Japanese - From Zero To Hero In Days

If you want to learn Japanese as quickly as possible, then this may be the most important thing you ever read:

Using the Speak Japanese Fast system you can be speaking Japanese in no time flat.

If you act fast you can get Speak Japanese Fast for the trial price of $4.95.

The price is rising shortly, so you need to get in quick.

Visit http://www.speakjapanesefast.com

Using “if” in Japanese

In English, the word “if” is used often.

Consider these examples:

If you don’t do your homework you teacher will be mad.

If you break the vase your mother will be unhappy.

If you don’t wash the car your father will not give you your pocket money.

To do this in Japanese, you need to use the word to.

This is the same one you use for the word “and”.

Here’s what you do:

Sentence 1 to Sentence 2

For example:

ruii bitton no saifu wa takai to kaimasen

If the LouisVuittion purse/wallet is expensive I won’t buy it

Let’s break that down:

ruii bitton Louis Vuitton

no ownership particle/noun as adjctive particle

saifu wallet/purse

wa topic marker particle “as for”

takai expensive

to if

kaimasen negative polite for of kau “to buy”

Let’s try another one:

kabin o kowasu to okaasan ni okorareru

If you break the vase your mother will get angry

Let’s break that one down:

kabin vase

o direct object particle

kowasu break (dictionary form)

to if

okaasan mother

ni okorareru get angry

Try and make a few sentences of your own.

The only strict rule is that any verb in Sentence 1 must not be past. If the sentence is past tense then that is indicated by the tense of Sentence 2.

See you next time.

David

“Together” in Japanese

Hi All,

Short lesson today.

In this lesson we are going to cover the word for “together”.

In English you can say, “I’m going to Tokyo on Sunday. Would you like to come with me?”

To say “come with” or “be with” or “join” in Japanese you use the word together.

The Japanese for together is issho ni.

So, let’s look at the invitation in Japanese:

nichi youbi ni tokyo ni ikimasu. issho ni ikimasenka?

Let’s break that down:

nichi youbi Sunday

ni direction particle

ikimasu to go

issho ni together, with, join with

ikimasenka to go (suggestion)

How to Learn Japanese Fast

Hi All,

Today I’m going to show you a method you can use to learn Japanese vocab fast.

We’ll learn five Japanese words.

Once you’ve learned these words, you’ll never forget them.

The words we will learn are the Japanese words for the following:

• cat
• hill
• shrine (temple-like)
• desk
• room

All you need to do is read the below sentences.

For each “Imagine” sentence, close eyes and try to vividly imagine the details for 10 seconds. While you are imagining repeat the Japanese word to yourself.

Let’s go:

1. CAT - The Japanese for cat is neko (neh - koh)

Imagine a cat with a long NECK

2. HILL - The Japanese for hill is saka (sah - kah)

Imagine a boy playing SOCCER on a hill

3. SHRINE - The Japanese for shrine is jinja (jin - jah)

Imagine a shrine made entirely from GINGERBREAD

4. DESK - The Japanese for desk is tsukue (soo - koo - eh)

Imagine the removalists TOOK AWAY your desk

5. ROOM - The Japanese for room is heya (hay - yah)

Imagine bales of HAY ALL over your room

So simple! Now you’ll never forget those five words!

To learn hundreds of Japanese words fast, visit http://www.SpeakJapaneseFast.com

The “ands” of Japanese

In Japanese there are many ways that you can say and. In today’s lesson we will discuss two common ways and their differences.

You are probably familiar with the normal Japanese word for and.

It is to (pronouned “toh”)

This and is used in cases where you are describing a finite list.

For example, we would use to in the following sentence:

There is a book and a pencil on top of the table (but nothing else on the table)

hon to enpitsu ga teburu no ue ni arimasu

But, in the following example we need to use a different “and”. The following example is of an infinite list:

There is a book and a pencil on top of the table (but there’s other stuff on top of the table too)

hon ya enpitsu ga teburu no ue ni arimasu

So, the simple rule to follow is if you are creating an infinite list use ya, otherwise use to.

Let’s look at each word individually:

hon book

enpitsu pencil

to and (used for finite lists, ie. the list includes everything)

ya and (used for infinite lists, ie. the list doesn’t include everything)

ga subject marker particle

teburu table

no possessive particle

ue top

ni direction particle

arimasu to exist (there is)

See you next time,

David

Coming and Going in Japanese

Today’s lesson is a short one.

Today we’ll discuss coming and going in Japanese.

When you return home for the day you would probably say something like, “I’m home” or “I’m back”. In response, your wife, husband, family, etc. may say something like “Welcome home”.

There are equivalents that are used in Japanese. These are generally used, in most situations in Japan (where you are returning from something).

For example:

• when you return home
• when you return to the office
• when you get back to Japan and you are visiting someone for the first time since being back

To say “I’m back” in Japanese you say tadaima (loosely translates to “just now”)

To say “Welcome home” in Japanese you say okaeri (kaeri comes from kaerimasu - to return)

See you next time

Saying where you live in Japanese

Hi All, Long time no see!

Today’s lesson is talking about where you live.

In this lesson we are going to use the verb “to live”.

The root verb/dictionary verb of to live is sumu.

When you talk about where you live, you must use a progressive tense verb. For example, “I am living in Japan.”

To make a verb progressive, we need to switch the -te form and add imasu.

(If you want to a quick lesson of converting forms of verbs see this post)

So “to live” becomes “living”. sumu becomes sunde imasu

Let’s look at some examples:

I live in Japan/I am living in Japan

watashi wa ni hon ni sunde imasu

I live in Osaka, Japan/ I am living in Osaka, Japan

watashi wa ni hon no osaka ni sunde imasu

I live in Melbourne/I am living in Melbourne

watashi wa meruborun ni sunde imasu

Let’s quickly review each of the sentence parts:

watashi I

wa topic marker particle

ni hon Japan

osaka Osaka

meruborun Melbourne

ni direction/to/from particle

sunde imasu living

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How To Learn Japanese Writing

So, you want to learn Japanese writing?

Learning to read and write Japanese is quite an undertaking, considering there are a total of four official scripts.

The four scripts used in Japanese are:

• Katakana - phonetic alphabet used mostly for foreign/borrowed words and in advertising. Also used for animal sounds!
• Hiragana - phonetic alphabet used to write native Japanese words and sentence particles.
• Kanji - imported Chinese characters that have a specific meaning.
• Romaji - a romanization of Japanese.

Learning to Read and Write Japanese

Not all scripts are created equal.

For the Japanese learner the most important scripts to learn early are Hiragana and Katakana. Learning them doesn’t take too long. You can learn them well within a week using the bonus software included with the Speak Japanese Fast system.

Knowing Hiragana means you can read native text and will find studying much easier.

Knowing Katakana means you will be able to read any foreign words in Japanese writing (this comes in handy in Japan because often menus are written entirely in Katakana).

A huge benefit of knowing Hiragana and Katakana is that your Japanese pronunciation will improve a lot.

Kanji is a longer term project. It is good to begin familiarizing yourself with Kanji, but it will take time. The good news is, you don’t need Kanji in order to speak and communicate in Japan.

I recommend using romaji as little as possible. Relying on romaji means your pronunciation will not improve as quickly as you would like.

To learn Katakana and Hiragana fast, check out the bonus software that comes with Speak Japanese Fast at http://www.SpeakJapaneseFast.com

How To Say I Love You In Japanese

Visit Japan

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