Saturday, September 05, 2009

Translation Please

Kim, Tammy, Stephanie...anyone?

We are ranging off the beaten path. It's an adventure not to have a clue what the road signs say, the building signs etc. BUT most smile and communicate that they wish they understood us. ::snort:: We do the same back.....saying "I am American" and "Do you speak Japanese?" hasn't proven helpful. "Toire wa doko desu ka?" has been helpful. I was all prepared late last night with, "Summie mysin, Misawa Air Base wa doko desu ka?" but we couldnt' find a single person on the road or along the roadside to ASK. LOL

These are signs we really wish we could have read. Is this Kanji or Katakana? We think most the signs are in Kanji, so this may be what we need to learn. We do recognize Misawa and Shiriya now. ::snort::

I REALLY want to know what THIS says...don't flush the rubber duckie?
Photobucket

It would have proven helpful to now what this said
Photobucket

I'm assuming this is warning you not to get in the ocean?
Photobucket

This must promise a wonderful onsen - any idea what the name of it would be?
Photobucket

Next adventure - we'll pack some food...guess what when you get outside of Misawa there aren't ramen stands, sushi spots and Circle K's on every corner....but there IS a never-ending supply of Coke vending machines. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

5 comments:

Kim said...

I'll confirm my "reading" of these signs with Ryu, but... here goes:

The duckie sign was perhaps found in a toilet? If so, the reading is - flush WHILE going number 2.

I'll have to check to see what the Electric Company was trying to say in the second one.

The third was at the beach? It says, don't take clams (shell creatures) or seaweed from the beach/ocan. (I'll confirm this one too.)

I'd be glad to join you at the onsen, and will ask Ryu what it is called! SMILE!

I'm trying to find a website with Japanese road sign translations - do you need one?

Oh, and have you got the bowing behind the wheel down yet? When we would smile or wave a finger or two of thanks, Japanese bow. Can't wait for a pic of that!!! SMILE! - I even bow on the phone, now!

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

The Duckie cracks me up. I guessed it meant "please don't play in the toilet."

I DO have the bowing thing down...and have found that if you bow they overlook a lot of other driving offenses. LOL Well.....I came to a construction site. The man was waving a red wand thing...I thought he meant to drive slowly. He began to jump up and down and get very agitated. I stopped. It appears they stand and wave differently if you are to proceed. It was one lane traffic. BUT he was very forgiving after the bows and apologies...so glad I lerned THAT phrase from pimsleur.

Oh good, when we make it back to Cape Shiriya, we'll be able to go down on the beach - but we won't bring up clams and such.

As for road signs...the base passed out a handout...I was mostly concerned with stop, yield and don't stop at any time signs...but I think I'm ready for some subtler ones now. LOL

Anonymous said...

all I can say is :):):) teach me more. l/p Mom T.

Cynthia said...

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't survive more than a week or two.. I'm not very good with recognizing symbols at all......

Unknown said...

I agree with kim on the duckie sign and on the seaweed sign (didn't get the clams part, tho.) and the onsen's name... look at the 3rd one (far right) THAT is KOEN (right?) --- park. You'll want to know that!
Most of the signs are mixture of kanji AND hirigana. LEARN hirigana now. Then you will be able to see when they are "commanding" you and see where the subject markers of sentences are. The "no" hirigana can signify "possession", etc. Once you get it (of course, that is key) it really IS an easy language. Difficult if you're trying to figure it out all at once. But getting SOME of the basics down (your town name, address, etc) and then learning to SPEAK (as opposed to writing) is a good idea. Japanese is unique (to languages I've learned) in that you can speak well & not write at all/ not read at all. Very compartmentalized. But do your best. I used to take nouns/ verbs/ adverbs/ numbers/ colors/ lists like that and memorize. I actually did that kind of study while soaking in the bath! Ahh. I love Japan! Glad you're getting along there! You seem to be adjusting fine. I'm happy for you! Tammy