Japanese for My Hobby: Growing Orchids

[schwing]

A little background first. I've been studying for almost a year now. I started taking a not-for-credit class through the college that met once a week. Our sensei is from Japan. So far she only teaches two "levels" with private lessons available. We are using "Japanese For Busy People" for our text. I'm about three weeks away from finishing the second level class and I'm just starting to feel things starting to click.

The hobby I have is growing orchids and I thought it would be good to learn the phrases that would be common to it. Since both really interest me, I thought they would reinforce each other. We are having an orchid show in a couple weeks and I've invited my teacher to it and thought "wouldn't it be great if I could give her a tour of the different flowers using only Japanese"?

So this is where I'm hoping to get some help from the forum. My teacher is on vacation for the next two weeks so this will all be self study. I'm not looking for really complex sentence structure (right now) but would like to be able to lead a tour and probably point out the really obvious. Things like ...

1. This flower is called a Cattleya.
2. This pink flower smells really nice.
3. This flower smells like vanilla. (or chocolate or fruit)
4. This flower is mine.
5. This flower is easy to grow.
6. This flower is my favorite.
7. Do you like how this one smells?
8. Is this flower pretty?
9. This is not an orchid. It is a fern.

I would like to try a couple of them; please pardon the romaji.

1. Kono hana-ga Cattleya desu.
2. Kono pinku hana-ga totemo nioi ga shimasu.
3. Kono hana-ga banira nioi ga shimasu.
4. Watashi-no hana-ga arimasu.
8. Kono hana-ga kirei desu ka?
9. Kore-wa ran-ga deshita. Shida desu.

I had to use the dictionary to look up some of the words, and I'm sure I messed up the ga/wa particles, but I would really appreciate your critiques and suggestions or even some other phrases that would be related.

Thanks!
-ken

[Brody]

I think you did a great job, Ken. May I perhaps offer a few suggestions?

1. kono hana wa cattelya (ka.te.rra) desu.

2. kono pinku no hana wa ii kaori ga suru. (totemo means "very", so I think your sentence kind of sounds like "This pink flower is very smelly.")

3. kono hana wa banira no nioi ga shimasu/arimasu (do you know "no you ni" yet? If so you could try "kono hana wa banira no you ni nioi ga shimasu," just to let you know; either way works)

4. kono hana wa watashi no desu.

5. kono hana wa saibaishi-yasui desu.

6. kono hana ga daisuki desu./ kono hana ga ki ni irimasu.

7. kono hana no kaori ga suki desu ka?

8. kono hana wa kirei desu ka?

9. kore wa ran ja arimasen. shida desu.

Like I said, you did very good. Good luck with the show; let us know how it goes,

Brody

[Bueller_007]

you could try "kono hana wa banira no you ni nioi ga shimasu."

Hmm. I believe that this means that the actual way that the odor is emitted from the flower is similar to the way that vanilla emits odor. The smells may be nothing alike, but the way that they emit them is the same. I believe you should use "na" instead of "ni":

"Kono hana wa banira no you na nioi ga shimasu."

I could be completely wrong about my interpretation above (your version may also be correct) but I'm pretty sure that "na" is better than "ni" here.

Anyway, in this case, it's a minor issue. Either way you say it, the listener will probably understand the meaning.

[Brody]

Yes, Bueller is right.　すみません！

[Bueller_007]

Yes, Bueller is right.　すみません！

I was thinking. 香り (kaori) is probably a better word than におい (nioi) as well. It naturally implies the (good) smell of a flower.

[schwing]

A follow up question, if I may. If 'kaori' implies 'smells good' what would be correct for 'smells bad'?

A: "Kono hana wa banira no you na kaori ga shimashita ka?"
B: No, it smells bad.

There are some orchid flowers that specifically produce a bad odor to attract other pollinators like flies. There is even one that smells like rotting meat.

-ken

[Bueller_007]

A follow up question, if I may. If 'kaori' implies 'smells good' what would be correct for 'smells bad'?

A: "Kono hana wa banira no you na kaori ga shimashita ka?"
B: No, it smells bad.

There are some orchid flowers that specifically produce a bad odor to attract other pollinators like flies. There is even one that smells like rotting meat.

-ken

臭気 (shuuki) is the word for "stench" or "odor".

A: "Kono hana wa banira no you na kaori ga shimasu ka?"
B: "Iie. Shuuki ga shimasu." (lit. "No. It stinks.")

That might not be the most natural way to say it though.

Maybe:
"Iie. Fukai-na nioi ga shimasu." (lit. "No. It smells unpleasant.")