So How Do I Learn Japanese? By Jeremiah Bourque
#1: Eyes on the Prize • The first thing is to always have the real goal in mind. • The Japanese language is a tool. It is a means to an end, not the end itself. • The end is connecting with rich Japanese culture through Japanese people, communities, media, and so forth. • First, some images to establish the mood.
#2: From Zero to Hero • The Japanese language learning process has a number of stages we will now cover briefly. • Each stage flows into the next. There is a very gray area as one blends into the next. • Behold:
The Romaji Phase • Romaji literally means “Roman Characters,” such as, well, these. This • Japanese in Romaji is like… • “Watashi wa Jeremiah Bourque.” • At this stage, learners learn basic but critical concepts and get an overview of how the language works, becoming familiar with early words.
The Kana Phase • Hiragana and katakana are the characters used as “handwriting” in Japan. They are mirror images of each other. • いぬ “ inu,” Japanese for “dog.” • アメリカ “ Amerika,” for “America.” • America is an English loan word, so the Japanese use katakana for it. “Native” words use the curvier hiragana.
Mix and Match • I advocate what I self-style the “Mixed Language Method.” Example: • “I have a pet. My pet is a ___.” • “I have a pet. My pet is an inu.” • Inu = dog • At first, the learner needs to keep options few, and simple. As he/ she becomes more confident, we slowly expand.
Nuts and Bolts • Around this part, learners need to learn certain things about simple sentence structure. Japanese doesn’t behave like English, so this needs to be covered: • Particles, which identify parts of sentences, or establish a “tone” • Verbs, which are indispensable for complete (but short) sentences.
Vocabulary Building • This is the phase most people attempt by brute force, using free sites/ tools like smart.fm to push ahead. • While there is nothing wrong with this, vocabulary is best remembered by using it. Working up to using early vocabulary freely is an important goal. • It is by no means the only step.
The Early Kanji Phase • From here, the learner begins learning early kanji (lit. “Chinese Characters). • In kanji, size matters. Early kanji should be as large and detailed as possible. • Many simple verbs use a kanji to represent the root of the verb, and hiragana for the conjugation. This makes text easier to read – provided you can understand the kanji, that is.
木 • On: ボク・モク (boku/ moku). Kun: き (ki). • Core Meaning: Tree. • This kanji is, quite simply, a pictograph of a tree large enough that its branches offer shelter to creatures beneath it. • 木馬 ( もくば、 mokuba): Tree + Horse = Wooden Horse, such as those used in gymnastics; or, The Trojan Horse.
Using Complete Sentences • When the learner is able to use short, complete sentences, then we’re having some real fun. • Japanese is best remembered by using it. • By challenging the learner to build a sentence out of one element – like the word for “tree” – the learner has to think about the words, and build his or her own path, one brain cell at a time.
Expanding Further • The method is fundamentally the same for learning even advanced Japanese: • Shrink the world down. Make things as simple as possible. • Go from one word you know to related words that you don’t. • Learn to use small sentences so that you can expand to larger ones.
Free Resources • The following are summaries of free resources / materials you might be interested in after the class. Allow me to take a few minutes for this. • I created all of this myself, though in one case I had a little graphical help.
The Little Book of Japanese Animals
• This is a free eBook showing animals and the words for them. (There are a couple of very minor glitches that will be fixed in a future version, so “bear” with me.) • Anyone know the Japanese word for “bear” offhand? • http://issuu.com/jbtutor/docs/the_little_book_of
Japanese for Beginners, Vol. 1
• This is an Issuu.com / PDF version of the first, most basic lesson that I offer for free to all potential private students. • This includes quite a bit of material for starting learners, a small portion of which I will use for this class. • http://issuu.com/jbtutor/docs/japanese_for_beg
Mastering Japanese Kanji, Vol. 1
• (This is a title I used because it made sense, and isn’t meant to imply it’s an official ISBN-friendly title.) • This is an exhibit of my kanji teaching methods as hammered out through tutoring earlier this year. • http://issuu.com/teelanovela/docs/mastering_ja
The Allure of Japanese Swords
• A sample of an eBook I wrote, but have not “published” in full yet. • It’s about katana, wakizashi, and other types of 日本刀 (nihontou, Japanese swords): how they’re made, their historical roles and uses, and vivid images for the reader’s benefit. • http://issuu.com/jbtutor/docs/the_allure_of_jap
JB Tutor Advantage #1: Instant Feedback • In brief, here’s how I can help learners. • Feedback: Real-time, one on one constructive feedback with an emphasis on positive reinforcement. • It’s hard when you do something right, and you don’t even know it! Let me show you when you’re getting it right. It helps.
JB Tutor Advantage #2: Quality Explanations • The Explainer: As explanations go, the clearer and simpler, the better. That is what I aim to offer you. • Japanese immersion is great, unless you are drowning. Stay afloat and get used to the water at a pace that works.
JB Tutor Advantage #3: Been There, Done That • My Japanese knowledge was 99.99% obtained through self-study, practice, and time as a professional translator. I’ve seen the good and the bad. • This helped me learn how to help you. • I’ve seen what resources for Western learners are bad, misleading, and insufficient. My mission is to trailblaze a better path for those who follow.
And Now, The Rest • Generalities are nice, but let’s go over some specifics: resources for beginners to help people take their first steps. • During this time, and this is important, questions are welcome at any time about any subject. This is my usual rule, and it’s a good one, because good questions deserve good answers. I’ll do my best. Thanks!
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.
A Few Words On Politeness Levels • Put really briefly, a normal Japanese class teaches only one style of Japanese speech and writing. • That is, the “polite” forms of words, especially but not limited to verbs. • There are also “plain” forms which are extensively used in real life by real, Japanese people. So, it’s kind of good to know what these mean…!
A Simple Example • The basic Japanese verb for going somewhere is iku (To Go). Verbs are listed by their dictionary form, which is always the “present” plain form. • The polite counterpart to “iku” is ikimasu. • Plain: “Store ni iku” • Polite: “Store ni ikimasu” • (Note: Store is a loan word in Japanese.)
Extra-Polite Speech • Speech that is more than simply polite, and is either humble or honorific (humbling yourself, or buttering up the other person – and not confusing the two!) is used in Japanese, but mainly in specific circumstances like: • Salespeople and managers • Hospitality industry workers
Basic 1 Person Pronouns st
• • • • •
Watashi: Basic, polite “I/ me” pronoun Watakushi: Highly polite version Ore: Plain/ extrovert version Boku: Plain/ introvert version Atashi: Girl-specific ver. of “watashi”
Basic Animal Vocabulary • • • • •
Inu: Dog Neko: Cat Tori: Bird Sakana: Fish Any of the four could be a pet.
Pop Quiz • This is just an exercise but, fill in the blank as follows from the previous possibilities. All answers are correct. In fact, you don’t even need to have a pet. It’s a vocabulary exercise. • “My pet is a ___.” • Or if you prefer: • “My friend has a ___ for a pet.”
Interactivity is Good (Really Good) • Here’s the trick to Japanese: • Use it, and you won’t lose it. • The people who learn for a year and forget it all weren’t actively using what they learned. They also weren’t using complete sentences, which really help burn words into your memory, because you choose which ones to use, not your teacher.
Learning Is A Two-Way Street • Here’s one last motto I want to share: • Good teachers are always learning. • No teacher is too good to learn something, or at least, to not need reminding of some aspect of a language – especially a nonnative like me. Even for my native English, no one can know/ remember everything… but you can get pretty good, so let’s aim for that. It’s an achievable goal.
Questions? • If there are more questions that didn’t get raised earlier, now’s a wonderful time. • Ask me anything.
Arigatou Gozaimasu! (Thank you very much!) • It has been my pleasure teaching this free class. • I hope to hear more from everyone. • E-mail: jeremiahbourque@gmail.com • My Skype is jeremiah.bourque • And my Twitter tutor account is jbtutor. • See you.