A Book that Clearly Explains Classical Chinese and Classical Japanese in One Volume ／ Classical Japanese Part

• Goal

  • Gather knowledge that will make your life easier just by knowing it.
    • This includes the critical and non-trivial differences between modern words.
  • Ignore things that require grammar knowledge for understanding. Put effort into learning things that can be intuitively grasped.
    • Even if you can’t fully understand something, just knowing the points where you might misinterpret can be helpful.
      • You can make up for it in other ways.

• Grammar

  • Particles
    • Since particles are often omitted, it’s like a game of filling in those parts with other information (such as conjunctions, context, and reading comprehension).
    • “〜ん” is not a negation (咲かん means 咲く).
    • “〜ぬ” can have both negation and completion meanings.
      • Examples: 咲かぬ花、流れぬ水 (negation)
        • Using the irrealis form (issac)
      • Examples: 花咲きぬ、水流れぬ (completion)
        • Using the continuative form (issac)
    • “〜ね” can have both negation and completion meanings.
      • Examples: 花こそさかね、花咲かねば、花咲かねども (negation)
        • Also using the irrealis form (issac)
          • 色こそ見えね、香やはかくるる
      • Example: 花、咲きね (completion)
    • 花や/かあれ: Is there a flower? (question, maybe rhetorical)
    • 〜て/とて/など: Quoted phrase (thoughts, etc.)
  • Honorific Language
    • “給ふ” can be both respectful and humble.
  • Waka Poetry
    • Often references both nature and human experiences.

• Techniques

  • If something is difficult to understand, focus on grasping the correspondence of “SがV” (subject and verb) by omitting details.
    • This way, even long sentences can be broken down into blocks.
    • Also, consider all possible interpretations.
    • Approach when the subject is unknown:
      • Check if honorific language is used (you can recognize a certain level of politeness based on the context).
        • The absence of honorific language can also be a hint.
  • SAT-like evidence-based thinking seems to be necessary to some extent.
    • However, since there is a higher risk of misinterpreting compared to the SAT, be aware of uncertainties.
    • It seems useful for choosing the correct answer in multiple-choice questions.
    • This is particularly important for explanation questions.
      • Find evidence without speculating on emotions.
    • This also applies to waka poetry.
      • Since the interpretation of waka poetry itself tends to vary, focus on restating what is mentioned before.

• Test Knowledge

  • Interpretation Questions
    • The answer to a rhetorical question is often a paraphrased version.
    • If the subject varies depending on the choices, pay attention to what is being asked.
  • Explanation Questions
  • Strategies
    • It’s a good strategy to quickly scan through the questions to gather information, similar to the SAT.

• Domain Knowledge (?)

  • In romantic relationships, men tend to make the first move.
    • “通い婚” refers to a marriage where the man visits the woman’s house every night.
  • The waka poetry that is likely to be asked is usually something that comes out spontaneously, rather than from a formal gathering like a utakai.

• Potentially Misunderstood Vocabulary

  • “宿” refers to a house or mansion.