Japanese for Beginners, Vol. 1

Japanese for Beginners Volume 1

By Jeremiah Bourque http://learnoutlive.com/japanese

Welcome to Japanese for Beginners!

• Japanese is spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and around the world (where Japanese have emigrated).

• As of 2009, Japan’s economy was listed as the 2nd largest national economy in the world. (Not counting the combined EU) • Japanese is also a gateway to priceless cultural experiences.

Written Japanese, 1 • Written Japanese is formed of four major components.

• The first, which is not really Japanese, is romaji, or “roman characters,” like those you are reading right now.

• The second is kanji, or “Chinese characters,” the pictographs imported from China. Meanings can differ from the original Chinese, though.

Written Japanese, 2 • Next, we have katakana, which is a phonetic writing system pioneered by Buddhist monks to demonstrate the pronunciation of kanji. • Finally, we have hiragana, which originated as a women’s handwriting system, but which is now extensively used in Japanese. Hiragana covers the same phonetic sounds as katakana.

The Role of Kana • Japanese uses hiragana for two main purposes: spelling native words that don’t originally have a kanji in the first place (or never acquired one), and furigana.

Furigana? What’s that?

• Furigana is kana – usually hiragana – that is placed above a kanji for pronunciation purposes.

• Behold:

• This shows the kanji for “watashi” (I) and the pronunciation: wa-ta-shi

In This Volume • This volume shows Japanese with romaji and kanji together for comparison.

• That means things like this: • わたし は がくせい です • Watashi wa gakusei desu • As you can see, the kana is written first, and the romaji, second. This is so that, as you read the romaji, you can glance up at the kana. This makes reading easier.

Greetings Section • This will cover greetings. To assist your kana familiarization process, both kana and romaji versions are included.

Greetings • • • • • • • •

おはよう。 Ohayou. (Good morning.) おはようございます。 Ohayou gozaimasu. (Good morning/ polite こんにちは。 Konnichi wa. (Good day. Note wa/ “ha”) こんばんは。 Konban wa. (Good evening.)

Greetings • さようなら。 • Sayonara. (Usually safely romanized (i.e. turned to “English”) like this, but written “sayounara” in a word processor. But the “u” isn’t really heard, it’s mostly just a longer “yo” sound.)

• おやすみなさい。 • Oyasumi nasai. Good night/ sweet dreams.

Greetings • • • • • •

ありがとう。 Arigatou. Thank you. ありがとうございます。 Arigatou gozaimasu. Thank you very much すみません。 Sumimasen; pardon me. Sorry. Excuse me.

Short Dialogue Skit • サラ：すみません。いま なんじですか。 • Sarah: Sumimasen. Ima nanji desu ka.

• Sarah: Excuse me. What time is it right now?

• だいすけ：ごじ はん です。 • Daisuke: Goji han desu.

• Daisuke: It’s half past five.

Skit, Pt. 2 • • • • • •

サラ：ありがとうございます。 Sarah: Arigatou gozaimasu.

Sarah: Thank you very much. だいすけ：いいえ。 Daisuke: iie.

Daisuke: No problem.

The “wa” Particle • The “wa” particle – written “ha” here but pronounced “wa” always when used as a particle – is a marker for a noun. It shows the purpose of a noun in a sentence.

• I like to think of it using an arrow.

• “Watashi wa Jeremiah Bourque” becomes • “Watashi <- Jeremiah Bourque” • I am Jeremiah Bourque.

The “ka” Particle • Since Japanese has no question mark in its native language, the Japanese use the particle “ka” as a replacement for a question mark.

• This means that real question marks are redundant in Japanese, so in “proper” writing, you’ll never see one. In informal writing, you will see a few.

“Ka”: The Question Particle • So, when you hear “ka” at the end of a sentence like this, think of it not only in terms of the pronunciation, but that it’s a verbal question mark.

• “What is the time” + “ka” = “What is the time?”

• This is something you will see for the rest of your time learning Japanese.

“Desu”: The “Is” Verb • When Japanese people speak a sentence that goes, “blah-blah-blah desu,” it means, “blah-blah-blah is.”

• So if we said, using Japanese sentence structure, “Jeremiah 32 years old desu,” it would read, “Jeremiah is 32 years old.”

• If you think of it like “Jeremiah 32 years old is,” you start to sound something like Yoda from Star Wars.

Completing The Earlier Example • • • •

わたしは ジェレミア・ボウルケ です。 Watashi wa jeremia bourke desu.

I am Jeremiah Bourque.

Note that even without the “desu,” most any Japanese person would understand “Watashi wa Jeremiah Bourque” as a statement that I am Jeremiah Bourque.

“Ji”: The Time Suffix • “Ji” is a type of suffix that we call a counter. Here, we used it to count hours.

• This is just a quick taste, but it is important to understand the role of “ji.”

• “Juuniji” is “juuni o’clock”. Now, “juuni” is juu (10) plus nii (2) = 12. So, 12 o’clock.

The “ji” after a number makes clear that we’re referring to time.

Review • にほん = Nihon = Japan • にほんご = Nihongo = Japanese (language • がくせい = gakusei = student • じゅうにじ = juuniji = twelve o’clock • です = desu = the “is” verb • か = ka = the “question” particle

A Brief Exercise • Here is a brief exercise - mental jumping jacks - to help you absorb more kana.

• Let’s hop to it!

• ぴょん ぴょん • ピョン ピョン • Pyon pyon.

• This is the Japanese verbal sound effect for “hop, hop.” See? We’re hopping to it.

Numbers: The Basics • Numbers can be said differently depending on the context, which usually means compound words. Here, we’ll avoid such complications for the moment.

• 0: Rei • 1: Ichi • 2: Ni • 3: San • 4: Yon

Numbers, Cont.

• • • • • • • • •

5: Go 6: Roku 7: Nana 8: Hachi 9: Kyuu 10: Juu 11: Juuichi 12: Juuni 13: Juusan

Numbers, End. • • • • • • •

14: Juuyon 15: Juugo 16: Juuroku 17: Juunana 18: Juuhachi 19: Juukyuu 20: Nijuu

Numbers in Kana • • • • • • •

いち = ichi, 1 にい = ni, 2 さん = san, 3 よん = yon, 4 ご = go, 5 ろく = roku, 6 なな = nana, 7

Numbers, Cont.

• • • • • •

はち = hachi, 8 きゅう = kyuu, 9 じゅう = juu, 10 じゅういち = juuichi, 11 じゅうはち = juuhachi, 18 にじゅうはち = nijuuhachi, 28

Time to Cover “Time” • Time, especially in terms of hours of the day, is “jikan”. So this is “jikan no jikan desu.” It’s time, for “time”.

• One o’clock: Ichiji • Two o’clock: Niji • Three o’clock: Sanji • Four o’clock: Yoji (An old usage of “4”) • Five o’clock: Goji • Six o’clock: Rokuji

Time, Cont.

• Seven o’clock: shichiji (An old form of “seven”. If we say “The Seven Samurai,” we’d say “Shichinin no Samurai”, not “Nananin”; but we would say “nana-iro” for “the seven colors.”

• Eight o’clock: Hachiji • Nine o’clock: Kuji (another old form + “ji”) • Ten o’clock: Juuji • Eleven o’clock: Juuichiji

Time, End. • Twelve o’clock: Juuniji • Half past one o’clock: Ichiji han • A.M. and P.M. is stated BEFORE the hour.

• 3:00 A.M. would be gozen sanji.

• Technically, Japan operates on a 24 hour clock, but dealing with Americans means knowing A.M. and P.M.

Time In Kana • • • • • • •

いちじ = ichiji, 1 o’clock にじ = niji, 2 o’clock さんじ = sanji, 3 o’clock よじ = yoji, 4 o’clock ごじ = goji, 5 o’clock ろくじ = rokuji, 6 o’clock しちじ = shichij, 7 o’clock

Time In Kana, Cont.

• • • • • • •

はちじ = hachiji, 8 o’clock くじ = kuji, 9 o’clock じゅうじ = juuji, 10 o’clock じゅういちじ = juuichiji, 11 o’clock じゅうにじ = juuniji, 12 o’clock ごぜん さんじ = gozen sanji, 3:00 A.M. ごご よじ はん = gogo yoji han, 4:30 P.M.

Curtain Call • • • • • • •

Thank you. I hope you enjoyed this lesson.

I can be contacted at: jeremiahbourque@gmail.com Skype: jeremiah.bourque I can be followed at: http://twitter.com/jbtutor http://learnoutlive.com/blog