Japanese words

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

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

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

Base TE + kureru

Oh won’t you do it for me? Will ya? Wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too
Verb (base TE) + kurenai (TE + kureru)
Verb (base TE) + moraenai (TE + Morau)

kashite kureru? - would (you) lend it to me?


orite moraenai? - could I get you to get down from (there)?

Supermarket Shopping in Japan

It would be an understatement to say that the supermarkets in Japan are different than those in America. Since the land upon which food grows, is harvested, is planted, the type of soil on an island versus a larger continent less Hawaii etc. there is so many things that are different that it would be better to compare the similarities.

Instead I wanted to share a few things of note about the cost and types of food that I have come across personally. There is a huge difference in the quality of goods in a Japanese supermarket, and an American supermarket. In Japan, on the whole, the quality of fruits and vegetables is more than excellent. The Japanese are very picky about what they eat, and the quality of service is so competitive, it makes for good groceries. Unless the fruit or vegetables are 100% blemish free then to the Japanese the produce is deemed unrepresentable.

Sake talkie will be taking a look at the Japanese GOBO, or burdock root, in future editions. For now, I want to discuss 牛乳 or gyu^nyu^ milk. Milk in Japan does not come in gallons and they don't often buy as much at a time as Americans (2 gallons for $6-7 bucks). And Japanese milk tastes terrible. There were two things I wanted when I came back from a trip to Japan; the first thing was a good old glass of USDA pasteurized whole fat milk. Because the way Japanese milk is pasteurized is different is why I suspect it tastes so bad. I read on the label that they pasteurize it at a much high temperature in less time than Americans. Like 128º for 15 sec. vs the American pasteurization technique which typically is 68ºC (145ºF) for 30 minutes. The other thing being peanut butter, because the Japanese have none!

This is a test!

This is a test to see if I can import Katakan into my blogger blog!


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あっぷるアップル

チョット

ちょっと
はっぴ ハッピー
ガッコウ


とっきょ
ぜったい

しゅっぱんん

じっけんん

まっか

アイウエオ
カクキケコ
サシスセソ
タチツテト
ハヒフヘホ
ナニヌネノ
マミムメモ
ヤユヨ
ラリルレロ
ワヲ
ンン

Why Practice and How to do it if you figure that out

I put this here because there are a few points that I could derive on how to practice that is pertinent to the practice of any subject. Although I am a Music Education major some of these concepts can be used when studying Japanese, go ahead you find a few.

Why practice? To get better, of course!
It's never too late to take a good look at your practice routine and habits to see how you can improve in these areas.
Find a comfortable, well-lit, quiet place to practice. No TV!,
Use a mirror to visually check your technique.
Use a tape recorder to aurally check your playing.
"Chunking" Find a compact, coherent musical idea - say, four measures long. Play it until you know it thoroughly. Try it without the music, then with it again. Once you've played it without the music and know it sounds right, add the next musical idea. Repeat the strategy and string them together as you go. While you're "chunking", it may be helpful to make use of the "three-times" rule. If you can play a segment from memory three times in a row with no mistakes, you know you're ready to move on to the next one.
If you come across a run that never sounds right, look it over as a unit as well as note by note. Is it major, minor, diminished (half-step/whole-step or whole-step/half-step), chromatic, or almost chromatic? Once you figure out what the run is made up of, it will be easier for you to apply the technique you already know to it and conquer it. If a run has a lot of leaps between notes, look for a pattern. Are there chromatic notes or accidentals throwing you off?
Hopefully you have access to a metronome - use it!
When trying a new technique or correcting an incorrect technique, try practicing in the dark or with your eyes closed, and concentrate on how your muscles feel when doing the technique properly.
Remember to keep muscles relaxed and loose. Relaxation and breathing exercises prior to the start of a practice session can be especially helpful.
Don't make the mistake of repeating passages over and over, continuing to make the same mistakes. You're only furthering the problem by practicing the mistake!
· Slow it down ...
· Think about it ...
· Analyze why it's difficult for you ...
· Figure out what you need to do differently to solve the problem.
· Then, practice the solution! Learn to quit when your mind and your muscles become tired. You want to sound better. So, above all, remember to listen. And make your judgements and adjustments based on what you hear.

Comparison of Exalted and Humble Japanese Family words

Family words
This is a Quick Japanese Vocabulary Chart demonstrating humble and exalted forms of family words for those serious in making Japanese their SL2.

Humble –when speaking of ones own, of oneself Exalted

Father chichi O-to^san (^ denotes long o)
Mother hahao O-ka^san (long a)
Older Brother ani O-ni^san (long i)
Younger Brother ototo O-totosan
Older Sister ane O-nesan
Younger Sister imoto imotosan
Parents ryo^shin (long o) Go-ryo^shin (long o)Husband shujin (lit. my lord) Go-shujin
Wife kanai okusama, or okusan

sama versus san - san is less exalted but still polite and most commonly used as with any word in column on the right. San can be exchanged for sama in any case and is dependant on how polite you choose to speak. Don't over do it. A Japanese person will always win a verbal joust to see who can be more humble and exalt another.

Ganbatte ne! Do your best!
Makurasuki Sensei

Mo is a little Japanese particle that goes a long way. By adding the syllable mo (inclusive particle) to interrogatives, verbs and nouns many types of useful phrases and words are formed. This ghetto grammar supplement will help you increase your Japanese vocabulary immensely. Have fun!

Question word + mo
with + positive verb
with – negative verb
dare + mo
anyone
nobody
nani +mo
anything
nothing
doko + mo
everywhere, anywhere
nowhere
itsu + mo
all the time, always
none of the time, never
nannin + mo
many people, a bunch of people
not many people

Question word +demo
with + positive verb
with – negative verb
dochi + demo
whichever
none of them
nani +demo[1]
anything
nothing
doko + demo
wherever
nowhere
itsu + demo
whenever
none of the time, never
nannin + demo
however many people
not many people

Verb(base TE) + mo
even though you verb, that’s ok
+ ii desu ka ?
Even though I verb, is it ok?
itte mo
Even though I go
may I go?
hanashite mo
Even though you speak, it’s ok
may I speak?
tabete mo
Even though I eat, it’s ok.
May I eat?
itsu + mo
all the time, always
none of the time, never
nannin + mo
many people, a bunch of people
not many people


Noun + mo

Noun + mo +?
noun + mo
noun also, or noun too

John mo
John also, or John too

Dochi or which? If asked as a question The participle mo represents inclusiveness. The English equivalent being the words also or too. The mo particle does much more than it would seem at first glance. Mo might seem like just some young run of the mill uninspiring particle like ka, ga, wa, o, or no. However this very un-ordinary syllable has so many functions. MO contains enough info to fill at least one grammar book of information of information. iscuss some uses via example.
Examples of 1

Ex. 1 daremo oran! – nobody is home!

Ex. 2 itsumo asobi ni itte imasu

Ex. 3 daremo nai – this is an awkward way of saying its nobody meaning really nobody its nobody at all.
[1] In the case of Nani+demo the i of nani is removed in Japanese leaving nandemo as the word used in this case, instead of nanidemo.

How to say please and please don't in Japanese

Today’s Ghetto Grammar
Lesson #116
The please do and the please don’t bunpo with special guest - verb in base TE

A quick and easy way to say, “Please verb” in Japanese is to put the Japanese verb into base TE and add the word kudasai . (You can use my tips here as to how to put verbs in base TE). So our plug and play grammar for the day will look like this.

Verb (base TE) +Kudasai. = Please Verb.
Verb (base I) + naide + Kudasai = Please Don’t Verb.

Kudasai comes from the verb meaning -to be kind enough to do for (me) - More on how to get someone to do something for you or to receive the service of somebody next lesson. For now here are some examples just plug your favorite verb in the place of the following and Practice! Practice! Practice!

Ex. 1. Please listen to this music.
Kono ongaku of kiite kudasai. (verb-kiku (baseTE))

Ex.2 Please don’t touch my handbag.
Wataskushi no handbag o sawaranaide kudasai

Ex.3. Go Ahead, Please eat.
Dozo, Tabete kudasai. (Verb – taberu (base TE))

Ex. 4 Please don’t go
Ikanaide kudasai. (Verb- iku (verb (base I +naide)

Cont… 117

Ganbatte ne! Do your best! Makurasuki Sensei Yori,

http://brettkun.japan7625.hop.clickbank.net/

Ebay Exchange Meta Tag Off Topic Advice to nNwbie Auctioneers

#1 Tip To Avoid Regretting Purchases You Make At Online Auctions

Do you remember Yul Brenner and his "Whatever you do.... DON"T SMOKE" commercials"? Well if there was a similar tip that I would want to say to the whole world in so many words to all new members of online auction sites, and to anyone who, in their own natural enthusiasm and desire for an item and had the chance to say it, it would be this.
* In this article I have replaced all inferences to the most famous of online auctions with the imaginary online auction site P-buy. Thanks in advance for

1. DO NOT MAKE A BID UNTIL YOU CHECK THE SHIPPING COSTS!
Let me put it another way, if you want to avoid regretting your purchase, the first thing to make sure of is the cost of shipping. I reiterate for the sake of Clarity of the intent of my guide and message the following:

DO NOT BID ON ANY ITEM, UNTIL, YOU BEHOLD WITH YOUR EYES THE COST OF SHIPPING!

That is the #1 tip to avoid regretting your purchases on P-buy. Make sure to look at the shipping costs and do research for what would be considered a reasonable rate for the shipping of your prospective items.
This tip is so important that it should be requisite for all new future members of P-buy to read before signing the dotted line understand the concept of "Caveat Empore" or "Buyer Beware". It should not be proclaimed throughout the entire P-buy kingdom, coming forth not as an omen or prophecy; nor should this be divined neither from the Oracle at Delphi, nor from the wise sayings of King Solomon and re-iterated in his proverbs, but should be understood that as a new member of P-buy there are inherent dangers to membership. It is called in some places, the hornswaggle.
The agreement a bidder/consumer/customer/buyer signs electronically. P-buy should relay the message "Buyers Beware" so thoroughly on their home page that we would be able to say, “Caveat Empore”, in 4 different languages as easy as we can say our own Alphabet.
If I haven't already said this it warrants a replay: Buyer Beware The statement doesn't mention. My warning is to all classes of buyers, many of whom, like myself, may harbor, (no doubt, as of this reading), regrets about a purchase or purchases which they have fallen prey to the Hungry Dollar P-buy Selling Wolf Bandits in the guise of our most endearing and trusted household name, donning Grandmother's apron and hood, that, as sellers, are ever diligent in their efforts to secure their lucre that a little dishonesty can pull the wool over the eyes of their potential customer, thereby getting their sell. They finely tune their listings, and use every device, technique, method, story, picture, html, FORTRAN, Cobol, verbiage, photo bait and switch, whatever it takes to get $5 extra dollars from the American Democratic principles laid down by the forefathers of our great nation. P-buy should make every effort to protect these types of scams from occurring.
P-buy has been doing, as good a job, as can be expected from the evil few that really want me to be miserable after making a stupid buyers mistake. Avoid pain in the future, whatever you do… Always, always look both ways before you cross the street, making sure to wear clean underwear. A human mistake I made and it cost me $6 dollars. Yes a whopping $6 dollars I still feel to this day that the item was misrepresented, and the item that I got was a harsh reality of a grand illusion that I had just taken part of.
I paid close to $8 for $1.89 worth of value in the item in question. It even makes one feel bad about the choice but only later when it’s too late to back out of the deal. A seller that offers no return policy needs to be asked why they do not offer a return policy. But before even looking at whether the seller even offers a return of goods policy check the price of the shipping.
Here is my bad experience with one bad apple at P-buy. (Told in all my naivety as an P-buy-er who has already sold and bought items on P-buy) Boy what a sucker I am, I thought to myself as my blood boiled from the shock I received after getting my auction item. The item was a Sacagawea Dollar being sold at $0.99 cent. A measly dollar for a Sacagawea Gold Sparkling Coin and a super prize bonus of untold value awaiting my PayPal completed transaction, or the offered bonus which was stated as being an uncirculated coin.
With promises of grandeur I quickly jumped to the bidding button and laid down my amazing $0.99 bid." So I kept thinking to myself, Boy what a good boy am I...Didn't I do well… Look Mom... No Hands! I am such a good a smart shopper…Etc. And I got all excited because I was seemingly getting a superior deal. Gee...what a good boy am I… NOT… Due to a lack of bad experiences on P-buy I Hastily jumped on the bidders stump and said boy let me tell you what.
I guess you didn’t know it, but I'm a coin collector too; and, if you care to bid on my item I'll give you an uncirculated coin too. I fell for it jumped on the band wagon and bid the only bid for this item in which this seller floods P-buy with pages of her swaggle. With 2175 successful sells, you got to give this seller their due. After all this is America and it is the land of opportunity. I was almost converted to the dark-side in thinking; wow this seller is smart for being able to rip me off like that. If just I wasn't as stupid I wouldn't have fell for it. I believe P-buy’s incredible growth as a company has done a very good job in all sectors of its being. Hats off to P-buy for succeeding. For making improvements to their site, in spite of the enormity, and complexity of their tasks. Nobody is Perfect, Even Monkeys Fall from Trees.(Saru mo ki kara ochiru.) We can cut P-buy a little slack for the enormity of their enterprise.
I have no qualms with P-buy at all, and it just seems to improve day by day in every way. P-buy is such an amazingly dynamic place and provides bountifully and continues to be helpful to an ever improving and changing customer/consumer/buyer experience. P-buy can't be held responsible for buyers not being careful. "Caveat Empore" or "Buyer Beware" should at least ring forth into my head each time I open the My P-buy page or right before I put the numbers in the box for my bid price and before I input any digits of my credit card, again it wouldn't hurt to put a pop up right in my face, yeah a dirty little popup reminding me of that Phrase "Caveat Empore" I would even at that point welcome such an unwelcome pop-up for reminding me that as a buyer I need to be forewarned, I need to beware less I regret making a purchase on P-buy .
Not looking at the shipping price before bidding on an item is a no-no. If you want to avoid regretting a purchase you make on P-buy, follow my #1 Tip and you will fare much better. You will avoid regretting things later on down the line. It is so easy to get enraptured in a fabulous looking offer that at the peak, the apex of my rapture about finding such a golden treasure of an item to bid on, only after patting myself on the back for what seems to be superific deal of my lifetime, offer, or prize that I totally forgot to look at the #1 tip on how to avoid regretting my purchases on P-buy. That is, if you allow me to repeat it again
DO NOT BID ON AN ITEM UNTIL YOU HAVE BEHELD WITH YOUR EYES THE SHIPPING COSTS!
I am positive I am not alone in when I complain but little about how I have been hornswaggled by the wicked witch of the shipping north and how on top of being burned for shipping costs I was also scammed out of an item I thought I was going to receive and the difference between it and the item I actually received.
I would like to end this little guide, lense, article of mine by saying thank you to all the honest people that anonymously or knowingly work hard to make P-buy a really safe and cool place to hang out, have fun, shop, or just dream about stuff.

A Taifu is seriously not a fun time to be in love

I would like to share an experience of my own now. I don't know that vanity had anything to do with my derision but I really relate to Araby because I can see how our minds become overruled by infatuation. I lived in Fukuoka, Japan in 1990-1994 roughly and I met a girl who I really couldn't get off my mind. She was super, fantastic, the best looking girl I had ever seen. I didn't waste time using every method I could to further develop a relationship with this super, super fantastically gorgeous girl. Everything about her was awesome. I couldn't find a flaw. She was sophisticated, learned, cultured and she was an artist with extraordinary skill. Her name was Yayoi, a real rare name that translates to March in English. I thought it was cool to be called March because although in English we have names like April, August, Sunday, June, Mae etc. we didn't have a March. This added to my unfounded adoration.
I had managed to secure a date to go out to eat together one afternoon. We made a promise (yakusoku or appointment) the day before to meet at her house in Takamiya to the north of Fukuoka at 4:00 p.m. I was so head over heals in a dream about her, I couldn't wait for tomorrow to get here. I kept telling time Hurry up! Hurry up! I couldn't sleep fast enough. I kept waking up and it was still 3:18 or 4:20. When I really woke up later that morning, I decided to visit my other friend, Akiko.
In Japan they have a whole season of rain in August or July, where it rains every day, it is called Tsuyu, or simply translated the rainy season. A constant downpour of water. It rains big time, umbrellas and rain suits are pretty much useless. No kidding , non-stop rain 24 hours a day for about one month of every year. Many other Asian nations get to experience this rainy season too, but Japan is surrounded by water. That is the definition of an island. Every year during the rainy season, torrential storm currents oftentimes develop into massive taifu or typhoons, with great destructive potential. The houses windows are usually reinforced by wooden, aluminum, or steel panels to further aid against the potentially life threatening taifu that is coming to town. In California we have drop, duck and roll, fire drills, or earthquake drills all very potentially hazardous. The best way to describe a taifu is a tornado but coupled with a million gallons of water flying though Kansas at a million miles an hour. I had experienced two taifu before this incident. No big deal. We duct taped our windows because we didn't have the luxury of panel reinforcements, and we stay inside. Everything we want to keep we put indoors. Bikes, cows, cars whatever could just be strewn around. So I had no excuse for not knowing the power and affects of a taifu.
You would think that I would understand the necessity of giving respect to such an awesome force like mother nature's very own water powered tornado the taifu, but there was another force working inside of me that was even stronger than the taifu at work outside of me. I had become infatuated, what the Japanese term in a verb muchu ni naru or to become directly in the middle or center of a dream about her, maybe starry eyed would be a better translation.
I was at the other part of town in the south, about close to a 50 minutes bike ride to Takamiya my most important destination for that time in my life. Getting to meet her, spend time with her and getting to know her meant more to me than anything. happen at around 10:00 in the morning. Visiting another friend and she was in her own right a very beautiful princess herself. She would have been quite a catch. But to me she was my kindergarten friend. We played piano together. I had travelled by bicycle to her house and it just seemed like another one of those tsuyu days.
Even if I did wear a rain coat, Japan is so humid that my sweat creates rain inside my suit, in other words it was hard to stay dry. It was overcast, but I didn't look so bad. It didn't look like a taifu was headed our way and was going to hit our city, nobody had many anything to me before .As my other friend and I were playing around on her piano and looking at pictures a news warning on TV told us that we are now in a state of emergency blah , blah, blah. Prepare for the arrival of a taifu immediately they said. No one was to have activities outside, only that we should batten down the hatches quickly and get to somewhere safe fast. and get ready for some mighty swirling water wind.
I remember being stuck at her house wanting so badly to brave the taifu to get to my dream date. I tried everything to get to go. But they didn't have to persuade me for very long. A taifu is dangerous. Don't get stuck out ion one that is for sure, they might never find you or you might get hurt. My other friend's father cautioned me 'there will be no way to go anywhere now at all 'as he pointed to the grey sky and ominous looking things developing outside. I was torn between feelings. I felt meeting her was my sole purpose now in life. Nothing else mattered. Not the best piano music or anything. Missing that chance, I felt somehow deprived of all that is dear to me. My mind wanted to go ,but for safety's sake I was talked out of leaving Akiko's house eventually being persuaded by myself. It wouldn't even be possible. The winds were howling outside. Your hair blew up in your face like grass being blown in a field as the strong winds gave no mercy to civilization. as more important to die in a taifu in an attempt to make it 50 minutes away. In reality, not even the dumbest of fools would have attempted to ride their bike in a taifu. NOBODY! and to get to see her than it was to be safe get I told the dad if I really hurried on my bike a wouldn't be in danger. He knew far better than I did the destructive force of a taifu, you would be crazy to brave the taifu on a bike to get to He denied my pleading to take leave while even though I tried being super nice to him by emphasizing how good of a host he had been to me.
So there were my circumstances. I was so devastated. I had to face the fact that I couldn't meet her today. Nature prevented me from getting what I wanted and from getting where I wanted to go. Fate would have it that way. It sucked. I was miserable and I couldn't not show it even though I tried. Akiko's family tried cheering me up by saying that we could all have a picnic in their home and wait until the storm cleared then it would be safe to leave. I countered that remark to myself by saying, but I can't wait around until the storm clears, I have to see her now, at 4:00.
I really wanted that date. It was the only one I had. I had no insurance that I might get another. I asked, " How could the weather change so fast,; if I leave now, I could make it to my other date before the edge of the taifu even got to us." The fact was, that while I was playing with my other friend the taifu had already edged its way in. The winds were getting louder, and stronger. The news said the winds would get upward of 200 Kph. I took one last look outside Akiko's front door to see if all this stuff was true, thinking to myself maybe I could escape. (That would be disrespectful to Akiko's family who graciously hosted me and harbored me during that taifu. But my infatuation with Yayoi left me inconsiderate of others hospitality, and I became their sandtrap)I opened one of the doors, and as I did the my hand was still attached to the knob as it threw me around. I struggled to close it back up. I realized, I wouldn't even be able to hold my bike up let alone ride in it. The taifu was raging. From the edge of the taifu to the Eye of the taifu it took probably 3 hours. After that three hours we entered into the calmness of the Eye. I tried in vain again trying to get someone to believe that the storm is over. Its all calm now", I said "I can't hear the winds any more. No more winds." The mother taught me that in the center of the whirling taifu was the core and that their house was entering it now. For about 30 minutes it was really calm, but after it passed over, or by us then I could hear the winds. I thought... another three hours. So we ate our picnic, and I tried to make the best of my worst situation.
What a crazy fool I was. I wanted to see her so bad, I was gripping fists and biting my tongue, gnawing and gnashing my teeth in rebellion to this mother nature who had taken my happiness from me. I was in a bit of silent rage cursing mother nature and the taifu she rode in on, all the while asking in vain why couldn't the taifu have been any other day of the last 30yrs. Just perfect timing I guess. I had to learn from it. I didn't like the chiding. I wanted my freedom, to move about, but mother nature shoved it in my face and said nanny, nanny. My great natural powers indeed will stop a man. It did.
I gave up and decided it was useless to sit around thinking I could possibly leave in time to meet her. I resignedly called Yayoi to talk to her about it. She just said come and talk to her later and we can do it some other time. I WANTED TO GO NOW! I had become angry. Angry at wind angry at my captors (Akiko's family) Angry at everything. If I didn't learn anything else, this little episode in my life taught me patience, and it taught me that some things in life simply can't be overturned, or bypassed. The power of nature showed its full face to me that day, but I hated every second of it because of what it deprived me of.

But we must have control of ourselves at all times. We mustn't lose our place in space or time to any emotional setback or backlash where we lost our very conscious and forget who we really are. Don't give in to your emotions. If an emotion strikes that can overpower us, we must counter instantly with our minds and take back control of ourselves once again. But it is these types of emotions that empower us to learn at an accelerated pace or to do great things. To master a foreign language takes a serious amount of personal sacrifice and commitment. The tower of babel didn't make things any easier to those desirous speak a language other than one's native tongue.

Primer to a uniquely Japanese Experience

A lot of people have come across something in their lives that has a tendency to highly influence our actions, wants, and desires. Some things outright possess us. Johnny is in to baseball cards and won't quit until he gets that 97' Donruss platinum press proof signature card of Mark MacGwire, and Derek won't stop playing guitar until his fingers hurt, or Chrysalis records affords him a recording contract. When other things rather than our goals and worthy pursuits, take us away from what we really should be doing, we find ourselves akin to what James Joyce in his Araby would call, "...a creature driven and derided by vanity...". Because we give these our infatuations, adorations, admirations a lot of attention, we lose track of where we are, who we are, and what we are doing. We could term a "confused adoration" or obsession with someone an infatuation. In Araby we see how this obsession, or romantic adoration (infatuation) has a way of controlling the main character's (whom no name is given) actions, ideas, and thoughts as he progresses through the story. In reading Araby, we can see how his intense adoration for a one Mangan's sister, takes over his world. It takes over his attitude toward school, the things which he should be doing and seems to compel to the sudden realization(epiphany) that he has been on the wrong track for the wrong reasons.
From a distance, the young man (the main character of Araby) has a youthful crush on Mangan's sister after scoping her out through the eyes of pious rendering. The story is set in the early 1900's in Dublin Ireland. A time at which every proper person feels it necessary for some sort of church and state. We find out that his house used to belong to a priest, now deceased.The imagery we get about the neighborhood, in which they live, is a very serene, not so post- Victorian Dublin, Ireland.
James Joyce is very descriptive in giving the setting. I particularly like the way he describes the way the boys play ,"We played 'till our bodies glowed. Have you ever played football after school, when the air is cold and stingy? You work up a sweat and your body seems to glow with the hot perspiration inside your coat, when you take it off your body sort of glows. The young mans aunt has a concern about the Freemasons causing a ruckus at dearly beloved Catholic church. No good Irish man could be without his Catholicism. So to begin the tale, we find the tone of the story to be somewhat, religious. As the story progresses, we come to see how the young man becomes overtaken with his adoration for Mangan's sister.
The young man tells us the way in which he first sees her. The narrator in first person tells us that she would call for her brother to come to tea. "I stood by the railings looking at her." So to begin with, he does a lot of looking. The young man describes her, "Her dress swung as she moved her body and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side."In the early 1900's it was still a big thing to see a girls petticoat. That petticoat, idealized in the young mans mind, repeating over and over in his mind mental images of this girl, could be seen as one way the author Joyce found to perpetuate his infatuation.
As far as character is concerned, the young man is rather round. We know a lot of a little bit, everything but his name.We are given details that he is young, in school and that he lives with his aunt and uncle. You ever notice other stories in which the main characters live with their aunts and uncles. Like uncle Owen and Aunt Em for Luke Skywalker in Star Wars or Dorothy's uncle Oz (just kidding). I wanted to ask ,' Where is his real mother and father? Will these details given by the narrator perpetuate the mood in which we see his infatuation?'
We know nothing of his relatives, and Mangan's sister would appear to be somewhat flat. But as we analyze her character with a little post thought, we come to find out many things which the author only implies. I would say with careful thought she is a rather complex character affecting the whole gamut of this short story.We know that she has a white neck and a really sexy petticoat and other minute details. It doesn't really matter that we know a lot about the girl. What we do know is our young man is 'head over heels' about her, and it affects his thoughts and deeds.What we should do, is find out how this adoration is affecting him.We also know that when the young man and Mangan's sister first talk, they discuss a fair, entitled Araby, that is going to take place soon and whether or not he is going. The young man now finds the impetus that drives his infatuation. When she tells him that she cannot go due to obligations concerning a retreat at her convent, he unwittingly obliges himself to bring her something back. Since she is involved in nunnery, we could possibly label her as a good girl, but due to the young man's extreme idealism, to him, she might be viewed as a sort of Madonna, a woman that is near perfect.
From this point on, the young man determines to bring her something from the fair, thus, perpetuating another meeting with his most adored. (Perhaps the only type of women that were around in his town were nunnish.) The young man views her almost as a religious artifact, her image was his chalice, and every where the young man went, he imagined that he "...bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes." Everything seems colored with this religious tone. It even seems as if he prayed to her. "I pressed the palms of my hands together until they trembled, murmuring: "O Love! O Love!" many times." His idealized sweetheart, the girl he so much adored, was his holy Grail. "Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance." No matter what pressing matters were at hand, no matter how much distractions he might have had, he stayed true to his adoration keeping her image with him through the day.
His mind was occupied constantly with this 'confused adoration'. I feel the theme of Araby is a theme of extreme adoration or infatuation and the way in which it has an affect on our well being, on our actions and even how we think and act towards others. Are we driven by our obsessions, or do we drive them. The next few paragraphs will be on incidents that occur in the story that can show us how this overwhelming adoration, unquelled had affected him. It really affected him, and vanity could certainly drive and deride us, if we are not careful.
We can see how a his preoccupation to thoughts on her led his teacher to suspect that he might be beginning to idle. Even other people notice the changes brought about by his infatuation. He didn't have much motivation to do anything, that didn't concern Mangan's sister. He only wanted to see her again, he had been given the chance to impress her with vanity by bringing her something cool back from the fair.James Joyce's use of diction in the following excerpt helps illustrate how the young man felt about anything that didn't have to do with her, " I chafed against the work of school." Did he get a rug burn or something? This is probably just another way of saying that he felt his school work was getting in the way. Getting in the way between that which he desired and that which was tedious.When we are obsessed with something or someone, we don't appreciate things getting in the way of our adoration. He says, "... I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days... and could not call my wandering thoughts together. I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life's which, now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me child's play ugly monotonous child's play." See cause being in love with somebody is serious adults business right?
If there is a point to be made, it is that usually our obsessions and infatuations take over and control us , not that we have any control over or possibly could control our obsessions. Other than that which we adore things seem monotonous. Everything is more boring, and more dull than that which we adore. It just isn't as interesting. "Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand." Just her name was, if he heard it, "...was like a summons to all my (his) foolish blood ." Just her name and the name Araby were powerful influences over him. If someone so much as mentioned the word Araby it jostled his imagination of the exotic, "...it cast an Eastern enchantment over me." Even he recognizes that this infatuation controls and influences the stupid or foolish things which he might do for the cause of romantic obsession.
The young man seems to be a dynamic character. In a way even before his epiphany, he admitted to himself the possibilities of repercussions for having such a confused 'adoration'. The young man observed, "What innumerable follies laid waste my waking and sleeping thoughts after that evening." The evening in question is their simple meeting, where he actually conversed with her (the Madonna). His adoration rendered him incapable of dealing with his daily routine. Not being able to concentrate at school only worsened his condition to be driven by vanity. He thought only on the promise of going and seeing an exotic, enchanting bazaar, and the promise of meeting and talking with her again in hopes that he might impress her with the trinket or the 'something' he was going to bring back for her.
Here is another point to ponder. Julie proposed it to me in our reading of the great works. It is something like this. When we idealize things (or humans), we think the best of them. We only see what we want to see, even if the thing (or human) isn't really what our mind pictures or desires. We all have a pair of rose colored glasses with which to perceive and view our world and the persons in it. We can view them however we want even though we may not know a single thing of truth concerning what kind of person they are. So I keep that in mind as I consider how the young man must have seen things.
In Araby, he didn't know too much about Mangan's sister, after all, they only talked that once, but to him she was top choice. The young man never ever got to tell her that he likes her. Instead, the plot becomes such that he was given an opportunity to show her that he liked her by bringing her soemething back from the bazaar.
His sole purpose was to show her his adoration. He probably wasn't even very familiar with such a bazaar, but simply because it was the main topic of their sole conversation prompted him to treat this as a very important matter. The young man asked his uncle about going to the bazaar, but his uncle didn't give him 10% assurance about it. This uncertainty, almost like a fear, the what if? the what if I don't go? complex syndrome. When his mind turned to uncertainty abut getting to the fair his heart missed a beat, an actual physical manifestation. He says, "The air was pitilessly raw and already my heart misgave me. He had to wait till his uncle got home in order to get the shillings and the florin to enter the bazaar. Just imagine how dreadfully impatient he was that night. His uncle seemed somewhat compassionate and caring, but not as so as the aunt. Upon seeing how badly he wanted to go to the bazaar, his aunt became his spokesperson for love. In her simple language she pleads for her nephews cause, saying energetically, "Can't you give him the money and let him go? You've kept him late enough as it is. " Have you ever seen someone want something or want to do something soooo bad, that you help them get it. Joyce represents here in a very few words a very human experience, a plea for someone's cause due to their overwhelming desire to possess it.
The young man's extreme idealism had turned him in. This bazaar wasn't the great, fantastic, enchanted, magical place he had envisioned it. It was a bit unruly. He even had trouble remembering why he had come. Isn't that ironic. He would have just about died to get to this bazaar, but now he was getting nearer to a keen insight into his character, the epiphany. He noticed how this whole affair had affected him and what position he lay in now. At a bunk bazaar, with some stupid wench flirting with some guys not even caring about the wares. He must of thought to himself, ' Is this all?' That is where he saw how he was driven and derided by vanity, the vain puffed up stuff. Costly apparel, looking good in the eyes of others. Fancy buggies and expensive petticoats. He must have thought how worthless, how vain. Nothing could have been so ordinary; there was nothing so important or stifling even to have come in the first place. He realized that he was the sole proprietor of his actions, he concluded that he was a lowly creature like a pig in its mire.
The sudden realization or insight into who this young man really was helps us to add another point to what we consider the them. It is true that he was infatuated with her, but the reason was was because of the vain things of the world, just to be showy, like hey look at me in my new silk socks and look at all this very cool, tres hip stuff that we can get at the bazaar, got to get it or you aren't cool. To be liked by her he would have to be somewhat vain. The girl flirting with the guys is one way Joyce shows vanity. It is hard for the young man to come to grips with what was really driving his infatuation. He sums the realization up in the very last sentence of Araby and also the quote I used first in this paper, "Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature, driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger." The choice of words here makes me instantly think of a creature as being a lesser animal, but I particularly envisioned an owl. A creature driven by falsehood or deceit. Was he deceiving himself or was he being deceived?
to be continued with an Japanese Experience next blog.... stay tuned...

How to say probably in Japanese For Sure

Mo is a little Japanese particle that goes a long way. By adding the syllable mo (inclusive particle) to interrogatives, verbs and nouns many types of useful phrases and words are formed. This ghetto grammar supplement will help you increase your Japanese vocabulary immensely. Have fun!

Question word + mo with + positive verb with – negative verb
dare + mo anyone nobody
nani +mo anything nothing
doko + mo everywhere, anywhere nowhere
itsu + mo all the time, always none of the time, never
nannin + mo many people, a bunch of people not many people

Question word +demo with + positive verb with – negative verb
dochi + demo whichever none of them
nani +demo anything nothing
doko + demo wherever nowhere
itsu + demo whenever none of the time, never
nannin + demo however many people not many people

Verb(base TE) + mo even though you verb, that’s ok + ii desu ka ?
Even though I verb, is it ok?
itte mo Even though I go may I go?
hanashite mo Even though you speak, it’s ok may I speak?
tabete mo Even though I eat, it’s ok. May I eat?
itsu + mo all the time, always none of the time, never
nannin + mo many people, a bunch of people not many people


Noun + mo Noun + mo +?
noun + mo noun also, or noun too
John mo John also, or John too
Dochi or which? If asked as a question The participle mo represents inclusiveness. The English equivalent being the words also or too. The mo particle does much more than it would seem at first glance. Mo might seem like just some young run of the mill uninspiring particle like ka, ga, wa, o, or no. However this very un-ordinary syllable has so many functions. MO contains enough info to fill at least one grammar book of information of information. iscuss some uses via example.
Examples of 1

Ex. 1 daremo oran! – nobody is home!

Ex. 2 itsumo asobi ni itte imasu

Ex. 3 daremo nai – this is an awkward way of saying its nobody meaning really nobody its nobody at all.

日 This is the Kanji for the word, Sun. Words that use radicals1 containg this ji2 日are related to or usually have something to do with things of the sun, bright things, things that give off light, things that glow. Do you get the point? Japanese isn’t that difficult to read, but it is our predisposition to believe that it is so that is why we fail before we even try. We look at the mess of Kanji or the Hieroglyphs and cower in self stupidity. If someone could just show others as I had learned on my own. The learning of another language wouldn’t be such a daunting or formidable task. having in someway a connection with the light, bright etc. These words too have also have the kanji hi in them.
There seems to be so much more meaning contained in an ideograph than do letters that represent sounds that together represent meaning. Here is one example of a kanji that looks fairly difficult. This kanji is made in 9 strokes of the pen and after learning that 日means the sun, or signifies words related to the sun then we could make a fairly good estimate at what this next kanji means . 星 has the sun kanji in it as well as the kanji for the word birth, or to give life to. 生 is the kanji sei which means depending on tense of the word, life. In its future use tense this it contains one other syllable mu む、Put 生and mu or む together and you have Umu or in Japanese 生む which according to Sanseido’s Daily Concise Japanese- English Dictionary means 1. to bear a child, to give birth to a baby. 2 to lay eggs or spawn.(49) Now before reading the answer on pg 8 take an educated guess at what the meaning is. Think or ponder for a second how these two kanji put together make a different yet totally logical word out of two other words. Just like Englishes prefixes and suffixes in words like lithograph, literally stone write, or engraving . The words birth of something and the word hi fused together make the word star. Now next time you see a couple of kanji just take a guess, your chances of being right are better than 50%.
Better than 50% chance is usually all that linguists worry about when tring to find the similiarities of language. if you can guess more than 50% of the words given some system like the above then the language is said to be related to your own family.
There are 6 main language families from whence all other languages stem. These are the Indo-Eurasiatic, the Urallic, the Anuit eskimo, the and the ..
Since it has never been proven that there was one all powerful might mother tongue, which by the way is called nostratic tongue, it is fair to assume that there was one. The languages of the world although apparently can seem so different, and it is true that we are confounded by them, one culture are confounded by the words of another. The problem is, is that there is no proof because there is no evidence of the writings or digital recordings of ancient peoples to tell us that there really was only one language. One thing we can say for fact is that there were less people. That is fairly obvious. Therefore on that assumption, we can assume that there were less languages than there are now. Can’t we further say then that the further back we go there were still less and less people.Therefore as x ( the number of people on the earth at any certain time) approaches 2, y =1. Because there is no communication without two person. There isn’t much need for a language if there is nobody to communicate with. From 2 people perhaps came 16 others, children of those 2 people therefore now it is possible to start having different languages.
Take for example the days of the week. First off in almost every single language in the world there is a day denoted as the Sun’s day or the day of the Sun, and a moon day, or day of the moon. the words for the days of the week in Japanese, we are liable to pass it off as mere coincidence, the similarities are striking. The following table shows the words for days of the week in Japanese and in English.
Kasei are made of two kanji, ka and sei, or fire and star. Kasei translates as fire day. In English our equivalent of fire’s day is Tuesday, named after the Tiu the god of war and the sky. But before the Germanic peoples renamed the second day of the week Tuesday, the Romans had a system of naming the days of the week after their god and had called it dies martis ‘day of mars’, after the war god (source of French Mardi ‘Tuesday’). (Ayto, 544)
The kanji for Saturday being read do or basically the term for dirt or dirt’s day but is also the root of the Japanese word for Saturn, which is Dosei.
As for the third day of the week, some languages call it the 3rd day or day 3(Vietnamese) In Japanese this day is denoted as Suiyobi or day of the water, water’s day. The Germanic peoples called this day woden’s day or day of Odin after one of their mightiest gods. It seems that Wednesday got all screwed up being filtrated through the evolution of languages. It makes sense because Wednesday is in the middle of the week and if there are going to be corruptions from the pure form from whence the original words came from then the word for the middle of the week makes sense. In Japanese the word for mercury is kasei which would find its relations to our Tuesday. The Japanese Suisei is the planet
Now Thursday was named after the god Thor (where our English thunder comes from) but in the Roman system of naming the days of the week the fourth day was names dies jovis or day of Jupiter. In Japanese the fourth day is denoted Moku sei or day of the tree which is from the same root as that for their word for Jupiter, and that word being Mokusei.
Now Friday is denoted as Kinsei or day of gold in Japanese which is the same root for the word for planet kinsei which is Venus. The Germanic peoples called it after Odin’s wife Frigg (Ayto, 241) ‘Frigg’s day’ was a direct adaptation of Latin Veneris dies “Venus’s day’ (whence French vendredi ‘Friday’)

Days of the week in Japanese compared to other languages

日 This is the Kanji for the word, Sun. Words that use radicals1 containg this ji2 日are related to or usually have something to do with things of the sun, bright things, things that give off light, things that glow. Do you get the point? Japanese isn't that difficult to read, but it is our predisposition to believe that it is so that is why we fail before we even try. We look at the mess of Kanji or the Hieroglyphs and cower in self stupidity. If someone could just show others as I had learned on my own. The learning of another language wouldn't be such a daunting or formidable task. having in someway a connection with the light, bright etc. These words too have also have the kanji hi in them.
There seems to be so much more meaning contained in an ideograph than do letters that represent sounds that together represent meaning. Here is one example of a kanji that looks fairly difficult. This kanji is made in 9 strokes of the pen and after learning that 日means the sun, or signifies words related to the sun then we could make a fairly good estimate at what this next kanji means . 星 has the sun kanji in it as well as the kanji for the word birth, or to give life to. 生 is the kanji sei which means depending on tense of the word, life. In its future use tense this it contains one other syllable mu む、Put 生and mu or む together and you have Umu or in Japanese 生む which according to Sanseido's Daily Concise Japanese- English Dictionary means 1. to bear a child, to give birth to a baby. 2 to lay eggs or spawn.(49) Now before reading the answer on pg 8 take an educated guess at what the meaning is. Think or ponder for a second how these two kanji put together make a different yet totally logical word out of two other words. Just like Englishes prefixes and suffixes in words like lithograph, literally stone write, or engraving . The words birth of something and the word hi fused together make the word star. Now next time you see a couple of kanji just take a guess, your chances of being right are better than 50%.
Better than 50% chance is usually all that linguists worry about when tring to find the similiarities of language. if you can guess more than 50% of the words given some system like the above then the language is said to be related to your own family.
There are 6 main language families from whence all other languages stem. These are the Indo-Eurasiatic, the Urallic, the Anuit eskimo, the and the ..
Since it has never been proven that there was one all powerful might mother tongue, which by the way is called nostratic tongue, it is fair to assume that there was one. The languages of the world although apparently can seem so different, and it is true that we are confounded by them, one culture are confounded by the words of another. The problem is, is that there is no proof because there is no evidence of the writings or digital recordings of ancient peoples to tell us that there really was only one language. One thing we can say for fact is that there were less people. That is fairly obvious. Therefore on that assumption, we can assume that there were less languages than there are now. Can't we further say then that the further back we go there were still less and less people.Therefore as x ( the number of people on the earth at any certain time) approaches 2, y =1. Because there is no communication without two person. There isn't much need for a language if there is nobody to communicate with. From 2 people perhaps came 16 others, children of those 2 people therefore now it is possible to start having different languages.

Language is one of the highest forms of culture, and is one of the distinguishing factors which separate the humans from the animals. Anthropologists and linguists in every sub-field imaginable have tried to pinpoint the origins of human speech and evolution of languages. There is the ta-ta theory the, the ma-ma theory, the pooh-pooh theory, the motor skills of the brains of monkeys with those of humans in an attempt to discover the origin of languages. There are hundreds of hypothesis as to when and how languages came about. None of these scholars however can say beyond the shadow of a doubt that languages all stem from one common root but. But they often suggest that there probably was a common linguistic root. (NHK Radio)
If someone just came right out and told the world – yes there use to be only one language! It’s called the Adamic language (after Adam the first man) All languages can trace their roots back to this, its most pure form. Nobody comes out and tells us this because not everyone believes in Adam. What we have instead is a scientific term used by linguists called the Nostratic tongue.
When we compare the similarities and dissimilarities of languages we are overwhelmed with the similarities. This suggests that there was such a thing as the Nostratic tongue even when the apparently different languages Japanese and English, when compared show that there are too many similarities to think that there wasn’t some such common root. The next few paragraphs will show the similarities in the days of the week in Japanese and English then you decide how different they are.
A closer look suggests that all languages come from one and the same root. If we take a closer look at the way the information age is shaping the way we communicate in regards to language, it wouldn’t be too far amiss to say that although we might not be going back to the Adamic language, but seeing how languages are becoming more and more extinct, we might be headed towards a time when we again use only one language. The days of the week as denoted by the worlds languages share a similarity that is too alike to pass off as a mere coincidence.
A comparison of words for the days of the week in English and Japanese show that there was a tongue from which languages sprang, it also showed how it digressed. The languages started changing as more and more people populated the earth. Then at some point the differences became so great that it gave rise to the birth of other languages ( It actually necessitated them.) small of an example of the similarities in languages that several languages that the tongues of the world did indeed come from one source.

Brett's kun

mamori masu
mamorimasen
mamorimashita
mamorimasen deshita
mamotta
mamoranakatta

ra -base1, ri-baseII, ru- plain form or base III, re - base IV, ro- base V. All polite endings for non-
irregular verbs

Base Ta - ooph la la

Have you ever verbed – verb (base TA) + koto ga aru

Iku – itte, itta

Tokyo ni itta koto ga aru? Have you ever been to Tokyo?

Hai, Tokyo ni itta koto ga arimasu. Yes I have been to Tokyo before.

Sushi o tabeta koto ga aru? Iie, sushi wa tabeta koto wa arimasen.

gerund in Japan

JPPGG© Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar
No word is too big
Lesson #88 verb(base TE) + iru The use of the gerund in Japanese

To say that you are currently in the process of doing something in Japanese all you need do is use this very simple grammar construction:

Verb (base TE) + iru


So here are some examples to get you started.

1. swimming - the verb to swim in Japanese is oyogu

oyougu in base TE is

oyoide iru or oyoide imasu (polite)

Dream in Japanese

Since older beginners are said to have past the threshold of native pronunciation, once past that point, native pronunciation is unattainable. This may be physiologically true but we can through practice and hard work get close enough to fake a native or two. Once our tongues have hardened or the brain function coordinated with the muscles of the tongue are stuck in our primary language, they say this usually happens around the age of 12-14, then our tongue is no longer moldable and cannot attain the shape to pronounce words past the point where the native pronunciation line can be drawn, we can draw near unto only a good pronunciation after learning 1 through 10 On Counting in Japanese: a study strategy

It is rare with so many romance languages being touted around in the USA; with Mexico south of the border and French Canada high on its heels behind us yet close enough to have its influence felt. It is rare to find someone who has actually learned from a friend or a Japanese teacher how to count in Japanese. Americans are starving for some variety in the choices our students our given in the public or private schools. Where in the curriculum does it provide for Japanese, or Korean, or any of the 1000's of languages the world knows.

First learn the first 10 numbers in Japanese.

1 – ichi
2 – ni
3 – san
4 – shi, yon
5 – go
6 - roku
7 –shichi, nana
8 – hachi, ha
9 – kyu, ku
10 – ju, to

At this point, I just want to say that if you feel at all uncomfortable with the numbers up to 10 then stop and just study these numbers for a couple of days before going on. Use every opportunity to use Japanese. Give yourself two hours each day that you only speak Nihongo. If someone asks you what time it is answer in both Japanese and English. Try doing any simple math that you would normally find yourself doing around the house; any calculations you find yourself in try to remember to keep pace with your goals. The price of your Stater Bros items and even say the total in Japanese as you are waiting to pay. That is a good way to study even if you are not in Japan. Just make sure you can first say from 1 to 10 in Japanese frontward and backwards with your eyes closed and without any help from some book, however you decide to memorize the numbers. The idea behind all of this is to get the locuter speaking more in the target language giving him opportunity to

Now on to the teens- Like most languages, the numbers become compound so 11 in Japanese is actually like saying ten one, ten two, ten three, ten four etc.
11 – ju ichi
12 – ju ni
13 – ju san
...
and so forth... I'll let you finish studying the rest of the tens 14-19

Now on to the twenties -Here as in the teens the numbers are compounded so that you will be saying two ten, two ten one, two ten three etc.
20 –ni ju
21 – ni ju ichi
22 – ni ju ni
And so on...

The 30's through the 90's are also done in this fashion. Once you have recited aloud the numbers 20 to 99 review them all and go on to do the 100's after you learn the word for
30 – san ju
31 - san ju ichi
95 – kyu ju go
99 – kyu ju kyu
100 – hyaku
101 – hyaku ichi
108 – hyaku hachi
197 – hyaku kyu ju nana (shichi)
200 – ni hyaku
300 – sam byaku
400 – yon hyaku
500 –go hyaku
600 – roppyaku
700 – nanahyaku
800 – happyaku
900 – kyuhyaku
1000 – sen
1001 – sen ichi
2000 ni sen
Etc
Some of my best spent hours studying Japanese were when I recited to myself the numbers in Japanese from zero to one million, and then back to zero again. Yes it got a little tedious and after a while I would think to myself, “O.K. Enough is enough! I mean gee… to 1 million and back… that is going a little out of the way just to learn some language don’t you think?” Not to a die-hard that really wants to speak the language. I was extremely determined to master Japanese, that is why I recited the numbers from zero to one million and then back again over and over again.
Other things I did which are strategies worth considering was that I would count from 0 to 1 million by 2’s, by 3’s, by 4’s and by 5’s, 6’s, 7’s, 8’s, 9’s, and 10’s. Some numbers seemed for some reason or another harder than the others, so I would concentrate more on the hard ones. I don’t think I tried 11’s but it could produce the same results. It surely stems from basically the same idea. The more your mouth and brain coordinate their efforts in the target languages the better prepared you will be to use them in the real world. So go ahead use you try some of these out until you can say them without hesitation.

Ways to practice counting so as to get better in speaking Japanese, always practice with correct pronunciation and begin slowly and then build up speed and swiftness of speech.

1. Count from 0 to 1 million and go backwards once you arrive at a million to get to zero once again. Again if 1 million seems tough, it would be o.k. to go as far as you can, but maybe stretch yourself a little, a least 99000 or something. You want to get good don’t you?
2. Count up the odd numbers from 0 to 1 million
3. Count up the even numbers from 0 to 1 million
4. Do #2 and #3 backwards from 1 million
5. Count through your numbers by 3’s, 4’s 5’s etc
6. Do long division by saying out loud in Japanese the problem
Here are some nice handy math words that will give you hours of word play:
To add – tasu
To divide – waru
To multiply -kakeru
To subtract – hiku

I don’t think it sinks into your being until you’ve actually recited the numbers from zero to one million (1,000,000) a couple of times through without hesitation and eventually to do it without even thinking about it. That is one of the secrets of fluency. It sprouts from one’s ability to think in the target language. If you catch yourself thinking in the target language that is a good sign; if you catch yourself dreaming in the target language you have reached bliss, SLA bliss. You are heading towards fluency. I got to a point where my dreams would be in Japanese and it didn’t matter who or what type of people were in my dreams, everybody spoke in Japanese. I remember my mom and dad who aren’t too familiar with the Japanese language, but in my dreams were conversing with me full on like natives themselves. So what is the point of all this? The point is akin to the old adage,’ when in Rome do as the Romans do’.

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

dewa

Knowing the way verbs can be fashioned to derive more meanings is crucial to your fluency. Don’t begin your conquest of the Japanese language without learning basic strategy. Basic strategy says always speak in the most polite level of language that can be afforded. . Verbs manipulation is a good course of action for the SL2 learner who is in high gear on short on time.. The boxes are the most basic way verbs are formed. Become familiar with them by using the plug and play grammar boxes below.

This morning I was per chance perusing an old French school book that claims that I can “learn by yourself”. Inside I saw the never ending struggle with verb conjugations. But, unlike French, English, Spanish, or Italian, Japanese doesn’t have a multitude of conjugations that must be memorized for any given verb. In Japanese learn the four basic ordinal points in language learning. .l To help you start speaking Japanese quicker, learn how to put verbs into the most common polite level and plain form structures. Always practice saying out loud all sentences in both standard politeness levels and plain forms. In Japanese it is easy to fall in a plain form rut because usually that is what is being spoken around us. People are of course going to be shitashii. But we must be careful not to get into a habit which may degrade our high and lofty goals to speak an eloquent Japanese. One that is pure, natural, free from vulgarity and as honorable sounding as we can make it. If we are to be dining with greatness we should speak the part.. This lesson shows the boxes of verb of all we need to be able to say and politely I might add is; 1. a verb in the affirmative present or future 2. a verb in the negative future or present. 3. a verb in the affirmative past, and 4. a verb in its negative past.
Here is a quick example of how this works:
First, draw a box like this to the box. Plain form may be used in embedded questions but always practice putting verbs into the polite ending of -masu, because when you speak politely to others, others treat you with more respect and even speak it back to you but usually even more humbly and you feel so good when spoken to in this way. and such but never when addressing people in formal or even semi-formal and some non-formal situations. For those interested in learning to speak Japanese isn’t it somewhat of a bonus feature and even a motivational factor that instead of a plethora of different conjugations that we must study and memorize, in Japanese all we have to do is be able to manipulate 4 conjugations. I like that fact that Japanese can be understood with only 4 tenses of a verb because in that old French school book which I perchance was perusing I saw these scary looking words. In that French book there was 5 pages of conjugations for one verb. If you can’t get my drift in this part of the lesson, what I am saying is that Japanese is easier to speak perhaps than anyone has ever thought or cared to discuss. So spread the word don’t let Japanese intimidate anyone and look at all the benefits of Japanese over our traditional romance grammar translation guru pound cake.





B.

DESU
(polite; state of being.) + -

Present DESU. (is , am)
DEWA ARIMASEN.
(isn’t , am not)


Past DESHITA. (was)

DEWA ARIMASEN DESHITA. (wasn’t)




C.
MASU
(Polite form verb endings.)
+ -


Present MASU
(Will, do, shall)
MASEN
(will not, do not, shall not)


Past

MASHITA
(did, would) MASEN DESHITA
(did not, would not)

The above box is your model for polite speech. When in doubt, use this when conjugating your verbs. It is adequate to almost all formal situations, where everyone except the Emperor will be attending.


Plain Form
(Use with those close to your social circle, never to a boss or an Emperor!) + -

Present
Base III
(will verb, do verb) Base I + nai
(won’t verb, don’t verb)

Past

Base TA
(did verb) Base I + nakatta
(didn’t verb)
Degrading from the polite form



Plain form - to be + -
Present de aru, da.
(is, am) dewa nai
(isn’t, am not)
Past de atta, datta
(was) dewa nakatta
(wasn’t)



D.V. Plain Form + -
Present stem + i
(is)
stem + kunai
(is not)

Past
stem + katta
(was)
stem + kunakatta
(was not)


Just as sushi connotes a certain image for many Americans so does the thought of studying Japanese. and came upon these lovely terms about verbs: indicative mood, present, imperfect, past definite, perfect, pluperfect, past anterior, future anterior, conditional present, conditional past, imperative mood, subjunctive mood, Infinitive mood present, and on, and on. Our culture almost automatically assumes if it isn’t one of the traditional romance languages then it must be hard to master, or would serve no good or useful purpose.. But they are wrong!. Let there be no doubt about it, Japanese is a just as hard as any language to master. You must learn Japanese in small steps, just let the accumulating of vocabulary be a good part of your goals for Japanese acquisition method. Of course we must have our milk before meat. But we do eventually we do want to get to the meat… eventually.

Ganbatte ne! Makurasuki Sensei.

Comments sense

I have several articles for your Japanese learning enjoyment, the links I will list below. Most of the content of these articles are for intermediate to advance learners. Being exposed is a good thing in education. Being immersed would be the most ideal situation. You are thinking in a good manner to want to read it then speak it. I think that there are 4 categories or areas which must be developed when attempting to master a language: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. I know there are other terms for listening, like comprehension etc. but for our sakes I shall call it listening. There are two outflows of language, they are writing and speaking. Outflow of writing uses the medium of pen and paper to write symbols which will convey meaning, and the Japanese language is so very full of meaning in this way. There is so much to learn in the way of kanji. All terms having to do with water use the sui hen or water radical. Start memorizing the radicals of Kanji, this will help you immensely in your understanding of the language, but it may not help your amount of vocabulary. I would suggest this at first because if you try to attack the kanji too soon you might get discouraged, so I say its ok in order to learn how to speak in Japanese a lot of your words will simply be written in romaji. You must make a list and set a goal. I set a goal at first after deciding adamantly that I was going to be able to speak Japanese because I couldn't and was living in Japan. Must determination was so high and motivating that I did it. I can say it took me 9 months at least maybe 10 before my ears were open enough to hear the small intricacies of the language. But I'll never say that I have become fluent like a native, although when people talk to me over the phone they can't tell if I'm a native or a gaijin. Even the police when they pulled me over twice for speeding I was doing 45kph in a 30kph until I took off my helmet they didn't know and I almost scared the silly puddy right out of them once they saw my blonde hair. It really freaked those power ranger looking police officers that I, a blonde headed gaijin could speak as a native. It blew them away. But those are the rewards of all my diligence, determination, and steadfastness to my goals. My very first goal that I made was to memorize 15 words in 2 day. I did that at first but I did anywhere from 15 -30 words every 2 days, and I would constantly pester someone to quiz me on my new words. The way I memorized words was I made a list of all the useful words I could think of and the list grew very big and then I would do a review over and over, I repeated the words over and over in both directions into and out of English and Japanese, front ways and backwards. Every chance I got I would try to use my new words in sentences as the chance permitted. I woke up at 5 in the morning and studied my bootie off, because I was so determined to master it and be the best I could be as a speaker of Japanese. Next I had two grammar books and learned how to put verbs in bases, and then I could just plug and play with my Japanese grammar and my vocabulary list. It would be good to be able to simultaneously learn and memorize the kanji of a word on your vocabulary list as well as having just the romaji. Most often times I didn't have the luxury or time to study the Kanji, so I didn't start the Kanji until about a year into studying it. I was mainly concerned with my desire to speak Japanese quickly. But let me tell you. If you study the radicals of the kanji and just start learning your first year kanji then you will be able to see how words are made and how they may have originated. I mean kanji is a fascinating pictographically way of communicating. To me there is always more meaning in the Kanji of some word as opposed to the shallow no descript meaning of just the Phoenician alphabet. Before taking on any kanji though, master the kana, both hiragana and katakana. And practice writing the kana, these basic strokes are what forms kanji in the long run. Ok I am going to tell you my secret for getting good really fast. It worked wonders for me because I would sit and study, practice my Japanese in an odd way but it was so fun. This is what I did, it may not be like scholarly or a recommended way to do it but it sure worked wonders for me. I would laugh all over town practicing saying the word fart in every type of grammar I could find that accepted verbs. Because verbs are put into the bases I II III IV and V and verbs put into the various bases have various grammars, I would just put the verb to fart in any bunpo (grammar) I could get my hands on. For example, I like to fart. Onara suru koto ga suki desu. I even put it in polite form which to me is really funny. Or you could ask someone please fart! Onara shite kudasai. Or I must fart now! Onara shinakereba narimasen. Or you could have fun saying I just farted, Onara shita bakari desu. Well hopefully you will take the spirit of what I'm saying and not take it to the letter of the law. It was so much fun learning Japanese that way. Set your goals challenging yet not to the point of overload, neither are productive. If you need a list of words to start memorizing check the link below I have made a word list just for people like you. In essence the more vocabulary you know the more fluent you are (well that’s the idea or that is what someone told me once that if you have at least a 4000 word vocabulary you can be considered fluent, but I don't consider anybody fluent unless their pronunciation is well prepared). The amount of vocabulary must increase a little everyday. But you will need someone to check you on your vocabulary so all you have to do is this or something Here are my guaranteed steps to getting better at Japanese in the shortest amount of time.

No I said NO!

The no particle の

In Japanese, The no particle indicates possession. Like the dog’s food. Inu no esa. Or like Tom’s car – Tommu no kuruma. You might be asked, “ who’s is this?” to which you could reply its mine or its your’s or it’s his, or its their’s or its our’s. In each case の(no) would be used thus:
it’s mine – Watakushi no
it’s your’s – anata no (plural anata tachi no)
it’s his – kare no
It’s her’s kanojo no
it’s their’s – karera no
it’s our’s – Watakushi tachi no
who’s? - dare no?

ghetto grammar one a day plus iridium

Ganbatte Ne! Do Your Best! Makurasuki Sensei.

Worthy repost

Table 1 - The 46 Syllables of the Japanese Syllabary (romanized)
a ka sa ta na ha ma ra ya wa n
i ki shi chi ni hi mi ri
u ku su tsu nu fu mu ru yu
e ke se te ne he me re
o ko so to no ho mo ro yo wo

あ か さ た な は ま ら や わ ん
い き し ち に ひ み り
う く す つ ぬ ふ む る ゆ
え け せ て ね へ め れ
お こ そ と の ほ も ろ よ を

The above are the 46 syllables of the Japanese Syllabary. Individually they are called mora. Plurally they are called morae. One mora in particular is the focus of this article. The Tsu mora.
When the tsu syllable is added before the consonants k,p, and t, a hardened double consonant sound is produced. You spit out the words Like the sound of the doubled k in bookkeeper, adding the syllable tsu to ka, ki, ku, ke, ko . This special pronunciation of the doubled consonant is denoted by lowered case or subscript tsu in either hiragana or katakana. Some examples are as follows:

1. makka – deep red
2. jikken – experiment or test
3. shuppan – publish , shuppatsu – departure
4. zettai – suredly, absoluteness
5. tokkyo – not the city toukyou which has the elongated
6. happi – the English word happy in katakana

Note the use of the doubled consonant sound in Japanese is indicated by a lower case tsu followed by the doubled consonant sound.



When n is not connected to a vowel as in the very last syllable of the Japanese syllabary which in fact is just n or , it is like a syllable unto itself. It receives a full count if language were a music it would receive the same amount of time that a 2 lettered syllable receives., and is denoted by the apostrophe ‘. For example:
1. Kin’en this is Japanese for no smoking not kinen or the word for anniversary.
so it has 4 syllables and the word for anniversary has 3.

To say the ra ri ru re ro line of the syllabary say first in English eddy then make sure the tip of your tongue is touching delicately behind the upper front teeth. If you say it like this you come close to a true pronunciation of the Japanese word for collar, or eri.
To learn more haya ike!
http://squidoo.com/japperverbs2
or
http://squidoo.com/exaltedjapanese

As always Ganbatte ne! Do your best! Makurasuki Sensei yori Ja mata kondo!

Deal the Zeal! What's the Zeal?

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

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

You can improve your Japanese by following a few techniques I will show you and briefly outline here. In no time your Japanese speaking skills will be better than you ever thought possible. Your success in second language acquisition should you accept the challenge, will be dependant upon the commitments you make to yourself to memorizing words part1, understanding, learning, memorizing then applying the basic Japanese grammar principlespart3+4 and finally your total amount of zeal you put into your efforts. The amount of success or failure you have in second language acquisition starts with you. The power is within you, now lets try to unlock
I want to share with you my zeal for learning another language and perhaps you might catch a little part of it and it might burn like the California fires of 2007 until you too have inspired others through your zeal and mastery of a foreign language. My roommates hated me when I was studying, because not only would I ask them to help me by quizzing me from my vocabulary list from which I studied without fail daily, but I would wake up very early in the morning to practice speaking Japanese. I would repeat sentences I learned like mantras until I got the chance to use what I learned in real life to see which ones actually worked. My roommates hated me. I had zeal for learning Japanese. It takes a great bit of it to be a successful language learner. You MUST HAVE ZEAL for learning the language or you will become complacent and lazy. Determine within yourself now that you will find a way to harness zeal and enthusiasm towards the improvement of your Japanese unto acquisition. You must also have a purpose for your zeal. My purpose was to be able to speak with the Japanese people themselves, to communicate with them with no impediments of speech. Like they say Quitters Never Win, and Winners Never Quit. So get going now and find your purpose and zeal it up.
The following is just one way and one example of what kind of language goals a person could set and realistically achieve, while at the same time making it challenging enough to maintain their interest. You might emulate these goals if you were learning Japanese, they are modeled after my own goals. They are in no way the only way to go, but they are, as I said, just one set of possible goals that tha you can use to help you attain fluency. They helped me acquire that ever elusive second language (Japanese) and if they are couple wth enough zeal it will be very possible that they will help you get fluency too. Remember though, the amount of zeal you put into your work is exactly how much success you will achieve out of it. With the right amount of zeal, you are bound to be speaking native like a Japanese senator in no time flat. May your Nihongo wa jozu ni naru.

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

Vocabulary –n. a list of words, and often phrases, abbreviations, inflectional forms, etc., usually arranged in alphabetical order and defined or otherwise identified as in a dictionary, or glossary.
It goes on to say that vocabulary is also all the words recognized and understood by a particular person although not necessarily used by him, these may be an interrelated group of nonverbal symbols, signs, gestures, etc. used for communication or expression.

Now let’s do some math to see how long it will take us to learn 4000 words or what some have called the minimum amount of vocabulary one must have to be considered fluent.

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

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

Well if we learned 4000 words in one day it would only take us one day, but is it reasonable to assume that we will retain those words? Unless you have a photographic memory we should consider something else. How about 4000 words in 1 month? Is that a reasonable goal? I don’t think either of those goals are within a typical realizable amount attainable possible. We need a reasonable goal that is attainable that leaves us some breathing room to assimilate the vocabulary into our own speech system. I feel 6-8 words a day might be stretching us thin a little bit but it is the one I will recommend. Actually, the way I did it was to learn 15 words every two days but for sake of clarity lets stick with words/day.
We don’t want to memorize to many words because we will end up worse than learning only 1 word a week. At one word a week it would take us 4000 days, or almost 11 years to have such a vocabulary. That’s too long if you figure that for an accelerated college degree program you will be spending 4-6 years to obtain your B.A. and still wouldn’t be fluent either way, 11 years is too long. These goals will be set for you to learn 4000 vocabulary terms in 1 year and 1 month from your starting date. This is still a very lofty goal. In order to learn 4000 vocabulary in 1 year and 1 month you will need to learn 10-11 words / day
That is the goal 10-11 words / day, that is everyday with no rest.

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


Day 2 goal -


Day 3 goal –

Weekly goal

Monthly goal

3 month goal

6 month goal

Beginning

So what exactly is fluency?

How do we measure fluency? There are rest assured quite a few ways to perhaps measure fluency. I am not aware of any fluency machine that can instantly measure your fluency like we can take your temperature. I have heard it said at least once that fluency is dependant upon total vocabulary memorized. And they put a number on it of 4000 different words. I cannot say I totally agree with that statement. No doubt, other requirements for being fluent in a language exist other than just knowledge of vocabulary. Although many other complex processes are involved in fluency we will start with how to set goals in memorizing words to increase our vocabulary power. Setting goals to memorizing vocabulary is a good place to start. So how much vocabulary power do you have under your belt?
The amount of words that you know and are able to translate those words into and out of your native tongue and into and out of your target language. Know the meaning of words so thoroughly that you can interchange them instantly. Also the use of mneumonics I suggest as helpful ways to memorize words, especially in Japanese. Those two techniques are all to be had in my other two lessons Mneumonics and Circumlocution, how to use and apply them in both directions this is taking for granted and assuming that at least one language is known. Unilateral understanding. Fluency can be measured in terms of how many words one knows and that is what section 1 was all about (if you missed it check it here http://

Just as one can word or phrase or apply any manipulation to the language so that its suits our purpose and the main purpose and reason is to get our meaning across. Sharing a As long as the method we use suffices to get our message across it doesn’t even matter if we can speak Japanese or not. In any language, if you look like you gotta go ‘pee’ you don’t have to say a word people will understand you. If you look tired or motion your hands as if you are sleeping, our knowledge of Nihongo lets body language assume the role.
What is the shortest distance between you and getting what you want. You are allowed to use any and all means necessary to get your meaning across. Please see my article on circumlocution for sure fire ways to get your meaning across even if you don’t know the Japanese words for it. http://jappermon.com
Ones’s own Native tongue,
Just in mannerisms and the exact vocabulary and grammatical structure employed by the speaker can there be vast amounts of missed meanings to occur.
Japanese could be spoken in any number of differing ways;
intelligently, suave, brave, naive, sophisticated, charming, honorifically, stately, manly cunning, feminine, drunk, legendary all sorts of ways to speak like and just as we have the ish to make something in nihongo the word becomes ppoi.
Noun+ ppoi = noun ‘ish’
beautifully, wonderfully or bold or any other way you can think of
The levels keigo kokugou must know how to
manipulate verbs, while memorizing and strengthening your store of Japanese words to put into your goal oriented language arsenal. With that arsenal and using all of your faculties to summon together the ability to speak inside of another tongue, and also to be able to open your ears to such an extent that they become even more sensitive to different words, consonants, vowels phonemes.
Along with your noun memorization oath.( see appendix )noun (don't take for granted any place names that are presented to you on your quest for complete Japanese mastery. You have to commit yourself to a reasonable yet challenging goal.
Througout these mini- japanese language tutoring lessons

Daays of the Weeek

Take for example the days of the week. First off in almost every single language in the world there is a day denoted as the Sun’s day or the day of the Sun, and a moon day, or day of the moon. Now when we take a closer look at what the words for the days of the week in Japanese, we are liable to pass it off as mere coincidence, the similarities are striking. The following table shows the words for days of the week in Japanese and in English.
Kasei has as its base fire, which would be translated fire day. In English our equivalent of fire’s day is Tuesday, named after the Tiu the god of war and the sky. But before the Germanic peoples renamed the second day of the week Tuesday, the Romans had a system of naming the days of the week after their god and had called it dies martis ‘day of mars’, after the war god (source of French Mardi ‘Tuesday’). (Ayto, 544)
The kanji for Saturday being read do or basically the term for dirt or dirt’s day but is also the root of the Japanese word for Saturn, which is Dosei.
As for the third day of the week, some languages call it the 3rd day or day 3(Vietnamese) In Japanese this day is denoted as Suiyobi or day of the water, water’s day. The Germanic peoples called this day woden’s day or day of Odin after one of their mightiest gods. It seems that Wednesday got all screwed up being filtrated through the evolution of languages. It makes sense because Wednesday is in the middle of the week and if there are going to be corruptions from the pure form from whence the original words came from then the word for the middle of the week makes sense. In Japanese the word for mercury is kasei which would find its relations to our Tuesday. The Japanese Suisei is the planet
Now Thursday was named after the god Thor (where our English thunder comes from) but in the Roman system of naming the days of the week the fourth day was names dies jovis or day of Jupiter. In Japanese the fourth day is denoted Moku sei or day of the tree which is from the same root as that for their word for Jupiter, and that word being Mokusei.
Now Friday is denoted as Kinsei or day of gold in Japanese which is the same root for the word for planet kinsei which is Venus. The Germanic peoples called it after Odin’s wife Frigg (Ayto, 241) ‘Frigg’s day’ was a direct adaptation of Latin Veneris dies “Venus’s day’ (whence French vendredi ‘Friday’)

Japanese Vocabulary Blaster #25
15 Words Every 2 Days.
Learn, Memorize, Study, Ponder
Rinse, Get Quizzed, Repeat
Now Blast!

1. boeki - trade
2. teian - suggestion
3. teian suru – to suggest
4. kemushi - caterpillar
5. kitai hazure – let down
6. kigen ga kireru – time limit, expiration date
7. kyo^ryo^ku suru – to cooperate
8. doryo^ku suru – to try
9. giri no oto^san* – father-in-law
10. nokogiri – a saw
11. jika – ear doctor
12. jibika – ear and throat doctor
13.songai - damage
14. tsune = itsumo, usually, always, commonly
15. noritsu - efficicient

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

to see the list of the last 15 words you should have already memorized go to Japanese Vocabulary 24 or go on to memorize your next 15 here at
Japanese Vocabulary 26

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