Year-round Japanese: Seasonal phrases!

[Jembru]

As requested, here is the thread for collecting together handy phrases that can be used at various times of the year. These are great little warm-up phrases to throw out when you are catching up with Japanese friends.

I'll kick us off each month with some sentences from my phrasebook, or other sources (I want them to be as reliably accurate as possible, so won't try to make my own sentences: I promise they'll all come from native Japanese sources. This does however mean they'll vary in politeness, so keep that in mind when you come to use them yourself). 

If you come across handy seasonal sentences of your own, please share them here. Or if there's something you'd like to be able to say but can't, simply ask and if no one else knows either, I'll certainly find out for you!

Well then, lets start with December. 

December Phrases

一年がたつのは早いものですね！: I can't believe how quickly a year flies by! 

クリスマスはどう過ごすの？: What are your plans for Christmas?

今年はサンタさんに何をお願いしたの？: What did you ask Santa Claus to bring this year?

煙突のない私の家にサンタさんが来てくれるのか : Will Santa still visit if I don't have a chimney? 

今年の忘年会は3つだけで済みました。。。 : I got away with only going to 3 end of year parties this year! 

明日は雪になりそうだな  : It looks like it's going to snow tomorrow

雪が積もっていた : The snow has lain (settled/built up)

冬の間雪に閉じ込められることが多い。: We often get snowed in during the winter.

プレゼントを買いにいった？: Have you done your Christmas shopping yet? 

街中のイルミネーションが始まると、もう１２月なんだなと実感します。: When the (Christmas) illuminations come on around town, it hits home that December has arrived. 

ツリーはもう飾った？: Have you put your tree up yet?

今年はドレスコードがあって、クリスマスをテーマにしなきゃいけないんだ : There's a dress code this year; you have to wear something Christmasy. 

And a special one just for Jade; 

日焼け止め塗らないと : I'd better put on some sunscreen.

lol  

(sources: English/Japanese phrasebook, Japanesepod101, Chika's Vlog, Common Japanese Collocations, FB conversation). 

[Jade]

Hah, thanks for that Jembru. Ugh, why does everyone love summer, it's awful... especially when you're a redhead. Go outside for a few minutes? Come back in at least a little sunburnt. Thanks sun. Thanks so much.

[Jembru]

Oh me too Jade! I'm a redhead too. I'm not a very good one though.. I've been growing out my hair and it's come back darker than it was before I started dying it... but I still have the thinner epidermis thing going on, so burn easily and end up covered in freckles just by looking at a photo of the sun.. My ex in Germany tried to say I was allergic to the sun, which of course is nonsense. He'd just never seen someone bun from just sitting near a window before. ^^

[Jembru]

I've started a thread in the Japanese only section so we can practice using the phrases from this thread. I hope that everyone will have a go, even if you wouldn't usually post in the Japanese only section. For this reason I also ask that we try to stick to just one or two sentences in our replies. It's not a hard and fast rule, but long paragraphs might be intimidating to someone just starting out. Besides, even those of you more used to typing long Japanese posts, don't always have the time to sit down and write a carefully thought out reply, so might find it easier to reply to a thread that only demands a minute out of your busy schedule!

You don't have to use the phrases here, and accuracy isn't important (if it were, I'd never post in that section ^^). The point is just to chat about the season, our plans, likes and dislikes.. whatever. Just chat and have fun talking about the season.

If you get stuck, you can ask here and we'll try to help you to say what you want. Or you can try typing what you want to say into the 'sentences' section of jisho.org, or directly into alc.co.jp as this often helps you to find the words you're looking for.

To start us off, I've used one of the sentences already in this thread.

So what are you waiting for? No more excuses not to start practicing your Japanese RIGHT NOW!... 

Year-round Japanese practice thread

[chocopie]

Here's a general winter phrase!

暖かい格好をする or 暖かい服装をする
あたたかい　かっこう　を　する or あたたかい　ふくそう　を　する

to bundle up warm, dress warmly

[Jembru]

Dec 8, 2014 18:57:22 GMT chocopie said:

Here's a general winter phrase!

暖かい格好をする or 暖かい服装をする
あたたかい　かっこう　を　する or あたたかい　ふくそう　を　する

to bundle up warm, dress warmly

Great one! Thanks for that. I love getting my woolies on when it gets cold, so will definitely try to memorize these expressions!

[Jembru]

January

Oh dear, I AM late with this aren't I? I guess that gives me a good January phrase to start with..

一月ももうすぐ終わりだなあ…。一ヶ月はアッという間に過ぎるね。
January is almost over already. A month goes by so quickly.  

新年の誓いは立てた。
Have you made a new year's resolution?

Note: Both my phrase book and about.com have this exact same expression, but in use, I've heard 抱負 much more often than 誓い. I guess they must be interchangeable.  I also think I once heard a (non-native speaking) Youtuber use 目標, but she appears to have taken down the video in question, so I can't verify. 

去年は飛んだように早く感じたのは私だけ？
Is it just me, or did last year just fly by? 

今年の初夢、思い出せる？
Can you remember your first dream this year?*

初夢が正夢になるよう頑張ろう！
I'll do my best to make sure my first dream comes true!

ね、これどう？セールで半額で買ったの。
Hey, do you like this? I got it for half price in the sale! 

なんて買い得！
What a bargain!

朝って寒くてベッドから出られないよ！
The mornings are so cold I can't get out of bed!

And now a handy little onomotopoeia for you;

ブルブルッ 
Brrrrrrr.. 

What handy January phrases have you come across? 

* For those who might not know, this refers to the first dream you have in the New Year. It is meant to be an indication of what the year has in store for you. It is said that the most auspicious images to see in your dream are mount fuji, a hawk and/or an egg plant. I didn't see any of these in mine, but I WAS speaking Japanese, so here's hoping! ^^ 

[MidoriAbby]

Hey Jemma, this thread is a really good idea! I actually learned a bunch of new phrases. It strikes me that I need to get back into studying Japanese vocab more, I didn't know a bunch of things like 飾る and 実感する which I feel like I used to know/should have known. This is a really good idea, seasonal phrases are great for natural sounding small talk. If I think of any I'll be sure to post them!

[Jembru]

Yeah, when we came up with the idea for this thread I actually wished you were around because I thought it would be right up your ally! Oh and I just thought.. the youtuber I was talking about in the last post wasn't you btw. Just in case you were scratching your head wondering if you'd ever used 目標 for talking about new years resolutions. Maybe you did, but it was a video by kemushichan I was thinking of. I can't find it anymore, but I seem to recall watching her a year or maybe even two years ago and thinking, 'oh cool you can use that too..' Only I can't find the video in question anymore, so maybe I'm making it up. There was a time when I could remember exactly where I learnt almost every word I knew, but I can't do that now, and things get jumbled up in my memory quite often.

It's funny you should mention 飾る. This word is the bane of my Japanese. I use it quite a lot because I like to decorate my notes/work area/study.. but for some reason I keep saying かずる by accident. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get it right consistently. It's fast becoming my least favourite Japanese word.

[MidoriAbby]

I actually think I have used 目標 to talk about new year's resolutions but I don't remember if it was on YouTube or Lang-8. Probably the latter.
It more means "goals for the new year" which is a perfectly legitimate phrase and I've used it to avoid directly translating "resolution" because I didn't trust the dictionary to give me something that wasn't entirely dependent on context and potentially end up confusing everyone haha. (I remember the one time I tried to look up how to say "pierce your ears" when I got my ears pierced and ended up making a bunch of my Japanese Lang-8 readers think I had suffered some sort of horrible laceration accident. Oh dear. I believe I said 耳に穴をあけた or something instead of ピアスをした because a dictionary told me that was okay and I got a bunch of people saying "when I read the title I thought you'd had an incident, I'm glad you're okay".)

飾る hasn't been too annoying for me, except that I can never remember it when I actually want to say "decorate". Like, I've never had the issue of saying it when I meant something else but as soon as I'm talking about holidays or some occasion that requires decoration that word is nowhere in my brain.

[chocopie]

Jan 24, 2015 17:30:53 GMT MidoriAbby said:

I believe I said 耳に穴をあけた or something instead of ピアスをした because a dictionary told me that was okay and I got a bunch of people saying "when I read the title I thought you'd had an incident, I'm glad you're okay".

If you specify ピアスの穴 then it's ok, otherwise unless you're already talking about earrings it does sound like an accidental ear stabbing!

Jembru I agree I've come across 抱負 a lot more than 誓い. (誓い always makes me think of weddings... ❤愛の誓い❤)

This is not really a sentence but a short phrase?

梅の開花前線
うめ　の　かいか　ぜんせん
The plum blossom front.

January is when the plum trees start blooming so you can find reports on how the blossoming is progressing from south to north, where the best places to view the blossoms are etc.

[Jembru]

I actually like to take risks on lang-8 and try out words and grammar that I'm not sure I'm using in the right context. Either I discover I had it right, or I discover the right way to say what I meant. Either way I've increased my range of expression. When posting on FB or Gaiwa, I try to stick to things I know, even if it means I have to reword what I wanted to say to something else altogether. It doesn't mean I don't still make mistakes, but it reduces the chances of being misunderstood altogether (like having a friend rush over in a taxi to help stem the blood of my mutilated ears, lol). When I first started using lang-8 I used to try not to make mistakes, but then I realised if I stick to correct Japanese forever, I'll also stick to simple Japanese forever and never improve. Hmm, I should really start posting on there again. I keep saying I'll copy things I've written on gaiwa to lang-8 and then never bother. I'm just not very good at proof-reading, even my English posts (as I'm sure you've all noticed ^^). It bores me and makes my eyes water.

[MidoriAbby]

Jembru

Exactly, I think Lang-8 is a lot more of a safe space to make mistakes than if you're operating in the moment in real life in situations where language barrier can actually cause a legitimate inconvenience.

I mean, I always try to take misunderstandings in stride in real life context too, but it's definitely less scary on Lang-8.

[chocopie]

It pretty much never snows where I am, but when it does this might come in handy!

A light dusting of snow
ひとはけの雪

[Jembru]

Ack, I'd forgotten about this. Thanks for waking it up Chocopie!

Too bad I'm too late for Valentine's day. I'll try to get something up over the weekend, but I'm pretty swamped tonight and tomorrow, so I'm sorry if it doesn't happen.

Oh this reminds me of something I'd wanted to tell you about though. You know you shared two alternative phrases for wrapping up warm? A subject close to my heart so duly noted. In true Japanese style, I had someone comment on my cosy use of layered woolies and guess what they called it? 厚着! I literally can't win. Of course I had to ask what this meant, and I was like 'I knew two other ways you could have said that and still you went for THAT?? Auuuughh... this bloomin' language!!