(You'll have to forgive the lack of updates during the weekend. It is, after all, the weekend! This weekend included a matsuri festival, eating Indian and Korean food (not at the same time), walking through the Shinjuku Korea Town, and a bit farewell party from one of our friends at church. Oh, and sleeping in.)
Trying to study some more kanji, and one of the things I like is coming across one of these little tidbits of oddity that also point to something perhaps more significant. I usually let out one of those "aha!" type groans and have to admit that That Explains a Lot. It's one of those things that helps fuel my desire to keep learning languages of all kinds-- they give you insight into a psychology of a culture.
The word I came across was this one-- 苦手. It's made of two kanji, 苦 (suffering) and 手 (one's hand/work/workmanship.) Put them together and you get にがて, nigate. It's got a double meaning. Both "I don't like doing this" and "I'm not good at doing this." How often do we really mean both of these things at the same time! Good insight, huh?
It's just like me and math!
Recent Comments