“Ka”. Turning a sentence into a question.

New Vocab:
Doko = where
Dare = who
Nan = what

This lesson is relatively easier than the other lessons. In order to make a sentence a question, just add “ka” to the end (as long as it makes sense). Let’s look at some of the sentences we had before and see if this works.

"Tomodachi wa Nihonjin desu." = "My friend is Japanese." This can also mean “Your friend is Japanese” depending on the context.
Now adding “ka” at the end it becomes:
"Tomodachi wa Nihonjin desu ka?" = "Is my/your friend Japanese?"

Another:
"Kore wa hon desu." = "This is a book."
Now adding “Ka” at the end it becomes:
"Kore wa hon desu ka?" = "Is this a book?"

Pretty easy, huh?

Now lets use some of the new vocab we learned above:
“Doko desu ka?” = “Where is it?”
Lets expand:
“Inu wa doko desu ka?” = “Where is the dog?”

“Dare desu ka?” = “Who is it?”
Lets expand:
“Tomodachi wa dare desu ka?” = “Who is your friend?” or “As for your friend, who is he/she?”

Another:
“Kore wa Nan desu ka?” = “What is this?” or “As for this, what is it?”

That is all for today. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments. I would be happy to answer them.

Don’t forget to practice with objects around the room. Have fun!

...wa...desu.

New Vocab:

• tomodachi = friend
  
• kore = this
  
• sore = that
  
• Nihonjin = Japanese person
  
  Today's lesson marks the first lesson of many to come on Japanese particles. Particles are important to the Japanese language since they define what words are doing in a sentence. The first particle I am introducing is "wa". "Wa" marks the topic by following it in the sentence. "Wa" is used in one of the most common, simple Japanese sentence structures. This sentence structure is "(topic) wa ... desu" (the '...' can be anything else in the sentence).
  
  Example:
  
  "Watashi wa Jones desu." = "I am Jones."
  
  Remember from a previous lesson that "desu" means is/am/are
  
  If you are struggling with what is meant by a topic marker, just think of "wa" translated as "as for (topic)". Therefore, the above sentence could be translated as "As for me, I am Jones."
  Let’s look at a few more examples.
  
  "Tomodachi wa Nihonjin desu." = "My friend is Japanese." or "As for my friend, he is Japanese."
  
  "Kore wa hon desu." = "This is a book." or "As for this, it is a book."
  
  "Sore wa inu desu." = "That is a dog." or "As for that , it is a dog."
  
  Remember the desu box from a previous lesson. We can insert the different tenses for desu.
  
  "Tomodachi wa Nihonjin dewa arimasen." = "My friend is not Japanese." or "As for my friend he is not Japanese."
  
  Practice looking around the room and use this sentence structure out loud. Remember if you do not know the Japanese word for an object then just use the English word in its place. Also, use the desu box too for review.
  
  Example:
  
  "Sore wa homework deshita" = "That was my homework."
  
  Have fun! See you at the next lesson.
  

Toon Disney to become DisneyXD

According to LA Times, Disney is planning on shaking up its Toon Disney Channel by appealing to boys more. The new name for the channel will be DisneyXD and will showcase new live action and anime shows. The change will take place February 2009.

One of DisneyXD's first new series will be a joint effort between Disney and Japanese studio "Toei-Animation" called RoboDz. The story revolves around three humanoid robots that protect mankind and earth from invading aliens. Looks interesting and might be fun. You can see a video preview of this new anime on RoboDz's site. I know the website is in Japanese but all you need to do is find the picture on the left with the three characters lined up with the video play button over them. Click on the play button to download the link to buffer the video and then click on the downloaded link on you desktop. Your video player will then start playing the preview. Enjoy!

Images © Toei Animation/Disney

I'm Going to Japan!!

For three weeks (September 19 - October 10) I am going to be in Japan. I will spending the first week in Tokyo and the final 2 weeks in Hiroshima. Since this is a business trip I am not going to sight see all of the time but I hope to be a tourist at night and on the weekends. This is my first time spending time in Tokyo (except for just passing through). Does anybody have recommendation on places to visit? I hope to go to Ginza shopping district since my hotel in only a few blocks away and see the Nissan Auto Museum and maybe go to Tokyo Disneyland or DisneySea (but probably not). I lived in Hiroshima for 7 months in 1997 so I know my way around pretty well. Does anybody have any recommendations for Hiroshima? I will take many pictures of my travels and give updates here on JapanScape.

Ginza Shopping District

Early 1970s FairladyZ (240Z with gnose) at Nissan Museum

The Desu Box

New Vocab :
Hon = book
Hai = yes
Iie = no

The Desu Box

In the last Japanese Language lesson we learned how to say something exists by using the word “desu”. In this lesson we are going to expand “desu” to be used in different tenses. For example, what if a book did exist or does not exist or did not exist? We can learn how to say those phrases by using the desu box shown below.




This box is easy to use. Just look at the far left column to determine if the object you are talking about is in the present or happened in the past. Then look at the top row to choose whether it does exist (positive) or does not exist (negative). Look down from the top row and to the right of the left column so the form of desu matches your tense and then add it to the end of a noun.

Noun desu. = Is noun.
Noun deshita. = Was noun.
Noun dewa arimasen. = Is not noun.
Noun dewa arimasen deshita. = Was not noun.

One pronunciation point to remember is that the ‘i’ is silent in the word deshita so it sounds like deshta.

Examples:
Hon desu = It is a book.
Hon deshita = It was a book.
Hon dewa arimasen = It is not a book.
Hon dewa arimasen deshita = It was not a book.

Using new vocabulary words learned above, if someone asks if it was you that did something, or is going to do something:

Hai, Watashi desu. = Yes, it is me.
Hai, Watashi deshita = Yes, it was me.
Iie, Watashi dewa arimasen = No, it is not me.
Iie, Watashi dewa arimasen deshita = No, it was not me.

Try the desu box out with other vocabulary words we introduced in the past lesson. Also, practice with objects around the room or when you are going someplace. If you do not know the Japanese word, just use the English word followed by the corresponding form of desu from the desu box. Do this out loud so you are actually speaking Japanese, not just thinking it. Have fun!

desu (is/am/are)

For now on, before I introduce new grammar I will first teach you new vocabulary. Grammar doesn't do you any good without vocabulary.

New Vocab:

inu = dog

ki = tree

watashi = Me/I

Remember the pronunciation guide in an earlier post!!

Pretend you are at a restaurant and the waiter brings the food and asks "Who ordered the sushi?" If you were the one who ordered the sushi you would want to answer with "It is me" or something to that effect. In Japanese you would reply by saying "Watashi desu."This small phrase introduces a very important word of the Japanese language. Desu translates as "is, am, are." It shows existence so could also mean "to be." One important thing to remember is that the "u" at the end of the sentence is normally silent so it sounds like "dess". Women will often pronounce the "u" however. Lets go through some examples with the new vocabulary introduced above.

"Inu desu." = "(It is) A dog."

"Ki desu." = "(It is) A tree."

"Watashi desu" = "(It is) Me."

Now look around the room for objects and say them with the word "desu" following it.

"Clock desu."

"Chair desu"

etc...

Don't worry about knowing all the objects names in Japanese. Just say what you know for now substituting the English words for the words you do not know in Japanese. This will give you a lot of practice! Try it on a walk too!

No Toyota Supra?

I remember when I saw the 90's version of the Toyota Supra. I was in Japan walking down the street in the mid 1990's. I thought it was a beautiful car. I loved the looks and sound. I told myself I was going to get one someday. That someday has not come yet but my hopes are still high for the future.
I now looks like when I do get one it will still be the 1990's version because there are rumors that Toyota will not be producing a new Supra even though they have been teasing us for a few years now with concept photos and designs. Their excuse is the demand by the US govt for higher MPG requirements. GRRR!! My hopes were high. Oh well, At least I have the next Nissan Z to look forward to which will debute in the fall at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
Below is a picture of the 1997 Supra similar to the one I saw in Japan.

Hello!!

Now lets learn how to greet someone in Japanese. The only word or phrase we are going to work on is “hello.” The fun thing about Japanese is that there are three ways to say “hello” depending on what time of day you say it. We also do this in English:

Good morning
Good afternoon
Good evening

All three of these phrases ultimately mean “hello” but are used during different times of the day.
Here are the Japanese equivalents:

"Ohayou gozaimasu" Good morning
“Konnichiwa” Good afternoon
“Konbanwa” Good evening

Note: “Ohayou” is pronounce like the state Ohio.

Japanese Vowels

All languages have rules and Japanese is no exception. The first rule presented in this lesson explains how to pronounce the vowels in Japanese. Of course the Japanese language has the same vowels as English, namely: a, i, u, e, and o. The difficult thing to master when learning English is the different way to pronounce the vowels. For example, the vowel “a” can be used in the words “father”, ”ate”, and ”bat”. Each of these words pronounces the letter “a” differently. Go ahead and say them out loud a few times to hear the difference. The great thing about the Japanese language is that there is only one way to pronounce each vowel. Here is a list of the vowels with an English word that shows an example how to pronounce each vowel.

a pronounced “ah” as in “father”
i pronounced “ee” as in “feet”
u pronounced “oo” as in “boot”
e pronounced “eh” as in “met”
o pronounced “oh” as in “no”

Practice these vowels by saying out loud “a i u e o” over and over again so you can remember their pronunciations. People may look at you funny but you know you are cool so it doesn’t matter what they think, right? See you at the next lesson!

Welcome!

I have had many teenagers try to talk me into teaching Japanese at the local high school. Since I currently have a job that I enjoy and I do not have time to obtain a teaching certificate I think I will hold off on teaching for now. Maybe in the future. I have observed the growing interest in Japan by kids recently because of Anime, Manga, and video games. Since I am not able to teach Japanese to kids I wanted to find a way to share my knowledge to students of all ages to help fuel their interest in Japan. Therefore I want to share what I know of the Japanese language, culture, food, and more. I want to share current events and news from Japan such as politics, automobiles, and consumer electronics as well as entertainment such as Movies, Anime, and Manga. So pretty much anything to do with Japan will be discussed in this blog with Grammar, vocabulary, and writing sprinkled in between.Comments are always welcome on anything that is being discussed. I hope you have fun learning more about the Japanese Language and culture through this blog.

A little about my experience with Japan:

• Served a 2 year Mission in Japan for the LDS church.
• Completed a Minor degree in Japanese at BYU.
• Taught Japanese language and culture for three years at the LDS Missionary training Center.