End of the Line

This week was our end of class party.  There were people from both classes enjoying the activites. 

We had chopsticks and small cookies to practice with, which was a big hit.  One of the students also brought in some cherry blossom tea from Japan.  It tasted wonderful! 

I had a small display with information set up.  It included items I had picked up or made while I was in Japan.

The origami session kept everyone busy until the end of the party.  There were lots of cranes by the time we finished.

Week Five

Our final official class was a review, some new stuff, and alot of random words and phrases.

Days of the Week:
Sunday: Nichiyoubi   meaning: sun day
Monday: Getsuyoubi   meaning: moon day
Tuesday: Kayoubi   meaning: fire day
Wednesday: Suiyoubi   meaning: water day
Thursday: Mokuyoubi   meaning: tree/wood day
Friday: Kinyoubi   meaning: gold/metal day
Saturday: Doyoubi   meaning: earth day

The days of the week follow the Buddhist religion on the elements.

The months of the year follow the numbers and add on -gatsu.  January: Ichigatsu, February: Nigatsu, and so on.

The kanji for the above is available at http://www.kanjisite.com/

The fist ten days of the month have special names: 1st: tsuitachi, 2nd: futsuka, 3rd: mikka, 4th: yokka, 5th: itsuka, 6th: muika, 7th: nanoka, 8th: youka, 9th: kokonoka, 10th: touka.

I explained how years are counted both the Western way and by the year of the emperor's reign.  Your year of birth was dated by what emperor was on the throne.  When Meiji took the throne in 1867, it was formalized.

Meiji 1867-1912
Taishou 1912-1926
Shouwa 1926-1989
Heisei 1989-present

Example:  I was born in the 56th year of the Shouwa period. (1982)

The question one of the students brought up last class was answered; How do you say "I have a (color) (object)"?

Answer: He has...
              "Kare wa (color) (object) ga motteimasu"
              She has...
               "Kanojo wa (color) (object) ga motteimasu"
               I have...
               "watashi/boku/atashi/ore wa (color) (object) ga motteimasu"

A like/s: "A wa B suki desu"
A love/s: "A wa B daisuki desu" (dai is a form of "big", so it literally means "big like")
A dislike/s: "A wa B kirai desu"
A hate/s: "A wa B daikirai desu" (big dislike)

Other important and/or random words:

Wakarimasen: I don't understand; I don't know
Wakarimashita: I understand
Wakarimasu ka: Do you understand?
Oosu: multi-purpose answer
Hai: Yes
Sokka: I see
Yokata: I'm glad; I'm relieved
Gambatte: Good luck
Gambarimasu: I'll do my best (response to good luck)

There were other words and counters.  They will be in a later post.

Week Four

Wow, four weeks already!

This week, we reviewed all of the sentences from the last couple of sessions.  I went over some very important rules about thinking like a Japanese speaker.

-There are no such things as article in Japanese; i.e. a, an, and the.
-"I" and "you" are not used for every sentence.  Once the topic is established, you don't need it anymore.
-"it" has a word, however it isn't translated very often.
-really rolling your "r"s is speaking like a peasnat or mercenary.

I cleared up the colour sentence problem with the following; If you're using black, white, yellow, blue, or red, the sentence is "(object) wa (colour) desu ".  Any other colour uses "(object) wa (colour) iro desu".  The reason behind this difference is technical in its explanation, having to do with the ending of the colours.  I ended up going off on a couple of tangents.  The first was the different forms of "I";

-Female: Polite is "watashi", with friends and family is "atashi", thinking highly of yourself is "watakushi".
-Male: Polite is "watashi", with friends and family (a kind of take-charge attitude) is "boku", crudely is "ore".

We moved on to forms of "you";

-General is "anata".  It's a very direct way of saying you, the equivalent of pointing a finger and saying "you".  It's also the male form of "sweetheart".
-More common (and polite) is using the person's name and honourific.
-The rude form is "omae".

Some other bits of interest include; kimi (female form of sweetheart), "kami" has 3 meanings-hair, paper, and god, (kamikaze literally means god wind), baka kisama (very stupid person).

I showed everyone how to write the kanji for the numbers 1-10.

Next week is the last official class.
  

Anime and Manga Links

This is a link to a site which lists a number of fan translation sites.  A word of caution: Google the anime or manga first, so you know what it is and don't end up with an unpleasant surprise.  Anime is simply another form of media in Japan, and some of the stuff is 18A.

Anime Torrent: http://forum.mininova.org/index.php?showtopic=235035681&mode=threaded

Week Three

We started the class with a number of objects on the table and some cards with Japanese words written on them.  The object of the exercise was to try to match the words to the objects.  The words and objects (with pronunciation/kana dividers) were; bo-u-shi (hat), ha-ko (box), i-su (chair), e-n-pi-tsu (pencil), ka-sa (umbrella), ta-ma-go (egg), to-ke-i (watch, clock), sa-i-fu (wallet), ho-n (book), ji-te-n-sha (bicycle), za-s-shi (magazine), shi-n-bun (newspaper), ku-ru-ma (car), ka-ba-n (bag), ku-tsu (shoe), pe-n (pen), ri-n-go (apple), ne-ko (cat), i-nu (dog), ji-te-n (dictionary; ji-sho is another word that can be used), ku-tsu-shi-ta (socks).

After the exercise finished, I handed out some cards with colours on them.  Pi-n-ku (pink), cha-i-ro-i e(brown), shi-ro-i (white), ki-i-ro-i (yellow), a-ka-i (red), mu-ra-sa-ki (purple), a-o-i (blue), mi-do-ri (green), ku-ro-i (black).

The second part of the class was spent practicing the new sentences that I introduced, as well as the ones from last week.

A wa B deshita...A was B
A wa B dewa arimasen... A is not B
A wa B dewa arimasen deshita... A was not B
Watashi wa B ga arimasu... I have... (non-living objects)
A no B wa C desu...is example: my book is heavy

Reviewed:

A wa B desu... A is/am B
Watashi wa B ga imasu... I have...(living objects)

At the end of class, I gave everyone an assisgnment.  They are to watch a Japanese movie or anime episode with the subtitles and practice listening.  I also reminded them to check the blog every day for the word of the day.

Next class, I will be reinforcing and clarifying some of the rules of Japanese, and adding on to the vocabulary.  The rest of the time will be spend practicing.

Week Two

This week, we began with a review of time and numbers.  I also added another term to the time sheet; -fun and -pun, which means "minute", and I asked the question "Ima nanji desu ka" (What time is it now?).  After we did a quick review exercises, I took the class on a short tour of the blog.  They were shown the "Word of the Day" feature, which is supposed to be seen every day to build vocabulary and for class use.  Once that was done, we began the new phase of the session; Introductions.  I gave everyone their names in Japanese and the first sentence;

 "A wa B desu". 

A=person, object, colour, location, occupation
B=object, occupation, colour, emotion
desu="is", "am", "are"

Occupations included: gakusei (student), koukousei (high school student), shufu (housewife), kodomo (child), kaishain (office worker), kyoushi (teacher), hishyo (secretary), daikusan (carpenter), Kanadajin (Canadian), Indojin (East Indian), seito (primary-middle school student), toshyokanin (librarian), haha or okaasan (mother), chichi or otousan (father).

We used "watashi" ( I ) in place of A, and everyone chose an occupation or age to describe themselves.  We practiced that for awhile, then moved on to the next sentence;

"watashi wa --- ga imasu (I have...)"

The blank could be a family member: imouto (younger sister), otouto (younger brother), ane or oneesan (older sister), ani or oniisan (older brother), obasan (aunt), ojisan (uncle), obaasan (grandmother), ojiisan (grandfather).

Everyone took turns practicing for a bit.  We went off on a couple of tangents after that.  We discussed Japanese food, some customs, feelings towards Westerners.  I told them about the term "gaijin", and a little while later we got onto the topic of having a little food festival in class.

Next week, we will be learning how to say "My..." and expanding our vocabulary.

Hiragana Practice

This is the writing and reading practice for the A I U E O line of hiragana.

A-O


Ai    love

Ue    above, top

Au    meet

Ie    house; extended family

Iu    say

Aoi    blue

Week One

Week One
We began by practising common greetings and phrases one would hear in Japan on a daily basis. After this activity, we moved on to numbers and telling time. The last 20 minutes of class were spent practising the first line of hiragana: A I U E O.

Common Phrases

Good morning.     Ohayou

Good morning. (polite)     Ohayou Gozaimasu

Good afternoon.     Konnichiwa

Good evening.     Konbanwa

Good-bye.     Sayounara

Good night.     Oyasumi nasai

Thank-you.     Arigatou

Thank-you. (polite)     Arigatou Gozaimasu

You’re welcome. (polite)     Douitashimashita

Excuse me; I’m sorry.     Sumimasen

No; Not at all.     Iie

I’ll go and come back.     Ittekimasu

Please go and come back.     Itterashai

I’m home.     Tadaima

Welcome home.     Okaeri nasai

Before eating     Itadakimasu

After eating     Gochisousama

How do you do?     Hajimemashita

Nice to meet you.     Douzo yoroshiku

Numbers

Zero  Zero        Ichi  One

Ni  Two        San  Three

Shi/Yon  Four        Go  Five

Roku  Six        Shichi/Nana  Seven

Hachi  Eight        Kyuu  Nine

Juu  Ten        Juuichi  Eleven

Juuni  Twelve        Juusan  Thirteen

Juuyon  Fourteen        Juugo  Fifteen

Juuroku  Sixteen        Juunana  Seventeen

Juuhachi  Eighteen        Juukyuu  Nineteen

Nijuu  Twenty        Sanjuu  Thirty

Yonjuu  Forty        Gojuu  Fifty

Rokujuu  Sixty        Nanajuu  Seventy

Hachijuu  Eighty        Kuujuu  Ninety

Hyaku   One hundred

Time

Ichiji   One o’clock        Niji   Two o’clock

Sanji   Three o’clock        Yoji   Four o’clock

Goji   Five o’clock        Rokuji   Six o’clock

Shichiji   Seven o’clock        Hachiji   Eight o’clock

Kuji   Nine o’clock        Juuji   Ten o’clock

Juuichiji   Eleven o’clock        Juuniji   Twelve o’clock

Han   Half past

Gozen   AM

Gogo   PM