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。

Funny Japanese Words and Meanings

My pet hate Japanese word is juice, in katakana  ジュース. In Japanese “juice” basically means soft drink. It can even mean canned coffee.  How could they get this word so wrong. So if a Japanese offers you “juice” in Japan don’t be surprised if you are giving a glass of coke.

Snack, スナック, is an other word Japanese give new meaning to. Instead of relating to eating food the word is all about drinking. In Japanese snack means bar. But not just any bar. Snack bars are small drinking places usually for the older generation where Japanese can drown their sorrows with whisky or beer and belt out some enka. These places are very popular with men as they are sort of a hostess bar where you’re charged quite a lot to drink with female company. Enka is traditional Japanese music- songs about lots love. These places are probably the most depressing places you could ever visit in Japan.

Viking is one of my favorite’s. It is pronounced “Bye -king” and written in katakana バイキング. Japanese most likely wouldn’t know who the Vikings were. Yet, at least one Japanese picked up on their eating habits and coined the phrase to mean buffet. Viking means “all-you-can- eat” .  It can also mean ”all-you-can-drink”.

Ice comes close. It means ice cream. In katakana  アイス. This is an example of how Japanese will take English words and shorten them or abbreviate them.  Japanese generally like to communicate with the least amount of words. They will take a foreign word shorten it, give it a new meaning, and eventually it slips into main stream vocabulary.

When you first learn or discover these words you will feel dumbfounded . You will either feel amused or annoyed.  It is quite hard to believe that the words I just taught you are meaningful and common words in the Japanese language. It certainly took me a while to accept and use them.  One of the most frustrating things is many Japanese believe that they are speaking English when using these loan words. Good reason enough not to even consider teaching English in Japan……just joking.

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.

Basic Japanese Words – Adjectives

We will focus on some common adjectives. There are two kinds of adjectives in Japanese　い-ending adjectives and な-ending adjectives. Will we focus on い-ending adjectives as they are usually more common and expressive. い-ending adjectives, especially adjectives that end with しい express human emotions and feelings. Examples are below;

さびしい　－　sabishii – loney (as in missing someone)

かなしい　－ kanashii – sad

うれしい　 － ureshii  – happy

These adjectives all end in しい(shii). Notice how they express powerful emotions.

Time to learn some basic words – watch the video and repeat after Kaoru Sensei. We won’t worry about kanji characters for the moment.  Hopefully you can read hiragana.

Note: ふとい describes objects that are thick or wide.  ふとい is not used to describe people who are large or fat. The common term to describe fat people is でぶ(debu). でぶ is a な-adjective. If we place でぶ before the noun person/people  ひと(hito) we would have でぶなひと. The  な of a  な-adjective is only placed before a noun. If you say a　な-adjective on its own or without the noun, you drop the な. For example, あのこは　でぶですね. That child is fat. There is no noun after でぶ. So there is no な. More on this in another post.

Alright now that you have watched the video here are a few revision questions.

What are two ways to say good in Japanese?

What is the opposite of  ながい?

How do you say big in Japanese?

What does わるい mean?

What is the opposite of かるい?

How do you say old and new in Japanese?

What does ちいさい mean?

I hope you enjoyed this lesson on basic Japanese words. One of the best ways to learn Japanese is to give learning  grammar and kanji a break, and just learn lots of Japanese words. However, you should keep in mind being able to read Japanese characters can dramatically increase your abiltiy to learn new words. Mix up your Japanese study and try to keep learning fun and stimulating.

Untranslatable Japanese Words

There are words in Japanese that are simply untranslatable. In order to understand these untranslatable words you need to live in Japan for quite some time. But just living in Japan isn’t enough. You need to live the life of a Japanese – speak the language, mix with Japanese and do what they do. There are words and phrases in Japanese that have had me confused for months or even years. Then one day something unique only to Japan will happen and I will finally experience the true meaning of one of the words. Vocabulary in Japan is strongly associated to cultural understanding and cultural experience.

The Japanese language is so uniquely diversified. During the course of one meal at a restaurant the different “styles” of conversations you can overhear is mind boggling. You could hear business contacts having a polite conversation where keigo is being used, a family speaking a local dialect, young people talking using lots of new katakana words, an old couple communicating with grunts and high pitched yeps, and some Japanese conversing with no words at all. As a result there is also lots of Japanese that gets lost in translation for the foreigner.

These moments where you hear a new word you haven’t heard and can’t understand really make you realize that you are not Japanese. They sort remind you of your limited cultural congeniality to Japan and put you back in your place as an outsider. However, the moment you discover the true and deeper meaning of one of these elusive words it can only be described as enlightenment. They are moments of learning bliss that can never happen in a classroom or be explained by a teacher. The only way to learn them is by cultural discovery.

Japanese seem to have and use less vocabulary than English speakers. However, some Japanese words can expresses concepts, ways of thinking and aspects of life that English simply cannot. I feel the strong and important association of the Japanese language and Japanese culture is often neglected by teachers in the classroom. It should be taught to students of Japanese.  Language and culture are taught, but separately with no emphasis on the connection they have. Real Japanese,  language is more about culture than it is about grammar or vocabulary. Study the culture and you’ll understand the language better.

To learn more take a look at these articles:

Japanese words and meanings

Basic Japanese words

Japanese expressions

Common Japanese words

The problem is learning Basic Japanese isn’t basic at all. Learning the basics of Japanese is very difficult because the language is completely different to English. There is no common ground – no concrete language aspects to relate what you learn about the Japanese language to English. With complex grammar, two different alphabets, Kanji, hundreds of idioms and the very confusing cultural aspect of the language it isn’t surprising most would be Japanese speakers give up only after a few lessons.

Japanese Phrases

Some basic Japanese phrases and expressions are untranslatable. You are end up memorizing lots of set expressions that in essence hold no meaning to you. Unfortunately, too many formal set expressions are generally considered basic, when they aren’t. However they are fundamental to social interaction in Japan. So you are trapped into learning lots of formal expressions you don’t really understand.

The teaching method is also to blame. It blows my mind how poorly Japanese is taught at private colleges in and outside of Japan. Formal grammar focused conversations are usually the meat and potatoes of most learning courses. These are conversations, to my knowledge to exist in Japan. It all focuses on the “masu” form and speaking politely.

In Japan I have found the best foreigner Japanese speakers are non English speakers. The are forced to speak Japanese in their job and are usually immersed in the language constantly while living in Japan. So there is hope. You just need to get over learning the difficult basics – the fundamentals. If you learn the basics hopefully you’ll get to meet a few Japanese and develop friendships and get some exposure to real spoken Japanese. I felt somewhat freed when I came to Japan and discovered colloquial Japanese. Hopefully you’ll experience the same freedom.

Learning and memorizing a few Japanese phrases is an achievement in itself for most people. Say a few greetings and know a little bit about Japanese food and Japanese will be complimenting your Japanese. Which can be quite embarrassing. The first time a Japanese compliments your Japanese in Japanese you will of course have no idea about what is being said. Once you realize what is being said you will feel like an idiot and probably give up learning basic Japanese.

To learn more about understanding Japanese start with these lessons:

Basic Japanese words