May 29, 2008

How to really say please in Japanese... Well Sorta

How to really say please… in Japanese.

In another article, I wrote about how to say ‘please’ in Japanese. You can say please, but you will need to know the what in please what? Please what? Look at the words related to please like the verb to please. It means to satisfy someone, or to make them happy about something you did . Pleasure is a word also related to the word please. What’s the magic word? Please! What would be pleasing to say today.

Today just as in Japanese to please someone to make them tell you that you did a good job. That you are pleasant to be with can be described as pleasant an adjective. Pleasant isn’t the kudasai but neither is the please. I mentioned earlier that kudasai comes from the verb kudasaru which means to kindly do something for (someone). V It has the kind of fun’iki (atmosphere) that one does this favor for you because you can’t. It is a very honorific word. Kudasaru, to honorably accepting your doing of this for me elegance. There are 3 most basic politeness levels.

The highest form of politeness is when you speak to someone that you have much respect for. You speak in Honorifics when you are speaking to someone older, a person with a higher status than you such as your boss, and when speaking to someone who you have as yet to determine their status, someone new to you until you can establish their ranking. IN this sense you can say that in Japan people are typecasting with their language as well as keeping the caste system alive. It is also to be said that After putting verbs into base (TE) add the extensions of kudasaru, kureru, morau, or itadaku depending on who you are talking to.

Japanese language learning is seriously addicting

A Secret So Easy, It will turn the tedious and sometimes daunting task of learning another language funto making language learning Easy
Japanese Easy
I know what’s good for me!
JPPGG© #91
How to say, “I know how to verb
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA
Verb(Base TA) + RA +

Yoi is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*yoi = ii in any case

yoka – can be hear much in Fukuoka to mean – “Nah”, or “I’m good”

TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, TOMEI, OR SURUDOI.

As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You can’t expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to a language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, by all means start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them time and time again as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know you native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet. Language is something that must be learned, and its true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some hiragana, and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang The Alphabet Song, or recited you’re A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, isn’t an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really isn’t that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary is made up of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but its called the gojuon or chart of the 50 sounds. It is grouped to make the learning of it very easy. Set up in groups that follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o
By the time we are 12 we usually forget that we had ever even learned the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent. The alphabet I so ingrained into our language that we forget to take it for what it was when we try to apply these learning techniques to the way we would learn Japanese. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was the Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying it’s Alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated. Like I said...milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever, learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is really not that bad. Also I ask all of those who may harrow in their souls hatred against the Japanese people to end it now so that we can live peaceably amongst each others, and learn from one another.


Japanese Adjectives The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.

KAWAI ATARASHII FURUI KIREI BOROI

TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in ei, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.

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Japanese Edition. http://jappermon.com 2007



Lesson #17 – Putting verbs into the TA –form た-form



The abilitiy to put Japanese verbs into the various bases quickly without pause is a pre-requisite for speaking fluently and being perceived as being a capable conversationalist. Of all the verbs Bases (I, II, III, IV , V, TA, and TE) the TA form ranks high in usage as one of the top three most used bases for verbs only after TE-てand Base-III or root form. I am focusing on it now in order to prepare you for the quick powerful grammar secrets that employ Base TA verbs which will catapult your Japanese speaking ability through the roof. I’ll be discussing many grammar rules that use the verb in Base TA. One of the main things you should know about the TA form of a verb is that it is used to put verbs into past tense plain form. A verb in base TA form is equivalent to English’s have done or past tense perfect. The TA form of a verb has evolved from the classical form tari and it still has many uses (see lesson #23 and #19)

Tip #17 How to put a verb in Base TA



Vowel Stemmed verbs (i.e. those ending in either eru or iru)
to put a verb into the TA form when the verb has a vowel stem simply add ta
Base III

Dictionary form
Stem
Base Ta
Meaning

kanjiru

oboeru

kangaeru

deru

iru


kanji

oboe

kangae

de

i
kanjita

oboeta

kangaeta

deta

ita
To feel becomes to have felt.

To remember becomes to have remembered.

To think becomes to have thought.

To leave becomes to have left.

To be becomes to have been. (was, were)




Try putting your favorite verb ending in iru or eru into the TA form today and get your Nihongo more Jozu!

And remember…

MORE WORDS MEMORIZED = HIGHER RATE of FLUENCY.

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Until next time. Ganbatte ne! Do your best!

Makurasuki Sensei

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Counting in Japanese - Some study strategies

On Counting in Japanese: a study strategy

1 – ichi
2 – ni
3 – san
4 – shi, yon
5 – go
6 - roku
7 –shichi, nana
8 – hachi, ha
9 – kyu, ku
10 – ju, to
11 – ju ichi
12 – ju ni
13 – ju san
etc
20 –ni ju
21 – ni ju ichi
22 – ni ju ni
30 – san ju
31 - san ju ichi
95 – kyu ju go
99 – kyu ju kyu
100 – hyaku
101 – hyaku ichi
108 – hyaku hachi
197 – hyaku kyu ju nana (shichi)
200 – ni hyaku
300 – sam byaku
400 – yon hyaku
500 –go hyaku
600 – roppyaku
700 – nanahyaku
800 – happyaku
900 – kyuhyaku
1000 – sen
1001 – sen ichi
2000 ni sen
Etc

Some of my best spent hours studying Japanese were when I recited to myself the numbers in Japanese from zero to one million, and then back to zero again. Yes it got a little tedious and after a while I would think to myself, “O.K. Enough is enough! I mean gee… to 1 million and back… that is going a little out of the way just to learn some language don’t you think?” Not to a die-hard that really wants to speak the language. I was extremely determined to master Japanese, that is why I recited the numbers from zero to one million and then back again over and over again.

Other things I did which are strategies worth considering was that I would count from 0 to 1 million by 2’s, by 3’s, by 4’s and by 5’s, 6’s, 7’s, 8’s, 9’s, and 10’s. Some numbers seemed for some reason or another harder than the others, so I would concentrate more on the hard ones. I don’t think I tried 11’s but it could produce the same results. It surely stems from basically the same idea. The more your mouth and brain coordinate their efforts in the target languages the better prepared you will be to use them in the real world. So go ahead use you try some of these out until you can say them without hesitation.

Below, are ways to practice counting in Japanese. Always practice with correct pronunciation. Start off counting slowly, then build up speed and swiftness of speech. Counting in Japanese will help you get better at speaking in it.

1. Count from 0 to 1 million and go backwards once you arrive at a million to get to zero once again. Again if 1 million seems tough, it would be o.k. to go as far as you can, but maybe stretch yourself a little, a least 99,000 or something. You want to get good don’t you?
2. Count up the odd numbers from 0 to 1 million
3. Count up the even numbers from 0 to 1 million
4. Do #2 and #3 backwards from 1 million
5. Count through your numbers by 3’s, 4’s, 5’s etc
6. Do long division by saying out loud in Japanese the problem

Here are some nice handy math words that will give you hours of word play:

To add – tasu
To divide – waru
To multiply -kakeru
To subtract – hiku

Until you’ve actually recited the numbers from zero to one million (1,000,000) a couple of times through without hesitation and eventually to do it without even thinking about it. That is one of the secrets of fluency. It sprouts from one’s ability to think in the target language. If you catch yourself thinking in the target language that is a good sign; if you catch yourself dreaming in the target language you have reached bliss, SLA bliss. You are heading towards fluency.

 I got to a point where my dreams would be in Japanese and it didn’t matter who or what type of people were in my dreams, everybody spoke in Japanese. I remember my mom and dad who aren’t too familiar with the Japanese language, but in my dreams were conversing with me full on like natives themselves. So what is the point of all this? The point is akin to the old adage,’when in Rome do as the Romans do’.

The more one thinks in the target language the more apt they are to acquire the language. Lets face it there is no quick road to fluency except hard work, goal oriented study, persistent practice and an iron will coupled with an abundance of motivation. I hope this little lesson won’t discourage anyone about learning languages. Because there will be some that are too lazy start the training, their motivation will be sub par for their needs, and thus they will not make it to fluency. But those who persevere and but instead will inspire people to go for it, even though the road to fluency isn’t yellow nor bricked. These are things that I know of that will enable an SL learner how to speak in a foreign tongue and bring them closer to near perfect fluency.

Japanese counters

More Japanese Counters
continued…

The final Countdown

10 – ju
9 – ku
8 – hachi
7 – shichi, nana
6 -- roku
5 – go
4 – yon
3 – san
2 – ni
1 – ichi
0 –zero, rei, o-maru, maru
-----------------------------------

soku – pair of counter, (socks, tabi socks etc.)

ichi (1*) + soku = issoku, (etc.*). ni-soku, san-zoku, yousoku, go-soku, roku-soku, nana-soku, ha-ssoku, kyu-soku, ju-soku, ju-i-ssoku, ju-ni-soku etc.

ken – larger buildings, houses etc.

i-kken ni-ken san-gen, yon-ken, go-ken, ro-kken, nana-ken, ha-kken (This is also the verb to discover, no relation ,just a homonym**.)

ma – room (1, 2 , 3 bedroom house etc.)

ichi-ma ni-ma, san-ma, yon-ma, go-ma, roku-ma, nana-ma, hachi-ma, kyu-ma, ju-ma, ju-ichi-ma, ju-ni-ma etc

retsu – line (line-up), straight line etc.

ichi-retsu, ni-retsu, san-retsu, yon-retsu, go-retsu, roku-retsu, shichi-retsu, nana-retsu hachi-retsu, kyu-retsu, ju-retsu, ju-ichi-retsu, ju-ni-retsu etc.

Special cases - Sounds the same but is not written the same.

The Japanese language contains many homonyms (Words that sound the same yet have different meaning).** I am reminded of the Japanese word kiku. If you look up kiku in a dictionary there you will find at least 3 different ways of writing the sounds that for ”kiku” (“key coo”) yet written in 3 distinct ways. In Japanese since words are represented by symbols (kanji) Kanji is system for writing down words borrowed from the Chinese yet evolving into something Japanesque being formed into almost entirely new system of writng scripts.

A lot of times although the Japanese borrowed a kanji for probably at some point in history was a word that meant basically the same thing but, if you write tegami or two kanji for the word which is in Japanese letter, you write the same two kanji and ask a Chinese person to tell you what it means and they wll say toilet paper. One example I am particularly fond of is that unto itself different meanings for the same utterance of sound. They are written in entirely different ways of course in KanjiLearn all three meanings for kiku by listening to the way it used in natural speech. Depending on context it could be a 1. kiku v. to be effective, 2. kiku n .chrysanthemum, 3. kiku v. to listen.

Japanese grammar yoku shita mono desu

This is JPPGG bunpo principle #87.
Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar Japanese Language Learning
By Makurasuki Sensei, Brett McCluskey
Towards better Japanese: Methods of Acquisition and Mastery.
To say in Japanese that you used to ~ verb, (at fairly regular intervals and at some point in the past) use the following construction:
used to ~ (~ is any verb)
yoku verb(base TA) mono desu.

The following examples will help you grasp today's JPPGG construction. After you get a feel for how this grammar is made, just keep plugging new verbs into the verb area in Base TA and then continue playing by making your own unique and interesting sentences. Don't forget to practice by saying all your newly created sentences out-loud. Drilling and killing, or plugging and playing your way to building a solid base from which your Japanese conversational skills will surely improve. Each new grammar principle you learn is like adding another weapon to your formidable Japanese language arsenal, which you will be able to use whenever the need arises.
Keep plugging and playing until your friends tell you they can't stand how much you practice your Japanese or until they say stop. But even if you start bugging people because you practice too much, just keep telling yourself its all for my own good. Just keep practicing the grammar constructions and saying to yourself new sentences of your own creation. If you want to improve your Japanese, don’t fret too much on annoying the slackers that don’t want to master another language as badly as you do. The following are example sentences to show you how the construction is typically used so you too can take it and make it your own. Once again the construction for #87 Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar is as follows:
English - used to ~ (where ~ is any verb)
Japanese - yoku verb(base TA) mono desu.

1. When I was younger, I used to go to school by bicycle.
Watakushi ga motto wakai koro, jitensha de yoku gakko ni itta mono desu.
{As for I, in the more young time, by bike often school went thing is.}[1] a. The main verb in 1. is iku - v. to go.
b. Putting the verb into its past tense -TA form ending gives you itta. c. Insert iku, verb(base TA) or in this case itta into the construction and
d. you have your new sentence.
yoku itta mono da or I used to go.

2. He used to cheat, but the teacher busted him, and now he is a good boy.
Kare wa mae yoku kanningu[2] shita mono desu keredomo sensei ni barete shimatte ima orikosan desu. 3. I used to play there a lot.
Watakushi wa soko de yoku asonda mono da. [3]

G.A.B. or the Ghetto After Blast - One point advice -
The Japanese verb nareru means, "To get used to" which is similar to the used to that you have been getting used to in this bunpo. Nareru is a really cool word, and you will hear it a lot in Japanese conversation.

Ex.1 He is used to that job.
Kare wa sono shigoto ni narete imasu.[4]

As Always, Do your Best! Ganbatte Ne!
Makurasuki Sensei.


[1] Given here in its' literal translation; its easy to see why not to translate literally as can be seen from the corruption madness of its form and sound.
[2] From the English adjective cunning.
[3] Non-polite plain form of the copula desu = da.
[4] See JPPGG Ghetto Grammar #88: 'Verbing' -verb (base TE) + iru or the Japanese Gerund.


Japanese is easier than many think

hy the learning of the Japanese language has been unfairly labeled as a difficult language, I’ll never know. I feel that if you want to learn a language you should try the Japanese language. There are plenty of reasons why but let me first tell you a few of the reasons why I think that Japanese is in fact one of the easier languages to learn.

One reason why Japanese might be an easier language to learn is because there are only four tenses in which a verb can take. A lot less than English which has a multitude of various irregularities to deal with. Another big reason why Japanese might be easier to learn than other languages is because, there are so many common words that are exactly the same in Japanese as they are in English. It only takes a little bit of time before one can start getting use to Japanese pronunciation, but when one does then a plethora of vocabulary words will be at your command.

In Japanese, foreign words are heavily borrowed. I would almost venture to say that if you want to speak to a Japanese person, all you would have to do is say what you want in English but with a Japanese accent or pronunciation, and your communication is likely to be understood. New words or words that are borrowed from other countries (gairaigo) are numerous and continiue to grow in number. Let me give you a few examples:

Spoon – supun –
Fork – fouku
Ball – bouru
Door – doa
Curtain – kaaten
Card – kaado
Toaster – tosuta
Juice – juusu

These are just typical everyday words, but the list goes on and on.

The Japanese language is a fascinating language to learn. They use different letters and script for writing their words. Their system for writing words and communicating through ideographs is very old. The kanji (symbols-ideographs-ideas represented by pictures or even pictographs) has been used in Japan for quite a long time. is a very ancient tradition and the language has evolved Let me tell you something: You can do anything you put your mind to! Now having said that, I would like to give a couple of reasons why I feel that Japanese is in fact an easier language to learn than English.

The symbol shown above is the Kanji, or Chinese character, which represents the word ai, or love in Japanese. Start today to recognize parts of the kanji as you would a constellation. The ai kanji itself is made up of various components (the heart kanji among other ones) that will become easier to recognize the more times you see it. Who said a little drill and kill will hurt you?

There are a lot of reasons why people might think that the Japanese language is a hard language to learn. People seem to think that learning Japanese is too big a task. A mountain can be moved with a little persistence and some good goals, so get to setting them up!

May 27, 2008

Maneki Neko


This is the Maneki Neko - He bring you good fortune, and hopefully money. I have a superstition that as long as he is standing the money will be in.
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May 26, 2008

You are gonna like this Japanese Grammar stuff

Here is yet another grammar construction that you can use plug and play style. What I mean by this is that you stick verbs into the construction and you can make sentences that make sense. Practice speaking Japanese by inserting in the place of To say that someone seems ‘about to’ verb in Japanese, use the following construction:

Japanese Grammar construction #109 Verb (Base II) + So^ desu.


This one is an easily constructed grammar principle. First take a Japanese verb of our choosing then transform it or put it into base II. It is a pre-requisite for learners just beginning their study of the Japanese language to know thoroughly the concepts surrounding verb conjugation and how to put verbs into bases. There are five bases which correspond to the first five syllables (also called mora) of the Japanese language.. If you want to start using this grammar today however, I can cheat for you just this once so that you can start speaking today without even knowing anything about verb bases and Japanese verb conjugation. But… I might get reprimanded and other teachers may call me ghetto. Oh thats righ… this is ghetto grammar…it is JPPGG or Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar … I forgot….

Don’t delay too long, the study of the Japanese verb bases and how to use them and what they do etc. However, just today, I’ll make it easy for anybody to start speaking Japanese with the verbs you choose from a dictionary you might have or online. All you need is a dictionary or have in your possession or knowledge Japanese verbs. (I hate any Japanese dictionary that allows you to read it in Roman letters (Romaji), but for today’s purpose of getting you to be able to speak in the Japanese language quickly, we will bypass a few things, cut corners and proceed without too much hassle. Today I’ll even let you use the despised Romaji EI-WA dictionary.)

Use any verbs or action words you like at all. Some examples might be

Go – IKU
Leave – DERU
Love – AI SURU
To be absent - SHUSSEKI SURU


I’ll explain to you how to put verbs into base II, but first let me briefly state a few ke points to keep in mind about Japanese verbs. All Japanese verbs will end in some sort of consonant + u combination. U itself is an ending as are the following. (Please refer to a katakana chart or hiragana chart to find the middle row that contains the syllables that end in u)our letter the u (pronounced ooh in Japanese), and it also may end with 9 other possible consonant combinations.

Instructions for putting regular Japanese verbs into base II:

1. Look in your English Japanese dictionary for the verb you want to use.
2. Put your chosen verb into base II


(In order to use the JPPGG (Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar) system, you’ll really need to know how to we put Japanese verbs into their various bases. I admonish you to begin your study now if you intend on having any degree of skill speaking in the Japanese language.)

I can tell you that all verbs listed in the dictionary are in a form know as plain form. All verbs will end in one of the following syllabic combination

ku,
su,
tsu,
nu,
h, (no fu line)
mu,
y, (no yu line)
ru,

and u

Instrutions: Take the dictionary form and decide which type of verb it is, whether it be an ichidan or a yodan verb. This distinction will determine how to make it base II.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that in Japanese grammar, there is an I before E except after C type rule. Now you should realize the two types of Japanese verbs. Verbs ending in eru or iru are called ICHIDAN verbs. The other type of verbs, that is, any verb that doesn’t end with the three roman letters of eru or iru, are called Yo^dan verbs.

With each of the these verbs comes distinctly separate rules or ways to form them, or put them into base II. Today’s grammar construction says to put the verb into base II then add + so^ desu. If we can form this construction, we will then be able to makes sentences that make sense and convey meanings to other speakers of Japanese. So First we must learn how to put verbs into base II.

Rule #1
Putting ICHIDAN verbs into base II:

Drop the final syllable of the verb, “ru”, so that only either i or e remain.

Here is an example of putting an ichidan verb into base II. Ochiru ends in iru making it an ICHIDIAN verb, we drop the ru and leave the i., so that

ochiru – ru = ochi
ochiru in base II is ochi

OCHIRU (落ちる) - to fall - Ochiru (base II) = OCHI


Ochi would be considered the stem before putting the verb into any base, as is the case with ichidan verbs. It is often referred to as the stem.

Rule #2
Putting Yodan verbs into base II is to drop u and change u into an i with whatever consonant may have preceded it.

Possible outcomes -

If verb ends in ku then the verb in base II will end in ki,
If verb ends in gu then the verb in base II will end in gu,
If verb ends in bu then the verb in base II will end in bi,
If verb ends in pu then the verb in base II will end in pi,
If verb ends in su then the verb in base II will end in shi,
If verb ends in tsu then the verb in base II will end in chi,
If verb ends in nu then the verb in base II will end in ni,
If verb ends in mu then the verb in base II will end in mi,
If verb ends in ru then the verb in base II will end in ri.

Hopefully you are gaining a handle on this base II stuff. Ganbatte Ne. Do your best!


All we have left to do for this grammar construction and start making sentences that make senses is to add the + SO^ DESU to our verbs in base II. Simple. For IRU and ERU ending verbs (i.e. ichidan verbs) simply drop off the last syllable ru and add + SO^ DESU. For all other verbs put into i ending of the consonant combination that precedes the u and and add + SO^ DESU

When you practice pronouncing the sentences that you create by using the above construction remember the double vowels, to hold them longer on the So^ desu. Note the ^ symbol stands for the double vowel sound so So^ is sounded Sou ,or so with a long o.

HANASU (話す) - to speak -
Hanasu (base II) = HANASHI

NAKU ( 泣く) - to cry
NAKU (base II) = NAKI

By adding So^ + desu to a Japanese verb in base II, the verb takes on a nuance that the verb in question the action word is about to take place. It could also be interpreted to mean , “ It look like (seems, appears as if etc.) that they (he, she, it, them , us , we, her, my granddad etc) are going to verb soon. I find it unnecessary to think of the sentences I construct in this way as - seems ‘about to’ verb. On the verge of verb’ing

HANASHI SO^ DESU (話しそう)
HANASHISO^ DESU - It seems he is about to speak

OCHI SO^ DESU (落ちそう です)
OCHISO^ DESU - looks like they are about to fall down




As always, Ganbatte Ne!
Do your best!
Makurasuki Sensei


http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/Ahsh

A special thanks to NJ Japanese word processor which concocted the following _

話す - 話し -

落ちる- 落ち -

泣く - 泣き - 泣きそう

出席する

行く

愛 する

May 25, 2008

After the loving


In this blog which I may have already published, it may appear to be similar to another blog post. The big difference here is the addition of some real Japanese script - all 3 scripts, moji, heiroglyphs, ideographs, kanji, hiragana, katakana, romaji etc. but I added some moji to the mix in this the 91st edition of my JPPGG©to help my fellow Japanese language learners .


Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar #109
JPPGG #109 - Three Ways of Saying, '...After... verb(ing') in Japanese.

After, After, and hopefully, happy ever... After...
There are 3 easy ways to say after or "after verbing” in Japanese -

1. verb (base TE) + KARA verb (base て) + から
2. verb (base TA) + ATO DE verb (base た) + あとで 後 = (あと)
3. verb (base TA) + NOCHI NI verb (base た) + のち に 後 = あと(ato),
or 後= のち に (nochi ni)

By themselves KARA (から), ATO DE (あとで) and NOCHI NI (のちに) indicate the English term "after". Put verbs in base TE then add kara to create phrases of doing something after doing something else. Put verbs in base TA then add either ato de or nochi ni to create sentences or phrases that tell us what will happen after we verb.

***So how do I plug and play? Let me explain: First go learn as many verbs as you can and even a couple of nouns if you like, but ghetto grammar or JPPGG consists mainly of knowing how to manipulate verbs. Before you can manupulate verbs you need to memorize the word and also know how to pronounce it correctly. What are you talking about when you say plug and play Japanese Grammar? Preposterous! Its real simple. Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar works like this:

1. Study hard your vocabulary, or list of Japanese words,
a. Set a goal to memorize 15 new words every two days. This is my best recommendation for learning to speak in Japanese as quickly as humanly possible.
b. Drill and kill your tango lists. ( I have plenty of vocabulary lists or tango lists for you to study, print out or do what you... at http://squidoo.com/japanesevocabulary.)

2. Memorize all types of Japanese words and phrases. For the purposes of being able to start speaking Japanese fast, you are going to have to pay particular attention to verbs. This is what I would suggest. Start learning as many basic verbs as you can, and keep them tucked away under your belt, memorized and ready to go so that we can use them effectively to communicate later in Japanese. We can construct almost any type of meaningful communication as long as we know a few key Japanese verbs. ( Find the fiirst 100 essential Japanese vocabulary words here at http://squidoo.com/essentialjapanesewords)

3. Take your solidly retained, and newly memorized verbs from your tango lists and start plugging them into the JPPGG system or the Ghetto Grammar Constructions found in lessons 77 - 119).

To see the full index of JPPGG grammar construction pages go to http://squidoo.com/ghettogrammar107 or just ghettogrammar to start your plugging.

4. Play with the construction. Create wonderfully original Japanese sentences, by plugging the verbs you have learned into the grammar constructions. Play, play play.

It is really a lot of fun learning how to speak Japanese. Japanese is such a cool language, terribly challenging, but the rewards are well worth the effort.
As always, Ganbatte Ne!
Makurasuki , 5..25.2008

I can't emphasize what I feel to be one of the main components to learning Japanese. The one main component that is integral to your study and will help you learn and master a language faster than any other methods. It may surprise you, but it is a very well kept secret that in order to get good at Japanese or any foreign langauge for that matter, you must drill and kill yourself to death if you are to see any positive results that happen like in a few weeks.

Try as you may any other way and it may take you 17 years to do what rhote memorization and repetition drilling will do for you language skills. I also duly not my opinion that when we translate our words, studying them, drilling and killing them, tyring in whatever way we can to memorize the words, it is important to say at this point that we should be able to translate in both directions.

Until you can say the word both in English and Japanese, 2 way lateral translating to yourself then that particular mode of study will not be sufficient towards mastery. It is not good enough just to be able to translate one way. An earnest Japanese language student will be desirous of possessing the capabilites and skills required to translate words from English to Japanese, and also from Japanese to English.

Below is some examples of how these constructions are used, now all you need to do is gather as many verbs as you can and start practicing speaking Japanese. The more you speak out loud, the more comfortable you become with the Japanese words that come into your mouth. in Japanese the faster will be the path to Japanese fluency.

To say that you will do something after doing something else in Japanese, use the following grammar constructions:

1. Verb (Base TE) + KARA ‐ after verb’ing

Take verbs and put them into base TE.

In the set of Japanese regular verbs :

- Verbs ending in KU become - - -> ITE
- Verbs ending in GU become - - - > IDE
- Verbs ending in U, TSU, or RU - - - > TTE
- Verbs ending in BU, MU or NU - - - > NDE

again that is to say

- Verbs ending in KU (く) become - - -> ITE (いて)

- Verbs ending in GU (ぐ) become - - - > IDE (いで)

- Verbs ending in U (う), TSU (つ), or RU (る) - - - > TTE (って)

- Verbs ending in BU (ぶ), MU (む), or NU (ぬ) - - - > NDE (んで)



In the set of Japanese irregular verbs:

-Verbs ending in SU (す) become - - - > SHITE (して)

The verb suru is irregular and it is irregular regularly. That is a little jodan. A joke of sorts but its true. You will be using irregular Japanese verbs all the time. So don't shy away from irregular verbs. Just because they don't conform like all the rest of the entire Japanese language. We musn't let those words get us down. After using them in our parlayance, and hearing native Japanese speakers use the irregular verbs we will come to understand,.

These good little nuggetts of confusion we be our ally in the future if we can learn how to manipulate them. One advantage Japanese as a langauge that can be studied versus English, is that irregular verbs have consistent irregular rules. Don't let anything get you discouraged or take away your high and lofty goals for mastering the Japanese langauge and speaking it today!

You must ganbaru - v. to do your best. Hang tough and remember... there aren't many rules that exist but that there also exists an exception for every rule created for the sake of langauge learning.. You shouldn't let the fact that sometimes, there is no clean and clear explanation as to why Japanese grammar is the way it is.


add + KARA (after) - から

JPPGG #109 - Verb (base TE) + KARA = after verb, I verbed (or was verbing, or even had to verb etc.)


HANASU (話す) - (v. to speak) - HANASHITE (話して)

CHOTTO HANASHITE KARA IKIMASHO^ - ちょっと 話して から 行きましょう.
Let's go after we talk a little, shall we?

YOMU (読む) - (v. to speak) YONDE (読んで)

HON O YONDE KARA NERU TO OMOIMASU. - 本を読んでから寝ると思います.
I think I'll sleep after reading a book or I think I'll go to bed after I read this book.

TABERU (食べる) - (v. to eat) - TABETE (食べて)

TABETE KARA SHUKUDAI O SURU ‐ 食べてから宿題をする.
After I eat, I'm going to do homework.

UNDO^ (運動) - (v to exercise) - Undo^ shite (運動 して)

UNDO^ WO SHITE KARA SHAWA O SURU KOTO GA SUKI DESU -
運動をしてからシャーワーをすることが好きです - I like to shower after I exercise.


2. Verb (Base TA) + ATO DE - after verb’ing

Take verbs and put them into base TA

NOMU (飲む) - (v. to drink) NONDA (飲んだ)

NOMU (飲む) - (Base TA) NONDA
Verb ending in either BU, MU or NU ta - - - >nda

NOMU (飲む) in base TA (た) is NONDA (飲んだ)

SAKE O NONDA ATO DE NEMUKUNATTA ‐さけを飲んだ後で眠くなった
I got sleepy after drinking some* sake.

*NOCHI NI (後 に) = ATO DE, NOCHI DE

3.Verb ( base TA) + NOCHI NI - after verb’ing

Sorekara - thereafter, or after that...

SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI IE NI KAETTA ‐酒を飲んだ 後 に 家 に帰えた
I returned home after drinking some SAKE.

SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI INU O SAMPO SHI NI ITTA ‐
酒を飲んだ後に散歩しに行った
(After I drank some sake I took the dog for a walk.)

As you can see from these examples, there are two sides with two verbs comprising this construction. (Predicates and the like.)

Verb 1 in base TE +KARA and Verb 2

Verb 2 can be past, present, negative or positive, but Verb 1 must be in base TE.

As Always,
Ganbatte Ne! 頑張ってね! - Do Your Best! And stay away from the mes, I mean mesothelioma
Makurasuki Sensei マクラスキー 先生
P.S. I was thinking of writing an example sentence for this grammar of after verbing by saying something like - After I inhaled the musty, damp, mildewy smelling asbestos from that old run down house, I contracted mesothelioma. But I will wait on that sentence for a later blog, here only on http://japanetics.blogspot.com

May 19, 2008

Japanese gerund - making the verb present tense

In English we learn about the Gerund. Todays blog looks into the Japanese gerund
To say that you are verb' ing right now in the present, use the following construction:

verb (base TE) + iru

Iru the existence verb to be can itself be past, present, negative or positive so that you can have

verb (base TE) + ita - past positive

verb (base TE) + inakatta - past negative

verb (base TE) + iru - future or present tense positive

or

verb (base TE) + inai - future or present tense negative


examples

1. hanashite iru - talking (now)
2. mite iru - watching (now)
3. ugoite iru - moving
4. sunde iru - residing in

To say that you were verbing put the iru into its past form ita or imashita (polite)

1. hanashite ita - were or was talking
2. mite imashita - was watching etc.

same for negative present and past so that

1. hanashite inai - not talking
2. mite imasen deshita - wasn't watching it

hope you liked todays blog it was made on the fly as best as I could, thanks and don't forget to leave comments/

May 18, 2008

I used to do it alot in Japanese

Japanese Grammar Plug and Play
JPPGG #87

Japanese Language Learning
Methods For the Acquisition and Mastery of the Japanese Language.
By Makurasuki Sensei,
Brett McCluskey
Towards better Japanese: Japanese Grammar Practice

To say in Japanese that you used to ~ verb, (at fairly regular intervals and at some point in the past) use the following construction:
used to ~ (~ is any verb)
Yoku verb(base TA)+ mono desu.

The following examples will help you grasp today's JPPGG construction. After you get a feel for how this grammar is made, continue plugging new verbs into the verb area in Base TA and then continue playing by making your own unique and interesting sentences. Don't forget to practice by saying all your newly created sentences out-loud.

Drill and kill equals plugging and playing your way to building a solid base from which to improve your Japanese conversation skills will surely improve. Each new grammar principle you learn is like adding another weapon to your formidable Japanese language arsenal, which you will be able to use whenever the need arises.

Keep plugging and playing until your friends tell you they can't stand how much you practice your Japanese or until they say stop. But even if you start bugging people because you practice too much, just keep telling yourself its all for my own good. Just keep practicing the grammar constructions and saying to yourself new sentences of your own creation.

If you want to improve your Japanese, don’t fret too much on annoying the slackers that don’t want to master another language as badly as you do. The following are example sentences to show you how the construction is typically used so you too can take it and make it your own. Once again the construction for #87 Japanese Grammar Plug and Play is as follows:

English - Used to ~ (where "~" is any verb)
Japanese - Yoku verb(base TA)+ mono desu.

1. When I was younger, I used to go to school by bicycle.
Watakushi ga motto wakai koro, jitensha de yoku gakkou ni itta mono desu.
私がもっと若い頃自転車でよく学校に行ったものです {As for I, in the more young time, by bike often school went thing is.}[1]

a. The main verb in 1. is iku 行 - v. to go.
b. Putting the verb into its past tense -TA form ending gives you itta.
c. Insert iku 行, verb(base TA) or in this case itta 行った into the construction and
d. You have your new sentence.

Yoku itta mono da よく行ったものだ or I used to go.

2. He used to cheat, but the teacher busted him, and now he is a good boy.
Kare wa mae yoku kanningu[2] shita mono desu keredomo sensei ni barete shimatte ima orikosan desu. かれは前よくカンニング したものですけれども 先生にばれてしまって今おりこさんです

3. I used to play there a lot.
Watakushi wa soko de yoku asonda mono da.[3] 私はそこでよく遊んだものだ

G.A.B. or the Ghetto After Blast - One point advice -
The Japanese verb nareru means, "To get used to" which is similar to the used to that you have been getting used to in this bunpo (文法). Nareru (慣れ)るis a really cool Japanese verb, and you will hear it a lot in typical Japanese conversations.

Ex.1 He is used to that job.
Kare wa sono shigoto ni narete imasu.[4] 彼はその仕事に慣れています

As Always,
Do your Best!
Ganbatte Ne!
Makurasuki Sensei.

[1] Given here in its' literal translation; its easy to see why not to translate literally as can be seen from the corruption madness of its form and sound.
[2] From the English adjective cunning.
[3] Non-polite plain form of the copula desu = da.
[4] See JPPGG Japanese Grammar Plug and Play #88: 'Verbing' - verb (base TE) + iru or the Japanese Gerund.

Enthusiasm for Japanese langauge learning How to do it!

Deal the Zeal : Enthusiasm and its effects on second language Acquisition
Goals for Japanese Fluency
By Makurasuki, Brett McCluskey

This article was created to help those that need a boost to start or re-continue there quest for the acquisition and mastery of Japanese unto fluency.

You can improve your Japanese by following a few techniques I will show you and briefly outline here. In no time, your Japanese speaking skills will be better than you ever thought possible. Your success in second language acquisition should you accept the challenge, will be dependant upon the commitments you make to yourself to memorizing words part1, understanding, learning, memorizing then applying the basic Japanese grammar principlespart3+4 and finally your total amount of zeal you put into your efforts.

The amount of success or failure you have in second language acquisition starts with you. The power is within you; now let us try to unlock it. I want to share with you my zeal for learning another language and perhaps you might catch a little part of it and it might burn like the California fires of 2007 until you too have inspired others through your zeal and mastery of a foreign language.

My roommates hated me when I was studying, because not only would I ask them to help me by quizzing me from my vocabulary list from which I studied without fail daily, but I would wake up very early in the morning to practice speaking Japanese. I would repeat sentences I learned like mantras until I got the chance to use what I learned in real life to see which ones actually worked.

My roommates hated me. I had zeal for learning Japanese. It takes a great bit of it to be a successful language learner. You MUST HAVE ZEAL for learning the language or you will become complacent and lazy.

Determine within yourself now that you will find a way to harness zeal and enthusiasm towards the improvement of your Japanese unto acquisition. You must also have a purpose for your zeal. My purpose was to be able to speak with the Japanese people themselves, to communicate with them with no impediments of speech. ‘Like they say Quitters Never Win and Winners Never Quit’, so get going now and find your purpose and zeal it up.

The following is just one way and one example of what kind of language goals a person could set and realistically achieve, while at the same time making it challenging enough to maintain their interest. You might emulate these goals if you were learning Japanese; they are modeled after my own goals. They are in no way the only way to go, but they are, as I said, just one set of possible goals that you can use to help you attain fluency.

They helped me acquire that ever-elusive second language (Japanese) and if they are couple with enough zeal, it will be very possible that they will help you get fluency too. Remember though, the amount of zeal you put into your work is exactly how much success you will achieve out of it. With the right amount of zeal, you are bound to be speaking native like a Japanese senator in no time flat. May your Nihongo wa jozu ni naru.

It has been said to be fluent a person must know a minimum 4000 words

Vocabulary –n. a list of words, and often phrases, abbreviations, inflectional forms, etc., usually arranged in alphabetical order and defined or otherwise identified as in a dictionary, or glossary.

It goes on to say that vocabulary is also all the words recognized and understood by a particular person although not necessarily used by him, these may be an interrelated group of nonverbal symbols, signs, gestures, etc. used for communication or expression.

Now let us do some math to see how long it will take us to learn 4000 words, or, what some have called, the minimum amount of vocabulary one must know and be able to use and still be considered fluent.

7 days a week
52 weeks per annum
4 weeks per month
12 months per annum

How long will it take to obtain a 4000 word vocabulary?

Well if we learned 4000 words in one day, it would only take us one day, but is it reasonable to assume that we will retain those words? Unless you have a photographic memory, we should consider something else. How about 4000 words in 1 month? Is that a reasonable goal? I do not think either of those goals are within a typical realizable amount attainable possible.

We need a reasonable goal that is attainable that leaves us some breathing room to assimilate the vocabulary into our own speech system. I feel 6-8 words a day might be stretching us thin a little bit but it is the one I will recommend. Actually, the way I did it was to learn 15 words every two days but for sake of clarity, let us stick with words/day.

We do not want to memorize too many words because we will end up worse than learning only one word a week. At one word a week, it would take us 4000 days, or almost 11 years to have such a vocabulary. That is too long if you figure that for an accelerated college degree program you will be spending 4-6 years to obtain your B.A. and still would not be fluent either way, 11 years is too long.

These goals will be set for you to learn 4000 vocabulary terms in 1 year and 1 month from your starting date. This is still a very lofty goal. In order to learn 4000 vocabulary in 1 year and 1 month you will need to learn 10-11 words / day
That is the goal, 10-11 words / day, sunawachi everyday with no rest.

Day 1 goal – memorize 10 words today, tomorrow and 10 new words everyday for the next 9 months. Do not get discouraged after 9 months if you stick with your goals you will not be pera pera (fluent), but you will be enabled to handle almost any conversation that comes your way.


Day 2 goal -
Day 3 goal –
Weekly goal
Monthly goal
3-month goal
6-month goal

Beginning

So what exactly is fluency?

How do we measure fluency? There are indubitably quite a few ways to measure fluency. I am not aware of any fluency machine that can instantly measure your fluency like we can measure blood pressure, or body temperature.

I have heard it said at least once that fluency is dependent upon total vocabulary memorized. In addition, they put a number on it of 4000 different words. I cannot say I totally agree with that statement. No doubt, other requirements for language fluency certainly exist, other than just knowledge of the vocabulary.

Although many other complex processes are involved in fluency, we will start with how to set goals in memorizing words to increase our vocabulary power. Setting goals to memorizing vocabulary is a good place to start. So how much vocabulary power do you have under your belt?

The amount of words that you know and are able to translate those words into and out of your native tongue and into and out of your target language. Know the meaning of words so thoroughly that you can interchange them instantly. I suggest the use of mnemonics as helpful way to memorize Japanese words.

Just as one can word or phrase or apply any manipulation to the language so that its suits our purpose and the main purpose and reason is to get our meaning across. Sharing a As long as the method we use suffices to get our message across it does not even matter if we can speak Japanese or not.

In any language, if you look like you have to go ‘pee’ you do not have to say a word people will understand you. If you look tired or motion your hands as if you are sleeping, our knowledge of Nihongo lets body language assume the role.
What is the shortest distance between you and getting what you want? You are allowed to use any and all means necessary to get your meaning across.

Please see my article on circumlocution for sure fire ways to get your meaning across even if you do not know the Japanese words for it. http://ezinearticles.com/?Japanese-Pronunciation-Tips-13&id=472520

About our own Native tongue -
Just in mannerisms and the exact vocabulary and grammatical structure employed by the speaker, can there be vast amounts of missed meanings to occur.

Japanese could be spoken in any number of differing ways; intelligently, suave, brave, naive, sophisticated, charming, honorifically, stately, manly cunning, feminine, drunk, legendary all sorts of ways to speak like and just as we have the ish to make something in Nihongo the word becomes -ppoi.

Noun + ppoi = noun ‘ish’

Beautifully, wonderfully or bold or any other way you can think of, it becomes like it and takes on its characteristic traits.

The levels Keigo and the cultural implications of Kokugo^ must know how to manipulate verbs, while memorizing and strengthening your store of Japanese words to put into your goal oriented language arsenal. With that arsenal and using all of your faculties to summon together the ability to speak inside of another tongue, and also to be able to open your ears to such an extent that they become even more sensitive to different words, consonants, vowels phonemes.

Along with your noun memorization oath. (See appendix) noun (do not take for granted any place names that are presented to you on your quest for complete Japanese mastery. You have to commit yourself to a reasonable yet challenging goal.

Rocket Japanese

Brett McCluskey, EzineArticles.com Basic Author

Japanese language training fun study learn

They say that the average American spends 17 hours per week inside their car. That is 884 hours per year or Living in Japan. There are a few words and key phrases in Japanese that, as a tourist in the Land of the Rising Sun, you would think that I could at least learn how to say the time. Since in Japan they use military time on occasion, more frequently than military time is used in America. , had I been acquainted with earlier on, would have saved me a lot of time, and prevented some of the confusion and disorientation for me upon my first adventures in Japan. In Japan, a lot of a persons life is spent at an Eki or train station spent getting on and off at the wrong train stations. Inevitably, tourists in Japan will have to use public transportation. It would be very convenient to know at least the basic words related to how to get around in Japan if you are going to spend any amount of time touring Japan. Some are quite easy for they are gairaigo or foreign borrowed terms which are usually English based (although a certain percentage can be French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and Dutch.) Some are more difficult to get a handle on but are essential to your adventures in Japan. Because one way or another you'll soon see how the Japanese Rail systems are more part of their culture and the Japanese way of life than we might be accustomed to here in America.
First let’s learn the words for major transportation hubs like: bus stop, train station, airport, and subway.

basu tei - bus stop
eki - train station
ku^ko^ - airport

I remember getting on a bus and not knowing much Japanese other than how to say, "what time is it?" and feeling so embarrassed about not knowing where the heck I was going

Thoughts on the similiarities betwixt languages including Japanese

Take for example the days of the week. First off in almost every single language in the world there is a day denoted as the Sun’s day or the day of the Sun, and a moon day, or day of the moon. the words for the days of the week in Japanese, we are liable to pass it off as mere coincidence, the similarities are striking. The following table shows the words for days of the week in Japanese and in English.

Kasei are made of two kanji, ka and sei, or fire and star. Kasei translates as fire day. In English our equivalent of fire’s day is Tuesday, named after the Tiu the god of war and the sky. But before the Germanic peoples renamed the second day of the week Tuesday, the Romans had a system of naming the days of the week after their god and had called it dies martis ‘day of mars’, after the war god (source of French Mardi ‘Tuesday’). (Ayto, 544)

The kanji for Saturday being read do or basically the term for dirt or dirt’s day but is also the root of the Japanese word for Saturn, which is Dosei.

As for the third day of the week, some languages call it the 3rd day or day 3 (Vietnamese). In Japanese this day is denoted as Suiyobi or day of the water, water’s day. The Germanic peoples called this day woden’s day or day of Odin after one of their mightiest gods. It seems that Wednesday got all screwed up being filtrated through the evolution of languages. It makes sense because Wednesday is in the middle of the week and if there are going to be corruptions from the pure form from whence the original words came from then the word for the middle of the week makes sense. In Japanese the word for mercury is kasei which would find its relations to our Tuesday. The Japanese Suisei is the planet Mercury.

Now Thursday was named after the god Thor (where our English thunder comes from) but in the Roman system of naming the days of the week the fourth day was names dies jovis or day of Jupiter. In Japanese the fourth day is denoted Moku sei or day of the tree which is from the same root as that for their word for Jupiter, and that word being Mokusei.

Now Friday is denoted as Kinsei or day of gold in Japanese which is the same root for the word for planet kinsei which is Venus. The Germanic peoples called it after Odin’s wife Frigg (Ayto, 241) ‘Frigg’s day’ was a direct adaptation of Latin Veneris dies “Venus’s day’ (whence French vendredi ‘Friday’)

Brett McCluskey, EzineArticles.com Basic Author


JAPANESE BLOG LOG AT YAHOO

Hazu - you ought to have another look at this Japanese Grammar

Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar JPPGG©#103
Verb in Plain Form (P.F.) + HAZU DESU - You ought to . . .
How to say you ought to (_some verb_), in Japanese.
Ought to – HAZU

In Japanese, to say that something is expected to happen, or that something ought to happen, use the following grammar constructions:

Verb in Plain Form (P.F) + HAZU DESU
Verb (P.F.) + HAZU GA ARU
Verb in (P.F.) GA NAI

Both past and present tense cases are present. So all you have to do is plug in some Japanese verb that sounds appropriate and listen to what kind of reactions words get with the native Japanese. You see, you have to test a lot of words out to see if some of the ones you have been learning are even still in use. For as such may occasion be that the word has changed in its colloquial setting or you may find that you don’t yet have a firm and complete understanding of some words. Use this grammar principle next time you want to test out new ways of saying things. Listen to how your words are responded to and with what kinds of words.

Verb(Base TA) + HAZU GA ARU

Examples:

1. IKU HAZU GA NAI DESU *– (He) ought to have left (went) There is no reason for him to go.

2. AYAMARU HAZU GA NAI DESU* – He shouldn’t have to apologize

3. TANOSHIKU NARU HAZU DA – It ought to start getting fun, it ought to be fun. It ought to get better from here on out.

4. ARU JA NAI? Don’t you have one?

5. ARU HAZU YO! – I should have one, or, “It ought to be there”

5a. A little KAIWA to learn by –

Tanakasan (to Miurasan):
“DENSHI DENKI ARU?” –
{Do you have a flashlight?}

Miurasan:”DOKKA MITA YO!
DOKKA NI ARU HAZU DESU.”
{I saw them somewhere!)
(It’s here somewhere for sure}

Other possible inflections of translation for
DOKKA MITA YO!
DOKKA NI ARU HAZU DESU might be -

(“I saw them sitting somewhere) or
(They are here somewhere.)
(They've got to be here. They ought to be here)

Lets end last with a good solid definition of HAZU – Not to be confused with the goby fish or haze because those are some fine tasting fish quite delicious when dipped from tempura batter and fried like shrimp dipped in batter ~ barioishii!

* About nai desu vs. arimasen -

Which of the two phrases nai desu or arimasen is a more polite way of saying that there isn’t such a thing or that none exists? Both are used quite interchangeably but arguably, arimasen is the better choice. Avoiding the plain form of verbs and cheating its elegance of verb formation as in the MASEN of ARU in base II versus a fake and cheap desu ending, although it is a polite form of the verb -to be- makes it a worse choice between the two. Nai is still plain form and aru has been verbalized and conjugates out into arimasen,

* About Osaka Ben or the Dialect of Osaka –

Sometimes you may hear words that instead of masen will say mahen. This is purposefully done to any polite and is Osaka ben. Many people use Osaka ben. It is one of the largest cities in the world. Going 60 km., it would still take you over three hours to get to the heart of the city or downtown to the outskirts. Osaka has a central alley that young people and many interesting things are going on in downtown Osaka. Has a rich reggae fan population as well as surfers in Osaka.

Just verb and See Japanese Grammar Base TE + Miru

Japanese Grammar Plug and Play
Japanese Lesson #95

Base TE + Miru – To see about verb’ing, to verb and see.

Putting verbs into base te

Bu, mu, nu, --> NDE
U, TSU, RU, --> TTE
KU --> ITE
GU--> IDE

Irregular
Suru --> shite

In all the examples, miru - to see

1. Hanashite miru 話して見る
I’ll try talking to him. (Talk to him and see, hanashite miru)
Hanasu – v. to speak (with)

2. ITTE MIRUって見る
I’ll go check it out (Go and see, itte miru)
Iku – v. to go,

3. Tabete miyo^ ka? 食べて見ようか?
Shall we try it? (The food) Let’s eat and see.
Taberu – v. to eat

4. Nonde mitara 飲んで見ったら
What if you tried to drink it, go ahead, see what it tastes like. (Drink and see) Nomu – v. to drink

5. Monku o iute mitara ..? 文句を言ってみたら
What about voicing your complaints? (Complain and see)
Monku o iu – v. to complain, to say a ‘monku’.

6. Yonde mireba…? 読んで見れば
Why don’t you read it and see? Try reading it for yourself, could you?
Yomu – v. to read

7. Tanonde miru 頼んで見る
Ask and see.
Tanomu 頼む– v. to request, ask a favor, to ask

8. Yatte miru やって見る
Try it and see.
Yaru – v. to do, to try.

9. Mite mitara 見て見ったら
Look and see.
Miru – v. to see.


Til lates,
Ganbatte Ne!

Makurasuki

3 ways of saying after verb in Japanese

Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar 109
JPPGG #109
Three Ways of Saying “After Verb’ing” in Japanese.

After, After, and After - 3 ways to say, “after verb’ing” in Japanese –
There are 3 easy ways to say to “after verb’ing” in Japanese

1. verb (base TE) + KARA
2. verb (base TA) + ATO DE
3. verb (base TA) + NOCHI NI

By themselves KARA, ATO DE, NOCHI NI all mean, after similar equivalent expressions for the English terms following or later.

To say that you will do something after doing something else in Japanese, use the following grammar constructions:

1. Verb (Base TE) + KARA – after verb’ing

Take verbs and put them into base TE.

Verbs ending in KU become ITE  ~ITE
Verbs ending in GU become IDE  ~IDE
Verbs ending in U, TSU, or RU  ~ TTE
Verbs ending in BU, MU or NU  ~NDE
The verb suru or verbs ending in SU become SHITE  ~SHITE

Then add + KARA (after)

HANASU (v. to speak)  HANASHITE

CHOTTO HANASHITE KARA IKIMASHO^ -
Let’s go after we talk a little.

YOMU (v. to speak) YONDE

HON O YONDE KARA NERU TO OMOIMASU.
I think I’ll sleep after reading a book.

TABERU (v. to eat)  TABETE

TABETE KARA SHUKUDAI O SURU. –
After I eat, I’m going to do homework.

UNDO WO SHITE KARA SHAWA O SURU KOTO GA SUKI DESU.
I like to take a shower after I do my exercise.

2. verb (base TA) + ATO DE - after verb’ing

Take verbs and put them into base TA

NOMU (v. to drink)  NONDA

NOMU (base TA) NONDA
Verb ending in either BU, MU or NU
ta  nda
NOMU in base TA is NONDA

SAKE O NONDA ATO DE NEMUKUNATTA –
I got sleepy after drinking some* sake.

*NOCHI NI = ATO DE, NOCHI DE

3. verb ( base TA) + NOCHI NI - after verb’ing

SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI IE NI KAETTA –
I went home after drinking some sake.

SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI INU O SAMPO SHI NI ITTA –
(After I drank some sake I took the dog for a walk.)

As you can see from these examples, there are two sides with two verbs comprising this construction. (Predicates and the like.)

Verb 1 in base TE +KARA and Verb 2

Verb 2 can be past, present, negative or positive, but Verb 1 must be in base TE.

As Always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei

Some thoughts on Japanese language self training

There is spoken language and the written language. Kanji has deep meanings contained within each one. This is much different from what we are expecting, because we have become through continuous use of our own native language, stifled by the alphabet. We can see the meaning of things inside the kanji. Therefore from the get go, we should try to wean ourselves from the temptation to look up words in Romaji to decipher meaning. We should use a dictionary like Sanseido's daily concise wa-ei jiten.

Week 1

Verbs - Drink, Sleep, Eat, Go, Work (nomu, neru, taberu, hataraku).
- Be able to put learned verbs in all their bases. Bases I - V.

Create sentences using all base forms from I - V
- Test your created sentences on an actual Nihonjin to make sure they really work.

Nouns - coffee, tea, milk, water, coca cola, sake, Aquarius, beer, juice (KO-hi, o-cha, gyu^nyu^, mizu, koka kora, sake, akuariusu, bi-ru, ju-su

Adjectives - oishii, suteki na, benri na, okii, nagai, samui, atsui, chisai, mijikai. (Delicious, cool, convenient, big, long, cold, hot, small, short etc.)

- adjectives are fun to play with. Practice putting the adjectives in front of nouns etc.

Grammar - Know the masu, masen, mashita, masen deshita etc (polite formations of verbs)
- Become acquainted with the various levels of politeness; humble, honorific, plain form

Example Grammar Construction:

- Verb (Base II) + Tai desu = I want to verb - polite form. - Without desu, its plain form or

- P.F.Verb (Base II) + masho^ = Shall we +verb or let's +verb

Pronunciation - (distinguish between long and short vowel sounds)

Be careful when studying Japanese for the first couple of times to make sure and pay attention to detail. The Romanization methods employed by the various types of Romanization of the Japanese Syllabary should be duly noted. For example in Japanese vowels can extend themselves into their double impressions where two vowels are connected into one yet the true pronunciation will be an elongated double vowel sound.

Learning Japanese isn't so hard


Why the learning of the Japanese language has been unfairly labeled as a difficult language, I feel that if you want to learn a language, try the Japanese language.The Japanese language is a fascinating language to learn. They use different letters and script for writing their words. Their system for writing words and communicating through ideographs is very old. The kanji (symbols-ideographs-ideas represented by pictures or even pictographs) has been used in Japan for quite a long time. is a very ancient tradition and the language has evolved Let me tell you something: You can do anything you put your mind to!Now having said that, I would like to give a couple of reasons why I feel that Japanese is in fact an easier language to learn than English.
The symbol shown above right is the Kanji, or chinese character, which represents the word ai, or love in Japanese. Start today to recognize parts of the kanji as you would a constellation. The ai kanji itself is made up of various components (the heart kanji among other ones) that will become easier to recognize the more times you see it. Who said a little drill and kill will hurt you?There are a lot of reasons why people might think that the Japanese language is a hard language to learn. People seem to think that learning Japanese is too big a task. A mountain can be moved with a little persistence and some good goals, so get to setting them up!







May 17, 2008

Japanese Langauge Learning Secrets

A Secret So Easy, it will turn the tedious and sometimes daunting task of learning another language into a fun and exciting adventure.

I know what is good for me!
Japanese Grammar Plug and Play #91

How to say, “I know what to verb so that it would be good.”
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA SHITTE IRU
Verb (Base TA) + RA + YOI

YOI is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*YOI = ii in any case (pronounced ee)

YOKA – can be heard often in the Fukuoka region. It is a part of the hakata-ben dialect. It means essentially– “Nah...”, or “I’m good!”

TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, OR SURUDOI. It is irregular like TOMEI therefore it uses the connective particle NA

As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You cannot expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully-grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them repeatedly as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Only through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know your native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet? Language is something that must be learned, and it is true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some Hiragana and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang ‘The Alphabet Song', or recited your A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, is not an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really is not that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary consists of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but it is called the GOJUON, or chart of the 50 sounds. The GOJUON is grouped in a way that facilitates learning of Japanese, especially the adjectives. Endings of adjectives follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o. I admonish any aspiring Japanese language learner to study the 46 syllables of the GOJUON or Japanese alphabet in earnest.
By the time we are 12 years of age, we usually forget how we came to be able to speak and utilize the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent.
We take for granted our knowledge of the alphabet so that it becomes more difficult for us to learn other languages. In order to be a successful second language student we must become in essence, like children. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English, it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was The Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying its alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated.
Milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever… learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is not a hard language to learn. In my opinion it is much easier than English to learn.

Japanese Adjectives The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.
The first five syllables in
the GOJU ON A
あ I
い U
う E*
え O

The first five adjectivial endings + the irregular EI AI
あい II
いい UI
うい EI
,えい OI
おい
Example adjectives showing the various endings ARAI
あらい ATARASHII
あたらしい FURUI
ふるい KIREI*
きれい OSOI
おそい

* EI endings are for the most
TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in EI, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.

Below are some common Japanese adjectives that I have found most useful.

可愛 kawai かわい - cute
恐い kowai こわい - scary
近い chikai ちかい - close
鋭い surudoi するどい sharp
賢い kashikoi かしこい - smart
堅い katai かたい - hard

短い mijikai みじかい - short
細い hosoi ほそい - narrow
長い nagai ながい - long
明るい akarui あかるい - bright

太い futoi ふとい - fat
厚いatsui あつい - thick
暑いatsui あつい - thick
熱いatsui あつい - hot
寒いsamui さむい – cold

涼しいsuzushii すずしい – cool
激しいhageshii はげしい - violent
難しmuzukashii むつ"かしい - difficult
簡単kantan かんたん – easy
眠いnemui ねむい - sleepy

眠たいnemutai ねむたい - sleepy
低いhikui ひくい - low
高いtakai たかい - tall
珍しいmezurashii めずらしい - rare
大きいookii おおきいい - big

小さいchiisai ちいさい – small
古いfurui ふるい - old
若いwakai わかい - young
広いhiroi ひろい - wide
安いyasui やすい - cheap, easy

目覚しい mezamashii めざましい - alert
凄いtsumetai つめたい - chilly
強いtsuyoi つよい - strong
弱いyowai よわい - weak
柔らかい yawarakai - soft

早い hayai - fast
遅いosoi - slow
重い omoi - heavy
暗い kurai くらい - dark
重たい omotai おもたい - heavy
軽い karui かるい - light

恥ずかしい hazukashii はずかしい - embarassing
喧しいyakamashii やかましい – loud, obnoxious
静か shizuka しずか - quiet
素晴らしい subarashii すばらしい - wonderful
美味しい oishii おいしい – delicious

酸っぱいsuppai すっぱい - sour
甘い あまい amai あまい - sweet
狭い せまいsemai せまい – narrow
悔しい kuyashii くやしいvexing, mortifying
怪しいayashii – doubtful, suspicious


辛いtsurai つらい – hard, difficult
美しいutsukushi うつくし - beautiful
面白いomoshiroi おもしろい - interesting
chikarazuyoiちからずよい - powerful
かこいkakoi – stylish, handsome
惜しいoshii – regretful




Brett McCluskey, EzineArticles.com Basic Author


http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/mybloglog1294a476cec8f56ae2cc

May 15, 2008

New Japanese

JPPGG #78
Usage of Dake and Dake shika and shika

Hoshii dake or
Sore shika nai no da

Hoshikereba hoshii hodo


Kare dake shika imasen

Terebi dake shika arimasen





I think this way upon first glance that yes there is a woman and there is two rices but there is also a stabbing action going on like when you dislike something you put it on a pitch fork and chuck it away and yes since we live in a man's world, men probably made kanji first or were the only ones to use it and scribe it and thus this may have been seen as a womans job or it may have been seen as stabbing at the chick carrying the rice the one I hate. Either way excellent conversation and let me know what you think about the stable the rice wth a katana sideways for the kanji meaning theory hyposthesis. and check out my Japanese grammar pages and leave some comment too if you could I'm constantly trying to improve my lenses your help would be appreciated thanks in advance for everything and the discussion, I LOVE IT!
http://squidoo.com/japanese123

Japanese skills

A Secret So Easy, It will turn the tedious and sometimes daunting task of learning another language funto making language learning Easy
Japanese Easy
I know what’s good for me!
JPPGG© #91
How to say, “I know how to verb
NAN NAN SHITARA YOI KA
Verb(Base TA) + RA +

Yoi is the word for good and for all intents and purposes is equivalent to ii so that
*yoi = ii in any case

yoka – can be hear much in Fukuoka to mean – “Nah”, or “I’m good”

TASHIKA is not an adjective like AKAI, UTSUKUSHII, AKARUI, TOMEI, OR SURUDOI.

As is true in the pursuit of any language mastery, you must have an understanding of what is meant by the phrase, “milk before meat”. You can’t expect to learn something hard or complicated, or expect to eat meat with fully grown canines and flesh piercing teeth before you are able to ingest the milk from a tender mother breast. Therefore, it is wise for any language learner to begin at the beginning, and spend some time there… and hang out…even they should try singing songs about the alphabet. Alphabets being the small parts of a language that when strung together form words, and make languages, living organisms. Learning the alphabet or syllabary for the language you are learning right now will make your progress and improvement in that language easier later by doing so.
Herein lies a key to a language mastery. If an alphabet is available for the language, by all means start studying it! The best way for you to get close to a language is by studying, and saying in your mouth the little parts of the language, saying them time and time again as we all do at one point or another in civilized society. Through a careful study of the smallest and simplest parts of a language can you get to know it as intimately as you would get to know you native language.
As a child, who does not remember singing an alphabet song, reading a book for the first time, looking up a word in the dictionary for the first time, or simply reciting the alphabet. Language is something that must be learned, and its true in English and Japanese. Get yourself some hiragana, and katakana flash cards and memorize the look, feel and shape of each one being able to correctly identify each one, just as you do with the English letters. Learning the alphabet in another language is the first step towards understanding.
Please take a moment to reflect on the first times you sang The Alphabet Song, or recited you’re A,B,C’s. Now reflect upon how you came to know that 5 X 5 is = 25. I know that if you gain a solid grasp of the Japanese Syllabary, the 46 syllables that make up all the sounds of Japanese then learning Japanese will be as a piece of cake for you. It will be easy to learn the Japanese language. That’s it! The trick to learning a foreign language is starts with learning the alphabet. In the case of the Japanese language, their alphabet, isn’t an alphabet because it is not made up of just letters, it is made up of syllables. There are 46 syllables in Japanese, and even though it is more than the number of letters in the English language (English letters in the alphabet = 26) it really isn’t that many once you see how it is set up.
The Japanese syllabary is made up of 46 syllables and represents all sounds necessary for the formation of any Japanese word. It is just like the English’s Alphabet but its called the gojuon or chart of the 50 sounds. It is grouped to make the learning of it very easy. Set up in groups that follow the first 5 syllables or the Japanese vowels; a, i, u, e , o
By the time we are 12 we usually forget that we had ever even learned the English language and are so familiar with the Alphabet that we have forgotten that it was due to its recitation that we would know what we know. Reading and Writing are two sides of a coin that are wholly influenced by its contributing language’s Alphabet as are Speaking and Listening to a lesser extent. The alphabet I so ingrained into our language that we forget to take it for what it was when we try to apply these learning techniques to the way we would learn Japanese. For the purposes of learning how to read, write, speak and listen in English it was necessary to study the core of the language at first, and that was the Alphabet. A good way to get at the core, or the heart of a language is by studying it’s Alphabet. We can do that in a similar or even the same way you would learn your times tables. How much did you get for memorizing your times tables? Offer yourself a cookie and say to yourself, “If I start my Japanese study (or any language study) by learning the syllables that make up their words then I will be ahead of the learning game later on when it really gets complicated. Like I said...milk before meat. A house is built on a solid foundation. In other words, boiling it down to what I am trying to relate to those desirous of the ability to speak in another language and communicate, down the line Don’t want to cheat myself out of learning Japanese and retaining it, but good! Your parents, masters, or mentors may have promised you $5 if you memorized the times tables up to 12, but you can also do it for free…on your own… and you can reward yourself with a big surprise.
Be consistently insistent on diligent Japanese study and you will be able to communicate. And the ability to communicate with others of another country can open up whole truck loads of cool stuff. Catch the fever, learn Japanese. Tell everyone at the PTA meetings that Japanese is really not that bad. Also I ask all of those who may harrow in their souls hatred against the Japanese people to end it now so that we can live peaceably amongst each others, and learn from one another.


Japanese Adjectives The adjectives follow the syllabic structure found in the vowel row of the Gojuon, or indeci showing the 46 symbols of the Japanese syllabary in this order: A, I, U, E , and O. that represent of all sounds necessary for Japanese word formation.

KAWAI ATARASHII FURUI KIREI BOROI

TASHIKA itself is the adjective for our English term, “certain”. It is highly likely that the ka of TASHIKA has been artificially transplanted into adjectives in the Fukuoka region. TASHIKA means for certain in English and TASHIKA NI means certainly. As is the case with the irregular Japanese class of adjectives ending in ei, TASHIKA can be followed by the particle NI so that the NI can be roughly translated in sentences involving adjectives as –ly.

Japanese grammar - Base II + sugiru

In Excess – too much
When enough, is ENOUGH!
Verb (base II) + sugiru (過ぎる)

Do you overeat? Are there things which you indulge upon which others consider to be excessive. Gambling, money, sex, watching too much T.V.?

To say that you verb too much in Japanese, use the following construct:

Verb (base II) + SUGIRU 過ぎる

Any verb put into Base II can be added unto, with sugiru.

Example 1. yarisugi da ne やりすぎだね– you over do it man!

Example .2. oso^sugi 遅すぎ– used with adjectives becoming – “its too late”, hayasugi (too)
early), nagasugi 長過ぎ( too long), okiisugi 大き過ぎる(too big).

Example.3. ~tai of base II forming to want to endings becomes

Verb(Base II) + tasugi - even tai which is a form of the verb tagaru acts as adjectivial end meaning to desire the verb excessively

chigai nai in Japanese grammar

Why Certainly!
Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar #112

How to say something is for sure in Japanese
Noun + CHIGAI NAI

I. Noun + NI CHIGAI NAI – Noun for sure!
To be (noun phrase) without fail !

The Japanese bunpo^ NOUN+ NI CHIGAI NAI grammar construction is used quite regularly, and in expressions where you want to impart an unwavering definiteness as to the outcome. CHIGAI itself is a noun meaning difference. It is in base II in similitude to other verbs that change into nouns by putting them into base II. See my article on verb bases for more information. comes from the verb CHIGAU –v. to be different, to vary, to disagree, to be unlike.

Ex. 1 ZETTAI KARE NO SAIFU NI CHIGAI NAI. –
Its definitely his wallet . . .for sure! Or
It’s his wallet for sure definitely

Ex. 2 NATSU GA KURU NI CHIGAI NAI –
Summer will be here without fail.

Ex. 3 MAI HARU WASHI GA CANADA NI KAETTE KURU NI CHIGAI NAI –
Every spring the eagles return back to Canada without fail.

Ex. 4 SO^ NI CHIGAI NAI! そうに違いない –
That’s the way it is man! FOR SHIZZLE!
It’s my way..., my way or the highway!

II. A [TO (と)] B NO CHIGAI GA WAKARU (WAKARANAI) –
Can (can’t) tell the difference between A and B.

Ex.1. HONMONO TO NISEMONO NO CHIGAI GA WAKARANAI. –
I can’t tell the difference between the fake and the real thing.

See my other Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar articles by visiting the index. Beef up your current stock of word power with my Japanese Vocabulary Blasters also found on the index. Finally, take your skills and head over to the Japanese Conversational Practice Palace to solidify your Japanese language training and to help fortify your Japanese language skills.

http://squidoo.com/jppgg

As always,
Do Your Best!
Ganbatte Ne!
Makurasuki Sensei


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Ghetto After Blast G.A.B. - one point advice – when you want to refute a point made by another soften your phrase up by saying CHIGAU TO OMOU or I think it’s a little different. Unless you want to make it clear that the other person is wrong then you would say CHIGAU! – You are definitely wrong! In English CHIGAU can simply mean nope! or NO ITS NOT! Or even NO you are WRONG! Or Not even! That is why this is the GAB, the ghetto after blast because the effects could ripple through the time space continuum. JA NE! LATES!

This lens needs improvement. You can help by adding your suggestions to the group comment box below. Thanks in advance for allowing this non-wiki yet wiki wiki wiki!
Brett McCluskey 2008


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