shumi

The Japanese Word of the Week has been on vacation (yasumi). But no fear, it's back! (Well, this week, anyway. We'll see how things go from here.)

Our JET orientation sessions, every Wednesday night (next Wednesday is the last night, however - yay!), include a one-hour Japanese lesson. Now, I'm the first to admit that my Japanese is fairly elementary, but this class is even more basic. We're learning basic introductions/greetings, etc. - all good to know, but I can conjugate 7 different types of verbs in my sleep!* But I like to go in order to interact with the other students; plus I pick up little tidbits of info I didn't know every now and again. Like this week's Word of the Week, and its Associated Words:

shumi = hobby

As in, O-shumi wa nan desu ka? = What are your hobbies? (Remember, Japanese words can usually be either plural or singular.)

And the response?** (The Associated Words)

haikingu = hiking
kanboku = writing
e-kanboku = painting/drawing
dokusho = reading
shashin = photography
ryōri = cooking
spōtsu = sports
amimono = knitting

See? In Japanese Word of the Week Land, it never rains but it pours.

Send me your hobbies and I'll give you the word back in Japanese! (Or you could just do like I often do and use an online dictionary.)

* Claim may not be 100% true. But I do know the general rules for the conjugation of the 7 verb types - does that count?

** I make no claim whatsoever to actually practicing most of these. For example, I'm a terrible cook, can't play sports to save my life (though I do like watching aisu hokki), and would probably suffer accidental self-inflicted bodily harm if I ever attempted knitting! This is just a sampling of what some of the JETs offered in response.