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.

Basic Japanese Grammar Base IV + BA

Basic Japanese Grammar
The Japanese conditional form - verb in Base IV
After putting a verb into base IV, add the suffix particle BA ば to make sentences that take on an “iffy” meaning.

Verb (Base IV) + BA = IF VERB

To turn a Japanese verb into an “if” statement, put the verb into Base IV and add BA.

The first five vowels in the Japanese language correspond to the first five bases I, II, III, IV, and V , so that:

Verbs in Base I end in the a (あ) syllable.

Verbs in Base II end in the i (い) syllable.

Verbs in Base III end in the u (う) syllable.

Verbs in Base IV end in the e (え) syllable.

And

Verbs in Base V end in the syllable o (お).

Examples of putting a verb into base IV:

1. HANASU話す– v. to speak

Hanasu 話す (Base IV) = HANASE話せ

Add + BA ば

HANASE 話せ + BA ば = HANASEBA 話せば

HANASEBA話せば= If (I) spoke…


2. IKU行く– v. to go

IKU行く (Base IV) = IKE行け

Add + BA ば

IKE行け + BA ば = IKE 行けば

IKEBA 行けば= If (I) go…

3. – v. to go

IKU行く (Base IV) = IKE行け

Add + BA ば

IKE行け + BA ば = IKE 行けば

IKEBA 行けば= If (I) go…

That’s all for now Ganbatte Ne! Do your Best! Makurasuki

Japanese grammar plug and play for after verbing

Japanese Grammar Plug and Play - Three Ways of Saying,"After Verb-ing" in Japanese.

There are three ways to form sentences that you can use when you want to say, "after verb-ing" in Japanese.

Here are the constructs:

I. Verb (base TE) + KARA
II. Verb (base TA) + ATO DE
III. Verb (base TA) + NOCHI NI

By themselves KARA, ATO DE, NOCHI NI all mean, after. All are similar to each other and are the equivalent for expressions relating to the English terms following or later, thereafter etc.

The first way to say that you will do something after doing something else in Japanese, is by using the kara bunpo (grammar):

I. Verb (Base TE ) + KARA = after verb-ing

Take verbs and put them into base TE-て.

Verbs ending in KU くbecome ITE いて.

Verbs ending in GU ぐbecome IDE いで.

Verbs ending in Uう, TSUつ, or RUる become TTEって

Verbs ending in BUぶ, MUむ, or NUぬ become NDEんで.

The verb suruするor verbs ending in SUす become SHITE して

After putting verbs into base TE, add + KARA (after) to complete the construction

1. HANASU 話す(v. to speak)
In Base TE-て the Japanese verb HANASU話す = HANASHITE話して
HANASHITE + KARA 話してから = after speaking , or after talking

CHOTTO HANASHITE KARA IKIMASHO^
ちょっと話してから往きましょう
Let's go after we talk a little.

2. YOMU読む (v. to read) -
In Base TE-て the Japanese verb YOMU読むbecomes - YONDE読んで
YONDE KARA 読んでから= after reading

HON O YONDE KARA NERU TO OMOIMASU.
本を読んでから寝ると思います
I think I'll sleep after reading a book.

3. TABERU 食べる (v. to eat)
TABERU 食べるin Base TE-て becomes – TABETE 食べて
TABETE KARA食べてから= after eating

TABETE KARA SHUKUDAI O SURU.
食べてから宿題をする
After I eat, I'm going to do homework.

4. UNDO^ SURU 運動する(v. to exercise)
SURU するin Base TE-て becomes - SHITEして
SHITE KARA してから= after exercising

UNDO^ SHITE KARA SHAWA WO ABIRU.
運動をしてからシャーワーを浴びる
I’ll take a shower after doing my exercise.

II. Verb (base TA) + ATO DE - after verb'ing

The second way to say "after verb-ing" in Japanese is by using the following construct.

Verb (base TA) + ATO DE - after verb'ing

Take verbs and put them into base TA. (Base TA is the past tense form of Japanese verbs.)

1. NOMU飲む (v. to drink)
For verbs ending in BU (ぶ), MU (む) or NU (ぬ),
The TA た form = NDA んだ
NOMU 飲む in base TA -た is NONDA 飲んだ (past tense of drink or drank)
NONDA ATO DE飲んだ後で = after drinking

SAKE O NONDA ATO DE NEMUKUNATTA
酒を飲んだ後で眠くなった
I got sleepy after drinking sake.

III. verb ( base TA) + NOCHI NI - after verb'ing
The third way of saying "after verb-ing" in Japanese, is to substitute the word+particle NOCHI NI のちに or 後に, , for ATO DE あとでor 後で. ATO 後 and NOCHI 後 actually use the same kanji as you can see. This being the case you can use them interchangeably and the meanings will stay the same. As a general rule, you can use NOCHI with NI (different particle) any time you would use ATO DE.

NOCHI NI and ATO DE are interchangeable thus: NOCHI NI = ATO DE

Verb (base TA) + NOCHI NI - after verb'ing

1. SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI IE NI KAETTA
酒を飲んだ後に家に帰えた
I went home after drinking some sake.

2. SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI INU O SAMPO SHI NI ITTA
酒を飲んだ後に犬を散歩しに行った
After I drank some sake, I took the dog for a walk.

As you can see from these examples, there are two sides to every sentence. On one side is verb 1 that comes before transforming it into its TE or TA base, and verb 2 which occurs after KARA, ATO DE, NOCHI NI

- Verb 1 in base TE + KARA and Verb 2
- Verb 2 can be past, present, negative or positive, but Verb 1 must be in base TE.

I hope that you too can start-up some cool and interesting conversations using these Japanese plug and play grammar constructions. Test your creations out on your Japanese friends to see if they fly. If not revise and do it again. Plug and play is drill and kill for Japanese language learners of the 21st century. Good luck in all your Japanese learning endeavors.

As Always,
Ganbatte Ne! 頑張ってね
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki まくらすき.

Japanese Grammar – Fusing verbs to make new ones.
Verb(Base II) + Hajimeru – To begin to verb


You can usually make new Japanese words, verbs, or phrases by fusing two verbs together; The first verb in base II and the last verb conjugated normally. Let’s take some verbs and put them into base II then see what kind of new words, verbs and different Japanese phrases we can come up with.

1.Hatasu 果たす – to accomplish
2.Settoku suru 説得する – to persuade
3.Hiyakeru 日焼ける– to get sun burnt
4.Kau 買う– to buy
5.Umareru 生まれる– to give birth

Proceeding we will put these Japanese verbs into base II to form the extensor. As explained in previous lessons, base II extensor form for yo^dan verbs is made with the 2nd Japanese vowel i, pronounced ee. A verb in Base II will always end in the i vowel unless it is an chidan verb. Below, 1,2 and 4 are yo^dan verbs while 3 and 5 are ichidan verbs:

1.hatasu in base II = hatashi 果たし

2.settoku suru説得する is suru する in base II = shiし

3.hiyakeru日焼ける in base II = hiyake日焼け(In ichidan verbs, just drop the final ru)

4.kau 買う in base II = kai 買い (replace u with i)

5.umareru生まれる in base II = umare生まれ (ichidan)

Now we can proceed to make new verbs in Japanese to test on our Japanese friends, just to make sure that this makes sense. So we use the above Japanese grammar plug and Play construction Verb (base II) + hajimeru – to begin to verb, to make new Japanese words, verbs and phrases.

1.hatashi果たし + hajimeru始める= hatashihajimeru果たし始める – to begin to accomplish

2.settoku shi 説得し+ hajimeru 始める= settoku shihajimeru 説得し始める – to begin to persuade

3.hiyake日焼け+ hajimeru 始める = hiyakehajimeru日焼け始める – to begin to get sunburnt

4.kai 買い+ hajimeru始める = kaihajimeru買い始める – to begin to buy

5.umare 生まれ + hajimeru 始める = umarehajimeru 生まれ始める – to begin to be born

There you have the Japanese grammar plug and play for making new phrases in Japanese. Continue by plugging in your own verbs and making your own new sentences. As always, Ganbatte Ne! Do Your Best! Makurasuki まくらすき.

How to use Japanese to pronounce difficult English Terms like Habukkuk

When I hear badly pronounced Japanese, it’s like hearing fingernails scraping against a chalkboard. I have been known to turn red in embarrassment for the person committing the foul pronunciation. Why is pronunciation such a big deal? There are many reasons why language learners should practice pronouncing their words correctly. In this article I I’ll touch on a few topics I feel are important concerning learning, studying and practicing pronunciation in Japanese.

In speaking another language, the main goal is to try to get your message across, unless you are looking for some chit chat. You need to understand how important it is to be understood quickly, and, clearly. When your pronunciation isn’t very good, then that means it isn’t very legible, audible, excusable nor is it understandable. The time wasted correcting badly pronounced communication doesn’t outweigh the benefits of learning first to pronounce correctly before ever learning any of the tango (vocabulary). Even if the sentences had perfect grammar and style. What are the words by beginners who feel the topic of ‘pronunciation’ shouldn’t be treated as a ritual. If we are to be understood, we must use correct pronunciation. There is no way other way for communication to take place efficiently with more words understood per /1000 than can otherwise be had.

If you want to be a well liked and a well respected speaker of Japanese then put pronunciation practice at the top of your priority list for things you need to study. Bad pronunciation is not cool. It is simply irresponsible for a beginning Japanese language learner to continue learning Japanese without making attempts to improve upon their own particular pronunciation situation. A good steward of SLA makes sure that he/she is pronouncing the words they use in conversation correctly. A learner of the Japanese language must never neglect pronunciation in their studies. The art or skill of the lips the teeth and the tip of the tongue can spell the difference between effective communication, or, utter confusion.

A tongue defines the soul and character from which tribes are made. How words are communicated amongst individuals also shows clearly to foreign outsiders trying to take a peek through the Japanese window, to find themselves in an onsen at Unzen. And it defines the type of people they represent; The Japanese have a very long heritage and lineage of traditions, festivals, and ceremonies that have been passed down through the generations. I mean Santa Claus is one thing but, carrying the big Butsudan all through town in a thong, at those types of butsuri, matsuri.

Giving a little extra effort in your practice of correct pronunciation displays a sincere desire to understand the people and culture through the words of their mouth. Words of a language were not just some accident. Or were they?
Japanese pronunciation is probably one of the easier aspects of the language to learn yet it is often put aside due to the seemingly lack of similarities between the two languages.

Japanese vs. English.

I use to think that if I just copied the way native speakers spoke then I should be ok, right? Well, in retrospect I do believe it is a good thing to copy speak when it comes to simple pronunciation of words, but be careful not to copy speak grammar or sentence structure because that can turn out to give you trouble later on. Mimicking native speakers is good as long as you aren’t copying their bad habits also. Men should never copy the speech of women.

It is a good thing to sound like a Japanese native when speaking, so on is allowed to copy native’s pronunciation, but stay very far from women’s nuances, sentence endings, and their use of certain words if you are male Japanese language learner. If a male Japanese language learner pronounces words or copies the speech, expressions in a like manner to the words and sentence endings he hears because he has copied a Japanese females nuances, this could prove disastrous and could portray an overzealous Japanese SL male learner as an okama (homosexual). If you don't want to be considered an OKAMA, you must pay attention to the way men use the words for you and I as well as sentence ending particles and other nuances. Careful attention should thus be given to sentence ending particles like na no (なの), no da (のだ), or sa (さ), or za (ざ), or ze (ぜ), zo (ぞ) or soi (そい), zoi (ぞい), kusa (くさ).

Unaccompanied particles can be quite rude in the mouth of a gaijin. That’s harsh and if you don't know what an okamaオカマ is, look it up in the Sanseido Wa-Ei and if you don't have one go to my lens http://squidoo.com/japponics wherein is a link to the Sanseido publishing company. It is so important to have a dictionary as an aid for studying Japanese it goes without saying. So get one if you don't already have one.

If you are going to learn to speak Japanese please try to speak with correct pronunciation. It shows bad manners, and lack of commitment. It also sends a message of disgrace for your native country. It is important also while in Japan to show that you love your country. They are quite accepting of many gaijins (foreigner in Japanese) in this respect. Especially since you'll usually be the only gaijin within a couple of hundred miles so make your pronunciation count.

One cool thing about Japanese pronunciation is that vowels do not vary as they do in English. They stay straight, and you are never fooled as to their pronunciation. English combines and distorts the mouth and fashions its shape by using the 5 letters a e i o u to make around 20 vowel sounds. In Japanese 5 vowels sounds make 5 vowel sounds. In English the vowels vary in shades of pronunciation. The wider or thinner the lips are stretched or cheeks are pulled apart, how open the throat is, how nasal you want to get etc. all make for quite a lot of different vowel sounds. That is why if you ask an Englishman from England to pronounce for you , “apple” you will hear it differently than if you were to ask an American to pronounce “apple”.
In English you find words that elide. The same is true in the Japanese language (and do other crazy things). A careful study of dipthongs of a language should be beneficial to its study. In general pronunciation and diction should rank high on your list of things to study habits.

There are many sounds in English that Japanese just doesn't have, and vice versa. In Japanese there are no v type sounds so in order to say the v sound a Japanese person will substitute b in its stead. There really isn’t an L sound in Japanese so they replace it with their r or d sound. There has yet to be a native Japaenese speaker that I could ask to pronounce for me the words world or squirrel or even url. It is impossibly difficult for the Japanese to prounounce these 3 words correctly. Now on the other hand try to get a gaijin to say for you in correct pronouciation words like tan’i or gen’in and you have a similar situation.

I like to cross reference both languages to find the true pronounciation of words that are difficult to pronounce. It is for this reason I find it easier to locate the pronunciation of any foreign word that is difficult to pronounce (i.e. Books or names in the Bible for example Habukkuk or Nebuchanedzar etc.) If you read those foreign names which are difficult to pronounce in English in Japanese, the pronunciation is straight forward and clear and there is no variance. It reads as it reads as to how it is pronounced. In Japanese it comes out closer than attempts I have made in English because the vowels never change when saying a word. Using both your native tongue (whether it be English or otherwise) and Japanese together to help you can come up with a closer approximation as to the true and correct pronunciation of any difficult biblical term.

Let me give you one example: In the book of Numbers in the Old Testament, chapter 13 there is a lot of names that who knows how to pronounce correctly. What I do is cross reference what I see in English with the Japanese pronunciation of each. So in Numbers 13:15 is written “Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.” How does one pronounce the word Geuel? That is 3 vowels in a row in English but I really have no idea of how to pronounce it. So I look in my Japanese Bible at Numbers 13:15 and see what it says. “ガドの部族ではマキの子ギウエル”

To find out how to pronounce the word Geuel then, I just dive into the pronunciation by saying everything ver batim. So we will have in the above Japanese quote, “Gado no buzoku dewa maki no ko Giueru”. Now when a word in Japanese ends in the eru (エル) that is the same as saying the English “el”, so that part is easy. The rest of that word is simply glottal gee ooh then add el. So Geuel’s pronunciation is English can be derived from the Japanese katakana or romaji pronunciation to get at the closer, more true pronunciation of it.

In Japanese, there are five vowels, and five vowel sounds. This makes learning Japanese easier than other languages. The order of the vowels is a little different so that might be the first thing to look at in your study of Japanese. The first five syllables in the Japanese syllabary are a i u e and o. It has to be said that if you were to gather a group of Japanese people and make a choir out of them, oh how satisfied the director would be because of the purity of their vowels. International phonetics could straightway use Japanese for these vowels written in Romaji as a i u e o. Or Hiragana as あ,い,う,えand お. The benefits of knowing another language are limitless. In this instance we found the pronunciation of difficult words easier by using Japanese + English...cool.

As always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!
Makurasuki
If you want a list of vocabulary to start your study of the Japanese language then go to http://squidoo.com/japanesevocabularyindex

Essential Japanese Vocabulary

Most Essential Vocabulary: Japanese

1. Most Essential Word in a Language 2. After- 後 ato,
go 3. Again-mata, また
futatabi
再び, ふたたび 4. All-
すべて subete,
zenbu
全部, ぜんぶ 5. Almost –
oshii,
惜しい
,おしい
6. Also – mo
も 7. Always-itsumo
何時, もいつも 8. And -soushite,
そうして
ya
や 9. Because –
naze naraba,
naraba
なぜならば
ならば 10. Before - mae,
mae ni
前
11. Big – okii
大きい 12. But – shikashii, kedo, demo, and ga
しかし
けど
でも

が 13. (I) can – dekiru
できる 14. (I) come - kuru
来る くる either or – dochira ka
16. (I) find – mitsukeru
見付け, るみつける 17. First – saishou
最初 18. For –
no tame ni
のために
19. Friend- 友人 tomodachi 20. From - から kara
21. (I) go – iku
行く 22. Good – yoi よい 23. Good-bye
sayounara
さようなら 24. Happy-幸せ shiawase 25. (I) have –motsu
持つ, もつ
26. He – kare
彼 27. Hello- konnichiwa
こんにちは 28. Here - koko
ここ 29. How –
dou yatte –
dou shite - どうして
30. I – watakushi
私, わたくし
31. (I) am –
de aru,
iru,
de gozaru 32. If – moshi
もし 33. In – naka ni hairu中に入る 34. (I) know – shite iru
知っている 35. Last – saigo
最後
36. (I) like – suki
好 37.a little - 少し, sukoshi chisai 38. (I) love - 愛 ai suru 39. (I) make -作る tsukuru 40. Many -takusan
41. One-hitotsu
一つ
ひとつ 42. More – motto
もっと 43. Most – mottomo
44. Much-takusan
沢山,
たくさん 45. My-watakushi no
わたくしの
46. New – atarashii 新しい 47. No-iie
いいえ 48. Not-dewa nai
ではない 49. Now-ima
今, いま 50. Of – no
の
51. Often-
yoku
tama ni
よく
たまに 52. On - ue
上, うえ 53. One – ippon, issatsu, 54. Only- dake 55. Or - ka
56. Other -他 hoka no 57. Our -watakushi tachi no 58. Out – soto
外, そと 59. Over – owari
終り おわり 60. People -人々 hitobito
61. Place - 所 tokoro 62. Please - o negai Shimasu,
kudasai 63. Same - 同じ onaji 64. (I) see, to see -見る, (naruhodo) 65. She -彼女 kanojo
66. So - etou 67. Some – ikutsuka
幾つか, いくつか 68. Sometimes
toki doki
ときどき 69. Still – mada
まだ 70. Such - ?
71. (I) tell – iu
言ういう 72. Thank you-domo arigatou gozaimasu 73. That - それ sore 74. The – there is no equivalent 75. Their -karera no
彼らの, かれらの
76. Them - karera 77. Then – sono toki 78. There is – aru or iru 79. They - karera
彼らの, かれらの 80. Thing – mono
物もの
81. (I)think - sou omou
そう思う(おもう)
82. This – kore
これ
83. Time -時間 jikan 84. To - ni
に 85. Under -下 shita
86. Up -上 ue 87. Us - 私達 watakushi tachi 88. (I) use –tsukau
使う, つかう 89. Very – tottemo
とっても 90. We – watakushi tachi
私たち
わたくしたち
ore tachi
boku tachi
91. What – nani
何 , なに 92. When – itsu
何時いつ 93. Where – doko
どこ 94. Which – dochi
どち 95. Who – Dare
誰, だれ
96. Why – なぜ naze 97. With -to
と 98. Yes - はい hai 99. You – anata
貴方, あなた 100. Your - anata no
貴方の, あなたの

Making Japanese Grammar Learning simple

Japanese Grammar Made Easy – Base TE-て
By Brett McCluskey
Lesson #18 Insights on learning how to use the Base TE-て form of the verb.

Remembering how verbs are put into base te can be a challenging part of Japanese Grammar, but by singing the following syllables in the following order to the music of Silver Bells will help you better remember which verb ending syllable goes with what te ending.

(To be done to the music of Silver Bells, Bing Crosby’s version works well)
BU MU NU NDE
U TSU RU TTE
KU ITE
GU IDE
That’s the way we put verbs in base te ------
(Play it again Sam) repeat

*Verbs ending in BU, MU, or NU become NDE. Verbs ending in U, TSU, RU become TTE or. Verbs ending in KU become ITE and verbs ending in GU become IDE.

Verbs ending in these syllables
Become these base Te endings

BU, MU, NU
NDE
U, TSU, RU
TTE

KU
ITE
GU
IDE

Here are a few examples of putting a verb into base te. The first example, asobu ends in bu so you can either use the above chart or sing the song!
Ex. 1. asobu - to play – becomes asonde
1. asonde iru = playing
2. asonde kudasai = please play
3. asonde wa naranai = you can’t play here, its against the rules to play

Ex. 2. kamu – to chew – becomes kande
1. kande iru – chewing
2. kande kudasai – please chew
3. kande wa naranai – you mustn’t chew

Ex. 3. shinu - to die – becomes shinde
1. shinde iru – dying
2. shinde kudasai – please die
3. shinde wa naranai – you mustn’t die

Ex 4. harau – to pay - becomes haratte
1. haratte iru – paying
2. haratte kudasai – please pay
3. haratte wa naranai – you had better not pay.

Ex 5. inoru – to pray – becomes inotte
1. inotte iru – praying
2. inotte kudasai – please pray
3. inotte wa naranai – its bad to pray here

Ex 6. utsu – to hit becomes utte
1. utte iru – hitting
2. utte kudasai – please hit
3. utte wa naranai - its bad to hit here

Ex 7. hataraku – to work – becomes hataraite
1. hataraite iru – working
2. hataraite kudasai – please work
3. hataraite wa naranai – it is forbidden for you to work.

Ex 8. oyogu – to swim – becomes oyoide
1. oyoide iru – swimming
2. oyoide kudasai – please swim
3. oyoide wa naranai – you shouldn’t swim around here


Ganbatte ne! Do your best
Makuarsuki Sensei yori,
http://www.japanetics.blogspot.com/


http://squidoo.com/japanesevocabulary29

Japanese lesson on Bakari grammar

Verb (base TA) + bakari desu - to just 'verb'


First putting some verbs into base TA like -


iku --> itta
dasu --> dashita
suru --> shita
kuru --> kita
umu --> unda
deru --> detta
tatsu --> tatta
abiru --> abita
suwaru --> suwatta
umareru --> umareta
etc.

then adding the polite sentence ending desu to bakari (just)

verb (base TA) + bakari desu - to just 'verb"

ex.1 suwatta bakari desu. I just sat down

ex.2 deta bakari da! He just left.

ex.3. umareta bakari desu


As Always,
Ganbatte Ne!
Do Your Best!

Makurasuki

Word associaton really works for some Japanese words!

一日中 - ichi nichi jyuu

whether the romanization of the above jyuu should be written as

1. jyuu - 中

2.

2. ju -

3. ju^ - the ^ carat used as the long vowel sound.


美人 - びじん (Bijin)- A babe, a beautiful lady, lit. beautiful person The
first kanji in this kanji compound is the kanji for utsukushii that is read
as Bijin (pronounced bee-jeen). Lot of space in the mouth when pronouncing
this i or the bi or ji or ee to bee or jeen; as in kanojo wa bijin da ne!

人数 ninzu - literally a person number, a count of the people, a census,
population; as in ninzu ga oi.

The word for peacock in Japanese is easy to remember if you had ever seen
the T.V. show Cojak. I always related that show Cojak to the Japanese word
kujaku or peacock. Cojak and kujaku are pronounced very nearly the same.
You want to build your vocabulary from a strong base not a weak one. Through
this and other such cognitives to help me remember all the words in Japanese
even though, I am past the threshold of ever possessing the tongue of a
native, nor the understanding of one. But still in all the endeavors which
ever did stir tal wilkinfield I want to marry her. I hope she is still available.


Strong word associations like these are the keys to long lasting memory.
Strong visual cues, an infinite possibility. Fibonacci88. I have never forgotten
the word for peacock, kujaku, since I first put to it my imagery and unique
way of identifying with a known word and fudging the pronunciation of the
words a little bit and before long, you will have that 6000 word vocabulary..
. but can you wield it correctly? How do you know you are doing it right?

The Bunpo of Masho^

Let's Do Something in Japanese

Today's bunpo will show us how to say, "let's verb" in Japanese. Then we can put this construction into question form by adding ka so that we will be able to invite or persuade someone to verb with us by asking, "shall we verb. . . ? Two polite forms of this grammar and their construction is as follows

Verb (Base II) masho^**** - Let's verb! and

Verv (Base II) masho^ ka? - Shall we verb?

**** Please note that in Ghetto Grammar the carat ^ is used to indicate long vowels i.e. a^ i^ u^ e^ o^.

To say, "Let's verb" in Japanese politely, you take any verb, ichidan or yo^dan, put it into base II, then add masho^ and presto! Instant langauge skills. The Masho^ bunpo is another very useful plug and play grammar principle that can help you in your daily Japanese conversations. Towards better Japanese in 9 months with 130 lessons using modern grammar principles using old school techniques.

Ex. 1. Let's go to eat sushi somewhere. - Dokka no sushiyasan de tabe ni ikimashou!

Ex. 1a. Shall we go eat sushi somewhere? Dokka no sushiyasan in ikimashou ka?

Ex. 2. Let's play baseball! - Yakkyu o yarimashou!

Ex. 2a. Shall we play baseball? Yakkyu o Yarimashou ka?

Ex. 3. Let's go check it out! Itte mimasho!

Ex. 3a. Wanna go check it out (The basebal game or whatever)? Itte miyo^ ka?

In example 3a, the familiar form yo^ is used in place of the masho^. This is used only when you are with close friends and is considered less polite.

As always, Do Your Best! Ganbatte Ne!

Makurasuki sensei and the Japanese Grammarian Logic Society of So Cal.

kirau, dake shika

JPPGG #78
Usage of Dake and Dake shika and shika

Hoshii dake or
Sore shika nai no da

Hoshikereba hoshii hodo


Kare dake shika imasen

Terebi dake shika arimasen





I think this way upon first glance that yes there is a woman and there is two rices but there is also a stabbing action going on like when you dislike something you put it on a pitch fork and chuck it away and yes since we live in a man's world, men probably made kanji first or were the only ones to use it and scribe it and thus this may have been seen as a womans job or it may have been seen as stabbing at the chick carrying the rice the one I hate. Either way excellent conversation and let me know what you think about the stable the rice wth a katana sideways for the kanji meaning theory hyposthesis. and check out my Japanese grammar pages and leave some comment too if you could I'm constantly trying to improve my lenses your help would be appreciated thanks in advance for everything and the discussion, I LOVE IT!
http://squidoo.com/japanese123

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)?

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

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.