Nihongo no Gakkou

[Bobtheduck]

Well, now that I'm working (or, um, trying to work) full time on my book, I won't have time until I'm done with that, and if I move, I won't have good access to the net, and the access I do have will be on old crappy computers with dialup and no Japanese support, so I may upload rtf files or PDF files... I'll try to get some more lessons in here before I go, though.

[shooraijin]

> the explosive p

I'm not sure what Bob read, but it might mean "explosive as opposed to implosive" (although interestingly enough, there are no languages I know of with voiceless implosive stops). Implosive consonants are made by sucking in air (try it -- it sounds pretty funky ^^) while you make the articulation for that sound with your mouth.

This is a nice page on the distinction on an African languages page, specifically the Hausa language, where implosives (and clicks, which are a form of implosive consonant) are common.

http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/aflang/Hausa/Pronunciation/consonants.html

[Saint Kevin]

Interesting article Shoo, but it seems odd to me that you somehow stumbled onto that article on hausa. What did you google? or are you involved in some sort of work in Africa, and you just happenned to know of that page?

[Bobtheduck]

Ok.. Gonna try, here...

Going back to the initial dialogue, let's analyze the vocabulary.

Hajimemashite

The word はじめ　"hajime" means beginning.

はじめまして "Hajimemashite" is what you say the very first time you meet someone. It basically is "Nice to meet you"

To tell somone who you are, you say 私は．．． "I am ..."

Example 私はル-久です。　"Watashi wa ruuku desu" or "I am Luke."

You can also say 私の名前はルークです。　"Watashi no namae wa Ruuku desu" or "My name is Luke." I'm not absolutely sure about this, but I think that "Watashi wa (name) desu" is much more common than "Watashi no namae wa (name) desu." I used/heard "Watashi no namae" used only once in my Japanese class.

What namae may be used for, however, is in asking that question of someone else, should the situation arise where you didn't know their name even after you'd been introduced. For that, you could say お名前ですか。　"Onamae desu ka?" or "What is your name."

When you are properly introduced to someone in Japanese, the normal thing to do is to say 「どうぞよろしく。」　"Douzo Yoroshiku." This doesn't translate very well into english. I read in different places that the Literal translation of the phrase is "Please be Favorable to me" This is a place in learning another language that many people have a hard time with: Differences in culture. Learning another language isn't a matter of just having word for word substitutions or knowing what all the "words mean" A lot of what makes languages is connections between words that only exist in that particular culture. Even within the same langauge such as English, this can cause a problem.

I know this isn't much of a lesson, really just reiterating things, but I really don't want to abandon this... I'll try to do a good lesson before I leave...

[Bobtheduck]

Um... I wrote up a long description of Japanese syntax (being a SOV language, afterall), and the particles wa, (w)o, ga, de, and ni... And I went to search something on this page and it crashed and I lost not only that, but a nice sized e-mail I was writing as well... Gah!!! The search function only locks IE up on this page... Not anything else!

I hate when I lose stuff that took me a long time to write... It is always 10x harder to do it again the second time around...It just doesn't flow when you have to do it again...

[shooraijin]

> but it seems odd to me that you somehow stumbled onto that article on hausa.

Actually, I so happen to know that many African languages use implosives. My undergraduate degree is in linguistics, after all ^_^

[Saint Kevin]

Oh I see. I would love to take some linguistics classes, I think they would be really interesting. Hey Bob, just out of curiosity, how do you input Japanese into your browser? I have a Japanese IME, that I downloaded from microsoft.com, but I really don't know how to use it, do you need to cut and paste from a word processing program or something?

[Bobtheduck]

I am in XP, and I added Japanese to the language settings for the keyboard, and I switch between English and 日本語 using Alt-shift.

Lesson 七:

Now we get serious. We're going to learn basic Japanese Syntax, and this time I won't search for anything on the page!

Engish is an SVO or "Subject, Verb, Object" language. For example: "I ate the cat." The subject, "I", obviously comes first. The verb "ate" ccomes between the subject, "I", and the object "the cat." Simple, ne? You will find that despite variations (the most noted being the asking of questions) it sticks to this basic formula.

Japanese, on the other hand, is a SOV, or "Subject, Object, Verb" language. For example â€

[TwilightApostle]

I'm not sure if you addressed this, but the difference between "wa" and "ga" in certain situations is whether or not the subject has been breached. Like, if we were talking about where Luke went, we could say: ルーク は 東京 に 行きました。"Ruuku WA Tokyo ni ikimashita," or Luke went to Tokyo. However, if I just brought it up, I'd say "Ruuku GA Tokyo ni ikimashita." They mean the same thing but are used in different situations.

[shooraijin]

You might also use it to differentiate, like,

Dare wa Tokyo ni ikimashita ka?
Ruuku ga ...

etc. to point out and emphasize it's Luke that did it.

[Saint Kevin]

Here are some great resources I found Bob. The first is a like to, well, resources, that somebody at animelyrics.com put up.
http://www.animelyrics.com/forum/topic_show.pl?tid=6109

This next link concerns what you asked about Bob. It contains a Java program (scroll down to about 4.8 on the sidebar) that shows kana and hiragana stroke orders.
http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/

This third link, is to a site that has online flashcards for Hiragana and Katakana to facilitate memorization.
http://www.chipchat.com/NihonGo/

Hope this helps you guys learn.

[TwilightApostle]

http://www.genki-online.com. It's the website for the book I used in school. They may require some sort of signup/password thing, but I haven't been there in awhile so maybe not.

[Bobtheduck]

If you are taking it seriously, there are two products you should consider. One is a set of Kanji Cards. There are three sets alltogether. The other is 501 Japanese verbs.

Besides that, you should try to get a textbook, hopefully one that's appropriate for self study. Also, check your library for CD's... If they have the Pimsleur extended collection (90 lessons) it would be best. Besides that, just try to practice with real Japanese speakers.

[Saint Kevin]

Kinda forgot that they had tapes at the library. I'll check it out and hopefully they've got something. Thanks for the suggestions.

[panegryst]

You might also use it to differentiate, like,

Dare wa Tokyo ni ikimashita ka?

Ruuku ga ...

etc. to point out and emphasize it's Luke that did it.

When using dare, itsu, nani, etc, you must either say 'dare GA anata desu ka' or 'anata WA dare desu ka'. In Japanese, the interrogative word (what, who, etc) usually comes second, unlike english.

as for differences between 'wa' and 'ga', 'wa' is used much like "as for..." in English. So, 'wa' is used to mean 'as for ---- (but not necessarily for anything else)'. In other words, it points out the existence of a specific thing (or qualifier).

for example:

日]
[align=left]

On sundays (but not on other days) I play golf.

'ga', however, is used when pointing out the existence of a nonspecific thing, for example:

うちの前に、猫があります。 uchi no mae ni, neko GA arimasu.

There is a cat (not any specific cat) in front of the house.

You can see how 'wa' points out a specific day, to the probable exclusion of others, but 'ga' indicates just any old cat. There are other differences, but this is probably the most important (and useful).

minasan, ganbatte kudasai!

[panegryst]

The book I use most often is Japanese Step By Step by Gene Nishi. It fully describes just about everything to do with Japanese grammar, sentence structure, and even tones (see bobtheduck's earlier post for more info on tones). It's like 16 bucks. a bargain. The book I use second most often is Ima! 1 by Sue Burnham. (Although I really ought to be in book two or three ) It is based on the immersion method; i.e., it focuses less on memorizing rules and patterns and instead has the learner learn by doing and listening. It made it easy for me to learn hiragana. To get the most out of it you really need the accompanying tape and workbook.

You can find both these books at amazon.com.

[Jasdero]

ooo, a how-to-speak-japanese tutorial....O_O teach me!!!! should we put in words that we've gotten from other sites here, or is this just pronunciation?

[panegryst]

sunako: this is everything. just ask or whatever.

ok! new lesson!! Sentence Pattern 1 + 2!

Pattern 1: (Noun) wa (Adj.) desu.
Pattern 2: (Noun) wa (Adj.)-I desu.

there are two types of adjectives: adj's ending in NA and adj's ending in I. These change depending on tense and a few other things. These first two sentence patterns just say, "(Noun) is (Adj)." ('desu' is a copula, i.e., it connects a subject and a predicate much like our verb 'to be'. note that in Japanese, verbs always go at the end of a sentence. 'wa' is the particle that marks the theme of the sentence, discussed in an earlier post.)

One important note: when a -NA adj is used as the PREDICATE, drop the NA. for example, 'taisetsu-na' ('important') becomes 'taisetsu', and 'heta-na' ('unskillful') becomes 'heta'.

EXAMPLE SENTENCES

watashi wa osoi desu. (I am late.) [osoi= -I adj.]
ringo wa akai desu. (Apples are red.) [akai = -I adj.]
anata wa jouzu desu. (You are skilled.) [jouzuna = -NA adj.]


next time: more sentence patterns.
next next time: polite and familiar styles.