The Blue White Shirt
Steve is a 16-year-old high school student/from America. He lives with a host family. He came to Japan/to study Japanese. It hasn’t been easy. Here he talks about a few of his confusing experiences.
1
I was really surprised when I discovered/that many Japanese words come from English. For example,/“spoon” is スプーン/and “table” is テーブル. Since these words are written in katakana,/it is easy for me/to recognize them. “Learning Japanese is a piece of cake,”/I thought.
But I soon discovered/that the situation was much more complicated.
Last Sunday,/I went out for a walk. I stepped into a coffee shop/and ordered a caffè latte. I was asked,/“Would you like a マグカップ?” I thought it was a choice,/since a cup and a mug are quite different. But that was not the case. I learned a little later/that a マグカップ simply means a mug.
Another time,/I ordered a glass of サイダー. In America,/cider means apple juice. I really got confused/when the waiter brought me soda pop.
Steve is a 16-year-old high school student/from America. He lives with a host family. He came to Japan/to study Japanese. It hasn’t been easy. Here he talks about a few of his confusing experiences.
1
I was really surprised when I discovered/that many Japanese words come from English. For example,/“spoon” is スプーン/and “table” is テーブル. Since these words are written in katakana,/it is easy for me/to recognize them. “Learning Japanese is a piece of cake,”/I thought.
But I soon discovered/that the situation was much more complicated.
Last Sunday,/I went out for a walk. I stepped into a coffee shop/and ordered a caffè latte. I was asked,/“Would you like a マグカップ?” I thought it was a choice,/since a cup and a mug are quite different. But that was not the case. I learned a little later/that a マグカップ simply means a mug.
Another time,/I ordered a glass of サイダー. In America,/cider means apple juice. I really got confused/when the waiter brought me soda pop.