Post by Beelzebibble on May 9, 2007 20:43:12 GMT -5
I've decided against one huge Japanese lesson since it would be overwhelmingly long and complicated. Instead, you'll get fourteen mini-lessons, each containing the vocabulary and syntax I deem most useful out of the corresponding chapter in my Japanese textbook.
Unfortunately, I'll have to teach you in romaji -- Japanese words spelled in Roman characters -- since it would be tedious to teach you in the proper hiragana, katakana and kanji alphabets I should be using. No matter.
Without further ado:
LESSON ONE: HOW DO YOU DO?
I'll start with a word on pronunciation. Japanese is a very easy language to pronounce. There are only a few rules to keep in mind. First, Japanese uses only five vowel sounds (when you think about it, we really use ten -- counting short and long forms as different). Consult the following table for vowel sounds:
Vowel in romaji.....Vowel sound
a........................ah (short a)
i.........................ee (long e)
u........................oo (long u)
e........................ay (long a)
o........................oh (long o)
It's also important to remember that u doesn't have a lot of emphasis and frequently fades to the point of barely being intoned. This mostly occurs at the end of words. Desu, for instance, should most accurately be pronounced "des", and any verb ending in -masu should be pronounced "-mas".
So! On to some basic Japanese words and phrases:
Hajimemashite: "How do you do?"
watashi: "I, me"
desu: "to be". Unlike in, for instance, Latin, you conjugate verbs very little in Japanese. "Desu" could mean "am", "are" or "is" depending on the context.
Douzo yoroshiku: "Nice to meet you."
And now we will learn your very first particle: wa. Add wa to the end of a noun to make it the subject of the sentence. Only one noun in the sentence may end in wa -- we'll learn how to deal with multiple subjects shortly. You are now capable of forming sentences like:
Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Pohatu desu. Douzo yoroshiku.
"How do you do? I am Pohatu. Nice to meet you."
More phrases!
Ohayou (gozaimasu): "Good morning." Add the gozaimasu to make it more formal.
Konnichi wa: "Hello". Use in the afternoon.
Konban wa: "Good evening."
Sayounara: "Goodbye."
Jaa ne: "See you." Less formal than Sayounara.
-sensei: Attach this as a suffix to the names of teachers, doctors, or statesmen to show respect.
-san: Attach this as a suffix to other peoples' names. You should not use -san in reference to yourself or to your family members. Note above: Watashi wa Pohatu desu as opposed to Watashi wa Pohatu-san desu, which would be incorrect.
Hajimemashou: "Let's begin."
Owarimashou: "Let's finish."
nani, nan: "What?"
Another particle: ka. The Japanese writing system ends sentences in only one way: a little circle akin to a period, but hollowed out. This doesn't lend itself well to questions, so you should add ka to the final word of a sentence if you want to turn it into a question. Here is another sample sentence:
Konnichi wa. Watashi wa Pohatu desu. Lee-sensei desu ka?
"Hello. I'm Pohatu. Are you Lee?"
(I inserted a question mark in the Japanese since I'm writing in romaji; in hiragana, of course, that wouldn't have been there. Also, note that the "you" was implied. This happens often in Japanese; they like to drop out words they feel can be inferred. We will, however, learn the word for "you" very soon.)
We will now learn the Japanese number system.
1: ichi
2: ni
3: san
4: shi or yon
5: go
6: roku
7: shichi or nana
8: hachi
9: kyuu
10: juu
Combining numbers into higher forms is easy. To express multiples of ten, say the number being multiplied by ten, then juu. So sixty, for instance, is roku-juu. After that, to add a digit in the ones place, just say the appropriate number -- sixty-eight is roku-juu-hachi. This keeps up all the way to 100, at which point you invoke the word hyaku. We'll leave numbers there for the moment.
Doomo arigatou gozaimasu: "Thank you." Politeness level: 5 (absolute submission).
Arigatou gozaimasu: "Thank you." Politeness level: 4 (very respectful).
Doomo arigatou: "Thank you." Politeness level: 3 (respectful).
Arigatou: "Thank you." Politeness level: 2 (informal but not offensive, and the most common variant).
Doomo: "Thank you." Politeness level: 1 (rather brusque).
Dou itashimashite: "You're welcome." Used in response to any of the above.
kore: "this one" (refers to something close to the speaker)
are: "that one" (refers to something not far from the speaker)
sore: "that one over there" (refers to something far from the speaker)
hai: "yes"
iie: "no"
soo: "so". This is one of the little coincidences that make Japanese a fun language for English speakers to pick up. Quite by chance, Japanese say soo desu when they mean "It is so".
genki: "well, healthy". In inquiring about someone else's state of being, you may well add o- to the beginning of this word, to indicate extra respect.
One last particle for today: nee (pronounced as a prolonged "nay"). Use this to add extra emphasis to whatever you just said. It's fun because you can draw out the nee as long as you want to be as enthusiastic or whiny as you please.
We will close with a few words about the weather:
atsui: "hot". Refers to temperature, not the way something feels. We will learn that word later.
suzushii: "cool". See above.
samui: "cold". See above.
ame: "raining"
And now, a sample piece of dialogue to Sum Up What We Have Learned Today:
POHATU: Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Pohatu desu.
BABOON: Konnichi wa. Watashi wa Baboon desu. Douzo yoroshiku.
POHATU: Ogenki desu ka?
BABOON: Hai, genki desu. Arigatou. Atsui desu nee.
POHATU: Hai, soo desu.
POHATU: "How do you do? I'm Pohatu."
BABOON: "Hello. I'm Baboon. Nice to meet you."
POHATU: "Are you well?"
BABOON: "Yes, I'm well, thank you. It's hot out!"
POHATU: "Yes, so it is."
Unfortunately, I'll have to teach you in romaji -- Japanese words spelled in Roman characters -- since it would be tedious to teach you in the proper hiragana, katakana and kanji alphabets I should be using. No matter.
Without further ado:
LESSON ONE: HOW DO YOU DO?
I'll start with a word on pronunciation. Japanese is a very easy language to pronounce. There are only a few rules to keep in mind. First, Japanese uses only five vowel sounds (when you think about it, we really use ten -- counting short and long forms as different). Consult the following table for vowel sounds:
Vowel in romaji.....Vowel sound
a........................ah (short a)
i.........................ee (long e)
u........................oo (long u)
e........................ay (long a)
o........................oh (long o)
It's also important to remember that u doesn't have a lot of emphasis and frequently fades to the point of barely being intoned. This mostly occurs at the end of words. Desu, for instance, should most accurately be pronounced "des", and any verb ending in -masu should be pronounced "-mas".
So! On to some basic Japanese words and phrases:
Hajimemashite: "How do you do?"
watashi: "I, me"
desu: "to be". Unlike in, for instance, Latin, you conjugate verbs very little in Japanese. "Desu" could mean "am", "are" or "is" depending on the context.
Douzo yoroshiku: "Nice to meet you."
And now we will learn your very first particle: wa. Add wa to the end of a noun to make it the subject of the sentence. Only one noun in the sentence may end in wa -- we'll learn how to deal with multiple subjects shortly. You are now capable of forming sentences like:
Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Pohatu desu. Douzo yoroshiku.
"How do you do? I am Pohatu. Nice to meet you."
More phrases!
Ohayou (gozaimasu): "Good morning." Add the gozaimasu to make it more formal.
Konnichi wa: "Hello". Use in the afternoon.
Konban wa: "Good evening."
Sayounara: "Goodbye."
Jaa ne: "See you." Less formal than Sayounara.
-sensei: Attach this as a suffix to the names of teachers, doctors, or statesmen to show respect.
-san: Attach this as a suffix to other peoples' names. You should not use -san in reference to yourself or to your family members. Note above: Watashi wa Pohatu desu as opposed to Watashi wa Pohatu-san desu, which would be incorrect.
Hajimemashou: "Let's begin."
Owarimashou: "Let's finish."
nani, nan: "What?"
Another particle: ka. The Japanese writing system ends sentences in only one way: a little circle akin to a period, but hollowed out. This doesn't lend itself well to questions, so you should add ka to the final word of a sentence if you want to turn it into a question. Here is another sample sentence:
Konnichi wa. Watashi wa Pohatu desu. Lee-sensei desu ka?
"Hello. I'm Pohatu. Are you Lee?"
(I inserted a question mark in the Japanese since I'm writing in romaji; in hiragana, of course, that wouldn't have been there. Also, note that the "you" was implied. This happens often in Japanese; they like to drop out words they feel can be inferred. We will, however, learn the word for "you" very soon.)
We will now learn the Japanese number system.
1: ichi
2: ni
3: san
4: shi or yon
5: go
6: roku
7: shichi or nana
8: hachi
9: kyuu
10: juu
Combining numbers into higher forms is easy. To express multiples of ten, say the number being multiplied by ten, then juu. So sixty, for instance, is roku-juu. After that, to add a digit in the ones place, just say the appropriate number -- sixty-eight is roku-juu-hachi. This keeps up all the way to 100, at which point you invoke the word hyaku. We'll leave numbers there for the moment.
Doomo arigatou gozaimasu: "Thank you." Politeness level: 5 (absolute submission).
Arigatou gozaimasu: "Thank you." Politeness level: 4 (very respectful).
Doomo arigatou: "Thank you." Politeness level: 3 (respectful).
Arigatou: "Thank you." Politeness level: 2 (informal but not offensive, and the most common variant).
Doomo: "Thank you." Politeness level: 1 (rather brusque).
Dou itashimashite: "You're welcome." Used in response to any of the above.
kore: "this one" (refers to something close to the speaker)
are: "that one" (refers to something not far from the speaker)
sore: "that one over there" (refers to something far from the speaker)
hai: "yes"
iie: "no"
soo: "so". This is one of the little coincidences that make Japanese a fun language for English speakers to pick up. Quite by chance, Japanese say soo desu when they mean "It is so".
genki: "well, healthy". In inquiring about someone else's state of being, you may well add o- to the beginning of this word, to indicate extra respect.
One last particle for today: nee (pronounced as a prolonged "nay"). Use this to add extra emphasis to whatever you just said. It's fun because you can draw out the nee as long as you want to be as enthusiastic or whiny as you please.
We will close with a few words about the weather:
atsui: "hot". Refers to temperature, not the way something feels. We will learn that word later.
suzushii: "cool". See above.
samui: "cold". See above.
ame: "raining"
And now, a sample piece of dialogue to Sum Up What We Have Learned Today:
POHATU: Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Pohatu desu.
BABOON: Konnichi wa. Watashi wa Baboon desu. Douzo yoroshiku.
POHATU: Ogenki desu ka?
BABOON: Hai, genki desu. Arigatou. Atsui desu nee.
POHATU: Hai, soo desu.
POHATU: "How do you do? I'm Pohatu."
BABOON: "Hello. I'm Baboon. Nice to meet you."
POHATU: "Are you well?"
BABOON: "Yes, I'm well, thank you. It's hot out!"
POHATU: "Yes, so it is."