It reads:
ポール先生♥
先生の時々つかうカタコトの日本語めっちゃ可愛いです。(笑）
英語IBの時しか接することないけどこれからも、よろしくお願いします。
It doesn't really translate exactly (which often tends to be the case), but basically:
Paul-sensei,
The *baby talk-like Japanese that you sometimes use is super cute. (lol)
*Although our English class won't continue from here, please remember me.
How cute is that? This is from a girl who is generally pretty quiet - it's always rewarding to hear from the quiet ones. I didn't realize I spoke カタコト (baby-talk, babble) Japanese, but hey, if it helps students remember my classes, then goo-goo-gah-gah, mofos.
Update: Daniel left some feedback in the comments section about the translation of girlie's note:
カタコト can also be written 片言, so it's closer to "broken Japanese" than "baby talk" I think. And it's not that class won't continue, in that second line she's saying, "I only get to see you during English IB, but I hope we can be friends forever!" Or something like that. 接する is closer to "interact with" and "spend time with" than "continue."
So as my first Japanese teacher used to say, "Let's enjoy our mistakes!"
カタコト can also be written 片言, so it's closer to "broken Japanese" than "baby talk" I think. And it's not that class won't continue, in that second line she's saying, "I only get to see you during English IB, but I hope we can be friends forever!" Or something like that. 接する is closer to "interact with" and "spend time with" than "continue."
ReplyDeleteMan is it ever nice to get letters like that. I remember the funny messages pretty vividly.
Thanks, Daniel! Nice to have a pro vetting my translations. =)
ReplyDeleteYeah, "broken" Japanese is a lot smoother and makes more sense. And thanks for the note about 接する - looked up the kanji in my denshi jisho, saw つづける as one of the possible definitions, and went with "continue." I really should put more time into researching new words.
And yes, stuff like this is the most rewarding part of the job, I think. Although the paycheck doesn't hurt, either.
接する isn't easy to learn. One of my students kept using it in her speech contest speech, so I was forced to figure out what it meant. It took a lot of explaining before I was able to triangulate basically what it meant.
ReplyDeleteHa, the paycheck is definitely nice. I was making more teaching than I am now!