Can you imagine what it is like to live in a flowerpot and confuse one animal with another? Our chatty little plants Basil, Rosemary and the sisters know all too well the problems and fun it causes. This is for bilingual children and others wanting to read a dual language text in English and Japanese with illustrations.
The bilingual story is presented twice. In the first part, the parallel Japanese text contains just hiragana and katakana characters. In the second part, simple Kanji characters are included that would typically be recognized by Japanese children in their third and fourth year of full time education. For ease of understanding, the languages are displayed together mostly one or two sentences at a time. The aim was to make the translation as direct as possible but always using everyday language of native speakers. Reading this fun bilingual story will help you learn Japanese.
Excerpt from the story:
The Pansy sisters lived in a blue flowerpot next to the village pond. They shared the pot with Basil, Rosemary and Frog.
パンジーしまいは、むらのいけのとなりのあおいうえきばちにすんでいました。 おなじうえきばちにはバジルとローズマリーとカエルがいっしょにすんでいました。
At this moment, they were chatting in a lively manner about all the new happenings in the village. The Pansy sisters especially, liked a good gossip it helped to pass the time.
いまちょうど、むらでのできごとをわいわいとはなしているところでした。 とくにパンジーしまいはうわさばなしがだいすき。 じかんをつぶすのにはちょうどいいからです。
This week’s favourite subject had been Frog. Frog was different. Frog was an animal.
こんしゅうのおきにいりのわだいはカエルでした。 カエルはちょっとかわっていました。 カエルはどうぶつだったのです。
