Japanese Practice・日本語の練習

Snowball Fighting is a Sport?! + Explaining てーForm

2019年12月22日「日」第4週

日本語の練習第4週 (Japanese Practice Week 4)

日本語の練習へよこそう❢

Welcome to week 4. To start us off here is a poem:

雪が降った。

寒いですけど、

ゆきがっせん

始めよう！

(The snow has fell

It’s cold but,

let’s start,

The Snow Battle!)

雪ゆき→ Snow

合戦がっせん→ Battle

雪合戦／ゆきがっせん→ Snow Battle

Yukigassen. This is a snowball fight competition first held in 1989 in Sobetsu, Hokkaido. It is now played in many cities worldwide. It is akin to capture-the-flag with the mixture of a snowball fight between two teams. Here is a video showcasing one of their competitions:

雪合戦はおもしろいと思います。

USING て-FORM TO CONJUGATE U-VERBS AND IRREGULAR VERBS

The te-form is put in use to conjugate u-verbs and irregular verbs. They are conjugated:

· To add an “ing” at the end of a verb

読んでいます

(Reading)

· To connect verbs

足で図書館に行って、きさてんでお茶を飲んで、日本語を勉強しました。

(I went to the library by foot, drank tea at a café, and studied Japanese.)

· To add please to a verb (usually a request).

聞いて下さい

(Please listen)

How to conjugate:

It depends on the ending of the verb. For instance iku (the irregular verb “to go”) changes to itte and sagasu (the u-verb “to search”) changes to sagashite.

Here are the conjugations:

· U-Verbs

うつるー＞って、むぶぬー＞んで、くー＞いて、ぐー＞いですー＞して

· Irregular Verbs

すろー＞して、くる－＞きて

Another example sentence:

バイクでクラスに行って、日本語の試験があった。あやうく遅くだ。

(I went to class on a motorbike and had a Japanese exam. I was almost late.)

Here is the te-form song video that helped me remember these conjugations:

僕のはじめてのてーフォルムビデオを見ました。

Now, about the ru-verbs. Fortunately, these are less complex than the other kinds of verbs regarding the te-form. All you must do is drop the ru from the end of the verb and add te.

DIALOGUES

Their actions will be in parenthesis [ex.(he is eating a hamburger)]. Their thoughts will be in quotations within parenthesis [ex. (“This is not an interesting movie”)]. From now on, I will be doing the dialogues like this. Furthermore, all translations will be at the end of each dialogue.

意地悪なクラスメイトMean Classmate (Mixed)

A girl sees a familiar face at a café. It’s her classmate. Since they are both in Japanese class together, she wanted to chat and practice her Japanese. However,…

A:ここにすわってもいいですか？

B:あなたはだれ？

A:(“ひどいですよ。”) 私を忘れますか？

B:どこかであなたにお会いした覚えがあります。ゆきこ先生のクラスがありますか？

A:はい。先週、私たちは教室で会いました。

B:ごめん。私は今すぐいそがしいだから、すわってはダメです。また今度ね。

A:分かった。じゃ、またね。（”かのじょはちょっと意地悪な人だよ。”）

Translation:

A: May I sit here?

B: Who the heck are you?

A: (“Jeez that’s harsh.”) Did you forget me?

B: I remember seeing you somewhere. Do you have Ms. Yukiko’s class？

A: Yes. We met last week.

B: Sorry. Since I’m busy right now, you can’t sit down. Maybe next time, okay?

A: Understood. Well then, see you. (“She’s a bit of a mean person”)

日本語をもっと勉強しなければいけません

A: あの,けんーくん。

B: はい、ジョン。

A: この映画のキャストは日本語で話しますが、あまり分かりませんでした。あなたは？

B: ぜんぜん分かりませんでした。会話が早すぎるから、映画は分からなかった。

AとB: はあ～

Translation

A: Hey, Ken.

B: Yes, John.

A: The cast in this movie were speaking in Japanese but, I couldn’t understand it much. How about you?

B: I didn’t understand anything at all. I couldn’t understand the movie, because the conversations were too fast.

A and B: Sigh~

Continuation of the dialogue from Week 3

ヒビキトレイ

This is Hibiki’s friend named Rei. They live in an apartment together. Hibiki has just arrived home from the bookstore.

A: ただいま。

B: おかえり。こんばんわ、ヒビキ。

A: あ、レイ、こんばんわ。いつここに帰りましたか？

B: 一分前だけ。お前は嬉しそうだ。

A: ええ、本当か。

B: うん、本当。しごとはどうでしたか。

A: 別に。

B: あの少女はまた見ましたか。

A: あの。。。

B: 当たり？ピンポン？

A: ウザイ。

B: じゃ、どうだった。今度はあの少女と話していましたか。

A:ええ、僕はハルさんに本を探してくれた。

B: ハルちゃん、ね？いい名前。あの本はどこにあったか？

A: 一番高いのシェルフの上でした。

B: わ～一番高いのシェルーおい！なぜそれをしましたか？お前は高所恐怖症がないのか。

A: ええ、とってもこわかったよ。

B: なれば、なぜ。

A: 僕の仕事なんだ。それに、ハルさんと話したかったから。（彼はコラを飲んでいます。）

B: お。じゃ、結婚式はいつ？

A: （ゴホゴホ)

B:とにかく、彼女とデートするつもりか？（ヒビキにハンカチをあげました。）

A: いくつか？小学生か？ほっといてくれよ。

B: はい～辞めるよ。辞める。

つづく？

A: I’m home.

B: Welcome back. Good evening, Hibiki.

A: Ah, Rei. Good evening. When did you get back here?

B: Just a minute ago. You look happy.

A: Eh? Really?

B: Yep, really. How was work?

A: Nothing in particular.

B: Did you see that girl again.

A: Uhh…

B: Am I right? Bingo?

A: You’re being annoying.

B: So, how was it? Did you talk to her this time?

A: Yeah, I helped Ms. Haru find a book.

B: Haru, huh? Nice name. Where was that book?

A: It was on the highest shelf.

B: Wow it was on the highest shel- Hey! Why did you do that? Don’t you have acrophobia?

A: Yeah, it was very scary.

B: Then why?

A: It’s my job. And, I wanted to talk to Ms. Haru. (He’s drinking cola.)

B: Oh. So, when’s the wedding?

A: (Strong cough)

B: Anyway, do you plan on dating her? (Gave Hibiki a handkerchief.)

A: How old are you? Are you in grade school? Leave me be.

B: Okay~ I’ll stop. I’ll stop.

To be continued?

I hope that this may help others in their reading comprehension. I’ll be back next Sunday with more.

With that being said, happy holidays.

Japanese Idioms

２０１９年１２月１５日「日」第３週　

日本語の練習第3週 (Japanese Practice Week 3)

I have recently come back to learning Japanese on the JA Sensei app. I want to get an unlimited account as soon as possible. This app has tons of content available compared to when I was using it at U of L. I decided to start from the beginning. Here are my results so far:

There are some categories that I should work on such as the kanji and kana drawing category. Fortunately, the reading comprehension category is not an issue. Each lesson comes with interesting culture topics (healthcare, variations of politeness, etc.). So, that will increase as I complete each lesson. Overall, I still have much to learn about the language and the culture of Japan.

On another note, George has published Japanese from Zero 5. (ジョージ先生, おめでとうございます！絶対に買っています。[Congratulations, George sensei]) Many people have waited for this book for years. Since I started the fourth book a few weeks ago, I, fortunately, will not have to suffer the wait. The kanji is getting hard but…

「僕はまだ練習しなければいけません。」

(I still must practice.)

With this book out, I hope that he will continue working on the Japanese from Zero videos.

Speaking of the Japanese from Zero video series, I found another YouTube channel that will help review Japanese concepts called JapanSocietyNYC. I will get into their main lesson playlist soon. As for now, I am enjoying their Uki Uki Nihongo series. I recently watched their idiom video:

「弱肉強食」は一番好きのイディオムです。

Finally, here are a few dialogues. I thought I should revisit that one dialogue from the first week. There might be another part to it for next week. I have been thinking about adding titles and more context to these dialogues (whether the speech is polite, casual or mixture of the two). From now on, I will be adding this content. Furthermore, I have went back and translated majority of what I write into English. These translations will be added for now on as well.

Continuation of the dialogue from Week 1

ヒビキとハル II (Polite) (Hibiki and Haru Part II)

ヒビキは本屋で働きます。ヒビキはハルの一番の好きの小説に探しています。だが．．．

(Hibiki works at a bookstore. Hibiki is looking for Haru’s most favorite novel. But…)

A:見つけましたけど．．．なぜあの小説は．．．

(I found it but… why is that novel…)

8分後

A: お．．．お待たせいたしました。その小説を見．．．見つけました。

(So- sorry for the wait. I fou- found that novel.)

B: 本当にありがとうございます。どこに見つけましたか？

(Thank you very much. Where did you find it?)

A: 一番高．．．高いのシェ．．．シェルフの上でした。

(On top of the hig- highest sh- shelf.)

B: わあ～凄い。すみません。

(Wow, amazing. Sorry.)

A: いいえ。ノ．．．ノー問題です。

(Not at all. N- no problem.)

B: え、大丈夫ですか？あなたは揺れってますよ。

(Uh, are you okay? You’re shaking.)

A: はい、大．．．大丈夫です。

(Yes, I- I’m fine.)

つづく？

(To be continued?)

イェイケーキ！(Casual) (Yay cake!)

お父さんと彼の娘さんはケーキバイキングで多いケーキを食べます。

(A father and his daughter eat at a cake buffet.)

A:そのケーキをたべてもいい？

(May eat that cake?)

B:どんなケーキ？

(What kind of cake?)

A:レッドベルベットのです。

(The red velvet one)

B:はい、もいいよ。たべすぎないだね。

(Yeah, go ahead. Don’t eat too much, okay?)

A:はい～！

(Okay!)

昼ごはんの時間 (Mix) (Lunchtime)

彼女たちは食堂で昼ごはんを食べています。

(The girls are eating lunch in the cafeteria.)

Ⓐこの味はおいしい。これを食べなけらばなりません。

(This flavor is good. You have to eat this.)

Ⓑ何ですか？

(What is it?)

Ⓐラメン。

(Ramen.)

Ⓑわあ~ おいしいそう。じゃ、いただきます。

(Wow. It looks good. Well, thanks for the food.)

Ⓐどうですか？

(How is it?)

Ⓑあ~本当においしいよ。

(Ah. It’s really good.)

Ⓐでしょう？

(Right?)

Ⓑ作ったの？

(Did you make this?)

Ⓐええ、作った。

(Yeah, I made it.)

Ⓑどう作ったの？

(How did you make it?)

Ⓐ教えて上げるけれど、誰にもこのレシピの秘訣を言ってはだめよ。

(I’ll tell you but, you can’t tell anyone about this recipe.)

That is it for this week. また来週。(See you next week.)

Japanese Learning Apps

2019年12月08日　「日」

日本語の練習第2週 (Japanese Practice Week 2)

幸せのためには多いお金がもってなくてもいいです。

(You don’t have to have a lot of money to be happy.)

日本語の練習へよこそう！僕は救世です。

Today I will be starting off with some apps I use to learn Japanese. Perhaps these will help you as well.

Apps I use to learn Japanese:

JA Sensei

Heard about this app from a classmate in my Japanese class. Really helped me when I was learning how to write out the kana. This app has flashcards and you can also practice writing the correct stroke order for each. Not only does it have the basics such as kana, this app has grammar lessons, kanji, radicals, and much more to offer to the more experienced students. This app also has a ranking system symbolized through belts (white belt, yellow, belt, etc.). When you do many of the activities they have to offer, you will rise in rank.

Lingodeer

A new one that I found this year. It’s a progressive learning system that allows you to learn the language mostly through 2 or 3 grammar topics or subjects at a time. It is set up somewhat a kin to Duolingo (points and goal setting XP per day). I like that this app has a bonus topic after each lesson to enforce the material that you learn through listening comprehension and speaking.

将来のために

A: ねえアレクス、あそこに立ちなくてもいいよ。こち向いて。

B: あ、あすこ。久しぶり。何を読んでいるのか？

A: えと~ この本を読めない。

B: え。なんで？

A: この本は多い難しい漢字がありますから。

B: この本を読みなくてもいいだよ。なぜまだ読むのか？

A: 訳者になりたいよ。私の将来のために、この本を読みなければいきません。

B: わ～凄い。じゃ、頑張って。応援するよ。

A: ありがとう。

(For my future)

(Hey Alex, don’t stand over there. Come here.)

(Ah, Asuko. It’s been a while. What are you reading?)

(Um, I can’t read it.)

(What. Why not?)

(Because there are many difficult kanji in this book.)

(You don’t have to read this book. Why still read it?)

(I want to be a translator. For my future, I must read this book)

Wow, amazing. Well then, best of luck. I’m rooting for you.

(Thanks)

幸せのためには多いお金がもってなくてもいいです。

僕の将来のためには大学にいきました。日本語を上手になりたいから、日本語を勉強しなければいきません。

かれの怖く彼女 (His scary girlfriend)

A:どこ行くのか？

(Where are you going?)

B:彼女の家にいく。

(I’m going to my girlfriend’s house.)

A: 彼女はまだ怒っているの？

(Isn’t she still mad?)

B: ええ。

(Yeah.)

A: どうして行くのか？

(Why are you going?)

B: 行かないと。

(I have to go.)

A: 分かった。気を付けて。あの彼女が怖いだよね。

(Understood. Be careful. That girl is scary, isn’t she?)

B: そうだね。あの．．．お前と一緒に行かないのか？

(That’s right. Um… Will you come with me?)

A: だめ。怖いすぎる。頑張る。

(No way. Too scary. Do you best.)

B: ．．．行ってきます。

(I’m heading out.)

A: いってらっしゃい。（ドアが閉まる）

(Return safely. (the door closes))

A: 可哀想な。

(Poor thing.)

My Journey with Japanese

2019年12月1日「日」第1週

日本語の練習第1週 (Japanese Practice Week 1)

Note: I have moved these past posts from a different site today. I will post the next one on Sunday. Enjoy the four posts.

This blog is to practice my writing in Japanese and to help others gain an interest in the language and the culture. These posts will consist of English and Japanese. Will update every Sunday with dialogues and/or things that pertain to the Japanese language, culture, etc.

I will make mistakes.

さるもきからおちる。(猿も木から落ちる) (Even monkeys fall from trees)

Introduction

はじめまして。救世と申します。日本語を勉強しています。僕はまだビギナーです。趣味は将棋とアニメと本です。これから日本語を一所懸命勉強したいと思います。よろしくお願いいたします。

(Nice to meet you. I am called Kyuusei. I am studying Japanese. I am still a beginner. My hobbies are Shogi, anime, and books. From now on I will do my best to study Japanese. Best regards.)

Books I am using to learn Japanese:

Genki Series by Yutaka Ohno · Chikako Shinagawa · Yoko Sakane · Eri Banno · Kyoko Tokashiki

I used this series while taking Japanese courses at University of Louisville. They start off with romaji and then ease you into learning hiragana and katakana. Their dialogues tell the tale of ‘Mary’ and her friends that are mentioned throughout the start of each chapter. I like that they have CDs to practice your listening comprehension. They also have workbooks that help you grasp the language’s speaking, grammar, writing, reading, and listening.

Japanese from Zero Series (JFZ Series) by George Trombley · Yukari Takenaka

Stumbled across George’s videos during my time at UofL. At that time, I only wanted to focus only on the Genki series so I only watched videos here and there. Now, I have recently finished his third book and feel as though I would have been better off studying this during my summer breaks and coming back to class more fluent. I understand I could’ve done both but I made an excuse to not overwhelm myself during the semester with another book.

Overall, I like his style of teaching the most. He gradually teaches you the hiragana, katakana, and kanji. It works like a textbook integrated with a workbook that helps you grasp the language’s speaking, grammar, writing, and reading. His YouTube channel is packed with lessons that are covered in the book.

Speak Japanese in 90 Days by Karl Marx

This is a (daily) challenge of learning the language. It gives you some culture notes and necessary foot notes so you don’t use the wrong phrase and/or use it at the wrong time. He has four stages that he uses for each phrase:

English translation (This is my kindle.)
Romaji (kore wa watahsi no kindoru desu.)
Hiragana and katakana (これはわたしのキンドルです。)
Then a mixture of the hiragana katakana and kanji in the sentence (これは私のキンドルです。)

Considering I found this book after coming across Genki and JFZ, the romaji is somewhat off putting. However, it is understandable to have it for people who are just starting out learning the language and pronouncing words. Besides, romaji is nowhere in sight in the second volume according to the reviews that I have read about it. I am almost half way through the book. From what I have read, it builds a pretty solid foundation and progressively gets harder.

Dialogue

A: お顧－お顧客様、大ー大丈夫ですか。どんな本を探していますか。

(C-customer, ar-are you okay? What kind of book are you looking for?)

B: はい、大丈夫です。一番好きな本を探しています。

(Yes, I’m fine. I am looking for my most favorite book)

A: 手伝いましょうか。いつでもお手伝いします。

(Shall I help? I am always ready to help.)

B: はい、おねがいします。あ、ごめんなさい。あなたの名前は何ですか。

(Yes, please do. Oh, I’m sorry. What is your name?)

A: 響と申します。よろしくお願いします。

(I am Hibiki. Best regards.)

B: ハルともします。よろしくお願いします。

(I am Haru. Best regards.)

A: じゃ、この本のタイトルは何ですか。

(Well then, What is the title of this book)

B: 夏目漱石の「心」です。

(It’s Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro.)

A: 分かりました。僕は今すぐに探します。

(Understood. I will find it right away)

END

ヒビキ: お顧－お顧客様、大ー大丈夫ですか。どんな本を探していますか。
彼女: はい、大丈夫です。一番好きな本を探しています。
ヒビキ: 手伝いましょうか。いつでもお手伝いします。
彼女: はい、おねがいします。あ、ごめんなさい。あなたの名前は何ですか。
ヒビキ: ヒビキと申します。よろしくお願いします。
彼女: ハルともします。よろしくお願いします。
ヒビキ: じゃ、この本のタイトルは何ですか。
ハル: 夏目漱石の「心」です。
ヒビキ: かしこまりました。僕は今すぐに探します。