Today is the twenty-fourth day of the spring semester 2024. I have three classes. I always think that just one class is enough to make me exhausted. These days I teach adjectives to the first-year students.
There are two types of adjectives in Japanese; I-adjectives and Na-adjectives. Both conjugate in different ways. So, Japanese learners must distinguish the two and know conjugation patterns in each adjective. I-adjectives have the following traits; Its short ending form ends with “i”, and “i” is the connector between an I- adjective and a noun when the adjective modifies the noun. And Na-adjectives have the following traits; Its short ending form ends with “da”, and “na” is the connector between a Na-adjective and a noun when the adjective modifies the noun.
Here is a problem. Just one Na-adjective confuses all Japanese Learners. Because of that Na-adjectives, many learners don’t understand conjugation of I-adjectives. The word is “Kirei”. This word looks like as if ending with “i”. This letter “i” makes Japanese learners think this is an I-adjective, but actually which is not. I have repeated zillion times in front of my students, saying “’Kirei’ is not an I-adjective but Na-adjective ‘Kireina’”. Every time I shout this, I feel like I am “a cracked record” (although I don’t think 21st century people know what a cracked record is).
Today I made my students answer quizzes that contains a question about the word “Kirei”. Many students wrote wrong answers by thinking Kirei was an I-adjective because of the letter “i”. They believe their own interlanguage firmly that any adjective ending with letter “i” is I-adjective. This is not correct, Kirei, Kirai, and Yukai are examples of Na-adjectives that end with letter “i”.
My shouting “Kirei is not an I-adjective but a Na-adjective” is hardly reaching students’ recognition. I always think how I can open the doors of recognition that my students are closing most of the time. The doors help students shut uncomfortable information out, but also prevents from in-taking new knowledge. Some students eventually understand it, but some end up graduating from the Japanese major course without knowing that “Kirei” is a Na-adjective.
Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning 