Monday, August 29, 2005

揉める

もめる
momeru
To disagree

I saw this book on the web and of course did not know what "モメた" mean. I don't plan to buy this book but looking at the title, it makes sense.

会議はモメたほうがいい
Kaigi wa mometa hou ga ii
It's good (preferred) to disagree in meetings (when you are still in the discussing phase. Hashing out all the differences before the execution phase can save a lot of pain and embarrassment).

Friday, August 26, 2005

暗号化通信に使用

あんごうか つうしん に しよう
angouka tsuushin ni shiyou
To use password-protected communication (method) = to use encryption

Geez...good thing I can understand the Kanji being used...

Doesn't the last 2 posts turn you off learning Japanese? It definitely does for me. I should remember to space these technical terms farther apart from each other despite being relevant to what I need to know.

次世代技術開発

じせだい ぎじゅつかいはつ
Jisedai gijutsu kaihatsu
Next gen technology development

Pretty difficult to say.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

苛める

この世の中、苛める(いじめる)人の方が多い。
Kono yono naka, ijimeru hito no hou ga ooi.

I saw this comment on the web and normally I will disagree because I personally have not met too many bullies in my life. But recently, I received a very rude email at work from a guy questioning the answer I had given him months ago. This email is not just between him and myself but he cc:ed a bunch of folks to request for their input on the topic. I double checked the information I had given him and it's accurate as is and I have no reason to feel worried or anything. But the email felt like a slap on the face and just outright mean intentioned. That got me thinking that bullies these days come in many shapes and forms. I am very surprised by the email since this same person congratulated me on my promotion last year via email out of nowhere and just sounded completely harmless. I have no plan to answer his email and will let it sits and see what transpires.

A typical bully, to me, will be someone like the Biff character in the movie Back to the Future. But I guess I am just very wrong.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

絹ごし豆腐



絹ごし豆腐1丁
けんごしとうふ1ちょう
Silken/Soft Tofu 1 piece

A good looking, easy to make dish which should taste pretty good, also.

真剣トーク

しんけん トーク
Serious/open talk

男と女の立場で真剣トーク
おとことおんなのたちばでしんけん トーク
Open talk from a guy's and a gal's standpoint.

Today I was watching CCTV 's Travel in Chinese and man, there are so many expressions they used that I have never heard of. I think maybe I should consider learning Mandarin formally....

Sunday, August 21, 2005

戦え

たたかえ

たたかえばすなわちかつ
To win every battle (that is fought)

Came across this funny website: 男前豆腐店

Saturday, August 20, 2005

枯れた花


枯れた花 の写真

枯れた(かれた)

Friday, August 19, 2005

リフォーム

Reform, updating

Saw this word at a bank's window and did not know what it's all about. I looked it up and I guess it meant
住宅リフォーム
じゅうたくリフォーム
Home remodeling

They can lend you the money for home remodeling/updating.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

暴挙に走る

ぼうきょにはしる

To do something recklessly (to go about doing sth. recklessly)

I guess it's the same as:

暴走る

値引き

ねびき
Price reduction, discount
E.g. 値引き競争 Discount war

割引き
わりびき
Discount, reduction

E.g. 割引メロンパン

What is the difference between 値引き and 割引き? Maybe the difference is very subtle, one seems more for formal writing and the other one seems more colloquial.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

ショッピングモール


shoppingu mooru

Something incredible happened today. I skipped work for no reason and was in the shopping mall for the whole afternoon and bought a gown. I have always wondered how people can be in a mall on a weekday afternoon and finally I did it! I was planning to spend $1000.00 and just buy anything I want since I have worked hard for the 2-year long project and have not had a vacation for over a year. But in the end, I did not see too many things I care to buy except that one gown that fits nicely for $300.00. Pretty amazing how I wasted so much time looking through so many things and just got 1 thing in the end. I got dizzy and really tired afterwards. I guess it's not so fun as I have hoped it would be.

Monday, August 15, 2005

素人

しろうと
shirouto
Amateur, novice

Sunday, August 14, 2005

肉ジャガ - 作り方



ジャガイモは皮をむいて、2~4つに切り
Jyagaimo wa kawa wo muite 2~4 tsu ni kiri
Remove the skin of the potatoes, cut into 2-4 pieces

玉ネギは皮をむいて、縦半分に切り、1cm幅に切り、更に横半分に切る。
tamanegi wa kawa wo muite juuhanbun ni kiri, 1cm haba ni kiri, sarani oohanbun ni kiru.
Remove the skin for the onion, cut it half vertically, cut it in 1cm width, and then to cut it horizontally.

ニンジンは皮をむき、半月切りにする。
Ninjin wa kawa wo muki, hangetsu kiri ni suru.
Remove the skin for the carrot, cut it into half moon (shape).



鍋にサラダ油を熱し、牛肉を炒める。
Nabe ni sarada abura wo nesshi, niku wo itameru.
Heat up some salad oil in a pot, stir-fry the beef (in it).



[合わせ調味料] [awase choomiryoo]
 酒 … 大さじ4
 みりん … 大さじ3
 砂糖 … 大さじ4
 しょうゆ … 大さじ4
 だし汁 … 600~800ml

時々混ぜながら、煮汁が少なくなるまで20~25分煮る。最後にキヌサヤを加えてひと混ぜし、火を止める。
Tokidoki maze nagara, nijiru ga sukunaku naru made 20~25 fun niru. Saigo ni kinesaya wo kuwaete hito mazeshi, hi wo tomeru.
Mix it from time to time while (cooking), cook it for 20 to 25 minutes until the broth becomes less. Lastly, add snow peas to the mix, turn off the fire (heat).

* Whenever we get an email storm at work (which is usually a harmless email sent, by mistake, to all employees and some 30-50 stupid people will start replying to ALL saying "why am I included in this email" or "take me off from this email", "Me too", "Ditto", "Stop replying to all"....). A few try-to-be-funny folks will start includig their favorite recipe in the email with the mentality of why not read something useful while we are at it. It was a presumably acceptable act since one of the directors did it years ago. If it is really acceptable, why not add a recipe with pictures and include some Japanese writing? I don't plan to participate in any email storm any time soon but if I ever made that mistake of starting one, I just might use something like this. :-)


Here is my version of the recipe. Yum!

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

行進

こうしん
koushin
march; parade

聖者の行進
Watched this dorama many years ago. Never knew what 行進 meant until now. I can not say I enjoyed the series. The story was often a bit dark and upsetting...

献立

こんだて
kondate
Menu



Kids' Menu

Sunday, August 07, 2005

備考 vs 付録

びこう vs ふろく
reference, notes, remarks, additional information vs an appendix, a supplement

Friday, August 05, 2005

熊猫


くまねこ or パンダ
Panda

A second new Panda cub in a month! How exciting!!

感動



Do you not, for a split second, think it could be him who wrote it?

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

お詫びと訂正

おわびとていせい
Owabi to teisei
Apology and correction

合い言葉

Password

Is it the same meaning as Password used in logging into some secured device?


But our company's website only uses パスワード.
データベース内の自分のパスワードを変更できます。

Maybe 合い言葉 is the expression used for literary work and パスワード for the cold technical documents?

キャラクター

Character

(It took me a very long time to guess what kyarakutaa is...) :-(

大人気のAPEのキャラクターの"BABY MILO"。

I don't understand why these Baby Milo T-shirts are so expensive!? But ironically, I found myself irresistably wanting one, too! What is going on???