Inhae's blog

This week’s good resolution is to stop procrastinating and finally start learning Japanese names!

In fact, this is something I should have done much earlier. Last week, when I studied an article about ice hockey, I was both pleasantly surprised to see that I could understand it well and frustrated to not be able to read out loud the several names that were in it: 久保英恵、大澤ちほ、小野粧子、小池詩織、浮田留衣、山中武司 😵

To be honest, I have always tried to avoid remembering names. Even when I read a novel, I sometimes satisfy myself with being able to associate 2 or more kanji with a character, even if I have forgotten how they are pronounced. I think that I have a good visual memory of kanji, if you tell me at the beginning of a book that “正木藤次郎” is this character, I will remember it until the end. But it will be arduous to me to remember the pronunciation (まさき・とうじろう) of these kanji, and I will have to go back several times to their first occurrence (the only time they appear with furigana) before I remember it for good.

But at least, they appear with furigana once in novels… In most articles I read online, names are given without furigana (exception is made for キラキラネーム, names which pronunciation even Japanese cannot guess). Not being able to read a name is frustrating and finding the pronunciation can sometimes be a hassle.

I often ask myself how Japanese can know how to pronounce family names and first names when they see them. I think that they simply came across so many names in their life that they are used to them and can recognise them easily. Unless there is a secret method that I don’t know, I guess that the only thing we can do is pay attention every time we see a name and try to remember its pronunciation.

As I have a feeling that doing this will not be enough, I have decided to write down the names I come across, no matter if it is a real person’s name or a fictive one. I won’t really try to remember them or study them like standard vocabulary. But writing helps me to remember, and whenever I come across a new name, I will go through my list to see if I have already “collected” it or not.

I know that it will take a long time before I can start recognising names. I have been so lazy with that until now, that you could say that I start from scratch (I mean, I know how to pronounce 田中 and 山本, 😅but that’s about it…). I certainly should have started sooner, but better late than never!

I don’t know if it will work or not, but this is how I plan to work: I will note the name (family name and first name) and the pronunciation on a notebook. I will also write things concerning this person or fictional character because context helps to remember!  For example:

if it is a real person,

平野歩夢：ひらの・あゆむ: HIRANO Ayumu: wins the silver medal at the men’s snowboarding halfpipe (Winter Olympics 2018). He was ranked first until Shaun White made his incredible run!

if it is a fictional character,

北原十和子：きたはら・とわこ: KITAHARA Towako: the female protagonist of 「彼女がその名を知らない鳥たち」. Haunted by the ghostly presence of her former lover, she takes her frustrations out on her disgusting, simple-minded boyfriend.

Even if I know exactly who are these persons (or characters) now, I may have forgotten next year, and these names will be lost in a (hopefully) substantial list. This is why adding as much context as possible will help me to print these names in my memory. Months later, if I see the first names 歩夢 or 十和子 again, I may be able to pronounce them!

To conclude, I really think it would be cool to be able to read out loud Japanese names and avoid a situation when I don’t understand who we are talking about just because I didn’t know that this person’s kanji. I don’t know if there is another way to get better at reading names (maybe I am missing something obvious to other Japanese learners…), so if you have some tips or secret method, please tell me! 😊

My English notebook

(Some personal notes about English expressions, collocations, idioms and phrasal verbs I have learned to write this post)

better late than never: mieux vaut tard que jamais

take sth out on sb: “you shouldn’t take your frustrations out on the kids.”

About

I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to read mystery novels and play video games in these languages.

Learning languages has always been one of my favourite hobbies, but I’m not a social person, I don’t like to meet new people and make friends, this is just not me. I keep hearing that languages are meant for communication, that we have to actively use them, talk with natives, etc. and for a long time, I thought it was weird to learn languages just to read books, with zero interest in communication.

Now I don’t really care what people think, and this blog helped me a lot to stop doubting myself and just do what I enjoy doing.