[Japanese Lessons] Let's Learn Japanese! ~ Lesson 1 up ~

[catseyes]

Ok, i think i will give it a shot and try starting a new thread for Japanese, and also showing a format that we might be using in future.

1) Basic writing system: Japanese has 3 kind of writing, a) Hiragana b) Katakana and c) Kanji

a) Hiragana - this is the most basic form of writing Japanese is written in. (Image credits: Wikipedia)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/jaychounet/hiragana2.jpg

b) Katakana - words of foreign origin (other than Chinese) is written in this form. The pronunciation of Katakana is the same as Hiragana with only the set of characters being different. (image credits: Wikipedia)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/jaychounet/katakana.jpg

c) Kanji - these are a set of words that are derived from Chinese characters and they are used in the Japanese writing systems. It is more complicated as each character can represent one or more syllables that is written in hiragana.
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2) Resources

Online dictionary:

http://www.animelab.com/anime.manga/dictionary
http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/Portal_e.aspx

Online translator:

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

Note: Please do know that, online translators are not 100% reliable, but you can always make use of it to roughly know what is going on.

Places where you can find notes, exercises:

http://www.mlcjapanese.co.jp - This site is a heaven for all those taking JLPT, it has lots of reference and notes for past years JLPT and i personally read their kanji list when it's nearing JLPT time.

http://www.learn-japanese.info/

http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/m.rowley/resources.html

http://www.japanese-kanji.org/

http://www.jgram.org/ - This is a site for grammar, it has lessons in romanji, i guess it's pretty useful for beginners. And also have quiz which you can test your grammar level.

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/ - This is also a site for grammar, it has a systematic and comprehensive guide to Japanese grammar, from very basic to highly advanced.

http://japanese.about.com/ - This site has everything for a new learner, the plus point of this site is, it has audio files for vocabulary. It's a pity they don't have audio files for the syllables though.

http://www.languageguide.org/nihongo/ - This site has audio files for the basic syllables and i consider this site organised with the different categories for day-to-day vocabulary.

Sites for official language exams:

http://www.jees.or.jp/jlpt/en/index.htm - This is the official JLPT site, where you can get hold of information like, when application date opened and the date of the test.
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3) Links to the various lessons taught on JCNet (To be updated, once we see there is something taught)

Lesson 1 - The Basics - Pronouncing Long Vowels, ‘N’ (ん) and Double Consonants (http://jay-chou.net/forums/showthread.php?p=755304#post755304) - petricia
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4) Any Other Things for a beginner

Telling the time in Japanese

Hour

1:00 - i-chi-ji
2:00 - ni-ji
3:00 - san-ji
4:00 - yo-ji
5:00 - go-ji
6:00 - ro-ku-ji
7:00 - shi-chi-ji
8:00 - ha-chi-ji
9:00 - ku-ji
10:00 - juu-ji
11:00 - juu-i-chi-ji
12:00 - juu-ni-ji

Minutes

1 - i-ppun
2 - ni-hun
3 - san-pun
4 - yon-pun
5 - go-hun
6 - ro-ppun
7 - nana-hun
8 - ha-chi-hun/ha-ppun
9 - kyuu-hun
10 - ji-ppun
11 - juu-i-ppun
12 - juu-ni-hun
13 - juu-san-hun
14 - juu-yon-pun
15 - juu-go-hun
16 - juu-ro-ppun
17 - juu-nana-hun
18 - juu-ha-chi-hun
19 - juu-kyuu-hun
20 - ni-ji-ppun
30 - san-ji-ppun
35 - san-juu-go-hun
40 - yon-ji-ppun
45 - yon-juu-go-hun
50 - go-ji-ppun
55 - go-juu-go-hun
60 - ro-ku-ji-ppun

From the 21st min to the 59th min, the pattern will be the same from the 11th min to 19 min....just add "ni" in front for 21st to 29th min, "san" for 31st to 39 min, "yon" for 41st to 49th min and "go" for 51st to 59th min

And i have break the word into parts so that it's easier to pronounce while it's actually 1 whole word...

Things to take note
Those with pp, tt, ss or kk in the word are double consonants when you need to pause before it...
For example: ro-ku-ji(pause a while)-ppun

Those with aa, ii, uu, ee, ei, ou, oo are long vowels, so you must drag the the word...
For example: go-juu(drag)-go-hun

To tell time, just combine the hour and the minute together....
For example: 12:55 (juu-ni-ji + go-juu-go-hun)
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To be added
Counting in Japanese

Ok, the thread is finally up, let's get it started!! =)

[petricia]

The Basics

As said in the first post of the thread, there are 3 types of writing systems for Japanese Language.

　•Hiragana　ひらがな (basic writing pattern for most Japanese words)
　•Katakana　カタカナ (used for words of foreign origin, except for Chinese)
　•Kanji　漢字 (basically most Japanese words would have a kanji counterpart but that’s the worry for later)

Please make an effort to memorize the Hiragana/ Katakana chart provided. You will need it to start learning Japanese. It is like the alphabet for English Language.

Pronunciation
• Long vowels ＝ pronounced twice as long as the ordinary vowels.
E.g. obasan vs obaasan (Auntie VS Granny)
おばさん＜－＞おばあさん
ojisan vs ojiisan (Uncle VS Grandfather)
おじさん＜－＞おじいさん
yuki vs yuuki (snow VS courage)
ゆき＜－＞ゆうき
kire vs kirei (cut VS clean/neat)*
きれ＜－＞きれい
[exceptions: oneesan (おねえさ)んetc]
otosan vs otousan (Mr.Sound VS father)*
おとさん＜－＞おとうさん
[exceptions: ooi (おおい), tooi (とおい) etc.]

Basically it is important that you ‘drag’ the ‘a’, ‘i’, ‘u’, ‘e’ & ‘o’ longer as they meant different things. These are the most common mistakes and maybe one of the least embarrassing ones. So do be careful with the long vowels.

*Notice that usually in written form, for the long vowels involving ‘e’ and ‘o’, it is written as ‘い’ & ‘う’ respectively, unless they are the exceptions (like those in e.g.)

NB: there are several ways to write long vowels in romanji and one way is to write like the examples above, with ‘aa’, ‘ii’, ‘uu’, ‘ei’ & ‘ou’. The other way is to write it as ā, ī, ū, ē & ō.

• About the pronunciation of ‘N’ (ん)
It will never be at the end of a word.
e.g. みんな、しんぶん etc.

There will be times that you see it at the end of a sentence but it is not going to happen for now.

• Double consonants

e.g. kitteきって、nijuppunにじゅっぷん etc.
These words need to have a little pause when the ‘tt’/ ‘pp’ is. In written form, it will be written as tsu つ or ツ, depending whether you are using Hiragana or Katakana.
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Lesson 1

N1はN2です。
(lit. translation = N1 is N2.)

Firstly, I would like to introduce the copula, です
It is used to

indicate the end of a sentence
reflect the tense and status of the sentence (past/ present/positive/negative etc... will be explained later)
indicate politeness to the listener.


Basically, for positive sentences ending with nouns, you will see ですat the end of the sentence.

Some examples are:

N1はN2です。 = わたしはペットです。= I am Petto. (short for Petricia)
N1はい adjectiveです。= 今日（きょう）は暑いです。= Today is hot.
N1はな adjectiveです。= ジェイは有名（ゆうめい）です。= Jay is famous.


The above is how sentences can end with です。Notice that they are all present tense too.

The negative form for です is じゃありません/では(wa)ありません. (the latter is used for formal occasions.)

Some examples are:

わたしは学生（がくせい）じゃありません。= I am not a student.
それは本(ほん）じゃありません。= That is not a book.


N1はN2です

Secondly, は.

Though it is written as は(ha), it is pronounced as わ(wa).
It is known as a 'topic marker'; making the topic of the sentence, which in this case is N1.


Using the same examples:


N1はN2です。 = わたしはペットです。= I am Petto. (short for Petricia)
N1はい adjectiveです。= 今日（きょう）は暑いです。= Today is hot.
N1はな adjectiveです。= ジェイは有名（ゆうめい）です。= Jay is famous.


What I have above is some simple usage of the particle は。
It is one of the most used particle so do get the hang of it.

N1はN2ですか。

Thirdly, か.
It indicates

a question
speaker's uncertainty and doubts


I don't really know the specific name for this particle but we usually call it the question marker, as we usually use it to indicate a question.

Example:

N1はN2ですか。= あの人（ひと)は武(たけし）さんですか。Is that person Mr.Takeshi?
N1はverbですか。= 電車（でんしゃ）は込みますか。Is the train crowded?
N1はい adjectiveですか。= コーヒーは熱い（あつい）ですか。Is the coffee hot?
N1はな adjectiveですか。= 武さんはハンサムですか。Is Mr. Takeshi handsome?


I think you all probably get the idea of how to use the particle かnow. (Maybe also my obsession with Takeshi :oops:. )

N1はN2です。N3もN2です。

Fourthly, も。
Basically, it is used to indicate same characteristics. (Let's just remember this for now.)

Examples:

スミフさんはアメリカ人（じん）です。エレッツさんもアメリカ人です。(Mr. Smith is American. Mr. Alex is also American.)
堅（けん）さんは日本人（にほんじん）です。DBSKも日本人ですか。(Mr. Ken is Japanese. Is DBSK Japanese too?)
　　　～いいえ、日本人じゃありません。DBSKは韓国人（かんこくじん）です。 （~ No, they are not Japanese. They are Koreans.）


N1はN2のN3です。

Last but not least, の.
There are several uses but let us focus on one first. In short, It describes the relationship between N2 and N3, i.e. N3 belongs to N2.

Examples:

堅さんは日本の歌手（かしゅ）です。(Ken is a singer from Japan.)
これはわたしの本です。(This book is mine.)


End of the particles... till next time! (Please do visit the links in the first post. I believe that they are extremely helpful.)

Conversation: Meeting someone for the first time

Aさん：はじめまして。わたしはAです。どうぞよろしく　おねがいします。
A: First time meeting you. I am A. Please take care of me.

Bさん：わたしはBです。こちらこそ。
B: I am B. Same over here. (a.k.a. Please take care of me too.)

NB:
Notice that I use a lot of さん。Basically, they are attached to a person's name, especially when you are not very close terms with them. ’さん’ is used, regardless of gender. It is usually attached to the family name/last name. For very close friends, younger children or your subordinates, くん and ちゃんcan be used for guys and girls respectively. They are usually attached to the given name.

For example: 武くん/由紀子（ゆきこ）ちゃん

Hope that this is a useful lesson to all...

[whomp]

thanks for putting this together, the grammar tips i like very much.

[whozthat]

wow pet! thats quite a mouthful. haha. thankfully i understand most of them! heh.

and i didnt know about "ja arimasen". my teacher only taught us "dewa arimasen". shall check your thread out more often to learn about impolite stuff! :D

thank you so much petto-san!

[petricia]

^

actually they are the same thing, as in 'ja arimasen' and 'dewa arimasen'.

I would say both are polite form but if my memory didn't fail me, 'dewa arimasen' is more polite. However, these days, 'ja arimasen' is a phrase more commonly used than the other.

Anyway, I would like to ask if any other members would like to take over this instead as my time is more than a bit overstretch these days. I guess we all know that this thread has been like stagnant since forever and if anyone wants to take over, just PM me. I would really appreciate the help.