Japanese with anime voice: episode16
Hello, I’m Sachi.
Japan is now in the season of entrance examinations. How about in your country? Is there an entrance examination when entering high school from junior high school? I think the age of the school attended differs from country to country, so the age of junior high school or high school would be different. In Japan, elementary school is from 6 to 12, junior high school from 13 to 15, and high school from 16 to 18. Elementary and middle school is compulsory education, and everyone attends their own local school. However, in high school and college, students are free to choose whether or not to go, but instead they must take an entrance examination to be admitted to the school. That is called an entrance examination. This is right around this time of year. My nephew is also taking the exam this year. I hope he will pass it safely.
As for that exam, there is an interesting word in the Japanese language. I think I told you the same thing last week. A word game is a way to make a number or a Kanji character sound better by taking its pronunciation and applying it to another word. In this exam season, there are words that sound good and words that don’t sound good for examinees.
First of all, the word sounds good, but in fact, there are few good word plays. The ones that immediately come to mind are “勝つkatsu” and “桜咲くsakurasaku”.
“勝つkatsu” means victory, win or lose. When you think of entrance examinations as a game of win or lose, passing the exam means you have won, so we often say “受験に勝つJuken ni katsu”. The “かつkatsu” in “かつ丼katsudon” is the same sound as the word “勝つkatsu,” so we eat it as “験担ぎgenkatsugi”.
験担ぎGenkatsugi means to make a wish that what you are going to do will have a good outcome. So, if you eat かつ丼 (Katsudon), it means 勝つ (Katsu) for the exam, or that you will pass the entrance exam. “桜咲くSakura saku” is used in reference to the time of year when cherry blossoms bloom, which is when students enter school. “桜咲くSakura saku” means that you can enter school, in other words, it means “I passed the entrance examination.
Next, I would like to introduce a word play on the bad-sounding side, and there are many more of them here than on the good-sounding side. Such as “Suberu,” “Ochiru,” “Chiru,” and “Korobu.
- “Suberu” means that an object or body moves smoothly away without being firmly supported.
- “Ochiru” means that something moves from top to bottom.
- “Chiru” means that something that was clumped together falls apart into small pieces.
- “Korobu” means to lose one’s center of gravity and fall down.
In other words, all of the words could not stop there when they were centered on the examination. So, we are careful not to use these words for students who are taking exams.
Most teenagers in Japan go through this process of taking entrance exams, and of course, I went through it myself! And, you know, I really couldn’t study. I was not very smart, I could not remember, I could not concentrate, and I was really bad at sitting at a desk and studying. But there was a high school I really wanted to go to. But it was above my level. The teacher also told me that I should not take the entrance exam for that high school because it is above my level. But I gave it a try.
Before I took the exam, I went to a temple or a shrine, I don’t remember where, but I went to pray to God for success. So I bought a good luck charm for the exam. But it was much colder then than it is now. I was wearing gloves, but by the time I got in the car after buying the lucky charm, it was not in my hand. I looked around, but it had not fallen down. I probably dropped it on the approach to the temple and went to the parking lot without noticing. I thought I was holding the charm in my hand, but in fact I was just holding it in my hand. I was so surprised. This is exactly what 滑って (Subette) 落ちる (Ochiru) is! I went to pray for success in school, and the charm was supposed to be a good luck charm for the entrance exam, but it slipped and fell out of my hand. What a bad omen! As for the result of my examination… I passed! I’m so glad.
When we play with words, we say it is a bad luck word, but in the end, everything depends on one’s own efforts. In my case, I am sure that God was encouraging me not to rely on God, but to make efforts on your own.
On the other hand, the Japanese language is rich in word play, but it can also be a bit tricky to use. I don’t know whether it’s interesting or complicated, but I think Japanese is interesting in all these ways.
Finally, the words “試験Shiken”, “入試Nyuushi”, and “受験Jukenn” are used a lot in this article, but in the case of this story, they all mean the same thing. Strictly speaking,
- “試験Shiken” is used to examine a person’s knowledge and ability by giving them questions.
- “入試Nyuushi” stands for “入学試験Nyuugakushiken”, which is used to determine whether a person’s knowledge and ability are sufficient to enter a school.
- “受験Juken” means to take an examination.
Please note that when it comes to high school and university entrance examinations, all words are used with the same meaning, but when it comes to qualification examinations, etc., the word “入試Nyuushi” is not used. It is complicated.
