年金定期便 - annual pension notice

The photo bellow contains a text that was written on a formal letter I received recently about the annual pension fee. The vocabulary might be difficult so let's concentrate only on the reading of the Kanji.

「ねんきん定期便」です。
"nenkin teikibin" desu.

あなた様の年金加入記録をお届けいたします。
anata-sama no nenkin kanyū kiroku wo o-todoke itashimasu.

お届け先のご住所に、現在、受取人の方がお住
o-todokesaki no jūsho ni, genzai, uketorinin no kata ga o-su

まいでない場合には、お手数をおかけいたしますが、
mai de nai baai ni ha, o-tesū wo o-kake itashimasu ga,

「誤記」、「転居」等を封筒に記載いただき、開封
"goki", "tenkyo" nado wo fūtō ni kisai itadaki, kaifū

せずにそのままポストに投函ください。
sezu ni sono mama posuto ni tōkan kudasai

Let's review some of the Kanjis:

届 (deliver): 届け TODOke - notification - notificacion

A door and free 由. When you receive the notification, you are free to leave the apartment and don't pay it.

誤 (mistake): 誤記 GOki - writing error - errata

The left part means word 言 and the right part has big 大 and mouth 口. Imagine somebody speaking words with his mouth wide open, probably he will make many mistakes!!

居 (reside): 転居 tenKYO - changing residence - mudarse

A door and old 古. Imagine your house with a very old door, you definitely want to move to a new house!

封 (seal): 開封 kaiFū - unsealed letter - sobre sin abrir

Two times earth 土 and measurement 寸. Imagine that you put two spoons of ground from the Barcelona FC and you send them in an envelope to a fan!!

筒 (cylinder): 封筒 fūTō - envelope - sobre de correos

The top part are bamboo branches. The lower part means equal 同. Imagine that you have two equal copies of a drawing and you transport them in two cylinders made of bamboo.

載 (to ride): 記載 kiSAI - statement - declarar

函　archaic version for box, hako 箱

駐輪の警告 - Bike parking warning

I found this sign near a subway station indicating the appropriate place to park your bicycle. Let's try to read it!

名古屋大学関係者の皆様
Nagoya daigaku kankeisha no minasama
People related to Nagoya University

警告　ここは駐輪禁止区域です。
keikoku koko ha chūrin kinshi kuiki desu.
Warning. In this area bicycle parking is prohibited.

右図の赤色で示した部分が駐輪禁止区域です。
uzu no sekishoku de shimeshita bubun ga chūrin kinshi kuiki desu.
The map on the right indicates in red the areas where bicycle parking is prohibited.

必ず、青色で示す駐輪場に駐輪して下さい。
kanarazu, seishoku de shimesu chūrinjō ni chūrin-shite kudasai.
Make sure you park your bike in the parking area indicated in blue.

Remember the Kanji 警? It appeared before indicating police 警察 KEIsatsu.

The Kanji 輪 (wheel - rueda) apart from the pronnunciation RIN, it can be pronnounced WA. For instance we have 指輪 yubiWA (finger ring - anillo). It is composed of a car 車 and it has the same right part as 論 (theory - teoria). The main theory or discover to create a car was made by the romans and it was the wheel!!

そばかす - freckles - pecas

In this post, we will extract some Kanjis from the song そばかす by Judy and Mary. Check the Japanese lyrics and the translation.

息 (breath - respiracion): ため息 tameIKI (sigh - suspiro)

Upper part means oneself 自 and lower part is heart 心. Imagine yourself putting your hands on your own heart and breathing a sigh of relief.

糖 (sugar - azucar): 角砂糖 kakuzaTō (cube sugar - terron de azucar)

Left part is rice. Right part has a cliff, a mouth and something that looks like a brush. Imagine that you are a small caries inside a mouth of somebody eating rice. Since you are small, teeth look like a cliff. And what is your favourite food? sugar!!

溶 (melt - derretirse): 溶ける TOkeru

The left part is water and the right part means to contain 容. Imagine an ice-cream wrapper that contains only water because it already melted!! Other similar kanjis are to bathe 浴 and valley 谷. 　

胸 (breast - pecho): 胸 MUNE

The left part means month but also part of the body. For instance, brain is 脳 which is quite similar. The difference is that the breast is like a brain but very well wrapped!!

汚 (dirty - sucio): 汚れる YOGOreru (get dirty - ensuciarse)

Left part is water. The right part looks like a bow and an arrow. Imagine a very dirty river with dead bodys with arrows. Would you have a bath in that dirty river?

抱 (hug - abrazar): 抱く DAku

Left part is hand and right part is to wrap 包. If you wrapp somebody with your hands, you are hugging him!!

涙 (tear - lagrima): 涙 NAMIDA

Left part is water and right part is door 扉 and big (person opening his arms). Imagine that a son comes back home for Christmas. His mother is waiting for him in the door, with her arms wide open and tears in her eyes.

敗 - failure - fracaso

Word:

• 失敗 shipPAI
• English: failure
• Spanish: fracaso

Sentence:

• 万一僕が失敗すれば、両親がどんなにがっかりすることだろう
• man'ichi boku ga shippai-sureba, ryōshin ga donna ni gakkari-suru koto darō
• How disappointed my parents would be, if I should fail!
• Si por casualidad fracasara, que decepcionados estarian mis padres!

Mnemonics:

• The left part is a shell 貝 and the right part looks like a folding chair. The shells and the folding chair remind me of the beach. So imagine that you are a child collecting shells for a competition and you fail. The winner stands up on the folding chair!!

熱 - heat - calor

Word:

• 熱い ATSUi
• English: hot
• Spanish: caliente

Sentence:

• 彼はスープが熱すぎると文句を言った
• kare ha suupu ga atsusugiru to monku wo itta
• He complained of the soup being too hot
• Se quejo de que la sopa estaba demasiado caliente

Mnemonics:

• Imagine that this Kanji gives a very intense red thanks to its components. The lower part is fire, its like a gas stove, where you are cooking. Then we have a ball 丸 which represents a round pan where you are cooking. Then we have earth 土 and something similar to red 赤, so you can imagine some red product from the earth like an eggplant. So you are cooking an eggplant with strong fire and all is red, which gives you the idea of heat!!
• Important: this is hot for things, for weather we have 暑い atsui

満 - full - lleno

Word:

• 満足 MANzoku
• English: satisfied
• Spanish: satisfecho

Sentence:

• 両親は私の今年の成績に満足した
• ryōshin ha watashi no kotoshi no seiseki ni manzoku shita
• My parents were satisfied with my grades this year
• Mis padres estaban satisfechos con mis notas de este año

Mnemonics:

• The left part is water, the right part has grass　and both 両
• Imagine a person in a garden who is filling a bucket with water and is holding the pipe with both hands. He fills the bucket completely!!

雑 - miscellaneous - miscelanea

Word:

• 雑誌 ZASshi (ざっし)
• English: magazine
• Spanish: revista

Sentence:

• 彼女は雑誌にざっと目を通した
• kanojo ha zasshi ni zatto me wo tooshita
• She glanced though the magazine
• Ella echo una ojeada a la revista

Mnemonics:

• The main components of this Kanji are old bird 隹, nine 九 and tree 木
• I prefer to associate the Kanji with continuation 進 rather than bird. This way I can think of a TV magazine, made of paper/tree, that I can check to know when the next chapter of my favourite series will continue. The magazine is released every 9 days.

警 - admonish - amonestar

Word:

• 警察 KEIsatsu
• English: police
• Spanish: policia

Sentence:

• 非常の場合は警察を呼びなさい
• hijō no baai ha keisatu wo yobinasai
• Call the police in an emergency
• Llame a la policia en caso de emergencia

Mnemonics:

• The upper part means respect 敬 and the lower part means to say 言
• The pronnunciation is like 尊敬 sonKEI (respect), so respect what the police says!!

奇 - strange - extraño

Word:

• 奇跡　KIseki
• English: miracle
• Spanish: milagro

Sentence:

• 彼が飛行機事故で助かったのは奇跡だ
• kare ga hikōki jiko de tasukatta no ha kiseki da
• It's a miracle he wasn't killed in the plane crash
• Es un milagro que se salvara en el accidente de avion

Mnemonics:

• The upper Kanji means big 大 and it looks like a man opening his arms. The lower part
  indicates possibility 可
• I found it easy to imagine that the Kanji represents a man about to jump to the track of a train that is passing a tunel in order to commit suicide. Isn't it strange that in Japan there are so many suicides?!
• All these Kanji that have it as radical are pronnounced KI as well: 寄騎碕倚剞掎欹

程 - extent - grado de

Word:

• 程度　TEIdo
• English: what degree of.., to what extent..
• Spanish: que grado de.., hasta que punto..

Sentence:

• 自分たちがどの程度他人に依存しているのかを悟っていない
• jibun-tachi ga donoteido tanin ni izon-shite iru no ka wo satotte nai
• We don't see the extent to which we depend on others
• No percibimos el grado en que dependemos de otras personas

Mnemonics:

• The kanji is composed of rice plant 禾, mouth 口 and king 王. We will use the example sentence to say that the king doesn't realize to which extent he depends on normal people to bring rice to his mouth!!