1 Vocabolary (1st words)

These words are not in alphabetical form:


Hurt　痛み　(pronounced as i-ta-mi)
Even　さえ　(pronounced as sa-e)
Forgive　許して　(pronounced as yu-ru-shi-te)
Innocence　無垢　(pronounced as mu-ku)
Live　生きる　(pronounced i-ki-ru)
Back　背中　(pronounced as se-na-ka)
Hot　辛い　(pronounced as tsu-ra-i)


Some of the words are need to be translated. Visit this site if you want to translate an English word, sentence, paragraphs in to Japanese and other language。

Music of Japan: lesson 5

The music of Japan includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional and modern. The word for music in Japanese is 音楽 (ongaku), combining the kanji 音 ("on" sound) with the kanji 楽 ("gaku" fun, comfort).


Local music often appears at karaoke venues, which is on lease from the record labels. Traditional Japanese music has no specific beat, and is calm. In 1873, a British traveler claimed that Japanese music, "exasperate[s] beyond all endurance the European breast."


TRADITIONAL AND FOLK SONG


The oldest forms of traditional Japanese music are shōmyō (声明 or you could use 聲明), Buddhist chanting, and gagaku (雅楽), orchestral court music, both of which date to the Nara and Heian periods.


Gagaku is a type of classical music that has been performed at the Imperial court since the Heian period. Kagurauta (神楽歌), Azumaasobi(東遊) and Yamatouta (大和歌) are relatively indigenous repertories. Tōgaku (唐楽) and komagaku originated from the Chinese Tang dynasty via the Korean peninsula.  In addition, gagaku is divided into kangen (管弦) (instrumental music) and bugaku (舞楽) (dance accompanied by gagaku).

Japanese love expressions: lesson 4

LOVE
in Japanese

If you are wanting to express your love in Japanese, you've come to right place.

You may have heard the word for love, ai, isn't used as much as its counterpart in English. This is probably true. Here is "I love you," but remember to only use it when you really mean it.

愛しています。
ai shite imasu.
I love you.

Instead of the above, you are more likely to hear:

あなたが好きです。
anata ga suki desu.
I like you.

Use this even when in English many people may use the "love" word.

Sometimes you have to coax it out of your love-hopeful. Try this:

私のことが好きですか？
watashi no koto ga suki desu ka? 
Do you like me?

Japan facts: Origin of Jōmon and Yayoi

00100

Currently, the most well-regarded theory is that present-day Japanese are descendants of both the indigenous Jōmon people and the immigrant Yayoi people. The origins of the Jōmon and Yayoi peoples have often been a subject of dispute, but it is now generally accepted that the Jōmon people were similar to the modern Ainu of northern Japan; the path of their migration may have been from the southwest of China to Mongolia to today's southeastern Russia and then to northeastern Japan, and they probably have lived in Japan since the time of the last glacial age. They brought with them the origins of Japanese culture and religion. Han Chinese and ethnic Korean groups are thought to be the origin of the Yayoi group which entered Japan from the southwest, bringing a more advanced civilization than the native Jōmon people.However, a clear consensus has not been reached.

      Japan at the height 

      of the last glaciation 

    about 20,000 years ago

Japanese katakana: lesson 2

Japanese Katakana

Origin

The katakana syllabary was derived from abbreviated Chinese characters used by Buddhist monks to indicate the correct pronunciations of Chinese texts in the 9th century. At first there were many different symbols to represent one syllable of spoken Japanese, but over the years the system was streamlined. By the 14th century, there was a more or less one-to-one correspondence between spoken and written syllables.

The word katakana "part (of kanji) syllabic script". The "part" refers to the fact that katakana characters represent parts of kanji.

Characteristics and usage of katakana

The katakana syllabary consists of 48 syllables and was originally considered "men's writing". Since the 20th century, katakana have been used mainly to write non-Chinese loan words, onomatopoeic words, foreign names, in telegrams and for emphasis (the equivalent of bold, italic or upper case text in English). Before the 20th century all foreign loanwords were written with kanji.

Katakana are also used to write Ainu, a language spoken on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Katakana and the kanji from which they developed

In each column the rōmaji appears on the left, the katakana symbols in the middle and the kanji from which the symbols were derived on the right.

Japanese hiragana: Lesson 1

Japanese Hiragana

Hiragana syllables developed from Chinese characters, as shown below. Hiragana were originally called onnade or 'women's hand' as were used mainly by women - men wrote in kanji and katakana. By the 10th century, hiragana were used by everybody. The word hiragana means "oridinary syllabic script".

In early versions of hiragana there were often many different characters to represent the same syllable, however the system was eventually simplified so that there was a one-to-one relationship between spoken and written syllables. The present orthography of hiragana was codified by the Japanese government in 1946.

Japanese kanji: Lessson 3

Japanese Kanji

Between 5,000 and 10,000 Chinese characters, or kanji, are used in written Japanese. In 1981 in an effort to make it easier to read and write Japanese, the Japanese government introduced the jōyō kanji hyō (List of Chinese Characters for General Use), which includes 1,945 regular characters, plus 166 special characters used only for people's names. Government documents, newspapers, textbooks and other publications for non-specialists use only these kanji. Writers of other material are free to use whichever kanji they want.

Japanese children are expected to know all of the jōyō kanji by the end of high school but to read specialist publications and ordinary literature, they need to know another two or three thousand kanji.

The word kanji is the Japanese version of the Chinese word hànzì, which means "Han characters". Han refers to the Han Dynasty (206BC - 220AD) and is the name used by the Chinese for themselves.

When the Japanese adopted Chinese characters to write the Japanese language they also borrowed many Chinese words. Today about half the vocabulary of Japanese comes from Chinese and Japanese kanji are use to represent both Sino-Japanese words and native Japanese words with the same meaning.

For example, the native Japanese word for water is mizu while the Sino-Japanese word issui. Both are written with the same character. The former is known as the kun yomi(Japanese reading) of the character while the latter is known as the on yomi (Chinese reading) of the character.

Japanese counting: Lesson 1

In Japanese writing or caligraphy they use numbers like the english form。The list is contaning the Japanese numbers。

SYLLABICATION (Japanese) English Form Japanese Character。

                Ichi                                     1                               一

                Ni                                       2                          　 二

                San                                     3                               三

                Yon                                     4                               四

                Go 　                                 5　                           五

                Roku                                  6                                六

　            Nana                                  7                                七

　            Hachi                                 8                                八

                Kyuu                                  9                                 九

                Ju                                      10                               十

                Zero(zeh-roh)                    0                               ゼロ

っけ？

Pronunciation

ke?

Meaning / Usage

Use it for a question. This may imply that you kind of knew it before, but you don't remember it now.

Examples

お前、寿司好きだっけ？
おまえ、すしすきだっけ？
Do you like sushi?

ディズニーランドって香港にもありましたっけ？
ディズニーランドってほんこんにもありましたっけ？
Is there a Disneyland in Hong Kong?

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%A3%E3%81%91%EF%BC%9F

だな

Pronunciation

dana

Meaning / Usage

noun + だな。
Use this when you want to express your opinion. (It may sound like talking to yourself)

Examples

あの営業の人、めちゃめちゃ美人だな。
あのえいぎょうのひと、めちゃめちゃびじんだな。
That saleswoman is very beautiful.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%A0%E3%81%AA

ぜ

Pronunciation

ze

Examples

あいつの家、すげえデカいぜ。
あいつのいえ、すげえデカいぜ。
His (her) house is unusually huge.

Note

Used to make the sentence sound macho.
Although you here this often in manga, not so common to use it in a real conversation.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%9C

かよ

Pronunciation

kayo

Meaning / Usage

noun + かよ。
Used for a negative surprise.
Implies that you didn't expected the result.

Examples

あいつ、また遅刻かよ！
あいつ、またちこくかよ！
That guy is late again!

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%8B%E3%82%88

かしら

Pronunciation

kashira

Meaning / Usage

"I wonder... " Same usage as かな. Sounds feminine. Few guys use this.
You see this quite often in novels or mangas, but you don't hear it often in real life.

Examples

鈴木さん、もう昼ご飯食べたのかしら。
すずきさん、もうひるごはんたべたのかしら。
I wonder if Mr. Suzuki had lunch already.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%8B%E3%81%97%E3%82%89

んです

Pronunciation

ndesu

Meaning /Usage

Verb + んです

This is used to avoid ending with verb, which sounds kind of robotic.
For example,
"きょうはすしをたべる。" sounds like a check list written on a paper...(However it's commonly used in a written sentence)
"きょうはすしをたべるんです。" sounds more natural in a regular conversation.

More casual version of のです。

Examples

今、日本語を勉強しているんです。
いま、にほんごをべんきょうしているんです
I am studying Japanese now.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%82%93%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99

よう

Pronunciation

yo-

Meaning / Usage

"Let's... "
Follows after a verb. Less formal than ましょう.

Could also mean "I'm going to ..." depending on the context.

Examples

夕飯はラーメン食べよう。
ゆうはんはらーめんたべよう。
Let's (I'm going to) eat ramen for dinner.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%82%88%E3%81%86

みたい

Pronunciation

mitai

Meaning /Usage

Follows after adjective or noun. "seem like"
"I heard that..."
"looks like..."

Examples

シアトルのイチロー人気はすごいみたい。
しあとるのいちろーにんきはすごいみたい
It seems like Ichiro is very popular in Seattle.

この家、城みたい。
このいえ、しろみたい
This house looks like a castle.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%BF%E3%81%9F%E3%81%84

ましょう

Pronunciation

masyo-

Meaning / Usage

"Let's... "
Follows after a verb. More formal than よう or ましょ.

Examples

全員でこの部屋を掃除しましょう。
ぜんいんでこのへやをそうじしましょう。
Let's clean up this room, everybody.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%BE%E3%81%97%E3%82%87%E3%81%86

にゃん

Pronunciation

nyan

Meaning / Usage

Use this to make you sound cute by trying to sound like a cat (!!)
You hear this in mangas, but not in real life.

Examples

お腹すいたにゃん。
おなかすいたにゃん。
I'm hungry.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%AB%E3%82%83%E3%82%93

なきゃ

Pronunciation

nakya

Meaning / Usage

"I must... " "You must..."
Conversational version of なければならない
Same usage as ないと。

Examples

明日までに宿題やんなきゃ。
あしたまでにしゅくだいやんなきゃ。
I have to finish the homework by tomorrow.

あの娘のこと好きなんでしょ？　じゃあはっきり言わなきゃ。
あのこのことすきなんでしょ？　じゃあはっきりいわなきゃ。
You like her, don't you? Then you have to tell her so.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8D%E3%82%83

ないと

Pronunciation

naito

Meaning / Usage

"I must... " "You must..."
Conversational version of なければならない
Same usage as なきゃ。

Examples

あ、もう帰んないと。
あ、もうかえんないと。
Oh, I have to go.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E3%81%A8

ですか？

Pronunciation

deska / desuka

Meaning / Usage

noun + ですか？
Very common gobi to form a question.

Examples

これ、あなたの携帯ですか？
これ、あなたのけいたいですか？
Is this your cell phone?

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99%E3%81%8B%EF%BC%9F

でした

Pronunciation

desh-ta / deshita

Meaning / usage

Connected to a noun to make it past tense.

Examples

昨日は僕の誕生日でした。
きのうはぼくのたんじょうびでした。
Yesterday was my birthday.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%A7%E3%81%97%E3%81%9F

って

Pronunciation

te

Meaning / Usage

Follows after another gobi.
Means"I heard that..." "Someone told me that..."

Don't confuse with imperative verb ending て. (e.g. やって）

Examples

あの人、回転寿司で20皿食べたんだって。
あのひと、かいてんずしで、にじゅっさらたべたんだって。
I heard that he/she had 20 plates in a Sushi-train restaurant.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6

ちゃった

Pronunciation

chatta

Meaning / Usage

verb + ちゃった。
Used when you have done something you didn't expect.
Although it's used in a negative way usually, can be used in a positive way.
Informal version of てしまった.
If you say ちった, it sounds masculine.

Examples

彼女にふられちゃった。
かのじょにふられちゃった。
My girlfriend dumped me...

試験に受かっちゃった！
しけんにうかっちゃった！
I passed the exam! (I didn't expected it)

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F

じゃん

Pronunciation

jan

Meaning / Usage

Used to let the other person know what you think. Very common gobi especially in the east.
Very casual version of ですね or ますね.

Examples

大丈夫？　すげえ眠そうじゃん。
だいじょうぶ？　すげえねむそうじゃん。
Are you ok? You look really sleepy.

その赤いドレス、かわいいじゃん。
そのあかいどれす、かわいいじゃん。
(I think) The red dress is cute.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%98%E3%82%83%E3%82%93

かも

Pronunciation

kamo

Meaning / Usage

maybe, might

Examples

明日、パーティー行けるかも。
あした、パーティーいけるかも。
I might be able to come to the party tomorrow.

CREDITS IN POSTS BY: http://gobi.jp/index.php/%E3%81%8B%E3%82%82