Still everyday life
Some other short stories I've been through...
-----
After coming to Japan, the kinds of cars I usually see on the streets are very different than those in Brazil. That alone is not surprising at all. Most cars are from Japanese companies (Honda, Nisan, Toyota, ... not surprisingly also) with occasional BMWs and other brands considered "high-profile" in Brazil. Sometimes I see some car which is more popular back there, like some Golfs or Polos (Both Wolkswagen).
Still, I never bothered to ask about it, since for me the reasons were obvious: being in Japan, Japanese companies would naturally prevail (especially when you have so many). And high-class cars sell almost anywhere where you have people with money to buy them.
But when talking to a Japanese about cars, we were mentioning common models found in our countries. He was interested to hear that most Japanese cars are considered "high-profile" in Brazil, but he thought that our option for car brands (Fiat, GM, VW, ...) was a little strange.
His answer when I asked why floored me:
"But those cars break up easily, don't they?"
... Ok, can someone who knows more about cars help me with this one?
-----
After passing the JLPT level 2 and the entrance examination for the Master course, many friends congratulated me. One of them tried to use the opportunity to talk about girl[friend]s again:
"Since you passed the [entrance] exam and you you're aiming for 1 kyuu (JLPT level 1), you should get a Japanese girlfriend!"
"Again with this talk!? Why now?"
"Well, you're staying for 2 more years. It's time enough to look for someone. Besides, if you find one, it'll be easier to pass 1 kyuu, right?"
"Still not reason enough for me to be picky about nationalities. Besides, with that objective, my Japanese would become 'Girlfriend Nihongo' (girlish) in this case."
"Yeah, but you'd have a girlfriend, so what if your Japanese becomes girlish. You'd still have a girlfriend to counter any comment against your masculinity, right? Besides, if you have one [girlfriend], why would you care about what others say in that sense?"
"And considering that I'd lose that point if we break up, I'd also have a good argument about being loyal to her... haha!"
"Didn't think of that, but it's good too, isn't it? Hahaha!"
-----
Before going to Shirahama, I had to look for some sunblock. It was my first time doing that in Japan I decided to ask for some hints before. And maybe I was right in doing that. Out of the fact that most protection factors here are or too low (maybe for men or some gyaru types?) or stupidly high (because most girls don't want to get tanned at all. It's interesting that in Brazil a tanned girl is attractive while in Japan it seems to be the opposite), a friend's story made me avoid the same mistake.
Some of the sunblocks with higher protection factors are made so that they don't dissolve when you enter the sea. "What's new with that?" one would ask. In Brazil we also have sunblocks that theoretically mantain their protection even if you are wet. Still, after some time the protection wears out, right?
But here some people really DON'T WANT to get tanned in any circunstance (why they go to the beach in the first place?). So some products stick so much to your skin that there's another cream made especifically to remove the sunblock. So whatever rain, sandstorm or whatever that comes, you will still be protected from the sun. (I may be exaggerating a little ^^)
That friend bought one of those without the remover. And had a hard time trying to remove it...
-----
One joke I probably heard first from Claus, but I've heard again recently... and have been spreading it a little myself.
There are words in a language that are unique to a language and cannot be fully translated (with all the nuances, for example) to another language. One example in Portuguese is the word "saudade". In Japanese, perhaps 「よろしく」 (yoroshiku) is the most known word.
Another word in Japanese that doesn't have an exact translation is 「頑張れ」 (ganbare) and its variants. Some possible translations are "good luck", "try your best" or "keep it up", but those doesn't show all the nuances and possibilities of the word in Japanese.
The joke says that there is an expression that actually conveys the exact meaning of that Japanese word...
"You're screwed."
If someone have ever said it to you (in Japanese), or if you've ever said it to someone (in Japanese) try to remember the circunstances and do the substitution reanalysing the situation afterwards.
You might be laughing by now...
-----
After coming to Japan, the kinds of cars I usually see on the streets are very different than those in Brazil. That alone is not surprising at all. Most cars are from Japanese companies (Honda, Nisan, Toyota, ... not surprisingly also) with occasional BMWs and other brands considered "high-profile" in Brazil. Sometimes I see some car which is more popular back there, like some Golfs or Polos (Both Wolkswagen).
Still, I never bothered to ask about it, since for me the reasons were obvious: being in Japan, Japanese companies would naturally prevail (especially when you have so many). And high-class cars sell almost anywhere where you have people with money to buy them.
But when talking to a Japanese about cars, we were mentioning common models found in our countries. He was interested to hear that most Japanese cars are considered "high-profile" in Brazil, but he thought that our option for car brands (Fiat, GM, VW, ...) was a little strange.
His answer when I asked why floored me:
"But those cars break up easily, don't they?"
... Ok, can someone who knows more about cars help me with this one?
-----
After passing the JLPT level 2 and the entrance examination for the Master course, many friends congratulated me. One of them tried to use the opportunity to talk about girl[friend]s again:
"Since you passed the [entrance] exam and you you're aiming for 1 kyuu (JLPT level 1), you should get a Japanese girlfriend!"
"Again with this talk!? Why now?"
"Well, you're staying for 2 more years. It's time enough to look for someone. Besides, if you find one, it'll be easier to pass 1 kyuu, right?"
"Still not reason enough for me to be picky about nationalities. Besides, with that objective, my Japanese would become 'Girlfriend Nihongo' (girlish) in this case."
"Yeah, but you'd have a girlfriend, so what if your Japanese becomes girlish. You'd still have a girlfriend to counter any comment against your masculinity, right? Besides, if you have one [girlfriend], why would you care about what others say in that sense?"
"And considering that I'd lose that point if we break up, I'd also have a good argument about being loyal to her... haha!"
"Didn't think of that, but it's good too, isn't it? Hahaha!"
-----
Before going to Shirahama, I had to look for some sunblock. It was my first time doing that in Japan I decided to ask for some hints before. And maybe I was right in doing that. Out of the fact that most protection factors here are or too low (maybe for men or some gyaru types?) or stupidly high (because most girls don't want to get tanned at all. It's interesting that in Brazil a tanned girl is attractive while in Japan it seems to be the opposite), a friend's story made me avoid the same mistake.
Some of the sunblocks with higher protection factors are made so that they don't dissolve when you enter the sea. "What's new with that?" one would ask. In Brazil we also have sunblocks that theoretically mantain their protection even if you are wet. Still, after some time the protection wears out, right?
But here some people really DON'T WANT to get tanned in any circunstance (why they go to the beach in the first place?). So some products stick so much to your skin that there's another cream made especifically to remove the sunblock. So whatever rain, sandstorm or whatever that comes, you will still be protected from the sun. (I may be exaggerating a little ^^)
That friend bought one of those without the remover. And had a hard time trying to remove it...
-----
One joke I probably heard first from Claus, but I've heard again recently... and have been spreading it a little myself.
There are words in a language that are unique to a language and cannot be fully translated (with all the nuances, for example) to another language. One example in Portuguese is the word "saudade". In Japanese, perhaps 「よろしく」 (yoroshiku) is the most known word.
Another word in Japanese that doesn't have an exact translation is 「頑張れ」 (ganbare) and its variants. Some possible translations are "good luck", "try your best" or "keep it up", but those doesn't show all the nuances and possibilities of the word in Japanese.
The joke says that there is an expression that actually conveys the exact meaning of that Japanese word...
"You're screwed."
If someone have ever said it to you (in Japanese), or if you've ever said it to someone (in Japanese) try to remember the circunstances and do the substitution reanalysing the situation afterwards.
You might be laughing by now...
3 comments:
historias bem aleatorias ne! ;)
Sorry for answering that sooo late. But, you know, I don't read it oftenly, specially because I'm through a lot of things here too... hehehe clone things... =P
So, just one observation about the first thing you wrote: Our car brands. If I understood well, he asked about our common 1.0 models, or? (the easily break up thing)
I think you know that every car company build up their cars according to the countries they are in. Something like cars specially prepared for their regions. So, our "popular cars" are something common here in Brasil.
About the "easy to break up" thing, the cars here have the suspension robuster (tougher) than the normal, because our roads conditions are severe. So, together with the roads problem, add some bad maintenance (not everyone can keep the maintenance in order) allied sometimes with 'alternatives maintenance'. So, everything contributes to break up the cars. =P
hmmm... enough talk... hahahah now I'm gonna eat Chili com Carne. heheh
See ya
You know, I didn't even mentioned 1.0 cars. We were discussing only about car brands in general not talking about specigic models.
And you know how to leave me envious eh... Gimme some of it!!
Post a Comment