Technical Japanese

Although the arithmetic words are important, let’s move back to something a little more advanced, and a little more interesting.

正の数 – せいのすう – positive number
負の数 – ふのすう – negative number
数の符号 – すうのふごう – number sign
負の符号 – ふのふごう – negative sign
正の符号- せいのふごう – positive sign

0より大きい数を正の数と言います。
0よりおおきいすうをせいのすうといいます。
A number larger than 0 is called a positive number.

0より小さい数を負の数と言います。
0よるちいさいすうをふのすうといいます。
A number smaller than 0 is called a negative number.

負の数は、負の符号ーをつけて表す。
ふのすうは、ふのふごうーをつけてあらわす。
A negative number is shown with a negative sign, ー.

正の数は、正の符号+をつけて表す。
せいのすうは、せいのふごう+をつけてあらわす。
A positive number is shown with a positive sign, +.

0は、正の数でも負の数でもありません。
0は、せいのすうでもふのすうでもありません。
0 is neither a positive nor a negative number.

Relevant links:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/正の数と負の数

等式 2 +3 = 5 で、2は被加数です。次に 3 は加数です。最後に5 は和です。
とうしき 2 + 3 = 5 で、 2 はひかすうです。つぎに 3 はかすうです。さいごに5 はわです。
In the equation 2+3=5, 2 is the augend. 3 is an addend. Finally, 5 is the sum.

次に – つぎに – next
最後に – さいごに – in conclusion　

等式 2 * 3 = 6 で、2は被乗数です。次に3は乗数です。最後に6は積です。
とうしき 2 * 3 = 6 で、2はひじょうすうです。つぎに3はじょうすうです。さいごに6はせきです。
In the equation 2 * 3 = 6, 2 is the multiplicand. 3 is the mulitplier. Finally, 6 is the product.

That’s few long and relatively complex sentences, so I’ll leave it there for now.
じゃ、またね

Well, there a quite a few words related to arithmetic, so here is a second post on the topic.

First the basic operations themselves:

加法 – かほう – Addition
減法 – げんぽう – Subtraction
乗法 – じょうほう – Multiplication
除法 – じょほう – Division

More details on addition:

被加数 – ひかすう – augend
加数 – かすう – addend
å’Œ – わ – sum

More details on subtraction:

被減数 – ひげんすう – minuend
減数 – げんすう – subtrahend
å·® – さ – difference

More details on multiplication:
被乗数 – ひじょうすう – multiplicand
ä¹—æ•° – じょうすう – multiplier
積 – せき – product

More details on division:
被除数 – ひじょすう – dividend
法 – ほう – divisor
商 – しょう – quotient
剰余 – じょうよ – remainder

Notice that augend, minuend, multiplicand, and dividend all begin with the kanji 被, in this case meaning receiving the action of the arithmetic operation. In a mostly unrelated aside, this is also the kanji used with 法, which means divisor, in:

法被 – はっぴ – happi

which is the short, brightly colored coat with a large symbol on the back often worn at festivals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happi After noticing this, I will certainly think of division every time I see someone wearing this coat. It’s always nice to have something else to remind you of math ^^;

Well, that’s quite a bit of vocabulary for one post, I will try to put some more sentences in the next one.

Relevant Links:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/加法　
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/減法
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/乗法
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/除法

明けましたおめでとうございます。
Happy New Year!

Well, I’m back after a Christmas/New Year break.

I realized there were more fundamental words words than those I started with in my Basic Math post, so today I wanted to go over the arithmetical operations, in case you’re not familiar with them yet.

足す – たす – Add
引く – ひく – Subtract
掛ける – かける – Multiply
割る – わる – Divide

The sentence patterns for using these differ somewhat as well:

1足す1は2。 – 一足す一は二。 – One plus one is two.
5引く2は3。 – ごひくにはさん。 – Five minus two is three.
6掛ける3は18。 – ろくかけるさんはじゅうはち – Six times three is eighteen.
9割る3は3。 – きゅうわるさんはさん。 – Nine divided by three is three.

It is common to use Arabic numerals rather than Japanese characters, especially when talking about mathematics.

Last week we talked about Java being an object oriented language, but the second main feature of Java is it’s platform independence.

依存 – いぞん – depend

Javaはプラットホームに依存ありません。
Javaはぷらっとほーむにいぞんありません。
Java is platform independent. (Java is not platform dependent.)

Now, compilation of the source code:

Javaのソースコードをコンパイルすると、クラスファイルが生成されます。
Javaのそーすこーどをこんぱいるすると、くらすふぁいるがせいせいされます。
Java source code is compiled, and a class file is created.

This includes the word:

生成する – せいせいする – create, form

As we know, Java compiles to bytecode rather than machine instructions, so:

特定のCPUに依存しないバイトコードを含ませたクラスファイルが生成されます。
とくていのCPUにいぞんしないばいとこーどをふくませたくらすふぁいるがせいせいされます。
A class file which contains CPU independent bytecode will be created.

This includes the word:
特定 – とくてい – specific

Three new sentences for this week, and three Kanji compounds.

Although technical terminology in general has a relatively high concentration of words adapted from English, the number of programming and computer technology words is especially high. Starting with the basics:

プログラミング – ぷろぐらみんぐ – programming
プログラミング言語 – ぷろぐらみんぐげんご – programming language

I will be focused on Java, because I happen to have a book on it.

The first thing everyone knows about Java, and on the first line of the wikipedia article is:

オブジェクト指向プログラミング言語 – おぶじぇくとしこうぶろぐらみんぐげんご – object oriented programming language

This had a new word for me:

指向 – しこう – point (to)

Interestingly, the top wikipedia reference was:

性的指向 – せいてきしこう – sexual orientation

So it appears it may be be commonly used for the English “orientation”.

The next result is

指向性 – しこうせい – directivity

used as in;

指向性マイク – しこうせいまいく – directional microphone

As usual, within the first sentence, I am somewhere completely different.

Reading materials:
Wikipedia –
Java – http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java
Programming Languages – http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/プログラミング言語

Lenses and Light

å…‰ – ひかり – light

レンズ　- れんず – lens

鏡 – かがみ – mirror

屈折する　- くっせつする　- refract

反射する　- はんしゃする　- reflect

入射角 – にゅうしゃかく – angle of incidence

反射角 – はんしゃかく – angle of reflection

åž‚ç·š – すいせん – perpendicular line

入射点 – にゅうしゃてん – point of incidence

反射の法則 – はんしゃのほうそく – Law of reflection

入射角と反射角は等しい。 – にゅうしゃかくとはんしゃかくはひとしい。- The angle of incidence and the angle of reflection are equal.

Math – æ•°å­¦ – すうがく

Equation – 方程式 – ほうていしき

Solve an Equation – 解きます – ときます

How to solve -　解き方 – ときかた

Inequality – 不等式 – ふとうしき

Number line – æ•°ç›´ç·š – すうちょくせん

Actual usage:

Solve the following equations. – 次の方程式を解け。- つぎのほうていしきをとけ。

Solve the following inequalities. – 次の不等式を解け。 – つぎのふとうしきをとけ。

Show the solution on a number line. – 解を数直線上に示せ。- かいをすうちょくせんじょうにしめせ。

Basic sciences:

Science – 理科 – りか

Science/Scientific – 科学 – かがく

Physics – 物理学– ぶつりがく

Biology – 生物学- せいぶつがく

Chemistry – 化学 – かがく

college of science – 理科大学 – りかだいがく

academic society – 学会 – がっかい

science fiction novel –科学小説 – かがくしょうせつ

Actual usage:

Tokyo University of Science – 東京理科大学　-　とうきょうりかだいがく

Okayama University of Science – 岡山理科大学　- おかやまりかだいがく

Chemical Society of Japan – 日本化学会 – にほんかがっかい

Good Morning.  Please allow me to introduce myself.

—

I became interested in learning Japanese because I was interested in the robotics work being done by Honda and others, as well as the generally high level of technical and scientific information available in Japanese.  I have been studying Japanese for quite a while, and I have noticed that the number of excellent sites for learning online has been increasing, and the availability of good textbooks has improved as well. However, I have found very little in the way of learning more technical japanese, especially on the web. Although I am by no means fluent in Japanese, I still felt inspired to start this blog with hopes of assisting others with similar interests.  I plan to post twice a week with words and sentences related to a range of somewhat technical topics.

—

I welcome anyone’s corrections or additional explanations. I am also considering compiling a list of available resources for Japanese study, particularly more advanced material for self-studiers.  If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know at account name: tj provider: technicaljapanese.com.