Pangrams
Pangrams are fun, and they're especially useful when trying to memorise the Hiragana characters. The most common english one would be: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" Recall the Mother making us learn that for five-finger typing, one skill I never regretted learning.
Italian: "Ma la volpe col suo balzo ha raggiunto il quieto Fido"
*But the fox with his leap has reached the quiet Fido (without foreign letters)
And now for hiragana, we have Iroha (いろは)
いろはにほへと
ちりぬるをわか
よたれそつねな
らむうゐのおく
やまけふこえて
あさきゆめみし
ゑひもせす
ちりぬるをわか
よたれそつねな
らむうゐのおく
やまけふこえて
あさきゆめみし
ゑひもせす
-attributed to the priest Kukai, but now perhaps to the later Heian period.
色は匂へと
散りぬるを我か
世誰そ常な
らむ有為の奥山
今日越えて
浅き夢見し
酔ひもせす
-kanji and kana version散りぬるを我か
世誰そ常な
らむ有為の奥山
今日越えて
浅き夢見し
酔ひもせす
An English translation by Professor Ryuichi Abe reads as:
Although its scent still lingers on
the form of a flower has scattered away
For whom will the glory
of this world remain unchanged?
Arriving today at the yonder side
of the deep mountains of evanescent existence
We shall never allow ourselves to drift away
intoxicated, in the world of shallow dreams.
the form of a flower has scattered away
For whom will the glory
of this world remain unchanged?
Arriving today at the yonder side
of the deep mountains of evanescent existence
We shall never allow ourselves to drift away
intoxicated, in the world of shallow dreams.
-wikipedia
It's amazing how learning a foreign language can expand your horizons huh.
Labels: english, iroha, italian, jap stuff, pangrams
harle on 11:49 pm