3/21/2016

Birds which herald the coming of spring ~Japanese bush warbler~

My children and I visited my parents house yesterday.

After we reached there, my children began to quarrel about what to play.

My 7-year-old Son wanted to play Donjyara (his favorite board game).

My 5-year-old Daughter wanted to play a jump rope.

When they were in bad moods, I heard a Japanese bush warbler sang from the garden.

"Wow! Did you hear it? I heard "Hooo- Hokekyo (ホーホケキョ ; songs of Japanese bush warbler!)". An Uguisu (Japanese busu warbler) may be in the garden. I want to hear it! I am going to go out to the garden!"

I was excited to listen to the song because it reminded me of coming of spring.

My children told me:

"I want to hear it, too!"

We went to the garden.

"Be quiet and listen. Hey! Did you hear it?"

The Uguisu was like singing!


My children forgot that they were quarreling and we drunk in the beautiful songs.

My mother told me:

"When I heard a Japanese bush warbler sang, something good always happened to us so far. For example, you and your sister passed the entrance exam."

"Really? So I hope something good will happen to us from now!"


After all, we started playing a jump rope at the garden listening to the Japanese bush warbler singing.

After that, my mother told my children:

"Let's play softball! Have you ever played it?"

Since she was a member of the soft ball club when she was a student, I also used to play it with her when I was a child.

She told them how to play.

We used a tree branch as a bat.

My mother was a pitcher, and my Son was so excited because he made a hit.

"Run! Run!"

I told him and he pretended to run around the bases.

My Son and Daughter hit the ball in turn.

When my Son's turn, he made a hit.

The accident happened at this time.

He was so glad and threw the bat and ran.

The bat hit my Daughter's face who was watching him.

She cried bitterly.

Unfortunately, she got a bruise on her face and cut inside her mouth a little.

My mother's good luck expectation didn't come true this time.


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2 comments:

  1. Hello Kumi-san,

    Glad you were able to get some enjoyment from listening to the bird song. We have many birds that visit the garden here but unfortunately there is not much variety. They tend to be starling, sparrows, crows, seagulls and occasionally pigeons. The more exotic bird types we do not get.

    Hope your daughter's sporting injury is soon healed.

    I was browsing Youtube for simple things to help me practice Japanese, and by accident I found that SanrioJapan does a Japanese version of Mr Men. I read the books as a child, I was surprised that there were Japanese versions of the books on Youtube:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY-BwxaNhko

    They brought back memories.

    Here are some of the issues found with the rest of the post:

    Part 1:

    Do you remember previously that I said that words that stand in for names (proper nouns) should usually be capitalized. Well I did a bit of research to find out if this is always true and it turns out that sometimes it is not:

    There appears to be one exception according to this link:

    http://blog.dictionary.com/capitalizing-family/

    Which says:
    You should capitalize these when referring to your own relatives: Hello, Mother. A good rule to follow is to capitalize them if they are used as proper nouns. If used as common nouns, don’t capitalize as in: We honor all mothers in May. In other words, capitalize words such as “Mother,” “Father,” “Grandmother,” “Grandfather,” “Son,” “Daughter,” and “Sis” when they are used in place of the person’s name. Do not capitalize them when they follow possessive pronouns such as her, his, my, our, your.

    The last part of that sentence I didn't know about:

    Do not capitalize them when they follow possessive pronouns such as her, his, my, our, your.

    I think it is true but can't find clear proof of it.

    So for example in the sentence below:

    My 5-year-old Daughter wanted to play with a jump rope.

    Daughter is correctly capitalized because it does not come after a possessive word (I, My, Our, etc.).

    If the sentence had been written as:

    My daughter wanted to play with a jump rope.

    Daughter would not be capitalized because it follows a possessive word.

    Sorry for the previous incorrect information Kumi-san, grammar rules still are easily able to confuse me.

    This line:
    My 5-year-old Daughter wanted to play a jump rope.

    Should be:
    My 5-year-old Daughter wanted to play with a jump rope.

    This line:
    When they were in bad moods, I heard a Japanese bush warbler sang from the garden.

    Should be:
    When they were in bad moods, I heard a Japanese bush warbler (call/sing/song) from the garden.

    This line:
    "Wow! Did you hear it? I heard "Hooo- Hokekyo (ホーホケキョ ; songs of Japanese bush warbler!)". An Uguisu (Japanese busu warbler) may be in the garden. I want to hear it! I am going to go out to the garden!"

    Should be:
    "Wow! Did you hear it? I heard "Hooo- Hokekyo (ホーホケキョ ; (song/call) of the Japanese bush warbler!)". An Uguisu (Japanese bush warbler) may be in the garden. I want to hear it! I am going to go out to the garden!"

    This line:
    I was excited to listen to the song because it reminded me of coming of spring.

    Should be:
    I was excited to listen to the song because it reminded me of the coming of spring.

    This line:
    The Uguisu was like singing!

    Should be:
    The Uguisu sounded (very song like/very lyrical/very melodic)!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Part 2:

    This line:
    My children forgot that they were quarreling and we drunk in the beautiful songs.

    Note: Good use of drunk in :)

    This line:
    "When I heard a Japanese bush warbler sang, something good always happened to us so far. For example, you and your sister passed the entrance exam."

    Should be:
    "When I heard a Japanese bush warbler (sing/call/song), something good always happened to us so far. For example, you and your sister passed the entrance exam."

    This line:
    "Really? So I hope something good will happen to us from now!"

    Should be:
    "Really? So I hope something good will happen to us from this point on!"

    Note: "from this point (on/onward)" or "from this point in time" or "from now on" is a common speech pattern in English. Used to mean that in future you will try to cause a set of actions to happen or will expect a set of actions to happen.

    Examples:

    I ate too many Easter eggs so from this point on I will stick to more healthy foods.
    Life has been so stress filled lately so from this point in time I will endeavor to not get too stressed.
    I always tell my children to clean their rooms but from this point on I will not tell them, I will however not let them have any chocolate until they do.
    From now on if you don't eat your vegetables you will get no dessert, I told my children.
    From now on I will keep my dentist happy and not eat mochi.
    From now on I will drink coffee quickly and not sip it lessen tooth decay, to keep my dentist happy.

    This line:
    After all, we started playing a jump rope at the garden listening to the Japanese bush warbler singing.

    Should be:
    After all the previous arguments, we started playing with the jump rope in the garden listening to the Japanese bush warbler singing.

    This line:
    Since she was a member of the soft ball club when she was a student, I also used to play it with her when I was a child.

    Should be:
    Since she was a member of the softball club when she was a student, I also used to play it with her when I was a child.

    This line:
    When my Son's turn, he made a hit.

    Should be:
    When it was my son's turn, he made a hit.

    Reason: I lower cased son's this time as it comes after the possessive word my.

    This line:
    The accident happened at this time.

    Should be:
    That was when the accident happened.

    This line:
    He was so glad and threw the bat and ran.

    Should be:
    He was so glad to have hit the ball that he threw the bat and ran.

    This line:
    Unfortunately, she got a bruise on her face and cut inside her mouth a little.

    Should be:
    Unfortunately, she got a bruise on her face and a little cut inside her mouth.

    ReplyDelete