Beginning to learn Japanese

猿 \さる\ saru is monkey.

Yesterday we went to the Mt. Takasaki Monkey Land National Park.

This is about the closest I have been to a monkey in my life. They were everywhere, and running around the whole place. We thought the monkeys would be way up in trees, or far away from the path. Angelo didn’t like the unnatural situation, but I for me this was outweighed by the sheer amazement that we could see them so close.

And we learned the sounds that monkeys make in Japanese:

キャキャ
kya kya

ウキキ
u ki ki

Some of the little guys were picking up rocks and banging them together.

ok,

i’ve been in Japan for a little over a week now. and upon arrival i developed the worst flu i’ve had in ages. i’ve been exhausted, and had a fever, and have been generally a poor tourist. but i must say they have some lovely things for you when you get sick. like this yummy lemony hot drink. and hot drinks in the vending machines.

oh dear there’s simply far too much to fit into one post.

the japanese isn’t coming fast and furious, since i have been hibernating somewhat, and actually depending on ronan-sensei a bit too much. i think i have to request that mr. fluent should force me to speak more often, instead of speaking for me. i’m sure he’d prefer it, and it would help me learn japanese.

when you have a cold here, you actually have wind, so ronan-sensei tells me.

風 = かぜ = wind
風邪 = かぜ = a cold

私は風邪をひいた。
わたし は かぜ を ひいた。
I caught a cold.

And I hear this alot (which i’m probably spelling wrong).
だいじょうぶ です か。
daijyoubu desu ka
are you ok?

to which I respond: だいじょうぶです。

i’m enjoying the ‘learning japanese’ podcast. i think it’s interesting because, while it is easy to follow for the beginner, it apparently gives access to more complex forms.

the free NHK japanese audio lessons are very highly crafted. forms are introduced slowly, and brought up again in subsequent lessons, with an ever-increasing complexity. however, this format assumes a clear obvious progression through this one syllabus. when in reality, the learner may not listen from start to finish in one sitting, may repeat, may move ahead, and may be listening to or using other materials.

i just think it’s interesting that the learning japanese podcasts are doing some of that- “this week we use the word ‘monday’, listen to lesson five to get the days of the week”. regardless of this referencing, they have progressed from the requisite simple greeting lesson 1 to more advanced grammar. and they make it easy for a beginner to understand and use practically.

in lesson 7 they introduce a way to say “i was thinking of going shopping. are you free?”. this softens what i might say as a beginner, and helps make a hint of something you want to do, and see if someone else wants to go along. and softening expression seems a very important part of effective communication in japanese.

as a beginner i might say: “i *want* to go shopping. do you?” or no, i’d probably point to myself and say “shopping” and make little ‘fingers walking away’ hand motion, then point to between you and me and say “shopping” again. and i’d smile alot and nod my head up and down till you did the same. effective, but not very nice.

so instead of asking someone “lets go shopping” or using miming tricks, you can say:

かいも の したいな　と おもてったけど。いっしょに いかへん。
i was thinking about going shopping. won’t you?

いいよ yes

うめだ / umeda / Umeda
で / de / at
かいもの / kaimono / shopping
したいな / shitaina / want to
と / to /
おもててんけど / omotetenkedo / was thinking however
いっしょに / isshoni / together
いかへん / ikahen / not go ?

now it would be good to play the replacement game.

wow! those GTD guys blow me away. i saw some hilarious cartoon of “your brain on multitasking” and it’s so true. 日本 a go-go write about it recently, about his own lesson plans, and what he does each day. and mike wrote about it before on japanese! japanese!. i know GTD is going global because someone was talking to me in sligo about 43 folders just two days ago. and it’s intriguing for sure.

looking at 日本 a go-go, i’m starting to think that my own personal plans for learning japanese have been way too lenient. compared to mike’s “personal lesson plans” you’d wonder if i was studying japanese at all. i’ve been diving around willy nilly, dipping my fingers in all kinds of japanese pies, but i think not absorbing much… we’ll see when i get there. my learning goals were pretty low though, so if i don’t reach them, i’m v worried!

the only thing i do daily is listen to at least 30 mins of any japanese audio programme, with my dictionary handy. and i take notes in my offline notebook. which, when my friend saw it she commented that it looks like i spend more time doing the drawings than studying! but i’m fairly confident that i actually ‘know’ everything in the book, not much in there, mind you, but hey.

as far as any kind of personal syllabus… i’ve tried to tackle ‘topics’, my notebook has ‘topic’ pages, like 2 pages on the body, and 2 pages on placement of objects (inside, behind), and numbers, etc. but the pages are not filled at once, i keep adding to them.

and i’ve tried to follow a new kind of ‘topic’ each week. i had a whole time-telling two weeks with numbers and telling time, and i think i got it down pretty much. then recently i’ve been focusing on ‘going’ places, and moved into past tense and conjugating verbs of going places/arrival, etc. last week.

next i want to work on adjectives. this week i spent a one evening looking up names of colours, and cutting out paper and shapes to glue into my notebook. pure goofiness, but fun. but i was listening to the NHK audio programme the whole time. oh yeah! if i find a useful corressponding audio programme i write down the name of the audio file into the notebook, so i can listen/look along. usually my notebook notes come from the audio lessons, and are filled out with examples from the dicitonary or other books i have.

other than that, i try to do chapters of what i call “japanese for boring people”. but i’ve had to re-do chapters several times, because when i skip ahead i realize i don’t know what they’re on about. the book is getting covered in highlighter marks and pencil marks. alas.

i just got a whole stack of japanese movies to watch (thank you Karol!), so that will be good!

Exactly ONE MONTH before I arrive in Japan! get very excited/anxious.

I’ve been asking friends of mine who have been in japan since the summer- what are the most common questions people will ask you in japan? i’ve started listing them below. these are both from adults and kids but i’m not sure which.

Some are surprising, some possibly awkward. i know for sure i would not expect to be asked ‘how old are you’ upon meeting osmeon in ireland. i remember being shocked in taiwan when people asked me how much i earned or how much i paid in rent. in the US or Ireland, this is hardly a topic of conversation for even acquaintances, let alone someone you just meet. so you do get used to it, but it’s odd.

This article is enlightening; Common misconceptions: # 2.2 Foreigners cannot speak Japanese, use chopsticks or eat sushi” That author is seriously annoyed about some of these questions, as they may belie ignorance or possibly prejudice. Either way, it’s good for me to get familiar with the questions, so that I respond when I hear them.

I still don’t have the Japanese for all of them, nor do i have the responses. Hopefully I can gather them here.

1. Q: do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend?
   - かれしがいますか
2. Q: what’s your bloodtype?
   A:
3. Q: how old are you? what age are you?
   - なんさいですか?
   A:
   あなたよりとしがうえです。(older than you; or compared to you, my years are higher)
4. Q: what’s your favorite food?
   A:
5. Q: can you eat japanese food?
   A
   :
6. Q: why did you decide to come to japan?
   A:
7. Q: can you use chopsticks? they even ask you while you are using chopsticks.
   A:
8. Q: what sports do you like?
   どのスポーツが好きですか。
   dono どの which; 好きis すき (like)
   A: . スポーツがすきではありません。I don’t like any or うえに pingpong

i found another blog for someone in ireland learning a language. he’s learning french and writes brief sentences. this inspires me to keep it short.

i had a lesson today, and i actually learned something about the difference between ‘e’ へ and ‘ni’ に　particles. at least that へ is something you don’t really need to know! (note ‘e’ is written with the hiragana for へ, but pronounced え ‘e’ ).

following on from my work before with coming/going. i started gathering what i could on the topic of going places and also started on conjugating those verbs to talk about the past. but i got confused on how and when to use ni and e.

When asking someone “where did you go to?” you can use EITHER へ or に

Example Question:

どこ へ いきましたか？ OR
どこ に いきましたか？
r: doko e ikimashita ka / doko ni ikimashita ka
e: where did you go?

answer: when you answer, you have to stick with either the e or ni as it was used by the person asking.
みせへいきました。OR
みせにいきました。
r: mise e ikimashita. / mise ni ikimashita
e: i went to the shop.

Vocab:
みせ / mi se / shop
どこ /doko /where
いきました/ ikimashita / past of ‘to go’ いく、いきます

However you can ONLY use へ with:

いきます / ikimasu / come
きます / kimasu / go
かえります / ka e ri masu / to go home, return

For example, you must use に when you say つきます/ tsukimasu / arrive, because it’s not a verb of action. Lithmus test: Arrive means you’re there, hence no action. Ok, i’m confused.

Well, actually I don’t understand the rule for ni に yet, but I do now know: that basically, you can use に in most cases, so you don’t really NEED to use へ! Why not just cross this little particle off your list of things to do?!

Tim R. Matheson’s article on Japanese particles explains why it’s useful. (I have added the hiragana to his quote).

Destination indicator e:

While not as flexible as ni, e is sometimes used in place of it to emphasize a destination:

* そとへいきたい。　Soto e ikitai. (I want to go outside.)
* きゅうはどこへ？　Kyou wa doko e? (Where are you going today?) (Yes, the verb can be omitted here.)
* あしたびじつかんへいきます。　Ashita bijutsukan e ikimasu. (We’re going to the art museum tomorrow.)

So it is useful! Yay for へ!

this is so stunning, irritating and horrible. but a good thing to add to the vocabulary list:

h: ちかん
r: Chikan
e: pervert　

ex:
あなたはちかんです！
anata-wa chikan desu!
YOU are a pervert!

which i learned from rich’s podcast story about how he responded and managed a situation where his wife was groped on a train. amazing how far he went to sort this out. i don’t want to spoil it! don’t read the comments either: plot spoilers!

i have been groped in trains on paris. flipping disgusting and scary. i have also been nearly pickpocketed. when i was groped, i just moved away as fast as i could. on the other hand, when i was nearly pickpocketed, i turned around and screamed “why do you have your hands in my bag?” i think i’d be embarrased/scared by someone groping me, and less likely to respond.

i’m not sure what is the “appropriate” response for a woman alone in japan. i’d hate to think that this happens so frequently as we (women) are just letting it happen out of embarrassment. i’d like to know how to say “get your hands off me!” or something like that.

rich advises: if you’re groped on a train:

- you’ve got to stand up for yourself, because no one is going to do it. if somebody does something that embarrases people on the train, everyone will do their best to ignore it. be assertive.
- get details at the time; take out a cameraphone and take the ****ers picture.
- record a message on the cell phone, and explain every detail of what happened. because you need this at the police station.
- if the police are not helpful or responsive, try to engage them emotionally, “what if it was your wife/daughter”

these are my notes from my fourth lesson with ronan. we did this today via webcam with angelo and peter. today’s themes were expressing ability and continuing on with coming/going from last time. (i still need someone to check this out to see if it’s all kosher.)

part 1: the koto trick

i learned a trick today! this is a beginner trick.

i know japanese verbs have different forms but i don’t actually “know” them. today i learned a trick to make it easy to take the casual/dictionary form of a word and express “i can/cannot” easily; indicating ability, without needing to modify the verb.

for example, here you have to modify the verb ‘to speak’ to indicate ability:

Eigo o hanashimasu ka? = Do you speak English?
Eigo o hanasemasu ka? = Can you / are you able to speak english?

hanashimasu says ’speak’ and hanasemasu says ‘can speak’… but there’s another way where you use the casual/dictionary form:

Eigo o hanasu koto ga dekimasu ka? = same as “Eigo o hanasemasu ka?”

got that from an online forum.

first thing is: koto changes japanese verbs into nouns.

yomu (to read) + koto (the thing of) = yomu koto (the thing of reading; reading as a noun [gerund])

[casual form ] + こと+ が + できます。
[casual form of verb] + koto (the thing of) ga dekimasu (means ‘can’)

• you can read more about the grammar from an expert.
• you can learn more about expressing ability on About.com, i’m going to print that one out.

Some examples:

はしる 　こと　 が 　できます。
hashiru koto ga dekimasu
I can run

はなす　こと　が　 できます
hanasu koto ga dekimasu
i can speak

にほんごを　はなす　こと　が　 できます
nihongo o hanasu koto ga dekimasu
i can speak japanese

にほんごを　はなす　こと　が　できません
nihongo o hanasu koto ga dekimasen
i can’t speak japanese

finally, you can either modify the noun…

日本語　が　はなせます。
nihongo ga hanasemasu
i can speak japanese.

OR we can also add the koto ga dekiru!

にほんごを　はなす　こと　が　 できます
nihongo o hanasu koto ga dekimasu
i can speak japanese

part 1 vocab:

i was trying to clarify the differences between “hanashimasu, hanasemasu”… and i was confused by the way this page broke up the words. “hanas-imas-u” v “hanas-e-mas-u” … but if you write out the kanji it looks different. i made this table, but i’m still not sure if it’s right.

part 2: coming/going

Q：if you are in japan you ask:
いつ　にほんに　きます　か
itsu nihon ni kimasu ka?
when are you coming to japan?

A:
じゅにがつに日本にきます。
juni gatsu ni nihon ni kimas
in december i’m coming to japan

Q：if you are in ireland you ask me:
いつ　にほんに　いきます　か
itsu nihon ni ikimas ka?
when are you going to japan?

A:
juni gatsu ni nihon ni ikimas
じゅにがつに日本にきます。
in december i’m going to japan

part 2 vocab:

cultural note: if you are in japanese you don’t say “i’m coming! i’m coming!”… you say “i’m going! i’m going!”.

part 3: combining the koto trick with coming and going

here we combine the koto trick, with the casual/dictionary forms of coming and going.

• きます kimasu casual form is くる kuru
• いきます ikimasu casual form is いく iku
• できますdekimasu is “positive can do”
• できませんdekimasen is “negative can’t do”

くることができますか
kuru koto ga dekimasu ka?
can i come?

くることができません
kuru koto ga dekimasen
i can’t come:

にほんいくることができます。
nihon ni kuru koto ga dekimasu
i can come to japan.

other things:
hot humid -mushi atsui

not really..
amari dekimasen

questions:

i saw on this page it says ‘dekiru’ instead of ‘dekimasu’ as in:

Nihongo o hanasu koto ga dekiru.

http://www.thejapanesepage.com/readarticle.php?article_id=11

that confuses me.

i’ve decided, that while i’m going to participate in the group thing at Japanese! Japanese! i’m still going to keep notes here； after my japanese lessons or exchanges i’ll write down things i learn.

so today we talked about going places.

k: きょがっこにいきました。
r: kyo gakko ni ikimashita.
e: today i went to school

k: きょがっこにいきませんでした。
r: kyo gakko ni ikimasen deshita
e: today i didn’t go to school

k: じゅ二がつに日本にいきます。
r: juni gatsu ni nihon ni ikimas!
e: in december i’m going to japan!

i went over to japanesejapanese.com for real!

i merged my WP blog into mike’s, without any hairy database weirdness.

i simply used the handy WPexport plugin, making sure to save the exported text into a UT8-encoded text file.

then followed the import instructions.

bye bye!