Daily Thread: simple questions, comments that don’t need their own posts, and first time posters go here (June 27, 2023)

7 comments

1. I have a question about -san and -sensei.

   For context, I am an ALT, and I have a really terrible Japanese co-teacher who is incredibly disrespectful to me. He mocks my way of talking, makes fun of me, and even laughs at me in class. I know he is awful and he has been reported and no one cares. But my specific question is that in class he calls me my name-san instead of my name-sensei. Is this just another kind of dig? I feel disrespected by this because I feel like he is implying that I’m not a teacher and don’t deserve to be called one. Even the students in class started whispering to each other when he first did it saying “….san?”

   All my other coworkers call me sensei and have been really respectful and great. This one awful old man teacher is the only one who does this.

2. I was wondering, is there a reading “セカイ” for 階層? I checked [jisho](https://jisho.org/word/%E9%9A%8E%E5%B1%A4) and [goo](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E9%9A%8E%E5%B1%A4/#jn-36370) but found just the reading かいそう. [This](https://youtu.be/-wOTv_i5ZfA?t=61) was where I saw it (at 1:01) and the sentence was:

   違う階層を生きていても, 同じ空を見ている

3. わたしは（ ）というわけではありませんよ。今日はたまたま休みなのです。
   a 今、暇だ
   b いつも暇だ
   c いつも忙しい

   Why is the answer b and not c?

   I thought that the second part would imply that the speaker is not always busy, if they have a free day today.

   But maybe it’s because たまたま implies that the free day wasn’t planned, it just happened to be like this, and なのです makes it a reason for something, so it makes more sense that the speaker wants to say that they are not always free, today was just an unexpected exception?

4. Hi everyone

   It would be great to have some help for this one.
   Which sentence is correct from these two
   ぎんこうは　この通り　に 　まっすぐ　行ってください。
   ぎんこうは　この通り　を 　まっすぐ　行ってください。
   Thanks in advance

5. I know a kanji is commonly read with くん読み when it’s alone but, for example, the adjective 小さい the kanji part 小 is it read as こ, しょう or ちい? I think I should read it as こ but I’m not sure.

   With 大きい I have a feeling that 大 is read as ダイ when it’s alone.

   Is there a rule for this? I’m not looking for one by the way since I learn some くん読み and おん読み to have a broader knowledge when I come across a new word.

6. How exactly do you use anki? I’ve found core 2k deck, but it’s split into 2, core 1k and core 2k, do you learn both at the same time?

7. Not a question but just a generic comment. I did the Core 2K years ago and I’m doing Core 2.3K now. I think I probably have to learn about 30% of the words, so my vocabulary is definitely being expanded.

   Still, I run into a lot of words I already knew. Interestingly, though, this is still super valuable. Now that I have an ear for the different patterns, I find myself learning pitch accents for words (no guarantee I can reproduce them all but I’m sure it’s helping), and I’m shadowing all the sentences (where I typically understand 95% of the vocab and 100% of the grammar), which is helping my mouth get more useful to speaking Japanese (at speed)

   At some point I’ll finish this deck and start finding places to speak Japanese and maybe read native content, but still.