Let's look at a fun Japanese idiom today. Literally, this is "to wear a cat." What does it really mean? Read below to find out.
We are about to release the first module for the next Makoto+ course. It will be on 300 important Japanese idioms. More on that below, but first, let's learn this idiom.
When you pretend to be one thing when you really are something else, you "wear a cat." Literally, "to wear a cat."
This may have come about because a cat on the outside seems to be gentle, but inside, the cat is wily and devious.
Vocabulary with Pitch Accents (learn more about pitch accents here)
猫(ねこ) cat [1]
[This pitch accent means it starts high and drops low and stays low even when a particle follows (the white circle indicates that). So, the を in the phrase stays low.]
を (direct object marker)
[sets "cat" as the object that is put on.]
かぶる to put on (one's head); to wear [2]
[The か is low but ぶ raises slightly and then returns to the base pitch with the る. There is no particle after かぶる, but if there were, it would also be low (the white circle).]
HOMEWORK: Can you read and translate the sentences in this image? Leave a comment with any questions:
I had planned to release the first module of the new Idioms course on Monday, but it's summer and the fam wants to go to the beach on Monday, so it will either be Tuesday or Wednesday...
Still, I'm very excited about this one. As I mentioned last week (and you saw above), we will be incorporating pitch accents as well as more testing.
Also, this course won't just be a simple list of idioms.
We'll break down all the vocabulary, practice those words, put them back together to form the idioms, and then practice the idioms in context until you internalize them.
I'll have more on this course in the following days, but if you want to have access to it as soon as it is released, please become a Shogun ($10 a month) or Lifetime member (still only $249).
Samurai members ($3 a month) don't have free access to our courses (except the hiragana one), but they do have a coupon in the members area to buy a lifetime license to any course for only $10 each.
