Technical Japanese

From Mainichi Shinbun:

http://mainichi.jp/select/science/news/20100906ddm016040018000c.html

化学物質:　「不安」3人に2人

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化学 – かがく – chemistry
物質 – ぶっしつ – material, substance
化学物質 – かがくぶっしつ – chemical substance, chemicals

不安 – ふあん – worried, concerned

3人に2人 – さんにんにににん – two out of three people

This headline confused me briefly, but then I remembered that Japanese fractions are “upside down” to fractions in English.
Where in English we would say:
“three fourths”
in Japanese it would be
4分の3

English states the numerator first, but the denominator is stated first in Japanese. The same principle applies for 3人に2人, with the quantity of elements of the set stated before the elements exhibiting the property of interest.

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Translation:
2 Out of 3 People are Concerned About Chemicals

Another news item from National Geographic this time, an article about solar eclipses:

http://www.nationalgeographic.co.jp/science/space/solar-system/solar-eclipse-article.html

The title in this case is simply:

日食
with a subtitle of:

天空の太陽が覆い隠される

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日食 – にっしょく – solar eclipse

This is such a compelling word, with the use of the kanji 食, meaning food, or a meal. It seems something like “the sun is eaten.” It is also interestingly similar to:

日本食 – にほんしょく – Japanese food

I think this is my new favorite Japanese word, at least for this week.

As for the subtitle:

天空 – てんくう – the sky
太陽 – たいよう – the sun
覆い隠す – おおいかくす – conceal

This is a quotation from Homer’s Odyssey, and is translated variously from Greek as:
-The sun is blotted out of heaven
-The Sun has been obliterated from the sky
-The sun has perished out of heaven

These all seem substantially more poetic than the Japanese translation, but I don’t know which is more authentic to the original.

Overall a relatively simple headline, but I think it has several interesting points.

日食
Solar Eclipse
天空の太陽が覆い隠される
The Sun is Concealed in the Sky

A news item from the astronomy site AstroArts:

http://www.astroarts.co.jp/news/2010/08/13ngc4911/index-j.shtml

ハッブルが数年かけて撮影した銀河 NGC4911

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ハッブル – はっぶる – Hubble, the space telescope
æ•°å¹´ – すうねん – several years
撮影する – さつえいする – photograph
銀河 – ぎんが – galaxy

数年かけて – すうねんかけて – taking several years

Finally, here is my full translation of the headline:
ハッブルが数年かけて撮影した銀河 NGC4911
Hubble image of Galaxy NGC 4911 taken over several years

The image combines data obtained in 2006, 2007, and 2009 to form the presented view.

The image is available here in a variety of resolutions:
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire/pr2010024a/

Another news item from Mainichi shinbun:

http://mainichi.jp/select/science/news/20100727ddm016040010000c.html

遺伝子のごみ: 発生や生命維持に重要な役割

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遺伝子 – いでんし – a gene, genetic
ごみ – garbage
遺伝子のごみ – いでんしのごみ – junk genes

発生 – はっせい – development
生命 – せいめい – life
維持 – いじ – maintenance
重要 – じゅうよう – importance
役割 – やくわり – a part, a role

重要な役割 – じゅうようなやくわり – an important role

Finally, here is my full translation of the headline:
遺伝子のごみ: 発生や生命維持に重要な役割
Junk Genes: Actually play an important role in development and maintenance of life.

A news item from National Geographic this time:

http://www.nationalgeographic.co.jp/news/news_article.php?file_id=2010080201&expand#title

海洋生物の多様性: 舌に牙のある魚

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æµ·æ´‹ – かいよう – the ocean
生物 – せいぶつ – living thing, life
多様性 – たようせい – variety, diversity

舌 – した – tongue
牙 – きば – fang, tusk
舌に牙のある – したにきばのある – have fangs on the tongue
さかな – さかな – fish

Finally, here is my full translation of the headline:
海洋生物の多様性: 舌に牙のある魚
Ocean life: A fish with fangs on it’s tongue.

You should click the link and see the picture – it’s pretty cool.

Another news item from mainichi shinbun, this article has a great current buzzword, renewable energy.

http://mainichi.jp/select/science/news/20100722ddm002040104000c.html

再生可能エネルギ:　全量買い取り制度　家計負担、月200円ーー経産省方針

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再生 – さいせい – regenerate/recycle
可能 – かのう – possible
再生可能エネルギ – さいせいかのうえねるぎ – renewable energy

全量 – ぜんりょう – total
買い取り – かいとり – buy back
制度 – せいど – system
全量買い取り制度 – ぜんりょうかいとりせいど – Total Buy Back System

家計 – かけい – family budget/household living expenses
è² æ‹… – ふたん – share of a cost, burden

月200円 – つきにひゃくえん – 200 yen monthly

経産省 – けいさんしょう – (abbr.) Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (or METI)
経済産業省 – けいざいさんぎょうしょう – Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry

There is one point of background necessary to understand this headline. The Japanese government introduced the “Total Buy Back System” in November of 2009, to require power utilities to buy electricity from individual households. The headline refers to a new premium to be charged to support this system.

Finally, here is my full translation of the headline:
再生可能エネルギ:　全量買い取り制度　家計負担、月200円ーー経産省方針
Renewable energy: 200 yen per household will be charged in order to support the total buy back plan – – METI

I thought it might be interesting to post some news articles and key words for a while.

From mainichi shinbun:
http://mainichi.jp/select/science/news/20100706k0000m040107000c.html

シロアリ : 女王は果物の香り　フェロモン特定、駆除応用も

シロアリ, 白蟻 – しろあり – termite
果物の香り – くだもののかおり – fruit scented, smelling like fruit
フェロモン – ふぇろもん – pheromone
特定 – とくてい – identify (in this case)

駆除 – くじょ – exterminate, extermination
応用 – おうよう – practical application

So in this case, I would translate the sentence like so:

シロアリ : 女王は果物の香り　フェロモン特定、駆除応用も
しろあり :じょおうはくだもののかおり　ふぇろもんとくてい、くじょおうようも
Termites: a fruit scented queen pheromone has been identified, with application for pest control

By the way, this was discovered by researchers at Okayama University (岡山大学 – おかやまだいがく), national university in Okayama prefecture (岡山県 – おかやまけん), in the Chugoku region (中国地方 – ちゅうごくちほう) of Japan.

Today, words and phrases you may use in a laboratory setting.

実験 – じっけん – experiment

物理学の実験をする。
ぶつりがくのじっけんをする。
Do a physics experiment.

化学の実験をする。
かがくのじっけんをする。
Do a chemistry experiment.

実験器具 – じっけんきぐ – laboratory instrument

試験管 – しけんかん – test tube
ビーカー – びーかー – beaker
フラスコ – ふらすこ – flask
三角フラスコ – さんかくふらすこ – Erlenmeyer/conical flask
丸底フラスコ – まるそこふらすこ – round bottom flask

メスフラスコ – めすふらすこ – volumetric flask (from the German Messkolben)
メスシリンダ – めすしりんだ – graduated cylinder

Is that enough for a start? Have fun!

Today, some basic statistics terminology.

Scales of measure/levels of measurement

尺度水準 – しゃくどすいじゅん – scales of measurement
名義尺度 – めいぎしゃくど – nominal scale
順序尺度 – じゅんじょしゃくど – ordinal scale
間隔尺度 – かんかくしゃくど – interval scale
比率尺度 – ひりつしゃくど – ratio scale

Summary statistics:

要約統計量 – ようやくとうけいりょう – summary statistic(s)
最頻値 – さいひんち – mode
中央値 – ちゅうおうち – median
平均 – へいきん – mean
分散 – ぶんさん – variance
標準偏差 – ひょうじゅんへんさ – standard deviation

四分位点 – しぶんいてん – quartile point
最小値 – さいしょうち – smallest value
最大値 – さいだいち – largest value

幾何平均 – きかへいきん – geometric mean
変動係数 – へんどうけいすう – coefficient of variation

Did I miss anything? I know I didn’t get skewness or moments, but maybe I will cover the more advanced items later.

Let’s go over some of the actions and items associated with doing some basic programming.

テキストエディタ – てきすとえでぃた – text editor
プログラム – ぷろぐらむ – program
コンパイル – こんぱいる – compile
実行する – じっこうする – run (a program)

Now some basic sentences:
Javaのプログラムを書く。
Javaのぷろぐらむをかく。
Write a Java program.

Javaのプログラムをコンパイルする。
Javaのぷろぐらむをこんぱいるする。
Compile a Java Program.

プログラムを実行する。
ぷろぐらむをじっこうする。
Run a program.

テキストエディタでプログラムを書く。
てきすとえでぃたでぷろぐらむをかく。
Write a program in a text editor.

テキストエディタでHelloWorld.javaを開きます。
てきすとえでぃたでHelloWorld.javaをひらきます。
Open HelloWorld.java in a text editor.