I started to post this in the Japanese Culture section, as it pertains to the language, but I thought it might be an interesting read for everyone regardless.
I was enlightened today.
I've been speaking Japanese for about 8 years now, and though my knowledge is definitely a bit spotty, I speak, read, and write fairly well at this point. But, it appears that there's always little things that slip through the cracks, only to be caught years down the road.
Today, I was in the grocery store with a few of my Chinese friends, and we came across watermelons.
To my amusement, they called them "xigua" in Mandarin, which, though it may not look so in writing thanks to the abomination that is pinyin, sounds like "suika," which is the Japanese word.
So, I thought "Cool, I'll impress them with my knowledge of kanji!," and proceeded to draw the characters 水瓜 (water, melon). I'm confident I know this one. After all, it's one of the first nouns I ever learned, and I know that 水's on'yomi is sui, and 瓜 is 'ka' from 'kabocha', so it's only logical that these characters are used to write "watermelon," right?
But, to my surprise, they stop me and tell me that it is written "west melon." What? That doesn't make any sense. Wouldn't that be seika or something in Japanese? It must be written differently in Chinese.
So, when we get home, I look it up. And low and behold, my IME converts すいか to 西瓜, and everything I thought I knew about this simple word for the last 8 years turns out to have been a mistake!
Of course, this word is not usually written in Kanji in Japanese, which is likely why I never saw the correct characters. But it's quite interesting that, regardless, I was under the impression that I had surely seen it written that way before, and that surely I knew such a simple and obvious word.
So, the moral of the story? Never assume you know anything you think you do, I guess!
It's quite easy for things to "slip through the cracks." Basics that we all thought that we surely know and understand, but, in reality, often overlook. And often, by cross referencing, asking questions, and getting the perspective of other knowledgeable people, and most importantly, staying humble, these cracks that we never even realized were there can be illuminated.
Or, you know, something like that! As always, I only think I know what I'm talking about
I was enlightened today.
I've been speaking Japanese for about 8 years now, and though my knowledge is definitely a bit spotty, I speak, read, and write fairly well at this point. But, it appears that there's always little things that slip through the cracks, only to be caught years down the road.
Today, I was in the grocery store with a few of my Chinese friends, and we came across watermelons.
To my amusement, they called them "xigua" in Mandarin, which, though it may not look so in writing thanks to the abomination that is pinyin, sounds like "suika," which is the Japanese word.
So, I thought "Cool, I'll impress them with my knowledge of kanji!," and proceeded to draw the characters 水瓜 (water, melon). I'm confident I know this one. After all, it's one of the first nouns I ever learned, and I know that 水's on'yomi is sui, and 瓜 is 'ka' from 'kabocha', so it's only logical that these characters are used to write "watermelon," right?
But, to my surprise, they stop me and tell me that it is written "west melon." What? That doesn't make any sense. Wouldn't that be seika or something in Japanese? It must be written differently in Chinese.
So, when we get home, I look it up. And low and behold, my IME converts すいか to 西瓜, and everything I thought I knew about this simple word for the last 8 years turns out to have been a mistake!
Of course, this word is not usually written in Kanji in Japanese, which is likely why I never saw the correct characters. But it's quite interesting that, regardless, I was under the impression that I had surely seen it written that way before, and that surely I knew such a simple and obvious word.
So, the moral of the story? Never assume you know anything you think you do, I guess!
It's quite easy for things to "slip through the cracks." Basics that we all thought that we surely know and understand, but, in reality, often overlook. And often, by cross referencing, asking questions, and getting the perspective of other knowledgeable people, and most importantly, staying humble, these cracks that we never even realized were there can be illuminated.
Or, you know, something like that! As always, I only think I know what I'm talking about
sounds like SeeGua, but looking at the Pinyin and knowing how Beijingren pronounce stuff I would have expected SrrGua 
