Intermediate Japanese Language

Lunch-time sessions at PCC

By Peter Missen

Session 1

Introduction plus

Building basic sentences

Objectives for this course

This is a 6 week intermediate course of the Japanese language to build on the previous basic sessions.

This course has been put together in response to

suggestions from the floor. There will be a weekly culture section and the course will include the following requested topics:

1. Building basic sentences (today) 2. Family 3. Shopping4. Abilities and Preferences5. Sport6. More on food

Objectives for this session

IntroductionsExpectationsRecap of the basic sessions

– Particles– Basic sentence structure– Demonstratives

Building basic sentencesCulture – Japanese holidays January & FebruaryBasic KatakanaCountersJapanese word processing

Introductions

Me – Peter Missen– Took early retirement from IBM in March 2010 – Joined PCC in April 2010– My role is the IT Auditor for the Internal Audit group

• My IT auditing services sold out to Gosport and Eastleigh Councils

– Shocked at the perceived lack of “give-back” at PCC Trying to make a differenceStarted basic Japanese language sessions in September 2010The basic sessions have been run 4 timesSeveral asked for a follow on course – so here we are…

Started to learn Japanese in 1993 while at IBM

I teach Japanese language, part-time, at the University of Portsmouth on their Institution-Wide Language Programme

Class introductions

Around the class please

– Name

– Department

– Something interesting you learnt during the basic sessions

Expectations

As before you have permission to:

Make mistakes

Ask dumb questions

Please ask questions when you are stuck

First a recap

Particles

Basic sentence structures

Demonstratives

Particles from the basic sessions:– wa は

• topic marker

– ka か • question particle

– no の • possession particle

– kara から • from particle

– made まで • until particle

– e へ • direction particle

– de で • by mode of transport particle

– (w)o を • object marker

– ga が • subject marker

Basic sentence structures:

Using desu.

word1 wa word2 desu. word1 is word2

word1 wa word2 desu ka. is word1 word2 ?

word1 wa word2 dewa arimasen. word1 is not word2

word1 wa word2 deshita. word1 was word2.

Basic sentence structures - examples:

watashi wa igirisu jin desu.

私はイギリス人です。 I am English.

kore wa pen desu ka.

これはペンですか。 Is this a pen?

watashi wa furansu jin dewa arimasen.

私はフランス人ではありません。 I am not French.

kinou wa mokuyoubi deshita.

昨日は木曜日でした。 Yesterday was Thursday.

Basic sentence structures:

Topic \ words \ verb.

For example, I am going to London tomorrow.

私は明日ロンドンへ行きます。

watashi wa 私は (topic = me)

ashita rondon e 明日ロンドンへ(words = tomorrow London direction)

ikimasu. 行きます。 (verb = to go)

DemonstrativesDemonstratives are words that indicate which

entities a speaker refers to and distinguishes those entities from others. (From Wikipedia.)

KO~ こ ~ speaker has possession

SO~ そ ~ listener has possession

A~ あ ~ no one has possession

DO~ ど ~ questioning word

This KO SO A DO pattern for the beginning of a word is consistent for Japanese demonstratives.

Example demonstratives

kore これ (this thing I’ve got)

sore それ (that thing you’ve got)

are あれ (that thing over there)

dore どれ (which thing?)

For example, anata no hon ga dore desu ka.

あなたの本がどれですか。

Which is your book?

More example demonstratives

kono hon この本 (this book I’ve got)

sono pen そのペン (that pen you’ve got)

ano densha あの電車 (that train over there)

dono kasa どの傘 (which umbrella?)

For example. anata no hon ga dono hon desu ka.

あなたの本がどの本ですか。 Which book is your book?

Building basic sentences

Introduce the topic

Build the body with:

words

word/particle pairs

word/particle/word combinations

Finish with a verb

verb might need an object marker

Building a basic sentence - exampleIntroduce the topic

watashi wa 私は me

Build the body withwords

ashita 明日 tomorrowword/particle pairs

rondon e ロンドンへ London directionword/particle/word combinations

Finish with a verbverb might need an object marker

ikimasu. 行きます。 go

Tomorrow I am going to London.

私は明日ロンドンへ行きます。

Building a basic sentence - moreIntroduce the topic

watashi wa 私は me

Build the body withwords

ashita 明日 tomorrowword/particle pairs

densha de 電車で train byrondon e ロンドンへ London direction

word/particle/word combinations

Finish with a verbverb might need an object marker

ikimasu. 行きます。 go

Tomorrow I am going to London by train.

私は明日電車で ロンドンへ行きます。

Building a basic sentence – even moreIntroduce the topic

watashi wa 私は me

Build the body withwords

ashita 明日 tomorrowword/particle pairs

densha de 電車で train byrondon e ロンドンへ London direction

word/particle/word combinations

tomodachi no purezento 友達のプレゼント friend’s present

Finish with a verbverb might need an object marker

wo kaimasu. を買います。 buy

Tomorrow I am going to London by train to buy a present for a friend.

私は明日電車で ロンドンへ友達のプレゼントを買います。

Culture section – holidays & festivalsJapan have 15 official national holidays a year plus numerous

festivals throughout the year.

Some festivals are national and some have developed locally.

Some Japanese festivals have their roots in China but have undergone dramatic changes as they mixed with local Japanese customs.

Some Japanese festivals have deep roots in Nepal. The concept of these festivals was transported to China from Nepal and then from China to Japan. To this day Nepal still has some similar festivals that are mirrored in Japan.

At each session I’ll present 2 months of activities.

January and February National holidays:1st Jan: New Year’s Day (shogatsu)

This is the most important holiday in Japan. While only January 1st is designated as a national holiday, many businesses remain closed until January 3rd.

Years are traditionally viewed as completely separate, with each new year providing a fresh start. Consequently, all duties are supposed to be completed by the end of the year, while "year forgetting parties“ are held with the purpose of leaving the old year's worries and troubles behind.

January 1st is a very auspicious day, best started by viewing the new year's first sunrise. The day is supposed be full of joy and free of stress and anger, while everything should be clean and no work should be done.

It is a tradition to visit a shrine or temple during shogatsu. The most popular temples and shrines, such as Tokyo's Meiji Shrine, attract several million people during the three days of festivities. Most impressive are such visits at the actual turn of the year, when large temple bells are rung at midnight.

Various kinds of special dishes are served during shogatsu.

January and February National holidays:

11th Jan: Coming of Age (seijin no hi)

The coming of age of 20 year old men and women is celebrated on this national holiday with 20 being the age considered as the beginning of adulthood.

20 is also the minimum legal age for voting, drinking, and smoking.

Celebrations are held nationwide in every town with most of the people turning 20 participating in formal dress.

January and February National holidays:11th Feb: National Foundation Day (kenkoku kinenbi)

According to the earliest Japanese historical records, on this day in the year 660 BC the first Japanese Emperor, Jimmu, was crowned.

According to mythology Emperor Jimmu was a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu. While the myths are not considered historically accurate, it is a commonly accepted fact that emperors have reigned over Japan for more than 1500 years, and that they have all descended from the same imperial family.

The post-war constitution of 1946 states that the emperor has only a symbolic function. He now mainly participates at ceremonies and diplomatic meetings, but has no effective political power.

In 1989, Emperor Akihito became Japan's 125th emperor. He is married to Empress Michiko, the first empress who did not come from the nobility. Their eldest son is Crown Prince Naruhito. The imperial family resides in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

January and February Non-national holidays:

3rd Feb: Beginning of spring (setsubun)

Setsubun ("seasonal division") is held one day before the start of spring according to the Japanese lunar calendar. For many centuries, the people of Japan have been performing rituals with the purpose of chasing away evil spirits at the start of spring.

In the 13th century it became a custom to drive away evil spirits by the strong smell of burning dried sardine heads, the smoke of burning wood, and the noise of drums. While this custom is not popular anymore, a few people still decorate their house entrances with fish heads and holy tree leaves in order to deter evil spirits from entering.

Nowadays, the most commonly performed setsubun ritual is the throwing of roasted beans around your house and at temples and shrines across the country. When throwing the beans, you are supposed to shout "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" ("Devils out, happiness in"). Afterwards you should pick up and eat the number of beans, which corresponds to your age!

January and February Non-national holidays:

14th Feb: Valentine’s Day

A very widely celebrated day in Japan.

On Valentine’s Day women give chocolates to men!

Giri choco (“obligatory chocolate”) is given by women to their superiors at work as well as to other male co-workers.

It is not unusual for a woman to buy 20 to 30 boxes of this type of chocolate for distribution around the office as well as to men that she has regular contact with.

The 46 basic katakanaRo-maji:

A I U E OKa Ki Ku Ke Ko

Sa Shi Su Se So Ta Chi Tsu Te To Na Ni Nu Ne No Ha Hi Fu He Ho Ma Mi Mu Me Mo

Ya Yu YoRa Ri Ru Re Ro

Wa Wo N/M

Katakana:

ア イ ウ エ オ　カ キ ク ケ コサ シ ス セ ソタ チ ツ テ トナ ニ ヌ ネ ノハ ヒ フ ヘ ホマ ミ ム メ モ

ヤ ユ ヨラ リ ル レ ロ 　

ワ ヲン

Counters – 100s There are some minor irregularities in the way certain 100s are pronounced.

100 is hyaku 200 is ni hyaku 300 is san byaku 400 is yon hyaku 500 is go hyaku 600 is roppyaku 700 is nana hyaku 800 is happyaku 900 is kyuu hyaku

百 ひゃく二百 にひゃく三百 さんびゃく四百 よんひゃく五百 ごひゃく六百 ろっぴゃく七百 ななひゃく八百 はっぴゃく九百 きゅうひゃく

Japanese word processing (at home!)

With the Windows operating system you have to install the Japanese character set

Most UK computer systems don’t come with East Asian languages installed – but they are there for you to “do it yourself”

Take a look at “Regional and Language Options” in the Control Panel settings

Ask if you get stuck.

Or you can download a free program called JWPce from here: http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/jwpce.html

There is a JWPce Facebook page if you get stuck!

JWPce screen shot

Homework

Nothing compulsory

Suggestions

– Work on making a few sentences

– Great if you can practice with a colleague

Questions

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