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.
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Showing posts with label yahoo japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yahoo japan. Show all posts
May 29, 2008
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.
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.
May 18, 2008
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
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
May 15, 2008
How to say but in Japanese and why you would want to
4 Ways to Negate Anything in Japanese - Ghetto grammar Lesson #104 :
Usage of the preposition but, in Japanese.
It is never a wise idea to refute the ideas of others. However, in the normal processes of direct communication between two individuals or groups of people, the preposition but in modern Japanese can be seen expressed in at least 4 different ways thus giving you the power if you so choose to negate just about anything you want. Because this article won't to but for an answer. In this article I will show you at least 4 ways the preposition but is used in Japanese.
but – ga
but – shikashi (however)
but – kedo, keredo, keredemo
but – demo
Ex. 1. I want to kiss her; but, she won’t let me!
Kanojo ni kissu sasete moraitiai keredemo sasete moraenai
Ex. 2. Here English skills are no good, but she sure can cook though!
Kanojo no eigo wa dame nan da kedo, ryori wa umai no da!
Ex. 3. He said he was a doctor, however to tell you the real truth, he is just an ordinary
dentist! Kare wa isha da to iute imashita, shikashi honmono no shinri to iu to
kare wa tada no haishasan!
re-yaku – Ex. 3. Kare wa isha da tte! Demo honki wa taishita mon ja nai.
Ex. 4. The president has completely died, but his spirit lives on.
Daitoryosan wa shinde shimaimashita (See lesson 97 for the plug and play learning system to master the Japanese grammar Base TE + shimau ) ga kare no rei wa mada ikitsuzuite imasu.
Ex. 5. But …I wanted the pink one!
Demo… pinku no yatsu ga hoshikatta no da!
Ex. 6. I like her but don't you think she is short?
Ore wa kanojo ga suki nanya kedo, chotto se ga hikui to omouwan?
It is usually easy to tell on hearing the syllable ga spoken in Japanese whether it is the participle ga, or the preposition ga. The preposition ga when it is meant to mean but, is usually accompanied by a small pause and its use is more formal than any of the keredemo or demo variations. It is best to think of shikashi as however and keredomo variations as but.
As usual, Ganbatte Ne! Do your best! Makurasuki sensei yori
Usage of the preposition but, in Japanese.
It is never a wise idea to refute the ideas of others. However, in the normal processes of direct communication between two individuals or groups of people, the preposition but in modern Japanese can be seen expressed in at least 4 different ways thus giving you the power if you so choose to negate just about anything you want. Because this article won't to but for an answer. In this article I will show you at least 4 ways the preposition but is used in Japanese.
but – ga
but – shikashi (however)
but – kedo, keredo, keredemo
but – demo
Ex. 1. I want to kiss her; but, she won’t let me!
Kanojo ni kissu sasete moraitiai keredemo sasete moraenai
Ex. 2. Here English skills are no good, but she sure can cook though!
Kanojo no eigo wa dame nan da kedo, ryori wa umai no da!
Ex. 3. He said he was a doctor, however to tell you the real truth, he is just an ordinary
dentist! Kare wa isha da to iute imashita, shikashi honmono no shinri to iu to
kare wa tada no haishasan!
re-yaku – Ex. 3. Kare wa isha da tte! Demo honki wa taishita mon ja nai.
Ex. 4. The president has completely died, but his spirit lives on.
Daitoryosan wa shinde shimaimashita (See lesson 97 for the plug and play learning system to master the Japanese grammar Base TE + shimau ) ga kare no rei wa mada ikitsuzuite imasu.
Ex. 5. But …I wanted the pink one!
Demo… pinku no yatsu ga hoshikatta no da!
Ex. 6. I like her but don't you think she is short?
Ore wa kanojo ga suki nanya kedo, chotto se ga hikui to omouwan?
It is usually easy to tell on hearing the syllable ga spoken in Japanese whether it is the participle ga, or the preposition ga. The preposition ga when it is meant to mean but, is usually accompanied by a small pause and its use is more formal than any of the keredemo or demo variations. It is best to think of shikashi as however and keredomo variations as but.
As usual, Ganbatte Ne! Do your best! Makurasuki sensei yori
May 1, 2008
abunai
Japanese Vocabulary Blaster #38
15 Words every 2 days.
Learn, Memorize, Study, Get quizzed, GO!
1. abunai - dangerous
2. dame – no good
3. jama – bothersome, a bugaloo
4. ganbaru – to do your best
5. mendoukusai – troublesome, tedious
6. butai – the stage
7. kaki - persimmon
8. kiken – extremely dangerous
9. kuchibeni - lipstick
10. zettai – for sure
11. awabi – shell fish
12. momo – peach
13. momo - thighs
14. *chigau yo! – Nope! I beg to differ!
15. sakusen - strategy
As Always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei
to see the list of the last 15 words you should have already memorized go to Japanese Vocabulary 37 or go on to memorize your next 15 here at
Japanese Vocabulary 39
15 Words every 2 days.
Learn, Memorize, Study, Get quizzed, GO!
1. abunai - dangerous
2. dame – no good
3. jama – bothersome, a bugaloo
4. ganbaru – to do your best
5. mendoukusai – troublesome, tedious
6. butai – the stage
7. kaki - persimmon
8. kiken – extremely dangerous
9. kuchibeni - lipstick
10. zettai – for sure
11. awabi – shell fish
12. momo – peach
13. momo - thighs
14. *chigau yo! – Nope! I beg to differ!
15. sakusen - strategy
As Always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei
to see the list of the last 15 words you should have already memorized go to Japanese Vocabulary 37 or go on to memorize your next 15 here at
Japanese Vocabulary 39
Mar 31, 2008
To seem about to verb
To say that someone seems about to verb in Japanese, use the following construction:
Verb(base II) So^ desu
This one is an easily constructed grammar principle. First we take any verb we like and put it into base II.
Hanasu - to speak -Hanasu(base II) = hanashi
Ochiru - to fall -Ochiru(base II) = ochi
Naku - to cryNaku(base II) = naki
add So^ desu to the base II of Japanese verbs will make the verb take on the nuance of things which are about to take place or that look like they are going to do it soon, ie. seems about to verb.
hanashi so^ desuhanashiso^ desu - It seems he is about to speak
ochi so^ desuochiso^ desu - looks like they are about to fall downFor iru and eru ending verbs simply drop off the last syllable ru and and your So^ desu. For all other forms put into i ending.
Verb(base II) So^ desu
This one is an easily constructed grammar principle. First we take any verb we like and put it into base II.
Hanasu - to speak -Hanasu(base II) = hanashi
Ochiru - to fall -Ochiru(base II) = ochi
Naku - to cryNaku(base II) = naki
add So^ desu to the base II of Japanese verbs will make the verb take on the nuance of things which are about to take place or that look like they are going to do it soon, ie. seems about to verb.
hanashi so^ desuhanashiso^ desu - It seems he is about to speak
ochi so^ desuochiso^ desu - looks like they are about to fall downFor iru and eru ending verbs simply drop off the last syllable ru and and your So^ desu. For all other forms put into i ending.
Feb 22, 2008
Do we ever say delicious in English?
Do we ever really say the word delicious? Yeah, sometimes but not like the Japanese do, so a direct or literal translation is not always the best way to go when translating. You must take the translation in the spirit of the law not the letter of the law in all things... amen...
ahem...
"But I thought oishii was the word for delicious, I mean good." IT IS! Use your intuition and instinct to an extent but learning vocabulary is all about opening wide all our senses and developing sensitivity in them to words. You need to smell words, taste words, feel the words, not just see or hear the words; how words are spoken, from a given context, whether or not a man or a woman is speaking them, whether or not they are royal or sacred words, it all can be noted, observed, heard, tasted, touched it all matters as to the meaning of the communication. Like in the movie, TOTAL RECALL - "Open your mind", and although broad is the gate open to you know where umm ... I still repeat, "Open your mind" because you will learn a lot more by being a very very receptive individual. Not gullible just open to all possibles. So in short, oishii is the usual word to say to someone when you want to say it is good, but if you want to say umm umm good then say UMAI! Which is also the adjective for excellent or skilled, very good etc.
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