Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Script -

an introduction to reading and writing Japanese

.....

150& .1011

F1

BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT Helen Gilhooly Do you want to leam the basics of reading and writing Japane .. and understand how the script works? Are you planning a trip to Japan or thinking about learning the language? If so, Teach Your 1f Seglnne,'. Japan Script I. for youl In this book, Helen Gilhooly has written a step-by-step introduction to reading and writing simple Japanese. She guides you through the basic techniques and teaches you how to build your skills, with tips and practice suggestions to help you memorize what you are learning and make it enjoyable along the way. Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Script features: the origins of the language a systematic approach to mastering the script lots of -hands on" exercises and activities practical examples from real-life situations

Other titles from Teach Yourself by Helen Gilhooly Beginner's Japsnese (book) Beginner's Japsnese (book/cassette pack)

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First published in UK 1999 by Hodder Headline Pic, 338 Euston Road, London, NWI 3BH.

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Copyright C 1999 Helen Gilhooly

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Impn:ssion number y=

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CONTENTS

Introduction v

Unit 1 11I-~ 1 Linking kanji to pictures (I) 2 How to read the days of the week 5 Writing Practice (1) 7

Unit 2 11I=~ 11 Linking kanj i to pictures (2) 12 Reading dates and calendars 16 Writing Practice (2) 23 Test ( I) 27

Unit 3 11I=~ 28 Numbers 1- 10 28 Numbers 11- 99 31 Numbers 100- 10,000+ 32 Japanese moncy amounts 34 Writing Practice (3) 38

Unit 4 11I1!!1~ 42 Action word kanji (verbs) 42 Reading sentences 49 Writing Practice (4) 53 Test (2) 57

Unit 5 l1Ili~ 58 Reading and writing hiragana 60 Simple hiragana rules 66, 67,69 Reading sentences in Japanese 71

I

,. BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

Unit 6 i1l*_ 73 Remembering kanji through stories 76 Building up kanj i 78 Writing Practice (5) 83 Test (3) 85

Unit 7 _-t;. 87 Locating the radical 92 Linking components with readings 94 Using kanji dictionaries 96 Writing Practice (6) 98

Unit 8 _A. 103 Recognising shop and place s igns 105 Everyday s igns and information II I Map of Japan 11 5 Reading authentic signs 11 8

Unit 9 _11.. 125 Reading and writing katakana 127 Simple kalakana rules 130, 135 Extra katakana sounds 136 Reading authentic katakana information 143

Unit 10 -+. 148 Simple grammar rules for reading 149 Reading and writing letters 164 Japanese haiku (short poems) 171 Key to the exercises 175 Index (1) Japanese-English 180 Index (2) English-Japanese 191

INTRODUCTION

The Japanese language presented such difficulties to sixteenth century European missionaries that they called it the Devif's tongue. In actual fact. there arc many features of the Japanese language which make it relatively strai ghtforward to learn. The grammar, for example, follows logical rules and is very regular. It is the reading and writing of Japanese which offers the greatest challenge to the learner. This book will make the reading and writing of Japanese accessible to you through a step-by-step approach which will help you to gradually build up your knowledge of Japanese script. The aim of this book is to show you that written Japanese can be interesting, challenging and also fun to learn. In the Japanese education system, the learning of Japanese script is spread throughout the nine years of compulsory education . By the end of this period, the Japanese student will have 'learnt 1942 kanji (Chinese characters). This is the basic number prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education as essential for reading texts such as newspapers thoroughly. There are many more kanji (over 5000 in many kanji dictionaries) which are used for more specialised vocabulary and texts. Although 1942 kanji sounds like a large amount, it is worth making the comparison with English where, although we learn the alphabet relatively quickly, learning and understanding the meaning of vocabulary and different types of texts takes a very long time.

A brief history The Japanese writing system was introduced into Japan by the Chinese around the middle of the 6th century AD. The Chinese language is very different to Japanese in structure and so the writing system was gradually adapted to fit the structure of the Japanese language. There are now three

BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

scripts which make up the Japanese writing system (four if you include roma]; or roman script, ie. alphabet). Let 's look at each of these in turn.

Kanji 1I* Kan is an ancient word meaning 'Chinese' and] i means ' letter' or 'character', hence kanji is translated as 'Chinese characters' . This was the script which was invented by the Chinesc and introduced to Japan. Kanji are ideographs; this means that the whole character conveys a meaning or idea (whereas in the roman alphabet system, letters are grouped together to make words). For example a is the kanji for sun . Kanji were originally drawn from pictures of nature and gradually developed into the standardised kanji used today. For example a sun developed like this:

-,~~): ~

You will learn more about this in unit I. There is usually more than one pronunciation for a kanji character. There are two types of pronunciation known as onyomi (Chinese reading) and kunyomi (Japanese reading). You wi ll learn morc about this in unit 2.

Kana fJ,t.;, The two other scripts in the Japanese writing system are called hiragana and katakana and are known collectively as kana. They are phonetic alphabets or syllabaries which means that each symbol represents one sound only. This differs from the roman alphabet system where letters are grouped into sounds and where the same letter can be pronounced in differcnt ways depending on its grouping (eg: a in rat, rate, far and fare). The difference between the Japanese phonetic system and the alphabet system can be shown through an example:

In English the word house is made up of five letters: H-O-U-S-E. In Japanese the word for house (uchi) is made up of two sounds

U-CHI. These sounds are represented by two hiragana symbols: .; I? The hiragana and katakana scripts represent the same set of 46 basic sounds but the symbols are written differently and the two scripts are used for different purposes as described in the fo llowing section.

INTRODUGION

Hiragana D G tJVJ. The word hiragana means rounded/easy to use and indicates both the shape and the relative simplicity of the script. Each symbol was developed from simplified kanji with the same pronunciation. For ex.ample, the hiragana symbol tJ\ ( ka) is a simp,lifi ed version of the kanji 1m (pronounced ka). The left side remains very similar in the hiragana symbol, the right side ' box ' has been reduced to a slanting line. Hiragana is used to write the grammatical parts of words and sentences and to write Japanese words which don' t have a kanji. For example, when writing verbs (action words) the kanji is used to express the main idea or meani ng and hiragana is used to indicate the function of the verb:

I listen is written: Pfl ~ i t The kanji IIH conveys the meaning listen; ~ i -t are three hiragana wh ich show that the action is present tense I listen.

I listened is written: M ~ i l- t.; The same kanji lit) conveys the meaning listen. The four hiragana show that it is a past action: I listened. You will learn more about this in units 5 and 10. Japanese children learn hiragana first and then gradually replace words and parts of words with kanji as they progress. Hiragana is also used to indicate how to pronounce a kanji when it is first learnt or if it is unusual. When used in this way, it is called furigana and is written beside or above the kanji .

Katakana :b 'Y :b 'T The kata of katakana means partial and this is because each katakana symbol was developed from part of a kanji with the same pronunciation. For example, the katakana symbol I.J (ka), comes from 1he left side of the kanji :bn (pronounced 'ka') . (In this example, the same kanji is the root of both the hiragana and katakana symbol; this isn't always the case.) The katakana script represents the same set of sounds as hiragana but the symbols are written differently and are used for different purposes. In overall appearance, hiragana symbols are rounded in shape and katakana symbols are more angular. This wi ll become more apparent once you have worked through units 5 and 9.

viii BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

Katakana has a number of uses. Firstly, it is used for writing non-Japanese words which have been introduced into the language. These fa ll inlo two categories:

1) Loan words For example, ?;:t - 'I "?' Y (wokuman) means walkman; T v 1::' (terebi) means teievi!,ion.

2) Foreign names For example, countries, cities and personal names: 7 ;J. ~ :IJ (amerika) = America; ... ~ ~ (pan) = Paris; ;t.. ~ ;t.. (sumisu) = Smith.

There are also two categories in whi ch katakana is used for writing Japanese words: 3) To make words stand out Katakana makes words stand out in a similar way to writing a word in bold, ital ics or capitals. II is used increasingly in advert ising (to make the product stand out), for slang words and exclamations, for pop group names and in headlines. Examples include: ,.. :3 7 (Toyota) and r~ 1- Y ::z (Pachinko - the Japanese pinball game).

4) The classification of plants and animals

About this book The 10 units which make up this book wil l gradua lly increase your knowledge of written Japanese. Units 1 to 4 introduce mainly kanji which developed from pictures of nature. About 3% of kanji fa ll into this category but, as you will learn, they are also used as components of more complex kanji . Units 4 and 6 to 8 will teach you how to decipher these more complex kanj i giving you the tools to take your study further on completion of this book. There are plenty of hints to aid your learning and you will learn to build stories to remember the meanings of the kanji. Units 8 and 10 give you the chance to put your learning into practice. Unit 8 introduces you to a number of practical kanji words such as signs, notices and warni ngs of the kind you would see all around you in Japan. Unit 10 introduces a number of reading passages and helps you to decipher them and extract their meaning. You will also encounter different styles of printed and handwritten text. Two of the units are devoted to teaching the two phonetic scripts; hiragana (unit 5) and katakana (unit 9). There are lots of practice activities and

INTRODUCTION

ideas to help you learn and remember these two scripts . You can leave these units out and come back to them later if you wish to concentrate only on kanji , but if you take your study of Japanese fu rther, then a knowledge of these scripts is essential. There are sections throughout the book which concentrate on the teaching of written Japanese. Again, you may wish to leave these out and concentrate on reading only.

Pacing yourself Remember that it is YOU who sets the pace - keep enjoyment of,

learning at the top of your agenda! Find a balance between moving through the book and revi sing what

you have learnt. Don't expect to remember everything (even Japanese people forget kanji!) and use the indexes at the back where possible to find words you have forgotten.

Build up a set of small flashcards with kanji on one side and English on the other to test yourself from time to time, Start your own dictionary too; use a notebook to write down new words.

Acknowledgements Thank you to everyone who has advised me on the writing of this book, In particular, to Masae Sugahara and Miyuki Nagai of the School of East Asian Studies, Sheffield University - Masae for the calligraphy and for reading and commenting on the text, Miyuki for the artwork and ideas for mnemonics; to Niamh Kelly of the Japanese Department, Dublin City University for reading the text and makingJots of useful suggestions; Mavis Pilbeam of the Japanese Department of the British Museum for her thorough and very helpful proof-reading; Robert Gilhooly for provid-ing the photographs; my students ( including Margaret Teasdale) for being 'gui nea pigs' ; Sue Hart and Carolyn Taylor at Hodder and Stoughton; and John Rogers for doing all the' cooking! The publishers and author would like to thank the following for the use of material in this book: Kyoto Newspaper Company and Nobuko Kogawa (29/10/98) and Kinako Matsumoto, Seikyo Newspaper (14/9192).

x BEGINNER'S WANESE SCRIPT

About the author Helen Gilhooly has lived and worked in Japan and has extensive experience of teaching Japanese and writing teaching materials at secondary school and adult level. She has an MA and a PGCE in Japanese and has been the Co-ordinator of Japanese for Derbyshire County and Derby City Councils. She is also a teacher trainer of Japanese at Nottingham University. Previous publications include Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese (Hodder and Stoughton).

1 . - ill Dai ikka UNIT 1

Ii V 3b1: (hajime nil Introduction In the introduction to this book you learnt about the history and development of the Japanese writing system and about the three different scripts or writing forms: () f.; tJ{ 1" (hiragana), 11 7 iJ t- (katakana), and ~* (kanji). The focus of Units 1- 4 is going to be on ~* (kanji) and by the end of these four units you will have learnt to recognise 58

~* (kanji) characters and also to understand the meanings of words made up from combinations of these. il*" (knnji) characters are ideographs. This means that each character represents a whole object or idea. For example: a is the il.* (kanji) symbol for sun JJ is the il"'i= (knnji) symbol for moon As you learnt in the introduction, ~* (kanji) were written originally as pictures of the world which the ancient Chinese saw around them. These pictures were gradually, over time, standardised into regular shapes with rules about how to write them correctly. However, the pictures which each m~ (kanji) developed from can be very useful in helping you to remember the meanings. Look at these developments:

a (sun) developed something like this:

-,~~j: ~ , , '

As well as sun it also has the meaning day. These two concepts are connected because the rising and setting of the sun defines a day.

J.I (moon) developed something like this:

~ ~ E ~)j~Fl

2 BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

As well as moon it also has the meaning month. These two concepts are connected because the length of a month (28 days) is measured by the progress of each new moon. You can see from these two examples that Ii*" (kanji) do not necessarily have only one meaning but can represent a number of associated ideas.

W'CA,\?~* l,., J;? (yonde mimasho) Let's have a go at reading! The aim of this section is to give you the opportunity to work out for yourself the meanings of~* (kanjI) by linking them to pictures of the objects they represent. The ~* (kanji) you will start with all have meanings linked to nature and the world which surrounded the ancient Chinese. To carry oul this activity, look at pictures 1- 12 below and then see if you can link them to the l1l'i*" (kanji) a- I at the top of the opposite page. Try to match the shape of the pictures to the ~~ (kanji) characters. 111{ A-li'"? -C (ganbatte) - good luck!

1) 2)

gold tree wood forest

5) 6) 7) 8)

~ ) / ' "-/'

"-

mountain stone 6,. water

9) 10) 12)

bamboo ground nver rice field

UNIT 1

il* (kanj') .) III b) )II g) ;+; h) "*

d) EO j) *

e)tt k)

f) 1< I) 15

3

Check your answers at the back of the book then look again at the pictures and see if you can envisage how the pictures became the standardised il (kanji) which are used today.

JWJIIt- (kaisetsu - ichi) Explanation 1 Look at the following artist's impression of the sequence o f progressive changes, from standardised 1l~ (kanjI) character back to original picture. ifi* (kanji) ~ (e) ~1Ili (eigo) C haracter Picture English

u., ... cL~t..lL .... rfh mountain .,

)II ' 'I .... "I -+ /,Ij nver

~ ~ ~ ~ ~.n&L gold/money EO ffi -> ffi ~ -$- rice field

'r'r .... 1t -> 11 .... it bamboo 1< :k. .... 'k ~ *'

fire

* .... :t- .... W tree

;1:1 .... 14- ~~ wood 4 ~!t.. ~~ forest 71


ilYi

UNIT 1 These ~*" (kanji) are also used to represent the first part of the words for the days of the week. a is the first part of Sunday, JJ is the fi rst part of Monday and so forth. Here are some tips to help you remember which

~*- (kanji) represents which day of the week. The first two are easy! a Sun --+ SUNday. j.J Moon --+ MOONday or Monday as it has become in English. *- Fire also represents Tuesday. In English, Tuesday derives from the

word Tiw who was the Norse god of war. If you connect the ideas of war and fi re in your mind then you will remember that FIREday is Tuesday!

71< Water also represents Wednesday - easy to remember because both start with 'W'!

*- Tree also represents Thursday - both start with ' T ' (but do not confuse with Tuesday). ~ Gold/money also represents Friday - Friday is often payday! Earth/soil and Saturday. This is the beginning of the weekend and a

good day for working in the garden!

~ .-W= (renshu - ni) Activity 2 Link the ~*- (kanji) in the left column with the corresponding day of the week in the right.

I) 1


Vou already know a and have learnt that it can mean day. !Ill represents the concept of weekday but simply remember them as together representing the day part of Monday, Tuesday, etc. This is what the complete words for the days of the week look like in i1I!'l' (!wnj

UNIT I

THE MICHEllE GUN ELEPHANT rWORLD PCHYCO BLUES 17 TOUR 'ALL STANDINGf MAXIMUMl ' *J ""/a'IiJ"'} ; .1'*1 ( B) I H,2OCI IIIJOP ENI6 : 00-STARTl8 : ~7JW{t. '",,-t>711-"" ~~."y",,.,

~""!1 :n"~ ;.-'l-~7-. 8?"~""~1I""-~-~-9600 eIMi~y[llowea/~ 2,SOO(7" .f -t>-t~tt't' ~ 2. OOO-~ 2

ot*ItJI/DJ KEN B/l KOVA. ATSUSHt!IlJI


The Japanese use squared paper when they arc learning how to write because it helps to ensure that ~* (kanj i) are all the same size and are balanced correctly. If you can, use large squared graph paper which is subdivided into fou r smaller squares during the initial stages of learning to write. This will help you to balance left and right, and top and bottom of each il* (kanjI). Alternatively you could use graph paper and have four smaller squares making up one larger square. The il (kanji) taught in the earlier units will also have an example written in this type of square so that you can copy exactly from the book. Once you feel confident, you can use clear squares or use smaller squared paper/graph paper for practising and perfecting your technique. Here are some simple rules to get you started and examples to copy. Rule I : Horizontal nt~ (kanji) strokes are written from left to right. i9IJ (rei) Example: three

- -- - -

-

. . ~-.

- -

-

-

Rule 2: Vertical jJ~ (kanji) strokes are written from top to bottom. fJlJ (rei) Example: river

) , 1 t-,---t ) ) , ) I 1 Rule 3 : Where the il~ (kanji) character has an intersecting horizontal and vertical stroke, the starting stroke is usually the horizontal one (but there are some exceptions). i?lJ (rei) Example: earth

--. - t ..t-

Notice you work downwards; the final stroke is the bottom horizontal one.

UNIT 1 9

Rule 4: A lefthand diagonal line is written before a rightband diagonal line.

~J (rei) Example: Iree

* -Jf - t ;t ~ Rule 5: Here is a squ~re ll* (kanji).

,

c1 0 , l 0 , --_ .. _-, , , Rule 6: When the square contains other strokes within it, you fi ll in this part before writing the bottom line of the square.

#1J (rei) Example: sun ,

8 -8 -\ (1 R 3 , You can combine these rules you have learnt to write ;0 (slone):

,

;fj jfu-,

T r- kl D Using these six rules, you have learnt to write the fo llowing ~*" (kanjI) in th is section:

=_JII _.*.a.15 (three, river, earth, tree, sun, stone)


Now see if you can write them on square paper in the correct order from memory (refer back to the rules to check when you have finished). As a fi nal note in this section, although it is important to understand and apply the basic rules for writing jl*" (kanji), there arc some aspects of stroke order which do not fall easi ly into rules and so you also need to learn and practise the stroke order fo r each ~* (kanji) character. Do not be daunted by this, however, because ' practice makes perfect' and i f you write iJ.* (kanji) over and over again and concentrate on the correct stroke order you will begin to deve lop a feel for the order in which they are written. You will a lso begin to develop your own way of remembering and to apply this to writing more complicated ~~ (kanji). In the meantime, you will be given lots of help and advice in the writing sections of this book, and the unit summaries at the back of the book give the stroke order for the main il.*" (kanjI) taught in each unit.

j~~ I: (owari ni) Conclusion This section in each unit will summarise the main aspects of the unit. In addition, Units 2, 4, 6 and 8 contai n a test so that you can evaluate how well you have remembered the il* (kanji) you have learnl up to that point. In this unit you have learnt 14 il~ (kanji), seven compound words (days of the week) and six basic rules for writing if*- (kanji). The following terms and sub-headings have been used in this un it :

m- 1/.I! dai ikka . Unit I (! 1.-' ~ (~ hajime ni Introduction il'1' kanji Kanji (Chinese characters) liit,t,-C"".1I.-J:; yonde mimasho Let's have a go at reading 1W1& kaisetsu Explanation l!I! '&' renshu Activity/practice liit trl!l!'&' yomu renshii Reading practice {i}( l!I!'&' kaku renshii Writing practice jj1J m Example 11 ~ (~ owanm Conclusion The English meanings of these words and phrases wi ll not be given again in future units in order to help you to build up your 11* (kanjI) recognition skills but you can refer back to this list if you need to jog your memory! However, any key words or tenns will be given at the beginning of the unit.

2 . =ilI Dai nika UNIT 2

In this unit you will

add some new ~- to the 14 you have learnt al ready learn the Japanese pronunciation of these nl~ apply your learning to real reading situations learn more about writing Japanese script

Key word : jM* Kanji

Hajime ni I) Can you remember the meanings of the ll~ you were introduced to in Unit 11 You can see them in the following list, so test yourself and check back to Unit I if there are any you are unsure about.

2) Can you remember which ~* represents which day of the week? They arc li s ted below in their full form. Remember it is the first

~* which tells you which day of the week it is. ~~a a~a ~a *~a ~~a *~a ~~a Again, check back to Unit I if you are unsure of any them.

Yonde mimasho In this section , as with Unit 1, you will be introduced to some new I!= thro~~h the pictures of natural objects that they are derived from. Most of the ill!*" introduced in this unit are associated with the human body. Try matching the pictures with the il*" (a- 1) that fo llow them. In two cases

.2 BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

(eye and car/vehicle) you may need to imagine the pictures turned on their side to identity them.

' ) 3) 4)

- /\ ') ~ gate horse ea, child

6) 7) 8) " , ~

0 ---woman mouth eye foot

9) 10) 11 ) 12)

\.Li7J-~ -hand power car/vehicle person

a) 1=1 b) JE c) 1'1 d) Y: e) T f) A g) 1+ h) 'f i) j] n1!l k) ,~ 1) r~

M1lIt~ Kaisetsu 1 An artist's impression of the changes from standardised iI back to picture follows. Check your answers to the previous activity with thi s sequence.

~(e) Picture

A-+k-.x-->J;:. t-~-k~j:~j: +-+}--'-j--->.y

*m (eigo) English

person

woman

child

UNIT 2

o

I"J

~(e) Picture

Jf~q ~.E->} O~O~O-O 1'-->f -+ %-+tJ:

-JL -> /i:.... -> b!!l :h ~ iJ ... iJJ .... "f!1):. .w" --> ,1'0 -> h, -> ~ l -+ ! --. ,d:,. --.. " r, .... r~ - fEI ... I=Et

~Mt (eigo) English

eye

car

mouth

hand

foot

13

power/strength

horse

cart/vehicle/car

gate

In thi s set of new Ii: there is an example of an abstract noun, 11 (power/strength), being portrayed in picture form through the image of the muscles in the ann. Another po int of interest is that 111 originally developed from the picture of a cart which would have been the type of transport or vehicle used when ~* were first developed. In modern times it has taken on the meaning of car.

_* build up This section in this unit and throughout the book will introduce you to new ~: and new words based on the ~* you have learnt so far. Complex ll' The pictorial tl* that you have been introduced to so fa r not only have meanings in themselves but are also used as parts or components of Ii: that are more complex. You actually learnt two of these morc complex


il~ in Unit 1. They were ** (wood) and. (forest) . Both are created from *- (tree) ~ two trees represent a wood, three trees a fo rest. Here are four more _* built from simpler ones which you have learnt already. The meanings of the components arc incorporated into these complex

m~ fonns. Notice that the simpler ~~ when used as components of more complex 14 may change their shape slightly or appear ' squashed' . .9j (man). This is made from the components fB (rice field) and j] (power). In other words, the man uses his power to work in the rice fields. tf (like, love). This is a combination of -J;r: (woman) and T (child). The abstract idea of love is expressed through the love between women and children. ijJJ (bright). This is a combination of a (sun) and 1) (moon) . The sun and moon shining together would create a very bright light. *' (root. origin). ;.+;:. (tree) with a horizontal line through the " runk' indicates the root of the tree. Unit 4 will look at these complex il* in more detail but you can see from these examples that a knowledge ofthc simplcr il* can also hclp you to decipher the more complex ones .

iIi (Jukugo) ll'i' Compounds The four il* you have just been introduced to are created by combining simpler .~ to fonn one complex jl~ . Another way in which iM~ are used to create new meanings is by forming words from two or more separate iI*. You have already been introduced to this idea through the days of the week . Three separate i1l are used to make up each day. For example, JJ III a means Monday. Here are some more examples: A 0 means population ('people's mouths' = number of mouths to feed)

~ iJ means horse power ];r:=f means girl ('woman child' ) (Notice that these are two separate ~~, unlike M- (complex il) which means lovell ike.) a *' means Japan ('sun's root' describes Japan as the place east of

China whe}e the sun ri ses. This is where the term ' land of the rising sun' comes from.)

To summarise the two points in this section: .~ can join together and form one ~* (for example, ~) or they can form compounds of two or more fi~ (for example. A D).

UNIT 2 15

t!J IlkW- Renshu 1 Some compound words made up of two or three il* fo llow. Can you work out their meanings? (You may want to look back at the il you have learnt so far in Units I and 2 and refresh your memory before trying this activity.)

b) ~T g) 7l< Bl

e) At) j ) A I'l

Once you have thought about the possible meanings of these words, look at the list of English meanings that follows and decide wh ich best fi ts each ~* before you check the answers at the back of the book.

I) volcano 2) boy 3) Japanese person 4) carnage 5) in the publ ic eye 6) water power 7) gateway 8) manpower 9) a rickshaw (man-pulled carriage)

10) a paddy fi eld (a field flooded with water fo r wet rice growing)

Kaisetsu 2 You w ill have not iced that somet imes the meanings are a direct 'translation' of the separate ~ into their new meaning. For example, *- LlI ('fire mountain' or volcano). In other' cases you need to think more laterally or abstractly. For example, A ~ (in the public eye). However, once you know what the meanings are they are easy to remember because the pictorial ~ act as a visual jog to the memory. And words are created in a very logical fashion. For example, An:$ means literally ' human-powered vehicle' and that is what a rickshaw is as the following illustration shows.


In fact, the word ' rickshaw' is a corruption of the Japanese word l in-riki-sho' . In English, 'jin' (person) has been dropped and the other two words (power, vehicle) have had their pronunciation ' angliciscd ' , Try saying the Japanese ' rikisha ' and you' l! see what I mean!

fj[fI (Fukushii) Review Before continuing any further, here is an activity to help you review the s ingle iM* learnt so far in this unit. Match the following il with their English meanings from the selection in the box . Then try the activity in reverse by taking the English meanings from the bo;Jl first.

A. ~ .. ~. * . 00 . Q.~ . ... ~ . . r~ . ;.is:.iE

vehicle cae

mouth

man

fool like

.

eye woman hor.;e

' 001 gate power

pc""n hand

bright chi ld

I r there are any of these characters that yOll are not sure about, look back through the unit and check your answers.

Yomu renshii T he way in which dates are written in Japanese is interesting. You were introduced to the il* for moon 11 and sun a in Unit 1 and you a lso learnt that these ~* have the connected meanings of day a and month

~ - so let us look at how this works in practice. This is how a typical Japanese calendar looks for the month of January:

IJ'l ' 1'1 J'l 9<

* ;.is: ~ '

11'1 21'1 31'1 41'1 51'1 61'1 71'1' 81'1 91'1 101'1 I I 1'1 I 2 1'1 13 1'1 141'1

151'1 161'1 171'1 181'1 191'1 201'1 211'1 221'1 231'1 241'1 25 1'1 261'1 27 1'1 281'1 291'1 301'1 311'1

UNIT 2 17

a) is the month written in numerals and il~ . Japanese months do not have a name as such, so they arc assigned a number from I to 12. Therefore, 6 JJ is June (the sixth month), 1 JJ is January (the first month) and 12 JJ is December. b) are the il~ for the days of the week (as you learnt in Unit I). They are shortened in this case to just the first ~~ of the three which you learnt (for exampl e, *l1li a = Wednesday) because th is is all that is needed to identify each day of the week. (This is rather like writing Tues, Wed, etc. in English.) c) are the days of the month. Each number is followed by a (si milarly in English we fo llow the dates with st, nd, rd or Ih . For example, ISI,7th).

l!J I!I!fl =: Renshu 2 Using the calendar and information just given, try answering the following questions. I) On which day of the week is a) 1st b) 4th c) 9th d) 14th? 2) How many days in the month fall on a Wednesday and what are they? 3) On which day of the week will IJJ 1 a fall? (Note that Japanese dates are written in the order: month then date.)

l!J I!I!fl ::::: Renshu 3 On the next page is a calendar from a Japanese travel brochure. Look at it and answer questions 1-4. I) What are the starting and finishing months on this calendar? 2) In which months do the following happen:

a) the 2nd is a Tuesday c) the 6th is a Friday?

b) the 24th is a Monday

3) On what day of the week is:

a) May 5th b) October 26th c) February 18th d) August 21 st e) December 25th?

I. BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

4) On what days of the week do these Japanese festivals fall :

a) Girls' Day (March 3rd) b) New Year's Day c) Tanabata (Star Festival, July 7th) d) Golden Week (29th April-5th May) e) Emperor's Birthday (December 23rd)?

l!J Ilkfll!!l Renshu 4 Convert the fo llowing random dates into English as in the examples. Remember the Japanese order: month. date, day.

WI] Rei ( I) 8ft3 a (!J() = Tuesday 3rd August (order: August 3rd Tuesday)

/II] Rei (2) 101126 a (~) = Friday 26th October a) 211141'1 () d) 911101'1 (Ell

b) 1111201'1 Ot.:) e) 1211251'1 (7l

UNIT 2

_*O)iWE~jj _* Readings (Kanji no yomikata)

,.

This section wil l teach you about reading nYi* in Japanese. As suggested in the introduction, if you wish to focus on just understanding the meaning of M$ then you can miss these sections out throughout the book or come back to them later.

1) Jlm~ (kunyomi) and 'j}'m~ (onyomi) In the int roduct ion you learnt that there are two ways of reading

il~ in Japanese, the kunyomi (Wl[iJl~) or Japanese reading and the onyomi (ifn~) or Chinese reading. The onyomi has developed from the , original Chinese pronunciation but over the centuries it has been adapted to and become part of the Japanese language. The kunyomi is the nat ive Japanese word. For example, )II (river) can be pronounced SEN (onyomi) and kawa (kunyomi) . Kawa was the Japanese word for rivcr and so when il were introduced from China this word was linked to the ll$ character )11 . By the way, notice that kawa (the kunyomi) when written in romaji (romanised script or alphabet) is written in lower case and SEN (the onyomE) in upper case. This system is used in many Ii$: workbooks and dictionaries and is also followed in this book.

2) Rules for using kunyomi and onyomi As a general rule, the kunyomi is used for single il* words whereas the onyomi is used for compound ~$: words of two or more il$. Here is an illustration of this. a) Single _* words

A (person) is pronounced hilo (kunyomE) 1=1 (mouth) is pronounced kuchi (kunyomE)

b) Compound _* words The above if$: make up the compound word A D (popul ation) which is pronounced JINKO. lIN and KO are-the onyomi of A and 0 respectively.

There will be further examples and the opportunity to practise new infonnation and rules as you progress through the book so do not worry if you have understood only some of the details so far. There are exceptions

20 BeGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

to the rules about when to use kunyomi and onyomi but these will be pointed out to you when necessary and explained, and there will be lots of reinforcement activities too.

~ .fHi Renshu 5 In this unit you are going to concentrate on the kunyomi (Japanese reading) only. In the following list are the ll* you learnt in Unit I with their kunyomi and a guide to how to pronounce th,?sc readings. Look over these and practise saying them. Then see how well you can remember them by covering up the kunyomi column, looking al the 1l~ and saying them from memory.

ll'j< Meaning Kunyomi Pronunciation LlJ mountain yama yama (a of mat) Jif nvcr tama ka-wa (a of mat)

~ gold/ money kane ka-ne (a of mat, e of end) m rice field ta ta (a of mat) 17 bamboo take ta-kc (a of mat, e of end) 1

UNIT 2 21

These vowels are attached to consonants to make new sounds but remember. the pronunciation of each vowel remains constant. The sound tsu is an unfamiliar one in English - it is one beat or syllable. ' squash' the I and s together as you say it. You may have noti ced that the readings of 9


{JIJ Rei t la a) JI b) i3 i) rice field..J ii) moon

b) Isuch; ii) moon..J

c) Ell , iii) gold c) hi iii) earth

WIt Rei}

I) fi ..

3) yama

4) gold

5) it 6) m iz,u

7) stone

8)

9) ka""

10) ""

a) 71< i) ki

a) tsukN ;) day

a) mOrl i) wood a) )If i) mountain a) '" i) kawa a) wood i) take a) water ;) !k a) Ell i) ish; a} sun i) 'such; a) )If i) bamboo a) wood i) mori

l!J tU'l-t Renshu 7

b) '" ii) hi b) hayashi ii) trce b) it ii) rive r b) ~ ii) kane b) bamboo ii) tsuk; b) moon ii) * b) ;r; ii) Isuchi b) moon ii) Isuki b) 71< ii) gold b) forest ii) hayashi

c) ii i) c)

!k mlzu ishi

iii) fo rest c) IlJ iii} wood c) !k iii) mori c) nver iii) tsuch; c) forest ii i) * c) i3 iii} ki c) earth iii) ish; c) it iii) river c) tree iii) ki

The following activity gives you the opportunity to use the kunyomi for ~* learnt so far in a rcal rcading situation. Japanese surnames are made up of either single ~~ or two or three compounded together. The .~ used in surnames are often fairly simple ones including some of those you have learnt in Units I and 2. Although 1l* used in surnames have literal meanings (for example, the surname 11"LlJ (Takeyama) literally means 'bamboo mountain '), the Japanese do not think of them in this way. Many English surnames also have literal meanings (for example, Rivers, Hill, Robinson) but again, they are known as names not meanings. When saying Japanese surnames you use the kunyomi. You learnt at the beginning of this section that in general the onyomi is used for com]X>und _* words. However, names are an exception to this rule.

UNIT 2

Can you say these common surnames in Japanese:

a) :Ij; 0) ttlll

b) ~Ill f) ~

c) ~Ill g) :>!elll

d) IllJII h) 'liJ II

23

For the following surnames (i- m), III is pronounced 'da' instead of ' ta ' How do you say these names'!

i) ~ III j) tt III k) 'lilll I) Illlll m) JIIIll

In Unit I you learnt some basic rules for writi~.~ jM*. Now you are going to revise these rul es with some new ~$: you have learnt in this unit. Vou wi ll learn some further rules and , once you are familiar with these, you will have a go at writing ~$: in the correct order. Rules 1- 3: You learnt in Unit I that you write from left to right and from top to bottom. Usually, where two lines intersect, the highest horizontal line is written before the vertical line, and then you work downwards. For example, ' hand'. Note: the short top stroke is written from right to left.

4- / / / 4---"'. - ---- -, oj Rule 4: Diagonal lines follow the same rule of writing the left diagonal before the right. For example, 'person ' .

Rule 5: Vou also learnt in Unit I how to write a square. Thi s is how 'mouth' is written (notice that the shape is different from the square).

, ,

0 -\3- \ Cl a ,


Rule 6: When there is a middle part to the square, you write the bottom line last. For ex.ample, 'eye'.

,

-til-l II A Fl

And ' rice field' (but noti ce this is an exception to Rule 3 because the vertical intersecting line inside the square is written before the horizontal).

,

ill -$I \ Cl III ffi EEl

Here are two further rules. Rule 7: Where a ~~ has a distinct left and right part, the left section is written before the right and where it has a distinct top and bottom part, the top section is written first. For example, ' wood' .

;f} f?f - t ;f ;f r~

Note that the left section is smaller than the right.

UNIT 2 25

And 'forest' is similar.

A ~ - -r * ;f-. ""- ~ .if

You combi ne Ru les 5, 6 and 7 to write 'gate' .

FE] F-ri I r r r F' r1 F1 p~

Rule 8: Where a Wi: is symmetrical with a central 'axis' , you wri te the 'axjs' first followed by the left side and then the right side. For example, 'water' .

7K j/ j 71 7Y 7K / '~ And 'mountain' is another similar instance .

~ d:i- I Ll J-J


l!J .W A Renshu 8 Can you write the following iil* applying the rules you have been introduced to so far? Remember to usc squared paper to achieve the right balance and proportions. Rules 1- 4: )II (river) = (three) 11 (power) A (person) Rules 5 and 6: a (sun) Rule 7:

~ (moon) m (rice fi eld - exception to Rule 3)

# (wood) Rule 8:

it (bamboo)

tl' (small - Unit 6) :.1

UNIT 2 27

'j- A J-. (tesuto) Test This section is designed to test how well you have remembered what you have learnt in Units I and 2. I) The _* below are grouped by theme. Which is the odd one out? a) Parts of the body: ~.~. !J! .=f-. 1+ b) Days of the week: Jl. . !k. *. fl. ;It< c) People and animals: .~. :::r-. fJ . .Jj. f;( d) Abstrnct ideas: }J. jji;. 1JIl . 7J 2) What do these compound .~ words mean? f) is a new word) :

b) fI* 3) Match these dates to the festivals and holidays on the right : a) 12Jl25f1 b) l Jl lfi c) 7Jl4f1 d) 3Jl2 1fl e) 4Jllfl f) loJl31fl g) 5Jl l fl

i) April Fool ' s Day ii) Christmas Day

iii) Hallowe'en (October 3 1 sl) iv) May Day (May lsI) v) Spring Equinox (March 21st)

vi) New Year's Day vii) American Independcnce Day (July 4th)

f) !1J3(

4) Can you say these Japanese surnames? (. indi cates a change in pronunciation from fa to da): a) llJEEI- b) ttllJ c) ~EEI d) ~ e) :OEEl-5) Can you write the following nl* in thc correct stroke order? . fl . i'l.'f-.*.*. llJ . EEl

3 .=:" Dai sanka UNIT 3 In this unit you will

learn to read numbers in Japanese use these numbers in real reading situations practise writing ~*

Hajime ni In Unit 2 you learnt how to read dates. You are now going to review this by reading the following dates . Choose the Engl ish equivalent from the selection below the dates. (Remember that the order in Japanese is month, date, day.) a) 4J1211'l Uk) b) 1I}'l51'l () c) 9}jIOI'l Cd

UNIT 3 29

The following section gives some tips fo r memoris ing thesc ~ and you may already have thought of some. First, though, a word on how they developed. These ~= represent abstract concepts and so instead of developing from pictures, they are made up ofa series of points and lines. You have learnt one other abstract ftl= so fa r - j) ( power/strength). Thi s looks similar to the nl* fo r ' nine ' jL so loo k carefully at the difference. There is also a picture to help you remember the difference: you bend your ann inwards to flex your muscle en); 1L has a Q-shape. Now look at the pictu~es.

MllI!.- Kaisetsu 1 Here are some tips for remembering the jl for numbers: -. =. = ( I, 2, 3) are easy as you have probably noticed - 'one line,

two lines, three lines' 1m is a fou r-sided square and so is easy to relate to the number 4. 1i When you look at Ihis ., you can trace the arabic number 5 in it.

Try it! ~ /'\ The number 6 in Japanese is pronunced 'roku' - nol unlike the English

word ' rocket'! With a little imagination, you should sec a rocket laking off in this ~*!

ft 'I'

~ -t If you tum this jl upside-down, a continental number 7 emerges.

~T " 't"" ~ rt ~ t }\.. The Arabic number 8 turned on its side is also the mathematical

symbol for infinity. Imagine that the _* is a road leadi ng inlo the distance and on into infinity!


:tL With a lot of imagination this looks like a combination of the ~* for 8 and for 1, and of course 8 + I = 9.

+ The Roman numeral for 10 is X. This looks like the ~ tilted to one side.

You may find your own ways of remembering these and other ~*. I find that it really helps to try to associate a new ~* with an idea or picture in your mind (and you will be learning more about this in future units). Once you have begun to remember new ~* you will probably not need to refer to these ideas again but they can really help at first.

~ .fl- Renshu 1 1) Match the sequence of~~ numbers on the left with their equivalent sequences on the right:

a) - I!!l i) 3, 6, 9 , - , - , b) +, :Jt" 1\., -I:; Ii) 2, 4, 6, 8 c) - :Ji, -I:; iii) 8, 9, 10 , - , d) ~ 1L IV) 1, 2,3, 4 -, h, e) I!!l, ~ I\. v) 1,3,5, 7 - , /\ , f) 1\. , :Jt" + vi) 10,9,8,7 2) The following sequence of numbers \-\ 0 is out of order. Point at each of these ~* numbers in sequence then look back to the section above to check that you are correct:

=,:Ji,~, -,:Jt"I\., =, +, I!!l,~

3) The odd one out. The following sequences of ~* numbers all have one number missing when matched with the Arabic numbers on the right. Which number is it?

a) - I!!l, :Ji 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 , - , -, b) +, J\ , ~ 10,8, 6,4,2 /\, c) I!!l , ~ -1:;, J\ 4,5,6,7,8 /\, d) =, I!!l, ~ + 2, 4,6,8, )0 /\ ,

UNIT 3 31

_* build up (1) ; Numbe rs 11-99 These are easy to read because Ihey are logically made from combinations of the il* numbers 1- 10. It is nOI neccessary to write them all oul for you, but here are the numbers 11- 21 (in sequence) to give you an idea of how it works.

+- . +=. +=. +I!!I. +li. +1\. +1::. +JI.. +1L. =+. =+-Can you see the pattern? The numbers 1 1- 19 are made up of 10 plus the relevant unil:

+ -= 10+1= 11; i-= = 10+2 = 12 20 is made up of a 2 in front of a 10: .=:.,... Remcmber the order like this: 2 x 10 (:::: 20). You then add the relevant unit to make 21 , 22, 23, and so on: '=:''''- = 2 x 10+1 =2 1 = + '=:'= 2 x 10+2=22 '=:'+ == 2x 10 +3 = 23

~ . WI .:::: Renshu 2 I) The numbers 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 follow in sequence. Look at them and make sure you can recognise them before moving on to the next activity.

=+. =+.I!!I+.li+.1\+.1::+./I.+.1L+ 2) Now the same sequence has been jumbled up. Return the numbers to the original sequence by pointing at each in turn . Then check with the above sequence to see jf you are right. 1\+. 1L-t-. =+.I!!I+.1::+.li+. :::::+.!I.-t-3) How are you getting on so far? Remember you can always look back to earlier sections if you need to refresh your memory. Next you are going to practise reading the sequence of numbers from 21- 30. This lime they have already been jumbled up. Can you put them in the correct sequence? a) =+1L b) =+= c) =+1\ d) =+-t c) =+I!!I f) =+/1. g) =+= h) =+- i) =+li j) :::::+ Now check your answers at the back of the book.


4) Finally, in Ih is section you are going to pull together everything you have learnt so far about numbers and have a go at reading a random selection of numbers between 1 and 99! Try writing down your answers in arabic numbers and then checking them at the back of the book. Ii It." It'? "C (ganbatte) Good Luck! a) 1L b) '* c) 1; f) += g) =+ h) n+ k) =+= I) I!!!+= m) n+1!!! p) J\. i --1; q) J\. + J\. ,) :IL +:lL

0) +-1; j) =+-0) -1;+1;

How did you get on? You might fi nd that this is a good place to lake a break and digest what you have learnt so far before moving on to the next section.

_* build up (2); Five new _* B 100 =f 1000 n 10,000 P1 yen (Japanese currency) ~ year Here are some visual cl ues and ideas to help you associate each ~~ with its meaning:

a (100) Turned on its s ide the il* looks like this: lJIl -=,. ~ You can trace the numerals 100 in this.

T (1000) This looks like the ~~ for ten (+) but with an extra part on the top in the same way that 1000 looks like 10 but with 2 extra zeros!

n ( 10,000) In the Western counting system we count in thousands until we reach one million. The Japanese system of counting is slightly different. Instead of saying ten thousand, there is an extra word to represent this amount. Hence the ~~ symbol n. If you look carefully at this, you can see a leaning 'T' on the left and, ignoring the line at the top, you can also make out the shape of an ' h'. Using a little tw isted logic (!) you can let the T represent ' ten' and the Th represent 'thousand' - ten thousand!

To work out larger amounts of this unit, multiply the number by 10,000. For example:

+n = 10 x 10,000 = 100,000 an = 100 x 10,000 = 1.000,000

UNIT 3 33

fq The Japanese currency is the yen, represented by this ~~ and by the international symbol . All currencies can be written in words or numerals. For example: six pounds or 6, six dollars or $6, and in Japanese: Words: -}) P) Numerals: 6 The character Pl, because it is a suffix to money amounts, is easy to recognise and remember.

~ Here is a visual image fo r remembering this il~ :

Can you make out the left half of the il~ for bamboo (ft) at the front and a house shape behind? In Japan, bamboo decorations are put outside the fro nt of houses at New Year, hence the visual clue leads you to the meaning 'year'. Look back over this section and remind yourself of the visual clues to the meanings; then try the next section .

L!J .fi~ Renshu 3 1) Put these multiples of 100 into the correct order ( 100- 900). Which one is missing?

a) :lL a e) a

b) = 13 f) = 13

c) lia g) /\13

d) Illia h) -ta

2) How do you write these il~ number amounts in Arabic nUf!lbers? a) /\ 'f- b) li 'f- c) -t'f- d) 1\'f-e) ='f- f) 'f- (0' ~'f-) 3) Match these multiples of 10,000 with their Arabic number equivalent below them:

a) = JJ b) :lLJJ c) :IL+JJ d) aJJ (;) 90,000

( ;v) 900,000 (ii) 1000,000 (v) 10,000,000

4) Combinations o f a, T, JJ

(iii) 20,000 e) 'f-JJ


Put these amounts in order from the smallest to the largest: a) = 11 b) = 9'-= 11 c) = 1171 d) = + 71 e) = 9'- f) = 9'-71 g) = 71 Now write out these amounts (in the new order) in Arabic numbers. 5) Match the 1M money amounts on the left with their equivalent on the right:

a) = 1IPl b) Ji9'-Pl c) 1IJi+Pl d) 1L411Ji -t- ty e) {:;71Pl f) {:;9'-Ji1l Pl g) ="9'- Pl

i) i i)

ii i) iv) v)

vi) vii)

7500 300 3000 70,OOO 5000 450 150

WlllIt= Kaisetsu 2 More about dates There arc a numberofways)n which the year can be written in Japanese. Let us look at these usi ng the year 1999 as the model. Notice that the iro* for year (~) is written after the numbers. I) 1-:11. 1:f1L +jL~ This is 1999 written out in full using il numbers 2) -:It.:1L::JL~ Here 1999 is written as it looks. \- 9- 9-9 3) 1999 ~} Theycar is written in arabic numbers, norice that ~

99 &F is still used. The first example is rarely used and the most commonly used is the third. Zero is usually written as O.

~ .fll!!! Renshu 4 I) In this activity you are going to match the years written in ~* with those in Arabic numerals:

a) 2000 4-b) 19634-c) 1960 4-d) 16164-e) 1863 4-

2) Now match the dates written in ~* with those written in Arabic:

UNIT 3

I) + - fl+- a 2) t


~ .flJi Renshii 5 I) Match the following -'fJ& (Heisel) years with their Western calendar equivalents:

i) 1994 ii) 1990

iii) 1997 iv) 1992 v) 1998

vi) 1995 The fi rst year of an era is written not with - (one) but with 7G which means ' beginning':

-'fJ&J'"G:tp = Heisei l Si year (1 989) 2) Match the following 1IU:fu (Showa) years with their Western calendar equivalents:

i) 1939 ii) 1926

iii) 1973 iv) 1988 v) 1950

vi) 1968

lbliu.fI omu renshu This section will pull together everything you have learnt in this unit and give you the opportunity to read numbers and dates in authentic contexts.

~ .WA Renshii 6 I) iM* numbers are most often used when the text is written vertically (see question 3, p. 37). Japanese business cards are often produced with Ihe Japanese script written vertically on one side and the Romanised script (for the benefit of non-Japanese clients) written horizontally on the other. The following phone numbers are written horizontally. Notice that the area code is in brackets and a horizontal line separates the two parts of the phone number. Do not confuse this with the number ~ (one). Can you convert them into Arabic numerals?

UNIT 3

(a) ( 0 = ) = Ii}\ --=-t:-t: (b) ( 0 :IL-t: ) Ii:IL= -1!lI=--(c) (0 1:;= 0 ) ' - =JI..:** (d) (0 = ) = Ii:IL= - = -t: 0 I!lI (e) (0 = -t::IL) ==- - =-Iil!ll

. 37

2) The following is part of a newspaper advertisement for a series of three conferences. When will the conference be held (give the full date) m:

a) London (tJ ~ r~ ~) b) Tokyo ( i\[)j() c) Dusseldorf (r~ .;J.... 'Y -Clv r~ Iv -:7)

o /' t: /' '98~ 12F.1 58 () ** '98~ 12F.1 68 (8)

T.:I. '!I-t!)11 t: )117 '98~ 12F.1128 () 3) The advertisement reproduced here is for a Japanese theatre production. Give the year, month, date and day of the performance in the Western calendar.


.~(7)lb'Chn .~ Readings (kanji no yomikata) In thi s section you are going to focus on say ing the numbers 1- 10 in Japanese. I f you have worked through Teo'ch Yourself Beginner 's Japanese, Ihis is on page 31. Otherwise, turn to the ill~ chart fo r Unit 3 at the back of the book and learn to say the onyomi reading for the numbers 1- 10. Turn back to this section in Unit 2 (pp. 20- 1) if you need to re check the pronunciation rules.

Hinto Hints for remembering the numbers

Try memorising how to say the numbers in Japanese by relating them to English-sounding words. For example, - (ichi) and = (ni) sound like ' itchy knee' !

~ -1:; Renshu 7 Align the numbers that follow with their tt* and onyomi reading. Check your answers against the Un it 3 i!*" chart at the back of the book.

iJi.~ ttf~ (eigo) English if~c?I- (onyomi) one SH1CH

Ji two KYU

-

}\ ;iL

three four five so,

seven

eight mne

ten

NI SHI ICHI HACHI .ID ROKU GO SAN

i!I' < .fi ~ Kaku re nshu 3 In Units I and 2 you learnt eight basie rules for writing nYi*" and you practised writing all the !! you had learnt in those units. Next you are going to learn three simple rules for improving the shape of your strokes by looking at stroke endings. The Japanese learn calligraphy in order to petfcet

UNIT 3 39

the shape of ~~ using brushes but if you pay attention to these three rules, you will be able to improve the way in which you write jf~ even with a pcn or penciL The three main types of stroke ending are as follows: I) STOP ending. .

Your pen/pencil stops and lifts off the page.

2) GRADUAL STOP. You pull the pen gradually off the page with a sweeping motion.

3) FLICK. The stroke flicks up at the end.

--~tl

, -

-d \

Now you are goi ng to try writing the numbers 1- 10 on squared paper (do not look at the stroke order that follows yet). Employ the eight rules you have learnt, the only exception is the number nine where the vertical (iefthand) line is written first. Think about the stroke endings too from the previous examples.

- -- ~

-

- -

,

t tL + - J'\.. -J '\ How did you get on? The numbers 1- 10 fo llow, written out for you. Look at the stroke order and the shapes and proportions of the strokes (for example, the left side o f eight is a different shape to the right side, and the same for four and six ; the strokes of two and three are not all the same length) then try 10 copy them as closely as possible.

40

-

-

-

-

- -

, , -

->-"

-. ~----

-

-t-"

"....- ,

-

--

-

\z:9 \Z9

3l :k

...

- " . :0 ____ J '\ J :'\

-t it-


- -

-

- - -- -

- -

- T 17 , \ , ...

- - -- J J '\

t

UNIT 3 41 , ,

) \.. )--~ J J"-. , ,

, ,

1L -1t-t , tL , ,

+ + + , Owari ni

In this unit you have been introduced to numbers up to 10,000 through 13 ~*. You have also learnt the il~ for yen and for year. You have put this learn ing into practice to read number and money amounts, dates and telephone numbers. You have also learnt about the Japanese calendar and have been introduced to two compound ~~ words for the present and previous eras. Altogether, you have learnt 15 single ~~ (plus related compounds) and three new compound words (~$;. IIlIln. If..q-). You have learnt to count in Japanese from 1- 10 and have applied the writing ru les you learnt previously to writing .~ numbers.

.I!!t. Da; yonka UNIT 4

In this unit you will

learn to recognise 121i* used in action words (verbs) be introduced to words made up of combinations of these and other jl~ learn more about pronounci ng and writing ~*

Hajime ni In Unit 2 you learnt that some il*". as well as havin~ meanings in themselves, afC used as components of more complex ~~ (see pp. 13-14). The il* you will be introduced to in this lesson are created from simpler iM*. some of which you have learnt already. In the following activity you are going to review some key il* to refresh your memory before moving on to learning the new il*" in thi s unit. I) Can you remember the meanings of the iI: that follow? a) Q b) l'j: c) A d) l'I e) tlJ f) I'~ g) '" h) a ;) =r 2) Now look at the new il~ in the fo llowi ng list. They each contain

jl~ as part of their structure. Can you spot them'! (You do not need to know the meaning of the whole ll~ at thi s stage.) a) Pft b) J!, c) l!l' d) ~ e)?F f) t:l g) i* h) til Check the answers to these two activities in the back berore moving on to the next section.

MiIIt- Kaisetsu 1 The new nt*" introduced in the second activity you have just completed can all be used as verbs (that is, action or doing words). So far, you have

UNIT 4 43

not learnt the meaning of any of them but you have identified simpler nY!~ within them. These can be a clue to their meanings and you are going to use these clues to work out the meanings for yourself. Before you can do this, here are three extra pieces of information.

I) This shape JL (i) when used as a ~~ component has the meaning ' human legs'. You can see it in 2 (b).

2) This shape } \. (~) has the meaning ' animal legs'. You can see it in 2 (f) . 3) The t)S~ for person (A) takes this form 1 when used as pari of a more complex 1M*-. You can see an example of this in activity 2 (g).

Renshu 1 The follow ing seven il~ (a- g) all represent verbs. The story clues ( 1- 7) link the different components of each iI~ into a story which indicates the il* meaning. (The component meanings are in bold.) This technique should help you to remember that meaning. Now can you work out which f!Xi=- has which meaning?

~ ~ ~R ~. ~. ~ n O. ~ W Story clues I) A penon resting by a tree duri ng their work break . Meaning: 10 resl;

holiday. 2) An eye running around on human legs. Meaning: 10 look, watch or

see.

3) Mountains upon mountains but somewhere there is a way out. Meaning: to go out.

4) A neighbour is pressing an ear between the gates of the house to hear the goss ip. Meaning: to hear or listen.

S) An eye with animal legs is a shell fish. A sideways eye above it is a human inspecting it before buying. Meaning: to buy.

6) At school the child is ex pected to wear a special hat when studying. Meaning: 10 study.

7) The mouth spoke words which rose up in lines. Meaning: to say; words.


How did you get on? The same ~* this time with their meanings and a picture representation as well can be seen in the fo llowing list.

e'r ,,~ 11>0 ~ot.S . 11ft to listen. to hear

~ blo.h it to say V bl.h ...

I -II ", ... 111:5 -PIS~ .

'&, ~ to buy ~~ tl1 to go out

Lt.t',S '0 ~ Stt. ! ..) J! to see,

walch, look

~ tosrudy

~ to rest

Now read through the stories again. Do you see how the components of these nl~ help to indicatc their meanings?

This is a quick activity designed to help you review the ~* learnt so far in this lesson. Simply match the ll* on the left with the meanings on the right.

I ) n: a) to listcn 2) 1* b) to look 3) tfl c) to say 4) PI! d) to study 5) "t e) to go out 6) J!. f) to buy 7) ~ g) to rest

UNIT 4 45

~ .f1~ Renshu 3 Here are seven more il* which you are goi ng to learn in this lesson: nilltillilll'ftllXA Some ofthe components which make up these ~* are contained in the following list. Can you locate and ring the appropriate part on the ~* you have just seen. The number in brackets indicates the number of times the component appears.

t) JL human legs (x 2) 2) ~ to say (x 2) 3) IJ mouth (x 3) 4) e,rth (x 2) 5) a sun (x I) 6) 'f 1000 (x 1) How did you get on? You can find the answers in the explanations that follow.

WIliIt= Kaisetsu 2 The handwritten iM* which follow have had their component parts numbered. These numbers are referred to in the explanations. A story is given to help you remember the meaning.

t1f,. th;,_

I) This upper part looks like (earth) exc.:pt that the top horizontal line is longer, like this: . In fact this ~~ means 'samurai' but when used as part of a more complex il we are going 10 take its meaning as 'earth'.

2) In between the legs and the earth is a table. 3) ' Human legs'.


Story: People walked over to the tabletop sale to see a samurai selling clods of earth . Meaning: to se/J n.

1) You should have identified 10 sayAmrds ( p) at the left of this ~. 2) Can yOli see that this is the same as the i.* you have just learnt? (10

se/l, n). Story: Notice outside a bookstore: 'Words fOI" sale. Buy a book and read the words'. Meaning: 10 read ~

I) Once again, the left side is (0 say/words. 2) 1000 ( f) . 3) mouth ( IJ) . Together 2) and 3) make up the _* for tongue ('IS). Story: Thousands of words were spoken by the tongue. Meaning: 10 talk. speak~.

I) This comes from a Ii~ you have not learnt yet, brush (m). Before pens were invented, writing was done with calligraphy brushes. Here is a picture to help you link the meaning to the character:

UNIT A . 47

2) You will have recognised this as sun. An alternative meaning is mouth (1=1) with a line in it (1=1). You could think of this as a condensed version oeW (to say) with the words about to come out of the mouth.

Story: Written words are created by a calligraphy brush. Meaning: to write t!t.

I) Think of this as a roof, in this case, the roof of a house. 2) This means white and represents the sun with a ray coming off it. In

ancient China the rays of the sun were seen as white. 3) This lower part is actually a truncated version of *- (fire) which you

learnt in Unit I . Story: White rice boiled over a fire in a Japanese home. Meaning: to eat;/ood tt.

0'~''-

I) You have just been introduced to the left side of this ~. It is slightly truncated but indicates the same meaning, food.

2) A more detailed picture of the right side will help you with the meaning.

Story: The left side gives the general meaning (food) . The right side is a person taking a drink. Meaning: to drink; a drink tx.


Notice the difference between the handwritten and printed versions CAl of this ~*. And do not confuse it with person (printed = A; handwritten = A.). ' In this new ia'! the person appears to be walking back across the pagc. The printed version shows this person clearly indicating their direction (flick at the top points to the left) . Story: People going in walk to the left. Meaning: enter, go in 7\..

l!J .WI!!! Renshii 4 This is a review activity for you to test yourself on the second set ofil* you have just learnt. Match the I!- on the left with the meanings on the right. I) 'I" a) drink 2) ]I. b) eat 3) n c) read 4) l!l' d) talk 5) ~ e) enter 6) llli f) sell 7) ~ g) write How did you get on? If you arc still uncertain about some of these, read through the stories and look at the composition of each ll again, until you are sure.

Yomu renshu You now know the first ~*- of the instruction in this heading - it means read. Before you try this next section, let us summarise the m*- you have learnt in this unit. First look at the tl*- and see if you can remember the meaning before looking at the English beneath them.

I) IIIl 2) J!. 3) ill' 4) .. 5) "'F-6) Jl 7) < 8) Ifl 9) n 10) ill

II) llli 12) 'I" 13) ft!: 14) ]I. I) listen 2) look 3) write 6) buy 7) rest 8) go out

II ) speak 12) eat 13) drink

4) say 9) sell

14) enter

5) 10)

study read

UNIT.4 49

L!J .. fBi Renshu 5 Here are some sentences in Japanese followed by some in English. At this stage you will not be able to read the whole sentence because you have not learnt hiragana yet (Unit 5). There is also one l4.~ (im) which you have not seen yet. However, you will be able to understand the key words of the sentence from your knowledge of il~. By matching these with the full English sentences you will be able to get the meaning of the whole sentence. For example:

JJ Q) A tt $: ~ Ii: l ' '* l t:. 0 The man (male person) bought a car. 2 2 2 4

The il* you have already learnt have numbers below them. These refer to the lesson in which the il~ was first introduced so that you can check back if you need to. Did you notice that the verb comes at the end of the sentence? The order would sound like this: the man a car bought. In the sentences. this will appear in brackets (marked as lit.). Now have a go yourself. n~A..tr ""?"(1 ganbatte! (Good luck). 1) 3r;Il)Ali a*iilti' "fa" .'-' to.

22 1 27 4 2) 3r;ll)rli 1111 a I~ -'" '-' t" .

2 2 I 4 3) !II Il) A Ii !'l i' .lU '-' t".

2 2 I 4 4) tj;~lvli ~1II~1v1~ ilH c '".

2 1 2 4 5) !II Il) r Ii )!f; "" ~t ~ -C -t

2 2 2 2 6)3r;Il)Ali ttll)ri' J:t"'cto..

2 2 1 2 7) ill III ~ Iv Ii 1\l i'

2 1 2 4

Match each one to its Japanese partner in Ihe previous list (not in order). a) The woman (female person) ate some bamboo shoots (bamboo

children). (lit. The woman some bamboo shoots ate.) b) The girl (female child) rested on Saturday. (lit. The girl on Saturday

rested.)


c) Mr Yamada (Mountain-rice field) sold his car. (lit. Mr Yamada his car w Id.)

d) The boy (male child) likes horses. (lit. The boy horses likes.) e) The woman (female person) studied Japanese. (lit. The woman Japanese

studied.) f) Mr Hayashi (Wood) talked to Mrs Morita (Forest-rice field) . (lit.

Mr Hayashi to Mrs Morita talked.) g) The man (male person) looked at the moon. (lit. The man at the moon

looked.) How did you gct on? Check your answers at the back of the hoolc

_* build up In this section yOll will be introduced to some new compound rJ!* words. First you need to learn a new l!$:

~ thing This ii4$ is used to make verbs inlo nouns. This is best explained with an example:

it ('to buy ' ) + 4'tI (th ing) == J;l~ = shopping (/it. buy ing things)

The ll!~ that follow have been made int~ nouns by adding :1m (thing) to them. Can you work out what their meanings would be in English? There is a list of English words in random order beneath the I.!* words which you can refer to if you need to.

I) f!I:'Im 2) tt'lm (a) wntmg (d) sightseeing

(b) food (e) book

l!J I!ItW-t Renshu 7

4) JI.'Im (c) items for sale (f) drinks

Here are some more compound words us ing ~* you have been introduced to in this unit. See if you can work out their meanings by matching them with their English equivalents on the right.

UNIT .4 51

I ) 3'Crl a) a study visit 2) 1Il0 b) start school 3) A,* c) eating and drinking 4) lilA d) absence from school (long teon) 5) ~-tt e) reading 6) JI.,* f) buying and selling 7) 1*'* g) going in and out

Renshu 8 This activity introduces compound ~~ words which use 114* from the first four units of this book. Think about the li teral meaning and then see if you can work out what you would say in English. The box of English words (in random order) will act as a check list once you think you have worked oul the meaning of a word. Here are some amusing ex.amples to get you started!

iI1J Rei 1 iI1J Rei 2 iI1J Rei 3

I) 3'CA 5) ,*1J

buyer ex.it

lit. go oul eye gold = a popeyed goldfish li t. resting fire mountain = a dormant 1JQlcano lit. two feet = two pairs (of footwear)

2) AP 6) Jl 'f

3) til P 7) 1* a

dealer (seller) drinking water

entrance holiday

Japanese person academic ability

.*(})~OI:/.jj Kanji no yomikata You were first introduced to how il*" are pronounced in Unit 2 and you can refer back to that unit for guidance on pronunciation (pp. 20- 2 1). In this section in Unit 3 you used the unit chart at the back of the book to learn the onyomi (Chinese readings) of the numbers 1- 10. Now turn to chart 4 at the back of the book which contains all the single ~~ introduced in this unit. Focus on the onyomi readings and try to memorise them. Here are some hints to help you.


Hinto Hints for memorising 1I' readings

1) Look back at the s imple pronunciation rules you were given in Unit 2 (pp. 2()"'21). 2) Say the readings out loud . 3) Sec if you can match each reading to an English word and make a little story to help you remember. For example, the onyomi of ft (eal) is SHOKU. So how about: ' It was a SHOCK how much food he CQu id eat !' And the onyomi of J! (look) is KEN so: ' KEN looked out of the window. ' Do you gct the idea? 4) Test yourself by covering up the reading, looki ng at the lM~ and saying the reading out loud. Now try Activity 9.

~ .W:IL Renshu 9 1) This is a simple linking activity. Link the il~ on the left with their correct reading: I) }1 a) DOKU 2) f* b) SHOKU 3) tfj c) NYU 4) 11ft d) BAI (usc twice) 5) "l- e) KYO 6) JI. r) SHUTSU 7) tr g) WA 8) ~ h) BUN 9) " i) KEN

10) ~ j) IN II ) fj!( k) GAKU 12) il5 I) SHO 13) Jlf m} GEN 14) ~ 2) Now try saying these compound ~~ words in Japanese: a) nTI (buying and selling) b) ~i!f (reading) c) A?!f. (start school) d) iliA (going in and out) e) fiXit (eating and drinking) f) R.~ (study visit) g) -f*~ (absence from school) h) JtPfJ (knowledge; experience)

UNIT 4 53

3 < .W I!!l Kaku renshu 4 You should now recognise the first il in this heading ~ it means write'. In th is section you are going to learn to write the 14 il which have been introduced in this unit. Remember: stroke order is important for writing accurately, for helping you to remember the il and for counting the number of strokes. And there are sometimes,sli$ht differences between handwritten and printed versions of the same nl.

Hinto One way to remember how to write more complex _ is to visual ise the components they are made up of. For example, in preparing yourself to write lIf:I ( li sten) from memory, say to yourself 'gate and ear'. Look carefully at the proportions and overall balance of eaeh lM. For example, where a il! has a distinct left and right side, the left side is narrower (the proportions are approximately left side ;::; 1/3; right side ;::; 213).

\.' I I c'1' I ~ --~--

\ \~ , ,1"/ \1 J , \J' I tfD ~ ~-*' A* / 1 ~*'

tt, --dj-I y- f ~ ~

54 8EGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

F/\ r~' rj r--i f,' rr-i

r~i fl\ r~9 " "'

,,: 7 , ,... 1

r ' -'-,," ' -+ _r. ,

-' -' , " ,

\

" , ", ~ )).L, C I \-'"7 "J \.-,. \+ ) ~ --~- ~ l ~ ~ -

:>j - ---

... ~-.-

- to Q , , , ,

-- - - -

- - -

- -a

UNIT .:1 55

/,~ p." f/~" ~ J /"-. A 14 I~ ~ k--. ~ ~ f/ 11t

A -~-- / A ---

-,1: YL -

-r--::t:' -:;- -::t- 1", ::r-\ \.... , ~ 7L

ix~k I lI' Ii' ~ ~ ~ ~ r k l-7 J!. ~~~


::;JA:.: > 1 - . . ',--~6 ..... . -aD

\ \ , , , , / -:;

-- --

--0 0

, I ~-t- , / -- gE - -tl 0

~ r:t:-a ..,

--, ..:;::3 ...g

-.

..... 3 -:i:

-:Ii --~-:t" ,~ \ ~-i- "::--::r ..;:--z-_.

p? -:s. ... r - - :::y--? 6 - -ph .. 0 CI 0 Owari ni

In this unit you have been introduced to 14 ~* which represent action words and have learnt to pronounce their onyomi (Chinese reading) and to write them. You have also learnt the meanings of 26 compound ~~ words and have identified the key words in a set of Japanese sentences. Now try the test to see how well you have remembered the il* you have learnt in the first four units!

UNIT.4 . 57

TA" Tesuto The ifJ!~ ( including some compound words) you have learnt so far are grouped in themes. Can you remember their English meanings? (Some

il~ appear more than once if they cover more than one category.) I) People and animals ,) ,!iO b) A c) J,: e) r f) J,:r g) 'llr 2) Elements of nature ,) tli b) 1

.lift Dai goka UNIT 5

In this unit you will :

learn to read the 46 t.J ~ h; ~ (hiragana) symbols which make up the phonetic 'alphabet'

learn some rules fo r making exIra sounds from the 46 main symbols be introduced to picture-sound associations to make learning easier learn how to write V ~ IJt ~ (hiragana) have a go at reading some words and phrases

Key word: V ; Ii .>j:" Hiragana

Hajime ni Look back to page vi of the Introduction which deals with an overview of the different types of Japanese script and in particular the section on {J ~ IJ~ l' (hiragana). Then answer the following questions based on the information you have just read . I) What are the two main uses of (J ~ /J~ 1' ? 2) Which script (t4*, () ~ tJ{ 1' . IJ, IJ T (katakana is learnt

firs t by Japanese children in primary schools? 3) What did V G IJ{ ~ develop from? 4) How many basic symbols make up the modem (J ~ IJ{ ~ syllabary?

Yonde mimasho You have not learnt to read any (J ~ IJ~ ~ yet (apart from these fo ur symbols) but try this simple matching activity. There are six U t;, IJ ~ ~ words (a- f) in the left column which are repeated in a different order in

UNIT 5 s.

the right column. Match up the same words and write the correct letter in the brackets on the right. The first one is done for you.

(a) t ~ -:>( .. ( ) (b) I, ! -It('1: ( ) (c) .:.t t~ (a) (d) -:> ( .. - . ~; (u) ... (c). :I> (0) .

01, it u -;

e;

The next point to notice is that the first five sounds are what we call vowel sounds. In Unit 2 (pp. 20- 21) you were introduced to the pronunciation of Japanese sounds. A quiek check list follows to help you remember the pronunciation.

I, a as in mat ;\. e as in end ,. as in hit :I> 0 as in hot

-; u as in blue And, as you also learnt in Unit 2, consonants are attached to each of these vowels to create new sounds. And each of these sounds is represented by


a (J ~ n{.Jj: symbol. This is why the Japanese syllabary is called 'a phonetic alphabet' . (The Roman alphabet consists of 26 letters which are used in various combinations to creale a range of sounds.)

~ .nw- Renshu 1 In the ttlv L" Jj. j L.. ~ -; (yonde min/asM) activity earlier in this unit you matched six U ~ o{ 1" words. This time you are going to try to read these words. Use the chart of the fi rst 20 symbols on p. 59 and see if you can say the words. Thei r English meanings are written in brackets.

(a) t I., (sushi) (d) ') ( ;t (desk)

(b) ;, ~ (autumn) (e) ~ C ? (sugar)

MliIt::: Kaisetsu 2

(c) .:: ;t (voice) (f) -It ~ C (school pupil)

You are now going to be introduced to the who le () t;, IJ~ ~ chart, including the correct order to write each symbol. To help you understand the layout of the chart. an explanation is now g iven usiog the first symbol 1, .

printed _ versIon ;,

-

0, f--...... ~

()( ) -t ;h

_romaji

- symbol

- stroke order

The printed version of each symbol is also included (top lefthand comer) because this sometimes differs slightly from the handwritten version . Have a go at writing the (J ~ IJ~ ~ because this will help you to remember how to read them. The basic rules you learnt for ~~ also apply here -you write horizontal strokes fro m left to right, and vertical/diagonal strokes from top to bottom. As you write each one (using graph paper if possible), say its sound to yourself.

UNIT 5 61

I ~I-r If~l t "m -\' ,. kJ ,- fJ'\ J-. '- '-

;In -.; - [, , . ! ,~. 1- It r- 10 - h ~ 7 I~ I~' ,;;; - t~ fE -;;; I ., ":!i- t- ,h' I ~ ; .! "\ , 1 - L \ \, ~ '-

- It, l - " ~ ~ - , ffil -~ "" -t -t~ ( '" 11 u < -n ~ 1 , In Ii -I.:, -, - ] ~ " '( I .. ~

-e.-" f ' I t _ ~ n l l "-~ 1 - ItC'So . Ii I~ -;;; 7f ';;; Ito h"O 0) t ~ ~ '--IIll I \ - >( - - - II-> t

-

l!J flkf!1 = Renshii 2 The activities in this lesson will keep referring you back to the different charts, so do not worry about learning all the symbo ls at once! There is also a section later 10 help you explore ways to remember the 46 basic V t;, IJ~ ~ symbols but first here is an activity to get you reading. Each sequence of V ~ /J~ ~ symbols in the activity is taken from a column, row or diagonal of the chart . Try 10 read (out loud) each of the (J t:> IJ~ ~ , then refer back to the relevant part of the chart to refresh your memory. Then try again to read the sequence from memory. Continue like th is until you can read the sequence confidently, then move on to the next one.


to l ~ '"

ffi ~ I ,. 1 ~ 111 "" , 1 h ~ ~ 11 , ,

- - 1 I h '-, -> to I 1- I~ t2 N 1J. m; V " f) 1+ U ,

'I J.- Ii- v-{> I a 7.> ~ 'W I 'u tr mu J- f" ~ is v:b L' , -J '\ - ~ t ? >:I> L , , , ,

'" - 1..: ) ,) ) ,

t1. ~ If) m. ~ '" M n /"-...."

I l \ II> ~ ",I n '5

" J: 1

1 ,. {, rna 11 ho

IG 7-:; t ~J A. l, - J: L t t I I' I' 11

The fi rst part of this activity refers to the first page of the chart (p. 61). 1) The third colwnn (always count from the right): ~, L., -t, -l:t .:c 2) The third row (reading from right to left): -j,

UN1T 5 63

Now look at the sequences 1- 6 again and answer these questions:

7) How many times do these symbols a) l" b) ~ c) -C appear? 8) Which symbol appears three times? 9) Which symbol appears the most times? (Answers to 7- 9 are at the back of the book.) The second part of this activity refers to the second page of the chart (p. 62). 10) The first column: Ii, V . .,)... -. Ii II) The fourth column: ~. t), 9. tt. 0 12) The fifth


Stories I $, (a) is an opera si nger singing an lria (Japanese pronunciation has

a short 'a' sound) 2 ~. (i) is an American Indian 3 '1 (u) !!

UNIT 5 65

memory then use the chart to search for those you cannot remember. Keep coming back to this activity. Try keeping a score of how many words you can read each time and challenge yourself to improve it! Where you have already learnt the ~~ for a word this is also given in brackets. However, the purpose of this activity is to practise reading (J ~ /.1: 1" .

Set 1 a) ~ ~ (morning) d) I: It ~. (clock) g) !#l 0) (cloth)

Set 2

a) ,t G (evening) d) . igJ (Winter) g) t ry (fo,est l!i;)

Set 3

b) -C (hand 'f-) e) ~ t3 (salt)

b) "'''' (ea,l'j:) e) tr ~ (village) h) b", (bowl)

c) 1""'? (summer) f) 1" I.:: (what)

c) Ii.., (Spring) f) ~.t (mountain ili)

a) 15 tt J: '1 (Good morning) c) t.I ~ (cat)

b) ~ J: ? l' " (Goodbye) d) it /v-tt l' (teacher)

e) It.l(dog) f) /1) ( eye ) g) ~ t (navel) h) () I: (petSon A) i) IU'(exampleillJ) j) Ie (1 '" (lopan a *) 1:: /' J- -= Hinto 2 Similar D f, iJ~t~ You have probably confused some of the simiiar \ooking (J G Il ~ already. Thi s section will line these up and point out the differences to help you keep them separate in your mind. Notice the punctuation, by the way - a comma, and a full stop 0 - not all that different from English.

~, ~ . ~ , to.

I , -~ . I , ry

~ (Id) has two horizontal lines, ~ (sa) has one. ~ (sa) leans to the left, ~ (chi) looks like the number 5

(the top has slipped!) l' (i) is more or less vertical, .: (ko) is horizontal. l' (i) - the left stroke is slightly longer than the right, I) (ri) - the right stroke is longer than the left.

66 SEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

It, U:, It.. It (Ire) has no loop at the end, {;l: (ha) has on ly one horizontal line, (,1 (ho) has two horizontal li nes.

It, .t 0 The top horizontal line in (,1 (ho) si ts on top of the vertical line whereas in .t (ma) both horizontal lines cut through the vertical.

-t, tr.. -t (su) curves to the lcft, tr (mu) curves to the right and has an extra strokc.

tJ.. Ii). t.l o tJ. (nu) has two stroke ends at the top and a loop at the bottom whereas I/) (me) has the same stroke ends but no loop, and t.l. (ne) has only one vertical stroke.

Q. -00 7.;, (ru) has a loop, .is (ro) looks a bit like a number 3.

MliIt:=:. Kaisetsu 3 ~-ti' (Yoon) Contracted sounds

You have now been introduced to the 46 basic (J ~ Il.Jj;- symbols. As well as these 46, there are other sounds which are made by combining some ofthe basic symbols. This is done by combining the symbols which end in the ' i ' sound (~. L-. ~, (.:, V, Jj.., ~) with a small version of ~, Ig). or J:" Each sound is pronounced as a single syllable or ' beat'. Look at the following chart:

~ (k.) -> ~

UNIT 5 . 67

One point to note before you start thi s activity - many of the words that follow are lengthened by the addi tion of a vowel sound, normally ? (u), at the end (but J5 (a) is also used in these examples). For instance, t:>~? t:> +1> '7 (a mouse's squeak) is pronounced 'chuu chuu ' (usually wri tten 'chu chu'). Let one sound run into the other smoothly - do not separate t:> tfI (chu) and '7 (u). Now practise reading and saying the fo llowing onomatopoeic words. Refer back to the earlier chart to help you as necessary. TWo symbols you have learnt previously, Iv (n) and ~ (ro) are also used here. a) ! ~ iJ ! ~ iJ (scream with laughter) b) L. +1> Iv L. +1> Iv (fizzing sound) c) L. ~ '7 L. ~ '7 (fizzing sound) d) t:> ~ '7 t:> ~ '7 (mouse ' s squeak) e) ~"';' (~ ." ;, (m;aow) f) V ~ .; V tfI .; (whistling sound) g) () J: '5 () J: '5 (sway;ng; lanky) h) ~ J: ~ 1! J: -? (looking around)

Mll!I.l!!I Kaisetsu 4 D G tJ~fd. that change their sound You have learnt nearly all the extra rules for V t:J tJt.>j: so you can relax, they are not endless! And also, if you think you have taken in enough at any stage, leave this unit, carry on with the ll~ units and come back to this later. You are not expected to remember everything in this unit in one go and no one is setting the pace except you! Some of the V t; tJ~ ~ symbols change their sound with the addition of two small strokes" at the top right of the symbol. Let us look al these: I) ' k' sounds become 'g' sounds (hard 'g' as in 'get'): ~'. ~. j)


3) 't' sounds become 'd' sounds:

(ta, chi, tsu, Ie, 10) da (ji ZIt) de do the sounds t; (ji) and ""). (ZII) are not normally used because they create the same sound as t: (ji) and 1" (zu) . See (2). 4) 'h ' sounds become 'b' sounds:

I~, U, ,"" ~ Il --> (ha, hi, fu, he, ho)

I~', U', ba bi

.;:, bu be

5) In addition, 'h' sounds become ' p' sounds when a small circle is added:

~,U, ,",,~, U --> ~,U,.;:, ~,~ (ha, hi, ju, he, ho) pa pi pll pe po These five sets of rules cover all the sound changes for single lJ ~ tJ: ~ symbols. Look over these rules, cover up the romaji and try readi ng them, then try the simple activity that follows.

~ .flJi Renshu 5 Say the sounds out loud or write them down. Refer to the rules given earlier for the answers.

a) ~', 1:, U', U c) tJ:, ~', If, I.f. If e) :::, 'I:', c', Il'. Ij'

b) if, -If, ,(" "-', ~ d) C 1', .;:, .;:

Finally in this section, do you remember the contractcd sounds you Icarnt in kaiselSu 37 Well, the rules just given also apply to these. The chart that follows groups these sounds on the left. The romaji is also given on the right but cover this up and see if you can work out how 10 read the () ~ IJ: ~ before you refer to the romaji.

~' "', t-' .., , U' .., , U.., ,

gya,gyu,gyo . . . ja,ju,)o bya, bYII , byo pya , pyu, pyo

UNIT 5 69

IfIf&Ji Kaisetsu 5 The small J (tsu) The final rule you need to know in order to read V' f..:J IJ~ 1J:" properly is the usc of the small "'J in a word. When you see this, you do not pronounce it but pause slightly (a glottal stop) before saying the next sound. This is shown in riimaji by doubling the next consonant. The length of this pause is the same as in these English examples: ' headdress' (pause after ' hea', not ' head dress'); and 'bookcase' (pause after ' boo '). Here are some Japanese examples with the riimaji and a pronunciation guide beneath:

a) : "? '"C (wait!) matte

b) ~ -? "C (stamp) kitle

c) ! "? J: (ticket) kippu

rna (pause) te ki (pause) te ki (pause) pu

l!)'Cu.f1- Yomu renshii 1 Reading words Take a deep breath! You are now goi ng to put into prac tice everything you have learnt in this unit. These initial activities will keep referring you back to the different sections and remember - you can keep revisiting these activities to see if you ca

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Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Script -