learning japanese the hard way and the easy way komei harada

Learning JapaneseThe Hard Way and The Easy Way

Komei Haradahttp://www.komeiharada.com/Japanese

Why learn Japanese?

• Learn Japanese culture• Read manga comics• Watch Japanese animé• Read Japanese game

manuals• Speak reasonably well

• Visit Japan and get by• Talk to Japanese friends• Do business with the

Japanese• Speak a few phrases and

be friendly

Japanese Characters

• Phonetic characters– Hiragana (46 chars)

For original Japanese words.Created by simplifying kanjis.

こんにちは (good day)かわ (river)

– Katakana (46 chars)For foreign words/namesCreated by taking parts of

kanjis. カメラ cameraララ・クロフト Lara Croft

Japanese Characters

• Phonetic characters– Hiragana (46 chars)

For original Japanese words.Created by simplifying kanjis.

こんにちは (good day)かわ (river)

– Katakana (46 chars)For foreign words/names.Created by taking parts of kanjis.

カメラ cameraララ・クロフト Lara Croft

• Roma-ji (Roman characters)

Kon-nichiwa (good day) Kawa (river)

Japanese Characters

• Kanji – Chinese Characters– Imported from China a few

thousand years ago.

– There may be ~ 50,000

– 6,000 in the computer character codes alone

– Students learn 1,000 by 6th grade

– Each character typically has 2 or more readings

ひ “ hi” as in Hitachiにち “ nichi” as in Nippon

日sun

Japanese Characters

• Kanji – Chinese Characters– Imported from China a few

thousand years ago.

– There may be ~ 50,000

– 6,000 in the computer character codes alone

– Students learn 1,000 by 6th grade

– Each character typically has 2 or more readings

ひ “ hi” as in Hitachiにち “ nichi” as in Nippon

• “No way I’m gonna learn those! Show me an easy way!”日

sun

The Hard Way –and– The Easy Way

• Learn to pronounce Roma-ji !

• All consonants are like in English – No funny “ll” and “ch” like in Spanish/Italian/French

• Only 5 vowels: A, E, I, O, U – Get them right!


•“bonsai”• Learn to pronounce

Roma-ji !• All consonants are like in

English – No funny “ll” and “ch” like in Spanish/Italian/French



•“banzai”• Learn to pronounce

Roma-ji !• All consonants are like in

English – No funny “ll” and “ch” like in Spanish/Italian/French



• “Date” “sake” • Learn to pronounce Roma-ji !




• Karaoke

• Honda

• Tsunami

• Shogun





• Forget Roma-ji!• Learn hiragana/katakana

What’s “kyoto”?きょうと ( 京都 ) Kyoto Cityきょうとう ( 教頭 ) head teacherきょとう ( 巨頭 ) magnate


Names

• ジェーソン・ウィーズナー

• クリス・チェ ( イ ) ンバーズ

• トロイ・マッシュバーン• スナ・カン ( グ )

• エリック・タム• ロサウラ・サンドバル• デイブ・ガストリン

• ケン・ブローズ• エルギン・デルビソル• マイク・ゴンサレス• マイク・ファッジ• ケーシー・ホルツ• アルナブ・バス• ティプ・プルカヤスタ

Tongue Twistersこの釘は引き抜きにくい釘だ。Kono kugi wa hiki nuki nikui kugi da.

This nail is a nail that is hard to pull out.

東京特許許可局長今日急遽休暇許可拒否 Tokyo tokkyo kyoka kyokuchou kyou kyuukyo kyuuka kyoka kyohi

Tokyo Patent Office Director today suddenly denies vacation approval.

Try your language at

http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/ja.htm

Greetings

• おはようございます

• こんにちは

• こんばんは

• ではまた

• “Ohayou gozaimasu”Good morning

• “Kon-nichiwa”Good day

• “Konbanwa”Good evening

• “Dewa mata” (see you) again(“Sayounara” is “Good-bye”)

Talk to the Japanese The Easy Way• Learn to say the Japanese

greetings well.• Use the polite form;

Be safe• Then you can switch to

speaking English! – Just speak very, very slowly

• Japanese people may know English grammar better than you

• “Ohayou gozaimasu”Good morning

• “Kon-nichiwa”Good day

• “Konbanwa”Good evening

• “Dewa mata” (see you) again(“Sayounara” is “Good-bye”)

More Phrases

• ありがとうございます

• どういたしまして

• はい

• いいえ

• “Arigatou gozaimasu”Thank you

• “Dou itashimashite”It’s nothing (You’re welcome)

• “Hai”Yes

• “Iie”No

Traveling in Japan

• Explore the rural side– Fewer people speak

English

– Fewer signs in English

– See traditional lifestyle

– Try your Japanese skills!

• Stay in the Tokyo or Kyoto area – • signs are in English• many people speak

English

• Writing down (English) often helps

Tonal Accent

• English - stress accentE.g., desert (barren); desert (to leave)increase (noun); increase (verb)

• Japanese – tonal accent

はし hashi (bridge)

はし hashi (chopstick)

• (Unlike Chinese)Most words have a few syllables or more

• Wrong accents rarely cause confusion

• Pay more attention to your vowels instead!A, E, I, O, U

Similarity to Other LanguagesGrammarこれ - がクリスタル - が 4 月 - に引っ越す新しいビル - です。This Crystal April in move (to) new building is.

Korean:이 ( 빌딩 ) 은 크리스탈이 4 월에 이사갈 새 빌딩입니다 .

Turkish:bu bina Crystal’in Nisan ayinda icine gececegi bina

“Ural-Altaic language family” is what linguists call them

Babelfish Round-trip Gamehttp://babelfish.altavista.com

Incandescent is getting a pretty bad name in today's going-green society, but GE wants to salvage the tech with innovation before it's scrapped for the ages in laws that ban its use at home and abroad.

→ 白熱今日の行緑の社会のかなり悪名を得ている、しかしのそして外国の使用を家禁止する法律の年齢のために捨てられる前にGE は革新との技術を救助したいと思う。

→ Society of incandescence present line green ill repute is obtained rather, but and before being thrown away because of age of the law which use of the foreign country the house is prohibited as for GE we would like to rescue the technology of reformation.

http://www.excite.co.jp/world/korean/

Similarity to Other LanguagesChinese is to Japanese as French(Latin) is to English• Many words look the same• Difficult words have the same meaning

自动化 (Ch) = 自動化 (Jp) “automation” = “automation” zì dòng huà jidouka (Fr) (Eng)

• Pronunciation can be different• Daily vocabulary is different

新聞 (Ch) ≠ 新聞 (Jp) journal (Fr) ≠ journal (Eng) “news” “newspaper” “newspaper” “diary”( 新 = new, 聞 = hear)

汽車 (Ch) ≠ 汽車 (Jp)“car” “train”( 汽 = steam, 車 = car/wheel)

Similarity to Other Languages

Simplified(Mainland China)

• 学生xué sheng (student)

• 权威quán wēi (authority)

TraditionalHong Kong / Taiwan

• 學生

• 權威

Japanese

• 学生がくせい gakusei

• 権威けんい ken’i

Korean

• 학생

• 권위


Italian Japanese


Italian• Spaghetti• Broccoli• Espresso• Staccato• Ghetto

Japanese• スパゲッティ• ブロッコリー• エスプレッソ• スタッカート• ゲットー


Italian• Spaghetti• Broccoli• Espresso• Staccato• Ghetto

– 5 vowels – A, E, I, O, U

– Double consonants

Japanese• スパゲッティ• ブロッコリー• エスプレッソ• スタッカート• ゲットー

– アイウエオ– ッ

Trivia : Top 10 Japanese Family Names

1. 佐藤 Satou (Sato); 佐 assist(ance); 藤 wisteria2. 鈴木 Suzuki; 鈴 bell; 木 tree

3. 高橋 Takahashi; 高 high; 橋 bridge

4. 田中 Tanaka; 田 rice field; 中 middle, inside

5. 渡辺 Watanabe; 渡 to cross; 辺 side

6. 伊藤 Itou (Ito); 伊 this; 藤 wisteria

7. 山本 Yamamoto; 山 mountain; 本 book, origin

8. 中村 Nakamura; 中 middle, inside; 村 village

9. 小林 Kobayashi; 小 small; 林 woods

10. 加藤 Katou (Kato); 加 to add; 藤 wisteria

Dictionaries - Offline

• EPWING format (mini CD’s) readers (portable devices)

• DDWin / EBView (PC)

• Electronic dictionariesFrom Casio, Seiko Instruments (SII), etc.

Dictionaries - Online

• SPACE ALChttp://www.alc.co.jp/

• Goohttp://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/

• Excitehttp://www.excite.co.jp/dictionary/

IME: Input Method Editor

• Enter foreign languages– Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, … pretty much all

major non-English languages

• Easily installable on Windows from Control Panel > Regional and Language Options (Requires the installation CD-ROM- copied on my PC)

Most Common First NamesBoy (1980)1. 大輔 Daisuke2. 誠 Makoto3. 直樹 Naoki4. 哲也 Tetsuya5. 剛 Takeshi6. 学 Manabu7. 大介 Daisuke8. 亮 Ryou9. 健一 Ken’ichi10. 聡 Satoshi

http://www.meijiyasuda.co.jp/profile/etc/ranking/year_men/

Girl (1980)1. 絵美 Emi2. 裕子 Yuko3. 久美子

Kumiko4. 恵 Megumi5. 智子

Tomoko6. 愛 Ai7. 香織 Kaori8. 恵美 Emi9. 理恵 Rie10. 陽子

Youko

Boy (2006)1. 陸 Riku2. 大翔 Hiroto3. 大輝 Daiki3. 蓮 Ren5. 翼 Tsubasa6. 悠斗 Yuuto7. 翔太 Shouta8. 海斗 Kaito8. 空 Sora8. 優太 Yuuta8. 陽斗 Youto

Girl (2006)1. 陽菜 Hina2. 美羽 Miu3. 美咲 Misaki4. さくら

Sakura5. 愛 Ai5. 葵 Aoi5. 七海

Nanami8. 真央 Mao9. 優衣 Yui

Local Stores

• Nijiya –Mountain View, San Mateo• Mitsuwa – San Jose• Kinokuniya Bookstore – Next to Mitsuwa

• Gombei (cash only)• Kanpai• Dashi Sushi• Miyake• Sushi-ya

Japanese Telephone Guide!

Trivia: Chopstick Rules• Do not rest chopsticks by sticking them point-first into your food,

especially rice.• Do not pass food with your chopsticks directly to somebody else's

chopsticks.• Do not move around plates or bowls with chopsticks. • Do not spear food with your chopsticks.• Do not hover your chopsticks around while deciding on which

food to pick.• Do not touch one dish and immediately move on to another.• Do not lick your chopstick or hold them in your mouth• Do not lay them on the edge of your bowl or plate

Rules slightly differ in China, Korea and Viet-namhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopsticks

Links• CIA – The World Fact Book – Japan

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ja.html• Wikipedia – Japanese language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language• News websites

http://www.nikkei.co.jp/http://www.asahi.com/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/http://www.mainichi.co.jp/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/

learning japanese the hard way and the easy way komei harada

Documents

hard way

easy way bonsai

easy way banzai

friendly slide

japanese anim

japanese culture

japanese friends

learning japanese