Why would anyone think that Japanese is harder than any other language to learn?
Why 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!
A couple of more Ideas on how to overcome the fear of learning Japanese
How to study Japanese for the first week and why kanji is so cool.
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.
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Wa Ei or Ei Wa, Either way, you are covered!
The mother load when it comes to Japanese to English or English to Japanese Dictionaries. Essential for any serious Japanese language student.
Sanseido's New Concise Japanese English Dictionary
Amazon Price: (as of 06/11/2008)
The biggest and most worthy of Dictionaries available to you. The mother load is in Blue. Sanseido has always been my reliable back pocket friend. I love my sanseido. Mua!
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Showing posts with label japanese trains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japanese trains. Show all posts
May 15, 2008
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 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 8, 2008
wierd Japanese words
Many words in Japanese don’t have exact, equivalent translations in English. Japan has a very old national history dating back to at least 600 A.D. The Japanese language has been evolving since even before that time. Customs and traditions are different and unique to each country’s environment and history. Words, phrases, and expressions also are unique to each country's environment and history. Here are some Japanese phrases that have evolved in Japan that we just don't have in English.
(御) お- 世話 様 でした – O-SEWA SAMA DESHITA – You did a terribly awfully nice favor for me and I am completely grateful and you really helped a lot.
御 苦労 様 でした - GO-KURO^ SAMA DESHITA – You worked very hard today and we pay thee much respect and thanks for your hard efforts, it must have been a lot of hard work but good going and thanks.
御 疲れ 様 でした - O TSUKARE SAMA DESHITA - You tired yourself out and did a great job. Thanks for the great work you have done.
余計なお-世話 だ! - YOKEI NA O-SEWA DA! – It’s None Of Your (Darn) Business!
おりこさん- ORIKO SAN – He is such a good kid, or she is so well behaved.
じゃね - JA NE – see ya, later, adios, ciao, lates, see you on the flipside, peace out
でわ また- Dewa Mata – until next time, see you later, talk at you soon, peace out
(御) お- 世話 様 でした – O-SEWA SAMA DESHITA – You did a terribly awfully nice favor for me and I am completely grateful and you really helped a lot.
御 苦労 様 でした - GO-KURO^ SAMA DESHITA – You worked very hard today and we pay thee much respect and thanks for your hard efforts, it must have been a lot of hard work but good going and thanks.
御 疲れ 様 でした - O TSUKARE SAMA DESHITA - You tired yourself out and did a great job. Thanks for the great work you have done.
余計なお-世話 だ! - YOKEI NA O-SEWA DA! – It’s None Of Your (Darn) Business!
おりこさん- ORIKO SAN – He is such a good kid, or she is so well behaved.
じゃね - JA NE – see ya, later, adios, ciao, lates, see you on the flipside, peace out
でわ また- Dewa Mata – until next time, see you later, talk at you soon, peace out
May 7, 2008
Japanese Trains
3 types of Japanese trains + 1 bonus train
There are three basic types of trains that a gaijin living in Japan should know about. Without knowledge of the different types of trains, you could find yourself at the wrong eki (train station), get off at the wrong place and this could cause you to arrive late and we can't have that. If you are a gaijin living in Japan you'll run across these terms sooner or later but its better that you get introduced to them here so that you won’t be confused about the different types of passenger trains you’ll come across when you roam about the land of the rising sun, Japan.
There are 3 basic types of trains that run in Japan. There are few cities in Japan that aren't covered with some mileage of train track, but not much. The crossing whistles always blow and the crossing gates are constantly opening and shutting. Of course the trains stop running usually by 1 or 2 am. The three types of trains that are regularly used in Japan are, in order of frequency of stops from most to least are as follow:
Tokkyu (special limited),
Kyuukou (limited express), and
Futsuu (regular).
Tokkyu trains stop at only the major train stations and are much faster in terms of getting you there quicker. Kyukoo trains stop more periodic, while the Futsuu trains stop at every stop in between, and are thus quite slower than the other two. Ideally you would want to ride a Tokkyu train, get off and wait for a Kyuukou unless that train doesn't go to your destination, and using Kyukoo for small train rides to the very next station etc. If your destination is a small hamlet in the country side then you will have to take for at least a small portion of your ride the Futsuu train. The train I haven’t mentioned which has incorporated the use of the new maglev technology and has achieved speeds in the upper 500 km/hr is the Shinkansen, or bullet train, isn’t your everyday run of the mill train. Essentially the shinkansen is a very classy and expensive ride that covers great distances, like from Tokyo to Osaka for example. Hopefully you will enjoy all your train rides and become accustomed to this type of culture in constant transit during your visits to the land of the rising sun, Japan.
There are three basic types of trains that a gaijin living in Japan should know about. Without knowledge of the different types of trains, you could find yourself at the wrong eki (train station), get off at the wrong place and this could cause you to arrive late and we can't have that. If you are a gaijin living in Japan you'll run across these terms sooner or later but its better that you get introduced to them here so that you won’t be confused about the different types of passenger trains you’ll come across when you roam about the land of the rising sun, Japan.
There are 3 basic types of trains that run in Japan. There are few cities in Japan that aren't covered with some mileage of train track, but not much. The crossing whistles always blow and the crossing gates are constantly opening and shutting. Of course the trains stop running usually by 1 or 2 am. The three types of trains that are regularly used in Japan are, in order of frequency of stops from most to least are as follow:
Tokkyu (special limited),
Kyuukou (limited express), and
Futsuu (regular).
Tokkyu trains stop at only the major train stations and are much faster in terms of getting you there quicker. Kyukoo trains stop more periodic, while the Futsuu trains stop at every stop in between, and are thus quite slower than the other two. Ideally you would want to ride a Tokkyu train, get off and wait for a Kyuukou unless that train doesn't go to your destination, and using Kyukoo for small train rides to the very next station etc. If your destination is a small hamlet in the country side then you will have to take for at least a small portion of your ride the Futsuu train. The train I haven’t mentioned which has incorporated the use of the new maglev technology and has achieved speeds in the upper 500 km/hr is the Shinkansen, or bullet train, isn’t your everyday run of the mill train. Essentially the shinkansen is a very classy and expensive ride that covers great distances, like from Tokyo to Osaka for example. Hopefully you will enjoy all your train rides and become accustomed to this type of culture in constant transit during your visits to the land of the rising sun, Japan.
Jul 16, 2007
on Japanese trains
There are a couple of key phrases I wish I had learned earlier when visiting Japan. When traveling, I lost a lot of time because I didn't know the difference between a futsu, kyuko, or a tokkyu train was. In visiting Japan, you are more than likely, at some point, going to become familiar with the train and subway system in Japan.
The Japan Railway or JR as it is called, has various types of trains that differ in job function. For example the tokkyu densha or the (special limited express train), doesn't stop as frequently as does the kyuukou (express train). Railways are heavily relied upon in Japan. It is a big part of their lives. People are always going somewhere by train, or by subway, or bus. If you plan on getting somewhere on time you better take the train.
Aside from needing to know the word for train(densha) and train station(eki), it is helful to know how to say or be able to comprehend the three main types of trains that run throughout each day in any typical Japanese urban city. Knowing these train words will save a traveller some time.
If all else fails the best way to communicate however is in English. Japanese study English in school, and are eager to practice it when they can.
Dozo – Dozo is a fun word that you will hear more often than not. It means to go ahead with something as in this example:
Dozo tabete kudasai.(go ahead and eat).
You might hear dozo when in a que or line at the supaa. O saki ni Dozo(go ahead, after you). Or you may hear it starting with Dozo as in this example:
Dozo, O saki ni – Go ahead, you first I insist.
The Japan Railway or JR as it is called, has various types of trains that differ in job function. For example the tokkyu densha or the (special limited express train), doesn't stop as frequently as does the kyuukou (express train). Railways are heavily relied upon in Japan. It is a big part of their lives. People are always going somewhere by train, or by subway, or bus. If you plan on getting somewhere on time you better take the train.
Aside from needing to know the word for train(densha) and train station(eki), it is helful to know how to say or be able to comprehend the three main types of trains that run throughout each day in any typical Japanese urban city. Knowing these train words will save a traveller some time.
If all else fails the best way to communicate however is in English. Japanese study English in school, and are eager to practice it when they can.
Dozo – Dozo is a fun word that you will hear more often than not. It means to go ahead with something as in this example:
Dozo tabete kudasai.(go ahead and eat).
You might hear dozo when in a que or line at the supaa. O saki ni Dozo(go ahead, after you). Or you may hear it starting with Dozo as in this example:
Dozo, O saki ni – Go ahead, you first I insist.
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