So Ka

One of my favorite students in Japan was fairly good at English. He'd spent some time in America, hiking and climbing around California. I interviewed him and got him into a group class, which turned out to be just me and him most of the time. Much of our class time was spent like this:

Him: "I was being in Tokyo for 4 years..."
Me: "You should say just 'was,' here. 'Was --I-N-G' is usually for actions, like 'I was working.'"
Him: "Ahhh, so ka, so ka."

So ka roughly means "I see" or "of course," or even "is that so?" It's said at that flash of insight when you understand the rationale behind something that has puzzled you, or when it just clicks into place. I want to be able to say this phrase every day, but I'm still quite puzzled over many things. Hopefully, with the aid of this blog, either you or I will start saying "so ka" a little more.