Some Advice When Learning to Speak Japanese
December 19, 2008 by admin · 9 Comments
You may need to learn the Japanese language because you are traveling to Japan and want to become familiar with popular Japanese words and phrases. Or you might have taken a class to learn Japanese years before and are now looking for a refresher course. Perhaps you have a great interest in learning to speak Japanese simply because you love the Japanese language.
Whatever the reasons you desire to learn to speak Japanese, you will want to be sure to keep the following advice in mind.
There are many aspects of the Japanese language that you might be considering learning. If you are interested in learning essential Japanese words and phrases to get through a few conversations with those who speak Japanese fluently, then beginning with the basics is the best place to start.
Learn popular words and phrases such as “hello”, “how are you?” and “thank you” first. Then practice using them in your daily conversations with those who speak Japanese. If you do not know anyone who speaks Japanese, keep practicing and speaking your words and phrases daily anyway – practice makes perfect.
If you want to learn Japanese so that you can better understand Japanese etiquette and culture, it is probably best to immerse yourself in conversational Japanese language studies. Learning Japanese this way can be beneficial because you will understand the body language, intonation and communication styles of those who speak Japanese fluently.
Listen to conversational audio, observe fluent speakers interacting with each other, and even try to watch and comprehend Japanese news or other real-life Japanese shows on TV. When listening to others speak Japanese, you still want to try to pick up on basic Japanese words and phrases. However, in learning conversational Japanese, it would be to your advantage to focus on situational phrases and even Japanese slang or expressions as well.
Understanding and using these types of colloquialisms is what helps you to become fluent in the Japanese language. Instead of focusing on basic phrases like “hello” and “good morning”, you will want to focus on how to begin interactions by asking questions like “what is your name?” or “what do you do for a living?”. Japanese etiquette plays a role in conversation, so take notice of the phrases and intonations that younger people use when speaking to their elders or that employees use to speak to their superiors.
It can be very difficult learning a new language. You want to try your best to stay motivated. When learning the Japanese language, you are not only learning to speak new words, you are also learning to read and interpret a different type of writing. Languages such as French and Spanish contain the same letters as the English language, but used in slightly different ways. The Japanese language will be a totally new way of reading and writing for you.
Do not be afraid of making mistakes with reading, writing or speaking Japanese, instead try to learn from your mistakes. Record yourself while you practice speaking Japanese so that you are aware of your mistakes in pronunciation and intonation. Being able to identify your weaknesses as you learn Japanese is the best way to improve.
Speaking Japanese: Learning the Language and the Cultural Etiquette
December 11, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
The Japanese language is considered by many to be easy to learn. Whether you wish to speak Japanese for personal reasons like travel or for professional reasons, it is important for you to consider that learning Japanese etiquette is as important as learning commonly used words and phrases.
Why is it that learning to speak Japanese is relatively easy? To begin with, there are only 5 vowel sounds:
·A is voiced as “ah,” or the way English speakers pronounce the a in “la;”
·I is pronounced as the English e in words like “need” and “tea;”
·U is vocalized in much the same way as “oo” in words like “cool” and “soon;”
·E is spoken with the same sound of the first e in the word “letter” and the e in “set;”
·O is expressed as it is in the word “told.”
Knowing how each of the vowels sounds phonetically makes speaking the Japanese words less difficult.
In addition, the Japanese language is less complicated than many others because nouns are not tied to gender or number – the same word is used for one tree or many trees – and verb remains the same regardless of the subject. Unlike English, Spanish and French (and other Latin-based languages) in which you must learn different ways to conjugate the verb based on the subject, when learning Japanese, the verb will be either past tense or the present tense (ongoing actions or the suggestion of what may happen in the future are expressed with the present tense verb).
While pronunciations can be simple once you know how the vowels are spoken, and nouns and verbs are relatively easy as well, one way in which you may stumble with the language is word order. While in English sentences are typically in a subject – verb – object format, in Japanese they are presented in the order of subject – object – verb. Of course, just as we have prepositions in English, there are a number of articles in Japanese. One article used often is “ka,” which is used at the end of the sentence to ask a question (which is important because the question mark does not exist in Japanese).
Though challenges like punctuation exist in the written language, learning to speak and understand Japanese can be accomplished. There are many resources available online, books and flashcards, as well as computer software. By finding the one that will be most beneficial to you and practicing often, you will surely be able to learn the language.
Once you have learned the language, and even while you are learning, it is important to keep etiquette in mind because how you act has as much of an impact on how you are received as the words you use to express yourself.
Make sure that you keep the following in mind:
·Unless you are very familiar with the person you are talking with, you should avoid using casual phrasings;
·Avoid being loud to get someone’s attention. It is better to wave or to approach them with a bow and then speak;
·Use a quiet tone when speaking;
·Be cautious with your body language as much of the communication that takes place is unspoken;
·Always show respect for the person with whom you are speaking.
By maintaining respect for the people and cultural etiquette – you will find that beginning to communicate in Japanese is simple and, in time, you will become quite good at it.
Learn Japanese Language – Do You Know That There Are 3 Different Japanese Symbol?
December 1, 2008 by admin · 3 Comments
Learn Japanese for a real communication for your work, school project, and communicating with your Japanese mate properly.
Many people think that Learning to speak Japanese language is more difficult than learning to write Japanese. But, it is actually vice versa, because there are 3 different Japanese symbol called Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana, if you want to learn to write Japanese.
Normally, many Westerners think that kanji symbol is the only writing form we use in Japanese. It is true that we use kanji symbols more than hiragana or katakana symbols when writing something in Japanese. However, unlike Chinese people who use only Kanji symbols, we mix up all Japanese scripts.
So, when do you have to use which script? The answer is it all depends on a type of sentence used. Generally, the majority of Japanese textbooks says that Hiragana symbol is used when a word cannot be written in Kanji symbol, and Katakana symbol is mainly used to represent foreign words, or names which have adopted into the Japanese writing system.
However, it is always the case.
For example, “Thank you” in Japanese is “A Ri Ga To U”. Normally, you will write this word in Hiragana symbol, but in a formal letter, you should use Kanji symbol. Although it is not wrong to use katakana symbol to write “Thank you” in Japanese, not many Japanese people would do so.
If you travel to Japan, you would see how each Japanese Kanji Symbols, Hiragana and Katakana symbols are used
For example, Japanese Magazine normally use 80% of Kanji symbols, and 10% of Hiragana and Katakana symbols.
Another case is the singboard of the place in a subway. Almost all the sings are written with the Kanji symbols. By the way, we can write numbers in kanji symbols as well, but normally use the numerical sign to represent.
Also, Japanese language is changing everyday. There are new Japanese words in which old Japanese people cannot understand and those words are usually written by Katakana symbol or Hiragana symbol.
Although they are not proper Japanese language, many young Japanese people use such characters nowadays, and those words are normally abbreviated words.
That is why leaning to write Japanese is more difficult than speaking Japanese.
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