Just Monika Quotes

“Are people really attracted to these weird personalities [referring to Tsundere, etc.] that literally don’t exist in real life? … It’s like you’re siphoning out all the components of a character that makes them feel human, and leaving just the cute stuff. It’s concentrated cuteness with no actual substance.” – Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

“You are the perfect combination of human and cuteness. That’s why there was never a chance I wouldn’t fall for you.” – Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

“I started to wonder why God was helping people pass exams, or get over a cold… when there are children who live their lives being sold as sex slaves? Or the eight hundred million people who are too poor to even eat. I wonder how many of those people pray to God every day until they starve and die? Or, how many millions of families pay for a loved one to recover from some incurable disease? But the punchline is this: If just one person beats the odds and survives – among the thousands of others who die – then, it’s suddenly a miracle from God. I’d really love to meet this God who seemingly laughs at the misery of everyone not eligible for his miracles.” – Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

“I always thought spicy food was kinda funny. Like… Didn’t plants evolve to be spicy to prevent them from being eaten? I read somewhere that humans are the only species that actually enjoy spicy things. It’s almost like we’re making fun of the plants, using their defense mechanisms to literally make our food more enjoyable. Like, imagine a monster that devours you whole because it enjoys the sensation of you struggling for your life while being digested.” – Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

“[Humans are] programmed to desire social feedback. That’s why life can be so confusing for introverts. Being an introvert doesn’t mean you shun social interaction and hate being around people. It means social interaction, especially in groups or unfamiliar places, uses up a lot of energy. Like, a lot of introverts sit at home and feel lonely and restless, and then when they finally go out, after half an hour they just want to go home again. I think if more people could understand how it works, they would respect it a lot more. Many introverts do enjoy having people around. They love just having one or two close friends over, and just leisurely hanging out. Even if you’re not actively spending time together, it feels nice for them just to have you there.” – Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

“I think the most important skill in life is being able to fake confidence. I’m pretty convinced that everyone feels at least a little bit scared and alone. But being able to thinking you have it all together – that’s a key part of getting people to respect and admire you.” – Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

“You ever have that thing happen when you just get anxious for no reason? Like, you’re just minding your own business, and you realize you’re feeling really anxious. And you’re sitting there like, ‘What am I even anxious about right now?’ So you start to think about all the things you might be anxious about, and that makes you even more anxious.” – Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

“What if plants feel some kind of pain too, and we just don’t understand it? What if pulling leaves off a stem feels like someone ripping off your fingers one by one. I’m just saying, we’re a pretty biased species, if you think about it.” – Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

“Do you feel like you waste too much time on the internet? Social media can practically be like a prison. It’s like whenever you have a few seconds of spare time, you want to check on your favorite websites… and before you know it hours have gone by, and you’ve gotten nothing out of it.” – Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

Chinese Word Etymologies

Every Chinese word has an origin. Not only are Chinese words loaded with meaning when you dissect them into radicals, but also they each have a story to tell. There are six ways a Chinese word is formed; this is known as the 六書.

1. Form Imitation (象形): The word is formed by simply drawing the object that it represents. Examples include 日 (Sun), 月 (Moon)，山 (Mountain)，水 (Water)， 雨 (Rain)，etc. The first words were formed through this method, and the evidence is seen from the oracle bones (甲骨文).

2. Indication / Simple Ideograms (指示): The word is formed based on its idea. Examples include 上 (Up)，下 (Down)，一 (One)，二 (Two)，三 (Three).

3. Joined Meaning / Complex Ideograms (會意): The word is formed based on its radicals. Examples include 林 (Grove)，森 (Forest)，休 (Rest)，看 (Look). An example in Japanese is 働 (Work).

4. Form and Sound (形聲): About 90% of Chinese words are formed through this method. It involves combining a phonetic component (sound), and a semantic component (form, meaning). Examples include 沐 (wash oneself)，菜 (vegetable)，字 (word)，映 (reflection).

5. Reciprocal Meaning (轉注): This is poorly understood. Not much is known about this.

6. Borrowing / Phonetic Loan (假藉): The word is formed from another word and forming a sound that is similar to it. Examples include 麥 (wheat) and 葉 (leaf). This is not to be confused with Form and Sound (形聲). Using 麥 as an example, the original pictogram word for “wheat” was 來. However, this was similar to the pronunciation of the word for “to come”. As a result, “to come” was assigned to 來, and a new word 麥 was formed, albeit bearing resemblance to the former.

Source: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/六書

The Lunar Calendar

The calendar that we use is called the Gregorian Calendar; it is also called the “solar calendar” because it is based on the sun. The Chinese, since the era of the Yellow Emperor (~5000 years ago) use the Lunar Calendar, which is based on the moon. They also use Sexagenary Cycle (60-Year Cycle) in numbering the years, using the 10 Heavenly Stems (天干) and 12 Earthly Branches (地支), which are as follows:

Heavenly Stems (天干): 甲、乙、丙、丁、戊、己、庚、辛、壬、癸
Earthly Branches (地支): 子、丑、寅、卯、辰、巳、午、未、申、酉、戌、亥

Each year is composed of “Stem + Branch”, and the next year is named by moving into the next Stem and the next Branch. For example, if we start with year 甲子, the next year will be 乙丑, and so on and so forth. After 癸酉, the next year will be 甲戌, then 乙亥. The least common multiple of 10 and 12 is 60. The Stems will repeat for 6 times and the Branches will repeat 5 times, with the 60th year being 癸亥. While it may be 02/13/2018 today, it is 12/28/丁酉 in China.

The 12 Branches are also used to time the different periods of the day that are 2 hours long each.

Likewise, because there are 12 Branches, they assigned Zodiacs (according to the legend; refer to UP Meridian’s post) – 鼠 (Rat), 牛 (Cow), 虎 (Tiger), 兔 (Rabbit)，龍 (Dragon)，蛇 (Snake)， 馬 (Horse)，羊 (Goat)，猴 (Monkey)，雞 (Rooster/Chicken)，狗 (Dog)，豬 (Pig).

Later, they also added the 5 elements (which are found in the Days of the Week in Japanese) – 火 (Fire)，水 (Water)，木 (Wood)，金 (Gold)，土 (Earth), as well as 陰 (Yin) and 陽 (Yang) and the 8 permutations of Trigrams / Bagua (八卦), which are ☰ (乾), ☱ (兌), ☲ (離), ☳ (震), ☴ (巽), ☵ (坎), ☶ (艮), ☷ (坤). This explains why sometimes one can see an element with an animal, i.e. Fire Rat. It also generated several means of fortune telling and became the basis of Feng Shui. Things got pretty complicated, and I could barely understand it anymore. They have “checksum” tools to check if such a year is possible, which kind of uses some concepts in basic number theory. The mathematics behind this is quite intricate.

More information at: https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A9%E5%B9%B2%E5%9C%B0%E6%94%AF

 

Sino-Xenic Pronunciations

I noticed some similarities between Mandarin Chinese, Fookien Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Apparently, these are called Sino-Xenic Pronunciations. Aside from the uncanny similarities in their numbers 1-10 (一 until 十), these are some that I encountered while I was watching anime and K-drama series as well as during my Japanese lessons:

“Thank you!”

~ Mandarin: 感謝 (gan xie)

~ Fookien: 感謝 (kam sia)

~ Korean: 감사합니다 (kam sa ham ni da)

[Note the identical “gan”/”kam”.]

“Thousand”

~ Mandarin: 千 (qian)

~ Fookien: 千 (chieng)

~ Korean: 천 (cheon)

~ Japanese: 千 (sen)

“Day”

~ Mandarin: 日 (ri)

~ Fookien: 日 (dit/ kang usually used in Taiwan)

~ Korean: 언젠가 (eon jen ga)

~ Japanese: 三日 (mi k ka), 火曜日 (ka you bi), 日本語 (ni hong go)

[Note the closeness between “kang”, “ga”, and “ka”]

“Phone”

~ Mandarin: 電話 (dian hua)

~ Fookien: 電話 (tien ue)

~ Korean: 전화 (jeon hwa)

~ Japanese: 電話 (den wa)

[Note that they are almost identical.]

“Airplane”

~ Mandarin: 飛行機/飛機 (fei xing ji/fei ji)

~ Fookien: 飛行機/飛機 (hui ki)

~ Korean: 비행기 (bi haeng gi)

~ Japanese: 飛行機 (hi ko ki)

[Note how similar they are. Note how “xing” relates to “haeng”.]

“Library”

~ Mandarin/Fookien: 圖書館 (tu shu guan)

~ Korean: 도서관 (do seo gwan)

~ Japanese: 図書館 (to sho kan)

[Note how similar they are.]

The “now” of Japanese (今/ima) sounds almost the same as the “today” for Fookien (今仔/kina).

“Teacher/Senior”

~ Mandarin: 先生 (xian sheng)

~ Fookien: 先生 (sien si)

~ Korean: 선생 (seon saeng)

~ Japanese: 先生 (sen sei)

[Insight: “Firstborn” is the transliteration of 先生.]

“Exam/Test/Trial”

~ Mandarin: 試驗 (shi yan)

~ Korean: 시험 (si heom)

~ Japanese: 試験 (shi ken)

“Half”

~ Mandarin: 半 (ban)

~ Fookien: 半 (pua)

~ Korean: 반 (ban)

~ Japanese: 半 (han)

“Night”

~ Mandarin: 晚 (wan)

~ Korean: 밤 (bam)

~ Japanese: 晚 (ban)

“Every”

~ Mandarin: 每 (mei)

~ Fookien: 每 (mui)

~ Korean: 매 (mae)

~ Japanese: 毎 (mai)

“Bank”

~ Mandarin: 銀行 (yin hang)

~ Fookien: 銀行 (gun hang)

~ Korean: 은행 (eun hang)

~ Japanese: 銀行 (gin kou)

“To Experiment”

~ Mandarin: 研究 (yan jiu)

~ Fookien: 研究 (gien kiu)

~ Japanese: 研究 (keng kiu)

“News/Newspaper”

~ Mandarin: 新聞 (xin wen)

~ Fookien: 新聞 (sim bun)

~ Korean: 신문 (sin mun)

~ Japanese: 新聞 (shim bun)

“Pencil”

~ Mandarin: 鉛筆 (qian bi)

~ Fookien: 鉛筆 (yam pit)

~ Korean: 연필 (yeon pil)

~ Japanese: 鉛筆 (em pitsu)

“Chair”

~ Mandarin: 椅子 (yi zi/tsu)

~ Fookien: 椅 (it)

~ Korean: 의자 (ui ja)

~ Japanese: 椅子 (i su)

“Moon/Month”

~ Mandarin: 月 (yue)

~ Fookien: 月 (ge)

~ Japanese: 月 (getsu/gatsu/tsuki)

“Year”

~ Mandarin: 年 (nian)

~ Fookien: 年 (ni)

~ Korean: 년 (nyeon)

~ Japanese: 年 (nen)

“Family/Clan”

~ Mandarin: 家族 (jia zu)

~ Fookien: 家族 (ka <something>, like in ka tieng/家庭)

~ Korean: 가족 (ga jog)

~ Japanese: 家族 (ka zoku)

“Bag”

~ Mandarin: 包 (bao; but remember b is just a hard ‘p’)

~ Fookien: 包 (pao)

~ Korean: 가방 (gabang; but remember g here is just a hard ‘k’)

~ Japanese: 鞄 (kaban; but also ‘pao’ if read in Mandarin)

“Police”

~ Mandarin: 警察 (jing cha)

~ Fookien: 警察 (kieng ch’at)

~ Korean: 경찰 (gyeongchal)

~ Japanese: 警察 (keisatsu)

More can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Xenic_pronunciations

East Asian Languages

[Chinese New Year Countdown Post #1]

Growing up with speaking Hokkien at home, learning Mandarin and Classical Chinese in Saint Jude, appreciating Cantonese Chinese through Hong Kong trips and movies, falling in love with Japanese through anime, J-pop and J-drama, and Korean through K-drama and K-pop, one could notice how similar all these languages are. One possible reason is that all of these countries were once part of the ancient Chinese dynasties. However, according to Wikipedia, they are of different origins.

Classical Chinese was the language of ancient China, i.e. Spring and Autumn Period 春秋時代, as seen in the Analects of Confucius. It was used to circulate the emperor’s decrees to ancient Korea and Japan. Most of the current languages today diverged from that. The Mandarin pronunciation shown for this is highly unlikely to be the actual pronunciation at that time, because the Manchus only came recently (around 1600 AD).

Hokkien Chinese was the dominant language during Tang Dynasty, one of the golden ages of culture in China. When the dynasty collapsed because of northern forces, the culture spread southward, explaining why we have Hokkien Chinese in Taiwan and generally Southeast Asia.

Notice how Sorobun Japanese is similar to Classical Chinese. Okinawan Japanese is significantly different from the usual Japanese. The anime Barakamon has shown this. Meiji-Era Japanese shows the usage of the archaic Kana (alphabet). The progression of the Japanese language as seen here shows why much of its Kanji (like 食 here) has several readings. As we were taught in high school Chinese History, a monk named Kong Hai (空海和尚) a.k.a. くうかい (Kuukai), was the one who developed the Japanese alphabet (or to be more accurate, syllabi).

Notice how the Korean language had Hanja before, and how similar the readings are. Korea was using Classical Chinese. Classical Chinese was also known to be the language of the elite; as a result, many of the lower class Koreans were illiterate. King Sejong wanted to promote literacy among his people (and later, independence), so he invented the Hangul. Notice how each Hangul word is composed of the Korean alphabet, and the pronunciation of each word can be found WITHIN the word, unlike Chinese and Japanese, where it is quite challenging to pronounce each word.

More interesting information about the Chinese and East Asian Cultures to come in the next few days. Credits to Marvin Sy for referring me to this source.

「進撃の巨人」は英語でホントに「Attack on Titan」ですか

The well-known anime and manga series “Attack on Titan” is 進撃の巨人.

“進撃” means “to attack” (in pursuit). When it is transliterated, it literally means “pursuing fist”.

“巨人” means “titan”. When it is transliterated, it literally means “giant human or person”.

Now, the “の” particle is an association particle that can link adjectives to nouns, or nouns to nouns.

The more accurate translation of that title should be “The Attacking Titan” or “The Attack Titan”, which refers to “the titan that attacks”, rather than “attacking the titans”.

And now I realized that the title is actually a major spoiler itself.

Click Here for Spoiler

Pearls from “A Modern History of Japan from the Tokugawa Times to the Present”

If we improve our country’s transportation system and build more railway lines, can we remove “Filipino Time” and make it on par with Japanese punctuality?

Meanwhile, don’t you think that studying history in detail will make one realize that no nation, religion nor political ideology is truly “special”, as each is mired with violence? (I used to think eastern religions to be more “peaceful” ones.)

The congestion we experience in Manila was similar to the conditions of Osaka in the 1700~1800s. Moreover, the culture of traps (Kabuki Theater) and maid cafes had their origins in the Tokugawa and Meiji era.

It is also interesting to note the factors which gave rise to Imperial Japan in World War II. As mentioned by the book, the factors include economic crisis, sharp polarization of left versus right politics, intense conflict in industrial workplaces, and murderous right-wing terror. To add to that, there is also blind obedience to an absolute monarch (the emperor) and “purification” of any dissent.

Student activism and rural militant activism played a major role in modern Japanese history (Showa era). Tokyo University had to stop its operations for about one and a half years because of a massive boycott. Likewise, Tokyo University also bred the craziest minds, one of whom became a terrorist (refer to Aum Shinrikyou) who planted poisonous gas in a certain train.

The recent Dengvaxia incident can also be compared to their 1996 Blood Transfusion incident.

While Japan was not yet a world power, they believed in their own race and identity. Relative to the Philippines, one might say it’s kind of extreme, or “ultranationalist”. It became “too good” to the point of imperialism.

There seems to be a parallelism of what’s happening in our country to those mentioned in this book. There was likewise tremendous conflict and struggle for a better society in modern Japan.

Here are some notable excerpts from the Japanese history book “A Modern History of Japan from the Tokugawa Times to the Present”. There are other excerpts which may be notable to you; with this, I recommend reading this book.

 

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