Hiroki Fxyma
Tainan University of Technology
Backgrounds & Key Question
Background
– Faculty of Life Science, Food and Beverage Course
– Beginner Class, 2-3 hours / week
– For the job internships in Japan
Key Question
What kind of words (vocabulary) should be taught?
Required vocabulary size in JLPT (The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test)
| Level | Required vocabulary | Linguistic competence |
| N5 | 800~ | The ability to understand some basic Japanese. |
| N4 | 1500~ | The ability to understand basic Japanese. |
| N3 | 4500 words~ | The ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations to a certain degree. |
| N2 | 6000 words~ | The ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations, and in a variety of circumstances to a certain degree. |
| N1 | 10000words~ | The ability to understand Japanese used in a variety of circumstances. |
The aim of this study is:
To identify the key vocabulary for teaching business Japanese using a domain-specific corpus.
Can you say these in your second or third language?
General “Beginner level words” do not cover these necessary words…
The aim of this study:
(1) To clarify the gap between general teaching materials and really required words on the Foodservice job
(2) To identify the key vocabulary for teaching business Japanese using a domain-specific corpus.
Selecting the Focal Instruction Vocabulary
Datasets
Datasets: CookPad datasets
Contents: 1.72 million recipes and menus consisting of those recipes
Size: 5.5 GB
*The dataset is provided to researchers by COOKPAD Inc. through the National Institute of Informatics
*Cookpad: a recipe posting website
| Token (total number of extracted words) | 10,033,667 | |
| Type (different word count) | 56,161 | |
| Sentences (total number of sentences) | 779,088 | |
| paragraphs (number of recipe posts) | 585,763 |
Table. 2 Top 10 frequent words by part of speech
| 名詞 nouns | 形容動詞 Adjectivals | 動詞 verbs | 形容詞 Adjectives | 副詞 Adverbs | |||||
| 味 | 45229 | 簡単 | 93137 | 作る | 59626 | 美味しい | 98413 | さっぱり | 15419 |
| 野菜 | 24363 | ヘルシー | 15441 | 食べる | 57254 | 甘い | 18344 | とっても | 15327 |
| レシピ | 21925 | 大好き | 11076 | 使う | 42211 | いい | 10801 | ちょっと | 12129 |
| ご飯 | 21006 | 好き | 8689 | 入れる | 21466 | よい | 8866 | どうぞ | 11760 |
| 一品 | 16535 | 手軽 | 8556 | 焼く | 18932 | 良い | 7869 | たっぷり | 11663 |
| 料理 | 16589 | シンプル | 8354 | 出来る | 18576 | 安い | 4795 | いつも | 8583 |
| サラダ | 16058 | いかが | 4340 | 作れる | 14582 | 香ばしい | 4650 | 夏 | 7921 |
| 弁当 | 15411 | 濃厚 | 4110 | 合う | 12873 | 優しい | 4542 | 時間 | 6949 |
| パン | 14322 | 苦手 | 3797 | 混ぜる | 12431 | 辛い | 3524 | ぴったり | 6946 |
| ケーキ | 13975 | 普通 | 3797 | 入る | 11414 | 暑い | 3334 | あっさり | 6360 |
Level structure of the corpus
What are the features of the recipe corpus compared to the general corpus?
The characteristic points of the level structure need to be intensively taught.
In this study, we will use the level classification in the “Vocabulary List for Japanese Language Education*” to judge the difficulty level of vocabulary.
*Sunakawa, Yuriko, Lee, Jae-ho, and Takahara, Mari (2012) The Construction of a Database to Support the Compilation of Japanese Learners Dictionaries, Acta Linguistica Asiatica 2(2), pp.97-115 [PDF]
The entire level structure of Recipe Corpus seems to have a similar balance with JEWL.
Selecting the “focal teaching words”
Words ranked 501-2000
The number of words increases from beginner-1st to intermediate-2nd, and fewer words appear in the advanced level.
= Same as the general corpus (and the Vocabulary List for Japanese Language Education)
Words in ranked 101-200
Rather fewer Beginner level words, more Intermediate level words.
= In the recipe corpus, the most frequent words (top 200 words) contain a significant number of intermediate and advanced words.
High-level words in the range of 1st-500th are;
not included in the general beginner’s Japanese (because of their high level),
but uniquely frequent in the Japanese for food services.
Results
Mid & High level words in 1st-100th
1-100位の「中上級語」
Nouns 名詞
食，鍋，レンジ，香り，風味，使用，おかず，生地，大根，豆腐，パスタ，メニュー，味付け，栄養，ソース，レシピ，アレンジ，材料，我が家，定番
food, pot, range, aroma, flavor, use, side dish, dough, radish, tofu, pasta, menu, seasoning, nutrition, sauce, recipe, arrangement, ingredient, home, standard
Verbs 動詞
つまむ，焼く，混ぜる，入る，炒める，煮る，加える
Pinch, grill, mix, enter, fry, simmer, add
Adjectives 形容詞，副詞
さっぱり， たっぷり，ぴったり，あっさり，しっとり，ヘルシー，手軽，シンプル
- 20 words are nouns
- Cooking utensils such as pot and microwave are included, as are ingredients such as daikon and tofu, and katakana words such as パスタ pasta and メニュー menu.
- Most of the verbs can be regarded as verbs for cooking.
- Some synonyms, such as “bake” and “fry,” require a strong vocabulary knowledge to distinguish between them.
- Adjectives and adverbs: Onomatopoeia (sound symbolism) is characteristic. The word types are all of the “XッYリ” type.
Mid & High level words in 101-200
101-200位の「中上級語」
Nouns 名詞
具，皮，ねぎ，にんにく，納豆，ヨーグルト，生クリーム，
好み，手間，手，食欲，相性，ボリューム，カロリー，感じ，
甘み，酸味，季節，煮物，フライパン，丼，菜
酢，油，調味料，マヨネーズ，クリーム，ドレッシング，
和風，中華，朝食，冷凍，市販，今回，話題，満点，最高，試し，ダイエット，
Ingredients, skin, green onions, garlic, natto, yogurt, cream
taste, labor, hand, appetite, compatibility, volume, calories, feeling, sweetness, acidity, season, simmered, pan-fried, bowl of rice, greens
sweetness, sourness, season, simmered dish, pan-fried dish, rice bowl, greens
Vinegar, oil, seasoning, mayonnaise, cream, dressing
Japanese, Chinese, breakfast, frozen, commercial, this time, topic, full, best, try, diet
Verbs 動詞
もつ，つける，揚げる，巻く，和(あ)える，残る，余る
To have, to dip, to fry, to roll, to dress, to remain, to remainder.
Adjectives 形容詞，副詞
しっかり，ほんのり，ふわふわ，ふんわり，香ばしい fragrant，苦手，普通，濃厚 deep and rich，いかが
- Nouns: generally related to ingredients and cooking. (in the first line)
- Many katakana words are used.
- Seasonings such as 酢 vinegar, 油 oil, マヨネーズ mayonnaise
- Taste nouns such as 甘み sweetness and 酸味 sourness are also found.
- Verbs: verbs for cooking
- Adjectives: onomatopoeias, flavor words
Mid & High level words in 201-300
201-300位の「中上級語」
名詞
玉，旬，鶏，梅，気，豚，豆，鶏肉，本格，ベーコン，白菜，豆乳，オイル，デザート，オーブン，グラタン，チキン，好評，組み合わせ，代わり，ポイント，分量，ランチ，手作り，失敗，変身，アップ，是非，保存，満足
ball, season, chicken, plum, chi, pork, bean, chicken, authentic, bacon, Chinese cabbage, soy milk, oil, dessert, oven, gratin, chicken, popular, combination, alternative, point, quantity, lunch, homemade, failure, transformation, up, come, preserve, satisfaction
動詞
たまる，ゆでる，煮込む，蒸す，効く，飽きる，喜ぶ，冷やす，冷める，仕上げる，仕上がる，試す，出来上がる，
pool, boil, stew, steam, work, satiate, delight, cool, chill, cool, finish, finish, try, done.
形容詞，副詞
もちろん，そのまま，さっと，美味，甘辛い，柔らかい
- Some essensial words for understanding recipes
- Verbs: reaction of the eater, verbs for serving foods
Mid & High level words in 301-400
201-300位の「中上級語」
名詞
素，量，葉，もち，ごま，基本，圧力，ほうれん草，彩り，控えめ，勧め，最適，チャーハン，ピーマン，シチュー，ツナ，食材，調理，完成，手抜き，プラス，ゼリー，コロッケ，前，中
動詞
のく，やる，乗せる，炊く，添える，炊き込む，合わせる
use, do, put on, boil, add, boil in, combine.
形容詞，副詞
かなり，そう，こってり，是非，本当に，結構，豪華，まろやか，すごい
Mid & High level words in 401-500
401-500位の「中上級語」
名詞
麺，レタス，抹茶，外，感，繊維，アクセント，バージョン，甘味，味わい，残り物，抜群，人気，絶品，電子，家庭，常備，消費，感謝，利用，出来上がり，時期，短時間
Noodle, lettus, matcha, outside, sense, fiber, akchento, bajin, sweet, taste wai, residue, cool, popular, superb, electronic, family, regular, consumption, thanks, use, out on the gauri, period, short time
動詞
つる，なす，さる，よる，頂く，漬ける，包む，召し上がる
hung, do, -, -, receive, pickle, wrap, serve
形容詞，副詞
とにかく，とろとろ，絶妙，生，面倒，素朴，濃い
Conclusion: What words should be taught?
どの範囲の語彙を重点的に指導すべきか
Trends in Top 200 words
Nouns: mostly essential words directly related to cooking and recipes, such as ingredients, seasonings, and cooking categories.
Trends of 201st ~
necessary words for accurate understanding recipes and appropriate cooking
401st ~
words related to cooking are considered to be less common.
Nouns
Nouns can be classified in;
Ingredient names, food names, food categories, cooking procedures and plans, and target and characteristics of the recipe.
Verbs
The major cooking verbs appear at the top 200 word level.
From then on, compound or auxiliary cooking verbs, such as 炊き込む, 添える, etc., appear up to the 400-word level.
Adjectives
Adjectives and adverbs in the top 200 words are mostly onomatopoeias (sound symbolic words) that describe impressions of texture and taste. Onomatopoeias and other general adjectives such as “noukou-na; rich” and “ama-karai; sweet and spicy” have a strong object-dependence of meaning, and thus need to be taught together with co-occurrence relations.
Conclusion
The range of words that require intensive instruction is;
“intermediate and advanced words with frequencies of up to 400th“.
The verbs to be taught are
1) general cooking verbs as well as complex cooking verbs,
2) verbs related to the reaction of the eater (customer) ,
3) the serving of the food (see words ranked 201-300).
Adjectives and adverbs
Onomatopoeias and adjectives describing flavors should be taught in relation to their co-occurrence with the food.
Conclusion and Future works
Most of the general teaching materials for food and beverage Japanese focus on customer service, hospitality, and honorific expressions (敬語 keigo), based on the concept that intermediate and advanced students of the Japanese language are learning Japanese in the workplace. In addition, in the elementary Japanese language course materials, the cooking theme of several lessons often dealt with food ingredients and cooking verbs.
This study shows that “cooking procedures and plans” and “objects and characteristics of recipes” occur with relatively high frequency in the recipe corpus. The results also showed that there is a need to teach intermediate and advanced vocabulary in these categories to beginner-level learners in order for them to read recipes accurately and perform cooking tasks.
Further research is needed to incorporate the policies presented in this study into actual curricula and teaching plans. We plan to incorporate vocabulary into task- and situational syllabus, since the target and goals of the instruction are relatively clear.