The following is based on a true story…

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This morning we were giving our son, Makoto, a bath. He normally enjoys splashing about but today it was pretty obvious he was getting sleepy. It was at such a time Yumi said, 「起こして」Naturally considering how sleepy he was, I began to say, “Good morning Mr. Makoto. This is your 6 AM wake up call. We have donuts and coffee in the lob…”She stopped me cold. 「違う！起こして！」I gave it another shot: “誠、しっかりして！朝日に向かって元気よく「おはよ！」と言いましょう。”「なにそれぇ？ Wake him upじゃなくて、Stand him upよ！」, said Yumi

I replied, 「そうか。今度漢字を見せて。そのほうがわかりやすいよ。」

And then the shocker…

「漢字は同じです。」

Thinking deep into the recesses of my past kanji studies I realized it was so.

Ten minutes of deep thought later, I lifted Makoto up and we finished his bath.

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Vocab:

• 起こして okoshite 1) Wake (someone) up or 2) set (something) upright
• 違う chigau No!, wrong
• 誠 makoto Makoto (name)
• しっかりして shikkari shite Hang in there!
• 朝日に向かって asahi ni mukatte face the morning
• 元気よく genki yoku cheerfully
• おはよう ohayou good morning (note we dropped the last う in this dialog)
• と言いましょう to iimashou Let’s say… (the と tells you where the quote ended)
• なにそれ？ nani sore? What?!
• ～じゃなくて janakute Not~
• よ yo !
• そうか souka I see
• 今度 kondo next time
• 漢字 kanji kanji
• 見せて misete show me
• そのほう sono hou that way
• わかりやすい wakari yasui easier to understand
• 同じ onaji same