Part 14

• How to Keep it Interesting
• Negative Adjectives
• Example Sentences
• Very Popular Words

When you're studying or practicing something, it's always a good idea to inject some variety. If you do the same exact thing every day, you'll no doubt become bored in a short time. When learning Japanese, there are many things you can do to increase your ability:

• Learn vocabulary
• Learn grammar
• Practice making sentences
• Listen to Japanese music
• Read Japanese manga

You can also watch subtitled Anime, and try to pull out words and phrases that you understand. The trick is to make sure you don't try to do the same thing several days in a row. After a while, everything gets old. If you cycle through several different activities however, none of them will get old.

For instance, if you only listened to 1 song for a week, you'd quickly grow tired of it. If you had 3 songs, it would take considerably longer. They more songs you have, the longer each song "lasts". Eventually, you reach a point where they never really get old, because you have so many to listen to.

My advice:

Some days, focus on learning vocabulary. On other days, worry about grammar. When possible, try to spend time finding good Japanese MP3s (or CDs) on the net and listen to them. Sometimes when you're not in the mood to study, just watch an Anime. It all helps, and adds up very slowly (but surely) to mastery of Japanese.

If you're into Video Games, try looking up phrases you hear in the import games you own. Many fighting games have a "victory phrase" which is usually a commonly heard phrase.

Remember, Japanese is something you have to slowly beat into your head. It will take a few years, but it CAN happen if you want it to.

Negative Adjectives

A couple lessons ago, we discussed the two different types of Adjectives. To refresh your memory, they were called "normal" and "Quasi". It was mentioned that the "normal" adjectives could have various endings tacked on to them, doing some amazing things.

One of those powerful endings is -ku nai.

All you have to do is remove the -i from the adjective, and add -ku nai.

Examples:

yoi - good
yoku nai - not good

akai - red
akaku nai - not red

See what the -ku nai ending does for an adjective? It gives the adjective exactly the opposite meaning it normally has.

This is a very important ending to know, as you might have guessed. Think about how many times you need to say that something ISN'T necessary, ISN'T hot, etc.

Refer to the section below, "Example Sentences", for use of this ending.

Example Sentences

kanojo wa amari tsuyoku nai.
she (subject) too much strong not.
She isn't too strong.

bakemono wa zenzen kowaku nai yo!
monster (subject) completely scary not !
The monster isn't scary at all!

kore wa zenzen chigau!
this (subject) completely different!
This is completely different!

boku wa zenzen tsuyoku nai kedo.
I (subject) completely strong not but.
But I'm not strong at all.

ore wa juubun ja nai wake?
I (subject) enough not (it is that)?
Is it that I'm not enough?

taisetsu na mono o nakushita wake?
precious thing (what) lost it is that?
Did you lose something precious?

Very Popular Words

Misc

juubun - enough
wake - it is that
sorekara - and then
amari - too much
zenzen - completely

Nouns

netsu - fever
bouken - adventure
kenshi - swordsman
madoushi - wizard

Adjectives

taisetsu (na) - precious
kuwashii - knowledgable
bukimi (na) - eerie
kowai - scary

Verbs

nakusu - to lose
kirameku - to sparkle, glisten