Hello, friends! How are your Japanese studies going? For those of you in self-study, you've probably found that sometimes practice can be hard to come by, especially if you don't know any friends studying Japanese (or at least not as seriously as you).
So I'm going to start a feature on this blog that deals with my favorite self-study practice method: playing games! Now, playing games is not going to help you practice your speaking skills (well, most of the time, at least), but it will help you practice your reading, listening, and comprehension! Pretty much everything except speaking (you'll have to talk to yourself or your game if you want to practice that while gaming, ahaha).
Anyway, I want to start off with a game I recommended to my classmates when we were beginners in college. I went into my university studies already knowing how to read and write both kana scripts and a small handful of kanji. But a lot of students were only vaguely familiar with it or even trying to read and write it for the very first time. Since I already had a couple of Japanese games for my Game Boy, I decided to loan one to my classmate (who later became my friend and roommate) to help him practice his reading and recognizing the kana. It really helped him a lot, and he started bringing it to class and everyone was talking about it and getting their own copies.
This game is ポケットモンスター poketto monsutaa. "Pocket Monsters," or better known as "Pokémon" in the west.
Why Pokémon? Pokémon is a children's game, which means that it's written at a kids' reading level. The game does not use ANY kanji, and there are spaces between the words. This makes it easy to see where words begin and end, and you don't have to look up any kanji. The game is also heavily text-based, so there are words on the screen all the time. This means you're constantly looking at kana, and often you need to read it to get by.
The game is also easy and simple enough that even if you don't understand the words or grammar, you can still push yourself through the game without knowing what you're doing (Especially if you've played before in English). This way you're just practicing reading kana and recognizing which is which. In a way, it's like flashcards, but disguised as a game.
Then when you get a better vocabulary and grammar, you can revisit the game and actually understand what they're saying without having to worry about kanji you haven't learned yet.
The best thing to do when playing this kind of game is to try to read every character aloud as you play. Even if you don't know what you're saying, remember you're just practicing recognizing characters. I think the best practice really comes from reading words you know, but in the beginning, you won't really know that many words. You can also practice by reading the words in the game, then using a dictionary to look the words up. Even if you don't remember the words you're looking up, you can still see if you're reading them right this way. If you use Jim Breen's, you'll be able to catch when you're looking up conjugated words (which wouldn't appear in a normal dictionary).
Right now, the seven newest versions of the game for the DS that are easy to find in-stock in stores include (with links to where you can buy them):
Pokémon Black
Pokémon White
Pokémon Heart Gold
Pokémon Soul Silver
Pokémon Diamond
Pokémon Pearl
Pokémon Platinum
Of course, you might not be wanting to shell away $50 for a new game for your DSi unless you're a big fan already. You can try finding them on e-bay as well, though beware of getting fakes that may not even work, may be in Chinese, etc. You can often find older Japanese versions for cheap on there (but it's really easy to run into Chinese versions and fakes claiming to be official Japanese copies).
You can also look around in nearby stores if you live in an area where Japanese games might be sold. When I lived in Columbus, Ohio, there was a game store by the Japanese restaurant Akai Hana that sold Japanese games.
Also, if you are visiting Japan or know someone living in Japan, Japanese used game stores will easily have these games, and they will be much cheaper than buying online. Plus, Japanese used condition is very good. Unlike in the US where used game stores are full of beat up games with scratches often missing their box and manual, Japanese used games are in like-new condition with all their components, sometimes even re-wrapped in plastic. It's like getting a new game for a cheaper price!
Your last option to buy Japanese games if you can't buy online or go to Japan is to try at anime and game conventions. Especially the bigger ones you will find game vendors. But even at smaller ones, it seems that games are sold sometimes. If you visit these kinds of events normally, you can go to the dealer's room and try to find some games. Pokémon is popular, so there's a good chance you'll find it if they are selling games. If you don't normally go to these places, note that you often have to buy an event ticket just to get into the room with the shops (which will usually run you a good deal of money unless you pre-order). Also note that games tend to be VERY expensive at these events. I remember going to one and seeing Legendary Starfy 2 for $70, when I bought it at Play-Asia.com for $15 while it was on sale (they're always having sales and stuff). I remember I asked the guy at the booth why everything was so expensive, and he said "This is the cheapest you can find it." I told him about shopping online and he said I was lying O_o I guess they just really want you to buy the games at a high price there. It makes sense, since if they don't sell them, they lose a LOT of money from buying them themselves.
Anyway, if you do get your hands on a Pocket Monsters game from Japan, have fun playing it and use it to study well :) It can really help you practice Japanese before you get a high reading level. Some other games like this include the Mother series and ChoroQ HG series.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Pace yourself...
When trying to teach yourself Japanese, there's an important question that arises fast: How much should I be trying to learn every day?
Pacing your self-study seems daunting, especially if you're an organized person who likes to have a syllabus or guideline. But I think what's important is to not look at it as a structured thing. Instead, learn what you need to until you've learned it.
I know that sounds weird, but it works a lot better that way. Just learn what you're working on now, and once you've got it down, move on. This will keep you from messing up in the future. There's nothing more frustrating than getting to a point where you realize you don't really know what you're doing and everything is a big, confused mess in your head, and it seems that all you ever do is look up stuff in books and on websites to try to learn what you're supposed to already know.
So do it like this:
1. Learn one thing at a time.
2. Practice the one thing you've learned until you feel like you can do it "without thinking," or naturally.
3. Start learning something new, but incorporate what you already know into it so you don't forget or lose it.
4. Keep practicing using everything you know until it's all natural...
5. Go back to 3.
This is as far as learning things like new structures and grammars and ways of thinking. As far as how many words you should be learning, or how many kanjis you should be writing, I think it's really up to you. Keep studying and reviewing, and make sure you're not learning so many that you keep forgetting. I think it's better to just learn them as it feels comfortable, so that it just feels like you're satisfying your curiosity, and not that you're forcing them in like what you normally think of "study." It's better when it feels like you're just discovering and picking up words and stuff. If you keep yourself at that comfort level, I think you have a good pace.
What's most important is never to overwhelm yourself or cram stuff in. Make sure you're having fun! If a concept is hard for you to get down, take it more slowly. If something comes natural to you, you can move on more quickly
And as for daily use, spend a lot of time PRACTICING. Even if it means just talking to yourself as you go throughout your day (I've found the best practice you can do on your own is to just think in Japanese). You want to practice more than you sit and learn new stuff. Just like learning an instrument, you can look at a new piece and see how it goes, but you can't play it well or be good at it until you've practiced a lot. And if you just play through it once and then move on and never look at it again, you'll never really be able to play it well. Don't expect to go to a concert like that! And using Japanese naturally is your "concert," so you need to get in all the rehearsal you can :)
Pacing your self-study seems daunting, especially if you're an organized person who likes to have a syllabus or guideline. But I think what's important is to not look at it as a structured thing. Instead, learn what you need to until you've learned it.
I know that sounds weird, but it works a lot better that way. Just learn what you're working on now, and once you've got it down, move on. This will keep you from messing up in the future. There's nothing more frustrating than getting to a point where you realize you don't really know what you're doing and everything is a big, confused mess in your head, and it seems that all you ever do is look up stuff in books and on websites to try to learn what you're supposed to already know.
So do it like this:
1. Learn one thing at a time.
2. Practice the one thing you've learned until you feel like you can do it "without thinking," or naturally.
3. Start learning something new, but incorporate what you already know into it so you don't forget or lose it.
4. Keep practicing using everything you know until it's all natural...
5. Go back to 3.
This is as far as learning things like new structures and grammars and ways of thinking. As far as how many words you should be learning, or how many kanjis you should be writing, I think it's really up to you. Keep studying and reviewing, and make sure you're not learning so many that you keep forgetting. I think it's better to just learn them as it feels comfortable, so that it just feels like you're satisfying your curiosity, and not that you're forcing them in like what you normally think of "study." It's better when it feels like you're just discovering and picking up words and stuff. If you keep yourself at that comfort level, I think you have a good pace.
What's most important is never to overwhelm yourself or cram stuff in. Make sure you're having fun! If a concept is hard for you to get down, take it more slowly. If something comes natural to you, you can move on more quickly
And as for daily use, spend a lot of time PRACTICING. Even if it means just talking to yourself as you go throughout your day (I've found the best practice you can do on your own is to just think in Japanese). You want to practice more than you sit and learn new stuff. Just like learning an instrument, you can look at a new piece and see how it goes, but you can't play it well or be good at it until you've practiced a lot. And if you just play through it once and then move on and never look at it again, you'll never really be able to play it well. Don't expect to go to a concert like that! And using Japanese naturally is your "concert," so you need to get in all the rehearsal you can :)
Make your first Japanese sentence! The easy way!
So, you know a bunch of words in Japanese now, but you don't know how to actually use them to make comprehensive Japanese. How do you do it? Easy, you make a sentence!
Japanese sentence structure and grammar looks really scary. I've seen plenty of Japanese teaching websites and even textbooks that try to explain it in a very complicated way. This is often because they try to teach you using complicated sentences from the start.
You may think a sentence like "John baked a cake." is simple because it doesn't have very many words in it, but that's not true! Look at all these things we have to think about:
We have two objects being referenced (John and cake!)
We have a person performing an action.
We have an object receiving an action.
We have a certain timeframe in which the action has to be completed (in the past, "baked").
Each of these things requires a different rule than in English. So let's not try to do something so complicated.
I think it's a lot easier to learn how to make sentences in Japanese if you start from the ground up -- from the very most basic sentence you can possibly have. And it's very very easy because it's only a single word!
In Japanese, you can make a sentence with only a single word. You don't need to have any kind of object or subject or anything like that. You simply need to have an action or description. I am going to call this part of the sentence the "predicate," but you can call it whatever you want. It is the meat of the sentence, and it's all you need!
There are different types of word classes in Japanese, and each one forms a predicate in a slightly different way. But I will get into predicate types later. For now, we'll just use some simple words so you can be on your way to making Japanese sentences in a matter of seconds.
Think of all the Japanese words you've learned. Do you know any that end in い i and can be used to describe something else? If you are an anime fan, you probably know words like kawaii and sugoi. If not, you may have studied some things like color words akai, aoi, and the like.
You can use these words to make a complete sentence right now! I'm going to use the word うれしい uresii/ureshii. It is often translated as "happy."
In Japanese, you don't need to use a subject unless it's necessary. If it's obvious who or what you're talking about, you should just drop that part of the sentence. In English, we would say things like "I am happy." But in Japanese, you don't need to say all of those words.
So here is my sentence:
うれしい。
Uresii. / Ureshii.
Yes, that's it. One word. This sentence means "I am happy." or "I feel happy." It's a complete, full, proper sentence in Japanese! It actually sounds clunky and awkward if you add the "I am" part and specify that you're talking about yourself. Sometimes, it's okay, but most of the time, you should not add things that aren't needed and stick to smaller sentences like this when talking about yourself.
Now, let's see you are shopping and you and your friend see a cute bag. You and your friend are standing over it... You can say this sentence now:
可愛い！
Kawaii!
And you've just said "This is so cute!" In Japanese, you don't need to have all those words in there like in English, but it still means the same thing, and it's a whole sentence. You're not cutting anything out or leaving parts off or simplifying it. That's a good sentence.
I know a lot of people who use Japanese because they like anime get harped on for using this word like this... but that's 100% proper, natural Japanese! And it's a full, complete sentence! If you say it, you're using Japanese like a native. Don't let people make fun of you if you're wanting to use Japanese and say this... because you're doing it right :) Sure, you might sound like an anime nerd if you just say kawaii all the time and nothing else, but it's still good for your first steps.
Now, as you learn more words and structure, you'll be able to add more to your sentences to be more specific when you need to be. But when you're expressing a simple thought that doesn't need you to point out anything else (like, if you were looking at the bag, obviously you are talking about the bag!) then you can use single words like this, and it will be perfectly natural and proper to do so.
EVERY complete sentence in Japanese is essentially one of these one-word sentences, just with more tacked onto it to be more descriptive when it needs it (you can use other words in your "predicate" as well, but for now I'm only using this one type of word). If you think of Japanese sentences like that, and not as a big list of words with a bunch of rules you need to use, it will be a lot easier to understand. Just start with this very most basic type of sentence, and learn how to add things to it little by little.
If you do this, you will always learn everything you can fully understand. If you use the type of sentence I talked about in this post, you are saying a sentence and you understand every last word in it fully. As you learn to make your sentences more complicated, learn one step at a time. Like "How do I add a subject to talk about a specific thing?" or "How do I add an object of the action I want to talk about?" Then learn how to add those things to your sentence. Then once you do, you'll completely understand the sentences you are making.
This is a lot different from starting from a bigger sentence and trying to learn all the parts at once. This way, you always know exactly what you're doing in Japanese! You're not going to learn the whole language overnight, so I think a pacing like this where you always fully understand what you're saying can work really well. This way you don't practice saying things that are actually bad Japanese that don't make sense. And I feel that when you're not trying to overcomplicate things, you can learn faster, too.
Practice making simple sentences like the ones I taught you for now. Look for these describing words that end in い i and use them by themselves and you'll be saying complete sentences in Japanese, naturally and properly!
Seriously, just take a day thinking of sentences as only one word. Think of places when you can use a single word to describe something without having to specify what you're talking about. Here are some full sentences and examples of when it would be natural to use them:
面白い。 Omosiroi. / Omoshiroi.
1. You're watching a TV show and you think it's funny. If you just say "funny" here, it's obvious you're talking about the show.
おかしい。 Okasii. / Okashii.
2. Someone does something strange and you say "strange." If you just say "strange" here, it's obvious you're talking about the person's action.
おいしい Oisii. / Oishii.
3. You just tried octopus ball (a Japanese food) for the first time and you like it. If you said "tasty" here, it's obvious you're talking about the food.
Try to come up with your own examples. As you spend the rest of the day today, think of descriptive words to talk about what you're doing, tasting, seeing, hearing, experiencing... if you know a Japanese word that fits that, try saying it. If you can look it up, try it and see what you find. You're making whole sentences now!
And it will be so easy to build on them, because this is the core of every Japanese sentence. So get out there and try it!
Japanese sentence structure and grammar looks really scary. I've seen plenty of Japanese teaching websites and even textbooks that try to explain it in a very complicated way. This is often because they try to teach you using complicated sentences from the start.
You may think a sentence like "John baked a cake." is simple because it doesn't have very many words in it, but that's not true! Look at all these things we have to think about:
We have two objects being referenced (John and cake!)
We have a person performing an action.
We have an object receiving an action.
We have a certain timeframe in which the action has to be completed (in the past, "baked").
Each of these things requires a different rule than in English. So let's not try to do something so complicated.
I think it's a lot easier to learn how to make sentences in Japanese if you start from the ground up -- from the very most basic sentence you can possibly have. And it's very very easy because it's only a single word!
In Japanese, you can make a sentence with only a single word. You don't need to have any kind of object or subject or anything like that. You simply need to have an action or description. I am going to call this part of the sentence the "predicate," but you can call it whatever you want. It is the meat of the sentence, and it's all you need!
There are different types of word classes in Japanese, and each one forms a predicate in a slightly different way. But I will get into predicate types later. For now, we'll just use some simple words so you can be on your way to making Japanese sentences in a matter of seconds.
Think of all the Japanese words you've learned. Do you know any that end in い i and can be used to describe something else? If you are an anime fan, you probably know words like kawaii and sugoi. If not, you may have studied some things like color words akai, aoi, and the like.
You can use these words to make a complete sentence right now! I'm going to use the word うれしい uresii/ureshii. It is often translated as "happy."
In Japanese, you don't need to use a subject unless it's necessary. If it's obvious who or what you're talking about, you should just drop that part of the sentence. In English, we would say things like "I am happy." But in Japanese, you don't need to say all of those words.
So here is my sentence:
うれしい。
Uresii. / Ureshii.
Yes, that's it. One word. This sentence means "I am happy." or "I feel happy." It's a complete, full, proper sentence in Japanese! It actually sounds clunky and awkward if you add the "I am" part and specify that you're talking about yourself. Sometimes, it's okay, but most of the time, you should not add things that aren't needed and stick to smaller sentences like this when talking about yourself.
Now, let's see you are shopping and you and your friend see a cute bag. You and your friend are standing over it... You can say this sentence now:
可愛い！
Kawaii!
And you've just said "This is so cute!" In Japanese, you don't need to have all those words in there like in English, but it still means the same thing, and it's a whole sentence. You're not cutting anything out or leaving parts off or simplifying it. That's a good sentence.
I know a lot of people who use Japanese because they like anime get harped on for using this word like this... but that's 100% proper, natural Japanese! And it's a full, complete sentence! If you say it, you're using Japanese like a native. Don't let people make fun of you if you're wanting to use Japanese and say this... because you're doing it right :) Sure, you might sound like an anime nerd if you just say kawaii all the time and nothing else, but it's still good for your first steps.
Now, as you learn more words and structure, you'll be able to add more to your sentences to be more specific when you need to be. But when you're expressing a simple thought that doesn't need you to point out anything else (like, if you were looking at the bag, obviously you are talking about the bag!) then you can use single words like this, and it will be perfectly natural and proper to do so.
EVERY complete sentence in Japanese is essentially one of these one-word sentences, just with more tacked onto it to be more descriptive when it needs it (you can use other words in your "predicate" as well, but for now I'm only using this one type of word). If you think of Japanese sentences like that, and not as a big list of words with a bunch of rules you need to use, it will be a lot easier to understand. Just start with this very most basic type of sentence, and learn how to add things to it little by little.
If you do this, you will always learn everything you can fully understand. If you use the type of sentence I talked about in this post, you are saying a sentence and you understand every last word in it fully. As you learn to make your sentences more complicated, learn one step at a time. Like "How do I add a subject to talk about a specific thing?" or "How do I add an object of the action I want to talk about?" Then learn how to add those things to your sentence. Then once you do, you'll completely understand the sentences you are making.
This is a lot different from starting from a bigger sentence and trying to learn all the parts at once. This way, you always know exactly what you're doing in Japanese! You're not going to learn the whole language overnight, so I think a pacing like this where you always fully understand what you're saying can work really well. This way you don't practice saying things that are actually bad Japanese that don't make sense. And I feel that when you're not trying to overcomplicate things, you can learn faster, too.
Practice making simple sentences like the ones I taught you for now. Look for these describing words that end in い i and use them by themselves and you'll be saying complete sentences in Japanese, naturally and properly!
Seriously, just take a day thinking of sentences as only one word. Think of places when you can use a single word to describe something without having to specify what you're talking about. Here are some full sentences and examples of when it would be natural to use them:
面白い。 Omosiroi. / Omoshiroi.
1. You're watching a TV show and you think it's funny. If you just say "funny" here, it's obvious you're talking about the show.
おかしい。 Okasii. / Okashii.
2. Someone does something strange and you say "strange." If you just say "strange" here, it's obvious you're talking about the person's action.
おいしい Oisii. / Oishii.
3. You just tried octopus ball (a Japanese food) for the first time and you like it. If you said "tasty" here, it's obvious you're talking about the food.
Try to come up with your own examples. As you spend the rest of the day today, think of descriptive words to talk about what you're doing, tasting, seeing, hearing, experiencing... if you know a Japanese word that fits that, try saying it. If you can look it up, try it and see what you find. You're making whole sentences now!
And it will be so easy to build on them, because this is the core of every Japanese sentence. So get out there and try it!
Daily Japanese: April 07, 2011 - Date & Time
こんにちは～ Sorry for missing out yesterday. Here's the return of the Japanese of the Day spot :) So I'll make it extra long today, ahaha...
Today we're going to talk about writing the date and time. This is the first time we're going to focus more on reading and writing than speaking usage in Daily Japanese!
Anyway, I'm going to point out how time is written in Japanese. It's quite easy to learn, but if you don't know about it when you're first starting out, you may be confused.
In Japanese, you can reference the time with punctuation symbols like you're used to in English (so 10/24 or 10.24 would mean October 24). You can also write the time of day off the clock with a colon like "4:45."
But you can also write date and time with the 漢字 kanzi/kanji (Chinese characters) to represent them. This also corresponds with the way you say them aloud. It is written like this often in Japanese, so you should learn how to recognize and read it early.
年 is the kanji that means "year."
月 is the kanji that means "month."
日 is the kanji that means "day."
時 is the kanji that means "hour."
分 is the kanji that means "minute."
Of course, these characters can mean different things when they're not used to write the time of day or the date. We're only talking about their meanings when using them to write the date and time right now. Also note that they can also be used to count time, so ７時 can mean 7 o'clock OR 7 hours. ２０日 can mean the 20th OR 20 days.
When writing time, you always write from big to small. So if you wanted to denote a certain month in a certain year, you would put the year first because it is bigger. In English, we commonly do the opposite (saying "March 2004" instead of "2004 March"). In English outside of the US (and sometimes in the US, too) we even do the entire date from small to big (24 October 1985).
In Japanese, you go from small to big... so Year-Month-Day-Hour-Minute.
To write them, you can still use Arabic numbers, however, so it's just a matter of knowing the order and which kanji corresponds to which. You place the kanji after the number. Japanese months are actually named by number.
Let's look at the aspects of today's date:
２０１１年 is how you would write the year (2011).
４月 is how you would write the month (April).
７日 is how you would write the day (the 7th).
I write the date by writing ２０１１年４月７日.
When you are writing vertically (top to bottom), you more often will write the entire numbers with kanji, like this: 二千十一年 to mean 2011. Either way, you always pronounce them the same way of course.
The time of day works the same. If it's 5:42, you can put the proper kanji after the hours and minutes to show the time: ５時４２分. You will more often see this when the time is written out as part of a sentence.
Another note about the time of day is that Japan uses 24-hour time. Japanese people understand both the 24 hour clock and the 12 hour clock (since circular clocks and watches only display 12 hours), but more often, you will come across 24-hour time.
What does this mean?
It means that the day starts at 00:00 (zero o'clock) at midnight, and continues counting hours until it reaches the 24th hour, which is zero again.
00:00 is midnight
05:00 is 5AM
10:00 is 10AM
12:00 is noon
14:00 is 2PM
21:00 is 9PM
23:59 is 11:59PM, and in one minute it will be midnight again, or 00:00.
As I'm typing this, my clock displaying 24 hour time says it is１３時１１分 . That means it's 1:11PM.
To reference AM and PM, you use the words 午前 gozen for AM (literally "before noon") and 午後 gogo for PM (literally "after noon.") Noon is called 正午 syougo/shougo (literally "exact noon").
You put it before the time, so 午後５時 gogo go ji is 5PM.
Lastly, I want to talk about the days of the week, since it will be helpful in reading calendars.
In Japan, the seven days of the week are named after astral bodies (from Roman astrology) and have corresponding elements (from Chinese astrology).
In Japanese, all days of the week end with the suffix 曜日 youbi, just like all days in English end with "day." Before the youbi is the name of the day.
Note that on Japanese calendars, the week traditionally starts on Monday, not Sunday. However, this is not always the case since a lot of websites and things have calendars originally made for a western audience first, then are just translated straight into Japanese without changing the look of the calendar. Stuff like that. Just look at the calendar and make sure you've noticed which day is listed first.
These are the seven days, starting with Monday:
月曜日 getuyoubi/getsuyoubi is Monday, named after Moon.
火曜日 kayoubi is Tuesday, named after Mars. Day of Fire.
水曜日 suiyoubi is Wednesday, named after Mercury. Day of Water.
木曜日 mokuyoubi is Thursday, named after Jupiter. Day of Wood.
金曜日 kinyoubi is Friday, named after Venus. Day of Metal.
土曜日 douyoubi is Saturday, named after Saturn. Day of Earth.
日曜日 nichiyoubi is Sunday, named after Sun.
When you see the day written, you will come across the day of the week written after it to specify what day it was. You don't have to write the full day of the week, just the kanji that tells which day it is. So if you see this:
２０１１年４月７日（木）
You know that the moku part written at the end means that the 7th of April in 2011 falls on a Thursday. It doesn't mean wood or tree or Jupiter :)
It's a big blog post, but reading the date and time is actually pretty simple once you get used to it. Try looking in newspapers for things that talk about when events happened and you'll see it come up a lot. Another great place to see it is release dates for movies and games and things.
Here are two of Japan's biggest newspapers' websites:
朝日新聞 Asahi
毎日新聞 Mainichi
You can look around and look for things with dates and time :) Even if you can't read Japanese yet, the current date will always be displayed on the main page, so see if you can find it.
If you look at Asahi's newest stories (at the top middle of the page, usually with red squares next to them), you will also notice that the time the article was posted is listed next to them. These are written in 24-hour time!
If you scroll down a bit in the middle of Mainichi's page, you will see a section called ニュースセレクト nyuususerekuto (News Select, or "news selection") that lists current articles. The times for these articles are written using the kanji and also use 24-hour time.
Keep an eye out for dates and times. You can even change your computer to display the date and time in Japanese :)
Today we're going to talk about writing the date and time. This is the first time we're going to focus more on reading and writing than speaking usage in Daily Japanese!
Anyway, I'm going to point out how time is written in Japanese. It's quite easy to learn, but if you don't know about it when you're first starting out, you may be confused.
In Japanese, you can reference the time with punctuation symbols like you're used to in English (so 10/24 or 10.24 would mean October 24). You can also write the time of day off the clock with a colon like "4:45."
But you can also write date and time with the 漢字 kanzi/kanji (Chinese characters) to represent them. This also corresponds with the way you say them aloud. It is written like this often in Japanese, so you should learn how to recognize and read it early.
年 is the kanji that means "year."
月 is the kanji that means "month."
日 is the kanji that means "day."
時 is the kanji that means "hour."
分 is the kanji that means "minute."
Of course, these characters can mean different things when they're not used to write the time of day or the date. We're only talking about their meanings when using them to write the date and time right now. Also note that they can also be used to count time, so ７時 can mean 7 o'clock OR 7 hours. ２０日 can mean the 20th OR 20 days.
When writing time, you always write from big to small. So if you wanted to denote a certain month in a certain year, you would put the year first because it is bigger. In English, we commonly do the opposite (saying "March 2004" instead of "2004 March"). In English outside of the US (and sometimes in the US, too) we even do the entire date from small to big (24 October 1985).
In Japanese, you go from small to big... so Year-Month-Day-Hour-Minute.
To write them, you can still use Arabic numbers, however, so it's just a matter of knowing the order and which kanji corresponds to which. You place the kanji after the number. Japanese months are actually named by number.
Let's look at the aspects of today's date:
２０１１年 is how you would write the year (2011).
４月 is how you would write the month (April).
７日 is how you would write the day (the 7th).
I write the date by writing ２０１１年４月７日.
When you are writing vertically (top to bottom), you more often will write the entire numbers with kanji, like this: 二千十一年 to mean 2011. Either way, you always pronounce them the same way of course.
The time of day works the same. If it's 5:42, you can put the proper kanji after the hours and minutes to show the time: ５時４２分. You will more often see this when the time is written out as part of a sentence.
Another note about the time of day is that Japan uses 24-hour time. Japanese people understand both the 24 hour clock and the 12 hour clock (since circular clocks and watches only display 12 hours), but more often, you will come across 24-hour time.
What does this mean?
It means that the day starts at 00:00 (zero o'clock) at midnight, and continues counting hours until it reaches the 24th hour, which is zero again.
00:00 is midnight
05:00 is 5AM
10:00 is 10AM
12:00 is noon
14:00 is 2PM
21:00 is 9PM
23:59 is 11:59PM, and in one minute it will be midnight again, or 00:00.
As I'm typing this, my clock displaying 24 hour time says it is１３時１１分 . That means it's 1:11PM.
To reference AM and PM, you use the words 午前 gozen for AM (literally "before noon") and 午後 gogo for PM (literally "after noon.") Noon is called 正午 syougo/shougo (literally "exact noon").
You put it before the time, so 午後５時 gogo go ji is 5PM.
Lastly, I want to talk about the days of the week, since it will be helpful in reading calendars.
In Japan, the seven days of the week are named after astral bodies (from Roman astrology) and have corresponding elements (from Chinese astrology).
In Japanese, all days of the week end with the suffix 曜日 youbi, just like all days in English end with "day." Before the youbi is the name of the day.
Note that on Japanese calendars, the week traditionally starts on Monday, not Sunday. However, this is not always the case since a lot of websites and things have calendars originally made for a western audience first, then are just translated straight into Japanese without changing the look of the calendar. Stuff like that. Just look at the calendar and make sure you've noticed which day is listed first.
These are the seven days, starting with Monday:
月曜日 getuyoubi/getsuyoubi is Monday, named after Moon.
火曜日 kayoubi is Tuesday, named after Mars. Day of Fire.
水曜日 suiyoubi is Wednesday, named after Mercury. Day of Water.
木曜日 mokuyoubi is Thursday, named after Jupiter. Day of Wood.
金曜日 kinyoubi is Friday, named after Venus. Day of Metal.
土曜日 douyoubi is Saturday, named after Saturn. Day of Earth.
日曜日 nichiyoubi is Sunday, named after Sun.
When you see the day written, you will come across the day of the week written after it to specify what day it was. You don't have to write the full day of the week, just the kanji that tells which day it is. So if you see this:
２０１１年４月７日（木）
You know that the moku part written at the end means that the 7th of April in 2011 falls on a Thursday. It doesn't mean wood or tree or Jupiter :)
It's a big blog post, but reading the date and time is actually pretty simple once you get used to it. Try looking in newspapers for things that talk about when events happened and you'll see it come up a lot. Another great place to see it is release dates for movies and games and things.
Here are two of Japan's biggest newspapers' websites:
朝日新聞 Asahi
毎日新聞 Mainichi
You can look around and look for things with dates and time :) Even if you can't read Japanese yet, the current date will always be displayed on the main page, so see if you can find it.
If you look at Asahi's newest stories (at the top middle of the page, usually with red squares next to them), you will also notice that the time the article was posted is listed next to them. These are written in 24-hour time!
If you scroll down a bit in the middle of Mainichi's page, you will see a section called ニュースセレクト nyuususerekuto (News Select, or "news selection") that lists current articles. The times for these articles are written using the kanji and also use 24-hour time.
Keep an eye out for dates and times. You can even change your computer to display the date and time in Japanese :)
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
The right mindset...
Learning Japanese is hard at first. But I can tell you that the hardest part is the beginning! Once it "clicks" for you, you pretty much are just practicing and learning new things until you know enough to be fluent. The hardest part is getting that click.
What you need to do is think about Japanese in the right way.
One of the biggest things to realize is that Japanese is not English. I know, you're saying "Uh, yeah?" because that seems obvious. But there's more to it than just that.
When you are learning Japanese words, you need to learn them as Japanese words, not as translations of English words. Translation is its own unique skill that you gain once you are good in two different languages. You don't need to -- or rather you shouldn't translate when you are just starting to learn a language.
If your friend pointed to your pet cat and asked なにそれ？ (What is that?), you should not think "It's a cat, and cat in Japanese is 猫." and then answer 猫だ。 Rather, you should just see the 猫 and know you have a pet 猫 and never think about how you even have a pet cat. Because you only have a pet cat when you're speaking English.
It's never a good idea to study vocabulary through methods that link a Japanese word with an English word. Rather, you should learn vocabulary through usage and imagery. When you are a baby, you see a cookie and you hear someone say cookie. After a while, you start to learn that the object you are looking at can be talked about by making a series of sounds that looks like "cookie." You don't learn it a secret baby language and then have someone give you a dictionary to translate to cookie. And you don't look at it and think of it in baby language first and then translate it to cookie in your head. You just look at the cookie and know it's a cookie.
Japanese needs to be that natural, too. Learn words by thinking of them to yourself when you see them. When you see your cat, say 猫 to yourself. Do the same with your テレビ and that 諸説 next to your ベッド. Get in your 車 to go to your 仕事.
You may not be able to read those words just yet, but that's how you have to think of the words when you do learn them. They are not equivalents to English words you already know. They are their own words.
This is important because sometimes even the most simple words that seem like they should translate directly do not always work that way. I remember our teacher used to sit at a table in front of the classroom, but she called it in Japanese something that would translate to "desk" if you asked a dictionary. But to us, it was definitely a table, not a desk. To her, there was no way it was a table. When you're picking up new words in Japanese, be careful to pay attention to how they are being used. Learn them the same way you learned that cookie. You see something, learn a name for it, and then start applying that name to it. Later on your definition of what is or is not a cookie or a desk or a chair can change -- don't think that just because a dictionary says something or you learned it one way that it is necessarily that way.
The same goes with learning grammar and structure. Japanese grammar is so vastly different from English that you can't really think about it in those terms. Certainly there are action words which are like verbs, descriptive words which are like adjectives, and naming words which are like nouns. But there will be many times that these seem to overlap or trick you in Japanese. That's because Japanese do not class their words based on their English translations and how those words are used in English.
When you learn a new grammar or structure in Japanese, try to think of its function, learn how its used, then don't try to think of what you would call it in English until you are forced to.
Now, when you're learning, sometimes you'll need certain terminology to be able to learn things. That's why I think it's really helpful to make up your own or use ones that you don't use when you're talking about English. Instead of calling words like 出来る 飲む "verbs," try calling them "u-words" or "masu-words." LINK:JSL uses the term "verbals" because it's similar to the English word "verb" but it's NOT a verb. Because they really aren't verbs. And I'm not just saying that to encourage you to think of them that way -- they're really not. "Verb" is just the closest English word we have to describe them.
Your brain needs to learn to go between English mode and Japanese mode and separate them. There shouldn't be any translating in your head going on. When you're first learning new things, you'll have to think of them in English for a bit because English is the way you're being introduced to them for the most part, but keep practicing them until you don't have to think about English. Once a Japanese word or concept or structure comes to you without you having to think through it in English (even if it's a bit sluggish to come out in Japanese), then you've really learned that part.
It's hard to do at first, but once you have them separated in your head, Japanese will be a lot easier to retain and a bit less complicated. Just really learn all of the basics and get a foundation, and you'll soon realize that you can learn anything in Japanese.
It's a very structured and organized language. Once you get down the basics, it's actually quite easy! The hardest part is definitely overcoming the barrier of difference between the two languages, so it's vital that you try not to think of Japanese as translations of English, and try not to think of things with English meanings or descriptions. Practice what you know until it just makes sense to you naturally. You can do it :)
What you need to do is think about Japanese in the right way.
One of the biggest things to realize is that Japanese is not English. I know, you're saying "Uh, yeah?" because that seems obvious. But there's more to it than just that.
When you are learning Japanese words, you need to learn them as Japanese words, not as translations of English words. Translation is its own unique skill that you gain once you are good in two different languages. You don't need to -- or rather you shouldn't translate when you are just starting to learn a language.
If your friend pointed to your pet cat and asked なにそれ？ (What is that?), you should not think "It's a cat, and cat in Japanese is 猫." and then answer 猫だ。 Rather, you should just see the 猫 and know you have a pet 猫 and never think about how you even have a pet cat. Because you only have a pet cat when you're speaking English.
It's never a good idea to study vocabulary through methods that link a Japanese word with an English word. Rather, you should learn vocabulary through usage and imagery. When you are a baby, you see a cookie and you hear someone say cookie. After a while, you start to learn that the object you are looking at can be talked about by making a series of sounds that looks like "cookie." You don't learn it a secret baby language and then have someone give you a dictionary to translate to cookie. And you don't look at it and think of it in baby language first and then translate it to cookie in your head. You just look at the cookie and know it's a cookie.
Japanese needs to be that natural, too. Learn words by thinking of them to yourself when you see them. When you see your cat, say 猫 to yourself. Do the same with your テレビ and that 諸説 next to your ベッド. Get in your 車 to go to your 仕事.
You may not be able to read those words just yet, but that's how you have to think of the words when you do learn them. They are not equivalents to English words you already know. They are their own words.
This is important because sometimes even the most simple words that seem like they should translate directly do not always work that way. I remember our teacher used to sit at a table in front of the classroom, but she called it in Japanese something that would translate to "desk" if you asked a dictionary. But to us, it was definitely a table, not a desk. To her, there was no way it was a table. When you're picking up new words in Japanese, be careful to pay attention to how they are being used. Learn them the same way you learned that cookie. You see something, learn a name for it, and then start applying that name to it. Later on your definition of what is or is not a cookie or a desk or a chair can change -- don't think that just because a dictionary says something or you learned it one way that it is necessarily that way.
The same goes with learning grammar and structure. Japanese grammar is so vastly different from English that you can't really think about it in those terms. Certainly there are action words which are like verbs, descriptive words which are like adjectives, and naming words which are like nouns. But there will be many times that these seem to overlap or trick you in Japanese. That's because Japanese do not class their words based on their English translations and how those words are used in English.
When you learn a new grammar or structure in Japanese, try to think of its function, learn how its used, then don't try to think of what you would call it in English until you are forced to.
Now, when you're learning, sometimes you'll need certain terminology to be able to learn things. That's why I think it's really helpful to make up your own or use ones that you don't use when you're talking about English. Instead of calling words like 出来る 飲む "verbs," try calling them "u-words" or "masu-words." LINK:JSL uses the term "verbals" because it's similar to the English word "verb" but it's NOT a verb. Because they really aren't verbs. And I'm not just saying that to encourage you to think of them that way -- they're really not. "Verb" is just the closest English word we have to describe them.
Your brain needs to learn to go between English mode and Japanese mode and separate them. There shouldn't be any translating in your head going on. When you're first learning new things, you'll have to think of them in English for a bit because English is the way you're being introduced to them for the most part, but keep practicing them until you don't have to think about English. Once a Japanese word or concept or structure comes to you without you having to think through it in English (even if it's a bit sluggish to come out in Japanese), then you've really learned that part.
It's hard to do at first, but once you have them separated in your head, Japanese will be a lot easier to retain and a bit less complicated. Just really learn all of the basics and get a foundation, and you'll soon realize that you can learn anything in Japanese.
It's a very structured and organized language. Once you get down the basics, it's actually quite easy! The hardest part is definitely overcoming the barrier of difference between the two languages, so it's vital that you try not to think of Japanese as translations of English, and try not to think of things with English meanings or descriptions. Practice what you know until it just makes sense to you naturally. You can do it :)
Daily Japanese: April 05, 2011 - "It'll be fine."
I was playing UNLIMITED:Saga today, and I was reminded of a useful phrase that anyone can use. It's the favorite mantra of character Ruby, and even in a way her life philosophy, I guess, hehe.
This phrase is 何とかなる nan to ka naru. First, let's look at the parts that make up this phrase:
何 nan is an unknown thing (often this is translated as "what" when used alone). It stands for any thing that is not specified when you're talking. When you're asking questions, this asks about a specific thing. We're not asking a question here, though, so it just means something, but it's not specified what.
とか to ka is added to nan to make it more vague. You can use this in other ways, like 雑誌とか zassi/zasshi to ka would mean "magazines or something" or "magazines or stuff like that." Those kinds of things.
なる naru is our predicate here. It references some kind of changing from one thing to another. It's the same naru that is used in cases like 大人になる otona ni naru (to become an adult). In Japanese, naru can be used without talking about a certain thing changing. When you use it like this, it has a meaning of things turning out or working out.
When you put the whole phrase together, 何とかなる nan to ka naru means something literally like "Something or other will turn out." When you use it, it means "It'll work out somehow," "Things have a way of working out," "Everything will work out fine," or those kinds of things.
When your friend is worrying to much too much about something, reassure them that everything will be all right in the end by saying this phrase. まぁ、何とかなるだろうね～
Try it out, and listen for it!
This phrase is 何とかなる nan to ka naru. First, let's look at the parts that make up this phrase:
何 nan is an unknown thing (often this is translated as "what" when used alone). It stands for any thing that is not specified when you're talking. When you're asking questions, this asks about a specific thing. We're not asking a question here, though, so it just means something, but it's not specified what.
とか to ka is added to nan to make it more vague. You can use this in other ways, like 雑誌とか zassi/zasshi to ka would mean "magazines or something" or "magazines or stuff like that." Those kinds of things.
なる naru is our predicate here. It references some kind of changing from one thing to another. It's the same naru that is used in cases like 大人になる otona ni naru (to become an adult). In Japanese, naru can be used without talking about a certain thing changing. When you use it like this, it has a meaning of things turning out or working out.
When you put the whole phrase together, 何とかなる nan to ka naru means something literally like "Something or other will turn out." When you use it, it means "It'll work out somehow," "Things have a way of working out," "Everything will work out fine," or those kinds of things.
When your friend is worrying to much too much about something, reassure them that everything will be all right in the end by saying this phrase. まぁ、何とかなるだろうね～
Try it out, and listen for it!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Daily Japanese: April 04, 2011 - "Sugoi!"
I have found that, especially among anime and manga fans, there is a common misconception about the word すごい sugoi. I almost always see places referencing and teaching this word saying it means "cool" with no further description or explanation.
While in translation, there are certainly times in which an appropriate way to relate this word into English may be through the word "cool," the meaning of sugoi is actually much deeper, versatile, and a lot more interesting than that!
The word itself describes things that bring you awe. In a way, you could say it more literally means "awesome." Anything that is amazing or elicits a powerful feeling can be described as sugoi.
Try checking out the first couple minutes of this video on youtube, titled すごい雷雨 & 停電. In the title, and in the video itself, you can hear すごい used naturally many times :)
Using it alone:
Using it alone, you can say sugoi to express some kind of awe or amazement. Let's say you just saw a video of someone break through a stack of bricks with their hand. Amazed at the display of power, you could respond すごい！ sugoi! . In a lot of cases, this could be like saying "Wow!" in English. In fact, in pretty much any case you can say "wow" in English, you can say sugoi in Japanese to express your same feeling.
Modifying nouns:
For example, a very fierce wind could be described as すごい風 sugoi kaze. Saying that this meant something like "cool wind" would be very inappropriate in most cases. Likewise, an amazing person who does something beyond what you would expect from most people could be a すごい人 sugoi hito.
Using sugoku to modify descriptive words:
Using the ~ku form of the word (すごく sugoku... no, not sudoku), you can use it to modify other modifying words. When you use it this way, it makes the word stronger, a lot like using the word "very" in English.
すごくうれしい sugoku uresii/ureshii -> "very happy"
すごく高い sugoku takai -> "very tall" or "very expensive"
すごく便利 sugoku benri -> "very convenient"
Just put すごく sugoku before these types of words, you can make them stronger. This simple word will make your Japanese more diverse, so try it out!
You can also use ものすごく monosugoku to make it even stronger. ものすごく悲しい monosugoku kanasii/kanashii would describe something that is extremely sad.
Note that you can't use sugoku to modify any word. Use it on other descriptive words. Depending on the text and resources you use, the kind of word you use here will go by different names. But descriptive words that conjugate with 'na' (like 駄目) and that conjugate with i/katta (like 楽しい) work here. (Some texts will call these all "adjectives," others will classify them based on how they are conjugated. If it's descriptive and takes na or katta, it should work).
In conclusion...
So, as you see, there's a lot more to sugoi than "cool," and you can use it in a lot of ways! If you see something so cool that you are amazed, you can say sugoi to express that, but you can use it so many other ways, too. So try it out and try to incorporate it into your Japanese. It's a very common and useful term to know :)
While in translation, there are certainly times in which an appropriate way to relate this word into English may be through the word "cool," the meaning of sugoi is actually much deeper, versatile, and a lot more interesting than that!
The word itself describes things that bring you awe. In a way, you could say it more literally means "awesome." Anything that is amazing or elicits a powerful feeling can be described as sugoi.
Try checking out the first couple minutes of this video on youtube, titled すごい雷雨 & 停電. In the title, and in the video itself, you can hear すごい used naturally many times :)
Using it alone:
Using it alone, you can say sugoi to express some kind of awe or amazement. Let's say you just saw a video of someone break through a stack of bricks with their hand. Amazed at the display of power, you could respond すごい！ sugoi! . In a lot of cases, this could be like saying "Wow!" in English. In fact, in pretty much any case you can say "wow" in English, you can say sugoi in Japanese to express your same feeling.
Modifying nouns:
For example, a very fierce wind could be described as すごい風 sugoi kaze. Saying that this meant something like "cool wind" would be very inappropriate in most cases. Likewise, an amazing person who does something beyond what you would expect from most people could be a すごい人 sugoi hito.
Using sugoku to modify descriptive words:
Using the ~ku form of the word (すごく sugoku... no, not sudoku), you can use it to modify other modifying words. When you use it this way, it makes the word stronger, a lot like using the word "very" in English.
すごくうれしい sugoku uresii/ureshii -> "very happy"
すごく高い sugoku takai -> "very tall" or "very expensive"
すごく便利 sugoku benri -> "very convenient"
Just put すごく sugoku before these types of words, you can make them stronger. This simple word will make your Japanese more diverse, so try it out!
You can also use ものすごく monosugoku to make it even stronger. ものすごく悲しい monosugoku kanasii/kanashii would describe something that is extremely sad.
Note that you can't use sugoku to modify any word. Use it on other descriptive words. Depending on the text and resources you use, the kind of word you use here will go by different names. But descriptive words that conjugate with 'na' (like 駄目) and that conjugate with i/katta (like 楽しい) work here. (Some texts will call these all "adjectives," others will classify them based on how they are conjugated. If it's descriptive and takes na or katta, it should work).
In conclusion...
So, as you see, there's a lot more to sugoi than "cool," and you can use it in a lot of ways! If you see something so cool that you are amazed, you can say sugoi to express that, but you can use it so many other ways, too. So try it out and try to incorporate it into your Japanese. It's a very common and useful term to know :)
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