Abstract vs. Tangible Learning in Japanese

Quote:
“Thus, you are probably safe using “manabu” for most anything having to do with learning, but “narau” should be used in the specific contexts I have laid out here. Just because the dictionary says they’re both verbs for “learn” does not mean they are identical and should be used the same way.”

Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index

Our class watched a video of Nic Marks on ted.com. He relates the environmental movement & our general happiness level. It’s mostly about our happiness, though. Well, here’s the video.
Oh, and if you want to do something interesting: View subtitles > Japanese.

 

 

If you can’t watch it here, then try going directly to the site by clicking the following link:

www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/nic_marks_the_happy_planet_index.html

 

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I’ve always wondered what the “next generation” (considered to be anyone born on or after 1982) would be called. Today I found out (a possible name).

It’s not just the “next generation,” it’s the “Net Generation.” (Tapscott, 1998)

Also, the “Millennials,” but that doesn’t sound quite as interesting to me.

 

oupeltglobalblog.com/2011/01/20/digital-natives-fact-or-fiction/

Love Quotes

The following quotations I selected on love are in alphabetical order by name.

The “really good ones” are red.

Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.
- Alan Watts

To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others.

- Anne-Sophie Swetchine

Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows a person who he should be.

- Anton Chekhov (1860 – 1904)

Love is not enough. It must be the foundation, the cornerstone – but not the complete structure. It is much too pliable, too yielding.

- Bette Davis (1908 – 1989)

Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.

- Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662)

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.

- Carl Jung (1875 – 1961)

One’s first love is always perfect until one meets one’s second love.

- Elizabeth Aston, The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy, 2005.

All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon sand.

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox, O Magazine, February 2004

What else is love but understanding and rejoicing in the fact that another person lives, acts, and experiences otherwise than we do…?

- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.

- H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956)

Sometimes when you look back on a situation, you realize it wasn’t all you thought it was. A beautiful girl walked into your life. You fell in love. Or did you? Maybe it was only a childish infatuation, or maybe just a brief moment of vanity.

- Henry Bromel, Northern Exposure, The Big Kiss, 1991

Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.

- Iris Murdoch (1919 – 1999)

I cannot think well of a man who sports with any woman’s feelings; and there may often be a great deal more suffered than a stander-by can judge of.

- Jane Austen (1775 – 1817), Mansfield Park

Is love supposed to last throughout all time, or is it like trains changing at random stops. If I loved her, how could I leave her? If I felt that way then, how come I don’t feel anything now?

- Jeff Melvoin, Northern Exposure, Altered Egos, 1993

A good relationship is like fireworks: loud, explosive, and liable to maim you if you hold on too long.

- Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content, 11-14-08

When you’re a teenager and you’re in love, it’s obvious to everyone but you and the person you’re in love with.

- John Scalzi, Old Man’s War, 2005

How we treasure (and admire) the people who acknowledge us!

- Julie Morgenstern, O Magazine, Belatedly Yours, January 2004

Passion is seldom the end of any story, for it cannot long endure if it is not soon supplemented with true affection and mutual respect.

- Kathryn L. Nelson, Pemberley Manor, 2006

Honesty is the only way with anyone, when you’ll be so close as to be living inside each other’s skins.

- Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign, 1999

When you give each other everything, it becomes an even trade. Each wins all.

- Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign, 1999

To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return. To just give. That takes courage, because we don’t want to fall on our faces or leave ourselves open to hurt.

- Madonna (1958 – ), O Magazine, January 2004

Love is the big booming beat which covers up the noise of hate.

- Margaret Cho, weblog, 01-15-04

Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.

Michael Masser and Linda Creed

The first duty of love is to listen.

- Paul Tillich (1886 – 1965), O Magazine, February 2004

Love is not blind – it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less.
- Rabbi Julius Gordon

For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.
- Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926)

He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues which it possesses.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882), Address on The Method of Nature, 1841 

Could you imagine how horrible things would be if we always told others how we felt? Life would be intolerably bearable.
- Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive Comic, 12-09-05 

* I wonder a little about this one . . . “intolerably bearable?”

You can’t show love to someone at the expense of someone else who loves you.
- Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive, 01-19-10 

I believe love is primarily a choice and only sometimes a feeling. If you want to feel love, choose to love and be patient.
- Real Live Preacher, RealLivePreacher.com Weblog, December 16, 2002 

I don’t think anyone can DO anything that would make him worthy of love. Love is a gift and cannot be earned. It can only be given.
- Real Live Preacher, RealLivePreacher.com Weblog, January 20, 2003

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.
- Robert Frost (1874 – 1963)

Maybe kissing is sort of like nature’s coffee.
- Scott Westerfeld, Midnighters: Blue Noon, 2005

*Haha, yeah. Sometimes you don’t realize that you’re not realizing something until you kiss and, then, bam you realize something pretty important.

We don’t always get to choose what we love.
- Scott Westerfeld, The Last Days, 2006

One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.
- Sophocles (496 BC – 406 BC)

Some relationships start with fights… But, usually only in romantic comedies. Life’s not the movies.
- Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata, Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005

Love is or it ain’t. Thin love ain’t love at all.
- Toni Morrison (1931 – ), Beloved

Love isn’t a decision. It’s a feeling. If we could decide who we loved, it would be much simpler, but much less magical.
- Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Chef Aid, 1998

A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her…but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.
- W. Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965), The Moon and Sixpence

There’s always one who loves and one who lets himself be loved.
- W. Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965), ‘Of Human Bondage’, 1915 

Women are often under the impression that men are much more madly in love with them than they really are.
- W. Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965), The Painted Veil, 1925

quotationspage.com/subjects/love/

1000 Words

This is a very sad, but beautiful and meaningful, interactive flash by yuumei from deviantART.com. The copyright is © Wenqing Yan 2009. It’s about a little girl who’s parents are about to split up.

Wait for the flash to load to 100% and then click “Read.” After that, just click the arrows at the bottom of the page to go forwards or backwards.

1000-words-story.deviantart.com/#/d23ifgd

Transitional Devices

Here is a chart of the transitional devices (also called conjunctive adverbs or adverbial conjunctions) accompanied with a simplified definition of function (note that some devices appear with more than one definition):

addition	again, also, and, and then, besides, equally important, finally, first, further, furthermore, in addition, in the first place, last, moreover, next, second, still, too
comparison	also, in the same way, likewise, similarly
concession	granted, naturally, of course
contrast	although, and yet, at the same time, but at the same time, despite that, even so, even though, for all that, however, in contrast, in spite of, instead, nevertheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, on the other hand, otherwise, regardless, still, though, yet
emphasis	certainly, indeed, in fact, of course
example or illustration	after all, as an illustration, even, for example, for instance, in conclusion, indeed, in fact, in other words, in short, it is true, of course, namely, specifically, that is, to illustrate, thus, truly
summary	all in all, altogether, as has been said, finally, in brief, in conclusion, in other words, in particular, in short, in simpler terms, in summary, on the whole, that is, therefore, to put it differently, to summarize
time sequence	after a while, afterward, again, also, and then, as long as, at last, at length, at that time, before, besides, earlier, eventually, finally, formerly, further, furthermore, in addition, in the first place, in the past, last, lately, meanwhile, moreover, next, now, presently, second, shortly, simultaneously, since, so far, soon, still, subsequently, then, thereafter, too, until, until now, when

 

I find that compilation quite useful. Oh, and here’s a famous quote that was on the same site.

You can fool some of the people all of the time,
and all of the people some of the time,
but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
~ Abraham Lincoln

All of this was from grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/transitions.htm.

こんにちは、世界（せかい）！(Hello, world!)

Joy for my lack of title creativity. Anyway, I’m here for reasons (most of which are rather interwoven) that may or may not change at some point.

1. I like Japan(ese) and I want some place where I can publicly put up/save the information that I find in my “research.”
2. I like finding random things (quotes & so on) that seem interesting and I like to save them, but they’re starting to take up to much space on my laptop. So, I want to store them on the Internet instead.
3. I find lots of websites. For learning Japanese, for information about their culture, for quotes, for watching Naruto, for reading manga, for seeing original works from Japanese authors, for seeing funny pictures of cats, & for other such important matters. Saving them so that I can find them again at some point is important & the bookmarks sections on all four of my Internet browsers has become so crowded & overfilled that it’s slowing them down & making them crash more often.

Now, if I can just have to start using my blog for all those things…. (I’m a chronic procrastinator. ^^; )

Introductory Post

[To read the full Introductory Post (the one with an extra ¶) click "Introductory Page" at the top of the page or click this link. http://narutorulestheworld.wordpress.com/about/ ]

Though I’m a bit unsure about the content as of now, I know want to have information about Japan (日本) and the Japanese language (日本語). I’ve wanted to have a place to put information about that for quite a while now & I’m hoping this will be the place. There are a couple reasons I’ve wanted to do this.

1) I want to save that information (about more than just Japanese) here, online, where it won’t take up space on my computer.

2) There are just so many things to learn about the Japan and its language & it’s taken me so long to find out what I have that I want to share what I’ve found & where I’ve found it (as well as what I find & where I find it ^^), in hope that others don’t have to look as hard as I did to discover things about Japan. While I’m still thinking about it, here’s a great place to go. http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/ I think I’ll add more about it in another post.

But there are other things I want to add like quotes, links to sites that are useful for different things, excerpts from sites that only have a little bit of useful information, & other random bits of information that I think are interesting or that I want to remember. I’m still a little hazy on all the details. I’ve got my ideas, though!