« Mais les élans, mais les regrets, mais les tendres souffrances, ce sont encore des richesses. (…) Le chagrin est lié aux frémissements de la vie. » Saint-Exupéry Terre des hommes (1939)📚 🇫🇷 Bel exemple de la figure de style anaphore (répétition en début de phrase), utilisée ici par Saint-Exupéry, qui nous conseille d’accepter les souffrances de […]
Author: yukikeiser
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🏛 Latin quote about philosophy📚
« Philosophia est ars vitae » – Cicero 🇺🇸 Philosophy is the art of life 🇫🇷 La philosophie est l’art de la vie 🇯🇵 哲学は、人生の芸術である Tetsugaku wa jinsei no geijutsu dearu
Today I’d like to talk about a concept that is very important in Japanese culture, and that has a big influence on the language: “uchi” (内) and “soto” (外). They mean inside (the house) and outside, which is the society. Society (社会 – shakai) is very important to Japanese values. That’s why Japanese people often […]
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🇫🇷 French music: Stromae
(Content Warning // suicidal thoughts) Stromae, a Belgian singer-songwriter who sings in French, released his latest song “L’enfer” (= hell). It contains deeply moving lyrics where he speaks very honestly about his struggles with mental health. After big hits such as “Alors on danse” ( = So we dance), Stromae took a break and came […]
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🇫🇷 French expression of the day💤
« Une histoire à dormir debout »💤 🇺🇸 It means a “ridiculous nonsense story,” and literally “a story to sleep standing.” Originally, this expression was used to describe stories which were so boring that they made people sleep, even when standing. It then shifted to a story hard to believe by its nonsense. « Mais c’est quoi […]
« Comme les matelots en détresse, elle promenait sur la solitude de sa vie des yeux désespérés, cherchant au loin quelque voile blanche dans les brumes de l’horizon. » Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary (1856)📚 🇫🇷 Très bel extrait de « Madame Bovary », illustrant tout le talent de Flaubert qui parvient à nous dresser en une seule phrase tout […]
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🏛 Latin quote about anger😡
« Debemus iram vitare » – Seneca 🇺🇸 We must avoid anger Words that Seneca wrote while thinking of Caligula who was often governing with anger. Aside from “anger,” “ira” also means “hatred” in Latin. Which is interesting, because in Japanese, we have a word with similar sound and meaning, “ira ira” (イライラ). It is the onomatopoeia […]
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🇯🇵 ’80s J-Pop Gossip🎤
Although I’m not a huge fan of J-pop, I do really love Japanese ’80s music, so I thought I would start a Japanese ’80s gossip series here in light of its wonderful abundance! I’ve also made a playlist on Spotify, so if you are interested in it, check it here. When Japanese people think of Japanese ’80s […]
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🇫🇷 French literature: love and hate💔
🇫🇷 « Julien trouvait Mme de Rénal fort belle, mais il la haïssait à cause de sa beauté ; c’était le premier écueil qui avait failli arrêter sa fortune. » Stendhal Le Rouge et le Noir(1830)📚 🇫🇷 Bel extrait du chef-d’œuvre de Stendhal, illustrant la complexité du personnage de Julien, ses contradictions ainsi que son complexe d’infériorité. […]
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🇯🇵 More words with “en” 縁
Last November, I posted an article about the word 縁 (en), a word dear to Japanese people’s connection to sensitivity and philosophy, and how it was used in daily conversations. (You can see it here.) Today, I would like to go over two expressions that are related to or use 縁 (en). 一期一会 Ichigo Ichie The Japanese […]