Introductory Japanese Lessons (6) Characteristics of Japanese Do you still think Japanese is a difficult language to learn?

I would say "No!". Of course, it is a little hard to master all Japanese writing, but for speaking it is not as hard as you think. Here are some facts. (1) Japanese is easy to pronounce. It has only five vowels. (2) Japanese nouns do not have gender, and rarely, number aspects. With most Japanese nouns, number is not an issue. The same word is used for one or more than one. hon = a book or books kuruma = a car or cars (3) Verb conjugation is not affected by the gender or number. The same verb is used no matter what the subject is. Watashi wa bideo o yoku mimasu. Kare wa terebi o yoku mimasu.

I watch videos often.

He watches TV often.

(4) Japanese verbs have only two tenses; the present tense and the past tense. The present tense refers to habitual action or the future. The past tense is used for actions completed in the past. It is also equivalent to the English present perfect or past perfect.

Greetings and Daily Expressions (1) Ohayou gozaimasu. (Good morning.)

One can also say just "Ohayou". This is casual, and should not be used with one's boss.

(2) Konnichiwa.

(Hello/Good afternoon.)

(3) Konbanwa.

(Good evening.)

(4) Oyasuminasai. (Good night.) Unlike English, it is mostly used before going to bed.

(5) Sayonara.

(Good-bye.)

"Sayounara)" can be also used instead of "sayonara)." People do not say "sayonara " when leaving their own home. "Ittekimasu" is normally used. The response to "Ittekimasu" is "Itterasshai". "Dewa mata" is also often used as "see you later", similar to the English expression. How about "See you tomorrow"? "Tomorrow" is "ashita" in Japanese. I think you can guess what the the answer is: "Mata ashita".

I hope you can practice these greetings. I am going to tell you one more phrase, "Mata raishuu". This means "See you next week".

Ohayou. Konnichiwa. Konbanwa. Oyasuminasai. Sayonara. Dewa mata. Mata ashita.

Good morning.

Good afternoon.

Good evening.

Good night.

Good bye.

See you later.

See you tomorrow.

Genki desu ka.

How are you?

Notes: There is a rule for writing hiragana "wa " and "ha ." When "wa" is used as a particle, it is written in hiragana as "ha." "Konnichiwa" or "Konbanwa" are now fixed greetings. However, in the old days it was a part of sentence such as "Today is ~ (Konnichi wa ~)" or "Tonight is ~ (Konban wa ~)" and "wa" functioned as a particle. That's why it is still written in hiragana as "ha." General Description about Japanese writing Writing might be one of the most difficult, but also fun, parts of learning Japanese. The Japanese don't use an alphabet. There are three types of scripts in Japanese: kanji, hiragana and katakana. The combination of all three is used for writing. Roughly speaking, kanji represents blocks of meaning (nouns, stems of adjectives and verbs) and hiragana expresses the grammatical relationship between them (endings of adjectives and verbs, particles). Katakana is used for foreign names, the names of foreign places and words of foreign origin. So, how they are used in a sentence? Check out my article, "Katakana in the Matrix." Confused? Overwhelmed? Here are some common questions.

Which do you commonly use to write Japanese: vertical or horizontal writing? Can I survive in Japan without knowing any Japanese writing?

If you want to learn Japanese writing, start with hiragana and katakana, then kanji. Hiragana and katakana are simpler than kanji, and have only 46 characters each. It is possible to write an entire Japanese sentence in hiragana. For example, many children's books are written in hiragana only. Japanese children start to read and write in hiragana

before making an attempt to learn

some of the two thousand kanji commonly used.

Hello. Konnichiwa. (kon-nee-chee-WAH) How are you? O-genki desu ka? (oh-GEN-kee dess-KAH?) Fine, thank you. Genki desu. (GEN-kee dess) What is your name? O-namae wa nan desu ka? (oh-NAH-mah-eh wah NAHN dess-KAH?) My name is ____ . ____ Watashi no namae wa ____ desu. (wah-TAH-shee no nah-mah-eh wa ____ dess) Nice to meet you. Hajimemashite. (hah-jee-meh-MOSH-teh) Please. (request) Onegai shimasu. (oh-neh-gigh shee-moss) Please. (offer)

 Dzo. (DOH-zo) Thank you. Dmo arigat. (doh-moh ah-ree-GAH-toh) You're welcome. D itashi mashite. (doh EE-tah-shee mosh-teh) Yes. Hai. (HIGH) No. Iie. (EE-eh) Excuse me. Sumimasen. (soo-mee-mah-sen) I'm sorry. Gomen-nasai. (goh-men-nah-sigh)

Learn Japanese - Learn Japanese Reading - Learn Japanese Writing - Learn Japanese Grammar Learn Japanese Phrases - Learn Japanese Words Wanting to learn Japanese? Here is a great starting point in your quest to learn Japanese. We have Japanese a phrase book online, guides to the different styles of Japanese, suggested bookings for learning Japanese and some useful links for learning Japanese. Japanese ( nihongo) is spoken in Japan, and essentially nowhere else. The language is distinct from Chinese and Korean, although the written form uses Chinese (kanji) characters, and is not known to be related to any other language. Japanese Grammar Japanese generally employs a subject-object-verb order, using particles to mark the grammatical functions of the words: watashi-ga hamburger-o taberu, "I-subject hamburger-object eat". It is common to omit subjects and even objects if these are clear from previous context. Verbs and adjectives conjugate by tense and politeness level, but not by person or number. There is no verb "to be" as such, but the polite copula desu can be used in most cases: John desu ("I am John"), Ringo desu ("This is an apple"), Akai desu ("It is red"), etc. Note that the exact meaning will depend on the implied subject! The good news is that Japanese has none of the following: gender, declensions or plurals. Nouns never conjugate and almost all verbs are regular. Reading and writing Japanese Reading and writing Japanese are advanced skills which take years of work to gain much real proficiency. Japanese themselves use three different writing systems of various complexity, two of which (hiragana' and katakana) are syllabic and relatively easy to learn with 50 characters each, but the clincher is the set of over

2000 Chinese characters known as kanji. The set of hiragana characters is illustrated in the Japanese Pronunciation Guide.

Major Characters

Mirai Shida as Miki Ichinose ( Ichinose Miki?) Misako Tanaka as Kanako Ichinose ( Ichinose Kanako?) Katsuhisa Namase as Tadahiko Ichinose ( Ichinose Tadahiko?) Kazuki Koshimizu as Kenta Ichinose ( Ichinose Kenta?) Sora Ichinose ( Ichinose Sora?) Sayaka Yamaguchi as Kyoko Endo ( End Kyko?) Junichi Koumoto as Makoto Mitsui ( Mitsui Makoto?) Sayaka Kaneko as Hinako Mitsui ( Mitsui Hinako?) Haruma Miura as Satoshi Kirino ( Kirino Satoshi?) Shigeru Muroi as Shizuka Kirino ( Kirino Shizuka?) Mitsuki Tanimura as Mayu Yanagisawa ( Yanagisawa Mayu?) Kii Kitano as Megumi Kubota ( Kubota Megumi?) Rina Koike as Sayaka Nagasaki ( Nagasaki Sayaka?) Yumiko Ideguchi as Yoshiko Okumura ( Okumura Yoshiko?) Kiyo Hasegawa as Mitsue Inohara (Inohara Mitsue?) Itsumi Osawa as Rika Matsumoto ( Matsumoto Rika?) Ken Kaito as Koyo Yamazaki ( Yamazaki Ky?) Shunya Isaka as Kazuaki Haraguchi ( Haraguchi Kazuaki?) Atsuko Takahata as Haruko Matoba ( Matoba Haruko?) Akira Onodera as Eiza Nakatani ( Nakatani Eiza?) Kazuki Kitamura as Taku Hatano ( Hatano Taku?)

Profile

Blood type: AB Star Sign: Taurus Place of Birth: Osaka Prefecture, Japan Talent Agency: Ken-on

[edit] Filmography [edit] TV Dramas

Hatsu Taiken (2002)

Bara no Jujika (2002) Shnentachi 3 (2002) Itoshi Kimi e (2004) Jo no Kyshitsu (2005) Haru to Natsu (2005) Tantei Gakuen Q (2006) Suppli (2006) 14-year-old Mother (2006) Watashitachi no Kykasho (2007) Tantei Gakuen Q (2007) Dream Again (2007) Seigi no Mikata (2008)

[edit] Movies

Kamen Rider 555 Paradise Lost (2003) Tokus Sentai Dekaranger the Movie: Full Blast Action (2004) Amemasu no Kawa First Love (2004) Spring Snow (2005) Tsubakiyama Kach no Nanokakan (2006) Kaabee (2008)[2]

[edit] Commercials

Tokyo Denryku o IH Cooking Heater o TEPCO Hikari "Mama no Manzoku (Shopping)" (May 2006 November 2006) "Ojchan no Manzoku" (May 2006 November 2006) Marvelous Interactive "Bokuj Monogatari Series" o Nintendo DS "Bokuj Kimi to Sodatsu Shima" (September 2006) o "Sekai ga Sodatsu" (December 2006 present) KDDI "au" o Oyako de, au debut no Haru. "Kenka" (February 2007) "Chichi wa Tatsujin" (February 2007) House Shokuhin o "House Fruity C no Kajitsu" o "House Fruity"

[edit] Awards and nominations [edit] Awards

15th Hashida Awards - Rookie of the Year Prize[3]

46th Television Drama Academy Awards - Best Newcomer for Jo no Kyshitsu

[edit] References 1. ^ "Yomiuri Online article" (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-03-11. ^ "MYCOM Journal" (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-03-11.