I hope you had wonderful holidays and I hope the brand new year will give you love, health and adventures! And if you have stumbled upon my blog, this only means that learning Japanese is one of the goals you set yourself to achieve this year!
I am glad to be able to do this again as I have missed teaching languages. You can call me Dolly Panda (or should I say, Panda-sensei!) and I'll be your teacher for the next few months!
So, have you ever wanted to learn the language of the country of the Rising Sun, but never knew where to start? Or have you ever dived into it, but found it too difficult? Or perhaps, you are simply tired of rigid textbooks and you just wanted to learn real Japanese?
Well, you are in luck, because I myself am also tired of this rigid way of learning languages and I seek to teach real or natural Japanese to finally allow people to speak like native Japanese. So, forget textbooks or learning apps that only teach you one way to say things!
My blog will carefully be divided into easy lessons that will be simple to follow, along with tips to really explain to you in detail how this language is constructed. If ever you do not understand something, do not hesitate to leave a comment with your question(s), I will make sure to answer ASAP, and I will also update my lessons or add your questions, so other people will also be able to have their own questions answered.
So, a little bit about me, I guess. I have taught Japanese to my friends and other people since high school. I have always been passionate about languages, having taught myself English and other languages like German and Polish, and I have always loved sharing my passion with others. I have taken education classes in university to perfect my way of building courses on my own and I have incorporated everything I have learned in my lessons. I find Japanese to be easier to teach than English or French, so this is why I have decided to open up this blog. And I will assure you, Japanese is not as difficult as people think it is! With motivation and passion, you can conquer almost any language!
Japanese is also a really popular language to learn, thanks to anime, hence my decision to set myself on teaching this language. I have encountered many people who wanted to learn Japanese, but unfortunately, with the rigid teaching of textbooks and the unnatural Japanese that often comes with these books, many people had a tendency to stop learning after a while or to sound unnatural when speaking Japanese. Well, I want to solve that problem!
The Language of the Rising Sun
日本語
So, before even diving into learning this language, let's look at some facts about it.
Japanese is a language belonging to the Japonic or Japanese-Ryukyuan family and is spoken by around 128 million people in Japan. The language is mostly close to Korean, so if you ever master the Japanese language, think about learning Korean next, it will be much easier for you!
Japanese has a subject-object-verb order like most languages. English has a subject-verb-object order, so it might take you a while to get into the grove of Japanese because of this. The verbs in Japanese are always at the end of a clause or a sentence, do not forget that!
Japanese has three forms of writing: katakana (カタカナ), hiragana (ひらがな) and kanji (漢字). In the ancient times, Japanese used to be written with only kanji, which are Chinese non-simplified characters, but was later simplified by creating other writing systems to make it easier for people to read and write (which were the hiragana and katakana). The katakana alphabet was invented in the 9th century and the hiragana alphabet during the second half of the 9th century. It was believed that since hiragana were more delicate that it was a woman's writing, while the kanji remained a man's writing.
Japanese is also a language that uses the keigo system (which we can call the polite system). You may have heard that the language has a polite form and a neutral (familiar or casual) form. Most of the time in anime or manga, you will see a lot of the neutral (or familiar) form, and in textbooks, you will see mostly the polite form. We will call the familiar or neutral form 'casual' henceforth to not get confused. We will look at this later on, but for now, I will briefly explain what it entails.
The polite form, or keigo, works with the verb endings and there are three keigo forms: the teineigo, which is the basic politeness, and the two keigo-styled politeness, sonkeigo and kenjougo. I will not go into much detail on those polite forms in the courses, because the sonkeigo and kenjougo are highly difficult to master (Japanese people themselves, we just do not know how to use them properly), but just be aware that they do exist. In the lessons, we will mostly view the teineigo and the keigo itself.
All of this (the three writing systems, the keigo system...) seems to be difficult. But do you know what is nice about the Japanese language? It does not have any gender, like Romance languages, nor plural like many languages, and the verbs keep the same form no matter the pronoun used (and most of the time, pronouns are dropped altogether!) And it has no noun cases like it is the case in Polish or Finnish! This makes it, in my opinion, one of the easiest languages to learn.
With this in mind, are you ready to learn Japanese?
Oh, and another thing before we dive into the lessons!
You can actually write Japanese with letters. This is called roumaji script. However, it is also important to learn the Japanese alphabet, along with katakana, hiragana and kanji. Japanese people just do not write in letters. I know this can be hard and not a lot of people actually want to learn them, but you have to! This is the only way if you want to read manga or if you ever visit Japan outside of Tokyo. So, in my lessons, I will start up with roumaji, but I will slowly abandon it to favour the Japanese writing instead to encourage you to learn it. So, at some point, if you do not learn the katakana and hiragana, you won't be able to go further into the lessons!
Keep also in mind that I will not teach kanji here, because it requires knowing the stroke order and this is impossible to do in a blog. There is an excellent book I found to learn kanji, so if you really want to learn some, this book will come in handy for you! The book is Kanji Look and Learn; I bet you can find it on Amazon.
Duolingo is a good way to help you learn the hiragana and katakana, and even kanji, but the Japanese on Duolingo is not natural and can contain mistakes. I would avoid it to learn the language itself, but it can be a good tool to learn the writing systems. You can learn the kanji, but I would not really worry about it, to be honest. It is almost impossible to know all 2000 kanji to be sufficient in Japanese if you do not live in Japan for several years and to be fair, only knowing an handful is good enough. If you know the most useful ones, I would say it is enough. Most manga, if you want to read manga in Japanese, have furigana, which are hiragana written next to kanji to help you read them anyway.
The first thing we need to learn when studying a new language is how to introduce ourselves, how to talk about our hobbies and how to tell other people our age or our work. This is the most basic expressions we can learn.
A small FYI before we start: in Japanese, we put the subject first, then the object if there is one, and then the verb. In English, you have a subject-verb-object order, but in Japanese, all verbs are at the end of a clause or a sentence. It can be confusing at first, but don't worry, this will come as a second nature to you.
Another thing is that when we write in Japanese, there is no space in between words. This can be challenging at first when learning Japanese, and this is why in all my examples, I will use the roumaji script to help you differentiate the words in a sentence.
So, let's go introducing ourselves!
One important thing first; in Japanese, most of the time, we won't use pronouns. In English, we always say the pronouns such as I am, she eats, we walk, they talk, etc. In Japanese, we prefer to avoid them, particularly the first person singular pronoun 'I'.
Why is that? Because Japanese is a language that works with context. This is one of the reasons why people tell me Japanese is tricky, because sometimes for English people, the context is not very obvious since you are used at utilising a more direct language. In Japanese, we prefer to be less direct and so, this will create situations where only the context will tell you what is going on. So, you need to pay attention to the context at hand. This is why Japanese can be difficult for non-native speakers.
So, what does that mean? It means that if the context is obvious, we omit the pronouns. For example, if I was to say 'I am Panda-sensei and I like pandas' as an introduction, it would be obvious that I am the one introducing myself. So, I will drop the pronoun 'I' altogether.
I am Panda-sensei.
パンダせんせいです。
Panda-sensei desu.
'I' in Japanese is わたし (watashi) and it is often followed by the particle は (wa). (We will view particles in time). Notice that here I did not use watashi wa. I know it can be difficult for English people to drop pronouns altogether, but always remember not to use them, particularly the pronoun 'I'. If you use watashi wa all the time as when you use the pronoun 'I' in English, you will sound rude to Japanese people. You will sound like 'me, me, me' and it doesn't sound natural in Japanese to use it all the time. There are times and places to use it, but when the context is clear, you do not use it.
It is the same thing in any other context. If the context is clear, we drop the pronoun 'I'. As such, 'I am eating an apple' will be りんごをたべています。(Ringo o tabeteimasu.) There is no watashi wa there either.
But Panda-sensei, when do you use watashi wa? I hear it in anime sometimes!
I know! In most cases, watashi wa will be used when the context is not so obvious or when you want to compare yourself to someone or when you want to emphasise something. Take this example:
Tomoyo likes maths. I, on the other hand, hate it.
ともよはさんすうがすきです。わたしはだいきらいです。
Tomoyo wa sansuu ga suki desu. Watashi wa daikirai desu.
Or this example:
My little sister wants to go to the park, so I will drive there.
いもうとがこうえんにいきたいですから、わたしはそこにうんてんします。
Imouto ga kouen ni ikitai desu kara, watashi wa soko ni unten shimasu.
In those examples, the use of watashi wa is used to demonstrate who does the action. I hate maths, not Tomoyo. I will drive my sister to the park, my sister will not drive herself there.
In the second example, if I hadn't used watashi wa and just said 'soko ni unten shimasu', we would have understood 'my sister wants to go to the park, therefore, she will drive there.' However, if my little sister is not of driving age, then in that case, it is obvious that I will be the one driving her there. In that case, watashi wa will not be necessary.
This all sounds complicated, but we will practice this in time.
Another pronoun we do not use often is you. You in Japanese is あなた (anata). In certain cases, however, you cannot not use it. For instance, if you want to introduce yourself to another person and you want to ask for their name, you will have to use it. Such as...
Most Japanese people will prefer to use the person's name instead of the pronoun 'you'. It may sound weird for English people to refer to your friend who is right next to you as the third person singular pronoun, but don't worry, this is completely normal and natural in Japanese. Some people even refer to themselves as the third person, so really, all is good!
Also, as you may have guessed, the pronouns 'he' or 'she' are rarely used as well. 'He' in Japanese is かれ (kare) and 'she' is かのじょ (kanojo). Kanojo is also another way of saying girlfriend, as in lover, so this is probably why we prefer to not use it for people in general. As for kare, there is the word kareshi, which means boyfriend.
If you want to introduce someone to someone else, you will use the expression 'this person' instead, あのひと (ano hito).
Tomoyo, this person is Panda-sensei. She is a Japanese teacher.
ともよ、あのひとはパンダせんせいです。にほんごのせんせいです。
Tomoyo, ano hito wa Panda-sensei desu. Nihongo no sensei desu.
Notice in this speech, I did not use かのじょは (kanojo wa) (she) to talk about Panda-sensei. This is because it is obvious that I am talking about Panda-sensei when I say 'nihongo no sensei desu.'
As I have already said, this will come as second nature for you as you will dive deeper into Japanese. At first, this is difficult to grasp, and you will not be the only one who use watashi wa all the time. Most of my students in the past have made this mistake a lot.
So, you might have noticed the word です (desu) popping up a few times. This is the verb 'to be' in Japanese. You can use it to introduce yourself.
I am Panda-sensei.
パンダせんせいです。
Panda-sensei desu.
Verbs won't change depending on the pronouns used. They will change only if we change tenses, so no need to conjugate them with pronouns. Also, verbs come at the end of a sentence or clause in Japanese.
Another way you can use to introduce yourself is to use this form: (name) ともうします (to moushimasu). It roughly translates to 'I am called...'
I am called Sakura.
さくらともうします。
Sakura to moushimasu.
If you want people to call you a certain way, you can say this:
You can call me Sakura.
さくらってよんでいいです。
Sakura tte yonde ii desu.
Let's break down this construction... Sakura is the name; 'tte' is something you will put after the subject when you use the verb 'yobu' (to call) like in the example 'yonde'; 'ii' means 'good', and 'desu' is the verb 'to be'. So, it is as if you would say 'it is okay to call me Sakura.'
Maybe for the time being, using the verb 'desu' or the expression 'to moushimasu' will be easier.
I am Panda-sensei.
パンダせんせいです。
Panda-sensei desu.
I am called Panda-sensei.
パンダせんせいともうします。
Panda-sensei to moushimasu.
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Talking about your hobbies
It is only normal to talk about your hobbies when you introduce yourself.
The correct way of stating your hobby is:
しゅみは。。。です。(with nouns)
Shumi wa.... desu.
しゅみは。。。ことです。(with verbs)
Shumi wa.... koto desu.
As you could have guessed, しゅみ (shumi) is 'hobby.' You can also add わたしのしゅみ (watashi no shumi) to be precised about the fact that it is your hobby. Watashi no means 'my.' Even though we don't use watashi wa all the time, we do use watashi no, so do not think that it is forbidden to ever use watashi!
For instance, one of my hobbies is playing video games, so I will say:
My hobby is playing video games.
わたしのしゅみはゲームをすることです。
Watashi no shumi wa geemu o suru koto desu.
Geemu o suru is 'to play games' or 'to play video games.' You will see that, in Japanese, the verb suru, which means 'to do', is used a lot with nouns to form verbs. Also, Japanese has some words that have been borrowed from foreign languages, hence the geemu which sounds like 'game'. The o is an object particle that we will talk about later.
If you like reading books, you can say:
My hobby is to read books.
わたしのしゅみはほんをよむことです。
Watashi no shumi wa hon o yomu koto desu.
Hon o yomu means 'to read books'. Hon is 'book' and yomu is to read'. Again, the o is a particle that we will see later. There is also no plural in Japanese, so 'reading books' and 'reading a book' will be the same, 'hon o yomu'.
See how easy it is?
The word こと (koto) means 'thing', but it is a versatile word that you will see in some sentence structures. One of its uses is to nominalize verbs, which means it will turn verbs into nouns. When we talk about our hobbies, we will often use verbs. So, when we say 'my hobby is playing video games', 'playing video games' will behave like a noun.
If you want to ask someone about their hobbies, here is how you do it:
あなたのしゅみはなんですか？
Anata no shumi wa nan desu ka?
Nani (or nan in front of desu) means 'what' or 'what is it.' So, to ask what is your hobby, you use the same sentence structure, you change the hobby by 'nan' and you add 'ka' at the end, which is the question particle. Easy, right?
I said earlier that we did not use anata a lot, but in this case, again, you cannot really avoid it. Unless you use the person's name instead of anata, which would be a bit better in my opinion.
What is your hobby, Rika?
りかのしゅみはなんですか？
Rika no shumi wa nan desu ka?
If you tell your hobby to someone and you want to know theirs as well, you can simply add 'anata wa?' or '(name) wa?' after.
My hobby is to watch movies. How about you, Rika?
わたしのしゅみはえいがをみることです。りかは？
Watashi no shumi wa eiga o miru koto desu. Rika wa?
Stating a chain of actions like 'my hobbies are reading books, playing games and watching movies' is a little bit more difficult in Japanese, so for now, we will only focus on one action at a time.
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Telling your age and asking how old are you?
When introducing yourself, you might also state your age.
And in this lesson, I believe I should tell you how to count right away in Japanese.
To ask how old a person is, simply use: なんさいですか？(Nan sai desu ka?)
Nani (or nan in front of sai), again, means 'what' and sai means 'age'.
How old are you, Tomoyo?
ともよはなんさいですか？
Tomoyo wa nan sai desu ka?
I am 25 years old.
にじゅうごさいです。
Ni juu go sai desu.
So, when stating your age, you only have to say the number + sai + desu.
Numbers
Here is an image taken from the net, as it is easier for me to do than creating a graph on here. Numbers in Japanese are quite easy. They normally follow a pattern. After ten, you simply need to say ten-one, ten-two, until 20, which is two-ten, and then 21, two-ten-one, and so on.
Straight up counting is easy in Japanese, but counting things can be tricky. We will see that, in Japanese, there are counters, a lot of them.
We will see them in due time, but for now, let's focus on age, さい (sai).
Some of the numbers will change when counting things.
To say one year old, we don't say ichi sai, we say issai. To say eight year old, we don't say hachi sai, we say hassai. For twenty years old, oddly enough, we don't say nijuu sai, we say hatachi....
Issai - One year old
Ni sai - two years old
San sai - Three years old
Yon sai - Four years old
Go sai - Five years old
Roku sai - Six years old
Nana sai - Seven years old
Hassai - Eight years old
Kyuu sai - Nine years old
Juu sai - Ten years old
Juu issai - Eleven years old
Juuni sai - Twelve years old....
Nijuu issai - Twenty-one years old
Sanjuu hassai - Thirty-eight years old
In counting, irregular numbers in Japanese are often the numbers 1, 3, 4, 8 and 10. For now, remember that in counting the age, only the numbers 1 and 8 (and number 20) are irregular in this case.
We will see the numbers in more detail later on.
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Talking about your work
And of course, our introduction wouldn't be complete if we didn't talk about our work!
To ask about someone's work, simply say:
あなたのおしごとはなんですか？
Anata no oshigoto wa nan desu ka?
Oshigoto means 'work' in general. You can omit the 'o' part as well. In Japanese, you will see some words with an 'o' or 'go' at the beginning of it, like 'oshigoto', 'osake', 'gosenmon' etc. This marks the importance of the word in the Japanese culture and you will see these being attached more to cultural words.
You can also omit the あなたの (anata no) when asking someone what their job is as it is obvious you are asking a question to someone.
This is the same construction as any other questions we have seen so far. To answer this question, simply say what is your profession + desu.
What is your work?
おしごとはなんですか？
Oshigoto wa nan desu ka?
I am a Japanese teacher.
にほんごのせんせいです。
Nihongo no sensei desu.
I am an office worker.
かいしゃいんです。
Kaishain desu.
I am an engineer.
エンジニアです。
Enjinia desu.
I am a student.
がくせいです。
Gakusei desu.
Desu is the verb 'to be' in keigo (polite form). Of course, if you were talking to your friends, you wouldn't really use it, but since we are talking about introducing ourselves, we still want to be really polite when talking to someone we just met.
Japanese people mostly work on how comfortable they are with someone to start using, let's say, the person's first name, or using a language that is more familiar. Using the more casual form in Japanese do not mean that you are being disrespectful or rude to your friends. It is only a way to be more casual.
But for someone you just met or someone you don't know or someone whom you should show respect to like a teacher, a much older person or sometimes your parents, using the casual form can sound a bit rude. For now, let's just focus on the keigo form. We will have to learn the casual form anyway, since it is also used in some sentence structures of keigo.
Also, you might have noticed the use of の (no) in the example にほんごのせんせい (nihongo no sensei). We will see later that の is the possessive marker. Thus, にほんごのせんせい is a 'teacher of Japanese'.
Now, while introducing yourself and meeting new people, you can say and ask a lot of things! You can say your name, your age, your hobbies and your work!
Congratulations! You reached the end of lesson one! Yatta, dekimashita!
That was a lot to take in for a first lesson, I know, but be mindful that you can go at your own space. Come back to this article if you find yourself stuck or if you need some refreshments. And of course, do not hesitate to ask questions if you need more clarity on a specific subject!
Before we go to lesson 2, let's view and review some useful words and expressions!
I will also leave this video here. It is from JapanesePod101 that will show you in detail how the language is pronounced. For obvious reason, I cannot really show you in writing how syllables are pronounced, so this video will be helpful for you.
About vowel devoicing
In Japanese, the vowels i and u are often devoiced. This occurs when i and u are between voiceless consonants or in sentence-final position.
Ohayou gozaimasu - Ohayou gozaimass
Desu - Dess
Shitsurei shimasu - Shtsurei shimass
Ashita - Ashta
This does not apply to verbs ending in 〜su, like osu (to push) or kaesu (to give back, to return). For verbs in the infinitive, you need to pronounce all syllables, as they are infinitive verbs. For verbs that are conjugated like desu, or shimasu (or any verbs in 〜masu form), the vowel devoicing will occur.
