littlewonderlog

Finally, I clicked the purchase button after going back and forth. The book that I somehow always type “haruki running book” into the search bar to find. Since the Korean translation left a good impression on me, it was quite natural for me to choose the book “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” by Haruki Murakami.

I have intentionally avoided reading Japanese kanji (Chinese characters) so far – and the feeling is likely mutual, so it is almost impossible for me to read books in Japanese. Still, if I listen to it as an audiobook, I can pick up the meaning from time to time. It’s been some time since I added it to my Audible wishlist, and now I surrender to the urge to have my first Japanese book experience.

Of course, I can’t just listen to the audiobook without a translation, so I purchased the English translation as well. Although the Korean translation would be much easier for parallel reading due to the similar sentence structures of Korean and Japanese, I ended up choosing the English version because I don’t have much trouble reading it and I can improve my English along the way. So I am thinking of reading the English translation first and then listening to the Japanese audiobook (maybe a few sentences at a time).

As I tried the first few pages, I found the narrator’s voice very calm and smooth, while my brain was nowhere near as calm, but rather a in chaos.

I think it is gonna be a very interesting reading (and language-learning experience).

So exciting.

It may mean something different to everyone, but to me, a foreign language is a tool.

It is a tool for thinking, communicating, and creating.

I learn foreign languages in order to think more deeply, communicate more broadly, and create more authentically.

Therefore, I imagine what this tool can do for me and how I can sharpen my skills to use it.

Oh, and one more thing.

It is a tool for pleasure.

It is a tool for pure pleasure that can be felt during the learning process, even before the language has any practical value.

This tool can be such a jerk from time to time, but I will carry it with me for the rest of my life.

As part of my routine to improve my English, I have been listening to English TV shows while cooking, and my recent choice is “The Lincoln Lawyer.” Although understanding unfamiliar legal terms can be a challenge, I have been pretty satisfied with it since the overall conversations are rather clear and easy to follow. And then something clicked.

Wait, I know this voice!

Usually, I only listen to the show with the phone screen off, but this time I looked at the screen to see if she was who I thought she was.

And, yes! I was right.

It was the actress, LisaGay Hamilton, from “The Practice”. Although, I could see that time had passed for her since “The Practice” years, her voice still sounds the same. Even though I don’t know her in person, there is that little excitement you feel when you see someone after a long time.

This is one of the little joys of listening to English TV shows.

Just a little excitement.

I just finished watching the first season of the Culinary Class Wars with Japanese audio.

My husband initially joined me, but he couldn’t sit through it after a couple of episodes. Apparently, he couldn’t handle any more Japanese-dubbed content. When I told him about certain contestants or dishes on the show, however, he got curious and looked them up online.

As he was watching some short-form videos next to me, I had this reaction: “Is that the voice of Edward Lee?”, “Is that the voice of Sung Jae Ahn?”, or “Is that the voice of Jong Won Baek?”

I must have gotten used to the dubbed voices during those roughly 13 hours of runtime. Despite knowing that it was dubbed, the Japanese voices felt like theirs. I was even already familiar with Jong Won Baek’s voice since I’ve watched some Youtube clips, but it felt different, especially with his regional dialect.

I think, overall, the Japanese-dubbed voices tend to be lower and calmer than the original voices. It’s amazing to see how voices change people’s personal images. I will be surprised again when I listen to the original Korean voices of other contestants.

“Is that his original voice?”

…is picking a topic.

Out of thousands of thoughts that come and go during the day, picking one is quite a challenge.

Sometimes I get one in a snap, other times, it takes forever circling ideas.

Today, as usual, I went with the one that had the most intensity.

One of the most difficult things about writing every day.

I have a Threads account to write short posts from time to time.

Since there are so many different people, proportionally, there are also a lot of strange people – people who are extremely sarcastic or mocking, who shoot curse words out of nowhere, who misunderstand the posts and unload undeserved criticism, who are simply rude, and who have just a very aggressive attitude toward the world and speak loudly about it.

Although I rarely block people (in the spirit of free speech), sometimes it’s just necessary for me to remove some people who are rude either to me or to others, or whose overall energy simply makes me uncomfortable. If I block someone, that person’s posts don’t show up on my feed, and they can’t access my posts either.

God, how convenient it is.

Sometimes, I think to myself – ‘How great would it be if I could just block someone with a snap of my fingers in the real world?’ Those people who are rude, weird, or possibly dangerous. In my world, there are people whom I would happily block, yet I still need to deal with them since I don’t have that option. Well, what can I do? I can’t block someone the way I do online.

Unlike the easy-peasy online world, I can’t change everything in this offline world. Hence, I either avoid people I would block, or hone my skills in dealing with those people.

After all, it is my choice to see everything as an opportunity for learning and growth.

I’m almost at the end of season one of the Japanese-dubbed Culinary Class Wars that I’ve been watching as a way of learning Japanese.

There’s something engraved in my mind, other than the Japanese words and phrases I pick up from the show, and that’s the perfectionism of fine dining chefs.

I’ve always thought a little bit that fine dining was all about making classy, beautifully decorated food, yet I’ve realized that fine dining chefs seem to take a much more sophisticated and calculated approach, from ingredient prep all the way through plating. It was rather an eye-opening experience for me to see the show’s judge, Chef Sung Jae Ahn, insist on having a specific reason for adding each ingredient in a certain shape or texture. It even seemed philosophical from time to time.

The funny thing is that, after watching this show, while cooking I’ve asked myself certain questions such as “Are these ingredients all harmonized?” or “Does this sauce work well with this food?” Learning Japanese is the main reason I’m watching this show, yet I get the added benefit of changing my attitude toward cooking for the better.

And sometimes I have this thought as well – “What would Chef Ahn tell me about this dish?”

I think I know the answer.

It must be “Da tsu ra ku de su.”
(“You are out” in Japanese).

These days, I have managed to secure 1.5 hours a day for learning English. Oh no, isn’t it too hard for you?

No, no, not at all.

You see, I read.

I start reading right after I wake up around 5 a.m., and finish the day by reading right before bedtime. In this way, no matter how busy the day is, I can secure at least 1 hour for reading every day.

In addition to this, I listen to audiobooks. My favorite times for it are when I walk or do the dishes. For audiobooks, I don’t need my eyes or hands, only my ears. I definitely spend some time walking or washing the dishes every day, so I can secure another 30 minutes.

Now, during those 1.5 hours of reading and listening to audiobooks, I can turn it into my English-learning time by reading English books and listening to English audiobooks.

On a light day, I can even secure two or three hours a day for reading. Also, reading doesn’t really feel like studying, so it feels good – yes, I hate studying. Hate it. Hate it.

It’s incredible to combine an activity I enjoy such as reading with learning a language.

For Japanese, although I haven’t reached the level where I can read or listen to audiobooks (at least without any translation or agonizing dictionary digging), I’m looking forward to a day when it will be possible. So, I’m happily focusing on learning basic phrases and grammar.

Another useful and enjoyable day passes. Ciao.

There’s a hot issue with a Korean celebrity who uploaded photos of a library book she underlined while reading on social media.

Library books go through a lot. Not only do people underline, they add meanings under certain words, mark grammatical errors, write notes with their own thoughts in the margins, or fold the corners of pages.

I’ve always thought that these kinds of people must be sociopaths. They don’t care about other people, right? They don’t care how much inconvenience they create for others, right?

It’s pretty meaningless to ask this question – ‘How could they do this?’. If you understand why they would do it, it means that you are also not normal. Normal people are not supposed to get it.

Then, I realized something today.

Ah, there’re people who actually don’t know this is something they are not supposed to do. They don’t have the concept of the harm they cause to others.

God must have a blast.

How fun would it be to watch this colorful and dynamic human world? I mean, seriously.

I was selling something on a secondhand marketplace app called “Carrot”.

I was supposed to meet the buyer at 4:00 pm, but I got a message around 3:30.

Although our conversation was in Korean, it went basically like this:

“Hello.”
“Hello.”

“I’m coming now.”
“Oh, will you arrive before 4 then?”

“No, warning upon arrival.”
“Ok. I will be there at 4.”

The reason her replies tended to be a bit slow was probably because she was using a translation app. “Warning” upon arrival?

I was dumbfounded for a second, but immediately and casually replied like nothing had happened. It was a bit funny though (and cute), and got me curious. What language does she speak that she would got that word out of the translation app?

I arrived at the meeting spot, and she was indeed a foreigner. She only said two words in Korean – her name and the word “money” as she handed me an envelope. From her use of words, I thought she really couldn’t speak Korean.

Yet, she had a higher sales record on the Carrot app than me, and it made me wonder how tiring it must be for her to use a translation app every time she wants to say something.

For me, that’s why I learn languages. Really.