Japanese: the language
Created | Updated Jul 21, 2002
(under construction during the infrequent times I have access to the internet, I appologize for the mess, I'll get it sorted out sooner or later)
This entry is intended to get people interested in speaking Japanese and to destroy the popular myth that Japanese is a hard language to speak.
Pronounciation
a-as in mat
e-as in set
u-as in the "oo" in zoo
i-as in the "ee" in see
o-as in not
oo-as in so
Lesson #1-simple questions
Question words
what-nan/nani
where-doko
why-naze/doshite
who-dare
when-itsu
how-ikaga
how many-ikutsu
how much-ikura
"Desu" means "it is" or "is it" and is used at the end of a sentence.
To ask someone "what is it" you would say: "Nan desu ka?".
"ka" is a partical word indicating a question.
Practice asking different questions.
Since japanese and english are not related languages you may have more dificulty just picking words up as you might do with, say French, for instance.
It is just as easy though, perhaps more, to pick up vocabulary by using flashcards.
Lesson #2- how to insult people
sorry, that is not lesson two, as it is advanced. look for it later
Lesson #2 (the real one this time)-locations and this and that
here-koko
there-soko
this-kono(kore when it preceades a noun it modifies)
that-sono(sore when it preceades a noun it modifies)
that over there-ano(are when it preceades a noun it modifies)
with this you can aswer and undersatand answers to the question "doko desu ka?"
that is all for now
OK, I'm going to lay out the upsides and the downsides of the language.
Pro #1-The verb system
The verb system is extreamly easy in japanese, as there are only six/seven verb endings:
Future
positive-mashoo
negative-
Present
positive-masu\u(I'll explain about the u ending later in the entry)
negative-masen
Past
positive-mashita
negative-
Why am I mising the negatives for past and future? I don't know them because they never lay the system out simply like this in a book.
Pro # 2-Conjugations
There are none.
Con # 1-The u ending
The u ending is the casual form of the masu ending. Unfortunatly the u ending kinda screws up the end of the verb a bit.
It is easy to tell what the u form is from the infinitive but impossible to tell for sure what the infinitive is from the u form.
This is not a problem in itself, but a lot of Jap. to Eng. dictionaries only give you the u form and pretend that it's the infinitive.
Example
Kiki(to listen) becomes kiku and you can't tell for sure if the infinitive is kika or kiko or what.
Con # 2-u's and i's
The Japanese have a tendency to pronounce some of u's and i's and not pronounce others.
This is not a big problem at all, so don't worry about it.
This entry is intended to get people interested in speaking Japanese and to destroy the popular myth that Japanese is a hard language to speak.
Pronounciation
a-as in mat
e-as in set
u-as in the "oo" in zoo
i-as in the "ee" in see
o-as in not
oo-as in so
Lesson #1-simple questions
Question words
what-nan/nani
where-doko
why-naze/doshite
who-dare
when-itsu
how-ikaga
how many-ikutsu
how much-ikura
"Desu" means "it is" or "is it" and is used at the end of a sentence.
To ask someone "what is it" you would say: "Nan desu ka?".
"ka" is a partical word indicating a question.
Practice asking different questions.
Since japanese and english are not related languages you may have more dificulty just picking words up as you might do with, say French, for instance.
It is just as easy though, perhaps more, to pick up vocabulary by using flashcards.
Lesson #2- how to insult people
sorry, that is not lesson two, as it is advanced. look for it later
Lesson #2 (the real one this time)-locations and this and that
here-koko
there-soko
this-kono(kore when it preceades a noun it modifies)
that-sono(sore when it preceades a noun it modifies)
that over there-ano(are when it preceades a noun it modifies)
with this you can aswer and undersatand answers to the question "doko desu ka?"
that is all for now
OK, I'm going to lay out the upsides and the downsides of the language.
Pro #1-The verb system
The verb system is extreamly easy in japanese, as there are only six/seven verb endings:
Future
positive-mashoo
negative-
Present
positive-masu\u(I'll explain about the u ending later in the entry)
negative-masen
Past
positive-mashita
negative-
Why am I mising the negatives for past and future? I don't know them because they never lay the system out simply like this in a book.
Pro # 2-Conjugations
There are none.
Con # 1-The u ending
The u ending is the casual form of the masu ending. Unfortunatly the u ending kinda screws up the end of the verb a bit.
It is easy to tell what the u form is from the infinitive but impossible to tell for sure what the infinitive is from the u form.
This is not a problem in itself, but a lot of Jap. to Eng. dictionaries only give you the u form and pretend that it's the infinitive.
Example
Kiki(to listen) becomes kiku and you can't tell for sure if the infinitive is kika or kiko or what.
Con # 2-u's and i's
The Japanese have a tendency to pronounce some of u's and i's and not pronounce others.
This is not a big problem at all, so don't worry about it.
