Shigoto ganai

 I read a book once by a Western man. I cannot remember his name or the title of his book. However, he was discussing his time working in a big name company in Japan.  During the course of the book, he talked about the phrase 'Shikata ga nai' which means "It couldn't be helped."  This was the only thing I really remembered about the book.  Subsequently, I was in college and met--through my friend, Collin McCormick, a Japanese student.  We were talking about the Japanese language and I was repeating phrases I knew like "Domo arigato" and "Dōitashimashite" which mean, "Thank you" and "You're welcome." My mother, Pattalee, taught me 'You're welcome" many years ago. I remembered it cos she said, "It sounds like 'Don't touch the mustard.' LOL.

Anyway, back to my Japanese friend, I was trying to repeat the phrase for "It couldn't be helped" when my friend burst out laughing. He told me what I had just said in Japanese. I had interposed some letters and instead of a 'K' and an "A" I had said "Shigoto ganai" which means "I do not have a job." LOL

Anyway, I told you all of that for a reason, really. I've been watching Korean films on Prime (cos I have a free month). This particular series is telling a story about a Korean actress starring in a Japanese film. I have to watch them with the subtitles on, but sometimes, I'm distracted and am not watching carefully. But, the COOLEST thing! I heard a character say "Doitashimashite" and UNDERSTOOD it. That is happening more and more when I'm hearing Mandarin in shows and--now--in Korean, too. It is gratifying to know that my studying (however slowly it is happening) is paying off. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, I'll be understanding spoken Korean when I'm hearing it after I move to Korea (again hopefully) in August!