Learn Japanese
Japanese Language Learning Links and Resources
Character and Writing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_writing_system – A Wiki article on historical development of Japanese writing system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoiku_kanji – List of kanjis to be learnt in elementary school with the pronunciations and meanings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyo_kanji – List of kanjis to be learnt up until high school with pronunciations and meanings.
http://brng.jp/50renshuu-s.pdf – printable practise sheet for hiragana and katakana
http://kanjisite.com/html/start/index.html – Kana and kanji – preparation for JLPT.
http://members.aol.com/writejapan/index.htm – katakana/hiragana and some kanji writing tutor (with stroke order animations)
http://nihongo.isc.chubu.ac.jp/komor…kanji2056.html – 2056 kanjis with stroke orders indicated by live-action video
http://kakijun.main.jp/ – Kanji stroke order database (more than 4000 characters listed)
http://hesjapanese.com/ – Kana lessons with sound and animation files
http://kanjisite.com/html/start/jlpt/4/all/index.html – JLPT kanji levels
http://www.jlpt-kanji.com/ – Another web page that helps you when it comes to kanjis for the JLPT.
http://www.kanjistep.com/ – Very cool page for kanji beginners, includes writing order, meanings, etc.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~kanji/ – kanji stroke orders
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/jouyoukanji.html – printable list of the jōyō kanji as well as a some other commonly seen ones, arranged in the order they are learnt in Japanese schools.
http://www.polarcloud.com/kanji – printable kanji flashcards
http://homepage2.nifty.com/Gat_Tin/kanji/honji.htm – Variant forms of Chinese characters; from China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea.
http://www.realkana.com/ – practice the reading of random characters from your selected list
http://www.flickr.com/groups/brush_calligraphy/ – Flickr group to help decipher calligraphy works
Online Lessons/Tutorials:
http://www.learn-japanese.info/ – Easy to follow grammar lessons, some vocabulary. Nice for starters.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/0002/ – The excellent Daily Yomiuri Online “Pera Pera Penguin” articles.
http://www.ichiban.narod.ru/nihongo/nihongo.html – Various tutorials and phrase books in Russian.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/ – Japanese lessons by NHK Radio available in 17 languages
http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/ts/japanese/cover.html – Teach yourself Japanese – Basic Japanese with a linguistics approach.
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/grammarpage.php – One hundred “watered-down, understandable, bite-sized grammar helps”.
http://jplang.tufs.ac.jp/account/login – JPLANG provides e-learning materials for learning Japanese, developed by a TUFS team.
http://www.trymango.com/language_program.php – for beginners, lots of audio, free but with a registration
http://www.basic-japanese.com/ – 34 free lessons and tools
http://www.manythings.org/japanese/ – free-to-use online study materials
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagod…/1jp/main.html – conversational topics and grammar references
http://www.japanese-online.com/ – Free lessons on particles and sentence structures: audio files available for conversation examples.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/i-yasu/bk-les.htm – 市川保子’s lessons by grammatical topics, compiled from Q&A: Japanese
http://homepage3.nifty.com/i-yasu/bk-les-e.htm – the English version of the above
http://www.pantomime.org/nihongo-tusin/note.html – frequently asked questions about Japanese: Japanese
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese – textbook project by Wiki volunteers
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~sg2h-ymst/yamatouta/intro/dousikatuyou.html – grammar of Classical Japanese: Japanese
Reading Material:
http://www.genpaku.org/ – Collaborative translation project. Usufruct granted by acknowledgement.
http://www3.cnet-ta.ne.jp/p/pddlib/ – Public domain documents including an encyclopaedia, a biographical dictionary and Japanese laws
http://www.aozora.gr.jp/ – Collection of copyright-free works. A lot of texts have phonetic guides in hiragana.
http://hukumusume.com/douwa/ – listen and read fairy-tales
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20683 – Oku no Hosomichi by Matsuo Bashō
http://eloise.cocolog-nifty.com/rodoku/ – Japanese classics in text and audio files
http://ikeda-hideo.hp.infoseek.co.jp/library_e.html – text and audio files of early modern Japanese literature
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/languages/ja – Japanese reading materials in Project Gutenberg
http://www.esuj.gr.jp/cgi-local/Docu…d=list&lang=jp – Contemporary Japanese opinions with English translations
http://jpn.scripturetext.com/matthew/1.htm – Japanese Bible translation with cross references to other translations: courtesy 電網聖書
Pronunciation:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showp…52&postcount=9 – IPA explanations and tools, compiled by WR’s own timpeac.
http://www.paulmeier.com/ipa/charts.html – sound files for IPA symbols as revised in 1996
http://ipa4linguists.pbwiki.com/ – instructions for setting up your computer to display IPA symbols
http://www.siskiyous.edu/NCTA/Japane…iles/index.htm – sound files for Japanese syllabary and verb conjugations.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2151706_impr…unciation.html – Quick tips of phonemes (aimed at English speakers)
http://www.voiceblog.jp/ted606/ – Recitations including classic literature (texts may be found in Aozora Bunko)
http://www.voiceblog.jp/kiyo22/ – Recitations by a voice actor (texts may be found in Aozora Bunko)
http://www.env.kitakyu-u.ac.jp/corpus/texts/index.html – audio samples from very non-structured interviews
Web Services:
http://webcat.nii.ac.jp/webcat.html – Searches library catalogues in universities and research institutions.
http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ – Searches journal articles by the title.
http://www.ndl.go.jp/ – Home page of National Diet Library.
http://www.google.co.jp/ – Google Japan with Web services in Japanese.
http://www.yahoo.co.jp/ – Yahoo’s Japanese portal.
http://podcastle.jp/ – Nascent technology for transcribing and searching podcasts.
Media:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/ – News from NHK, Japan’s public service broadcaster.
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/ann/news/web/index.html – TV Asahi News is another good listening resource with transcripts. Enjoy!
http://www.rikai.com/perl/Home.pl – Generates small vocabulary bubbles for Japanese news text.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/rj/index_j.html – live streaming of NHK Radio Japan
http://news.tbs.co.jp/ – News site of TBS, a commercial network.
Dictionaries:
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi – Commonly known as Jim Breen’s dictionary, supports a verb conjugator.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1R – search for kanjis by combinations of stroke counts and radicals
http://www.jisho.org/ – WWWJDIC spin-off with more user-friendly interface
http://www.online-dictionary.biz/english/japanese/ – another WWWJDIC spin-off
http://dico.fj.free.fr/traduction/index.php – French-Japanese / Japanese-French dictionary.
http://www.alc.co.jp/ – A bidirectional English-Japanese database with a search box for looking up more natural expressions.
http://www.yamasa.cc/members/ocjs/ka…nPage?OpenForm – A bidirectional English-Japanese dictionary and kanji guides
http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/ – Online dictionaries offered from Yahoo! Japan Dictionary. Includes Ja-En, En-Jp and Jp-Jp.
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/ – Online dictionaries offered from Goo, another Japanese search engine. Includes Ja-En, En-Jp and Jp-Jp.
http://www.excite.co.jp/dictionary/ – Online dictionaries offered from Excite. Includes En-Ja, Ja-En, Jp-Jp, Ch-Ja and Ja-Ch.
http://www.englishjapaneseonlinedictionary.com/ A Romaji English <> Japanese dictionary.
http://www.trussel.com/f_nih.htm – Jeffrey’s Jp<>En Dict. Kana and Romanji input. Display results in Romanji and Kanji
http://www.j-talk.com/nihongo/search/kanjisearch.php – Kanji-English Dictionary
http://www.dictjuggler.net/tamatebako/index.html – 類語玉手箱 is an on-line Japanese thesaurus: Japanese
http://www.matsu-kaze.net/mk/kanji/ – Kanji (教育漢字)-English Dictionary by romaji input.
http://www.saiga-jp.com/kanji_dictionary.html – Kanji Dictionary, with stroke order, English meaning, On-yomi (phonetic reading), Kun-yomi (native Japanese reading), irregular pronunciations (e.g.一日 = ついたち), example sentences, and audio files.
http://www.languageguide.org/nihongo/ – thematic picture dictionary with audio
http://www.nihonjiten.com/ – Collection of numerous Japanese dictionaries
http://www.hikyaku.com/dico/onmyog.html – kanji dictionary and themed lists
Specialised Vocabulary and Phrase Books:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Japanese_phrasebook – Survival Japanese for Travellers.
http://www.geocities.co.jp/SilkRoad-…ei/jinmei.html – list of typical nanori; special kanji pronunciations for personal names
http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~suzakihp/index40.html – Japanese family names; click on 1.苗字検索 in the left pane.
http://yubin.senmon.net/ – A database of Japanese place names, searchable in kanji and hiragana.
http://gogen-allguide.com/ – etymology dictionary: Japanese
http://coe21.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/djvuchar – Chinese characters from Tang inscriptions; search by CJK allomorphs/scripts [説明書]
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ax2s-kmtn/ref/old_chara.html – Tables to match old and new kanji forms.
http://homepage2.nifty.com/TAB01645/ohara/ – Dictionary of Japan-made kanjis. Entries are provided as image files. Japanese
http://hougen.atok.com/ – User-driven database for regional dialects
http://ryukyu-lang.lib.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/ – The Ryukuan language phonetic database; Nakijin, Shuri-Naha, Amami, Miyako dialects
http://sanabo.com/words/?=index – Yojijukugo (four-charactered idioms) with definitions, usages and English translations.
http://nihongoup.com/blog/japanese-color-names/ – Japanese colour names cheat sheet
http://hiramatu-hifuka.com/onyak/onyindx.html – Pronunciation dictionaries compiled by topics.
http://www.saglasie.com/tr/chemical/ – Names of chemical substances in Japanese and English; database
http://www.ffcr.or.jp/Zaidan/mhwinfo…25684600083647 – list of aromatic bases: Japanese and English
http://www.tradmedicine.com/term/syoyaku-db.html – list of crude drugs: Japanese and scientific names
http://zokugo-dict.com/ – Slang with definition and usage.
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_htsrv_tdy – Glossary of colloquial expressions
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_sit_browse – Themed list of conversational phrases
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ctg_in=1 – Glossary of loan words and Japanese English
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ctg_in=2 – Glossary of yojijukugo or four-character expressions
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ctg_in=3 – Glossary of proverbs and clichés
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ctg_in=4 – Glossary of onomatopoeias and mimetic words
http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/s_kaydic?ctg_in=5 – Glossary of Japanese culture and news
http://www.geocities.jp/tomomi965/index.html – Proverbs and clichés with synonymous and antonymous expressions.
http://crlao.ehess.fr/japonais-coree…eDesIndex.html – Dictionnaire terminologique de linguistique japonaise/日本語言語学専門用語和仏辞典
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~wbaxter/etymdict.html – Mandarin, Middle Chinese and Japanese pronunciations; PDF
http://www.schei.com/dictionary/ – English/Japanese Japanese/English Aviation Dictionary 和英・英和航空学辞典
http://e-words.jp/ – Dictionary of information technology terms: Japanese
http://www.geocities.jp/ps_dictionary/a.htm – 英語－日本語電気専門用語辞書
http://www5.synapse.ne.jp/sio/siof1/…dic_E_top.html – Financial Dictionary (EN <> JP)
http://engeinavi.jp/fen/ – 園芸ナビ 花の園芸用語辞典 (JP <> EN)
http://www.e-bridge.jp/eb/tcontents/…edic.php?job=0 – 橋梁の英和・和英辞典 (JP <> EN)
Grammar:
http://www.jgram.org/ – Very useful web page when studying grammar for the JLPT (from 4kyū to 1kyū).
http://www.nihongoresources.com A rather successful all-in-one Japanese site. From very basic dictionary, to grammar through particles. Noteworthy: giongo (which are onomatopoeia but there’s more to it!).
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/index.html#contents – Japanese grammar reference by constructions.
http://books.google.com/books?id=l_f3b7J2zjcC – constructions compendium offered as a Google search service
http://www.jpf.go.jp/j/urawa/j_rsorc…_04_02_04.html – teaching materials by the Japanese-Language Institute
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=g…ummary_r&cad=0 – Japanese by Iwasaki is a reference in a theoretical framework
Particles:
http://www.timwerx.net/language/particles.htm – Particles overview.
http://japanese.about.com/blparticles.htm – Basic particles overview at about.com.
http://home.inter.net/kenbutler/particlehome.html – A guide to the functions of structural particles in Japanese.
http://www.geocities.jp/nihongoguide/particles2.html – Verb related particles.
http://www.maedera.com/home/jgrammar…r/jgr_part.htm – Particles from a linguistic point of view.
Software:
http://abctajpu.mozdev.org/ – A Firefox add-on to enable easy input of Unicode characters: includes kana shortcuts.
http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/ – For Firefox users: Rikaichan is a pop-up dictionary – reads Japanese web-pages.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/szunvukung/kk/ – Kanji flashcard system by Peter Salvi. Uses Tcl/Tk.
http://wakan.manga.cz/ – freeware that parses Japanese text in English and Furigana and Romanji (Hepburn)
http://wakan.manga.cz/files/wakan_full_167.exe – complete download
http://nihongo.j-talk.com/parser/ – converts both Kanji and Kana into Romaji (select “Kanji to Romaji” option)
http://www.furiganizer.com/ – provides furigana to Japanese texts
http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/Portal_e.aspx – parses Japanese sites and provides pop-up vocabulary. Also in Chinese and Korean.
http://www.freewebs.com/horazio/freeware.htm – Pazuru Alfabet is a learning tool that helps to recognize kanas.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/jgrammar/…s/tradkan0.htm – Converts between Chinese and Japanese kanjis, old and new varieties.
http://homepage3.nifty.com/jgrammar/…s/readkan0.htm – kaňon (漢音), goon (呉音), MSC and Hanja pronunciations output
http://homepage3.nifty.com/jgrammar/…s/zen2hanz.htm – Converts between fullwidth and halfwidth forms.
http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/jwpce.html – Japanese word processor, with a built-in IME for kana input and kanji conversion. Also supports dictionaries.
http://ajaxime.chasen.org/ – Online Web-based Japanese Input Method
http://japan.adventuresoftim.com/flash.asp – vocabulary flash cards
http://www.tagaini.net/ – Tagaini Jisho is a free, open-source Japanese dictionary and kanji lookup tool.
http://www.byki.com/ – a flashcard style system, the tool contains set lists of basic phrases for certain situations
http://nihongoup.com/ – Japanese educational game and reviewing tool (kana, JLPT kanji, vocabulary and particles)
About Japanese:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language – Wikipedia’s general account of the Japanese language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_verb_conjugations – Comprehensive tables for Japanese verb conjugations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology – Basic topics of Japanese phonology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_grammar – An account of Japanese grammar with emphasis on morphology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_particle – particles galore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics – Japanese honorifics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanes…ntracted_words – Japanese abbreviated and contracted words
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_sound_symbolism – Japanese sound symbolism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanes…raphic_symbols – typographic symbols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation – punctuation marks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_…poken_Japanese – gender differences in Japanese
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_counter_word – list of Japanese counters and phonological alterations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_verb – conjugation paradigms of verbs and adjectives
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kambun – Kambun is the traditional conventions for translating Classical Chinese texts.
http://users.tmok.com/~tumble/qadgtj.html – Titled “A quick and dirty guide to Japanese”.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/kanaqadgtj.html – The quick and dirty guide to Japanese. (kana version)
http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/ – Blog, lessons and method of learning Japanese
http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Ewey…nime/japanese/ – tips for common but difficult expressions
http://www.kanji.org/kanji/japanese/writing/outline.htm – Outline of the Japanese Writing System
http://kimallen.sheepdogdesign.net/Japanese/index.html – fundamental differences of Japanese from European languages
http://www.classical-japanese.net/ – Translations and grammar for Classical Japanese
http://nihon5ch.net/contents/ch5/dai…08-3-part2.pdf – list of transitive and intransitive verb pairs: PDF file
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/conditional.html – concise article on Japanese conditionals
http://www.cic.sfu.ca/tqj/GettingRig…conundrum.html – an essay on different systems for Latin transcription
http://homepage3.nifty.com/park/aspect.htm – A Study of “V-te iru” in Japanese by Taeko Tomioka
Links:
http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/m.rowley/resources.html – Melita Rowley’s Japanese learning resources.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/japanese.html – Once again Jim Breen’s. This time his Japanese related web page. Ugly, but every link in that page is worth gold.
Corpora:
http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/ – searchable record of proceedings of the Diet
http://teikokugikai-i.ndl.go.jp/ – searchable record of proceedings of the Imperial Parliament
J-Slang 10: Donbiki
Today’s J-Slang is…
ドン引き
donbiki = to creep people out, to make people feel awkward or turned off
彼が痴漢で逮捕されたんだって。どんびきだよね。
kare ga chikan de taihou saretan datte. donbiki da yo ne.
They say he was arrested for molesting women. That’s so creepy. (It leaves me cold)
Donbiki is a phrase that refers to when people get creeped out or turned off by something. It’s used when something happens or someone says something that makes people feel uncomfortable and don’t know how to react.
彼が寒い冗談を言ったら皆がドン引きされていた。
kare ga samui joudan wo ittara mina ga donbiki sareteita.
When he told that terrible joke everyone was left cold.
Fun Friday: Japanese Language Proficiency Test
Subscribe to this podcast via iTunes
Today, Karamoon and myself sat around in Yoyogi park watching Japan enjoy it’s Friday afternoon. Karamoon explained the latest developments as well as the basics of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Listen to the podcast to find out more about the test.
Learn Japanese Pod is 4 Years Old!
Learn Japanese Pod is four years old! Happy birthday to us! Four years, three apartments, two mac books and one relationship later, here we are still making podcasts for all you eager students of Japanese. I had no idea LJP would become such a great place to meet people interested Japanese and Japan. We’ve made some great friends and had a great deal of fun along the way.
Learn Japanese Pod started out under the vaguest and most pathetic of plans: “I guess I’ll just do it for a laugh”. So here’s to vague and pathetic plans. And here’s to all of you who listened to the podcast and supported it. Without your help, support, comments and general correspondences LJP would only be a mere shadow of itself and not the gargantuan, green, Tokyo skyscraper munching monster it has become.
As we are on the thankyous, a huge thank you to:
Beb: She made the podcast possible. Let’s face it, you only listen because of her don’t you?
Waka sensei: She spent countless hours recording podcasts, checking the show notes were OK and generally being cute.
Karamoon: He was the tech guy and ideas man for us. On one occassion he single-handedly saved the forums from digital oblivion.
Daniel and Yuki: They’re a cute couple. Daniel has been our audio engineer and Yuki has appeared on various shows teaching us Japanese.
You: yes YOU! Not you! YOU! Another huge shout out to all of you who listened to the show and are interested in Japanese culture.
This list is endless but for those of you who haven’t been mentioned you know who you are. Thank you, thank you, thank you and that’s three thank yous!
Here’s to another four years.
Japanese Vocabulary list #1 Food and Flavor
School vocabulary always seemed rather limited to survival words. I have tried to create a list around a general theme each week to study to keep building on the words I know. I will be posting my vocabulary lists regularly, though they are a little behind my regular study.
たべもの food 食べ物 ：
におい smell 匂い
あじ taste / flavor 味
すっぱい sour
にがい bitter 苦い
からい spicy 辛い
しょっぱい salty
おいしい tasty / yummy 美味しい
まずい disgusting 不味い
にく meat 肉
うし beef 牛
ぶた pork 豚
にわとり chicken 鶏
さかな fish 魚
たまご eggs 卵
ぎゅうにゅう milk 牛乳
やさい vegetables 野菜
くだもの fruit 果物
まめ beans 豆
こめ rice 米
しお salt 塩
しょうゆ soy sauce
さとう sugar 砂糖
キャベシ cabbage
ブター butter
Japan Website Links
Here is a list of useful websites and resources for Japan and learning Japanese. We have chosen sites that we frequently visit and use.
Podcasts For Learning Japanese
Here is a list of podcasts to help you learn Japanese in no particular order.
This is perhaps the most popular and professionally recorded podcast for learning Japanese. There is free and premium audio and video content which included lesson notes and other learning materials.
Japancast.net
http://japancast.net/
Our competitors! A good homegrown podcast done by Paul and Hitomi Griswold. They regularly update their site and have plenty of content for you get your teeth into. Nice format and examples of Japanese from everyday life conversations and anime. Well worth listening to.
Osaka dialect 大阪弁 Japanese lesson in English
http://mayumik.seesaa.net/
I enjoy listening to this podcast as I used to live in Osaka and I can get my fix of the Kansai dialect. The format is simple but effective. You can read the entire transcript of the podcast in Japanese with an English translation. A very good learning resource for learning real Japanese in context.
S-J-P Study Japanese Podcast
http://sjp.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/
From what I’ve heard so far it is hosted by native Japanese with no silly gaijin to mess things up. Minimal English so it’s quite a good immersion into Japanese. Perhaps good for low intermediate and above. Unfortunately they haven’t updated their website recently.
The Linguist on Language
http://thelinguist.blogs.com/how_to_learn_english_and/japanese_podcast/
Not exactly a podcast but you can see Steve Kauffman’s youtube videos explaining how to learn languages all in Japanese. Check out his blog http://thelinguist.blogs.com/ which is concerned on general language learning. Steve’s bio is here: http://thelinguist.blogs.com/about.html Steve Kauffman is the brains behind Japanese LingQ. Steve Kauffman is like El Gringo, a well traveled linguist but with suits.
Japanese LingQ
http://www.japaneselingq.com/
Podacsts are 100% ( from what I’ve heard so far) Japanese so good for total immersion if you are of an intermediate level. You have to sign up if you want to read the transcripts. It has some “revolutionary learning system” a rather questionable phrase in my humble estimation however it’s worth checking out.
Survival Phrases – Japanese
http://survivalphrases.com/japanese/guest.php
Very professional – annoyingly so. It’s so produced and corporate that it sounds like a commercial. Waaay too much English. But maybe good for complete beginners in Japanese.
Nippon Voice Blog
http://www.voiceblog.jp/nippon/
Hmm…Super zannen. I opened the page to find some long transcripts about Japanese culture. Great for reading and vocabulary BUT none of the mp3s were working. That’s probably something to do with the fact that the last entry was back in 2006.
J-Slang 06: Usankusai
Today’s J-Slang is…
うさんくさい
usankusai = Suspicious, shady, dodgy
あの人の言うことうさんくさいよね
ano hito no yuu koto usankusai yo ne = The things he says are suspicious (I don’t trust what he says)
Buyer beware. I once had the misfortune to go drinking with an acquaintance who tried to hoodwink me into investing in a pyramid scheme. Lots of money for no work? Yes it was too good to be true. I was a little offened that he thought I would be so stupid as to fall for this. So I said to him お前の言うことうさんくさいよ /omae no yuu koto usankusai yo / What you’re saying is suspicious. Or in more natural English “Dude, do I have the word sucker pasted on my forehead”?
The New Learn Japanese Pod Logo?
I wish I could have drawn this but I have two left hands. Luckily I am surrounded by some very creative and artistic types who help out. This logo was made by the talented bboykrilin a.k.a Paul Hunter, a UK based web designer, artist and illustrator.
I think he’s pretty much captured the feeling of Learn Japanese Pod here with the slightly bemused Gozilla, the ipod and the JLP dedicated bike(?) bag.
So a huge shout out to bboykrilin and his awesome sketch. I love it.
Maybe it is T shirt making time.
#94 Maji de
In this week’s show, Waka sensei taught us a really useful phrase you hear a lot these days which is まじmaji. It comes from まじめ-majime which means serious. Remember that this is very casual Japanese and should only be used between friends. It’s not very suitable for work. In a more formal situation you might use 本当に – hontou ni which means “really” or “very”. Check out the show notes below or download the PDF to see how まじ is used.
Show notes for lesson#94：まじで
まじで- maji de – Seriously/Very
1.
A: 明日仕事やめるよ。
B: まじで？
A: Ashita shigoto yameru yo
B: Maji de?
A: I’m quitting work tomorrow
B: Really? (Seriously?)
2.
A:彼はどう？
B: まじむかつく
A: Kare wa dou?
B: Maji mukatsuku
A: What’s he like?
B: Really annoying
3.
A:このケーキはどう？
B: まじやばい
A: Kono keeki wa dou?
B: Maji yabai
A: How’s this cake?
B: It’s seriously delicious
Random Phrase of the week
明日は皆既日食なんだって
ashita wa kaikinisshoku nan datte
They say there’s a total solar eclipse tomorrow
Learn Japanese Pod, ©Alex Brooke, 2009
Fun Friday for 3rd July 2009
We kicked off this week’s Fun Friday with some awesome rap from Kenjiman. Check out his Myspace page for some excellent tunes and incredible rapping from Tokyo. (If you are a band in Japan, please contact us at info(at)learnjapanesepod(dot)com if you would like your music to be considered for our podcast)
The festival season was today’s theme which is starting in Japan. Waka sensei and myself will be checking out as many summer events as we can in Japan and reporting you about it stay tuned. Check out our festival calendars for Kanto and Kansai to find some great events to attend.
We also talked about the latest Eco convenience store located in Kyoto which doesn’t sell plastic bottles or provide plastic shopping bags for customers. It’s the first of its kind in Japan and we will be waiting to see if the idea spreads. Waka sensei suggested that plastic manufacturers had try to protect the “pet bottle” in Japan which is why this idea hadn’t taken off sooner. I suggested that plastic bottle making ninjas would soon put a stop to this. Waka sensei didn’t agree…
A big shout out to Dennis for sending this photo of an ad to ask people to smoke more responsibly.
The interesting thing is, in the UK you have posters telling you to quit smoking whereas in Japan they tell you how to be a good smoker. And being good is not disturbing those around you. The tide is slowly turning in Japan as more and more public areas are designated as smoke free areas. I’m not sure what will happen when they take the last cigarette away from the hassled and stressed salaryman. Japan could have a revolt on their hands.
Again thanks to Dennis for the picture. Please send us your own Japan related pictures, comments, questions and suggestions to info(at)learnjapanesepod(dot)com or alternatively leave a comment at the end of this post. DOMO!
#93 Mendokusai
In today’s lesson, Waka sensei told us how to say “it’s a hassle” in Japanese which is “めんどくさい” or Mendokusai. We also got a very interesting email from Kaori, a student of English who listens to Learn Japanese Pod. She told us that she in fact listens to the podcast to study English. Apparently she is not the only non native English speaker who is listening to this podcast to learn English. I’m hoping we can attract more Japanese people to the site so we can start some language exchanges on the Forums.Check out this letter from Kaori san,
Show notes for lesson#93:面倒くさい
1.
A: 宿題した？
B: 面倒くさいから、明日やるよ。
A: Shukudai shita ?
B: Mendokusai kara, ashita yaru yo
A: Did you do your homework ?
B: It’s a hassle so I’ll do it tomorrow
2.
A:部屋を掃除しなさい。
B: 面倒くさい。後でもいい？
A:今やりなさい！
B:は〜い。
A: Heya wo souji shinasai
B: Mendokusai. Ato demo ii ?
A: Ima yarinasai
B: Ha~i
A: Clean your room
B: It’s a hassle. Can I do it later?
A: Do it now!
B: Ok
QUIZ
How do you say :
1. It’s a hassle
2. Clean your room
3. It’s a hassle so I’ll do it tomorrow
Quiz Answers:
1. mendokusai!
2. Heya wo souji shinasai!
3. Mendokusai kara ashita yaru yo
Random Phrase of the week
焼きもち焼いてんの？
Yakimocho yaiten no?
You’re jealous aren’t you
Learn Japanese Pod, ©Alex Brooke, 2009
J-Slang 02: Do Wasure
Today’s J-Slang is…
ど忘れ
DO WASURE
I completely forgot
今日会議だった、ど忘れしてた
Kyou kaigi datta, dowasure shiteta
Today there was a meeting, I completely forgot
Of course DOWASURE is a very casual way to say you completely forgot something. In more polite Japanese you would say “wasurete shimatta” or ” wasurete shimaimashita” which is even more polite.
Fun Friday for 26th June 2009
Holy okonomiyaki, it’s Fun Friday podcasting at you from a humid Shibuya with me Alex and the lovely Waka sensei. If you don’t know what Fun Friday is, it’s a podcast with music, chat, news and other general hilarity from Japan.
In this week’s show we covered quite a few topics including the weather, haiku, the economy and a story about a crazy guy who has been stealing garden ornaments. The poor man said he stole the ornaments, took them home and then he talked to them as he was lonely. Maybe not as original as most traveling gnome pranks but more bizarrely entertaining. (Original article here)
The featured bands in this week’s show were Natccu, a talented singer song writer who will be touring the UK soon. Check here site for details.
At the end of the show we played some Yugo Sato, a unique blues guitarist and singer from Tokyo. Yugo Sato was introduced to me by my good friend Ethan Green, creator of Tokyo Werewolf, a website that covers the underground music scene in Japan. Someone give this talented man a job.
We also talked about the latest goings on at Learn Japanese Pod which involve tidying up the site and a new set of articles and lessons which will be posted on the main site. Here’s what it looks like:
Monday – J-Slang
Weekly lessons on slang and the street Japanese you usually don’t find in text books
Tuesday – Main Lesson
As always we will be bringing you the main podcast lesson on Tuesdays
Wednesday -Kanji
We are thinking of doing some sort of weekly kanji lesson. Still thinking about the details but that should be coming up in the next week or so
Thursday – Japan guide
We will try to post some kind of travel guide and reviews at least twice a month for those interested in exploring Japan
Friday – Fun Friday
Of course. Did we really need to tell you that?
If you have any questions or comments either leave a comment at the bottom of this post or send us an email at info[at]learnjapanesepod[dot]com
J-Slang 01: Bakappuru
Welcome to J-Slang, a new weekly article teaching street Japanese to amaze and terrify your Japanese friends. We will be posting these every Monday with a new phrase which is usually funny and regularly used by Japanese people. As the title suggests this is slang so it may be wise to not use these phrases in a formal settings when trying to be polite. We hope this will amuse, not offend and inspire you to learn some more Japanese.
So here’s the first phrase:
バカップル
bakappuru – A stupid couple
あの二人、バカップルだね
ano futari bakappru da ne – Those two are a stupid couple aren’t they?
This phrase is taken from the words “BAKA” which means stupid and “KAPPURU” which is an imported word from English meaning couple.
Incidentally, the kanji for BAKA is 馬鹿 which is comprised of the kanji for horse 馬 and deer 鹿.
#91 Yori
In today’s lesson Waka sensei teaches us how to use the word 「より」yori which means “more than”. We will deal with other uses of より in a future podcast.
よりdoes have a few other uses. For example, when finishing a letter and you want to write “from Alex” you would write 「アレックスより」Alex yori. There are one or two other exotic uses but I’ll leave that to a future podcast. If you have any questions or ideas, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post. Your feedback is always very welcome.
Although totally unrelated to today’s grammar point, we also talked a little about Okinawa town which you can find in Saszuka in western Tokyo. It’s an awesome little street with some delicious Okinawan restaurants and supermarkets stocking specialty produce. Enjoy!
Show notes for lesson#91: Yori – More than
Today’s target grammar – より
A より B はいい
A yori B wa ii
A is better than B
Example sentences
1. インドは日本より大きい
indo wa nihon yori ookii
India is bigger than Japan
2. MatrixはStar Warsより面白い
Matrix wa Star Wars yori omoshiroi
Matrix is more interesting than Star Wars
3. 彼は昔より背が高い
kare wa mukashi yori segatakai
He is taller than before
4. 思ったよりテストが難しかった
omotta yori tesuto ga musukashikatta
The test was harder than I thought ( it would be )
5. より効果的な勉強方法を探す
yori koukatekina benkyou houhou wo sagasu
Conversations
1.
A: 日本とインド、どっちが大きい？
B: インドは日本より大きいよ
A: nihon to indo, docchi ga ookii
B: indou wa nihon yori ookii yo
A: Which is bigger, India or Japan?
B: India is bigger than Japan
2.
A: Star Wars 面白いよね
B: そうだね。でけどMatrixはStar Warsより面白いよ。
A: Star Was wa omoshiroi yo ne
B: Sou da ne. dakedo, Matrix wa Star Wars yori omoshiroi yo
A: Star Wars is really interesting isn’t it?
B: Yeah, but Matrix is more interesting than Star Wars
3.
A: 彼は昔より背が高くなったな
B: そうね。
A: kare was mukashi yori sega takakunatta na
B: sou ne. gasshiri shiteru shi
A: He’s taller than before
B: Yeah, that’s right
4.
A: テストどうだった？
B: 思ったより難しかった
A: Tesuto dou data?
B: omotta yori musukashikatta
A: How was the test?
B: Harder than I thought
5.
A: 先生、最近の成績がだめなんです。
B: じゃ、より効果的な勉強方法を探しましょう。
A: sensei, seiseki ga dame nan desu
B: ja, yori koukatekina benkyou houhou wo sagashimashou
A: (Teacher), my test results are no good
B: Well, let’s find a more effective method of study then
Quiz
How would you say in Japanese:
1) China is bigger than New Zealand
2) “Kung Fu Panda” is more interesting than “Shrek”
3) He is fatter than before
4) The lesson was harder than I thought
Answers on the next page
5
Answers
1) 中国はニュージーランドより大きい
2) Kung Fu Pandaは Shrekより面白い
3) 彼は昔より太った
4) 思ったよりレッスンは難しかった
Random phrase of the week
穴があれば入りたい
ana ga areba hairitai
I’m so embarrassed (lit. if there is a hole I want to go into it)
Learn Japanese Pod, ©Alex Brooke, 2009
Japanese Gestures 01 with Beb
In this video, Beb teaches us some interesting gestures in Japanese. Can you guess what they mean? Answers are at the end of the video
#89 to be in time
In this week’s podcast, Waka sensei teaches us how to use the phrase 間に合う/ ma ni au / to be in time. The easiest example of this would be "電車に間に合った” densha ni ma ni atta – I was on time for the train or I made it in time for the train. This is a really useful phrase that I hear all the time.
However I was interested to learn that this in fact has another meaning I had never heard of before which means to "be enough". For example, "お金は間に合ってる” okane wa ma ni atteru – I have enough money. This isn’t quite as common as the first usage but it is used. Enjoy the podcast.
#89 Show notes
Listen to this show
PDF Show notes
<p align=”center”>Show notes for lesson#89: Mani au / to be in time for / to be enough</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Conversations<br />
1. <br />
A: 終電間に合う？ <br />
B: うん、間に合うよ。 </p>
<p>A: Shuden ma ni au?<br />
B: Un, ma ni au yo </p>
<p>A: Will you be in time for the last train?<br />
B: Yeah, I can make it.</p>
<p>2.<br />
A: レポートの締め切り間に合った？ <br />
B: ぎりぎり間に合った。 </p>
<p>A: repooto no shimekiri maniatta?<br />
B: giri giri ma ni atta.</p>
<p>A: Did you finish your report on time?<br />
B: I just finished it in time.</p>
<br clear=”all” />
<p>3.<br />
A: あ、しまった！ <br />
B: どうした？ <br />
A: 申し込みの締め切り間に合わなかった。 </p>
<p> </p>
<p>A: ah, shimatta!<br />
B: doushita?<br />
A: moushikomi no shimekiri mani awanakatta.</p>
<p>A: Oh damn!<br />
B: What happened?<br />
A: I missed the application deadline.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>4.</p>
<p>A: お金足りてる？ <br />
B: 今のとこ間に合ってる。 </p>
<p>A: Okane tariteru?<br />
B: Ima no took ma ni atteru.</p>
<p>A: Do you have enough money?<br />
B: I’ve got enough for now</p>
<p> </p>
<p>5.</p>
<p>A: 日本ではマスクに生産が間に合わなくて、在庫がないんだって。 <br />
B: じゃ家からでないよ。 </p>
<p>A: Nihon dewa masuku no seisan ga tarinakute, zaiko ga nain datte<br />
B: Ja, ie kara denai yo</p>
<p>A: In Japan, they can’t produce enough masks and they say there aren’t any left<br />
B: Right, I’m not leaving the house.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Random phrase of the week</strong><br />
日本では新型インフルエンザの感染者が３００人を超えました。 </p>
<p>Nihon dewa shingata infuruenza no kansensha ga sanbyakunin wo koemashita.</p>
<p> In Japan, there are more than 300 people who have contracted swine flu. </p>
<p> </p>
<p align=”center”>Learn Japanese Pod, ©Alex Brooke, 2009</p>
#10 Show notes
LESSON #10: Miyazaki Dialect
Various ways to say ‘how are you ?’
a) 元気 に しちょっち？
Genki ni shichocchi ? OR
b) 元気 に しちょる？
Genki ni shichoru ? OR
c) 元気 やじ？
Genki yaji
Long time no see
a) 最近 全然 見ちょらんけん どんげん しちょっと？
Saikin zenzen michoranken dongen shichotto ?
Recently not at all not seen but what happened ?
(I haven’t seen you in a while, what happened/how’ve you been ?
(standard dialect)
最近 全然 見てない けど どうしてるの？
Saikin zenzen mitenai kedo doushiteruno ?
b) あ、 元気 に しちょるよ
a genki ni shichoruyo
Oh, fine
KOSEN or DESHOU (isn’t it)
a) 今日 てげ さみ こせん？
kyou tege sami kosen?
Today very cold isn’t it ?
(It’s very hot today isn’t it ?)
b) さみ ね
sami ne
cold isn’t it
(Yeah, it is isn’t it)
Dialog 2
a) 昨日 宮崎 おった こせん？
Kinou miyazaki otta kosen?
Yesterday Miyazaki in weren’t (you)?
Weren’t you in Miyazaki yesterday ?
And a possible reply could be “Otta yo” = yes I was there or “iie, inai” which
would meant that you were not in Miyazaki.
ENDINGS OF VERBS
Verbs sometimes end in CHAWA or CHAGA. For example;
“I went drinking” would be: のんじょった ちゃわ
Nonjotta chawa
Or のんじょった ちゃが
Nonjotta chaga
“I went” いちょった
Ichotta
DIALOG 3
a） ええ、はるか 今度 の 日曜日 なんしょっと？
Ee Haruka kondo no nichiyoubi nanshotto?
Erm Haruka, this of Sunday how ?
(Erm, what are you doing this Sunday ?)
b） え？ なんでや？
E? nandeya?
Eh? Why ?
a) やあ、 時間 があったら 青島 のほう まで
yaa jikan ga attara Aoshima nohou made
Well time have Aoshima direction of to
ドライブ でも いいやろうか と 思ってよ
doraibu demo iiyarouka to omotteyo
drive but is it good think
(Well I was thinking of driving to Aoshima)
b） ああ、 うん 行く 行く！
Aa un iku iku
Ah, yes go go
(Yeah, I’ll go)
© Alex Brooke, Learn Japanese pod 2008
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