Trying to remove ambiguity from the meaning of words

Following up on yesterday's post.

I've just noticed another example of this dislocation between word and meaning. I'm watching politicians on TV and they keep using the  word 地域（ちいき／Chiiki）: area, or region.

I can't disassociate this word with the English word 'cheeky'. They sound very similar—so similar that everytime I hear 地域 I immediately think about the word cheeky, and secretly snigger to myself about the similarity. Of course I remember that 地域 means region (using the cheeky similarity was a good mnemonic to remember the word in the first place), but it doesn't produce the same initial reaction in me that it would to a native speaker of Japanese, and therefore inhibits my understanding of the language. (Japanese speaker thinks 'region'; I think 'sounds like cheeky, snicker.'

Trying to focus on the real meaning of the word when I hear it would help to overcome this, but I think the best way to make the connection permenant is to have real, meaningful experience using the word.

For example, recently there have been a lot of problems in Japan due to the earthquake and tsunami, and I have learnt a lot of new words. There is no ambiguity for me in these words—放射線 means radiation, there's no doubt in my mind. It's a word that creates the same reaction in me as the English version: concern. This is because I've had real, meaningful experience with this word and the consequences it can cause.

I think this is a good example of the difficulty in learning new words. New words start off as a noise with no meaning; you can then learn the meaning and make the association, but does it really become meaningful to you until you actually have a reason to use, or think about the word, that actually affects you directly?

Jiaozi on the zhuozi

I started a new language exchange recently with a Chinese girl who works in Tokyo. I'm very glad I did it. There's no substitute to practicing with a native speaker, especially when it comes to Chinese it seems.

You have to hit those tones spot on, or you won't be understood at all, it's like fine tuning a frickin harp! One missed vowel sound and the comprehension level just completely disappears.

I've been doing a lot of practice listening and repeating to try and get my pronunciation down, but I think I need to be more conscientious of the tones when I learn a new word, and perhaps practice my vowel sounds a bit more too. I couldn't get her to understand 桌子 (zhuozi: table) all night, but that's because I had it written down as zhouzi (o before u) and I kept pronouncing it wrong, I also fouled up and said 饺子 (jiaozi: dumpling) by mistake once aswell.

She kept repeating it for me, and I would copy her 5 or 6 times, move on, and then make the same mistake 5 or 6 minutes later. In the end I decided to make a mnemonic connecting the pronunciation to "Jaws" the movie in my head—it's not a perfect match, but it'll do for now.

It was only later that I realized I had written the damn word down wrong and this was probably the reason for my repeated failure to get the pronunciation right.

Anyway, when your in the thick of these conversations it makes you wish you'd spent a bit more time on the tones and pronunciation of the words when you first learnt them, so I'll be trying to do that a bit more in future.