Japanese Phrases Lesson

In this lesson you will learn how to ask and answer questions relating to hobbies. We have upload many videos to youtube. Video language lessons are a great way to learn Japanese. We hope you like this one. This is a basic Japanese lesson, but hopefully you will learn something.

Structure

私のしゅみは……………です。

Watashi no shumi wa……desu.

My hobby is………………

My hobbies are………….

Vocabulary

Grammar Note

verb　+　こと

Adding “koto” will nominalize the verb; change it into a noun.

たべる　－　Eat  ;   たべること 　－  Eating

After watching the video try to read the sentences and questions below.

（あなたの）しゅみは何ですか。

わたしのしゅみは、すしをたべることです。

私の趣味はらくがきをすることです。

私の趣味はかるく、うんどうすることです。

私の趣味はギターをひくことです。

私の趣味はピアノをひくことです。

趣味はないですよ。

趣味のじかんがない。

趣味とまではいかないけど、どくしょがすきです。

ねることがわたしのしゅみです。

Now, after living in Japan for ten years I can say I am pretty sick of this word. I do find it irritating when I am shopping at a clothing store or just browsing at book store to been constantly disturbed by shouts and chorus of Irasshaimase. Some staff will really scream it out. I have walked out of the odd store or two because of the constant cries from a tone deaf Japanese.

Japanese Set Expressions – Irasshaimase

The deeper meaning of the word goes way back and not surprisingly has to do with etiquette. Centuries ago Japanese behavior was formalized to the extend that there was a prescribed way for doing virtually everything. Direct interaction with other people, weather greetings, requests and speeches was the most important and carefully enforced. This lead to one of the most interesting and early developed etiquette customs – the calling out of “irasshai” or “iarashaimase” when someone entered the vestibule home of a home or place of business.

“Irasshai” means “walk in” as well as “welcome” and is an informal, friendly expression used by tradespeople in traditional restaurants and shops and department stores. This greeting kind of takes the weight of formality off the customers’ shoulders. It lets them know that they are at a place where they can relax and have fun. This could explain why Japanese are quite happy to eat with total strangers with restaurant owners often asking customers to share tables when business is busy. I have done it myself and it a bit unusual and very uncomfortable. A contradiction to Japanese culture in general, but then again eating habits are very different indeed and an area of Japanese culture that lacks etiquette and decorum. Japanese can eat like pigs; making nosies as they eat, speaking while eating, and even using communal chopsticks as tooth picks.

“Irasshaimase” is a much more polite and formal Japanese expression used only in the sense of “welcome” and “thanks for coming”. This is one word you want to remember and use. It represents an important part of the overall etiquette of Japan and one of the things that foreign visitors and businessmen can easily assimilate, and benefit from, in their interactions with Japanese.

However, we can communicate what we want to say often by defining the word we have forgotten. We do this quite often in our native language when we can’t remember elusive words or when we are just having a mental block. In the process oflearning  the definitons of new words we also improve our chances of remembering new words and reinforce words we already know.

Japanese Vocabulary

This method will work wonders for building your Japanese vocabulary, improving your overall fluency anddevelping  reading skills.

1. Try reading the definitions by yourself
2. Listen to the audio tracks and take mental notes of Kaoru Sensei’s readings
3. Try to read the definitions in the same manner as Kaoru Sensei
4. Find the English translation for each definition
5. Try to recall the definitions from memory
6. Repeat process until you can define each word from memory
7. Watch the Video

Japanese Vocabulary List with Definitions

English Trasnlation

Bully  Excursion  Face  Park  Noisy  Yawn Delicious  Listen  Police  Habit

Want more Japanese vocabulary lessons like these?

What should on study first? This a difficult question to answer as will depend on your own goals. However, once you have the basic greetings and some vocabulary under your belt you should start learning questions.  Understanding questions is paramount in any language. If you visit Japan you will no doubt attract attention and be asked questions. Most conversation begin with questions so it is important to develop an understanding of sentence structure. So before you begin to consider learning polite Japanese, Kanji, idioms and Japanese dialects spend plenty of time learning questions.

Here are ten questions on the subject of food. I have provided English translations. Try to memorize all ten and use them the next time you met a Japanese person. Click on the audio player and repeat after Kaoru Sensei.

Audio Lesson – Question On Food

すきなたべものはなんですか
きらいなたべものはだんですか
くだものはなにがすきですか
りょうりはできますか
とくいりょうりはなんですか
きょうのあさはなにをたべまいしたか
きのうのよるごはんはなんでしたか
コンビニでたべものをどれくらいよくかいますか
エスニック料理はすきですか
いままでたべたなかでいちばんかわったものはなんですか

What foods do you like?
What foods do you hate?
What’s a fruit you like?
Can you cook?
What’s something you can make/cook well?
What did you eat for breakfast today?
What did you eat for dinner yestartday?
How often do you buy food at a convenience store?
Do you like ethnic food?
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?

This particle has three main functions in Japanese. The first of these is to act as topic marker for conversations or texts. The main difference between a topic and a subject is that you can leave off a topic from a sentence, and it will still make perfect sense. This in contrast to a subject, which if removed creates a sentence with a gap in it:

Lets have a look at an example

きょうは　だれが　きましたか　Who came [here] today?

The same sentence on its own without the topic works just fine:

だれが　きましたか。Who came [here]?

However, the same sentence on its own without the subject won’t make sense.

きょう　はきましたか。 …came [here] today?

The second function of は is as contrast marker, as in an “[A]は something, [B]はsomething else” pattern.

Here is an example:

ちがいますよ。　これは　すしで、それはさしみ – [That's] not [quite] right. This is Sushi, and that’s Sashimi
Here a contrast is given between “this” and “that”, regardless of whether they were already topics.

The third function that は is the negative imperative when it follows a て form.

Here is an example;

きょう　こなくて　は　いけません　－　You have to come today.

In this use, it creates a negative imperative。The は could also be followed by だめ.

きょう　は　だめ 　－　Today is no good.

In our next post we will look at more particles.

The particle も can be used to indicate similarity as in the words ‘too’ or ‘also’. This particle replaces が or は, when used:

A: 私がえいがすきです。
B: 私もえいががすきです。
A: I like movies
B: I also like movies

This is a reasonably simple use of も, which can also be used in a double patternsuch as in the following sentence:

A: えいががすきですか、おんがくがすきですか。
B: えいがもおんがくもすきです。
A: Do [you] like movies, or do [you] like music?
B: [I] like both movies and music.

Remember that because も marks a similarity to something previously mentioned, you cannot use も out of the blue. It requires a prompt either by someone else, or by something you yourself just said.

A second use of も is after the て form of verbs and verbal adjectives. In this use, も acts as an emphatic contrasting particle, meaning something like the English “even [by/if] …”. The phrase below

“Even [by] leaving now, [you] probably won’t make it.” translates to いま　いっても　まにあわない　でしょう。

There are two special things that concern this particle. One, a special case of this use of も is in combination with the copula です, which becomes でも. We will look at this in a later post.

The second is this particle can be used with question pronouns. Have a look at the examples below:

なに　means “what”, なにも means “anything” when followed by positive verb or “nothing”, when followed by a negative verb.

どこ means “where”, どこも means “anywhere” when followed by a postive verb or “nowhere”, when followed by a negative verb.

だれ　means “who”, だれも means “anyone” when followed by a postive verb or “no one”, when followed by a negative verb.

This rule continues for words like どんな (what kind of?), どっち (which way?), いつ (when?), どうして (why?) and so forth and so forth.

As you can see the simple use of particles can greatly change the context and meaning of the Japanese language. If you have ever taken the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) before you will know one whole section of the grammar test is devoted to particles. Particles are important. So we will continue our study of them. Look forward to the next post on the particle の.

Japanese verbs fall into three groups based on the plain/dictionary form.

In this lesson you will learn “dictionary” form and “masu” form of present tense affirmative verbs. Having to learn these two fundamental verb forms is a challenge and, unfortunately this is just the beginning. There are very difficult verbs forms ahead that will deprive of sleep if you let the frustration of trying to understand them get to you. I strongly recommend you put a great deal of your study time into learning verbs.

It is probably best to start with irregular verbs because there are only two and you’ll use them daily.?Here they are;

Irregular Verbs

It is probably best to start with irregular verbs because there are only two and you’ll use them daily.?Here they are;

Ru-ending Verbs

Ru-ending verbs can be broken in two groups; eru-ending and iru ending verbs. Knowing this will help you identify Ru-ending verbs form U-ending verbs. Some U-ending verbs do end with “ru” such as the verb “noru”(ride) and can confuse students.The masu form is made by dropping the ru and adding masu. Pretty easy stuff!

U-ending Verbs
U-ending verbs are a little more complicated and require more attention. The way the verbs conjugate depends on the vowel or consonant that proceeds the u. When conjugating to the “masu” form just drop the u and add “imasu”. Have a careful look at the chart;

Large Japanese Numbers

It is Japanese units and large numbers that students find difficult to learn and memorize. In Japanese there is the unit “man”, 10,000. In English there no equivalent unit. As there is no English equivalent students find large numbers in Japanese very difficult to read, remember and translate into English. Having this extra unit in their number system can really throw you.

Also Japanese think and speak numbers in terms of yen (“cents”) rather than dollars in regard to money. For example, for 1 dollar the Japanese equivalent is 100 yen. As a result, large dollar amounts become very large yen amounts and are difficult to work out and read. We will look at large numbers in a later lesson. The table below is just an introduction to Japanese units.

If there is one word that is used and repeated more than any other in Japanese it is “Gambarimasu”. A quick look at a dictionary would tell you the word translates to “good luck” or “do your best”. However, as you will soon discover with many Japanese words, this one has a more complex meaning and importance in Japanese social culture. “Gambaru” or gambaru-ism is the primary philosophy of the Japanese.

Gambatte Meaning

I first remember hearing the word when working at a restaurant. I was making salads and slicing raw fish at a counter bar. A male customer was quite surprised to see me working there. We had a conversation about why and what I was doing in Japan. At the end of our conversation when he was getting ready to leave he said “Gambatte kudasai”. I wasn’t sure what he meant and my co-workers were unable to explain to me the meaning of the expression. Later, I found out the expression meant “Please, do your best”. I found this a little odd – a customer telling a me, either as a foreigner or staff member to do my best. Then I began hearing the word more and more.

The term is used as encouragement, as a promise, as a dedication or a battle cry. When baseball players golfers, singers, sumo wrestlers, newly elected politicians and others are interviewed they invariably promise to gambaru. It is used and said almost in every situation imaginable. Well-wishers seeing friends and co-workers off abroad yell out “Gambatte”. Newly hired employees pledge that they will do their absolute best for their company by gambaru-ing. Control Freak parents expect nothing less than their children to gambaru in the their school work.

You hear it so often that you begin to understand that it is an important cultural expression, rather than someone expressing their intentions to be all they can be. Also, I have noticed parents often say it to their children as an expression of love ( my interpretation) , rather than an expectation of high performance. I saw parents say to their kids “Gambatte ne” on countless of occasions when they dropped them off to kindergarten.  It had me confused for while, because it was kindergarten, children no older then 3 or 4 years old. I thought it was strange to be saying “Do your best” to children at such a tender age. The I realized it was just a parting greeting, much like when we say “Have fun” to our own children.

It takes years to learn Japanese and understand the language. Some words are so culturally ceremented that you need to experience several years of living in Japan to finally get them. It can be a very interesting learning process, but it is frustrating. So “Gambatte” and do your best.

Being able to read Japanese has numerous benefits and I certainly recommend learning Kanji if you desire to speak Japanese. I often tell new students of Japanese to think about learning Kanji in terms of a very beneficial learning process rather than just a means to be able to read Japanese.

Here is a sample audio lesson from our Kanji Supremacy Package.

If you would like to learn how to read the above passage and actually understand it please take a look at our product Kanji Supremacy. The product has lots of lessons, video tutorials, audio files, several ebooks and lots of bonuses.