quiz and class in Japanese
Sep 13th 2009 15:32
japanese
I often meet some strange expressions when correcting Japanese passages written by non-native speakers or talking with them.
Above all, the words クイズ and クラス are really often misused, I think.
A typical example is "昨日、フランス語のクラスで単語のクイズがあった。". I have to state that most of us Japanese felt really strange to this expression, though we barely understand it. クラス might be OK, but クイズ is the problem. We would say "昨日、フランス語の授業で小テスト(a short test)があった。" instead.
As you know, these words are firstly from quiz and class respectively in English. However I could say クイズ and クラス have lost their original meanings in Japanese.
In fact, クイズ usually means a game rather than a test. In the game one makes questions and the other one answers them. We also call the questions in the game クイズ, which are like riddles, but are not humorous, are simple and about facts. For example, "Who is the President of the United State?" and "What does りんご means in English?" are クイズ.
The following web page (in Japanese) is a good reference of クイズ.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AF%E3%82%A4%E3%82%BA
As I wrote, クラス might be OK for some of us, but seems unnatural at least to me in the above sentence. In my opinion, "クラス" means a home room or group in a school. It seems rather difficult for me to define クラス exactly, so I lists some correct and natural expressions.
私は桜中学に通っており、私のクラスは3年B組です。(I go to sakura junior high school and belong to 3-B.)
金八先生のクラスには問題児が多い。(There are a lot of problem children of Mr. Kinpach's students.)
日本語の授業は佐藤先生のクラスを取っている。(I take Prof. Sato's Japanese class.)
佐藤先生の授業は分かりやすい。(Prof. Sato's lesson is easy to understand.)
I am not a teacher, so I might be wrong. I recommend that anyone interested in this topic check some Japanese-Japanese dictionaries.
At last I present the definitions from an online dictionary.
クラス：(１)学校などにおいて，組み分けしてできた生徒の集団。学級。級。組。
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn/217602/m0u/%E3%82%AF%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B9/
クイズ：問題を出して相手に解答させる遊び。また、その問題。
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn/52040/m0u/%E3%82%AF%E3%82%A4%E3%82%BA/
Above all, the words クイズ and クラス are really often misused, I think.
A typical example is "昨日、フランス語のクラスで単語のクイズがあった。". I have to state that most of us Japanese felt really strange to this expression, though we barely understand it. クラス might be OK, but クイズ is the problem. We would say "昨日、フランス語の授業で小テスト(a short test)があった。" instead.
As you know, these words are firstly from quiz and class respectively in English. However I could say クイズ and クラス have lost their original meanings in Japanese.
In fact, クイズ usually means a game rather than a test. In the game one makes questions and the other one answers them. We also call the questions in the game クイズ, which are like riddles, but are not humorous, are simple and about facts. For example, "Who is the President of the United State?" and "What does りんご means in English?" are クイズ.
The following web page (in Japanese) is a good reference of クイズ.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AF%E3%82%A4%E3%82%BA
As I wrote, クラス might be OK for some of us, but seems unnatural at least to me in the above sentence. In my opinion, "クラス" means a home room or group in a school. It seems rather difficult for me to define クラス exactly, so I lists some correct and natural expressions.
私は桜中学に通っており、私のクラスは3年B組です。(I go to sakura junior high school and belong to 3-B.)
金八先生のクラスには問題児が多い。(There are a lot of problem children of Mr. Kinpach's students.)
日本語の授業は佐藤先生のクラスを取っている。(I take Prof. Sato's Japanese class.)
佐藤先生の授業は分かりやすい。(Prof. Sato's lesson is easy to understand.)
I am not a teacher, so I might be wrong. I recommend that anyone interested in this topic check some Japanese-Japanese dictionaries.
At last I present the definitions from an online dictionary.
クラス：(１)学校などにおいて，組み分けしてできた生徒の集団。学級。級。組。
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn/217602/m0u/%E3%82%AF%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B9/
クイズ：問題を出して相手に解答させる遊び。また、その問題。
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn/52040/m0u/%E3%82%AF%E3%82%A4%E3%82%BA/
- 22
- 6
- 2
Journals Statistics
Latest entry
Latest comments
Entries by Month
- 2010
- - January (2)
- 2009
- - November (2)
- - September (4)
Until enough vocabulary is built up you just have to go with what you know and hope that you are using the right word.
A lot of the time you don't even know a certain word exists until somebody corrects you.
This is why I think it is important for those who know a better word to always correct the learner.
If the learner is corrected by replacing one word for another then they can learn that word in context and will have a better idea of when to use it again.
Lucasさん、添削ありがとうございます！
You are right. Studying a language is sometimes a hard thing, I think, especially when we use adopted words which have lost their original meanings.
Just in case, I want to say something. I did not mean to criticize anyone in this entry. The reason I wrote it is just that I am fond of this kind of topic like differences of languages.
By the way, I have a question about the following sentence.
>I have to state that most of us Japanese feel that this is a really strange expression, we barely understand it.
I want to use a conjunction between "expression" and "we." I guess that you omitted "and," so you probably suggest it.
I want to express a kind of compromise so I used "though." In that case the problem is "barely"? Then "most of us Japanese feel that this is a strange expression, though we understand it" is correct?
Or, please tell me a better expression.
"most of us Japanese feel that this is a strange expression, though we understand it"
is perfect :)
There are "Quiz Shows" in the US, which is probably where the katakana comes from.
On the shows, they 'quiz' people on the same type of questions that you mentioned above. Those types of questions are often called "trivia". Someone might be interested in sports trivia, Japanese trivia, etc.
And yes, in the US a "quiz" is like a short test. There are also "pop quizzes", which means the teacher did not warn you that there would be a quiz that day, so no one has a chance to study for it.
And than you for sharing the explanations with us!
Lucasさんありがとうございます！
ハルビさん、
Thank you for telling me "pop quizzes." Also in Japan they exist, and we call them "抜き打ちテスト." Naturally students hate them.
In recent years "trivia" has been used in Japan as "トリビア." It was from a TV show "トリビアの泉." In the show the host presents some information "トリビア," which are comletely useless but funny or interesting. We like these トリビア. Probably トリビア has the almost same meaning as trivia.
oh wow. I didn't even know about the differences! I'll keep that in mind next time.