Learn about 言語道断 and 試行錯誤
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| INTRODUCTION |
| さくら: さくらです。 |
| Peter: Peter here. |
| さくら: 四字熟語 |
| Peter: Lesson 17. |
| さくら: The Outrageous Truth behind Popular Japanese Expressions. |
| Peter: What a title! |
| さくら: ね。 |
| Peter: Well in a way, it’s true because in each one of these lessons, we take a look at a idiomatic phrase. These phrases are made up of four kanji characters. So by taking a look at the individual characters and the four characters together, we can see where these meanings come from. |
| さくら: はい |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Peter: Sakura san, what is our first phrase? |
| さくら: 言語道断 |
| Peter: Outrageous. |
| さくら: ごんごどうだん 言語道断 |
| Peter: Let’s take a look at the four characters that comprise this word. Sakura san, first character. |
| さくら: 言 |
| Peter: Say. |
| さくら: 語 |
| Peter: Word. |
| さくら: 道 |
| Peter: Road, way. |
| さくら: 断 |
| Peter: Severance. Say word roadway severance. |
| さくら: It’s hard ね hard to understand ね |
| Peter: Let’s take a look at the two two kanji character compounds that comprise the four character kanji compounds if that made sense. Sakura san, what’s the first two character kanji compound? |
| さくら: 言語 |
| Peter: And it means |
| さくら: To say something. |
| Peter: What’s the second two character kanji compound? |
| さくら: 道断 |
| Peter: And it means |
| さくら: To have a way cut off. |
| Peter: So we put it all together |
| さくら: 言語道断 |
| Peter: And it means something is too terrible to be put into words. 良いですね Now Sakura san, |
| さくら: はい |
| Peter: Where does this expression come from? |
| さくら: It comes from Buddhism again. |
| Peter: And |
| さくら: It comes from the Buddhism word meaning that the Buddhism truth is too profound to explain in words. You can’t put it in words. |
| Peter: So again we have another phrase that’s tied to Buddhism. |
| さくら: Umm yes. |
| Peter: Now how about usage? When can we use this expression? |
| さくら: When someone did something terrible, you can say something は言語道断だ |
| Peter: Something is too terrible to put into words. |
| さくら: そうOr something なんて言語道断だ |
| Peter: And the なんてin there makes it extra. |
| さくら: Yes. |
| Peter: Really emphasizes the fact that something is outrageous. |
| さくら: そうですね。 |
| Peter: Okay. It can also be used to modify a noun by using the particle |
| さくら: の |
| Peter: Or |
| さくら: な |
| Peter: As in |
| さくら: 言語道断の |
| Peter: Something, something. An outrageous something. |
| さくら: Or 言語道断な |
| Peter: Again an outrageous something. |
| さくら: そうですね。 |
| Peter: In this case, the noun is – well it’s usually indicating an outrageous action. For example, |
| さくら: 行為 |
| Peter: An act. |
| さくら: Or 犯罪 |
| Peter: A crime. Let’s take a look at a couple of sample sentences. |
| さくら: カンニングは言語道断だ |
| Peter: Cheating on the exam is outrageous. |
| さくら: そうですね。 |
| Peter: No comment there. Next we have |
| さくら: 就職の面接に遅刻するなんて言語道断だ |
| Peter: Being late for a job interview is outrageous. |
| さくら: Umm… |
| Peter: 賛成ですね |
| さくら: そうですね。 |
| Peter: And finally we have |
| さくら: 飲酒運転は言語道断の犯罪だ |
| Peter: Drinking and driving is an outrageous crime. |
| さくら: だってFine is so expensive now in Japan right. |
| Peter: As we mentioned in our previous lesson several times, they actually fine everybody in the car. |
| さくら: そうなのOh oh! そうか |
| Peter: らしいです Okay on to our second expression. |
| さくら: はい 試行錯誤 |
| Peter: Trial and error. |
| さくら: しこうさくご 試行錯誤 |
| Peter: Let’s take a look at the first character |
| さくら: 試 |
| Peter: Try. |
| さくら: 行 |
| Peter: Going |
| さくら: 錯 |
| Peter: Confused. |
| さくら: 誤 |
| Peter: Error. Now I think we get a clearer picture of what all this means when we take a look at the two two kanji character compounds that make up this expression. |
| さくら: はい |
| Peter: First we have |
| さくら: 試行 |
| Peter: To try. This is followed by |
| さくら: 錯誤 |
| Peter: To make mistakes. So literally to try make mistakes. To try and make mistakes. Not to try and – you get the idea. Try and make mistakes. |
| さくら: そうですね。 |
| Peter: And put it together and it means, to approach success after learning from a lot of failures or to find the solution by trial and error. 良いですね |
| さくら: japanesepodみたいですね |
| Peter: Yeah. ピーターのほうですね。さくらはもっともっと完璧です |
| さくら: いやいや、とんでもございません |
| Peter: So Sakura was perfect from the start. |
| さくら: oh,no. |
| Peter: Okay how about the usage? |
| さくら: はいIt can be used as a suru compound verb. |
| Peter: As in |
| さくら: 試行錯誤する |
| Peter: Meaning to learn by mistake and if someone makes it by trial and error, you can say |
| さくら: Someone は試行錯誤しながら something をした |
| Peter: So while doing trial and error, they did something. |
| さくら: そうですね。 |
| Peter: Let’s have a couple of sample sentences. |
| さくら: 彼女は試行錯誤しながら新しいメニューを作った |
| Peter: She developed a menu by trial and error. |
| さくら: 私は試行錯誤の結果自分に合ったダイエット法を見つけた |
| Peter: I finally found a dieting method workable for me by trial and error. |
| さくら: 子育ては試行錯誤の連続だ |
| Peter: Raising kids is a continuing process of trial and error. |
| さくら: True. その通りです |
| Peter: どうでしょうね Usually the first child comes out so much better. |
| さくら: そうなんですか |
| Peter: らしいです |
| さくら: そうなの |
| Peter: I think parents try so hard on the first child and the second one little less. |
| さくら: Relax でいいんじゃない so relax だからmentally stable じゃないの |
| Peter: Now you probably noticed in the sample sentences, you can often see expressions like |
| さくら: 試行錯誤によって |
| Peter: By trial and error or |
| さくら: 試行錯誤の結果 |
| Peter: By trial and error and you noticed in the sample sentences that the trial and error part usually came first. |
| さくら: そうですね。 |
| Peter: By trial and error something, something. So Sakura san, the question is |
| さくら: はい |
| Peter: When was the last time you used one of these expressions? |
| さくら: うーんとね I used it one or two years ago. Not doing much trial and error now. Not making so much effort yes. When did you use it last? |
| Peter: 初耳です |
| さくら: ほんとに |
| Peter: First time I’ve heard it. |
| さくら: ほんと I often hear it in like speeches 例えばなんかさ president とかが試行錯誤によって我々は発展してきました we developed through trial and error. |
| Peter: So really it’s a very powerful expression but kind of used in very formal situations. Okay that is going to do for today. Don’t forget to stop by and try to use these phrases. |
| さくら: はい |
| Peter: The teacher will help you, correct you, show you the proper usage and we had some really, really great efforts. |
| さくら: そうですね。A message board もね |
| Peter: Hmm you know, to the people who’ve been doing this all along and have done an incredible job are Claire…. |
| さくら: はいはいはい |
| Peter: And Eric. |
| さくら: はいはいはい |
| Peter: 素晴らしいですね |
| さくら: すごいですよね |
Outro |
| Peter: So now is your chance. Stop by, try to use this in a sentence and we will let you know if it’s right or we will provide you with the correction. |
| さくら: はい、お待ちしております |
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