categories.

Age categories:

Kodomo (子供) - Literally means "child". It's manga for little children under 11. The plot is usualy moralistic and educating children to stay in the right path in life. For example: "Castel in the sky", "Pokemon".

Shonen (少年) - Literally means "boy". It's a manga for boys at ages around 12-18. This manga categorized by high-action and the themes like robots, sports, science fiction etc. For example: "Death note", "Bleach".

Shojo (少女) - Translates as "young lady" or "little girl". This manga is for girls at ages around 7-18. This type of manga often coventrates on romantic relations an emotions. Examples: "Skip beat!", "Fruits basket".

Seinen (青年) - Meaning "young man" and literally "green man". This genre intended for men over 18. It doesn't necessarily means that the content should be sexual, but it can be violent. The topics of this manga are very similar to the shonen manga, but can include politics, sex and other adult topics. Examples: "Berserk", "Tokyo ghoul".

Josei (女性) - Meaning "woman". This manga intended for woman over 18. In contrarily to shojo manga, the josei type concentrates on more realistic relationships rather then the idealized romance. Examples: "Nana", "Kids on the slop".

Sexual preferences categories:

Ecchi (エッチ) - Meaning "indecent" or "sexy". This manga includes sexual content, like nudity, but nothing too graphic and no sex scene. Something like erotica. But the manga not necessarily should contain nudity and sex. It can simply imply erotic thoughts and behavior. For example: "Compulsive gambler", "High school DxD".

Hentai ( ヘンタイ or in kanji 変態) - Literally means "strange/weird". Comes from the full term
"hentai seiyoku" (変態性欲) meaning sexual perversion. Well, you can guess the genre type. Yep, it's porn. Sorry, but I'm not recommending porn.

Shonen-ai (少年愛) - Literally means "boys love" also usually written in Japan as acronym BL. This type of manga shows homosexual relationships and its auditory is largely females. A special term for this kind of manga is Yaoi (やおい) was invented in the 70s and it's a portmanteau to "yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi" (山[場]なし、落ちなし、意味なし) and translates as "no climax, no point, no meaning". Many try to separate Shonen-ai and Yaoi  and categories one of them as more mild and romantic and the other as more graphic and shallow. But in reality these terms are interchangeable. Examples for good non graphic yaoi are: "Gravitation", "Yuri on ice".

Shojo-ai (少女愛) - Means "girls love" and exactly the opposite of Yaoi. The term for this genre is Yuri (百合) also meaning lily - the flower. The term developed in mid 70s and now used to depict an attraction between woman. It can be sexual or romantic, explicit or implied. For example: "NTR: Netsuzou trap", "Girl friends"

Well, that's all for now. I hope the post was informative and not too heavy. And maybe you'll consider to give Manga a try.