Archive for the ‘Japanese Course’ Category
Learning Japanese – Useful Phrases: Shopping
Shopping in Japan is usually a very enjoyable experience as they take the Western motto “The customer is always right” to another level with “Okyakusama wa kamisama”, literally “The customer is God!”. And it is no exaggeration to say that you are treated like one. From the second you enter the door (or often meters before you reach it) you are greeted with a bellowing “IRASHAIMASE!” (WELCOME!) by the first staff member to spot you, then echoed by every other available attendant. The next part can get a little tricky if you don’t know a lot of Japanese as they tend to follow you around the store offering intricate details about everything you stop to look at. Although they don’t seem to do this anywhere as much when dealing with foreigners as they understand it is not custom to do so in most countries. But it’s a great opportunity to practice or learn Japanese if you so wish. Either way, here are some of the most common words and useful Japanese phrases that will come in handy when shopping.
*Note: The Japanese language uses a lot of particles when writing that are usually dropped in conversation (unless when speaking extremely formally). Similar to Saying “I’m…” rather than “I am…”. Most text books include these but I have omitted them to help you learn Japanese in a more natural manner.
When entering the store:
*Irasshaimase – Welcome *Nanika osagashi desuka? – Are you looking for something (in particular)?
*Miteru dake desu – I’m just looking *Hai, ____arimasuka? – Do you have any ____?
Clothing names: (many are derived from English names as you may pick up!)
*Zubon – Pants *Denimu – Jeans *Hanzubon – Shorts *Shaatsu – Shirt *Seeta – Sweater *Boushi – Hat
*Buruzon/ Daun – Jacket *Wanpiisu – Dress *Mafura – Scarf *Kutsu – Shoes *Kutsushita – Socks
Colors:
*Aka – Red *Ao – Blue *Midori – Green *Kiiro – Yellow *Kuro – Black *Shiro – White *Pinku – Pink
*Orenji – Orange *Murasaki – Purple *Chairo – Brown
*____iro arimasuka? – Do you have it in ____(color)? *Chigau iro arimasuka? – Do you have a different color?
Other phrases:
*Kore wa ikura desuka? – How much is this? *Chotto takai desu – It’s a little expensive
*Mou sukoshi ____ no arimasuka? – Do you anything ____? (Ookii – Bigger, Chiisai – Smaller, Yasui – Cheaper)
*Chotto kangaemasu – I’ll think about it *Arigatou gozaimasu – Thank you
Numbers: (Note- Yen is pronounced as ‘en’ at the end of the price)
*1 – ichi, 2 – ni, 3 – san, 4 – shi, 5 – go, 6 – roku, 7 – nana, 8 – hachi, 9 – kyu, 10 – jyu.
*Add a number then jyu (ten) to make twenty, thirty etc. For example nijyu = twenty, gojyu = fifty.
*Hyaku – hundred *Sen – Thousand *Man – Ten thousand *Jyuman – hundred thousand
*Some examples- 2,500 – Ni sen go hyaku, 11,400 – ichiman sen yon hyaku, 255 – ni hyaku go jyu go
(There are some minor changes made to numbers when grouping together but it will get too complicated to mention them here.
I have focussed on clothing shopping in this article but you can easily insert other words in their place. There are plenty of free Japanese dictionaries on the net where you can find the words for your particular purpose. GANBATTE! (good luck) with learning Japanese and HAPPY SHOPPING!
About the Author
Adam has been living in Japan for over twelve years and runs his own school teaching both Japanese and English. If you found this article helpful and would like to learn more, please visit http://learn-japanese-online.info
Learning Japanese – How to Start
The first thing you need to tackle when starting your journey into learning Japanese is a quick run through pronunciation. But WAIT! Before you tune out and the “boring” lights start blinking, it’s much easier than you think. One of the great things about Japanese is that there are only 47 characters with 50 basic sounds. There are also another 55 variations to those sounds, but they only consist of simple changes like a ’ka’ becomimg a ‘ga’, or a ‘sa’ a ’za’. When you compare that to English, which has over 500 sounds, it’s not that bad at all right?
After you get the general gist of the pronunciation (just a few runs through the alphabet is fine to start) you should start adding a few basic words to your vocabulary and practicing your pronunciation at the same time. Most people start with the ‘konnichi wa’s’ and ‘arigatou’s’ but I say go with whatever tickles your fancy. Of course you will have to learn the pleasantries to really start delving into the language, but there’s no reason why you can’t mix it up by learning some words of particular interest to you. Remember, learning a language is meant to be fun! Plus, you are much more likely to remember a word that you want to learn rather than one that has just been shoved in front of you. I started learning Japanese when I was 15, and being of ‘that age’, I wanted to know all the rude words. But because that was what I was interested in, I never forgot them!
After you learn the general greetings, phrases and some words of personal interest you are eventually going to run into that disgusting four letter word, grammar. But again, DON’T STRESS! You needn’t put anywhere near the emphasis most text books and teachers will have you believe on grammar in order to get to conversational level in Japanese. Think about it, when you started speaking English at the age of about 2, did your Mum whip out the textbook and start teaching you about conjugating your verbs?! Of course a little background on the basic sentence structure will help accelerate your learning a great deal but don’t get too bogged down on the technical stuff. Remember, you already learnt a language well enough to have a reasonable conversation before you ever opnened a textbook. You learnt by observation. By watching and listening to your parents and the people around you and by eventually repeating what you heard. So trying to replicate that environment is a great way to learn a second language. The best possible way to do this is to go Japan and study there, surrounding yourself with Japanese 24/7. But I understand that is just not an option for most people. The next best thing you can do is to start an online or classroom course and combine that with a couple of the following:
* Chatting with Japanese friends. (face to face or through online chats or forums.)
* Reading Japanese manga or books. (children’s books are very good for building your vocabulary and for learning to read Japanese.)
* Listening to Japanese music / radio. (again, children’s songs will be easier to pick up on to begin with.)
* Watching movies or TV shows. (you can watch ten minute episodes of shows like ‘Anpanman’ on you tube. It’s a cartoon aimed at 2-3 year olds but again very good for learning the language.)
GANBATTE! (good luck) and HAVE FUN!
About the Author
Adam has been living in Japan for over twelve years and runs his own school teaching both Japanese and English. If you found this article interesting and would like to learn more, please visit http://learn-japanese-online.info
where can i learn japanese in brisbane?
i cant find anywhere to learn it but im not old enough to take courses ?!!
You can try Hayakawa’s Learn Japanese course its a easy and fun self learning course you can study from home. For sample lesson visit http://www.hayakawa.in/?pgid=video-request-form
Japanese Education
Such interesting and mysterious country as Japan became open for the rest of the world in 1868. Since that time one of the main goals of Japanese Government was to reform educational system according to Western standards. That’s why firstly Japanese system was reconstructed according to French and German educational systems.
After World War II Japanese system of education was reformed according to American standards. So, present educational system in Japan consists of 6 years of elementary school which is divided into 3 years of junior school and 3 years of senior high school. Then there are two variants: 4 years of university or 2 years of junior college.
Elementary school which consists of junior and senior schools is compulsory. More then 90% of students graduate from high school and more then 40% graduates from university or junior college. At universities number of male student is bigger then female students, the opposite situation is at junior colleges. In general the quantity of graduate students is not big.
Academic year in Japan begins in April, it consists of three terms which are separated from each other by small holidays in spring and winter and there is month of summer holidays.
The most well-known and prestigious higher educational establishments in Japan are the University of Tokyo and the University of Kyoto.
One of the main characteristics of Japanese educational establishments is entrance exams. In order to pass entrance exams for the best educational establishments, students visit preparative schools – juku together with regular classes or 1-2 years preparative school between high school and university – yobiko.
About the Author
Kory Haggard well-known in the education field. He conducts different sociological investigations in the Internet. Brendan Lee written a lot of PhD dissertation; he assists students in Descriptive essay
and Finance Thesis.
Installing Japanese language pack… Help please!?
First click ‘Start’, go to ‘control pannel’, now click ‘date, time, language, and regional options’ and finally click ‘add other languages’. There are 2 boxes, they say
-Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including thai)
-Install files for East Asian languages
The first one means reading Kanji right to left, I understand that the Japanese read the exact opposite way we do. So if I check that box, it will read symbols right-to-left?
Oh yeah, when I check these boxes and click ‘apply’ it says that I must insert a disk. Is this a speciffic disk? If so, what does it look like…heh, heh, I hopelessly confused.
THANKS!
You can check them both, it won’t affect how your Japanese is displayed. The disk is your MS Windows system installation disk, which you may or may not have received with your computer.
Quick Japanese Lesson – Top 10 Most Useful Japanese Words and Phrases
Learn these 10 words and simple phrases and you’ll instantly be able to navigate around Japan and impress your Japanese hosts as a polite, well-mannered gaijin!
If you need help pronouncing these words, please refer to my previous article (Japanese Language Learning Tips – 25 Japanese Words You Already Know!), which includes a brief explanation on proper Japanese pronunciation. Now on to our lesson!
Sumimasen (su-mi-ma-sen)
This might be the most useful all-purpose word in the Japanese language. Depending upon the context, it can mean excuse me (as in “I need to get by you”), sorry (as in “oops, didn’t mean to bump into you), or thank you (as in”thanks for doing that for me”). You’ll start hearing this word the moment you arrive in Japan, and pretty soon you’ll figure out how and when to use it,
Dozo (dou-zo)
Dozo means “please” and is used to offer something or give permission, as in “go right ahead” or “be my guest”, but it does NOT mean please as in “may I?”! Beginners often get this one mixed up so be sure you understand the difference.
Onegai-shimasu (o-ne-ga-i shi-ma-su)
This word is used to say please in Japanese or request something, as in “may I please do this?” or “can you please do something for me?”. This phrase is commonly used in Japanese martial arts classes when requesting a teacher or training partner to teach a technique or spar together.
Hajimemashite (ha-ji-me-ma-shi-te)
This word literally means “it’s a beginning,” but is actually used as a ritualized greeting expression to mean ”nice to meet you.” Always use this expression when meeting someone for the first time.
Yoroshiku onegai-shimasu (yo-ro-shi-ku o-ne-ga-i shi-ma-su)
This is another phrase that is used at the end of the ritualized greeting to mean something like “now that we’ve just met each other, let’s be friends and have a good relationship”. It is also used as a more polite form of ”onegai shimasu” to mean something like “thanks in advance for what you are about to do for me”.
Itadakimasu (i-ta-da-ki-ma-su)
This is an important word that must be used for proper Japanese dining etiquette. It is a ritualized expression used right before you are about to eat anything meaning “I humbly and appreciatively receive this food”. When dining with Japanese friends or hosts, be sure to use this expression before digging into your meal!
Kudasai (ku-da-sa-i)
Alone, this word is an imperative meaning “give me”. However, when combined with other words, it becomes a polite way of asking for something or requesting some action. For instance “kore kudasai” means “please give me this”, and ”oshiete kudasai” means “please teach me or tell me”.
Wakarimasen (wa-ka-ri-ma-sen)
During your first trip to Japan, you’ll find yourself in many situations where you don’t understand something. This word is used to simply say “I don’t understand”.
Wakarimashita (wa-ka-ri-ma-shi-ta)
In contrast to the above, this word is used to express that you DO understand something someone is telling you.
Arigato gozaimasu (a-ri-ga-tou go-za-i-ma-su)
Finally, you need to know how to politely say thank you in Japanese, and this is how you say it. “Arigato” alone also means thank you (more like “thanks!), but is a bit less formal, so add “gozaimasu” to make your thank you a suitably polite expression of appreciation.
Use this list of my Top 10 most useful Japanese Words and phrases and you’ll find yourself able to nimbly navigate through any Japanese social situation!
Hopefully this quick Japanese lesson will help you get your Japanese learning off to to the right start. Find out how you can start learning Japanese today at http://www.essential-japan-guide.com/japanese-learning-guide.htm
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