This is really random, but yesterday night, I came across this comment made online by someone. He wondered why there are spaces between words in English while there no spaces between words in Chinese and Japanese. (I think Korean too?) He felt that because of this lack of spaces, it is difficult for learners of the language to figure out where one word ends and another begins. It’s one of those things that I’ve noticed, but never thought too much about.

Having used Chinese practically all my life, I can’t really comment about how difficult it is to determine which characters make up a word or phrase. It doesn’t bother me, and I don’t notice the lack of spaces when I’m reading something in the language.

Now, when it comes to Japanese, I do sort of agree with what he said. When there’s Kanji in the text it’s not too difficult to tell which characters form a word. However, when there’s a whole chunk of text written in Hiragana or when listening to something in Japanese, that becomes a bigger problem. Sometimes a sentence can be broken up into words in various ways but still make sense, especially when the context is not clear.

For example, there’s this particular anime preview that was released recently, and different people have been translating the song based on what they have heard. There’s this line where the lyrics go こんなにももとめてたの, and there are at least 2 different translations of that line, depending on how the translator had broken up the words:

1. こん なに も もとめてたの (今何も求めてたの), which was translated as “what are you also wishing for right now”.

2. こんなに も もとめてたの (こんなにも求めてたの), which is translated as “in this manner I also wished”.

Pretty different meanings, right? If there were official lyrics released with Kanji then what the line was trying to say would have been obvious, but since it’s just based on hearing, it’s not that easy to tell, especially if you’re just starting to learn the language. It seems like the second one should be right though, since it makes more sense based on the context. Plus the first one doesn’t quite make sense grammatically, because “wish” is written in past tense, and “now” is well, referring to the present. The も in that case is odd as well.

It seems to me that online translators have this problem with differentiating words as well. When I try to translate a chunk of text containing Kanji, it usually gives me something sensible, but when I try doing the same with a chunk of Hiragana, the results can be quite weird.

Determining when one word ends and the next one starts… I guess it’s one of those things that you’ll eventually know when you’ve had enough exposure to the language then? But during the creation and evolution of all the different languages, what made people decide to put spaces between words in certain languages, yet not others?

I finally got my copy of Lala from Kinokuniya today; I almost missed seeing it because I wasn’t expecting them to only have 3 copies left. Considering that the official release date in Japan was on the 24th, it seems that the magazine is selling pretty quickly. Anyway, I got my copy, so I’m happy now. :)

While I was browsing in Kinokuniya (love that place, heh), I came across the Honey and Clover artbook. I don’t remember seeing any news about an artbook being released back when the anime and drama were airing, but it turns out that the book was released only a few months ago. After coming home and seeing some scans from the book that were posted online, I really want it! I just love the art. So pretty! It’s selling at S$41 though… sigh. Maybe when there’s a 20% sale? Ah… if only I hadn’t seen it…

Doing projects can sometimes be quite tiring…

So you gotta entertain yourself to stay awake!

Umm… as you can see, I was bored.

词：陈泽令
曲：林雅慧、萧奕强

度过了无数次的夕阳西下，经历过数不尽的黄昏落日，
总想在心里找到大海似的宁静，
但喧哗依然在心中纠缠不清，挥也挥不去。

不是没听说过你的话语，曾在岁月里聆听你的过去，
人生岐路纷繁，我却像迷途羔羊，
茫然探索纯真梦地，找不到感动心没有一丝涟漪。

恕我没真心寻你，恕我竟蒙蔽眼睛，
你在我面前，我却感觉不到你。
圣经上一字一句，诉说着你的神迹，
叫我怎么能不领会你伟大的爱心。

我答应真心对你，救恩我好好珍惜，
你指引的道路，我勇敢去行。
虽前途荆棘满地，但若我身旁有你，
我人生道路上，永不会孤寂。

宝血洗涤失去知觉的灵魂，心被追引渐渐走向光明。
知道你曾经为我流血在十架上，请让我回报你，请让我回报你。

It’s bad to read manga right before you sleep, when the manga ends off at a cliffhanger and you have to wait a month for the next chapter.* NOOO Zero, NOOO Yuuki! I hate being tortured this way. If it was some completed series I’ll just keep going till I finish because (like a lot of other people) I need to know the ending, but in this case I have no choice but to wait.

It’s the recess week, and in the blink of an eye half the semester has passed. Eeps. I have 1 project and 1 assignment to do, and hopefully most of the project can be completed within the next week. I should get around to watching Hana yori Dango 2 as well, so that I can return Jasmine her DVD. It’s been sitting around for quite long.

I should be getting to sleep, but I feel so awake after reading the new VK chapter. Arrgh.

* I guess most of us here are used to seeing manga coming in the form of books, like those in the comic stores. But in Japan, some manga are serialised in magazines, so you get a new chapter every 2 weeks, 1 month, or some other length of time, depending on how often the magazine is published. Once there are a few chapters that are completed, they are then compiled into the book form that we usually see. Some changes might be made to then, and the book form may have some extra stuff as well.