Japanese Lesson 1 Minna-san, Shoukai Shiyou!

- Let's Introduce Ourselves

In this lesson you should learn: How to introduce yourself Saying where you are from Some basic particles Basic sentence structure

Kaiwa Ichi - Dialogue One OK lets read the following dialogue. You probably won't understand all of it (or even any of it!) but just read it through and listen to the audio sample. Keep in mind the pronunciation and see how much you can understand. Satomi - Sensei: Minna-san, hajimemashite. Watashi wa Satomi desu. Nihongo no sensei desu. Douzo yoroshiku. Minna-san mo shoukai shite kudasai. Anne: Yoroshiku. Han: Anne: Satomi - Sensei: Anne: Satomi - Sensei: desu ka? Watashi wa Anne desu. Watashi wa Amerikajin desu.

Hajimemashite. Boku wa Han desu. Chuugokujin desu. Ee? Chuugoku wa eigo de nan desu ka? Chuugoku wa eigo de China desu. Aa, sou desu ka. (Points to the two remaining students). Hai. O-namae wa nan

Paulo: Namae wa Paulo desu. Itariajin desu. Minna -san douzo yoroshiku. Kochira wa Amanda-san desu. Satomi - Sensei: Amanda: Amanda-san mo itariajin desu ka? Iie, itariajin dewa arimasen. Igirisujin desu. Yoroshiku.

If you didn't understand anything don't worry just yet. I'm about to go through it with you!

Tango-hyou - Vocabulary
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minna/Minna-san: Everyone. Minna means everyone. San can be added because it refers to people. Just the same as you add it onto a name eg. Rachel san. You can add it onto other things that refer to people such as "policeman - san" or "traveler - san" and of course "minna-san". Hajimemashite/Douzo Yoroshiku: Pleased to meet you. There is no direct translation for the above. The literal meaning of Hajimemashite is "I see you for the first time". So of course, you would only say this when greeting new person/s. Douzo yoroshiku is hard to translate. The best way I can think of describing it is "Let's be friends/work well together from now on." It is said when forming a relationship with a new person, e.g a work colleague or a new teacher. Shoukai - Introduction Kudasai - Please Shoukai shite kudasai - Please introduce yourself. Nihongo no sensei - Japanese teacher Namae - Name Boku - I/Me Its only used by boys (or by tomboys ;D) Watashi - I/Me Can be used by anyone irrespective of gender. This is the most polite word. Sou Desu ka - I see (.lit Is that right?) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Countries
Countries are very easy to learn. Most of them are just the romanised version of the English word: Furansu - France Amerika - America The Asian countries are a little harder: Nihon/nippon - Japan Chuugoku - China Britain, although stems from the word English looks a bit different. Igirisu - Britain Jin is the word for person. adding it to the country has a the following effect:

Amerikajin - American person. Igirisujin - British person. Adding go to a word gets the language. Furansugo - French There is an exception for English which is Eigo (this is because it has its own kanji, unlike other non-Asian languages). Now look at the following table: Country Britain America Italy France Germany India Japan China Korea Country (Japanese) Igirisu Amerika Itaria Furansu Doitsu Indo Nihon/Nippon Chuugoku Kankoku Person Igirisujin Amerikajin Itariajin Furansujin Doitsujin Indojin Nihonjin/Nipponjin Chuugokujin Kankokujin Language Eigo Eigo Itariago Furansugo Doitsugo Indogo Nihongo Chuugokugo Kankokugo

Sentence Structure: A wa B desu - A is B

Wa - This is the first particle you will learn. It is a topic marker and always goes after the topic of a sentence. Desu - This ends the sentence in an affirmative manner. It tells us the sentence is positive. Watashi wa nihonjin desu I am Japanese. Satomi-san wa sensei desu Satomi is a teacher. Dont worry too much about the explanation right now, just remember that: A wa B desu = A is B. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dewa arimasen - This is the opposite of desu and tells us the sentence is negative. Watashi wa nihonjin dewa arimasen I am not Japanese. Satomi-san wa sensei dewa arimasen Satomi is not a teacher. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ka - This is another particle and makes a sentence a question. Satomi-san wa nihonjin desu ka? Is Satomi Japanese? Hai, Satomi-san wa nihonjin desu Yes, Satomi is Japanese. Iie, Satomi-san wa nihonjin dewa arimasen. No, Satomi is not Japanese. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mo - The last particle we will learn today. It means also and is used like so. Satomi-san wa nihonjin desu. Watashi mo nihonjin desu Satomi is Japanese. I am also Japanese.

Watashi wa nihonjin desu, Satomi-san mo Nihonjin desu ka? I am Japanese. Are you also Japanese Satomi? Satomi -sensei introduced herself so she can say: Minna-san mo shoukai shite kudasai Everyone, please introduce yourselves also. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

O-name wa nan desu ka?

Namae - Name. If you read the pervious lesson, you will know that the Japanese add O onto words to

make them more polite. It can also be used when asking about someones name, family etc. Nan/Nani - What. O-namae wa nan desu ka Your name, what is it?

A wa B de nan desu ka?

This is a useful phrase for learners. For example, if you hear a strange word that you dont understand (like chuugoku) you could say: Chuugoku wa eigo de nan desu ka? What is chuugoku in English? Eigo de - in English Eigo de, chuugoku wa China desu In English, chuugoku is China. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ko, So and A
Kochira Sochira Achira This direction. (It is close to you.) That direction. (it is close to the other person.) That direction over there. (it is close to neither of you.)

There are many examples of these words. Here is one: Koko Here (near you) Soko There (near the other person Asoko Over there. (near neither)

But you neednt would about all that as we will go over it later. For now know that when you introduce someone you can say: Kochira wa Amanda-san desu. This is Amanda. (The person in this direction is Amanda) Sochira wa Han-san. That person is Han-san. Thats the end of the lesson! Now go back to the dialogue and listen again. See if you can understand all of it =D.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nihon ni Tsuite - About Japan!

In Japan, everything is about politeness and social status. It is a lot more polite to use someones name when speaking to them rather than saying you. An example of this is in the dialogue. Satomi-Sensei says: Amanda-san mo itariajin desu ka? She was actually talking to Amanda herself. Here is some information about the suffixes that can be added to peoples names: San - A polite ending to someones name. This is the safest option. Chan - Used for small children or teenage girls if they want to seem cute. Also can be used between friends or lovers. Kun - Used for teenage boys but can also be used for girls. Especially if they are tomboyish. Sometimes can be used by seniors for junior members of a company. Sempai - Used for someone who has more experience than you. Maybe they are older, in a higher year at school or are of higher belt in your martial arts class. Kohai - The opposite of sempai. Although I rarely hear it used, most of the the sempai will just use chan/kun. time

Sama - Used for someone with extremely high status. Its rarely used anymore, but maybe someone will call you it if they are trying to weasel their way into you doing them a favour XD! Please note that you can never add a suffix onto your own name. Dont say Watashi wa Amanda-san desu. It sounds stupid XD. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------