Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese Script - Helen Gilhooly

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

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" II "'IIIC; FI

Helen Gilhooly

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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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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999

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 providing 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<- -I' '-j' ...,. /..... -"J' .; '. ~ ~/ .--± .±- .... ..:L .... T

water

ground

• BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

ilYi<J< (kanji) fit (e) Character Picture

:.G -. JO ~ Jb, Jl Fl--'>8-'J3.~iJ

8 ~ G ... 9 --'> '8:

~m(eigo) English

stone

moon

sun

Did you notice how two trccs are used to represent a wood and three trees a forest? You will learn more about this type of ~* (kanji) in Unit 2.

~ MtW- (renshu - ichi) Activity 1

How well can you remember the il* (ku.'1i.i) and meanings you have learnt so far? Test yourself by linking each ~¥ (kanji) with its English meaning. The fi rst one is done for you .

I) ill 2) 1i 3) 1<. 4) 'it 5) lIl: 6) * 7) m 8) ;U< 9) )11 IO)±

II ) '* 12) ~ 13) 13 14) Jl

a) water ( ) b) moon ( ) c) earth ( ) d) river ( ) e) tree ( ) f) forest ( ) g) fire ( ) h) stone ( ) i) sun( ) j) mountain ( I ) k) rice field ( ) I) bamboo ( ) m) wood ( ) n) gold ( )

Ml&= (kaisetsu - ni) Explanation 2 Look at the il* (kanjI) that follow and remind yourself of their meanings:

a. jJ. j( *. *-. i'z. ± sun, moon, fire, water, tree, gold, earth

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<- a) Monday ( ) 2) a b) Tuesday ( ) 3) ± c) Wednesday ( ) 4) 71< d) Thun;day ( ) 5) fl e) Friday ( ) 6) ~ f) Saturday ( )

7) * g) Sunday ( )

iilM:r.-W (yomu renshu) Reading practice Throughout the book, this section will give you opportunities to put into practice and fu rther develop your reading of il*- you have learnt.

The if*- (kanji) in Activity 2 represent the fi rst part of the words for the days of the week. In fact, the days of the week are written using three i#i*- (kanji) characters. The other two are III a and they represent day.


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<):

IHIH! flllIH! !kIlIH! JJ<ilIH! *iIfI!l'l ~iII!l'l ±iII!l'l

t Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

When two or morc ~¥ (kanji) are combined in this way to produce new words and meanings, they are called ~lm (jukugo) or compound words. You will learn more about these in Unit 2.

~ the way, you will often see the days of the week written with the first ~* (kanji) only, for example, on calendars and diary sheets. This is like writing 'Mon, Tues, ~ed' in English.

~ .W':::: (renshu - san) Activity 3 The following is part of a music events column from a teenage magazine. Notice that the groups and events are written partly in English script. It is highly fashionable in the Japanese music world (and not only there) for group names and song titles to be written in English. The effect of the script is often far more important than the meaning of the words. (Rancid Japan Tour and Michelle Gun Elephant from the extract are just two examples of this!)

The day of the week 00 which each of the events will take place is written in brackets next to the date (13th- 30th). Notice that only the first 7l* (knnjl) for each of the days of the week is written. Now have a go at answering the questions that follow the text.

131*'

151.'

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[llowe«a/~ 2,SOO(7" .f -t>-t~tt't' ~ 2. OOO-~ 2

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

On which day of the week do the following events take place?

I) Rotten Orange Tour 2) Down Beat 3) The Michelle Gun Elephant ... Tour 4) Rancid Japan Tour 5) World Connection ' Kool'.

How many events are taking place on:

6) a Friday 7) a Saturday 8) a Thursday? 9) Which day of the week is not represented in the events extract'!

1!}<""'!1l- (kaku renshu - ichi) Writing practice 1

7

This section will introduce you to some simple rules for writing ~¥ (kanjI). You will learn some further rules in Unit 2 and will then practise writing some of the rl¥ (kanji) you have learnt.

The rules for writing il* (kanji) arc very precise and Japanese children spend many hours of their school life learning and practising the correct order for writing each I!* (kanji). (In a similar way, we learn how to write the letters of the alphabet correctly at school). Each s ingle part of a ~* (kanji) is caJled a stroke and the order in which if.*, (kanji) are written is called 1!.F ~ Mi (kakijun) or stroke order.

• BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

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-rikisho' . 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<)

c) 51151'1 (JI) f) 41JI a (~)

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 ya·ma (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<. fire hi (i of hit)

* tree ki (i of hit)

*" wood hayashi ha-ya-shi (a of mat, i of hit) ~ forest mori mo-ri (0 of hot, i of hit)

'* water mlZU mi-zu (i of hit, u of blue) ± ground, earth tsuchj tsu-c hi (tsu is o ne syllable,

chi of chin) 1i slone ish; i-shi (i of hit) }J moon tsuki l<>U-ki (l<>U is one syllable, i of hit) a sun hi (i of hit)

(hinto) Hints: Pronunciation

There are five vowel sounds in Japanese. These are D, i, u, e and o. They are always pronounced in the same way. A general guide to their pronunciation can be seen in the list just given and can be summarised as follows:

a as in mat i as in hit u as in blue e as in end 0 as in hot

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<. fire and a day are the same - they are both pronounced hi. There are many examples of Japanese words which have the same pronunciation but are written with different il¥. The difference in meaning can be understood from reading the il*- or from the context. There are many examples in English, too, of words which are pronounced in the same way but which have different meanings. These differences in meaning are indicated by the spelling or the context or both.

~ .fI:t\ Renshii 6 How well can you remember the kunyomi reading and pronunciation of each jl!:J!:? You may want to look back at the readings on the previous list and practise saying them oul aloud - looking at the iI* as you do so - before trying the following activity.

i) Tick the correct il*:

1 ) ta 0) 'It b) Ell 2) mon 0) ± b) ~ 3) ish; 0) ~ b) 15 4) ka"" 0) )II b) W 5) k; 0) a b) !k

ii) This time tick the correct kunyomi:

I) ~ 0) kane b) kawa 2) 'It a) ta b) hayashi 3) fl 0) Isuchi b) Isuki 4) ~ 0) hayashi b) ki 5) 71< 0) mori b) kawa

0) )II 0) l!it 0) ± 0) 71< 0) *

c) k; c) lake c) ishi c) mor; c) mizu

iii) Now you are going to test your understanding of the three aspects of il* you have learnt - the il~ itself, the kunyomi and the meaning in English. You will link these three aspects by choosing one from each of two categories (a- c and i- iii) to match the first item as in the examples:


{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<. (water) III (mountain)

You can check your answers by looking back through the writing sections of units I and 2. For 1;, J) , it look up their stroke order in the unit-byunit il¥- charts at the back of this book. Then use the wriling sections and charts for Units I. and 2 to practise writ ing al l the ~¥- you have learnt so far. The rules given in these two units will give you general guidance in most cases but they are not exhaustive so pay attention to the stroke order for individual il¥ and remember that there are exceptions to rules.

Owari ni In this unit you have been tntroduced to 16 new single il* as well as 14 compound il* words and 13 Japanese surnames. You have also learnt to read dates and have been introduced to the readings of some il*. And you have reviewed writing rules and learnt two new ones.

The following new terms and sub-headings have been used in this unit:

~~ jukugo Compound Kanji words W. '8/ fukushii Review

~*O)lilt""1J 1iJ lililt "" i}'lilt"" t:y~

kanji no yomikata kunyomi onyomJ hinto

Kanji readings Japanese reading Chinese reading Hint, tip

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


• 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<)

i) Wednesday 2 1 April iii) Tuesday 21 April Ii) Wednesday 10 September IV) Saturday 5 November

If you are still unsure about reading dates then look back at the section on dates in Unit 2 to refresh your memory.

Yonde mimasho Two systems of numbering have already been used in t his book. One of these is the Arabic number system (1,2,3 ... ). T h is system is internationally recognised and is used widely in Japan. However, every language has its own words when counting (English: one, two, three . . . ; French: un, deux, trois . .. etc.). In Japanese there are ~* which represent the words for numbers. They have been used alongside Arabic numbers in this book to number activities and explanations. These are the ili=numbers \-10:

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 ' te·n' 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<;fl + J\. a 3) +fl = a 4) J\.fl = + - a 5) = fl = + - a 6) t<;fl=+1!!l a

a) 6fl24a b) 3fl31 a c) 6fllsa d) llfllla e)Sfl2 1a f) lofl2a

Dates are most often written with Arabic numeral s but not always.

3) Now write out the dates 1- 6 (in (2» in English .

3.

MliIt::::. Kaisetsu 3 The Japanese calendar Used alongside the Western calendar in Japan is the Japanese system of :f¥.~ (nengO) or era names. An era is defined by the length o f rule of each Emperor. The present Emperor, AkihilO, began his reign (the Emperor in modern Japan has a symbolic role with no political power) in 1989 and the new era is called.3fJ& (Heisel) which means 'Attainment of Peace'. The previous era was called 1Il);fn (ShOwa) which means 'Enlightened Peace'. Once an Emperor has died, he is referred to by the name of his era. Akihito's father, Hirohito who died in 1989 is, therefore, now referred to as Emperor Showa. The PBfU (ShOwa) era lasted for 63 years from 1926- 89.

When the year is written according to the :f¥.~- (nengO) system, it follows this pattern:

fJ&+~:f¥. Heisei 11th year

To match this to the Western calendar, you count up from and includ ing 1989 which was Heisei 1st Year. There fore:

-'i'JiI1;+- 4' ~ 1999 Arabic numbers can also be used: 3f,li!(; 11 ~

IIBfU (ShOwa) years are counted from and including 1926. A good way of calculating these is to have an 'anchor' year, for example, your year of birth, then count from here:

1I!U1I= +J\.4' (Sh"wa38thy",)~ 1963

Alternatively, add 25 years to the Shi)wa year to get the Western year, or take 25 years away from the Western year to arrive at the Showa year:

1IlI'!II= +4' (ShOwa 20th year) ~ 20 + 25 ~ (19)45 1985 = 85 - 25 = RB;fU:A+~ (Showa 60th year)


~ .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


• 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 -PI··S~ .

'&, ~ 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 pop·eyed 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<tli c) JII f) * g) "* h) ~ 3) Numbers and money ,) - b) 'Ii e) I1lI 'f Pl f) = li 4) Dates ,) :h.fl +- a (±) c) - :IL ;!tr &f'

5) Verbs (action words) ,) IlIJ b) tt c) ill: f) i1t -g) n: h) .It 6) Parts of the body ,) ;q: b) 0 c) IE

d) 71< i) Ell

d) 11 i) IT

d) 1'1

e) 1<.

e) ~ j) lI<

e) 'f

.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) -:> ( .. - . ~;<. ( ) (c) ~ I: ? I,! ( ) (f) -It ( • I: ~ I: ? ( )

MllI!.- Kaisetsu 1 Let us begin by looking anhe first four lines of the {) ~/)t ~ syllabary ' with the romanised pronunciation and learn how to read it.

Notice that the chart is written in the traditional way, from top to bottom and from right to left. Therefore, you read in columns rather than rows. And you begin to read from the top righthand corner. Can you now answer these two questions:

ta t.:. sa ~ Iw ~.

chi I:> shi I.., ki ! tsu "? su t ku < te -C se -It ke It to I: so 't ko ..:

I) What is the first () ~ 11: 1j: symbol? 2) Which column do you read firs t and in what order?

To save you looking in the back, the answers are 1) 1, (a) 2) I, (a). ( . (i). :> (u) ... (c). :I> (0) .

01, it· u -;

• e;<. 0:1>

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, <., -t , ""? tJ. 3) The diagonal from top left to bottom right: ~, f;,: 1". (t. :B 4) The diagonal from top right to bottom left: J" 1!, -;. -C. f/)

5) The second column: /)'. ~, <., (t, .:: 6) The fourth row: it, (t . 'it. L. tl

Have you noticed that the syllables in the row sequences always end with the same vowel sound?

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 <ow, 11, (" J;, '3, A-13) The diagonal from top left to bottom right: h, t), ~. 1/). "t 14) The diagonal from top right to bottom left: Ii, .lj.., ~, tt. A-

Now look at the sequences 10- 14 again and answer these questions:

15) How often does the symbol a) tt and b) A- appear? 16) How many symbols only appear once? 17) Which symbol appears the most times?

(Answers to 15- 17 are at the back of the book.)

l::~ J-. - Hinto 1 Remembering '01;'Ii\'/6. This section will introduce you to a way of remembering () ~ tJ: 'd: through visual and sound association (mnemonics). The basic idea is that you find a way to make the shape of each symbol suggest a picture or story which connects it to its sound. For example. here are some ideas for the first five () ~ tJ: 1" . Concentrate on the sounds (for example. aim = 'e') rather than the letters or spellings.

,

1 (a) 2 (i) 3 (u) 4 (e) 5 (0)


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) !!<lb, my back hurts!

4 i. (e) .lim for the target 5 1:1 (0) is an .2strich

Do you get the idea? Here are another 10 to get you started. then, if you find this method helps you, try to think of your own. You might not have inspiration fOT all of them at first , but try a few at a time and write down your ideas in a notebook.

1 2 3 .

6 .,!, 7 8

Stories

() (hi) is someone laughing, mhee

2 h (wa) is a baby crying, waaaa 3 ( (ku) for cuckoo 4 C (to) is the toe of a shoe 5 tl (De) is the Loch ~ss monster

l!J Ilk. =: Renshu 3

4 5

G 9 10

6 t:, (chi) is a t.Il£erleader 7 tl (nu) looks like a bowl of

JmDCIlcs 8 l, (shi) ill's got long hair 9 (t (ke) for KO (knocked out)

10 ..: (ko) is a ~x apple

Now that you have been introduced to the 46 0 t, IJ~ ~ symbols. it is time to put your learning into practice and try reading some words . .To make it easier for you, the words are in three sets. Set I cons ists of U t, IJ~ ~ from the first page of the chart and Set 2 consists of those from the second page. The fmal challenge is Set 3 which comprises words using 0 t, IJt ~ from the whole chart. Sec how many symbols/words you can read from

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) I·t.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.) -> ~ <' (kya) L- (sht) ---t L- ~ (sha) ~ (chI) ---t ~~ (cha) {.:. (ni) ---t t.:~ (nya) V (hi) -> V'<' (hya) Jj.. (mi) ---t Jj..'<;> (mya) 9 (ri) -> 9'<' (rya)

~ ~ (kyu) l ~ (shu) .,~ (chu) ,O~ (nyu) V~ (hyu)

"'~ (myu) 9 $ (ryu)

~ .!'o!'ll!!! Renshu 4

~ ~ (kyo) l ~ (sho) ., ~ (cho)

'O~ (nyo) V ~ (hyo)

"'~ (myo) 9 ~ (ryo)

This activity is going to utilise some of the wide range of 'onomatopoeic' words which the Japanese have in their language. These are words which sound like the action or sound word they name. In Japanese, such words usually repeat a sound twice. The nearest English equivalents are phrases such as 'woof woof' for a dog's bark; ' plip plop ' for the sound of rain; and 'gobble gobble' for the sound of a turkey but words like this in Japanese are not limited to children's words.

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'):

~'. ~. <. (t. .:: --> j)<. ~'. elf. :::: (ka, ki, leu , Ire, ko) ga gl gu ge go

2) ' 5' sounds --+ 'z ' sounds:

(sa, shi, SU, se, so)

• L: is pronounced 'ji' .

za ••• l' zu ze zo


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 can improve your score. You do not need to be perfect fi rst time round! Most of these words are usually written with ~~ but the purpose of the activities that follow is to practise reading U' '' ;Q'~.

This acti vity will use (j ~ tJ{ 1J:" from the initial chart (p. 6 1) and contracted sounds (pp. 66, 68).

See how many of these words you can read.

a) 1! ~ < (customer) c) ! ' 19> 1 (0 19> 1 (m;lk) e) t: ~ t.l (See you!) g) to 19> 1 ~ " < (lunch) ;) U"" 1 (. It.. (hosp;tal)

b) ~ " 1 (today) d) ~ " ~ It.. (photogmph) f) to " ? ~ " < (b,eakfast) h) U''' < ( 100) j) 9"': 1 (travel)


l!J en? 1; Renshu 7 This activity will use () ~ IJ: ~ from the initial chart (p. 6 1) plus {) ~ -/): ~ which change Iheir sound (p . 67). Once again, see how many of these words you can read.

a) Jj<.-r (water) b) -/)~~. (keys) c) L-."'C A., (dictionary) d) ""C" A.-h (telephone) e) t.; A.,tftf (dandelion) f) c· ! c· ! (sound of heart beating fast) g) IJ~ J.!lJt J.! (gulping sound - when dri nking)

l!J en? A Renshu 8 This activity gives you practice at reading words with the small "? (p. 69).

a) I?.t ""? C (a little) b) .t ""? "'C (wait) c) -'?>""? tr IJ (as expected) d) -b: ""? ':: -; (school) e) ii' h..li' '? -C (Good luok!) f) ! ""? , C (siraight ahead)

Yomu renshu 2 DG'IIV~ and ~*

You will already have noticed from the instruction words used throughoul this book (and in the lasl activity) that Japanese is wrilten as a mixlure of () ~ -/): ~ and ~* (and :IJ 7 :IJ T - kalakana, introduced in Unit 9). The '{) ~ -# ~ parts of the words have a grammatical funcli on. As mentioned in the Introduction, Japanese children first learn to read and write using only '{) ~ /){ ~ . As Ihey learn ~* they make their writing more sophisti cated by replacing words and parts of words written in U- f:J -b: ~ with i#!*. Although it may seem to be a simpler task 10 read using U- ~ /): ~ (rather than having 10 learn 2000 il*!) in fact, once you know I!*. texts become easier to read and scan because 11* offer visual clues to the meaning.

l!J .'l'l:h. Renshu 9 You have learnt that U ~ /): ~ has a grammatical function. Now you are going to put this to practice. Below are five of the verbs (action words) you learnt in Unit 4 . The '{) ~ /): ~ symbols aft er each ~* serve to

UNIT 5 71

show the tense of the verb. J: t endings indicate the present or fut ure (for instance, 1 cat /wi ll cat) and J: L.. t:. indicates the past ( I ate). (For those of you who have Teach Your:"elf Beginner s Japanese, verbs are introduced in Unit 8.) The kunyomi (Japancse reading) is used for single il* verbs with V ~ lit 1" endings. I.n Japanese texts, unfamiliar readings are indicated in J.. ~ tJ: 1" (furigana) which is V ~ tJ: 'j: written above, below or beside ~* to show the pronunciation .

Now sec if you can read these verbs:

t.: t.: a) 1:t -< £ T (I eat) 1:t -< £ ~ f.; (I ate)

Q) Q)

b) 111:", £ T (I drink) 111:", £ ~ tc (I drank)

'" '" c) JI. £ T (I look) JI..t ~ tc (I looked) '11' 'II'

d) I'} ~ .t T (I write) I'} ~ .t ~ tc (I wrote) Ii", Ii(;

e) illi ~ .t T (I talk) illi ~ £ ~ f.; (I talked)

L!J _Wi" Renshu 10 In Unit 4 (p. 49) you worked out the meanings of a set of Japancse sentences by identifying the key _* words. The same sentences now follow again, but this time you are goi ng to practise reading the whole sentence in Japanese. You can do this now because you have learnt to read CJ ~ tJ{ 'j: . The readings for the ~* words or parts of words are given in J.. ~ tJ{ 1" (furigana). Check the English meanings of the sentences by referring back to Unit 4. Read out aloud!

G ... ammar note : t t , .z , (.: and tJ: have grammar functions which you will learn more about in Unit 10. When {i has thi s function it is pronounced 'wa' (and when it is used as part ofa word it is pronounced in the usual way as 'ha t).

nA.~ V t t: (j A-.::' 1. ~ I ) 3J: (1) A !i a *ilIl i' "'I- I)' £ ~ tc.

n A. ~ .: t' ,t .; v' "(:> "t 2) 3J: (1)'1' Ii ± 1IlII a IZ. f* '" £ ~ tc.

nt.: Vt -?l! 3) '1.\ (1) A Ii fl

72

(i ~ L.

4) '* .Be..:

5) !J! 1:Uv~

6) * ~J.t!

7) tlJ IB

'(J C: t.: It iT) A I~ it

(i ~ ~ Iv I: 1lIi t

~, ~ ~ "('To

Owari ni


In this unit you have learnt the 46 basic 0 ~ tJ{ Ij: symbols plus related sounds and rules. Vou have had the chance to write them and to read words and phrases in 0 G tJ{ ~ . You have learnt the two main uses of ()t,~,~

• to write words not normally written in Ii* • to indicate grammar functions and word endings.

You will come across () ?y tJ{ Jj:' again in Unit 10 and you can refer back to this unit whenever you need to, so do not worry if you have not taken everything in with the first attempt!

6 Jb',lI Dai rokka UNIT 6


• learn to decode the meanings of 39 new ~* • learn to read morc compound 1Jt*" words • try some activities to review all the tl* you have learnt so far • learn to read and write II adjectives (describing words)

Hajime ni In Units I and 2 you looked at ~~ which derive from pictures of nature. Here is a selection of them. Can you remember their meanings?

a) ± e) Q

c) ~ g) a

d) :u h) 11

Yonde mimasho As you did in Units I and 2, see if you can match the following pictures with the correct ~* (a- j).

I) tall /high

2) old

3) big II

I B;-j'

4) small

5) bird

6) rice

• ••

74

7) thread

8) cow

a) :Sf. f) JT

b) /IIi g) lj=

c) ~

h) '"


9) axe

10) stand

e) * j) Ij,

I \

How did you get on? Check your answers at the back and then look at the development sequence from picture to modern kanji that follows.

I ) iWi tall/ high

2) '" old

3)

4)

5)

6)

* big

'J' small

.Il!; bird

* flee

• .. -~

" I So -.'I'

, ~ ,j, "

~ ~/5 ~ ,~ •

~ )K' -7 * ~ ~

UNIT 6

7) '* thread

8) 'F cow

9) fT axe

10) 1L stand

I \

~ \ ~ ~-+~ EPJ~i--+4

f~if

75

~ .w- Renshu 1 Match the 1l~ in the left column with the English meanings in the right column. Look back at the jl~ pictures if you need to remind yourse lf of the meanings.

a) 'F b) fT c) i\'! d) 1L c) '* f) ... g) IJ' h) .f~ Q ;Ie

j) *

I) small . 2) big 3) old 4) tall/high (also means 'expensive') 5) bird 6) cow 7) rice 8) thread 9) axe

10) stand (up)

Kaisetsu 1 About 2- 3% of f«!~ derive from simple pictorial representations. As you have already learnt, many of these simple pictorial ~~ are also used as components in more complex il~. You will be looking at this in more detail in Unit 7 but one of the purposes of Ihis unit is to introduce you to


some more s imple il~ which will help you in this unit, and later, to decode the meaning and make-up of other more complex ~~. Lei us start with four new t!I!~ and look al how their components can be brought together into a story to give the meaning.

I) iJJ: (mother). You can see the outline oCtt: (woman) in this ~* ~

4 The two short strokes within the m* indicate breasts, hence ~ mother.

2) ~ (cheap, safe). Again, you can see the ~* for woman . The component above is like a hat or covering. So the 1l$- looks like a woman wearing a cheap hat!

3) 1Z. (wide, spacious). The left side of Ibis tl~ should remind you of a cliff or cave. Within it is a triangular shape with a wide base <it also looks like a wide nose!).

4) tT (new). You have learnt two of these components in this unit. The top left is :iL (stand (up)), the rightside is fi (axe) . The remaining component (bottom left) is * (tree). The story: cut down a standing tree and get new wood.

l!J .W =: Renshu 2 Now you are going to try to link new ~* with stories to establish their meanings. Three of the fo llowing ~* represent colours (blue, white, black) and the other two mean 'father ' and 'min'. Which is which? Look at the il*, read the stories and link them up.

aJ ~ bJ S cJ l'f d) 5i: eJ jIj

i) Rain . This fi* looks like drops of rain against a window. 2) White. The components, 'sun' (S) and 'my' (short stroke) depict the

white rays of the sun. 3) Father. He has a long moustache and dimples in his cheeks! 4) Biack. The components, rice field, earth and fire (four short ' flamelike'

strokes) depict the deep black colour which the earth turns when the rice stubble is burnt after the harvest.

5) Blue. T~is il'¥ also means 'green ' (for example, the colour of traffic lights and apples). Its components are 'earth ' with an extra horizontal

UNIT 6 . 77

line which means plants growing out of the ground and 'moon'. Young plants are green and we speak of a blue moon .

•

~ IlkW ~ Renshii 3 As in Renshii I you are going to see how we ll you can remember the ~~ you have been introduced to in thi s section (nine in total). Link the ~* to the English meaning.

a) ~ I) father b) ]iIj 2) mother c) l'i 3) white d) ;!Ii 4) black e) J4 5) bluc, green f ) Jlt 6) cheap, safe g) E 7) wide, spacious h) Ilh 8) new i) :l<: 9) cam

MJlIt= Kaisetsu 2 In Unit 3 you learnt the 1*:~ for numbers (- . =. _. etc.). These are from a small group of tl~ which depict abstract ideas using shapes and lines. The ~~ fo r the words above, below and inside are formed in a similar way. Look at these nl.~ :

I) ..t (above, on top) has a baseline with a ' I' shape above it. 2) r (below, under) has a baseline with a ' t ' shape below it. 3) if! (i nside, middle) is a box with a Hnc through the middle.

You can also imagine ..t and r to look like the top and roots of a plant.

You have now learn t 22 new ~¥ in thi s unit. Let us review them, grouping them together by theme.


Colours l'f (blue) i3 (white) JA\ (black)

Adjectives (describing words) * (big) Ij , (small) ;'; (old) >lIT (now) jtfj (tall, expensive) :1< (cheap, safe) 14 (wide)

People, animals Jg, (moth.,) :li: (father) 4 (cow) J\lo (bird)

Nature, basic items iifii (min) * (rice) IT (axe) ~ (thread)

Position J: (above) ""f (below) '1' (inside) rr (stand up)

_* build up 1 In Units 2 and 4 you learnt that more complex 11* are made from combinations of simpler il~. These simpler _~ become components o f the more complex ones. Examples you have learnt include :9} (man), *1- (like) and fJtJ (li sten). Now let us look at _* you have learnt in this unit which are also used as components in more complex 11*. Nij Rain is used as a component of more complex _¥ to indicate types of weather (with rain as their basis), such as:

W Cloud . The lower components are two and triangle shape - think of them as ' two cloud shapes'!

:II: Cloudy weather. The lower part is doud and the upper component is a (sun). Cloudy weather blocks out the sun!

'Jf S now ('frozen rain ' ). The lower component (E) looks like ll.J (mountain) on its side. Think of snow-covered mountains!

ill Thunder. The lower component is rice field, a place where farmers would be very aware of thunderstorms.

m Electric is an interesting progression from thunder. This time you can see a fl ash of lightning through the rice field - and lightning creates electricity!

Renshii 4 You are going to try identifying more complex il* by looking at· the components and linking them into a meaning. Here are the ~*:

UNIT 6

,) :Jt e) 01>

b) Ii1J f) MI

Story meanings

c) if g) if

d) $ h) '"

79

I) Meaning: island. Japan is made up of many, many small islands, often just rocky hills in the sea with only birds living on them. This il*, therefore, is a depiction of a bird sitting (you can't see its tail feathers) on a mountain .

2) Meaning: dove, pigeon. The components bird and nine represent a dove.

3) Meaning: hot/biller (taste). The components stand up and ten combine to give an image of strong flavours which make the taste buds stand up to the power of 10! .

4) Meaning: dog . The components big + short stroke depict a large dog with its tongue hanging out!

5) Meaning: sound, noise. Components: stand up and sun . Stand in the sun and listen to the sounds.

6) Meaning: pointed, tapered. Components big and small. Put simply, tapering to a point involves something becoming smaller.

7) Meaning:few. a lillie. Components: small and a diagonal stroke.

8) Meaning: frost. Components: rain, tree and eye. Frost (made from rain) on trees looks like millions of sparkling eyes.

Finally. the i1.€~ for fat is :;te. This looks very similar to 7t (dog) . You can distinguish them by thinking of the short stroke in dog as the tongue and of the short stroke infat as a marker indicating the widest or fattest p,rt of the iliI'1'. In this section of il¥ Build up you have been introduced to 14 new ~!f: . They are listed here. Can you remember their meanings? Check back through the section if there are any you are unsure about.

~.~. m. m .•. :Jt.*.oI>.$.if.~.~.~ • • ~ build uJ? 2 ~lIf (jukugo) Compound. ~~ words Remember that ~m (jukugo) are words created from two or more il!f:. You have come across examples of these in Units 1- 4. Words such as A Q (P.,Opulation). a III a (Sunday) and it~ (food) are some of the J~9 or ~~ compounds you have learnt so far.


The next two activities are designed to get you thinking about the meanings of some new il* words using the il* you have been introduced to in this unit plus others you have learnt in earlier units.

~ .flJi Renshu 5 This activity uses combinations of il¥ you have learnt in this unit only. Match the two ~* words in the box with the Engli sh meanings from the list beneath it.

Meanings

c) :li:J!F g) 1Z.:k

I) vast 2) swan 3) calf 4) puppy, small dog 5) poli shed (white) rice 6) parents 7) pale; blue-white 8) heavy rain.

~ .fl1\ Renshu 6 This activity combines il* from this un it with some you have learnt from previous units. Those from previous units arc:

<r (year). ~ (st udy). :9: (woman). 1lI (vehicle) . 'f (hand). A (person), 0 (mouth), ~ (eye), 11a (listen). im (talk), '1:1 (middle)

Again. choose the appropri ate ~* word from the box to match its English meaning. The bracketed infonnation gives the literal meaning in cases where the meaning may not be immediately obvious.

I) university (big study) 3) good at (upper hand) 5) youth (blue years =

innocence)

c) &4' h) AHl m) ~1lI

d) &:9: i) 4'L n) ~1IIl

e) :k?'l j) 1'1 L 0) .. 1lI

2) trai n (electric vehicle) 4) bad al (lower hand ) 6) your superiors (their eye level is

above you)

UNIT 6 81

7) child (small person) 8) adult (big person) 10) telephone (electric talk) 9) clue (the thread mouth!)

II) new year 13) boy (few years) 15) new car

12) older {than you} (years above) 14) girl (aJewla little bit a woman)

17) newspaper (newly heard) 16) second-hand car (in the middle

of being old )

Check your answers before moving on to the next activity.

Finally in this section, you are going to extend your knowledge of il* compounds a little further by learni!l.1 3 new il* and looking at how these are used in combination with ~* you have learnt in this unit to make new words.

I) m means country and is the depiction ofa king (3i. lit.jewel) within the boundaries (D) of his kingdom. Examples of its usage are: * 00 rice country is the Japanese WQrd for America. (The rice grown in

America is short-grained like Japanese rice and often packaged and sold as Japanese rice.)

tp * middle rice is the Japanese word for Central America. 4100 middle country means China (the central country of Asia). ffl:OO Mother country means exactly that., the country you originate from. !bOO Island country (such as Japan, Britain and Australia).

2) f4 means meat orflesh. You can see two people (A ) hanging from a frame!

If: f4 cow meat means beef. ~ f4 bird meat means chicken.

3) ;Ii means school. The left side, tree (*) indicates a wooden building (Japanese schools were traditionally made of wood) and the right side is father (:1<:) weari ng a hat. Think of this as a teacher.

study school means school . small school m~ans elementary or primary school. means middle school or junior high school . means high school (abbreviated version of 1.Ii~~;Ii).

Renshu 7 In this section you have been introduced to 36 new il* compounds. You can see them all in the fo llowing list and your task is to test your memory

.2 BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

by writing the meanings in the brackets after each word. Then check your answers by looking back through the previous sections.

s.fl,( ) ::klfi( ) x:llJ ( ) 'i'ls ( ) Ij"" ( ) Ij,'F ( ) 1L.::k ( ) 1"1* ( ) >Iii"l'-( ) W"I'-( ) 1>"1'- ( ) 1>:k ( ) ::k"l" ( ) Ij'A ( ) ::kA ( ) h\1::t ( ) "1'-.1:( ) 1'1.1:( ) .1:'f- ( ) r'f- ( ) >liiJ!i( ) >Iii!lll ( ) *00 ( ) '1'* ( ) '1'00 ( ) llJOO ( ) &.\00 ( ) 'Fill ( ) X.H\I( ) "1<;I;« ) Ij'''1<;1;( ( ) 'I' ''l'';1;« ) illi;l;« ) 'iliJ!i( ) iffi ( ) '1'~J!i ( )

.lQ)~~jj (Kanji no yomikata) • Readings In this section you are going 10 learn to say 11 adjectives (describing words), learnt in this unit, in Japanese. Look up the kunyomi (Japanese reading) for the following ~* in the unit chart at the back of the book.

f.li. '$<. Jj' . ::k. ~". ~. >Iii. :;!C. IL.. 1"1 • P- has two kunyomi - sukuna(i) means few; suko(shi) means a littfe.

Notice that part o f the reading is written in brackets. This is the part which is written in (J G tJ~ Ij:. For example: taka(i) is written ?Ji ~, meaning: tall , expensive.

Memorise the whole reading including the part in brackets then try the activity that fo llows.

l!.I MlW A Renshu 8 You are now going to practise reading the II adjectives as complete words including the () ~ /)t ~ endings. Even if you have not yet worked through Unit 5, you can still do this because the whole word is given in the unit chart. And the answers are given at the back of the book.

a) f.li\. c) 1>\' i) :;!c\.

b) ~~> f) 1> I.j) IL.\'

UNIT 6 83

• < .UBi Kaku renshii 5 In Units 1 and 2 you learnt some general rules for writing ll~. You put these into practice in Unit 3 to write jf;~ numbers and in Unit 4 to write ~~ verbs. Now you are going to learn to write the ten il* from Activity 8 in this unit. US,e squared paper and focus on the proportions and overall balance of each .~. Once you feci confident, see if you can write them from memory. Keep saying the meaning (and the readings) to yourself as you write them to help fix all the different elements into your memory.

) y

Q c::>

II:» -~

, ) ·0 b --'-, -'" "" 1 (J 10)

) " \- , T !~2.-

, , \.J-,

, , , I ,- ) III ,...-"? l..... ~

A -/k - t Jz. •

•

J j , -,+" 1 d J\ ,

I};' .I.J.;-:, J d d, J};


6 -0-- - 1- 6 Yr ~ , > -?- .0- :it

- tf./ ~ , /

~ j ~ •

~ -.... - t ;K is---j .. , •

•

~ /t-, , " ~ " - - ;;. } )1-

•

8 -ffi-•

. I I I A 8 \

"

UNIT 6 85

Owari ni In this unit you have been introduced to a total of39 single il* through picture association and through analysing their component parts. You have also learnt 36 new ~~ compounds and have practised reading and writing the il*" words for II adjectives. Units 1 ~6 have altogether introduced you to 97 single il¥:, 100 ~~ compounds (including 13 surnames) and the whole V &.;, tJ~ -'j:" syllabary! 1:; lIJ""L C -1 (omedetiJ) Congratulations! Of course, you might not remember all or even most of these but the purpose of this book is to help you understand more about Japanese script, about how it is made up and to find ways for you to break the 11* code and to build on your learning. Even Japanese people forget il* from time to time; it takes time and practice to build up your knowledge of them. But remember - Japanese script can be fun to learn tool

Tesuto A) The test at the end of Unit 4 contained a summary of all the single nl* you had learnt up to that point. This activity pulls together all the single ifl~ you have learnt in this unit. Can you identify them all? They are in ascending order of stroke number. The answers are at the back but do not worry if you can not do them all on the first attempt - you can keep coming back to this activity!

I) J: 2) r 3) Ij , 4) *- S) <P 6) *-7) '" 8) Y 9) IT 10) Jt Il)'t 12) 3r

13) ... 14) Jlt IS) IZ. 16) S 17) * 18) 'ti: 19) *' 20) 'k 21) iIiJ 22) 'i" 23) III 24) ft 2S) 00 26) tr 27) Iili 28) &;, 29) :fi< 30) ~ 31) £~ 32) * 33) ~ 34) !'Ii 3S) W 36) lit 37) JI(j 38) it 39) m

B) This actIvIty is des igned to test how well you remember the compound words you have learnt so far. The surnames are not included, you can review these by turning to Activity 7 of Unit 2. The words below are grouped by theme (loosely in some cases!). What do they mean in English?


Days of the week I) 1'11111'1 2) ± IIII (:I 3) *l1li (:I 4) 1<.l1li a School and study 5) "'* 6) Ij''*t!< 7) <I' '*t!< 8) loOt!< 9) #:"l' 10) JI.,* Countries

II ) 13 '" 12) <1'00 13) *00 14) <1'* 15) Jltoo 16) Qoo Food and drink 17) 'fill I 8) .t:l. III I 9) tI" 'IIiJ 20) tiI:'IIiJ 2 1) S* 22) tiI:* Transport 23) lllllr 24) 1ii$ 25) <I'!!ill! 26) ~$ 27) A:IJ$ Animals 28) Ij,* 29) Ij,'f 30) s£l, People 3 1) :ltJlt 32) Ij'A 33) :kA 34) &"1'- 35) &:9: 36) :9:r Shopping and travel 37) fl'IIiJ 38) JI.'IIiJ 39) "p 40) til P 4 1) #: (:I

7 .-t. Dai nanaka UNIT 7


• learn about the different types of ~* • learn morc about ~* radicals and components • identify i.l* meanings from their radical • learn to write ~* in the correct proportions

Ii t; 3<'>1: Hajime ni In Units 2. 4 and 6 you looked at how simpler im* are used as components of more complex ones. Look back over these units if you find now or later that you need to refresh your memory. In this unit you arc goi ng to look in morc depth at ways you can crack the code for more complex ~*. First of all you are going to lest your memory of some of the complex ~* you have learnt so far.

I) What are the meanings of the i?l¥ that follow?

a) *" g) Jt m) ~1

b) lil: h) I'f n) f*

c) Jg .) ~ I ~

0) :lJ

d) !if j) 7f. p) "l!

0) IJIJ k) ~

f) Jill I) 1m

2) What arc the meanings of the left sides of the il* in this list? (You wilt not know the whole meaning at this stage.) Refer to Unit 4 if you need more infonnation about (a).

a) f* h) #

b) P/l i) jill

c) l!l ill[

d) !I* k) D~

f) * m) i t

MliIt- Kaisetsu 1 Types of tl*, There are a number of ways in which ~* have been developed. You are already familiar with the first three of these categories:


1) Pictorial ll'i' These fairly simple il~ derive from pictures of nature. Examples are L1J (mountain), )II (river) and A ( person). They make up about 2- 3% of all 1l'1'.

2) Simple abstract ll'i' These il* convey abstract ideas through symbols, for example, the numbers (Unit 3). There are only a very few oflhis kind.

3) Complex pictorial ll'i' These are made up of two or more basic pictorial ~* which together convey a new meaning. Examples are '** (wood), J1 (man) and f!ij (bright) but Activity 2 in the introduction to this unit has more examples which you will be learning. Again, this type of Ii¥: makes up about 2- 3% of aull'1'.

4) Sound and meaning ll'i' Part of the at*- conveys the general meaning and part conveys the pronunciation (onyomi or Chinese reading). By identifying the component parts you have a clue to the meaning and how to say it. Examples (from Activity 2) incl ude 1ft; (time) and :fi; (turn). About 90% of il~ belong to this group.

This unit is going to focus on categories 3) and 4) and you are going to learn ways of cracking the il~ code!

Mit:: Kaisetsu 2 _* components As you have already learnt, more complex jl~ are made up of simpler ones which we have called components. One of these components, known as the radical, often gives a clue to the general meaning of the whole 3i~. Many radicals are themselves iJi~, usually of the simple pictorial kind. In dictionaries, nl~ are grouped by their radica l (same radical, same group). You will learn more about this later in the unit.

In Activity 2 in the introduction to this unit, you identified the left part of each iI:~ . You were, in fact , identifying the radical in this activity - the most common location of a radical is on the left side of a il~. Th;re are

UNIT 7 89

in total 214 radicals according to the tradi tional Chinese classifica tion. The purpose of this unit is 10 introduce you to a few of the more common radicals and to make you fa miliar wi lh the idea of radicals so that you have a solid foundation to build on.

~ .w- Renshu 1 In this activity you will have a go at idenli fyi~~ new ~* which are formed by combin ing two or morc pi ctorial m* (c~te~ory 3 from earlier). You have already come across some ofthesc new ~~ in Activity 2 in the introduction to this unit. Beneath these are a number of stories and meanings. See if you can match each ~~ with a story and meaning ' by looking at the components that make up the 1l~. .

a) m g) 'im

b) IlOl h) i1i.

c) iIII i) ~

Stories and meanings

d) It!I1 j) Jm

e) l'l\ k) g

f) ij() I) ~

I) Th ... ee women together are very wicked! Meaning: wickedness. 2) Heaping fire upon fi ... c creates a bl aze. Meaning: blaze. flame. 3) A fire burning wood (two trees). Meani ng: burn, kindle. 4) A field burnt by fire is ready for culti vation. Meani ng: cullivaled

field. 5) The mouth of the bird creates birdsong. Meani ng: cry. chirp (of

birds, animal s). 6) A penon's words are to be believed. Meaning: believe. 7) The three mouths (the lines in two look like tongues) chanted in

unison. Meaning: chant, recite. 8) They dug up the rice field and buried the treasure in the euth

beneath. Mean ing: be buried. 9) The visual image is ' speaking fie ry words' . Meaning: discussion,

conversation. 10) 'Speaking five mouths '. In other words, five languages. Meaning:

langllage(s). I I) The sun ri sing'above the hol"izon. Meaning: dawn . 12) The child is attached to its ancestors by a genetic thread (there is a

sho ... t line above the thread which is attached to the chi ld). Meaning: grandchild.


MilIt:: Kaisetsu 3 More about radicals and components

In the last activity you got to the meaning of the il~ by linking the components into a story. You can do this with many jJ!~ and even though sometimes the story or link may seem far-fetched, if the meanings of the components are kepi consistent , this method can be a very useful code-breaker and memory 'jog' when learning new rl~. You have already learnt in this un it that the radi ca l o f a r!4* usually conveys its general meaning. Let us look at "this in more detail using the radical tl (say). Some il* follow which contain this radical (on the left side):

ia (narrative, history) iU£ (proof, certificate) ~ (conversation) mt (language)

~ (translation) .. (tune) lI;f (poem) II (lesson)

These examples show that the radica l indicates a general link with the meaning of speech or words (including musical 'words' or notes in the case of~ - tune). Now let us look at some of the more common radicals. Remember there are 2 14 altogether but the aim of this unit is to introduce you to the idea of radicals and to show you ways in which they can be helpful in learni ng ~*. Here arc the lefthand radi cals which ·you ident ified in Activity 2 (introduction). You learnt the meanings in earlier units.

A (pcn;on) r:t (mouth) ± (earth) -j;:: (woman) a (sun, day) T (chi ld) jJ (moon) ;;+;: (tree) !k (fire) fl1 (rice fie ld) ~ (eye) ~ (say; words) ~ (gold. metal - as a radical it nonnally means 'meta l' ) 1fI (car, vehic le also wheel)

You have already learnt that a ~* may change shape s lightly when used as a radical. Here are some examples (the radical is on the left):

I) Radicals may appear ' squashed' 2) Radica ls may have some shorter strokes 3) Radicals may change their shape

:.l.t (radical = earth) ~ (radical = tree) -f* (radical = person)

UNIT 7 91

Here are two more useful radicals whose shape di tTers from the ~* you have met already:

71< (water) as a lefthand radical ----7 jEJ (looks like three sp lashes of water) .=f (hand) as a lefthand radical ----7 :fJi (squashed and the top line has gone)

One more point to notc before you begin the next activity is that two of the radicals already mentioned have two meanings. They are:

11 (moon) but this has the second meaning ' fl esh' (from a 'squashed' version of ~ - flesh/meat) .

a (sun) but can also take the meaning 'speak' (from S ' to speak' . A tongue in a mouth - although thi s is rare!)

~ .W = Renshu 2 In this activity you will look at a number of ~* with the radical missing. The meaning of the full ~* is given (plus a story where appropriate) and you have to decide which radical (from the list given in Explanation 3) will complete the ~~. Here is an example to help you:

l§- Co mponents : tongue and mouth. Story: you must drink water to live. M.eaning: to live. Answer: m (radical = water).

a) * Components: root (of tree). Story: the root/origin of a person is their body. Meaning: body.

b) T Component : a marker or post. Story: rice field s mark a town's boundaries. Meaning: town.

c) >t Co mponent: measurement. Story: the villagers measured and cut wood to make their homes. Meaning: village.

d) *' Components : tree and short top branches = not yet (that is, not yet a fu lly grown tree) Stor y: someone who is not yet a woman. Meaning: younger sisler.

e) T Component: a marker or post. Story : fire on a post makes a lamp to mark your way. Meaning: lamp.

f) JT Component: axe. Sto ry : with his hand he wie lded the axe to break the object. Meaning: break, snap, fold.

g) til Component: people, nation. Story: the people closed their eyes and slept. Meaning: sleep.

h) ;Ii: Component : dog. Story: dogs bark with their mouths. Meaning: bark.


i) -t Co mpo ne nt : measurement. Story : part of the body (flesh) used as an old measurement, from elbow to finge rtip. Meaning: elbow.

j) B Component : white. Story: the hotel wc stayed at had water and clean white towels. Meaning: slayal .

k) + Component ten, but imagine it to be a needle with thread coming out of it (horizontal line). Story : needles are made of metal. Meaning: needle.

I) = + b. Components: two (+ a shape which looks like a nose! In the iM~ the two is above the nose). Story: the car's two wheels rotatc. Meaning: 10 rotale, turn.

m) ~ Components: earth and measurement:: temple (think of the Buddhist priests plott ing out the area of land before building the temple). Sto ry: the temple bell struck each hour all through the day. Mea ning: lime, hOllr.

How did you get on'! Here are the il~ you have identified, complete with thei r radical and meaning. Think about how the radical gives a cl ue to the general meaning and how you can fit the components together into a story.

, ) f* (body) d) .u: (younger sister) g) U~ (sleep) j) lI'l ("'y al) m) P# (nme)

b) lIlT (Iown) e) n (lamp) h) Ilk (b.,k) k) it (needle)

~ .W~ Renshii 3

c) # (village) f ) tIT (fo ld, sn,p) i) !It (.11>0.,) I) f;; (!urn)

In Act ivity 2 in the introduction to this unit you identified the lefthand radicals of iOO.!::f.: but not the fu ll meaning. You have now come across all these meanings so turn back to Activity 2 on page 87, and see if you can identify all the nx!¥:. The answers are in Renshii I and 2.

Kaisetsu 4 Locating the radical

So fa r you have identified radicals on the left side of ~*. Thi s is the most common position of a radical but not the only one. Here are the other locations with examples (the radical is in brackets).

UNIT 7 .3 ~ /. 4Rl It Right side w shape ( ~ ) ill' capila/ ( I" )

Above * tea C .... ") 11: cheap (~) Below ~ enjoyable (;;te) ~ emergency (,eo,) Surround - complete 00 country (D) Surround - partial m shop (I) m mad, way (L) ~ listen ( r~)

Some radicals are located in more than one pos ition. For example, * (tree) is found:

I) left side (*f\ woods) 3) below (~ enjoy)

2) above (~ investigate)

And in different positions, some radicals change their shape. For example, 1< (ft"' ):

I) left side t:Pl (field)

, And 'L' (heart):

I) left side 111 (feeling)

2) below 1t (boil) Here it looks like four small flames

2) below ~ (emergency)

Renshii 4 The box contains some common radicals found in the righthand position, or above, below or surround. Their names/meanings are given in brackets.

;,-(vegetation) 'J:... (yawn) '-'\. (vapour)

F (village) ...L (lid) n (hat!)

,.., (cover) 'J. or ~ , .. (fire) NT (bambao) o (enclosure) r77 (hole) iiF., (rain)

1\' or J\..:: (heart)

Look at the ll*- a-m and decide I) which is its radical (from the box) and 2) its location. Here is an example to help you. Think as well how the radical may indicate the general meaning.

9f Rei: ~ (potato) I) vegetation radical 2) above (link: a potato is a vegetable)

94

a) :Ii (cheap) ~

c) )1, (capital city) e) ~ (picture. diagram) g) m (writing brush) i) !l; (a i, sky) k) it (spirit) m) ~ (snow)


b) 16 (floW.,) d) j\JI (/o.ge dlY) f) 111: (song) h) m (black)

j) '" (army) I) 'i!! (think)

M\lIUi Kaisetsu 5 _* readings It has already been mentioned earlier on in this un it that as well as the radical often giving the general meaning of il*. the other component(s) sometimes indicate the reading (anyomi). Below are s ix ~* whose right sides (or in the case of lemple tile whole ll*) are all the same and are read either JI or SHI.

~ (temple) JI B;¥ (lime) JI * (samurai) JI ~ (Io\o\-'er; soar) JI f,'j (hold) Jl 'JIi (poem) SHI

Notice how the left s ide (the radical) g ives a clue to the meaning. We have discussed some already, for example, J;j (poem) has the radical if (say, words). ~ (hold) has the radical .=f (hand-remember it changes its shape slight ly). Look at the radicals of the others and think about how these give a po inter to their meaning. (The radical fo r temple is ' earth').

l!J _flJi Renshu 5 Th is act ivity gets you to look at ~* whose right sides and onyomi reading are the same. You wi ll first be given the right side (this can stand alone as a ~* too) and then will choose from a selection of radicals (the fu ll m* is also given in brackets) which radical gives the fu ll ~*' its particular meaning. Refer to pp. 90-1 , 93 if you can not remember the meaning of a radical. The firs t one has been done fo r you.

Right side: -B (SHO) Meaning: call, send for, summon

Radicals (lJ.*) Meanings a) =f (UI) i) beckon, invite () b) a (1I!1) ii} inherit ( ) c) 71< (m) iii) imperial edict, decree ( ) d) *' (J!!) iv) elm. bright ( ) e) 1=1 (iRI) v) swamp, marsh ()

UNIT 7

Answers i) == a == m (link: beckon with your hand)

ii) = d = Mf (l ink: inheritance 'thread ' to relatives) iii) = e = 1m (link: spoken 'summons' = decree) iv) = b = Iffl (link: sun and bright) v) = c = m (link: swamps are watery)

t/ i' - Hinto 1

95

Sometimes the right side meaning can be clearly included in the link (~s in i- iii) and sometimes it is not quite so clear (as in iv and v).

t/ i' =: Hinto 2 The radicals are given in their full ~* form but they may change shape when used as part of a I!* as you have already learnt (as in i and v).

1) Right side: 'R' (SEI) Meaning: blue

Radicals (~*) Meanings a) IL' (heart) (M) i) purify, cleanse () b) S (uri) ii) request, ask ( ) c) *" (Wi) iii) spiri t /white rice/purity ( ) d) ~ (im) iv) fine weather, clear up ( ) e) * (rice) (rt) v) feeling, emotion ()

2) Right side: 'I' (SAKU) No meaning Radicals a) a b) A

(~"') (lit) (m

Meanings i) yesterday, previous ( )

ii) make, create () c) 9< (:1$) ii i) vinegar ( ) d) ]!!j (liqu;d, , 'coho') (i!I') iv) explosion ( )

3) Right side: 'f (KAN)

(~"') Radicals Meanings

Meaning: get dry, parch

a) 'f elf) i) wickedness, mischief ( ) b) 1r: (lif) ii) liver ( ) c) 71< (if) iii) perspire ( ) d) }j (fl esh) (Iff) e) 9J. (nose) (M) f) tt (¥)

iv) snore ( ) v) pole, rod ( ) vi) restrain ( )

g) a l''''-) vii) drought, dry weather ( )


fllI!t:t\ Kaisetsu 6 Using ijt* dictionaries

How did you get on in the last activity? It is important to restate at this stage that although many ~~ have a part which g ives a clue to the reading (of the onyomi) and that the radical often g ives a clue to the general meaning, they do not all fall into these categories. However, remember, you can really begin to make inroads into your learning of ~* when you have some ru les and clues like this. to help you.

Knowing about radicals does become essential when you start to use a il.* dictionary. As you learnt in the introduction, the Japanese Ministry of Education made a list of 1942 ~* which are essential to know in everyday communication. However, there are many more il~ than this which are used in specialist, academic and pre-war writings and documents. (Compare this situation with the many more words in an English dictionary than most people know or use in everyday life.) A .. * dictionary, therefore, may have 5000 or more entries but many of these are not in common usage. .

The most commonly used ~* dictionary for non-Japanese people is the Japanese-English Character Dictionary by Andrew Nelson (but often referred to si mply as 'Nelson'). ~* are traditionally looked up in a dictionary by first identifying the radical and then locating the section where all $l~ with this radical are grouped. Radicals are ordered by their number of strokes from those of one stroke through to those of 16/ 17 (i n Nelson) . The number and type of radi cal does vary slightly from dictionary to dictionary. In Nelson each radical is numbered (from 1- 2 14) and its number is clearly printed al the top of every page so that it is easy to turn to the section you are looking for. There is a list of all the radicals with their number in the inside front cover.

Once you have identified the radical and turned to the relevant section, you next count the number of remaining strokes in the il~ you are looking up, excluding the radical stroke number. All il~ with the same radical are grouped according to the number of remaining strokes, from I through to the highest number (this can be up to 24 or more in the case of very complicated il~). As an extra guide, on the side of every page, the radical on that page is given in square brackets with the number

UNIT 7 97

of remain ing strokes grouped on the same page printed next to it. For example:

St-4 \ I

tells you that on this page are ~* with the radical *- and four remaining strokes.

Here are the steps for looking up a ~* (using Nelson). You want to find the meaning of tt:

I) You identify the radical (*-). 2) Count the number of its strokes (four). 3) Turn to the radical list in the inside cover, find *- in the 4-stroke

group and make a note of its number (75). 4) Turn to section 75 (radical numbers are labelled at the top of each

page). 5) Count the number of remaining strokes in tt (four).

- -t- J -t-J.-.

6) Find the sub-section containing all ~* with four remai ning strokes (quick reference at the side of each page) .

7) Run your eye down the ~* listed until you find {t. Meaning: branch.

If you know the pronunciation of the i!.t!¥ you can look it up in the index at the back. Look through all i!.t!¥ of the same reading until you see the one you want. There is a number next to it (every ii€* is given its own number). Find this number by looking at the bottom edge of each page.

These steps are to help you get started if you want to use a ~* dictionary. Identifying the radical is not always easy (Nelson lists a series of steps at the beginning of the dictionary to assist you) and at the begjnning you are bound 10 make mistakes in counting the number of strokes. But practice makes perfect (!) and with time and experience you will be able to master

9' BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

look ing up even very complicated r.!¥. You can now see onc reason why writing iM.¥ correctly is so important - so that you can COllnt how many strokes there are!

If you have access to a Ii¥ dictionary, 5;tart by looking up the ~*" you have been introduced to in this unit because the radical has already been identified for you.

This is the last formal teaching section tor writing in this book (although in Unit 10 you will be taught techniques for letter writing). This writing section is going to focus on the balance between the components of il* (this has already been mentioned in Units 4 and 6). The _* that follow have left sides which you are already familiar with as separate _* but which change their shape slightly when used as radicals. Copy the models carefully and notice changes in s ize, proportion and orientation of the radical. Look carefully at the way the whole ~* is written and do not let the different components divide and look like separate iJ!*. As a rule of thumb, where there is a left and right side, the left side takes up one-third and the right side two-thirds.

The ~~ you are going to learn to write are: ~ (time), t:lII (cultivated field) , # (village), lEI (stay), tt (needle), ~ (turn), U (younger sister), l!I! (bury) and", (spirit) .

•

84j- aft,. 11 :-

-I n A 8 8

8-t 8.::1:- e:t- 84 aft

UNIT 7 99

,

1£8 ~~ \

\ , y' 'f 11 ~11 ~m ~Ifl )ffi

;f1 rt-h - t 1- ~ If *-1/

j/ti ;t1 ,

~8 'L "';8 -

, , , '/ , , , I I

, I

~h ,/.

~8 j\ jA

100 BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPl

,

~t ~t / 0 » e 4' ,

t 4, ~- ~t I~~~ ~.~ .. .:..-

i>-

- - .- - - -l n A E3 e --

, ~- l~ 'i t~ ,

1. +. : -tfF-'I I

( ~ --I.

-It:::- ti/J #

UNIT 7 101

,

,t' ;t-t ~-,

- t j 1 l' ;.:A J8 t' ;.:, ;tl-

I::::: J:3: A - -

;;(

) )- )-:: }-::: )tc )::;::

\, A .

Owari ni

In this unit you have covered more than 70 il*- and 38 of the 214 radicals. However, the purpose of this unit was to introduce you to a technique of breaking down 1I~ into their component parts in order to extract meaning. Therefore, you are not expected to remember all the il~ which you have analysed during this unit. More important is the method you have been introduced to for de-coding iI~. The unit chart at the back, therefore, will not include all the iI*- from this unit, but those learnt in Renshu I and 2 will be included for reference purposes.

Units 8, 9 and 10 wi ll build on the knowledge and techniques that you have acquired from the first seven units of this book. Un it 8 covers general signs and infonna tion notices that you would see if you went to Japan; Unit 9 teaches :IJ 7 :IJ r (katakana) the script for non-Japanese words; and Unit 10 offers you the chance to read a variety of Japanese texts. You


could take these units in any order - Unit 8, for example, teac;hes a large number of signs and so you might wi sh to 'dip into' that unit and then move on and return to it at a later date. It is up 10 you - you take control of your learning and if you find that something is difficult, or you j ust want a change, then move on to another unit.

8 . AIl Dai hachika UMT8


• learn to read everyday signs and written infonnalion • fi nd clues and stories to help you remember new ~~ words • learn to recognise different writing styles • look at authentic everyday street signs and information

About this unit You will be introduced to a large number of ~~ signs in this unit with lots of clues to help you remember them. You are certainly not expected to remember them all but to help you prog ress through thi s unit, the il* Build up sections conlain additional m* words which you can leave out or come back to later if you find there is already enough new information to take in.

Hajime ni When we travel around places, even withjn our own local area, we arc constantly being informed by written signs and notices all around us. We pick out the infonnation of use or interest ('sale', ' no entry', ' closed', ' danger') and scan over the information we do not require. Visitors to Japan with no knowledge of written Japanese arc struck almost immediately by the lack of information they arc able to get from the s igns and notices around them. There is some in fonnal ion in English, parti cularly in larger cities such as Tokyo, but your experience of Japan can be so much richer if you can understand some of the information that is written in Japanese.

When children firs t learn to read they will obsessively read out all the shop names and road signs they see. In the same way, once you can recognise some oflhe common signs in Japanese, your eyes will feast on


the new source of information open to you. Neon signs, advertisements, shop notices, tourist places, signs al stations - you find yoursel r able to operate much morc cfficiendy and with more confidence because you can pick out the infonnation you need and get to the places you want to go to.

This and the next unit will introduce you to some of the more common signs you may sec around you in Japan . And not on ly in Japan - television programmes and films often show neon lights and other signs written in Japanese which, once you have completed this book, yOll can have a go at reading. And in Japanese department stores, restaurants and other speciality shops in large cities outside Japan you see many signs and information written in Japanese. So there are plenty of opportunities to practise what you are going to learn in thi s unit.

I) First of all you are going to try reading some com mon signs which you have already learnt in previous .units. The fl*" words that follow have a box of English meanings beneath them (with clues and stories in brackets where necessary). Can you match them up?

b) til 0 g) m. I) l\1l!I

c) Y: h) *A m) tIlll!l

I ) immigration (enter a country) 2) train (electric vehicle) 3) chi ld (small person) 4) entrance 5) up 6) 1000 yen 7) men 8) holiday

e) J: 9 j) to~ 0) «- i3

9) emigration (exit a country) 10) adult (big person) 11 ) school 12) exit 13) down 14) women 15) temple

The answers in the back also have in brackets the number of the unit where the word was first introduced so that you can look it up again if you need to.

IVts;I:'::H\'"( (Nihon ni tsuite) About Japan A quick note about L ~ (up) and r IJ (down): these signs are used specifically on trains. 'Up' trains are travelling to Tokyo (from any direction) and 'down' trains are travell ing away from Tokyo.

UNIT 8 105

iWliIt- Kaisetsu 1 iI* for places There are a number of tl~ which are used to indicate different types of places such as shops, rooms, public institutions and offices. Let us look at seven key ones. They are:

I) m (,hop) 4) P!i (place) 7) IllI (garden)

2) m ("0,.. roof) 5) J&} (place)

Now let us look at each one in more detail .

3) ~ (bureau, office) 6) If (hall, large building)

I) r.s (shop). The radical for this is r- which means ' dolted cliff' (r means 'clitr). Both these radicals indicate some type of enclosure. Think of it in this case as the roof and back wall of the shop. The front wall is, of course, a window and so is open. Inside the shop is t'- (fortune) and t=J (mouth), together meaning &" (fortune telling). To run a shop you have to be good at divining the customer's needs!

2) it (store, roof). The radical is F meaning ' flag'. Within it is 3i (meaning ' arrive') which has within it ± (earth). The flag is a banner advertising a newly built store (earth connection! ), waiting for the customers to arrive!

3) f.l} (bureau, office). The radical again is F (flag) and within it is a mouth or opening enclosed on two sides.· This 1I~ is used in words such as 'post office ' so think of it as the glass counter behind which the office clerk sits. The ' flag ' is the board calling the next customer!

4 and 5) pfr and :1M (place). jiJf is generally used to indicate an office or 'over-the-counter' type of place (tourist information office, foreign exchange bureau) whereas :Ji,} has the general meaning 'grounds' (hence ± - earth - as the radical). The radical for jiJf is P (flag with 'one' above it) and this by itself means 'door'. You came across the right side in the previous unit, ff meaning 'axe'. (Use the axe on the door to mark the spot or place!)

6) I1'i1r (hall, large building). This .~ is often used in public or government buildings. You should recognise the left side. It is the radical version of 1t (food) . The right side -g has the general meaning of 'government'. Put together, large halls (such as concert halls, art galleries) are often funded by local government and you can usually buy refreshments too!


7) iii (garden). This ~* is very easy to remember! First, there is the rad ical which you have already come across in the previous unit - D which means 'enclosure ' or, in thi s case, the walls around a garden. Within the walls there is ± (earth - think of flower beds !), IJ (mouth but think of this as a pond!) and off the 'pond ' are a number of garden paths. Can you see it now?

l!J .fl- Renshu 1

Now let us put what you have learnt so far into practice. Some iI:* which you have already learnt follow. The En~li sh meaning is in brackets and, remember, if you want to review a ~~ at any time, look up the English word in the index and it will refer you back to the page where you first learnt it. There are also some new _* with some tips on how to remember them. Here are the l.l~:

3\j (sell) !'f (wr;te) '* (book) J\. B (800) iii (meat) ~ (dr;nk) III (vehicle) =f (hand)

art (the first if* looks like an artist's easel!). city, market (woman in hat holding shopping bags). construction (looks like scaffolding or tower!). public (J\. eight + 1:.. looks like a nose! Eight nosey people = the public!). drawing, map (D is the picture frame, the inside is modern art). fi sh (components: hook, rice field, fire. The fish is hooked, cooked on fire , eaten with rice). rice wine, alcohol (water radical indicates liquid. Right side looks like a decanter). lea (vegetation radical indicates tea leaves + umbrella shape fo r drinking tea under). medicine (vegetation and tree indicate herbal medicine. B white + four short strokes = aspi rin dissolving!). wash (water radical on left).

Now you are going to match some common signs and shop names wi th their English equivalents.

UNIT 8 107

I) 0m1 () 2) lliJiU ()

a) bookshop (two answers) b) a newsstand, a kiosk

• c) pharmacy (two answers) 3) iIl.lj;j () d) butcher's 4) ~I!fll'! ( ) e) toilet (hand washing) 5) iiUI () f) art gallery 6) IIJ! ,\\;r,!i ( ) g) greengrocer's (800 varieties! ) (focus on 2nd + 3rd nxa;*) h) park i) fishmonger's j) market (place) k) library I) tea/coffee shop m) wine shop, liquor store n) drinking place, bar 0) factory

7) 'if.m () 8) lliJ£ () 9) >'1m ()

10) iJlJ£ () II ) f!l:iI'im ( ) 12) ~lIill'! ( ) 13) I.Ij;j () 14) JUfJ£ ( ) IS) Jt.;J£ () 16) f.llIi! () 17) 1o''frA;l' ( )

fWlllt= Kaisetsu 2 More about places How did you get on with th is activity? Some of the words need further explananlion. J\. a m (greengrocer's) literally means '800 shop' so think of 800 types of fruit and vegetables! You should have worked ou t the meaning of lIj!~m (coffee/tea shop) from the second and third ~*. The first one ~ has a general meaning of 'cat, drink, smoke' and its radical tl (moulh) indicates this genera l meaning. It is not widely used and focusing on the second two ~* gives you the meaning. IJj} (factory) and Iti:ij,} (market) are both places which have grounds and so use ~ for ·place'.

a ;/lq;::J n -C (Nihon ni tsuite) About Japan :t:ifiitl> (toilet) has hiragana 10' (0) at the beginning which is used in fTont of some words to make them sound more (X)li te and genteel. This is sometimes translated as ' honourable', so in this case ' the honourable hand washing (place)' although its real meaning is toilet! The end hiragllna l> is somet imes left off (see this book cover for an example of this sign).


il* build up 1 More place names As explained in the introduction, these sections will leach additional ~* words which you can leave out or come back to later if you feel you have taken in enough at this stage . .

The following nl* are key to the additional place names introduced further on:

1) ±. (master) 2) ~ (station ) 4) fr (go) 3) ~ (convenience: mail)

Now let's look at them in detail.

1) ±. looks like a candlestick with a Harne on lOp so you can remember it as 'candle' (its real meaning is ' master' ) . It is a component of the fo llowing two il*: Sf (reside, stop-over) tl: (reside. dwell)

It The radical is ~ (horse). In old times, stop-over places or inns were a place to rest horses on a long journey. A welcoming candle in the window would light your way.

it The radical is A (person) . A person is master (real meaning of .:1:.) in their own residence.

Car park (stop-over place for vehicles) Address (place of residence)

2) ~ The radical is 'horse', the right side R is the measurement ' foot' . Think of it in this case as being R for railway. Meaning: Railway station (before trains, transport was by horse!).

3) fI. (convenience; mail) The left side is person, the right is - (one) and ~ (tug). Here are two words it is used in - you supply the story!

Places

fJ!P!T Toilet, urinal (A place for your convenience, perhaps? The first il¥ might conjure up a strong image here!) Post office (fi rst two ~*" both mean 'mail' plus NU -'bureau')

UNIT 8 109

4) fi (to go) The radical 1 means 'going person'.

Places

ilHj (bank) • means ' silver' (radical ~ is metal). Story: go to the bank to get silver (money)

i6ili!iUi (shopping area) You should recognise m (shop), iRi means ' trade' , {!j cons ists of double earth (±) between fi and means 'street ' or 'quarters' (earth piled up to make a road)

MtfT~tJ;JjiJi (travel information).&afT means ' travel'. '* has the left side radical 7i which means 'direction' , the ri~.!'t side comes from;t{. meaning 'clothes' . Story: go (ft) in the direction of a holiday with a suitcaSe of clothes! ~tJ;JjiJT means ' information (place)', Quick story for ~: tourists would certain ly want more information about a woman wearing a large hat in a tree! (r.q is introduced laler in this unit)

5) More places containing jiJT (place) :

N"M'pJi (Money exchange place) . ~ means 'both', You can see ilJ (mountain) within this with a small mountain on both sides of the large one! The upper part of 1f: (exchange) looks like two people who are exchanging. Both gain from the exchange!

MffjiJi (Fare adjustment office). You learnt the first ~* in Unit 7: it means ' purity ' or ' white rice' . The radical means ' rice' , Focus on this meaning to give you a story for the whole word . In ancient times, riee rather than money was used as payment including fares!

1'I*1;::':)~n: (Nihon ni tsuite) About Japan

If you travel by underground in Japan and do not know the fare to your destination, buy the cheapest ticket and pay the difference when you arrive, at the tt,nm - fare adjustment office.

6) More places containing Jj;} (place):

m:f.fni&} (Ticket office). 7C~ literally means 'sclling placc', -m means 'cut' (7J means 'sword'). ~ means ' token ' and has 17 (bamboo) at the


top and M (attach) below. Maybe in ancient limes a ticket was a token cut from bamboo!

filii" (theatre) . fII means drama. If you look hard enough you can make out the outline of the arch and curtains around a stage with a kabuki actor standing in the middle!

7) More places containing til (hall):

i!:*:iiIDi'il (cinema). Focus on m which means ' picture ' but you can also see within it four squares representing the screens of a multi-screen cinema!

.&am (Japanese inn). Mi means ' travel' . A place to stay when travelling.

tt~m (museum). You learnt ~ in Unit 4 - it means ' things', Focus on 'It: meaning PhD or esteem. Esteemed items afC kept in museums. Also, think of the left side of 1t: as an ancient Japanese sword!

~ MlW-= Renshu 2 In the previous __ * Build up section you were introduced to 15 more place names. The following activity gives you the chance to see how many you can now recognise. If you do not get them al l on the first try. simply go back over the ex.planations - then try again!

Match the Engli sh words (there are clues in brackets) to the il!f: words in the box .

a) Travel information (woman in tree) b) Japanese inn (travel place) c) Museum (Japanese sword) d) Theatre (proscenium arch) e) Car park (stop-overs/or horses! ) f) Address (mOSIer o/residence) g) Fare adjustment office (pay wilh rice) h) Money exchange (rwo people exchange) i) Shopping area (double earth/or road) j) Railway station (horse + R for railway) k) Ticket office (CUI bamboo selling place!) I) Bank (go 10 bank for silver money) m) Cinema (four squares = four screens) n) Post office (mail bureau) 0) Toilet (conveniencelyour own SIOry)

UNIT 8 11\

1) St!lI41 ( ) 2) itpJi ( ) 3) ~ ( ) 4) fJl[pJi ( ) 5) ill fJI[ Ilil ( ) 6) ilifi ( ) 7) illir.sllI ( ) 8) lKfill'iPlPJi ( ) 9) jijtl'PJi ( )

10) fIljJpJi ( ) 11) tlm3'f41 ( ) 12) /IlJ.Ij;j ( ) 13) i!I! ii!ii tI'! ( ) 14) lKtI'! ( ) 15) j1IJ'~ tI'! ( )

MliIt.::: Kaisetsu 3 _* Signs You have so far been exposed to a total of 47 place names (or 32 if you missed out the _* Build up section). Next you are going to learn to recognise more common signs and written information containing if* or components that you are already familiar with. These are:

1) !lI (vehicle) 2) 1il: (room) 3) Jl!I (country) 4) Jf/i (seat) 5) ~ (tMng) 6) .. (fte)

Now let us look at these in detail.

1) nr (vehicle). Here are fi ve il* words containing Jti: : ~1II unoccupied taxi ~1II occupied taxi JlJ1fi long-distance train ~ttllr sleeper train ~~. bicycle

~Itr and n,qIfi . These signs are displayed on the windscreens of tax i cabs and at car parks. ~ means 'sky' or 'empty' and, if you look carefully, looks like an aeroplane taking off into the air from a runway! It is also used in ~~ (airport).

n,q means 'full ' or 'enough '. The radica l is water and it contains a component you have already learnt in this unit, FIi (both). Above this is the component 'vegetation '. Story: water and vegetation together are enough to live on!

Jll1lr. You have already learnt m.. (electric train). This is used generically but also for local lrajns, whereas 7l $ denotes long-distance trains. The righthand component ~ looks like a long rail track!

4l tt Itt . tt means 'J(Cdestal' but can you see a person with a large nose b. lying on a bed! ~ means '10 sleep ' and has the radical ""'" (l id), in thi s case ' roof'. On the left is a component which looks like a bed standing upright - the type you pu ll down from the wall on a train.

~tG;I1I . You met:fi; (turn, rotate) in Unit 7. ~ means ' automatic' or 'sclf'. You can see ~ (eye) with an extra short stroke. Think of this as a


sma ll nose (between the eyes!). T he Japanese poi nt to thei r nose (rather than the ir chest) when they refer to ' mc'. Altogether we have ·sclf·rotating vehicle ', in other words, a bicycle!

2) 3! (room). T his is simi lar to m (shop) which you learnt earlier in this unit (Kaisetsu I ). The radical is different. Here it is r4 (li d, roof). The lower part is ~ (arrive) but focus on its difference 'from 'shop' because it has a roof - ' rooms have roofs'. Here are two ~* words contain ing~:

j$~ Western-style room ;fu~ Japanese-style room

jf~ and :fiI~ arc words used in hotels and estate age nts. ;fn1i! (Japanese-style rooms) have tatam i mats on the floor, futon mattresses to sleep on and Japanese baths whereas W* (Western-style rooms) have carpets on the floor and in hotels have Western beds and bathrooms.

i$ means ' ocean ' (the West is across the ocean!) and the rad ical is ·water'. The ri ght s ide $: means 'sheep' (can you see Ihe horns of the ram?), an animal associated with the West.

;fO is the old Chinese word for Japan. You learnt it as ' peace' in Unit 3 (as part of the Showa era). The left side ~ represents the ears of rice as it grows in the fie lds, and rice is Japan 's staple food.

3) ~ (country). Here are fi ve words containing this ~*:

~ p:] domestic 9HE abroad, foreign ;'-H~24 t1= fo reign e~change IEFlm~ international phone AOOiiJm passport control

P:] means inside (inside the country). You can sce a person A inside a frame. (Do nol confuse with ~ fl csh - two persons in a frame).

;'-1- means outside (outsidc the country). The radical !Y means 'evening' (imagine it as a crescent moon shape) and imagine a person f' standing outside looki ng at the moon . 9H~A means 'foreigner ' (outsider). ;'-I- OOZ1 tf contains 1} meaning 'c~change ' (p. 109).

IE llfk'iUim. You learnt mim (telephone) in Unit 6. ~ is used to indicate ' international' and consists of the radical ' vi lIage' (think of the global vi llage) and ~ meani ng ' fes ti val' . (Think of the upper part being a marquee and the lower part a trestle table, set up fo r a retc or restival.)

AOOifll. First you have enter the country (to enter a country you have to show your passport). Focus then on if. You learnt in Kaisetsu I that the component 1r means 'government' and passport control is a government or civil service organ isation.

I

UNIT 8 113

4) ffC (seal). The radical is r- (dotted cliff) but fo r this ~* imagine it is the roof and s ide of a train carriage (with electric cable on the roof). Thc component within looks like a computer game character! He has a square head, stick body and arms. You cannot see his legs because he is sitting down! Here are two signs containing $ :

~ mlrf. unreserved seat m~ff& reserved seat

You have already learnt that ~ means 'self' . ~ m means ' freedom'the freedom to make your own (self) decisions. With $ it means ' free! unrescrved seat'.

m means ' finger/ indicate'. The ~enera l meaning is indicated by the lefthand radical ' hand ' (from ~). IE means ' fixed '. The general meaning ( putting a li mit on something) is indicated by the radical .->-. (a crown or in this case a lid). Therefore the seats indicated are limited/reserved.

Note: ~tt means 'set meal' <in other words. the menu is fixed).

5) ft (thing). You first learnt thi s in Unit 4 (p. 50).

:r.:Jft luggage, parcel :@ttft left behind by mistakel10st luggage

Look at ~ as a picture of a suitcase ( []) coming through the conveyor belt at the airport! ;€,; means' forgotten '. Remember that the radical ~, (heart) is used for emotions and thoughts. "C means 'deceased ' or ' lost'.

6) ~ (fee). Focus on the radical * (rice) which you know can represent payment:

*'I~ A.II.)*'I 1I!1*'I

means fee (lit ' fee money') mcans entrance fee (lit 'cnter place fee ') means admission free (lit ' no fee '). 11 means ' nothing ' and looks like a prison window with no prisoner inside!

~ I!I!W '::::' Renshu 3 In the last section you were introduced to 22 new information words and three new general il* (~. M. *4). Test yoursel f by seeing how many you can recognise (write the English meanings in the brackets). If you cannot remember all of them at first, check your answers by looking back through the section.

) ~IIl ( ) ~llO (

) JlHEA (

) }lJIIl ( ) iii! 1'1 III ( ) ) fU llO ( ) OOJll ( ) ) JlHE 1;j 'If ( ) 00 lliHllllli ( )

"4 BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

) 13 illJ.II ( ) '" tL 1IiJ (

)

.~ build up 2

) llilEJI/i ( ) f'I~ ( )

)

As with the last build up ~* section, you can leave this one out and come back to it laler if you wi sh to.

I) Here are three compound words containing ~ (room):

m~ bathroom ~l:..m~ powder room, toilet t.\iit3?: waiting room

m~. m means bathe and has the water radical on the left. The righthand component looks like a house, as in 'bath house'!

Note: The word for a Japanese-style bath is !ia g . This type of bath is deeper and shorter than Western ball1s, and you sil with your knees bent and on ly your head above water. g means backbone (can you see the vertebrae?) - you sit in the bath with back straight.

1l:.'t~. {l:.m means cosmetics (think of the rice radical * as a powder pum). Powder room is a euphemism for ladies' toilet or bathroom.

t#f.J3!. Focus on #i which means wait. The lefthand radical is 'going person' and the righthand radical is ~ (temple).

2) In the previous section (Kaiselsu 3) you learnt ~I (Japanese) and if (Western). Here are four more words containing these:

:fntt Japanese cuisine ittt Western cuisine ~I~ Japanese-style tf~ Western-style

Renshii 4 In the last section you were introduced 10 eight new compound words. Can you match them up with their English mean ings?

1) ~Itt a) Western-style 2) lti:Jt b) Japanese-style 3) *-ft"~ c) Western cuisine 4) m~ d) Japanese cuisine 5) B!l S e) bathroom 6) f~1!tliO f) (Japanc,c) bath 7) tf tt g) waiting room 8) tf:Jt h) powder room (ladies' toilet)

UNIT 8

IWliI!.l!!I Kaisetsu 4 In thi s secti on you will learn to recogn ise the main islands and cities of Japan. First, you are going to leam the four compass directions:

A map of Japan

~t

And here are quick clues to help you remember them:

115

~I:: North (looks like two people sitting back to back to keep warm (cold in the North»

m South (yen symbol ¥ (more money in the South of Japan! » * Ea!J't (components: sun and tree. Sun rising in the East from behind the tree)

R!i West (looks like (!!I four - do not confuse them - and it is the fourth compass direction)

Now look at the map of Japan with the main islands and cities labelled in ~* and ramaji. How many _* do you recognise? There is a list of clues on the next page to help you learn the names. You have not learnt any of the ~!:f: for 3, 6 and 12. They are included for interest only.

Nagasaki

II"

0 NIHON (Japan)

S'*'

HOKKAIOO jt:¥il!

Sapporo 1\,11

HONSHO ,*,ffl {TOk'yO. Jl!

, Y Oikoh,.ma lUi

'SHIK:DKU I!!IIII

116

Place

I) 1'1* 2) ~tilil11 3) lUI!

4) *#1 5) :110]( 6) ~~

7) *11& 8) J]('M\ 9) 1M:;

10) P.!@

II) 1L#I

12)1>l:.

8(!¥ Meanings sun, root North, sea, way paper mOlley. hood

root/main, province East, capilal side, seacoast

big, slope capital, city wide, island

four. CQutJIry

. . mne, province

long, promontory

Kaisetsu 5


Story clue ' Land of the ris ing sun' ' North island across the sea' Winter O lympics held here - brought in money! Main (biggest) island of Japan (Which it is!) 'City on the seacoast to the side o f Tokyo' Osaka is built on a hills ide Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan Hiroshima stands in a wide bay dotted with small islands Shikoku is the fourth of the main islands of Japan KYlIshu is divided into nine provinces (administrative) Describes Nagasaki harbour

Warning signs It is very useful and often essential to be able to read this type of sign. A friend of mine drove up a closed road and got stuck in a snow drift because she could not read the sign at the head of the road. After that she learnt to recognise ~ (forbidden) as ' two Harry Worths (the enterta iner who used to stand hal f behind mirrors li fting his leg and arm up and down) dancing on a picnic table'! That ll!¥ alone would have prevented her going up that road.

We start by learni ng some general warning iM¥ then look at how they are used.

~ forbidden Uust mentioned) ~Jl: no, not aJ/owed (ll: means 'stop' ) Jit~ strictly forbidden f:I to smoke (fire radical) [Jl middle. In signs means during or under

L!J IIkW Ji Renshu 5 Here are some common warning signs using the 11* we have just met plus ones you know already.

UNIT 8 117

Match each word to its English meaning.

a) Outdoor shoes strictly forbidden ( ) b) No smoking ( ) c) No parking ( ) d) Under construction ( ) e) No admittance ( )

Finally in this sect ion, three more useful warning signs with clues to remember:

~~1lt 0 Emergency exit (# looks like a path cleared of clutter fo r easy access)

ttt! Caution ('i± story: 'pour water on a candle to caution against firc'!)

fit~ Danger (iB looks like a snake in a box - dangerous if it escapes!)

fllIIt* Kaisetsu 6 Signs of opposition

This is the final kaisetsu section! Ten ~~ follow which can be paired as opposites in meaning.

ti. left ti right

jtp 1" push 51 < pull

M open

M close

JlJt( arrival

ili.g departure

11t~tp open/or business

,,*~!:f:1 closed

Use of I for I (am/am not left handed) o ('Tick the right box')

Hand radical is pushing the doorbell ~I looks like an archery bow which you pull

Gates (elevator doors). Two people holding one door each open One person cannot hold the doors and they close

Remember that 3§: means arrive or 'the nose of the plane touching ground ' ili means go out

11t is a backbone with a hat o n - a shop assistant! ~ means holiday


a¥ build up 3

And finally, some miscellaneous signs. Once more, you can miss thi s section out if you need to consolidate what you have learnt so far.

Mi means grilled (fire radical plus component looking like a barbcque). Look at these words:

mill YU~ r,,~ tI~fo/l-m ~

t~m~

yakiniku - grilled meat yakitori - barbequed chicken on bamlxto skewers okollQmiyaki - a type of thick pancake cooked on an iron griddle at your table. sukiyaki - beef gri lled then cooked with vegetables in a cast iron pot.

shinlwnsen or bullet train. $i (new) helps you to remember this. undergrollfld(train). Lit: 'ground under iron'. Iron indicates the rail track. express (train). Lit 'hurry go'. special express. Lit: ' special hurry'

Renshu 6

Look at the pictures of various Japanese signs. There is a range of written styles, both vertical and horizontal left to right. How many can you ~ognisc? You may need to come back to this activity aftcr you have worked through the conclusion (which includes a rev iew of all the signs learnt in th is unit) but keep a score and see if you can improve on it !

UNIT 8 119

2)

AO 3) 4)

The name of a temple entrance

5) 6)

7) 8)


9) 10)

II ) r-.,..--".-------

12)

13)

~ ~

/. SHIMOKITAZAWA

What is Shimokitazawa the name of? (Focus on the last kanji)

The fi rst two kanji mean 'Fuji ', What is this building called?

UNIT 8 121

14) IEiiill 15) §J EI3 16) ~ Toy 17) tJD §it

1 9) ~~

Owari ni

t:J li)"('" C '7 (omedeto) Congratu lations! You have worked through a mini mum of 76 n'.Ii~ signs in thi s unit. This does not include the \ 2 island and city names, and the 3 1 signs in the ~~ Bui ld up sections. Thi s makes an overall total of 119 signs, which is a huge amount and obviously you are not going to remember them all in one go. To help you review and consolidate your learning. all the signs are g ro uped below by theme. How many do you remember? The English is also given at the end of the unit so test yourself, then check and then use these pages as a check list. (Signs taught in the ~~ Bui ld up sections are marked with an asterisk.)

Hinto Remembering.¥ words

Try writing out the words on small squares of card. Put the il* on one side and the English on the other. Use these mini flashcards to test yourself by looking at the ~* side, giving your answer then turn ing the card over to see if you are right. Try doing 10 in the morning, 10 in the evening and gradually build up the number you can remember.

.22

General

1) til ~ 5) *A 9) {~1lf~

13) if.>I:.-Shopping and places in town

1) rn 2) II;! 101 5) if<\m 6) ilfm 9) lIfrn 10) rtrn

13) 111lj! 14) i}im 17) oo~mil! 18) iliff-21) j\jtl'jl)f- 22) Itl\!l&!-25) IlIJ 26) M 29) Xl&! 30) "l":Il< Sightseeing and entertainment


3) Ai'fm 7) I!li!*rn

11) ll!fiii 15) OlIl1fill 19) lI1ilfiii-23) JIll t 27) 1!tl'l< <P

4) !ll 8) ili')f-

12) flJ>I:.-

4) *lOl. 8) il:ilfrn

12) ll!m 16) iIIlrnm-20) 9~001;j'll' 24) ~ I < 28) l*l'I<<P

1) ~jfjill 2) t,<C/j 3) l* a 4) !R 5) J!/! I!ii ill-6) "~iIl- 7) Jllll&!- 8) M~

Travel and transport

1) ~t 4) l!!i 7) tII-g

10) ~-13) r ry 16) <litilli 19) ;@It~ 22) j{>ff~PJii)f-25) 41\'*'1;-28) mIl!

2) JIij 5) 9H~A 8) AOOWllI!

11) \IlJ!! 14) ?lJl\! 17) lli)i!m; 20) fIIJJi')f-23) ~¥'f",-26) it!!rllJ<-29) <I fi<J!!

9) A.lIM

3) JI! 6) ilJ:II' 9) 00 P3

12) ..try 15) li!itl\! 18) :(;Ij~

10) 1II\M

21) Wf.H'tljj-24) ;(;:ff-27) ~l\! 30) I\fit~-

UNIT 8

Accommodation

I) M<ftI'!-4) 1If",-

2) 1$", 5) !i!./S-

3) 1'11", 6) tti'Ji-

Warnings

I) ~:q;:~1I: 5) I$ '/'

Food and drink

I) fu11t' 4) Ii>~.q,-

2) Jl:A~lI: 6) ill'lit r:1

2) 1$11t-5) MifJJ-Ii>~'

English meanings

General

3) ~~ 7) ttX!

3) li>iIl-

4) ±JEjj;~ 8) fe;~

6) T~m~-

I) exit 4) man 7) toilet

I 0) left

2) entrance 5) adult

3) woman 6) ehild

13) Western-sty le

8) toilet I I) right

Shopping and places in town

I) shop 3) greengrocer 5) fish shop 7) coffee shop 9) bookstore

I I and 12) pharmacy/chemist 14) park 16) shopping area 18) bank 20) foreign exchange 22) car park 24) pull 26) close 28) closed 30) school

9) toilct/powder room 12) Japancse-style

2) butcher 4) book shop 6) liquor store 8) bar

10) kiosk 13) market 15) library 17) international telephone 19) post office 2 1) exchange bureau 23) push 25) open 27) open (for business) 29) factory

123


Sightseeing and entertainment

I ) art gallery 5) cinema

2) temple 6) museum

3) holiday 7) theatre

9) entrance fce 10) admission free

Travel and transport

1) North 3) East 5) foreigner 7) departure 9) domestic

11) train 13) down 15) sleeper 17) reserved scat 19) lost property 21) ticket office 23) bullet train 25) special express 27) unoccupied 29) bicycle

Accommodation

1) Japanese inn 3) Japanese-style room 5) (Japanese) bath

Warnings

2) South 4) West 6) arrival 8) passport control

10) station 12) up 14) long-distance train 16) unreserved seat 18) luggage 20) fare adjustment office 22) travel infannation 24) express 26) underground/subway 28) occupied 30) waiting room

2) Western-style room 4) bathroom 6) address

2) no admittance

4) festival 8) fee

I) no parking 3) no smoking 5) under construction 7) caution

4) outdoor shoes strictly forbidden 6) emergency exit 8) danger

Food and drink

1) Japanese cuisine 3) yakiniku - grilled meat 5) okonomiyaki - grilled pancake

2) Western cuisine 4) yakitori - grilled chicken 6) sukiyaki - beef ' hot pot '

9 fflLiI Da; kyuka UNIT 9


• learn to read the 46 11 f; IJ r (katalcana) symbols which make up the phonetic 'alphabet'

• learn some rules for making extra sounds from the 46 main symbols • be introduced to picture- sound associations to make learning easier • learn how to write tJ f; IJ T (lwtakana) • have a go at reading some words and phrases

Key words:

fJ !J fJ T (kalakaaa)

Ii t; 3D I: Hajime ni 11 11 iJ r is the script used to represent fore ign words which have heen adopted into the Japanese language (loanwords) and foreign names (personal names, countries etc.). Most of the loanwords are derived from English words and this means that once you can read the script you can norma lly work out what a word means. This makes h 7 h T a fun script to learn and working out the meanings can be an enjoyable challenge!

In Un it 5 you learnt to read the 0 t, tJ~ ~. script . You may have dt.:c idcd to work through the il¥ units first and then to work on Units 5 and 9. And you could work through this unit without learning V t, nt ~ first but as most of the rules are the same for both scripts you will be referred back to the appropriate page in Unit 5 to read through the explanations there.

Begin by looking back to the section of the introduction which deals with an overview of the different types of Japanese script (pp. vi- viii) and the section on h !J 1J ..,.. Can you answer these questions based on the information you have j ust read?

12. BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

I) What is 11 7 11 -r used for? (name four uses) 2) What do iJ !I tJ r symbols originate from? 3) How many basic symbols make up the" 7 IJ t syllabary?

Yonde mimasho You have not learnt to read any /J !I IJ r yet (apart from these three symbols) but as you did in Unit 5 you arc going to pair up !J !J JJ T words which are the same. There are six words (a- f) in the left column which are repeated in a different order in the right column. Match up the same words and write the correct letter in the brackets on the left. The first one is done for you.

(a) 7-"'< (b) 7 -1 :1. (e) ~ -:1. ~ (d):1. 7'- "'< (e) :1. 11 - ~ (f) :1. - '/

:1.11- ~ ( ) :1.7'-"'< ( ) 7-'< (a) :1.-'/ () 7-1:1. () ~-:1.~()

MiiIt- Kaisetsu 1 Let us begin by looking al the first four lines of the 11 7 11 r syllabary with the romanised pronunciation and learn how to read them. The order and pronunciation is exactly the same as U ~ ,;t ~ (see p. 59 to refresh your memory). Only the symbols are different. The chart is writtcn in the traditional way from top to bottom right to left. This is to give you practice at reading vertically. Remember that you read in co lumns not rows and begin to read from the top right symbol.

ta :9 sa -+f chi 1- shi ~ tsu'Y sU A te 7' se -t:. to ,.. so ;J

l!J .W- Renshu 1

ko 11 ki ~ ku ,

ke 7 ko ;2

07 ; -1 u7

In the ronde mimashii activity you matched six fJ :9 fJ t- words. Now you are going to try to read those words. Use ·the chart of the first 20 symbols and say the words out loud then see if you can match them 10

UNIT 9 127

their English meanings in the box that follows. Remember that fJ , fJ jis used to wri te fore ign (mainly English) words. The pronunciation is adapted to suit Japanese' pronunciation rules (every consonant is followed by a vowel) but you can usually recogn ise the word once you have read it correctly. A dash - after a symbol means that you lengthen the sound of that symbol (., [u] performs this function in U ~ tJ~ ~. See p. 67).

a) 7-'< b) r-;<r c) ;1."}--'< d) 7 -( ;< e);1. h - r f);1. - '/

skirt ( ) cake ( )

suit ( ) ice ( )

steak ( ) toast ( )

1:: /' J- - Hinto 1 Remembering jJ 9 jJ T In Unit 5 you were introduced to the idea of remembering U ~ Ii ~ through visual and sound association (p. 63). Here are a few ideas fo r fJ , fJ j- symbols to get you started. Try to think of your own and write them down. Some symbols are easier than others but just do a few at a time.

T (a ) looks like an antelope ~ -1 (i) is a leaning T which rhymes with i

? (u ) looks like a uisukii (whisky) flask 0 :r.. (e i looks like elevator doors I + \@l

'< (ki l looks like a dooc key ~

MlIIt= Kaisetsu 2 You arc now goi ng to be introduced to the who le jJ' fJ j- chart, including the correct order in which to write each symbol. This follows exactly the same format as for U ~ I;t ~ in Unit 5 (p. 60).

As with () t;, tJt ~ try to learn to write IJ 7 jJ t because this will help you to remember how to read them too. Look carefully at the stroke order and remember that in general you write horizontal strokes from left to right and vertical /diagonal strokes from top to bottom (variations to the direction are marked with an arrow on the individual symbol).

12. BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

rl -t 3' 1 ~ -lt l .. nlf;

,. 7 1 •

9 +) 7 - t I '7 '7 - ..- -If J fJ ~ ? - n' 1- <.h;

'" "'; " " 1 , -:\ + - ~ -- • -.//

- - , , + . - - - - 'I / -1 - - -/ --" - '7 ,~

" ~ ~ m ? "

J "); 7.- I} \

I) I

, - , 7 :;z ,

" "/ 7 A '7 , '7

* ~ 7 .. t ~ 'f .. :z. • - - }T -1~ T t? l , , - - -7 ;r ;f- - - I J- 'J -T ~ t T I

J ~ I- '0 :J ~ " '0 ;;t 0

) r \ ) ,1 :J ;t J I I- , , I -, :J - t 1"

1:: ;..t l- =- Hinto 2 Organise your learning Don' t worry ahout learning all the symbols in one go - keep referring back to the charts.

You might find it useful to make a j; ? j; r vocabulary book for this unit. You could either organise the words by theme (food, drink, clothes. electrical gadgets etc.) or alphabetically using the 46 basic symbols (onc per page) and cnter all words beginning with a particular symbol on the same page. Whichever way you choose, write out each 11 , :IJ r word with its romaji pronunciation (optional) and its English meaning next to it. You can then test yourself by covering up the Engljsh and seeing if you can read the IJ ? IJ -r word. And it wi ll form a useful dictionary too!

UNIT 9 129

'7T - :iT ~ ~T ,. .,.T - " I '"

) - -V -; --:; } \ ,

'7 - - -\' 7 - ~ -Z , " I "

, , ~ ~ ~

1 ) -... t ""

-----, , 1 - - , - t - -, 1 Iv ' " .:<-1 ,.. J. - 7 ,-

)~ .-l [:,., . -; , ,~ ,

~ L- A 7 V .. .> ~ ~ ...

l- ) /'-......

t.. / f "-

.:'T " 0 " 3T ~. -c - ;t. ... ,

0 :3 -E It, .//' , - - .f: - t .t ,t , - I n 0 , 'I 3 /

l!'J .W = Renshu 2 Now that you have been introduced to the 46 :IJ :7 :IJ t- symbols, it is time to put your learning into practice and have a go at reading some words. As in Unit 5, the words are in three sets. Set I refers to the first part of the chart, set 2 refers to the second and set 3 to the whole chart. You also have to se lect the correct English meanings so say the words out aloud. You may be 'able to do this even if you cannot read all the Ir Jj: (kana) symbols. See how many symbols/words you can read from memory before using the chart to search for those you cannot remember. Keep coming back to this activity and try to improve your score each time!


l:: / l-~ Hinto 3 Pronunciation Japanese pronunciation does not distinguish between ' r ' and 'I' sounds. Try replacing ' r ' sounds with'!' sounds if you cannot work out the meaning. For example '7 ;,- .:f (ranchi) means lunch .

Set 1 a) 7 - ~

e) -c - 3' I) skating ( ) 5) cake ( )

Set 2 a) 7-;l./

1) memo ( ) 4) ham ( )

Set 3 a) T~ / e) ~ .,. ~

I) restaurant ( 4) chicken ( ) 7) camera ( )

b):z:z-r f) ,,~-

2) ski ing ( ) 6) sweater ( )

c) 3' 'J ,,g) "7-~

3) cqcoa ( ) 7) coat ( )

d) ;7 - ~

4) taxi ( )

b) "J" c) -" -lO d) -"" / e) L.- -c ./ 2) lemon () 3) melon ( ) 5) ramen (Chinese noodles) ( )

b) 7 1 A 'J ~ - J" f)L--A~7O'

d) 71" h) !J -" 7

) 2) tennis ( ) 5) curry ( ) 8) tomato ( )

3) rice ( ) 6) ice cream ( )

Hinto 4 Similar:JJ 51:JJ-r You have probab ly already confused some of the s imilar-looking IJ !J " r. Th is section will line these up so that you can look at the differences and keep them separate in your mind.

7, "7 (a, rna) '!t , t (sa , se) -7 , 7, )t (ku, la , nu) ?, 7. '7 (u,Ju , wa) T . ;(na,me) )it. v (ru,re) :..-, 'Y (shi, tsu) * The long stroke in ~ is written upwards and the short strokes are almost at right angles to the long stroke. The long stroke in '/ is written downwards and is at a steeper angle. The short strokes stand side by side. '".J, ;.; (so, n) * '.I has the same features as '/ (but only one short stroke). Y has the same features as ~ (but only one short stroke).

UNIT 9 131

l::;,- J- Ji Hinto 5 Similar D;; 'lJV;I. and n~jI'jrT The good news is that some 11 1111 r symbols are very similar to their (J ~ IJ~ ~ equivalents (in many cases they originated from the same i.l*). This can make them easier to remember. They are listed here, (J >? IJt ~ first then 11 1111 T :

1. ., (u) II' • :IJ (ka) ~ . '< (k;) It. 7 (ke) - ;2 (ka) -It. -e (se) ~.

I.: , .::. (ni) ~ ....... (he) t. ~ (rna) • '(>. '" (ya) 9 . ~ (ri)

MliIt.=:. Kaisetsu 3 n7n'J- that change their sound Again, the rules are exactly the same as for (J ~ IJt ~ , o nly the script is different. Read over the () ~ IJ{ ~ section again (p. 67) then fill in the gaps in the following activity. And remember, just as with all the units in this book, you set the pace!

~ .W'=:' Renshu 3 When you add ' to certai n symbols you get a change in sound.

I) ' k' sounds become 'g' sounds (hard 'g' as in 'get '):

:IJ. '<. 'l. 7. ;2

(ka) (Id) (ku) (ke) (ko) --. :If. '<. '1.7'. ;2'

()()()()()

2) ' s' sounds ~ ' z' sounds:

"\1". :-. ::<. -C. Y (sa) (shi) (Sll) (se) (so)

-? ~',:;, X, -C, -:/ ()().()()( )

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

". '7". ~ (ta) (te) (to)

--. "'. '7"'. ~' ( )( )( )

4) 'h' sounds become 'b' sounds:

r., t, 7, ........ , ;j; . '7' , ,y,' , / .... _ t ~ ---r • , , ",

(ha) (h;j (fu) (he) (ho) ()()()()()


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

(ha)(hi) (fu) (he) (ha) ()()()()()

Check whether you have filled in the bmckcts correctly by referring back to th is section in Unit 5 (pp. 67- 8).

This activity is designed to he lp you bu ild up your confidence in readi ng IJ, tJ r and to ease you away from referring back to the charts (bul lhey arc always there if you need them!). This will be done by fe-introducing a few IJ !J jJ t symbol s at a time and getting you to read words which contain them. Section by section you will build up the number of symbols unt il you a re reading words contai ning them all. For each section look over the tJ , IJ t- symbols then match up the words and mean ings beneath them. When a symbol has linked sounds (for example, IJ (ka). tl (ga» they are given together but not all are necessarily used in that section.

I) <t (sa) . <to (za). :;- (sh'). :: (j0. A (su). '" (zu). '1- (chi). 'j" (<e). 'j"" (de). r (w). V (do). / (n)

a) r - A r d) ~-/;(

i) jeans ( )

b) 'j""f- r e) ~-/

c) '1--'"

iii) toast ( ) iv) (movie) scene ( )

ii) cheese ( ) v) dessert ( )

2) .----------------------------------, :iJ (ka). :If (ga). -c (,,). -t: (ze). Y (so). :/ (za). '/ (ISU) • .I'" (ha). r./; (ba) • .I{ (pa)

a) -c ." "'/- -:,.- b) .I'" /' .1.1;- tl - c) /~/''/

d) .I{ A e) A:iJ-r

i) pants, trousers ( ) ii) skirt ( ) iii) sausage ( ) iv) bus or bath ( ) v) hamburger ( )

UNIT 9 133

3) "(ko), ,," (go), 7 (to), '/ (do), t (hi), '" (bi), ,," (pi), 7 (Ju), 7" (bu), 7 (pu)

a) At;-7 b) r-7 e) "-7- f) 7'<"

i) tobacco (cigarettes) ( ) iii) healer ( ) v) scarf ( )

vii) dance ( )

c) ,," j!' g) ,//70

ii) (cassette) tape ( ) iv) pub ( ) vi) pizza ( )

4) ,-------------------------------, It (ki), "< (gi ), 7 (ke), 7' (ge) , ~ (he), '" (be), '" (pe), ;j; (ho), ;(, (bo), ;1"; (po)

a) 1- It / e) 70 - '/7-70

i) passport ( ) iv) pen ( )

vii) button ( )

b) "<7-f) ;(,7 /

ii) suitcase ( ) v) bench ( )

c) ... ~ ~;t;- I-g) '" / 1-

iii) chicken ( ) vi) guitar ( )

d) .-..: y

5) r---------------------------------~

'7 (ra), Y (n), 11.-* (rn), v (re), a (ro) (' }' or 'r' sound can be used for these)

* Iv is often used as the fina l '\, sound, for example, *' 7" 1(., (hotel), 7 -I" (pool) .

a) ..,. 7 '/ d)vA~'1/ g) r-7"," j) 1:" -I"

i) table ( )

b) tJ ve) 7" / ~ h) '/ 'J" I" k) -t - I"

c) "/7tJf)7 1A~Y7 i) ;1' / (.,"7

I) .....:.- ~;f.-IV

ii) curry ( ) iii) golf ( ) iv) front (reception) ( )

vii) sale ( ) v) beer ( )

vii i) double ( ) xi) rental car ( )

vi) salad ( ) ix) ice rink ( )

xii) restaurant ( ) x) baseball ( )


6) 7 (ku) , 'T (gu), .,. (ma), , (mi), 1. (mu), ;I. (me),

"" (mo)

b) 'J~ 7 e) 'T 71.

c} " .... J..

f) "" 'I;

a) ~.,. ~

d) '1;;1. 7

i) tomato (

IV) camera (

) ii) ham ) v) mocha (coffee) ( )

iii) gram ( ) vi) milk ( )

7) I r (no), =- (ni), ;( (nil), i (ne), ./ (no)

a) " j- j- b) 7=-A c) -f77 1 d) J- ~ c) 'I;;l.-

i) tennis ( ) ii) canoe ( ) ii i) banana ( iv) necktie ( ) v) notc(book) ( )

8) I 7 (a), 1 (i), "J (u), :z. (e), ;t (0), 'J (wa)

a) 71 A 7 ~ - 1. d)A;rL-;t

i) ice cream ( ) iv) stereo ( )

b) 7'7 "J A c) 'J 1 /

i i) escalator ( ) v) blouse ( )

iii) wine ( )

MliItl1!l Kaisetsu 4 .~ (Yoon) Contracted sounds

)

The only three sy mbols you did not use in the last activi ty were ~, ::1-, 3 (ya, yu, yo). These are used as normal symbol s but also are used to form contracted sounds. You learnt about these for () ~ n: Jj: in Unit 5. The rules arc the same for 11 !J IJ t. Read back over this section (p. 66) to remind or fam iliarise yourself with the rules before trying the next activi ty.

~ .Wli Renshu 5 Write the pronunc iation of the contracted 11 !I 11.,. sounds in the brackets. The first line has been done for you:

UNIT 9 13.

" (k.) -> " '< (kya) " "- (kyu) " • (kyo) >< (gO -> >< '< ( ) ><"-( ) ><. ( ) ;;... (skI), ~ '( ( ) ;;"'.:1.( ) ~:3 ( ) :; (ji) , :; '( ( ) :1.:1.( )

.. '" . ( ) 1- (chi) -> 1- '< ( ) 1-"-( ) 1- • ( ) ..=:. (ni) , ..=:. '( ( ) "=:'.:1.( ) :.. ( ) t (hi) -> t '< ( ) t "- ( ) t • ( ) t " (hi) -> "" '< ( ) t.~ .:1. ( ) to. ( ) t.' (pi) , t " '< ( ) t.' .:1. ( ) t " • ( ) ~ (ml) , ~ ~ ( ) ~ .:L ( ) , .

" ( ) ~ (ri) , Y '( ( ) ~ "- ( ) ~ . ( )

Now check your answers wi th the equivalent chart in Unit 5 (p. 66).

Now let us put into practice what you have learnt above. Match the jJ ? jJ r words in the left column to their English meanings on the right.

a) -\ ~ )/ -f I ) computer ( ) b) ~ ~ ? - 2) communication ( ) c) :; ~ .t.. 3) camp(ing) ( ) d) :;.:1.-;A 4) jam ( ) e) :;:3 -\~ y 'J' 5) musical ( ) f) 1-:3 ;:J V - t- 6) menu·( ) g) .J..:::..:L - 7) shower ( ) h) ;:J)/ t ' .:L - ? 8) jogging ( ) i} ~.:1. -:; jJ Jv 9) chocolate ( ) j) ;:J ~ .:L"=:' 7 -~:3 Y 10) juice ( )

Mll!tli Kaisetsu 5 The small 'Y (tsu) This was introduced for (I ~ IJ~ ~ in Uni t 5 ( p. 69). When you see a small 'Y (tsu) in a word. you do not pronounce it but pause s lightly (a glottal stop) before saying the next sound. In 11 ? 11 r words this has the effect of ' ho lding back' the next sound so that it becomes closer in pronunciation to the original word or at least easier for the Japanese to pronounce. An example will make this clearer:

;f; 'Y I- I-~ 'Y -7~ (hotdog) is pronounced hot(to)dog(gu)

The pronunciation of ' to' and 'gu ' is ' held back' (and written here in bmckets).


t!J .fl-t; Renshii 7 Match the jJ , jJ r words with their English meanings:

a) jJ 'Y 7" I) toilet paper ( )

b) -'t '" '" -1 " r 2) eo;n locke' ( ) c) ~ -;I 'J 7- 3) jacket ( ) d) -'t ,, ;/]- 4) cup ( )

e) >1> " 7- 5) hockey ( ) f) ... " r 6) soce" (football) ( ) g) ':2 -1 /' r:r '7 jJ - 7) sandwich ( ) h) .... { 7- '7 'Y to ;f. -)1.... 8) mix ( ) i) r -1 v 'Y r .....:- .... ~- 9) match ( ) j) :;" 7 " riO) basketball ( )

MiiIt* Kaisetsu 6 Extra tJ!if'J:rr sounds You learnt in the introduction that there are a number of uses of jJ !J 1; r but this unit focuses on the two main uses of 11'11 r: I) to represent forei gn words adopted into the Japanese language (loanwords) and 2) to represent foreign names (cities, countries, personal names, designer and brand names). However, not every sound in a foreign language has an equivalent sound in Japanese and, as you will have noticed already, this leads to changes in pronunciation when the word is adapted to Japanese. Some of these changes have already been pointed out. This section deals with the rest.

1) th sounds. This sound does not exist in Japanese and so is replaced by 5 sounds:

-? '7 ;J /' rna ra so n (marathon) 7- ~ ;t. su mi su (Smith)

-!t '7 1- ~ - sa r chd (Thatcher) -« :;.- .1- ma shu (Matthew)

si a lso does not exist and is replaced with :;.- (shi) or :: (ji) :

:;.- r°'=' - shi do nl (Sydney) t." ;; .:t ;t. hi j i ne Sll (business)

2) er sounds. This is replaced by a lengthened a sound (using -):

.... ' /' .... {- 11~ - ha n bii gii- (hamburger) to_, -pi tii (Peter)

3) Some f sounds arc replaced with h sounds:

7' v ;f; /' 11 - r" te re ho n kii do (telephone card) ':2 - t - kO hi (coffee)

UNIT 9 '37

4) v sounds. This sound does not eKist naturally in Japanese, the nearest equivalent being a b sound:

..%. v"""': - !J - ere bi tii (eleva/or)

.... \ v - ;f. - /1., ba ri bO ru (voJJeybaJl) t '7' ;t bi de 0 (video) 7 -:/;f; T JI,., ra bu ho te ru (Love HOle/)

There also exists a group of sounds which have been designed to represent v sounds:

"f 7 (va) "f 1 (vi) "f (vu) "f 3- (,,) "f" (vo)

The rule is that these are used in foreign names and countries but rules are often broken! Foreign names and countries are also written using the b sounds; other loanwords are sometimes written using the v sounds:

"f -1 'J t- ~ 7 vi ku (0 ri a (Victoria) or t' 'J t- ~ 7 hi 1m to r; a "f 7 -1 ;t ~ /' va i 0 ri n (viol in) or .... ~ -1 ;t ~ /' ha i 0 r; n

5) w sounds. These are fonned in two ways:

;) ? 1 (ui). ?;L. (ue). ?;t (uo) ii) ? -1 (wI), ?:r. (we), ?;t (wo) (the second symbol is small)

Traditionally, (i) arc used for loanwords and (ii) are used for foreign names and countries. However, as with (4), in practice this is not a ' hard and fast' ru le. It has become very fashionable to use the small symbol s and young people in particular are tending to use them.

(i) ? -1 ;r. :\ - u i su kl (whisky) ? ..%.!J - u e tii (waiter) (i i) .I J(...." :r. - no ru wi (Norway) ?;t - 'J '7 Y wo ku ma n

(walkman)

6) Combination sounds using small .,. (a), 1" (i), ? (u), 3- (c), ;t (0):

In (4) and (5) these arc used in forming v and w sounds. They are also used to make a number of other sounds which do not eKist in Japanese but are needed for foreign words. They are easy to read if you remember that the vowel part of the first symbol is replaced with the vowel sound of the small symbol. For eKampie:

"7 l' (fa) the u sound of "7 (fu) is replaced with l' (a)

Now you work out these sounds:

) 7 3- ( ) "/7(

) 7 .. ( ) "/3-(

) )


There are a few other sounds such as 'J -, (kwa) , ~ -, (gwa) and 'J ;:t (kwo) but these are not used very often. Here are the sounds you

should have written/worked out in the previous paragraph:

7 -1 (ft) 1- "- (che)

7 "- (fe) 'Y -, (lsa)

7 ot (fo) '/ ~ (/se)

v ~ (she) T -1 (ti)

:; .x. (je) 7' -1 (dJ)*

• Sometimes this sound is represented by :; (ji) '7 ;;:t raji 0 (radio).

l!J IllW A Renshu 8 This activity is designed so that you can practise reading words which contain the extra sounds you have just learnt (rules 1- 6). Match the words:

a) ;1../~.y -y 7"-1 b) 1- "- ~ 7 -1 y

c) (/~ 7 '" "- -1 7 d) "~7T-1-e) ?;L- ~ v;< f) 7 -1 /~.t. g)-1~*-Y h) 7" ~ 7 ;< i) 7 ot-7 j)

. , . . , :,..- ;v"" - ;r - j '

k) I)

7-?.x.-:Y'y 7' l' .A :;r

I) earphone(s) ( ) 2) check- in (counter) ( ) 3) fax ( ) 4) spaghetti ( ) S) disco ( ) 6) Sweden ( ) 7) fork ( ) 8) waitress ( ) 9) milk shake ( )

10) milk tea ( ) II ) (camem) film ( ) 12) silver seat (seats for elderly/disabled)

MlR--t Kaisetsu 7 Contracted words This the final explanation section - you will then be ready to put your learning into real practice! Loanwords adopted into any language often change pronunciation either to fit that language or because that is the way the word is 'heard ', Take the word ' Japan' , for example, which actually is sounded 'Nihon ' or 'Nippon' in Japanese but was heard as ' Japan' by early European travellers, You have already seen the ways that loanwords are adapted to fit Japanese pronunciation rules. One final way in which loanwords are adapted is by shortening or contracting them. You have already met some examples of shortened words:

) - r (noto) notebook (the book part is no longer part of the word)

UNIT 9

Other examples of shortened words are:

-r v t' (terebi) television (sian is missing; vi is pronounced bi)

They can sometimes take on new or specific meanings:

139

~ /' ~. (sando) toasted sandwich (from ~ /' ~. l' "7 r· (sandoitchi) meaning sandwich)

• ~ /' ~. 1 "7.:r (small 1) is used increasingly (see Kaisetsu 6:5) /' h 4f /' ~. (hamu sando) toasted ham sandwich

Examples of contracted words are:

:; :J 1J.e (rajikase) means radi(o)casse(tte) (missing parts in brackets) "'7 ;t. ::1 ~ (masukomi) means mass comm(unicatiQn) or' mass media

These types of words can cause (he most confusion when you are trying to work out meanings but practice makes perfect! So try the match ing activity that follows.

~ Ilkfl:h. Renshu 9 Match the IJ 7 IJ r words in the left column 10 their riimaji and English equivalents and write thc appropriate letters in the brackets.

I ) ;t - ~ ,< -1 ( ) a) toire a) supermarket 2) ~ -1 " () b) waishatsu b) word processor 3) '7O'tO-7.( ) c) wanp'isu c) personal computer 4) '7-7 0 () d) hiimu d) department store 5) '<:/ ;2 0' () e) ii/ohai e) one piece (= dress) 6)77i ;2 O'() f ) siipii f) white shirt 7) ;j;-t. () g) wiipuro g) (plat)form 8) 7"0 , <- ~ () h) /amikon h) aulobike (= motor bike) 9) 7.-,<- ( ) i) pasokon i) toi let

10) '7 -1 :;, " ';/ ( ) j ) depato. j) fa mily computer

Yomu renshu Congratulations! You have worked through the whole of IJ 7 IJ rand you ean now put your learning into practice. There foHows a series of activites which use tJ 7 tJ T words in a range of contexts which you


might encounter if you visit Japan or if you watch TV programmes or videos about Japan.

I.!J .-fit- Renshii 10 We will begin with a coffee shop menu . These popular places sell an assortment of drinks and light Western-style meals which means the menus are written in tJ , 11 r. Once you can read the menu, you can order your food!

;1;71'-:1-1:.-

71;<"-~

<'''771-L--l:Yj" 1'

::1 -» ::1 -7 ;;:tV Y V'$!.1-A

"" 7

500 Pl 600 Pl 400 Pl 500 Pl 600 Pl 400 Pl 350 Pl

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • -1/>' ~'1 ,,1-/ -1/>' r

1--;( 600 Pl ,,", 700 Pl

<,,7;< 700Pl

.7./ ~ 7~')I7 -f

;hf. ~7Y

;-r':l-A

~' jI'~-;<~

-If';?'

700 Pl 800 Pl

600 Pl 500 Pl 700 Pl 700 Pl 500 - 800 Pl

UNIT 9 141

I) What is the name of this coffee shop? (clue: there is a link with the moon!) 2) What two types of coffee can you buy? 3) What two types of tea can you buy? 4) How much (PJ 0:::: yen) is Coca~cola? 5) How much does an orange juice cost? 6) What types of sandwich filling can you order? 7) How much would you pay for a meat sauce spaghetti dish? 8) How much would a drink of milk, pizza toast and apple pie cost in total? 9) You have a maximum of 1000 yen to spend. What drink and main

meal would you choose? 10) Which two desserts cost 700 yen?

~ IlIlfl-t- Renshu 11 You learnt in the introduction to this book and to this unit that tJ 7 IJ tis used a lot nowadays in advertising. Thi s is because it has the effect of making words stand out (as we use capital letters or italics). Native Japanese words written in IJ 7 tJ r require a knowledge of Japanese vocabulary to work out their meanings. In this activity you should recognise all the words because they are the names of we11~known Japanese companies. Different fonts have been chosen for this activity so that you can get used to reading different styles. These styles are used frequently, for example; on neon signs. A check list of Japanese companies written in riimaji is also given - but not all appear in the activity! So now work out wh ich companies are advertising in the signs.

2) Y .=~ "" =,

Checklist

Sony, Toyota, Sanyo, National, Mitsubishi, Honda, Casio, Seiko, Yamaha, Nikon, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Matsui, Subaru.


t!J j!l(w-t= Renshu 12 Electrical stores housing the latest gadgets can be found all over Japan. Most electrical gadgets are given foreign names and so are written in 11 !I :IJ t . Look at the floor plan, and answer the questions.

Floor 6 77/ , t -!l-, :L. 7 :2 /, ~ -{I,...-

Floor 5 r v" , t"r";t, v --I;I'-r" 1 A 7

Floor 4 7'" 9 7 A , ?-7' o, ~ 1 v

Floor 3 :2 / t ° :J--!l, 7"1} / !I-, -;/7 ~

Floor 2 11 ~ 7, v /;(, 7 1 I V.t. , ~ 1 v

Basement '7:; 11 -C , 7" - 7" I,...- ::r - !f -, '7:J *

I) On which floors are the toilets? 2) Which floor do you think specialises in computer ware? 3) Besides computers, what else is sold on this floor? 4) Which floor sells air conditioners? 5) What is being sold on the fifth floor? 6) Where could you buy a camera lens? 7) Where could you buy a stereo? 8) How many floors sell audio equipment? 9) As well as word processors, what else can you buy on the fourth floor?

10) Which floor would you go to for a tape recorder?

t!J j!l(W-t~ Renshu 13 Match the currencies in the left col umn with the countries on the right (some may require a little guesswork! ):

I ) ;f, / ,.. a) ~" 1 :Y ( ) 2) .,. Iv 7 b) 7 ~ ~ :fJ ( ) 3) ~ 7 c) 1 '" ~ A ( ) 4) ~"Iv d)77/A( ) 5) 7'7 / e) 1 / ~" ( ) 6) I V t " - f) 1'~7 ( )

UNIT 9 143

Here is an extract from a real Japanese financial listing. Can you identify wh ich countries and currencies from Renshu 13 are included here? Have a go at identifying the rest! For example, the second one down is: 11 r ,. t-' II..- (kanada doru) = Canada dollar. Two countries have ~~. these are * (you learnt this in Unit 6, the currency should tell you which country) and ~ which is the _* for England. The European Union is written in _* in brackets but 'ECU' makes this easy to identify (Many countries can be written in il* or tJ, 1J r).

*' I' )v 119 .25 :tJ T 57" I' )v 78.29 E C U (~iiiiili1ll:JiIl.m.> 143.22 ". ~ / 1'202.20 I' -1" ";/ <' )v 7 72 .23

::<: -1" ::<: 7 "7 / 88.80 7 7 / ::<: 7 "7 / 21.73 ;t "7 / 57" ~ )v 57" 64.02 -1" 5' 'J Y 1 0 0 'J 7 7.53 ;t-::<:r'JY:'-'J/Y 10.32 ::<:""-1" /100 ""t5' 86.11 ;t -::<: r"7 'J Y I')v 74.90 =:. "'- - ~ -7/ I' I')v 63.90 :.- / t:I ~ - )v I' )v 73.60 <'v-~7~/-¥/ r 5' -1" J~ ";/ 3.25

~ I!IPHt+1!!I Renshii 14 Finally, there is a sel of tJ , tJ r signs from photographs taken in Tokyo. Can you read them and work out the English meaning? lJe fl., tr ., "( (ganbatte) good luck!

I )

Which famous restaurant is this?

144

2)

What act ivity can you do here?

4)

" ..... t:T

3)

5)


What is happening at this shop?

The two kanji mean environment. What are people being asked to do?

UNIT 9

What is CoCo?

7)

8) 9)

1

10)

12)

145

E ~ I ,.,

146

13)

16)


14)

7 15) ~ 7 1) 1)

~ J A

A What type of tree is this?

What type of whisky is this?

What is the ti tle of the film? (bouom line) What are the actors' names? (above picture)

Kaku renshu Th is short activity is designed to help you write your name in IJ!J IJ T. A short list of popular first names follows. Try saying your name oul loud and matching the appropriate tJ !J h r symbol to each syllable. You wi ll need to refer back to the various rules given in this unit. For example, the name Laura has the sounds 10 ra. The nearest to these sounds are:

UNIT 9 147

1:1-:7 (rura)

And CHRISTOPHER sounds out as k ri s to phaa. In Japanese this becomes:

, ~ ;:t. ~ "7 7 - (J.:urisutojii)

If you know a Japanese person, work out your name and get them to check it. Here is a list of 20 names to help you.

ANNA 7t- (ana) ANDREW 7 Y ~~ ~ .;r.- (andoryu) CATHY "IJ;,- (kashi-) BILL t' /1.- (biru) CLARE 71.-7 (kurea) BRAD -1''7 '' ~- (buraddo) DIANA ';f 1 7 t- (do'ona) GREGG 7"1.- ~ "7" (gureggu) " HILARY l: :7 ~ - (hirari-) JOHN --:r3Y (jon) JANE ;; ;L. -1 Y (jein) MIKE "-17 (maiku) MARY j. 7 ~ - (meari-) PAUL ;t:-/v (po-ru) MICHELLE ; ;, :L}I.- (misheru) ROBERT 1:1 ... '- ~ (mba-to) SARA -t.-'7 (se-ra) STEVE "'7"1-7 (suti-bu) SUE "'- (su- ) TOM ~J. (tomu)

Owari ni You have covered the whole of the 11!J:IJ r syllabary in this unit including the various rules and adaptations of non-Japanese words. You have had opportunities to read a wide range of words and to identify typical street signs. Hopefully you have discovered that because :IJ !J :IJ r is used to write non-Japanese (and often English words) it can be fun and very accessible. There is a lot to take in so treat this unit as one you can keep re-visiting and that you can enjoy! And look for opportunities to read 11 !J 11 r around you (TV programmes, newspapers, magazines, visits to Japan) so that you can impress your friends and family!

10 fJ+a Da; jukka UNIT 10


• learn to read different types of text including: - cooking instructions - cartoons - weather forecast - song lyrics - haiku (short poems)

• learn the basics for reading and writing Ictters

Key phrase ~*mfl (kanjifukushi;) Kanji review

Hajime ni The aim of this unit is to pull together everything you have learnt throughout this book and apply it to reading Japanese texts. There are many types o f text which use different styles of writing and have different levels of difficulty. This unit will gct you started on reading and will introduce you to some techniques for accessing text which you can then build on.

Some tips on grammar functions and particles are given first and you can refer back to these as necessary. Where _* appear in a text which have been introduced in earlier units, there is a short pre-activity for you to see how many you can remember. However, do not worry if you cannot remember them all, the activity is simply a device to get you thinking about what you have learnt and making connections. Check the answers 10 these pre-activities in the back before proceeding and if you want to look back to where the ll* was first introduced, remember that you can look up the English meaning in the index and this wiU refer you back to that unit.

UNIT 10 149

You will be asked to mark parts of the texts as a way of identifying and separating different words and features . This is especially helpful because Japanese writing does not nonnally have gaps between words (as you will notice in the texts that follow). You could use different coloured highlighter pens or use different types of markings (circle, underline, overline). Or you could copy the relevant parts of the text onto paper and mark them.

lWilIt Kaisetsu Grammar functions Read through the information that follows but do not worry if you are not clear about all of it because the texts will have practical examples and you can then refer back tothe summaries beneath the text to consolidate your learning.

Particles and sentence order

1) Every noun in a Japanese sentence is usually followed by a particle. A particle is a grammar marker which tells you the function of the noun it marks. Let us look at some examples to help you understand this. In English. the sentence order tells you the function of the main sentence parts:

I ate Japanese food ' I' is the subject of the sentence (who ate) and comes at the beginning of the sentence 'ate' is the verb 'Japanese food ' is the object of the sentence (what I ate) and comes after the verb

This order is called SVO (subject, verb, object).

We also use particle-type words (called prepositions) such as 'with', ' by' and 'at' :

I ate Japanese food at home with chopsticks at marks 'home ' and with marks 'chopsticks'. They are placed before ( pre-position) the noun they mark.

2) This is what happens in Japanese:

fl,. (i ;fait a- tt.....: i L. k. 1 Japanese cuisine ate fl,. (I) is followed by the particle lot. It marks the subject of the sentence ~-tt (Japanese food) is followed by the particle a-. It marks the object of the sentence.


The order in Japanese is SOY (subject, object, verb).

There arc other particles with different functions such as -r: (with):

f/.I~ I~V(" lItit -1' it '" * l- t" I chopsticks with Japanese food ate

However, the order of the Japanese sentence is morc fl exible than the English order because the particles, not the order, tell you the functions of the different parts. So you could say :

f/.I~ :fUit-1' I~l--(" it"'*l-t" I Japanese food chopsticks with ate

But the verb always comes al the end of the sentence.

3) Particles arc always placed a fter the noun or ti me ex pression they mark. Look at the diagram showing the key particles:

GhO eats ttf~ ~hat they cat V ~ere they eatoy EAT ~en they cat V

With what they eat -r:

4) Particle descriptions

(,1 (pronounced 'wa' as a particle not ' ha') topic or subj ect marker of sentence

IJI{. (ga) subject marker of verb ~ (0) object marker ofscntcnce -c" (tie) I . with, by : '1 t, -c" (with chopsticks); ~l!1fI'"L (by train)

2. place where action happens: V.A r"7 /-c" (at / in the restaurant) t: (ni) I. to (direction): JJDj( {.: (to Tokyo) (also can use" pronounced

• e') 2. at, on (after time): rJ PIlI. a {.: (on Monday); - at I.: (at one

o'clock) 3. at, in, on (place/position): J.f.rJiu.: {£ A .. :L" l' .t l' (I live in

Tokyo) 0) (no) I. of, 's: a *0)* (Japan's rice or Japanese rice) 2. links a noun with its positio"n: LI.I t7) J: (mountain 's top or on

top of the mountain) t (to) I. and (between nouns): a:;$: t *m (Japan and America)

2. with (accompanied by): a *A t (with a Japanesc person)

UNIT 10 151

Quick translation tips

You will be given lots of pointers throughout this unit so this is a summary list for you to refer back to as necessary.

I ) Find the topic/subject of the sentence by looking for Ii:

fLli *-., lI\t"" £ -t (I book , cad) subje" is fL (I)

2) Then translate ' backwards' from the end of the sentence:

(fLli) *-., ~"" £ -t , book read

3) Describing words arc generally placed in the same order as Engl ish:

fLu o'i ~ • *-., llit"" £ L. t~ (I old book read)

4) In the texts that follow, both literal (lit.) and natural English are given to help you understand the phrases and structuring.

5) Where relevant or helpful the meaning of the ~*" radical is given in brackets. Assume it is a lefthand radical unless stated otherwise.

l!J j!l(fI- R enshu 1 H® Mango Cartoon

r t=ltJ'l= Q)1c*-i-MC.;;.t":;:'PJ c(i= 1 t=ljc ···


itii and 7::.. .J. (anime) or animation are very popular in Japan and are known around the world. Cartoon books fill bookshops and kiosk shelves and Japanese people of all ages can be seen reading them on trains, in bookshops and at home. The one· frame cartoon here is taken from the Kyoto News, a Japanese newspaper. It is from the education section and is a joke about ttlf '"7 ""7 (kyijjku mama) or 'education mothers' who go to great lengths to ensure their ch ildren study hard and get into the best schools. Now work through the series of activities starting with a review.

1) ."'1!!f'I Kanji lukushu

There are three iI.* in the cartoon and yOll have learnt them all! Do you remember them? They are:

a) * b) m c) ~ 2) Find and mark these '0 a; 'bitt. words:

a) ~ L- tJ' (.:: (tashikrJ ni) certainly, indeed b) t"'J C (motto) more c) It C· (kedo) but

3) Mark these particles and grammar functions:

a) ~ (0) object marker b) ... l' ~ l' (nasai) verb ending indicating a command, in this case

' read! ' c} ... c tt (to wa) used in reported speech (I said that ... ). (;;1 adds

emphasis (l did say ... ) d} r indicates open quote mark (close quote mark is J). r J means

quote within a quote.

4) .1{ Honyaku Translation

rI::G~·1.: ... clHhtc r {, -:> C '" ·Hlt<l> ,., ~ ~. J

It C· ...

' lndeed I did say ... "Read more books!" but ...

The 'but' trails off, the reader fills in the rest from the picture ('but this is ridiculous!').

Notice the technique of translating the information outside the double quotes first then adding the part in double quotes. This would be the order in which we would say it in English whereas in Japanese the ' I said' part comes at the end. Emphasis on t::. l,.. Ir (,: (indeed) is achieved by placing it at the beginning.

UNIT 10 153

Henshu 2 Cookery instructions

". • .-(

j • •

0 7?.f,\·~~)~OI: "e.. '£a7rt1: ;t, t:: t :: .!JIJ ~

GJ {

"-,

@.a:'ill:: .k t. -,r'tt 77';: ". ;; t:.;J.t 1". +-i"·tr :::.30 ..... 1:'1 +Sl .flt.:n'~'t p~I,,?L.

The sequence is from the children 's educational section of a newspaper. There arc two sets of si mple cooking instructions.

1) _*Utff Kanjifukushii

Write down the English meanings of these I!* and :IJ !I 1) r words:

a) * (mizu) b) 3i (tama) c) !k (h') d) m (yubi) e) r A ~ f) 7' -1 ~ ;J.. g) 7=] -1 ~~ /'

Now mark them in the text. Remember to eheck your answers in the back before proceeding.

2) Title: Jlf:O,g (top three pictures)

a) Find and mark these il*: Jtt (tamago) egg iII (kado) comer, edge ~ -C (ate) hit mta (oya yubi) thumb (li t: parent finger)


b) Find and mark these (j ~ IJ{ ~ words:

h G (waru) break Ir t;; l' (kataj) hard httll) (wareme) a crack I> "C "'C (ate/e) put i.t (= ftr mae) front ? L- -? (= tl;:, ushiro) back tl t: ¢ (nejiru) twist

c) Find and mark these tJ 7 11 t- words:

::t Y ::t Y (konkon) tap tap (sound) ~ ~ Y (polon) with a plop (sound)

d) Mark these particles. Remember that particles are positioned after the word they mark:

i' (0) positioned after the object of the sentence - the object marker (appears two times)

(.: {nil to, in, on (appears three times) , C. (to) with (placed after the word); and (placed between two nouns)

e) lIIiR Honyaku Translation

Title fII ~ h '" ~,t::~,jljc

:::1;;::tYc~-r httlllC t!1l1i~.,"C"C LU: ? ~ '3CI:lt: '"

Breaking an egg on a hard edge hit with a tap tap in the crack put (your) thumb twist to the front and back (forwards and backwards)

3) Title::deli. 'T A t- (lower three pictures-exduding thought bubble)

a) Find and mark these il*:

jJij (abura) oil *3i (mizutama) water ball /drop 1ti;t (yubisakt) fingertip ft i!: (okt) place 1& C 1" (otosu) drop +7} (jiibun) enough

b) Find and mark these () ~ /JI{ ~ and j; , 11 r words:

t::. t::. A... t:! t t7) (tatanda mono) folded (thing) 0) tr1' (nobasu) spread "'? It -r (tsukete) switch on, apply (appears twice) . $, t::. t::. d) ~ (lid) Q = alatameru) warm up (also appears as $, t:. t:. 1"c~',") .: .75 /Jt "? t::. ~ (korogauara) if (it) rolls L. Q L. (shirushi) sign t: $ "? (ju) ping :z Y a (konro) hob

UNIT 10

c) Mark these particles and grammar functions:

?: (0) object marker (appears five times) -(' (de) with, by means of t.: (ni) on, into (three times) '"C (te) verb ending meaning and IJt (ga) subject marker t.:. ~ (fara) verb ending meaning if. when

d).~ Honyaku Translation

Title *3i 7* 7.. f-

7" 1 " "- ., to to ,,-t! t ",-c" ill!?? '" 1.1' 1"

Water drop test

w ith a folded tissue spread the oil

155

7 7 1 ,'Y ., ;7 Y 0 C l'l ~ 9<.., -:> It -c l, to to ~ 7, lll%I:*.,-:>lt-c 771 "Yc1Ii1: 1" *;tin' .: '5 n' ., to "

place the frying pan on the hob switch on the heat (fire) and warm up apply water to the fingertip and drop into the frying pan if (when) the water drop rolls

-Hi l, to to j. ., -c ~. 7, ~ 7, ~ (it's) a sign that it is warmed up enough.

I.!:II!I!W=: Renshu 3 How to make green tea

The sequence of fou r instructions on the tea packet show you how to make perfec t Japanese green tea. Once you can read them, you can try making green tea for yourself!

I ) il¥Utff Kllnjifukushii

Write down the English mean ings of thesc 100:* words. Then mark them in the tcxt and write down how many times each appears.

a) 1lX f){ol!

b) A g) "*

2) General points

cJ 1'1 h) :Il

d) J\ i) IIIj

e) 1>*

Here are some general words used throughout the text which are useful to look at first. They will be referred to again in the translations so use this list as a reference list.

156

A I\: ~ (J) il!{f"" :>.rill" 8~ I'IIl!' A/1. -r~oI~a. MI (J)ilI.it i'J80"C

iII{f"''' ill!' 01 ~ (J) /I: ~<: ~r~::;:!: fi 1Il-t6HJ! flJ -r-t.


UNIT 10 157

-* (- bun) means share, part, per. Three A* means three people 's 'worth or three helpings (food)

- ~ (- me) means -th, -rd, -nd as in 4 "J ~ (fourth). 1 rut ~ means first infusion

•

• #' (fun) also means minute. 251 means two minutes.

The vocabulary and translation is now introduced section by section. Once introduced, vocabulary is not repeated in later sections so you will need to refer back as nccessary.

Picture 1

3a) Find and mark these if*:

fiX~:II (llomikata) how to drink Ali (nillzii) number of people * (bun) part, per m (yu) hot water tlWJJ. (alternative: 1:QfiXJJ. = yu noml) teacup - # ~ (bunme) parts lfAJJt (ondo) temperature j{J (yaku) approximately m~' ! L. (yuzamashi) hot water cooler it ~ I,: (kawan) in place of, instead of ftJfl t- 9 (shiyo suru) use f51!fJJ (benrr) convenient, handy

b) Find and mark these {) t; tJt Jj:' words:

t:>' ~. L. t· (ohhii) delicious ttl::: (hOOo) about Atl. L ~ ! L. ! l' (irele samashimasu) put in and cool

c) Mark these particles and grammar functions:

U) (no) between two nouns indicates that the second noun belongs to the fi .. , (x 3)

t.: (m) into, in (x 2) .t-3 (0) before a noun makes the word sound more honorific . .t-31M (x 2) a- (0) object marker (x 2) I: (to) ir(x I)

d) 8j{J Honyaku Translation

Match the Japanese on the left with the translation on the right. The first is done for you:

,.8

I ) !H' l.- ('/il:o/I>:IJ (I;lle) 2) AII'I5t (1) UHf 0/1> 10 3) tllIH> 8 5t i'I I1/:' l\ tt -c

~Jl.-JT. 4) t111.l (1) i!lllU~ 80 C 5) /j,j~ 0/1> ~ ...• f1! III T '" I: 6) /j,j~' J l.- (1) fI: ry 10 7) iUJ"C'T

Picture 2

4a) Find and mark these ~*:


i) If you use teacups ... ( ) ii) it is handy ( ) iii) instead of a water cooler ( ) iv) the temperature of the hoi water

"is about 80 C ( ) v) a delicious drinking method ( I )

vi) put in ahout e ig ht paris hot water and cool ( )

vii) into drinking cups per number of people ( )

~ (ha) leaves ~;.a (kyUsu) tcapot 3 Aft (sanninbun) 3 helpings *- ~ t: (osa)1) tablespoon f.J (see a» ~ft (haibun) cupful/spoonful

b) Circle the particle -r: (de) meaning ' for'; t7) x 1; ~ x 1; (.: x 1

c) IJJ~ Honyaku Translation

tI*(1)~~:f;l:jjjlol\tt 1 T . 3 A5t"C' 6-8g

CX~ t:I'J 1 · 5 U5t)

Picture 3

5a) Find and mark these .~:

Put the tea leaves in the teapot for three hclpings(people) (it is) 6-8 grams (in tablespoons (it's) approximately 1.5 spoonfu ls)

lim t .Q (shinto suru) brew, penneate tt ~ l t (machimasu) wait ifili (shinshuIsu) brewing Iff rdl (jikan) time 1 7t (ippun) I minute m ~ > (koO strong, dark M-! 1j: A (sukina hito) people who like *d.> I: (nagame) lengthen 1 mt ~ (ichimaeme) the first infusion lOt;- (jilbyo) to seconds lWH' (atsUI) hot

b) Mark these particles and grammar functions:

:8 (honorific) x 4; Q) x 3; (: x 3; a- x 3; t} x 2; Ii x 2 J= ~ (yori) than (placed after)

UNIT 10 159

C) .~ Honyaku Translation

Match the Japanese on the left with the correct translation on the right:

I) lQ-lf JJ.. C1) 1:J & -t i) the hot water on the tea leaves ( ) 2) ;(,);iJic i :,It"C ii) lengthen (thctime) ( ) 3) ;\t~ L.: 1:J1£l nt iii) put in the teapot ( ) 4) ~m 1" Q Q) -t ~ t, 1. 1" iv) wait for it (the hot water ... ) to brew

( ) v) people who like strong tea ( )

vi) the hot water in the teacups ( ) vii) brewing ti me ( is) about I minute

( ) Asterisked part: the brewing time for the second infusion (refill) is

about 10 seconds 2nd Bracketed part: use hot water that is hotter than for the first infusion

Picture 4 6a) Find and mark these il~ :

it <. (sosogu) pour into #"A: (bumy5) quantity ~~,.: (kinto ni) uniformly fi::ff. (saigo) final - nlj (irtekl) one drop ~ t) (shibort) squeeze, extract

b) Grammar points:

1. -r: (made) up 10 - ~ IJ 1. L- .t oj (kirimashii) let's fin ish .. .

c) lfiUR Honyaku Translation

1; ;\\: HI: <. j)-lI! 1;1 ~!il' 10 1;;\\:1;1 , , Il( 9 ! 9 1. l J; ,

/fl:iJ!Q) - illiJ."C'

L!J antI!!! Renshii 4

pour the quantity of tea uniformly (let's) squeeze out the tea to the final drop

*1&7* Tenki yoho The weather forecast

The weather forecast shown here is taken from the Kyoto newspaper. Its title (top lefthand corner) is:

~ .t oj C1)~"jl\ (kyo no tenia) Today's weather

I) .¥=Utf.'l Kanjifukushu

Decode the place names that follow (refer to map of Japan in Unit 8, p. I 15):

0) ::kJl!i b) lID¥- c) *l.tl d) )l\tiI

• 29 8 ,;t~t lro.EEO)t):O)tt:::

. -C, ~o):315.tJ~g.t It:= 0?o ~O)&t~;!!;!<\EEtC;!O 1'3ptl"'Ci:;t ltc. t \~;f1,0)::R !<\tctJ:'-'>w'h. B<I'O)!<\ i!! t~24!!l: <: 0l , * -C Jot,). I), lItrBciolL:<:0l 'O)B!! t.l'~ I.:t~ IJ ..:e 3 0

: 1l*I* IT:r.rn: - * i ... ...... ... Il.;t\. ~

* "

* *

.• '" : , .. ~I - ... ' , t.. ~I " t ~.t

~" • 28 B 21

'" ~ U

* b I) 5 ~ !II It

tJ;:(1B ,.~~ _i'IIi$3~~II~)

-IS

~ z ~ ~

); )i Iii i<l Q :!i

UNIT 10 161

Now find them on the weather report (look at the left side of the text) and mark them (Ji( :tJS appears four limes).

2) Key

Below the written text (begi nning 29 a ... ) there is a key consisti ng of two boxes. Can you see them?

The box with the straight line in the middle indicates (/) I? (nochi) which

means later. For example: ' means 'sunny later cloudy'.

The box with the slanti ng line indicates Ifi¥ ~ /~ Ifi¥ (tokodoki iehiji)

mean ing sometimes/for a lime. For example: 'sometimes sunny, for a time cloudy'.

J) Look al the lefthand column (~ .l. "3 0)~1K) a) Find these place names:

tlH f Fukui m~ Fukuoka JIIIp Kobe ~Ht Nara ~ 0'1 I<! Nagoya 1II\%&t. Kagoshima

Now answer these questions from the information given in the lefthand column.

b) What is the weather going to be like in:

i) Tokyo . ii) Osaka iii) Fukui IV) Kagoshima?

c) Name two other cities where it will be:

i) cloudy then sunny ii) sunny then cloudy

4) Middle and lower picture-symbol columns

a) il~m'aW (Kanjifukushii). Write down the meanings of these _*: ii) ~ iii) ~ iv) ± v) fJ vi) 1<. vii) *

iii- vii also represent the days of the week. Which days do they represent? (see Unit I, p. 5). Check your answers in the back then find them in the text.

b) You should have identified JX~ (Kyoto) four times in these col umns. The other place name (also mentioned four times) is 1I~ (Shiga). After both these place names are these .~: ~t$ (hokubu) and m$ (nanbll). $ means part, therefore 'North part ' and 'South part'. The middle column

162 BEGINNER'S WANESE SCRIPT

is today's weather, the lower column is the forecast for the 30th-4th. Now answer these questions.

e) What is loday's weather like in:

i) the North part of Kyoto iii) the South part of Kyoto?

ii) the South part of Sh iga

d) What is the weather forecast for:

i) South Kyoto on Friday iii) North Kyoto on Sunday v) South Shiga on Wednesday

Ii) South Kyoto on Tuesday IV) North Sh iga on Saturday vi) North Kyoto on Monday?

e) On which day and where might you need an umbrella? (Two answers)

5) rughtside pictures (top and bottom)

a) a preceded by a number indicates a dale. 3 a means 3rt! (day). ~preceded by a number indicates ·o'clock' . 31J.--j means 3 o'clock.

Look at the top satellite picture. When was it taken? (tim e and date)

b) The lower picture has a number of circular symbols to the right followed by iM¥. You learnt most of these in Un its 6 and 7. Can you identify them now? They are quite small, the size of a real newspaper:

i) RU i i) (also look up ~) iii) ilJij iv) HI v) ~

Look back to the previous units if you need to, then cheek your answers in the back and mark the terms in the text (some are quite small).

c) There are four other circular symbols with weather terms. Find and mark them:

tkPi' good weather :lI mist, fog liI. (IiJ .1J wind direction/strength lj. t· tl.. sleet

6) The text

A short text is located above the symbol columns. Go through steps 1- 4 thai follow then try your own trans lation before looking at step 5 (the translation).

i) Find and highlight the following i1ti:* words and phrases. What do they mean?

a) 29 a b) W c) Iili d) Iii'i tL e) "'~ f) 1:

UNlT 10 163

ii) Find and highlight the following il¥ words and phrases:

a) jj9~' (yoww) weak b) 3i:\EE (kia~u)atmosphericpressure c) 1¥ (lam) valley (trough) d) ~. (eikyiJ) influence, effect e) WI (asa) morning f) ~ ~. (ooi) many g) t q:)1t (sono go) after that h) if{~EE (kokiatsu) high pressure i) J!~';" (mikomi) expectation j) I3I:J:t (nitchu) all day k) 1t\ifi (hon) temperature I) nl (do) degrees m) J:h~ ry (agari) to rise n) nO a (zen)itsu) previous day 0) FnJ t: (ona)i) same p) IIlh' ~ (atatakasa) warmth

iii) Find and mark these V t, h t ~ words:

a) ? t;, (uchi) during b) f!. ~ ? (daro) wi ll probably c) ... I.: 1::1 1::1 h tt -C (n; oowarete) be covered by (literal translation) d) t.; l' t:. L' (daitai) generally e) ... (.: -rt Q (ni naru) become ... f) (' t, L' (gumi) about (x 2) g) 1. -c" (made) up to h} ... (.: -rt ry t ? (n ; nariso) it looks like it will be (come) ... (t ? -

seem, look like)

iv) Find and mark these particles and grammar functions:

t1 (wa) topic marker (x 3) (J) (no) of, 's (x 7) -c" (de) through, by means of (x I) ht (ga) subject marker (x I) C (to) as (x 1)

t ;/ r Hinto: Try to translate the text yourself before working through step 5. Remember: find the topic or subject then work through the sentence/ phrase from the end .

v) IJHlR Honyaku Translation

29 13 Ii ilil L ' 1<\ EE "l ~ "l Jilj\.-e

Wl"l 1t, mil'$L 't':,? 1

t "l fi! Ii . . . Jl.jz, '"

The 29th (start from the end of this senlence and work backwards): through the influence (because of the effect) of a trough of low (weak) pressure during the morning the clouds will probably be many (there will be a lot of cloud) after that ... it is expected (that)

164

i\1j 11.\E£ (~ 10 10 to It L t! ( • t~ ( . aI/it Q) ;JC 11.\ (0 ~ '" a '" Q) 11.\ iliW: 24 Ill:<· t, ( • .t -C J:i>' ? ... (~~?"tj lli! a I: foil L: (' t, ( • Q) 1IIli>' ~

~ I!I!Wli Renshu 5

~. Tegami Letters


high pressure will spread and generally it will be (come) fine weather the daytime temperature wi ll rise up to about 24 degrees it looks like it wil l be about the same warmth as the previous day (yesterday)

This section will get you fi rst to read a letter which is handwritten, and then will giye you some tips fo r wri ting a letter yourself!

This letter is written downwards and you start reading at the top right, down the column. This is the traditional way of writing letters but many Japanese people nowadays write in Western style, horizontally from left to right. Writing downwards can give a lettcr a morc fonnal or traditional tonc. This is a New Year' s greetings card and as this is a traditional custom, such cards are often (but not always) written in the traditional downwards style.

New Year cards, like Christmas cards in the West, are sent by al I Japanese people to a wide range of friends, acquaintances, colleagues and clients. They normally have a short greeting but this card has been sent by a Japanese friend to a friend in England and is a combined New Year's greeting card and letter.

t) Start by identifying and marking i'OO.* you have already been introduced to. As before, see how many you can remember then check the answers in the back before proceeding further.

a) itIi&f b) IJIj 0) 'f g) 13 h) ffil' ;) IT m) 11.\ n) &f: 0) !!

d) 1m j) ,1M, p) lip i"

e) 111' k) ~ q) 'f

f) 1'1* I) ~

2) Find and mark these set phrases and read the explanations:

a) 1'3 ~ (,=. tr Ir tt "C (o-me ni kakarete) li t. I was able to set eycs on you. This is a respectfu l way of saying ' I was able to see/\TIeel you'.

b) ... !$ t., lj. (,=. (tanoshimi ni) I am looking forward to ... This phrase ends with (,=.. The full sentence would end with t., "C l ' ;t. -t (shiteimasu) but this is often omitted.

c) 1'37G~-C (o-genki de) Take care!

UNIT 10

-

-K ...

165

1;: '

B)1 !f I r -'t i L -C

h II)

"'C t 7

l '

1

1


3) Now mark these il* words and phrases.

a) lI)J't.t L- '"C (akemashite) 10 dawn ( from I!IJ (t .9 (akeru» b) .tI.f-JIl; (o-legami) letter c) 7X. (otto) husband d) 1tF~ (sakunen) last year e) :EJ1J;. (shashin) photograph f) ~ t) .1 "t (okurimasu) send g) *~ (rainen) next year h) H (natsu) summer i) .J( (mata ) again j) 7Gil (ganlan) New Year's Day k) :ffiT Hanako (girl 's name.

1~ means ' flower')

4) Next mark these () 0 tJ{ ~ words and phrases:

a) 1:) ~ -r: C 1 .:::~. t· i 1'" (omedet6 gozaimasu) congratulations b) $, IJ 1J~ C ., ;:..~. t, .i l., t.::.. (arigatii gQzaimashita) Thank you (for

what you have done) c) '7 tt L, ( (ureshiku) happily ., tL l., Ir ..., t.; (ureshikatta) was/were

happy d) l ' t.::.. t! ~ ,; L. t.::.. (itadakimashita) received (see 6c this section) e) -L ~ Q (dekiru) be able to f) "t tt -C (,1 (sore dewa) and so, we ll, finally (used at end of letter)

5) Mark these two iJ!I tJ r words:

a) ~ v Y (heren) Helen b) -1 !lit ~ 7- (lgirisu) England

6) Find and mark these particles and grammar functions:

a) t:; (0) adds tone of respect Lo nouns (put before the word) (x 2; also see 2a and c above).

b) C (to) and, with (see also (k». c) ~ 11:t"( (yomasete) (you) let me read + ~. t::. t.! ! 1 t... t.:. ( I

received). li t . " received you letting me read'. It is a po lite way of acknowledging something which someone has done for you. Another example is: 1* it -t! -C t > t.:. t! ! 1 t... t.:. (yal'umasete itadakimashita) '(You) let me take a break',

d) tt (wa) topic marker (x 2), e) '"C" (de) in , at (particle used 10 mark the place (where something

happens), f ) (:. (ni) with, to (x 2; also see 2a this section), g) t try (sono) that. h) try (no) see notes at beginning of unit (x 2), i) ~ (0) object marker (x 2). j) fi 1! t.:. t > (ikitai) I want to go (t;; t, = want to).

UNIT 10 167

k) C ,w."") "'C l' .t l' ( .. . to omotleimasu) I think that . _ . (l: here m'eans ' that').

I) .:: l: (koto) placed after a verb this can be translated as •... ing' . Therefore: -(' ! 9 .:: t. J dekiru /coto) being able to.

7) .1{ Honyaku Translation

This time you are going to do some of the work! The translation fo llows, phrase by phrase. It is not in order, however, and your task is to work out the correct order. Some of it may be obvious from the English (!) but keep referring back to the text and points (1 - 6) of this section so that you get a good understanding of how the letter is structured .

a) IiI. Next year's summer I think that 1 would like to go to England = Next summer 1 hope to .. J would like to ...

b) With my husband (my husband and I) read your Ictter happily (with pleasure).

c) I look forward to being able to meet again. d) Thank you for your letter e) 1 am sending (you) the photographs of (lfrom) that timc. f) Well, take care. g) lit. the new year has dawned, congl"'dtulations = Happy New Year! h) New Year's Day, 1999. (From) Hanako Yamamoto (in Japanese,

surname precedes first name) i) I was happy that last year 1 was able to meet with Helen in Japan.

(The Japanese often use your name instead of saying ·you').

1!f < MI. Kaku renshjj Writing letters I) Let's start by looking at some of the features of the letter you have just read.

a) Did you notice that the date is written at the end of the letter, and is followed by the name of the writer? This is standard practice.

b) Hanako (the writer) begins with a greeting, in this case ' Happy New Year'. You will learn some more seasonal greetings in the next section .

c) Hanako then says thank you for the letter she received. You can use this structure to thank someone for something they have sent you such as:

-:I v -t! y t- present; t1 /J~ ~ postcard; h - ,.~ (kiidQ) card

Just add I> IJ /J~ t. ., ::: ~·l' .t l, ~ (thank you) after the item.


d) Hanaka brings the lctter to a close with ~ it. "('" tt, .t17G3{\ '"C" (Well, lake care).

2) Now let us look at useful phrases and techniques you can use to write a letter to a Japanese friend.

a) Begin with their name followed by ~ ft., (san) if you know the person well or :! .t (sarna) fo r a very formal letter. In th is case you might use the surname. For example:

;rET ~ It,., (Hanako san) Ll.p$:. ~ .t (Yamamoto-sarna) (or Jffir ~ i Honako-sama)

b) Rather than beginning with an enquiry about a person's health ('How arc you?' ) the Japanese lend to comment on the weather first and then maybe a comment about the person 's health. Here are some useful phrases fo r different times of the year:

&. ~. td~ -to (yo; a-Ioshi 0) Have a good year (normally used before New Year's day). IYJlt .t l,; Ltd IJ)"C (: ., Happy New Year (used during New Year) . .f. y - 'J y ;t.""? ;t. (merl kurisumasu) Merry Christmas . .t t! .t t!!.@! ~ liJ)tl' "'( l' .t 1" (mada mado samusa ga tsuzuileimasu) The cold weather continues . .t -1 {> < :tf ..o~ ! .t L., t.; (yayaku haru ga kimashita) At last Spring has come. I! U· L., l '. ~ ..o:~l'",( l' .t 1" (kibishii atsusa ga tsuzuiteimasu) The unrelenting heal continues. 1f'!t ..0' (: :f.1c..o~ {> ., "'( ! "'( l' .t 1" (shizuka ni aki ga yalte kileimasu) Autumn has crept up on us quietly.

c) Enquiries about health: i:nG~L" 1" ..0' (o-genki desu ka) How are you? (informal) .$7G~"'("1-3~ L., L" L., J: -1 /J' (o-genki de o-sugoshi desha ka) How are you? (formal)

d) Closing phrases:

Either: Or:

-t tt. L" {.t, 1-3:7GX(L" (see I d this section) Well, take care. L" tL ! :d*t: X\ i> ·':Ht '"'( (dewa, o-karada ni ki 0 tsukete) Well, take care ofyourself(a ltemative to (a» . 1-3J6.lJ1-3M'= i;, L., "'( l' .t 1" (o-henj i o-mach; shiteimasu) I wait for your reply ~ J: -1 ~ t;, (sayOnara) Goodbye. Ir l.- .: (kashiko) sincerely (used by women; formal) .

UNIT 10 169

e) You don't need to use an equivalent of 'Dear ' or 'from ' when writing a letter. The person's name plus ~ A- I ~ ;t (see 2a thi s section) and you own name at the end (after the date) is enough.

I f you are writing a brief note or postcard, you can miss out the seasonal greetings and closing phrases and use this pair of phrases instead: "trill (zenryaku) Greetings! (used at the beginning); .!f!. ~ (s5 so) Excuse Ihe rosh (used at the end)

l!J jjfHW:t\ Renshu 6

~ <.; (Sakura) The cherry blossom song

This is perhaps the most well-known Japanese song: The music is reproduced as well, so that you can try singing it once you have studied its meaning! Notice that the lyrics are written in () ~ b{ ~ so that it is clear which sound fits which note.

Here are the words o f the song, this time with ~* as weil. The romaji is written to the side, You could write the romaji below the () G b{ ~ on the music but try instead to read the () G Ii 1" because this will be very good reading practice! Here is the text:

~, ~ Sakura, Sakura Jf LlJ t • t noyarna rno salo mo Jt~ ttl 'J miwatasu kagiri lalr~lJ' kasumi ka kuma ka :@J a I: -tJ "1 asahi ni niou Ri . Ri Sakum, Sakum :m.~ 'J hanazakari

i) What are the meanings of the following _*: aj tlJ bj J!. cH!€ d) \'OJ (Unit 10, Renshii 4) e) a f) lE (Unit 10, Renshii 5)

2) Find and mark these 11* words:

a) ~ (sakura) cherry blossom (x 4) b) JfLlJ (noyama) fields and hills c) • (salo) home 'town d) J!Mt t (miwatasu) survey the scene, look out over e) tI 'J (kagiri) endless, everywhere; as far as f) W (kasumi) mist (notice the rain radical)


UNIT 10 171

g) ~ a (axahl) morning sun h) ~; (niou) be fragrant i) :fE.§ IJ (hanazakan) (Bowers) in full bloom

3) Find and mark these particles and grammar functions:

a) t ... t (rna ... mol both ... and b) I)' ... I)' (ka ... ka) either ... or c) t.: (ni) in

.lIR Honyaku Translation

This lime you are going to try the translation complete ly by yourself! Song lyrics and poems often use very minimal language, and use words to evoke a sense of what is being described rather than spelling it all out. Whcn translating into English, there are a number of stages to follow:

i) Translate individual words and phrases (here done for you). ii) Put together in ' literal ' English.

iii) Consider what meanings are being conveyed and change into a more natural English structure.

IV} AI this stage, translators need to decide whether it is more important to keep closely to the original Japanese or to ' interpret ' the text and put their: own individual mark on it. This may depend on the text or on the purpose of the translation. Certainly with poems and songs it may be necessary to change words in order to make the song fit the tune or for the poem to retain its structure, rhythm or rhyme.

In the case of this song, however, you will be singing it in Japanese so focus on conveying the sense of the Japanese words in more natural Engl ish (but why not have a go at getting the English to fit the tune too!). There is a sample translation at the back so that you can check for meaning but as long as the meaning is correct, other versions are equally acceptable.

L!l .f!l-l:; Renshu 7 fW.fu Haiku Haiku were developed in Japan but nowadays are known and written all over the world. They are a style of poetic writing using a small number of words to convey a much deeper feeling or emotion . Traditionally the poems were observations of nature which would evoke a strong sense of


the scene described or of the emotions underlying it. Modern haiku explore many themes and continue to be popular both in Japan and internationally.

A haiku traditionally is a l7~syl1able poem of three lines: 5-7-5 (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) . The four great masters of Japanese haiku were BasM (1644- 94), Buson (1 7 16- 84), Issa (1762- 1826) and Shiki (1867- 1902). A few haiku by these great masters follow - you are going to have a go at translating them 1 A choice of English translations of a word wi ll often be given so that you can ' experiment ' with your translation. There arc sample translations at the back so that you can check on meanings. Most translators try to capture the sense of the poem in English without retaining the 5- 7- 5 form but once you have the meaning you could try to reduce it to 17 syllables!

I Il!t"a~ i'f III Q) '1' I:: - :JtI;

suzushisa ya aola no naka n; hi/olsu matsu

Shiki

I) You have met these .~ in thi s book. What do they mean?

a) 'j!f b) Ell c) '1' 2) The new nl~ words are:

a) Th< L- ~ (suzushisa) coolness (water radical) b) ~ (matsu) pine tree (tree radical)

3) Particles and grammar functions

a) "'(:l (ya) A poetic convention, for emphasis translated as ' the' or ' a' (l ike I:t wa) Some translators use ... after the word to set the scene. For example: Th< L- ~ "'(:l The coolness ...

b) Il) (no) of e) (.: (ni) in d) -") (hitotsu) one (item); a single (thing)

II 1;.~ iUWIH1 *Q)'i\'

furuike ya kawaz" tobikomu mhu no 0(0

BashO

I) You have met these.~ in this book. What do they mean?

a) 1; c) 'i\'

UNIT 10

2) The new ~* words are:

a) 1& (ike) pond (water radical) b) !t (kawazu)/rog (insect radical) c) ~O~~tr (tobikomu) leap/plunge/diveljump into

3) Particles and grammar functions:

,) '(> (ya) see 3. (p. 172)

III !if" ~ yiikot.e yo *WBO) mhu aosagi no .~n? hag; 0 ulSU

b) 0) (110) of

lilHt Buson

1) You have met these if* in this book. What do they mean?

a) 8\ (Unit 10, Renshii 4) b) *' c) W 2) The new _* words arc:

a) fY (yu) evening b) II (sagi) heron (bird radical . below) c) .1m (hag/) leg. shin (flesh radical) d) n "") (utsu) hit. knock llap against (hand radical)

3) The particles and grammar functions arc:

a) ~ (ya) see 3a b) (J) (no) of c) t (0) object marker

IV .. O)~ ~ lIki no yo yo iiO)JjO) tabi no otoko no Itf:l::$ har; shigoto

-~ Issa

1) You have met these ~* in this book. What do they mean?

.) M( b) 9J c) it-

2) The new ~* words are:

173

a) '* (aki) autumn b) ~ (yo) night c) i±$ (shigolo) work

3) The particles and grammar functions arc:

a) ~ (ya) see 3a b) (J) (no) of. connects linked words


Owari ni ~ ~-r: c. .; ;::~. t· 11" (omedet6 gozaimasu) Congratulations! You have completed Teach Yourself Beginner 's Japanese Script. I hope that you now feel you have a good grounding in Japanese reading and writing and are ready to take your study further and tackle new challenges! Look for every opportunity to use your learning so that you can consolidate it, and re-visit the units in this book to refresh your learning. If you have not yet tackled the spoken language or only have the basics, then how about trying Teach Yourself Beginner 's Japanese next! And please write to me (c/o Hodder and Stoughton) to let me know how you got on with this book.

'tln:"I: , ~ J: -) "' ''!

KEV TO THE EXERCISES

UNIT 1

Yonde mimasho: Ie, 2g, 3h, 4i , Sa, 61, 7f, 8j, ge, 10k, lib, 12d. Renshu I: a6, b14. clO, d9, e ll , fl2 , g3, h2, il3 , jl , k7, 14, m8, 05. Renshii 2: a5, bl , c4, d7. e6, f3, g2 . Renshii 3: I) Wed 2) Tues 3) Sun 4) Fri 5) Sat 6) 2 7) I 8) 2 9) Mon.

UNIT 2

Yonde mimashO: II , 2k. 3g, 4e, 5<1, 6a, 7c, 8b, 9h, lOi, Ilj , 12f. Renshu I: a6, h2 , c3 , d4, e8, f9, glO, h i , i7. j5. Renshii 2: ( 1) a) Sun b) Wed c) Mon d) Sat. (2) 4 (4th, 11th, 18th, 25th). (3) Sun. Rcnshii 3: ( I ) April, March (2) a) April, July b) June, Feb, March c) Sept, Dec (3) a) Sun b) Sat c) Tues d) Wed e) Wed (4) a) Mon b) Wed c) Sun d) Mon- Sun e) Mon. Renshii 4: a) Sat 14th Feb b) Thl:lrs 20th Nov c) Mon 5th May d) Sun 10th Sept e) Wed 25th Dec f) Fri 1st ApriL Renshii 6: (i) Ib, 2e. 3b, 4a, 5c (ii) la, 2e, 3b, 4a , Sc ; (iii) I ) c,ii 2) a,iii 3) c,i 4) b,ii 5) b,i 6) a,iii 7) b,i 8) c, i 9) a,iii 10) a,ii. Renshii 7: a) Hayashi b) Morita c) Moriyama d) Yamakawa e) Takeyama f) Mori g) Kita h) Ishikawa i) Kaneda j) Takeda k) Ishida I) Yamada m) Kawada. Test: ( I) a) man b) wood c) power d)gold. (2) a) population b) Japan c) girl d) gateway e) volcano f) men and women. (3) a) ii b) vi c) vii d) v e) i f) ii i g) iv. (4) a) Yamada b) Takeyama c) Morita d) Mori e) Ishida. (5) check writing sections/charts.

UNIT 3

Hajime ni: a) iii b) iv c) ii. Renshu I: ( 1) a) iv b) vi c) v d) i e) ii f) iii. (3) a6 , b4, c5, d8 . R,n,h. 2: (3) h, g, b, e, i, c, d, f, a, j . (4) a) 9 b) 6 c) 7 d) 19 e) 17 f) 13 g) 20 h) 50 i) 70j) 21 k) 32 I) 43 m) 54 n) 65 0) 76 p) 87 q) 88 ,) 99. Ren,h. 3: I) e, f , b, d, c, h, g, a; 600 (2) a) 8000 b) 5000 c) 7000 d) 6000 e) 2000 f) 1000. (3) a) iii b) i c) iv d) ii e) v (4) a, e, b, g, d, c, f. 200; 2000; 2200; 20,000; 200,000; 2,000,000;


20,000,000. (5) a) ii b) v c) vii d) vi e) iv f) i g) iii. Renshu 4: ( I) lb. 2e t

3a, 4d, Se. (2) Jd, 2e t 3f, 4c, 5b. 6a. (3) I) 11th Nov 2) 18th June 3) 2nd Oct 4) 21s1 Aug 5) 3 1s1 Mar 6) 24th June. Renshu 5: ( I ) a) iv b) v c) vi d) i e) i ii f) ii . (2) a) iii b) v c) iv d) i e) vi f) ii Renshii 6: ( I) a) (03) 358- 1377 b) (097) 592- 4211 c) (0720) 2 1- 3866 d) (03) 3593- 2704 c) (0279) 22 1- 3154. (2) a) Sat 5th Dec 1998 b) Sun 6th Dec 1998 c) Sat 12th Dec 1998 (3) Sal2 ls! Oct 1995.

UNIT 4

Hajime ni: ( I) a) mouth b) car c) person d) eye e) mountain f} gate g) tree h) SUIl i) child. (2) a) gate and car b) eye c) sun d) mouth c) child f) eye g) tree h) mountain. Renshii I: a4, h2, c7, d6, e5, n. g3 . Renshu 2: If, 2g, 3e, 4a, Sd, 6b, 7e. Renshii 4 : 1 b, 2e, 3r, 4g, Sa, 6d, 7e. Renshii 5: \) e 2) b 3) g 4) r 5) d 6) a 7} c. Renshii 6: I f, 2b, 3c, 4d, 5a, 6c. Renshii 7: 1 f, 2e, 3b, 4g, 5c, 6a, 7d . Renshii 8: I) dealer 2) entrance 3) exit 4) drinking water 5) academic abi li ty 6) buyer 7) holiday 8) Japanese person. Renshii 9: (I) Id, 2e, 3f, 4h, 5k, 6i, 7m, 8b, 9c, 10<1. 11 j , 12g, 13 I . 14a. (2) a) baibai b) dokusho c) nyiigaku d) shutsunyu e) inshoku f) kengaku g) kyugaku h} kenbun.

TEST

( I) a) horse b) person c) woman d) man e) child f) girl g) boy h} Japanese person . (2) a) mountain b) volcano c) river d) water e} f ire f) tree g) wood h) forest i) rice fie ld. (3) a) 1 b) 5 c) 60 yen d) 100 e) 4000 yen f) 20,000 g) gold, money h) 3700. (4) a) Sat 11th Sept b) 20th August c) 1991 (yea r) d) Heisei 12th year = Year 2000. (5) a) li sten b) cat c) drink d) say e) talk f) read g) sell h) look i) buy j) rest (6) a) car b) mouth c) foot d) eye e) hand.

UNIT 5 Hajime ni: I) to write grammar and non-~~ Japanese words 2) '() t;, IJt'j: 3) s implified il~ with the same pronunc iation 4) 46. Vonde mimasho: (Reading down): d, f , a, c, b, e. Renshii I: a) sushi b) aki c) koe d) tsukue e) sato f) seito . Renshii 2: (7) a) I b) 2 c) 2. (8) (t (9) . ( 15) a) 2 b) 2 ( 16) 10 (1 7) 11 Renshii 3, Sella) asa b) Ie c) natsu d) toke i e) shio f) nani g) nuno. $et 2 a) yoru b) mimi c) haru d) fuyu e) mura f) yama g) mori b) wan. Set 3 a) ohayo b) sayonara c) neko d) sensei e) inu f) me g) hew h) hito i) rei j) nihon. Renshii 4:

KEY TO THE EXERCISES 177

a) kyaa kyaa b) shun shun c) shu shu d) chu chii e) nyaa nyaa f) hyii hyii g) hyoro hyoro h) kyoro kyoro. Renshii 6: a) kyaku b) kyo c) gyunyii d) shashin e) ja ne f) choshoku g) chushoku h) hyaku i) byoin j ) ryoko. Renshu 7: a) mizu b) kagi, c) j iten d) denwa e) tanpopo f) doki doki g) gabu gabu Renshu 8: a) cholto b) mane c) yappari d) gakko e) ganbatte f) massugu. Renshii 9: a) tabcmasu, tabernash ita b) nomimasu, no mi mashita c) mimasu, mimashita d) kakim asu, kakimashita e) hanashimasu, hanashimashita.

UNIT 6

"sjime ni: a) earth b) tree c) woman d) stone e) mouth f) horse g) sun h) moon Yonde mimasho: a l0, bl , cS, d6, e3, f9, g8, h2, i7, j4. Renshii I: a6, b9, c4, d I 0, e8, f3, g I, hS, 12, j7. Renshii 2: a4, b2, cS, d3, el. Renshli 3: a6, b9,cS, d8, e7, f2, g3, h4, i l. Renshli 4: a4, b l, cS, d3, e7, f2 , g8 , h6. Renshii 5: a2, b8, c6, d7, e4, n. g l , hS . Renshli 6: a) II b) 5 c) 13 d) 14 e) I f )7 g) g h) 9 ;) 12 j) 6 k)3 I) 4 m) 15 n) 17 0) 2 p) 10 q) 16. Renshli 8: a) takai b) yasui c) chiisai d) okii e) sukunai f) sukosh i g) fu rui h) atarashii i) fu toi j) hiroi k) shiroi.

TEST

(A) I) above 2) below 3) small 4) big S) middle (also inside) 6) dog 7) fat 8) a li ttl e 9) axe 10) father I I) cow 12) stand 13) old 14) mother IS) wide 16) white 17) ri ce 18) cheap, safe 19) thread 20) pointed 21) meat 22) hotlbitter 23) rain 24) blue 2S) country 26) sound 27) tall, expensive 28) island 29) school 30) black 31) bird 32) snow 33) cloud 34) new 3S) thunder 36) electric 37) dove 38) clo udy 39) frost. (B) 1) Sunday 2) Saturday 3) Wednesday 4) Tuesday 5) s tart school 6) primary school 7) middle school 8) high school 9) absent from school 10) study visit 11) Japan 12) China 13) America 14) Central America IS) mother country 16) island country 17) beef 18) chicken 19) food 20) drink 21) white rice ~2) drinking water 23) train 24) new car 2S) secondhand car 26) carriage 27) rickshaw 28) puppy 29) cal f 30) swan 3 1) parents 32) child 33) adult 34) boy 35) g irl 36) girl 37) shopping 38) sightseeing 39) entrance 40) exit 41 ) ho liday.

UNIT 7

Hajime ni: ( I) a) wood b) forest c) man d) like e) bright f) listen g) see h) write i) say/words j) sell k) read I) speak m) buy n) rest 0) go out

178 BEG INNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

p) study. (2) a) person b) mouth c) earth d) woman e) chi ld f) sun g) moon h) tree i) fire j) rice fi eld k) eye I) say/words m) gold n) car. R,n,hii l :a)6b)7c)4d)ge) 12 f) Sg) IOh)2 ;) 3j)8 k) III) I. Renshii 4: a) I. hat radical 2. above b) 1. vegetation 2. above c) I. lid 2. above d) I. village 2. right side e) 1. enclosure 2. surround f) 1. yawn 2. right s ide g) 1. bamboo 2 . above h) I . fire 2. below i) I . hole 2. above j) I. cover 2. above k) 1. vapour 2. partial surround \) I . heart 2. below m) 1. rain 2. above. Renshii 5: (I) i) c ii) d iii) e iv) b v) a (2) i) a ii) b i ii) d iv) c (3) i) b ii) d iii) c iv) e v) f vi) a vii) g.

UNIT 8

Hajim, ni: a) 4(4) b) 12(4) c) 14(2) d) 7(2) e) S(6) Q 13(6) g) 2(6) h) 10(6) ;) 3(6)j) IS(7) k) 11 (6) I) 1(4/6) m) 9(4/6) n) 6(3) 0) 8(4). R,n,hii I : I) h 2) c 3) j 4) k S) m 6) I 7) b 8) c 9) a 10) d II) n 12) f 13) 0 14) g IS) a 16) i 17) c. Renshii 2: I) c 2) f 3)j 4) 0 5) n 6) I 7) i 8) a 9) h 10) gil) k 12) d 13) m 14) b IS) c. R,n,hii 4: Id, 2b, 3g, 4e, Sf, 6h, 7c, 8a. Renshii 5: Ie, 2e, 3b, 4a, Sd. Renshii 6: \) toilet 2) entrance 3) toi let 4) 'Thundcrgatc' 5) push 6) pull 7) south gate 8) north gate 9) Hiroshima, Osaka 10) gri lled (food) II ) railway station 12) Fuji Bank 13) opening times 14) inte rnational phone 15) unreserved 16) unoccupied taxi 17) Japanese-sty le room 18) no admittance 19) no smoking.

UNIT 9

Hajime oi: I) loanwords; foreign names; to make words stand out; plant! animal classification. 2) part of ~~ 3) 46. Yonde mimasho: ( in order from top) e, d, a, f. b, c. Renshii 1: skirt(e) suit(f) steak(c) cake(a) ice(d) toasl(b). Renshii 2: SCI (I) Ig, 2f, 3b, 4c, 5a, 6e, 7d. Set (2) Ie, 2e, 3d, 4b, 5a. Set (3) I f, 2g, 3d, 4a, 5c, 6b, 7h, 8e. Renshii 4: (I ) i) d ii) c iii) a iv) e v) h. (2) i) c Ii) e iii) a iv) d v) b. (3) i) f i i) b iii) c iv) d v) a vi) c vi i) g. (4) i) c ii ) e iii) a iv) d v) g vi) b vii) r. (5) i) g ii) b iii) i IV) e v) j vi) a vii) k viii) h IX) f x) I xi) c xii) d 6) i) a ii) c iii) e IV) d v) f vi) b. (7) i) b ii ) e iii) a IV) c v) d. (8) i) a ii) c iii) e iv) d v) b. Renshii 6: I h, 2j , 3a, 4c, 5i, 6g, 7b, 8e, 9f, 10d. Renshii 7: Ii, 2g, 3j , 4a, 5e, 6d, 7b, 8c, 9f, IOh. Renshii 8: Ig, 2b, 3h, 4a, 51, 6k, 7i, 8e, 9c, IOd, Ilf, 12j. Renshii 9: I) eh 2) ai 3) ce 4) gb 5) ic 6) hj 7) dg 8)jd 9) fa 10) bf. Renshii 10: I) Luna 2) hot, iced 3) milk, lemon 4) 600 yen 5) 400 yen 6) cheese, ham, mi xed 7) 800 yen 8) 350 + 600 + 700 = 1650 yen 9) your choice 10) parfait , apple pie. Renshii 11: I) Toyota 2) Sony

KEY TO THE EXERCISES 179

3) Casio 4) National 5) Sanyo 6) Mitsubishi . Renshii 12: (1) 2, 4. 6 (2) 3 (3) printers. software (4) 6 (5) TV. video, laserdiscs (6) 2 (7) I (8) 2: basement, floor I (9) fax machines (10) basement. Renshii 13: a2. b4, cl , d5 . e6. fJ . Renshii 14: I) McDonald's 2) karaoke 3) opening sale 4) videos and books 5) recycle 6) a curry house 7) Valentine's Day 8) beer 9) dessert 10) E-mail I I) piano 12) Toyota 13) single malt 14) wine 15) Christmas tree 16) City of Angels, Nicholas Cage, Meg Ryan.

UNIT 10 Renshii 1: ( I) a) book b) read c) say. Renshii 2: (I) a) water b) jewel (ball) c) fire d) finger e) test f) tissue g) frying pan. Renshii 3: (I) a) drink ll b) person/3 c) eye/3 d) enterl2 e) tealS f) convenience/mailll g) big/ I h) go out12 i) timel2. (3d) I l v, 21vii, 3/vi, 4/iv, 51;, 61iii, 7/ii. (Sc) IIvi. 2liii, 31i, 4/ iv, Slvii, 61v, 7/ ii . Renshii 4: (I) a) Osaka b) Tokyo c) Sapporo d) Kyoto. (3b) i) cloudy later sunny ii) sunny later cloudy iii) sunny sometimes cloudy iv) rainy later cloudy. (3c) i) two of: Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sapporo ii) Kobe, Nara. (4a) i) north ii) south ii i) gold/ Friday iv) earth/Saturday v) moon/ Monday vi) firelTuesday vii) water/ Wednesday. (4c) All are cloudy later sunny. (4d) i) cloudy sometimes sunny ii) sunny sometimes cloudy iii) cloudy sometimes rainy iv) cloudy sometimes sunny v) sunny sometimes cloudy vi) cloudy. (4e) Sunday: North Kyoto and North Shiga. (Sa) 28th, 2 1:00 or 9 o'clock. (5b) i) sunnylfine ii) cloudy (cloud) iii) rain iv) thunder v) snow. (6i) a) 29th b) cloud c) tall (high) d) fine e) weather f) above. Renshii S: a) New Year b) bright c) hand d) read e) previous f) Japan g) eye h) time i) go j) think k) meet I) enjoy m) spirit n) year 0) dawn p) Yamamoto q) child. (7) order = g, d, b, i, e, a, c, f, h. Renshii 6: (I) a) mountain b) look c) cloud d) morning e) sun f ) flower. Sample translation: Cherry blossom, cherry blossom, over fields and hills. I survey the endless scene (or: as far as the eye can see; or: an endless scene). (like) mist or cloud, fragranrin the morning sun, cherry blossom, cherry blossom, in full bloom. Renshii 7: (I) la) blue/green b) rice field c) middle d) one. Sample translation: The coolness, In the middle of a green rice field, one pine tree. (II) 1a) old b) water c) sound. Translation: An old pond, A frog dives in, The sound of water. (111) I a) wind b) water c) blue. Translation: The even ing breeze ... , water laps against the legs o f a blue heron. (IV) la) travel b) man c) needle. Translation: An autumn night ... , A travelling man 's, Needlework.

INDEX (1) JAPANESEENGUSH: UNIT CHARTS

A unit-by-unit summary of main iiX!* includi ng: number of strokes (in brackets), on and kun readings, Eng lish meani ngs and jukugo (compound word) examples .

• For stroke order of main il* refer to the writing sections of each unit. The stroke order for those ~* in units 1 and 2 which don' t appear in the writing sections is given in these charts .

•• On read ings are given in capital s, kun readings in lower casc. The bracketed parI of a kun rcading indicates the part written in hiragana (dictionary form is given for verbs).

UNIT 1 LlJ (3) }II (3) a (4) fJ (4) ± (3) 11 (6)

'*

SAN, yama; mounla;n SEN, kawa, gawa; river NICHI , JITSU. hi, bi, ka; day, sun GETSU, GATSU, tsuki; month, moon DO, TO, tsuchi; earth, ground CI-IIKU, take; bamboo MOKU, BOKU, ki;

(4) tree. wood # RIN, hayashi, bayashi ; (8) woods .. SHIN, mori; ( 12) forest

[pic In. I ]

[pic In.2]

INDEX II)

'* (4) SUI, mizu j water DEN, ta /da; ricejieJd KIN, KON, kane; gold. money KA , hi, bi ;

IU (5) ;1i (8) 9< (4) 1i (5)

ji,.

In. 1

In.2

In .3

In.4

SEKI, SHAKU, ishi, koku ; stone

UNIT 2 J:l (3) ,Ii'. (7)

'" (5) Y::

'f (3)

KO, KU, kuchi, guchi; mouth SOKU (ZOKU), 3shi. ta (riru); foo t (leg) MOKU, me; eye JO, NYO, onn3j woman SHI , SU, ko; child

181

[pic In .3]

[pic In .4]

[pic In.5]

[pic In.6]

[pic In.7}


A NIN. HN, hito; (2) person lj: 11, mimi; (6) ear [pic In.81 ~ SHU, te; (4) hand ;h RYOKU, RIKI , chikara ; (2) POYl-'€r, strength [pic 10.9] $ SHA, kUl'"uma; (1) vehicle. car [pic 10 . 10) ,\ll BA, urn. ; (10) horse [Pic In.11] r'J MON, kado; (8) gate '1.1 DAN, NAN, otoko; (7) man [pic In.12] jJ KO, kono(mu); (6) like. love [pic In.13] IJl MEl, MYO, aka(rui), a ki(ra ka); (8) bright, light [pic 10.14]

'* HON, moto; (5) root, origin. main. book [pic In.15]

In .5

10.6

1+1'f1 ~ 131+1 In.7

I! IiI - I' If I f I .f-- I~ I In.8

•

INDEX III 183

Ih!iDIJI1J1 In.9

In.IO

In. 11

[n. 12

In.13

In.14

1¥J¥j - 1 t 1,,1 1;K1i1 In.15

UNIT 3 - ICHI, hito(tsu); ( I) one

NI. futa(tsu); (2) two

SAN, mit(tsu); (3) three 1m SHI, yon, yo, yot(tsu); (5) four

'14 BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

"Ii GO. itsu(tsu}; (4) five ~ ROKU, mut(Lsu}; " (4) six 1:; SHICHI, nana(tsu}; (2) s ... n J\ HACHI. yat(tsu}; (2) eight :II. KYO. KU; kokono (Lsu); (2) nine + JO, to; (2) ten a HYAKU; (6) hundred T SEN, chi ; (3) thousand li MAN, BAN;

W ten thousand, all EN;

(4) yen, circle 4' NEN, toshi; (6) year, age

UNIT 4 PIl BUN, Id(ku); (14) hear, listen ~ KEN, mi(ru}; (7) look, see, watch • SHO, ka(ku}; (1 0) write tf GEN, (GON), i(u), koto; (7) say 'If. GA KU, ma na(bu}; (8) study, learn n BAI, ka(u); (12) buy «- KYO, yasu(mu); (6) rest

INDEX [11 185

III SHUTSU. de(ru). da(su)~

(5) go/come 0 111

'lC BAI , u(ru); (7) sell III DOKU. yo(mu); ( 14) read lt8 WA, hanashi, hana(su); (13) talle 1l" SHO KU, ta(heru);

W eat IN, no(mu);

( 12) drink

A NYU, i(ru), hai(ru); (2) enter, put in

til BUTSU, MOTSU, mono; (8) thing

UNIT 6 :Jr. RITSU, t.a(lsu), tachi; (5) stand (up) 0:; KO. 'aka(I); ( 10) high. expensive .r.~ CHO, tori; ( II ) bird

* BEl , MAl, kome; (6) rice

* DAI, TAl . o(kii); (3) big. great fi- KIN, ORO; (4) axe tf GVU. ushi ; (4) cow, callie -,!i KO. furu(i); (5) old ~ SHI , ito; (6) thread

IJ' SHOo chii(sai), ko, OJ (3) small


i!t 80, haha, (o)ka(san); (5) mother

* AN, yasu(i); (6) cheap, safe JZ. KO, hiro(i); (5) wide, spacious kif SHIN, atara(shii); (13) new J!\ KOKU. kuro(i); (11) black S HAKU, BYAKU, shi..-o(i), jiro; (5) white 1f SEI, SHO, 30(1); (8) blue, green, inexperienced :l<: FU, chichi, to, (0)tO(580); (4) father jij V, arne; (8) rom 1: JO, ue, nobo (ru), a(garu); (3) above. on, top l' KA, GE, shita, moto, kuda(ru); (3) below, under. go down <P CHU, oaka; (4) inside, middle, within ~ UN, kumo; ( 12) cloud; • DON, kumo(ri); (16) cloudy weather 1If RAI, kaminari; (13) thunder 1!t SETSU, yuki; (II) snow lit DEN-, (13) electric :k KEN, inu; (4) dog &l, TO, shima, jima; (10) island 'Ii ON, IN, oto, ne; (9) sound

INDEX III

'it' (7) ill ( 17) ~' (4) :;Ie (4) 00 (8) rJj (6) :tlt (10)

SHIN, kara(i); hot, bitter, spicy; SO, shimo; frost SHOo suku(nai), s~ko(shi); few. a (jtlle TAl, TA, ruto(i); fat, deep (voice) KOKU, kuni, guni; country NIKU; meal. flesh KO' , school

UNIT 7

(fl (9) P/1 ~') (9) III< (l 5) l'i ( 10) P.f.l (14) ~ (8) jt (12) iIIi (14) l1I! (10) J! (5)

SHlN, shin(jiru); believe, trust; SHO, tona(eru); chant, recite; hata, hatake; cultivated field DAN' , talk. discussion SON, mago; grandchild MEl. na(ku); cry, chirp EN, hono; blaze. flame FUN. ta( ku), ya( ku); burn. kindle GO; kata(ru); language. word. tell MAl , u(meru); bury/be buried TAN; dawn

187


;{f; KAN ' • (9) wicked. noisy !Ii KATSU;

W live. energy TAl , TEl , karada ;

(7) body NT C HOt machij (7) lown

ff SON, muraj (7) village ~ MAJ , imoto; (8) younger sister !:T T6, hi ;

W lamp. light SETSU, o(ru)j

(7) f old, snap. bend iii'. MIN, nemu(i) j (10) sleep(y) ~ HAl, ho(eru); (7) bark Ilt CHO, hiji (7) elbow

Ia HAKU, to(maru)j (8) stay at, put up tI' SHIN, hari; (10) needle fi( TEN, koro(garu); ( 11 ) lurn, change ~ )1 , toki, dokij ( 10) lime

UNIT 8

m TEN, mise; (8) shop. store S OKU, yaj (9) shop JGl KYOKU; (7) bureau, office

INDEX II) 189

PIi SHOt JO. tokoroj (8) place .11.1 JO, ba t (12) place 111 KAN; (16) hall. large building

Ill! EN, sono; ( 13) garden Tti SHI, ichi; (5) city. market I KQ, KU; (3) cons truction 1} KD, oyake; (4) public Ill! TO, ZU. haka(ru); (1) drawing. map f.(l OVO, !akana, 00;

( 11 ) fish ill SHU, sake, saka; ( 10) rice wine, alcohol 'lit CHA; (9) leu

if! YAKU. kusuri j ( 16) medicine ~ SEN, ara(u); (9) wosh :E SHU, nushi; (5) master. owner II' CHU; ( 15) reside. stO{H:Jl'er

{£ JO, ! u(mu); (1) reside, live ~ EKI ; ( 14) station fl BEN, BIN; (9) convenience. mail

ff KO, OYO, AN, i(ku). yu(ku), okona(u); (6) go, hold ~ SHITSU; (9) room


p;j NAI, OAI , uchi; (4) inside, home jlf GAl, GE, solo, hoka; (5) outside. foreign If/i SEKI ; (10) seat, place *'I RYO' , (10) charge, materials ~t HOKU, BOKU, kita; (5) north Jl! NAN, minami; (9) south JI[ TO, higashi; (8) east 1l!i SEI, SAl, nishi; (6) west ~ KIN' , (13) forbidden ;t; U, yO, migi j (5) right ti SA, hidarij (5) left IlIl KAI, a (keru), hira, (ku); ( 12) open !ill HEI , shi (meru), to (jiru); (II ) close

INDEX (2) ENGUSHJAPANESE: WORD INDEX

The number in brackets indicates the page where the wordfirst appears.

A above (77) abroad (112) absence from school (51) academic ability (51) address (108) admission free (113) adult (81) alcohol (106) a IiUie (79) America (81) arrival (117) art (106) art gallery (\07) ask (95) axe (75)

B bad al (80) bamboo (3) bamboo shoots (49) bank (109) bar (107) bark (9 1) bathroom (114) beckon (94) beef (8 1) believe (89) below (77) bicycle (111) big (74) bird (74) bitler (79) black (76) blaze (89) blue (76) blue-white (80) body (91) book (50) bookshop (107) boy (15,81) branch (97) break (91) bright (14, 94) brush (46) bullellrain ( 11 8) bureau (105) bum (89) bury (89) be buried (89) buy (43) buyer (5 1) buying and selling (51)

c calf (80) car (13) car park (108) carriage (15) cart (13) Central America (8\) certificate (90) chant (89) cheap (76) chicken (8 1) child (12, 81) China (81) chirp (89) cinema (1 10) city (l06) cleanse (95) clear (94) clear up (95) close (117) closed (117) cloud (78) c loudy weather (78) clue (81) coffee shop (107) construction ( 106) convenience (108) conversation (89) cosmetics (114) country (8 1) cow (75) create (95) cry (animal - 89) cultivated field (89)


o dawn (89) day (I) dealer (51) decree (94) departure (1 17) discussion (89) dog (79) domestic ( 11 2) donnant volcano (5 1) dove (79) down (104) drawing (\06) drink (47) drinking place (107) drinking water (51) drinks (50) drought (95) dry weather (95) dwell ( 108)

E car (13) earth (3) east (1 15) cat (47) eating and drinking (5 1) eight (29) elbow (92) electric (78) elementary school (8 1) emolion (95) enler (48) entrance (5 1) entrance fee ( 11 3) exit (51) explosion (95) express (118) eye ( 13)

F fac tory (107) fare adjustment office ( 109) fat (79) father (76) fee (III, \13) feeling (95) few (79) fine weather (95) fire (3) fish (106) fishmonger ( 107) five (29) flame (89) flesh (81) fold (9 1) food (47, 50) foot (13) forbidden ( 11 6) fore ign (1 12) foreign exchange ( 11 2) fo rest (3) four (29) Friday (5) frost (79)

G garden ( 105) gate (13) gateway ( 15) girl ( 14, 81) go (108) go in (48) going in and out (5 1) gold (3) good at (80) go out (43) grandchild (89) greengrocer (107) grilled (1 18) ground (3)

H hall (105) hand ( 13) hear (43) heavy rain (80) ~igh (74) high school (8 1) hi story (90) hold (94) holiday (43, 5 1) horse (13) horse power (14) hot (79) hour (92) hundred (32)

I imperial edict (94) information (109) inherit (94) inn, Japanese (110) inside (77) international phone (112) invite (94) island (79) island country (8 1) items for sale (50)

INDEX (2) ,.3 J

Japan ( 14) Japanese: bath (114), cuisine (1 14), inn ( 11 0), person (15), room ( 11 2), style (114) junior high school (8 1)

K kindle (89) kiosk (107)

L lamp (9 1) language (89) large bui lding (105) left ( 11 7) left luggage (113) lesson (90) library (107) like (14) listen (43) liquor store (107) live (91) liver (95) long-distance train ( II I) look (43) love (14) luggage (113)

M make (95) mail (108) man (14) manpower (IS) map (106) market (106, 107) marsh (94) master (108) meat (8 1) medic ine (106) middle (77) middle school (8 1) mischief (95) Monday (5) money (3) money exchange (109) month (2) mother (76) mother country (8 1) mountain (3) moon (I) mouth (13) museum (110)

N narrative (90) needle (92) new (76) new car (81) newspaper (8 1) new year (8 1) nine (29) noise (79) north (1 15) not allowed ( 11 6)

o occupied taxi ( III ) office (105) old (74) older (8 1) one (29) on top (77) open (1 17) open for business (117) origin ( 14)

p

paddy fie ld (15) pair (5 1) pale (80) parcel (Ill) parents (80) pari< (107) passport control ( 11 2) person (12) perspire (95) pharmacy (107) pigeon (79) place (105) poem (90) pointed (79) pole (95)

, .. BEGINNER'S JAPANESE SCRIPT

polished rice (80) population (14) post office (I 08) powder room (114) power (13) previous (95) primary school (8 1) proof (90) public (106) public eye, in the (15) pull ( 11 7) puppy (80) purify (96) purity (95) push ( 11 7)

R rain (76) read (46) reading (51) recite (89) request (95) reserved seat ( 113) reside (108) rest (43) restrain (95) rice (74, 106) rice field (3) rickshaw (15) right( I 17) rive< (3) rod (95) roof (105) room ( 11 1) root ( 14) rotate (92)

s safe (76) samwai (94) Saturday (5) say (43) school (8 1) sea'(III) secondhand car (8 1) sell (46) seller (5 1) set meal (113) seven (29) shop (105) shopping (50) shopping area (109) sightseeing (50) six (29) sleep (91) sleeper train (111) small (74) small dog (SO) smoke ( 11 6) snap (91) snore (95) snow (78) soar (94) sound (79) soulh ( 11 5) spacious (76) speak (46) special express ( li S) spirit (95) Siand (news) ( 107) stand (up) (75) s tart school (5 1) station (108) stay at (92) stone (4) store ( 105) strength (13) strictly forbidden (116) study (43) study visit (5 1) Sunday (5) superiors (80) swamp (94) swan (80)

T talk (46) tall (74) tapered (79) tea (106) tcashop (107) telephone (81) temple (92) tcn (29) ten thousand (32) theatre (I [0) thing (50) thousand (32) thread (75) three (29) thunder (78) Thursday (5) ticket office (109) time (92) to ilet (107, 108, 114) tower (94) town (9 1) train (80) translation (90) travel (109) tree (3) Tuesday (5) tune (90) tum (92) two (29)

u under (77) underground (1 18) university (80) unoccupied taxi (I II ) unreserved seat (113) up (104)

INDEX (2) 195

v vast (80) vehicle (13) village (9 1) vinegar (95) volcano (1 5)

w wait (114) waiting room (114) wash (106) watch (43) water (3) water power (15) Wednesday (5) west ( 11 5) western-style (114) + cuisine (114), room (1 12) white (76) white rice (80, 95) wickedness (89 , 95) wide (76) wine ( 106) wine shop ( 107) woman (12) woodIs (3) words (43) write (47) writing (50)

y

yen (32) year (32) yesterday (95) younger sister (91 ) youth (80)

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