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Japanese IS POSSIBLE! A Column By Maktos



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Part 3


Vowel Sounds

The vowel sounds in Japanese are as follows:

A as in "on ostrich"
E as in "seven eleven"
I as in "Easter treat"
O as in "open orange"
U as in "fruity moogle"

You'll notice that the vowels are pronounced the same as Spanish, Italian, or Latin (and several other European languages)

Pronunciation of these vowels is very consistant. There are no silent vowels - each vowel sound is pronounced distinctly.

For example, the word

kaeru

would be pronounced "KAH eh roo". In English, you might want to pronounce it "KAY roo" or "KAY ruh".

The vowels 'i' and 'u' are weak vowels. That means that many times they are not pronounced. One real famous example is:

desu (the u is silent - pronounced DESS)

Consonant sounds are generally pronounced the same way as in English, but there are a few differences:

R - Prounounced like a combination of 'L' and 'D', with a bit of 'R' mixed in. It's pretty close to how the R is pronounced in Spanish. (It isn't "trilled", however) In Spanish, an R sounds a lot like a 'D'.

F - You can pronounce it like a F, but often it sounds more like an 'H'. There is no accent in Japanese, meaning there is no emphasis on a particular part of a word. English and Spanish have accents, Japanese does not.

Japanese is called a "monotonic" language. Not that Japanese is spoken in a monotone (boring) voice, but rather there are no up and down inflections like in many other Asian languages.

For practice in this area:

Listening to Japanese music is enjoyable, and helps you out tremendously in many areas. You can download MP3s from many websites, and purchase import CD's from many other websites. If you don't know what's good, try downloading MP3's of different songs. When you find out what artists you like, support them by purchasing their CDs.

Some songs I would recommend to anyone are the Xenogears Creid songs. Inspired by the famous Xenogears game for Playstation, these songs are eclectic and beautiful! The lyrics are easy to understand in many of the songs, and the songs are very unique. Some of the songs don't even have lyrics, but they're still wonderful!

For links to great Japanese and Anime related MP3 sites, scroll to the end of this column.

Grammar Terms - part 1

You'll need to know a few basics about grammar to be able to make sentences. I'll go over the basics, to be fair to those of you that slept through English class. ^_^

Subject
Who or what is the "star" of the sentence.

Example:
The man jumped through the frog.

"man" would be the subject of the sentence, since the sentence is all about him.

Adjective
A word used to describe a person, place, or thing

Example:
The man jumped through the holographic frog.

"holographic" is an adjective, since it DESCRIBES the frog in greater detail. Since frog is a noun, any word describing the frog would be an adjective.

Adverb
A word used to modify a verb

Example:
The man quickly jumped through the frog.

"quickly" is the adverb, since it describes how he jumped. Jump is the verb, so any word describing how he jumped would be an adverb.

Direct Object
Answers "Who" or "What" the verb does

Example:
The woman ate the apple.

Now figuring out the direct object is straighforward - simply ask the question, "She ate WHAT?"

The question would be answered, "the apple". So "apple" would be the direct object.

For practice in this area:

Plain vs. Polite form

Unlike English, Japanese has 2 distinct "modes". You talk a different way to your friends than you do to your boss. In America, that difference would mainly be reflected in tone of voice, and use of slang words. In Japanese however, there are actually different words and verb endings used.

If you've watched Anime, you may have noticed that royalty (princesses, kings) speak differently than most other characters. There are hundreds of examples, including "Ayeka" from Tenchi Muyo.

In many Japanese language courses, the polite form is taught first. The instructors reason that you can use the polite form anywhere (including with friends). The plain form is only acceptable with friends and close family members.

However, you hear the plain form spoken all the time in Anime, video games, and Japanese TV shows. Songs also use the plain form almost exclusively. Many people complain that they still can't understand much Japanese even though they took a 2 year college course. That is because colleges often focus on the wrong subjects. Some courses I have run into focus on learning the polite form, and learning to write the Chinese characters (Kanji). Although both are useful, I have found that there are many things more useful to learn.

There are people who strongly believe you should learn the polite form first, because it's easy to create the plain form from the polite form.

The instructors who insist on prioritizing the polite form do have their reasons. They warn that it is offensive to speak casually to a Japanese person you don't know.

However, I have my reasons as well for favoring the plain form.

  1. Anime and video games tend to use the plain form, and that is where most people will use their Japanese skills unless they go to Japan.
  2. Once you've learned a lot of Japanese, and are making progress, it's no problem to learn the polite form later.
  3. I didn't have much fun with Japanese until I got a book that taught me the plain form (verb endings, etc). I was able to start making sentences and understanding Anime very soon after.
  4. For motivation, you need to hear what you're learning. It makes it more "real" - it makes you realize you can actually understand some Anime if you learn this word or phrase.
    It's a big source of motivation to hear an Anime character say a phrase you're trying to learn. If you focus on the polite form, you won't hear it used much. It's been my experience that I learn "popular Anime" words about 10 X faster than other more obscure words. Besides, to remember a word 4 months later you have to use it (or hear it used).
  5. Japanese people cut Americans some slack when it comes to speaking Japanese. When a Japanese speaking American is encountered, the last thing on their mind is "What form is he using?" They are often glad to hear that you are learning Japanese, and you will often be complimented if your vocabulary exceeds 10 words. Times have changed since feudal Japan, where speaking rudely to a Samurai would cost you your life.
  6. The polite form will be taught here, just not right away. If you have been advised to learn it, or you think you want to learn it first, that's fine. There are many books and free resources out there you can use. See the next section, "The Internet" for information on how to find these resources!

The Internet
The Japanese student's best resource!

There are many webpages on the Internet devoted to the Japanese language, and you can find help on just about every topic. Some examples of things I have seen on webpages:

If you want to find resources such as these, go to any search engine. Type a few words like "Japanese study learn" followed by specific things you're looking for.

For example, if you're looking for software to drill you on the hiragana alphabet, try:

Japanese study learn hiragana program

Also remember to try more than one search engine. They all use different databases. Try one of the "comprehensive" search engines that search all of them, such as The Mother of All Search Engines.

Once you find a good site with a links page, follow the links and see what's out there. You'll find some pages with even better links pages - follow those as well. Search engines are a good start, but there is no substitute for links pages.

Here's something you can start playing with - a free Japanese word processor. It's very small (about 4 MB) and is very advanced yet easy to use. It's called "NJStar Japanese Word Processor 4.2" You can download it from NJStar's Website.

Once you download it, the next step is to download the latest version of the EDICT Japanese-English dictionary (optional). You can find it at various FTP sites, but it's rather hard to find. You can download the latest dictionary files right here.

To install it, unzip it to "C:\Program Files\NJStar Japanese WP" or wherever you installed it. You also need to go into that directory and click on 2 programs - "E2jdic" and "J2edic". They both take about a minute to run, and you should be all set. You will now have MANY more words in your E-J and J-E dictionaries than you started with.

To the JIP forum participants - "Thank you!"

I would like to thank those of you that have contributed to the "Japanese is POSSIBLE" forum. Teaching a broad subject such as Japanese is a major undertaking, and any help is greatly appreciated. The Internet is the #1 source of information for someone learning Japanese on their own. The URLs posted so far will prove VERY helpful to any student, regardless of their experience. I am by no means the "Ultimate" Japanese sensei (teacher), nor do I think I'm the only one that can teach. (that's a relief, ne? ^_^) The more people help out, the more benefit people will get out of this column.

I would also like to say something to the many students that visit the JIP forum in seach of information. Although much of the information is helpful, some of it may confuse and overwhelm beginners. There are many parts to learning a language, and this column can only address them one at a time. In the meantime, many people are offering their assistance, posting information to the forums. Since there is no central organization or lesson plan among the various posters, there are bound to be some things posted that are "too advanced" for some students. When you see a post that you don't understand or feel you're not ready for, don't worry. The subjects will all be covered in great detail in future "Japanese is POSSIBLE" columns. They will be explained so that everyone can understand them.

To those who post in the forums, please understand that the posts ARE appreciated. Since there are JIP readers far beyond the beginner stage, there needs to be information for them as well. Also, the posts help me to design the course.

Internet Links!

These sites all have to do with Japan, Japanese culture, or the Japanese language:

Next week - Intro to Japanese Grammar

Sentence structure, particles, and a whole lot more. See you next week!

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