finally sent Li Wanhe away, Jiang Shuiyuan dragged Hotta Yu, who had soft knees, and hurried to the kitchen, and finally got his wish and tasted the taste of Taixue steamed buns. To be honest, the mutton-stuffed steamed buns – or mutton buns – taste very average, at least Jiang Shuiyuan felt that they were far inferior to the Wenlou soup dumplings in his hometown Huaifenglou. But this kind of steamed bun made Emperor Shenzong, who had tasted it, feel that "it is worthy of raising soldiers with this", and Jiang Shuiyuan suddenly inexplicably sympathized with the emperor and scholars of the Great Song Dynasty.

After eating, the two walked around Taixue again, and it was a walk.

Helplessly, Hotta Yuya has been soft since he knew Jiang Shuiyuan's glorious achievements, and he knelt on the ground with a "snap" at every turn: "Please give me advice!" Jiang Shuiyuan felt that the bluestone slab paved by Taixue was still quite hard, and for the sake of Hotta Yuya's knees, he decided to go back earlier.

It's boring to go back.

The nightlife at night in the Great Song Dynasty was almost nil, especially in the temple of monks like Taixue, and in the face of the boring mud bombardment of Yuya Hotta. Jiang Shuiyuan looked out the window at the bright moon in the sky, occasionally a few fireflies dancing among the grass, a little oil lamp in the house like beans, feeling more and more bored. In normal times, he can also read books to relieve boredom, but according to the regulations, tourists entering Dongpo Mountain Villa must change all their personal belongings and put on Song Dynasty costumes, and Jiangshuiyuan is no exception. So all his books and materials were left in the locker room, and now he is empty-handed.

He suddenly remembered that Yuki Hotta also had books. I don't know if Dongpo Mountain Villa treats international friends preferentially, or I think that the set of engraved books "Shi Zhu Su Poems" written by Song Ju in the 38th year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty is too expensive, and I can't afford to lose it, in short, Hotta Yu also brought in the whole set of ten copies openly. So he asked, "Hotta-kun, do you have any books to read?"

Hotta Yu also immediately knelt on the ground: "The contemptible people have a set of "Shi Zhu Su Poems", do you want to read it?"

"Shi Zhu Su Poems", Jiang Shuiyuan has seen it in the reference room of the Kodansha of Chinese Studies a long time ago, but it is not this kind of precious engraved book, but a typeset version arranged by later generations, "Is there nothing else?"

Hotta Yu also had a difficult face: "In addition, there is only one "Hanhe Shuangjie Dictionary". ”

Jiang Shuiyuan thought for a while: "Then look at the "Dictionary"!"

"Look at the "Dictionary" ......" Hotta Yu was also a little speechless for Jiang Shuiyuan's peculiar habit of reading the "Dictionary" rather than reading "Shi Zhu Su Poems", but he still found it according to his words and handed it over respectfully: "Does Jiang Jun know Japanese?"

"No, it won't. ”

"Not at all?"

"I've never been exposed to it. ”

Then what else do you read? Can you understand it? Hotta Yu also complained silently in his heart, and at the same time, a strange sense of pride appeared from a corner of his heart: Although he is very good, at least I know their Chinese, but he does not know our Japanese, and I have something to surpass him after all!

Jiang Shuiyuan opened and read a few pages, which was nothing more than a Chinese character followed by a bunch of Chinese explanations, plus a bunch of Japanese explanations. You can guess that Hotta Yuya must have brought this book to prevent communication or reading "Shi Zhu Su Poems" when encountering unfamiliar Chinese characters, and then you can check it at any time.

Although Jiang Shuiyuan has never learned Japanese, because Japanese is mixed with a lot of Chinese characters, plus there are Chinese explanations, even Meng Daichai can know a rough idea. But if you want to read it thoroughly, it's a bit like a dog biting Wang Bachi, and I have nowhere to eat, so I have to ask Hotta Yuya again: "Hotta-kun, what is the general process of learning Japanese?"

Yuke Hotta also sat down, turned to a certain page of the dictionary and began to teach: "I don't know how the Tianchao people learn Japanese, just take us mud bombardment as an example, generally before we go to kindergarten at the age of 5, we have learned some simple daily conversations, and then in kindergarten we began to learn hiragana that seems to be Hanyu Pinyin, commonly known as 'fifty syllables'." There are ten lines in total, each line of five kana, each kana has hiragana on the top, and the smaller ones below are katakana, pingwen romanji, and Chinese foley—"

"Hotta-kun, can you read it again?"

"Of course you can!" Yu Hotta also read it in the standard Tokyo pronunciation, and then continued: "Although it is called a fifty-syllable diagram, there are actually only forty-four, and of course these are all clean tones. There are also 15 voiced sounds, 5 semi-voiced sounds, and 21 awkward sounds. ”

"Is it okay to ask Hotta-kun to read these too?"

Yu Hotta also read the rest again: "In kindergarten, we generally learn to write five hiragana characters every day, and the homework is to copy hiragana and read aloud textbooks, and of course, the textbooks are all hiragana. In about a month, everyone learned to write and pronounce all hiragana, and was able to dictate correctly. The contemptible people felt that if a person with an excellent memory like Jiang Jun came to learn, it would be a matter of a day or two. ”

Jiang Shuiyuan smiled and didn't answer, but continued to ask, "What's next?"

"Then I started learning katakana, kanji, as well as simple grammar and how to write essays. Overall, Japanese grammar and kanji are the most difficult to learn. Grammar is because the Japanese language is very varied, and there are not only differences between spoken and written language, but also differences between simplified and respectful characters, ordinary and solemn, male and female, old and young, and even people in different professions and positions speak differently. Especially honorifics, even natives of mud bombardment are not fully proficient. ”

...... "I can't even understand the language I can't learn, but it's really very powerful to speak!" Jiang Shuiyuan asked with some curiosity: "Then what is so difficult about Chinese characters?"

Yuya Hotta suddenly had an unbearable look on his face: "The difficulty of learning kanji, in addition to the complexity of the kanji itself, is more important is that there are many ways to read each kanji in Japanese, such as the kanji 'and', there are 8 commonly used Japanese pronunciations. If you include the case where it appears in a person's name, there are 30 ways to read it!"

"......" is not even calm at this time: "Then how many Chinese characters do you have to learn every year?"

"I don't know the specifics, but I have to learn one or two hundred, right? In short, I need to master at least 1,006 Chinese characters after graduating from elementary school!"

"That's really hard for you!"

"Who says it's not?" Yuya Hotta said sadly, "I was already very big in learning Japanese, but after learning Chinese, I found that the most difficult language in the world to learn is not Japanese, but Chinese! Waiting until learning ancient poems, classical Chinese and various idioms and allusions will make learners feel that death is actually a great relief!"

When he said this, Jiang Shuiyuan also recalled the history of blood and tears that he had memorized all night long in junior high school, and then inexplicably planted on what to buy in the East Market, West City, South City, and North City. Hurry up and skip this section at the moment, and continue to ask: "Now can I tell you about your ordinary conversations with muddy people, such as how to say good morning in Japanese?"

"Ordinary casual will say おはよう,Formal solemnity will say おはようございます。 ”

"How to write it?"

"It's good to write it directly as hiragana, or you can write はよ as 'early' in kanji. ”

"And good evening?"

……

Jiang Shuiyuan and Hotta Yu just asked and answered like this, and chatted for nearly three hours, until they both had dry mouths and did not stop. Hotta Yu couldn't hold back his curiosity either, and asked politely, "Jiang Jun, why are you asking so many daily conversations? Do you plan to learn Japanese in the future?"

Jiang Shuiyuan smiled slightly: "Isn't this boring? Besides, in case we go to the mud bomb in the future, we can also say that we have learned a little Japanese." ”

Hotta Yu also smiled secretly in his heart: Have you learned a little Japanese? By tomorrow morning, if you can still remember how to say "good morning," even if you haven't wasted my little saliva in vain! On the surface, he still looked respectful: "If Jiang Jun really wants to go to the mud bombardment, please be sure to go to Kyoto." From the time Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Heiankyo in 794 A.D. to the establishment of the capital in Tokyo in 1868 A.D., Kyoto has always been the capital of Mud Bombardment, and it is also an important town of Mud Bombardment traditional culture. Due to its long history, Kyoto is rich in historical sites, such as the Kyoto Imperial Palace, Nijo Castle, and Kinkakuji Temple, which is definitely worth the trip. And maybe by then, the Despicable will have already enrolled at Kyoto University! The Contemptible can be your tour guide, and he can also take you to Otsu, the hometown of the Contemptible people, to see the beautiful Lake Biwa!"

"Thank you, Hotta-kun, for your warm invitation, and you have time to bother!"

"In the words of Confucius, 'It is a pleasure to have friends from afar'? How can it be said to be an interruption!" Hotta Yuya also saw Jiang Shuiyuan flipping through the "Hanhe Shuangjie Dictionary" with relish in the dim light of the oil lamp, and finally couldn't help but remind: "Jiang Jun, Japanese is still very complicated and difficult to learn. If you really want to learn Japanese, I recommend that you enroll in a regular class and study systematically for a while!" )