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
Japanese Words
Learning Japanese words is time consuming.
There are methods you can employ to memorize Japanese words quickly such as building associations between words and images. One method a friend of mine used was labeling everything in the house with post-it notes! (the cat didn’t like it though)
Learn Japanese Family
Hey everybody,
“em1″ has asked me to put up a few lessons. So, this is the first. This one is about family.
So, let’s take a look:
haha mother (when you are talking about your own mother)
okaasan mother (when you are addressing your own mother or talking about someone else’s mother)
chichi father (when you are talking about your own father)
otousan father (when you are addressing your own father or talking about someone else’s father)
oneesan (nee is pronounced “neh”) older sister
oniisan older brother
imouto younger sister
otouto younger brother
obaasan grandmother
obasan aunt (yes, they look similar, but grandmother has a longer baahhh sound, eg. grandmother - obaahhhhsan, aunt - obasan)
ojiisan grandfather
ojisan uncle
There are many, many more, but I will save the rest (cousins, distant relatives, etc.) for another lesson.
Any questions, just leave me a post.
Cheers,
David
Learn Japanese Months
So, we’ve learnt the days of the week, so now it’s time to learn the Japanese months.
Good news! If you can count, the months are easy!
So, let’s get to work…
First thing’s first: Can you count to twelve?
If not, here it is:
ichi one
ni two
san three
shi* four
go five
roku six
shichi* seven
hachi eight
kyuu nine
juu ten
juu ichi eleven
juu ni twelve
So, now you can count to twelve there is only one thing you need to do:
drum roll… 
…just add gatsu.
So, it’s as simple as this:
ichi gatsu January
ni gatsu February
san gatsu March
shi gatsu April
go gatsu May
roku gatsu June
shichi gatsu July
hachi gatsu August
kyuu gatsu September
juu gatsu October
juu ichi gatsu November
juu ni gatsu December
That’s it, nothing complicated at all.
gatsu means “month”, so basically you are saying one month, two month, etc.
* shi (4) can also be pronounced yon and shichi (7) can also be pronounced nana, but the purposes of months you should stick to shi and shichi.
See you soon.
Cheers,
David
My Big Tip For Learning Japanese
by DavidM on July 5, 2007
in Uncategorized, Vocab
There are many difficult aspects to learning a second language (especially Japanese). Things like remembering grammar rules, particle meanings, conjugation… The list goes on.
At the end of the day, second language acquisition always comes with time and practice.
But there is a hurdle all language learners need to jump first, before time (or nature!) can take it’s course.
This “big hurdle” is vocab building.
There are lots of ways to build vocab, but most of these ways are boring (like memorizing word lists) or time-consuming (like writing Japanese names on everything around the house and office).
Some people use flashcard software. Flashcard software is useful, but I found it had a major downside…
I was remembering vocab based on an English translation, not experience. Let me explain…
When I say the word “run” what pops into your mind? Most likely the image of someone running or an image of something you saw the last time you went for a run, etc.
So, we think in pictures.
When I say “hashiru” (Japanese for run), what do you think of? Most likely the English word “run”. In other words, not an image.
Whilst this is an acceptable way to learn, I found (and still find) that it is slow (especially when you are first using the vocab).
So, what’s the solution?
Instead of memorizing by words, memorize by pictures.
How?
You can get some paper flashcards with pictures on them (slow) or:
Use some expertly designed software
On July 11, 2007, I am launching Bullet Japanese. This software will change the way you learn your vocab, verbs, kana, everything. Most importantly it is going to change your memorization and recall speed.
But, that’s enough for now.
All will be revealed shortly.
In the meantime, if you want to get your hands on this early (and score a massive discount) you need to sign up below for my lesson updates (or visit www.learn-japanese-right-now.com and sign up for priority launch updates).
Members of this website will receive priority information closer to the launch date. Instructions will include how to secure one of the first copies of Bullet Japanese.
See you soon,
David
Learn Japanese Dates/Counting Part I
How do you say the date in Japanese?
In English we say things like June 26, 2007 or 26th of June, 2007.
One thing you will learn about Japanese is that they always talk from largest to smallest piece of information.
So when Japanese talk about dates they say year, month then day.
First, let’s talk about year.
So how do we say 2007?
ni sen nana nen
Who said what now?
ni two
sen thousand
nana seven
nen year
So, how does it work?
To talk in the thousands:
sen 1,000
ni sen 2,000
san zen 3,000
yon sen 4,000
go sen 5,000
rokku sen 6,000
nana sen 7,000
hassen 8,000
kyuu sen 9,000
What about hundreds?
hyakku 100
ni hyakku 200
san byakku 300
yon hyakku 400
go hyakku 500
roppyakku 600
nana hyakku 700
happyakku 800
kyuu hyakku 900
And the tens?
Ten are easy once you can count to ten, check it out:
ichi 1
ni 2
san 3
yon 4 (but just say yo when the word nen follows it)
go 5
roku 6
nana 7
hachi 8
kyuu 9
juu 10
juu ichi (10, 1, right?) 11
juu ni (10, 2) 12
ni juu nana (2, 10, 7) 27
nana juu hachi (7, 10, 8 ) 78
roku juu go (6, 10, 5) 65
So, 1965 is: sen kyuu hyakku roku juu go nen
Try this test:
1974
2001
1823
1995
Done?
Next lesson we will look at the month (hint: the months are the easiest part).
Here are the answers:
1974 sen kyuu hyakku nana juu yo nen
2001 ni sen ichi nen
1823 sen happyakku ni juu san nen
1995 sen kyuu hyakku kyuu juu go nen
How did you go? See you in the next lesson.
What day is it in Japan?
Can you say the days of the week in Japanese?
Today’s learn Japanese lesson is all about the days of the week.
Japanese days of the week are named after elements like fire, water, earth, etc.
So, without further ado, here they are:
getsuyoubi Monday (moon)
kayoubi Tuesday (fire)
suiyoubi Wednesday (water)
mokuyoubi Thursday (wood/tree)
kinyoubi Friday (metal/gold)
doyoubi Saturday (earth)
nichiyoubi Sunday (sun)
Get into the habit of using these in place of the English versions of the day. So, when you are thinking about Monday, think getsuyoubi rather than Monday.
See you in the next lesson
Cheers,
David
