Physics Prep
So, I’ll be teaching a physics class to a bunch of high school kids soon. They’ve never taken any physics course before, and they’ll be doing this one during “English Day” - so it’ll be in their second language. I’m not worried, though. I am confident that I will be able to successfully impart an intuitive (though not mathematical) understanding of the rudimentary physics of sound and the Doppler Effect. In order to help the JTE who will be assisting me in class, I started looking up vocabulary I might use. I was shocked at how much simpler it is to think of things in Japanese than they are in English when it comes to physics. The words mean exactly what they say. Brilliant! (I was inspired to write this after Alex posted about the etymology of the word “sesquipedalian” and how kanji, in these cases is “the layman’s best friend.”) So, so true. Here’s a list of scientific terms, and their co-parts in Japanese.
sound - 音 (おと)
sound wave - 音波 (おんぱ)
medium - 媒体 (ばいたい)
speed of sound - 音速 (おんそく)
pressure wave - 圧力波 (あつりょくは)
to vibrate / to oscillate - 振動する (しんどうする)
vibration / oscillation - 振動 (しんどう)
frequency - 振動数 (しんどうすう) 周波数 (しゅうはすう) [Thanks Bryan!]
period - 周期 (しゅうき)
hertz - ヘルツ
wavelength - 波長 (はちょう)
amplitude - 振幅 (しんぷく)
sine wave (sinusoidal wave) - 正弦曲線 (せいげんきょくせん)
Doppler Effect - ドップラー効果 (どっぷらーこうか)
I love it. “Frequency” is translated, in scientific terms, as “number of vibrations.” “Period” is “circuit time.” “Amplitude” is “shake breadth.” And then there are the obvious verbatim terms like “sound wave” (sound + wave), “speed of sound” (sound + speed), “wavelength” (wave + length). I guess part of the reason I’m feeling sure I can get the idea across is because the Japanese vocabulary is much easier to wrap your head around than the English. (At least, that’s true for me.) As long as they’ve got that working for them, they’ll be ok when we do attempt it all in English.
on May 31st, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Gratzi!
Alexs last blog post was: Kanji - The Layman’s Best Friends
on May 31st, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Prego!
on May 31st, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Mama mia?
Well, to tie into what Alex said in his post, the English words that are hard would be as simple as Japanese ones if only we had a grasp of our Latin and Greek roots. Kanji are so good for conveying roots.
claytonians last blog post was: Japanese Listening aids and other links
on May 31st, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Um…running out of Italian here…penne alla arrabiata! Mi piacerebbe visitare di nuovo l’Italia un giorno di questi! And you’re right, Clay. It’s all about the roots. (That’s part of why I love Alex’s vocab list. For instance, I just learned “bathetic.” Comes from bathos + etic the same way that pathetic stems from pathos. It basically means “insincerely emotional.” Sweet!)
on June 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 am
Raviolli, fusilli, spaghetti…That’s a handy list there, Deas. I was looking through those thinking, damn, he’s right! These are easy! I’ll probably forget them in a minute but now I know where to find them.
Nick Ramsays last blog post was: Got Genki? A JapanSoc Karma Tweak
on June 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Nick - I guess it only helps when you’re in the initial stages of learning physics. But for me, at least, it would take some of the frustration and fear out of a “difficult” science. I might have approached it differently myself had the vocabulary been so closely related to the concepts that the words represent.
on June 3rd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Just a slight correction for one of the terms…sorry for being anal, but I’m a radio engineer.
>> frequency - 振動数 (しんどうすう)
In technical literature and academic books, frequency is 周波数 （しゅうはすう）for waves. So if you’re talking about wavelength and all of that good stuff, you’d want to use this term instead of 振動数.
Bryans last blog post was: Back in “school”
on June 3rd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Bryan - no apology necessary! Had I known you’re a radio engineer, I’d have probably consulted you. Ha ha. I really appreciate the correction! Are there any other words you’d tweak?
Also, clarification question: it’s better to use 周波数 when discussing the frequency of a sound. Check. Is there a proper time to use 振動数?