Do you know what konkatsu means? Could you name the traditional Japanese art in which a person sits on a stage and tells a funny story? What does the phrase, “Shiranu ga hotoke,” mean?

Challenging the applicant’s knowledge not just of Japanese language but also of Japanese culture, the first ever J-CLUE test will be held in October 2011. From AKB48 to Mount Fuji, questions deal with both modern and traditional Japanese culture.

Launched by J-CLUB (The Japanese Culture and Language Understanding Board) and the Hiragana Times the test takes a revolutionary approach to language learning by focusing of cultural aspects of Japan

Depending on your fluency, you can take the test in either English or Japanese.

Over 260 academic institutions, including universities, colleges and Japanese language schools, in Japan have now signed up to support the new J-CLUE test. To find out more about the kind of questions the test will cover please visit the J-Clue website.

The first test will be based in Japan and applications for the first test are currently being accepted.

The cost of the test is ¥4,500 which compares favourably to the fee charged for the JLPT (¥5,500) and profits will be donated to the East Japan Disaster Fund.

Source: Hiragana Times

• Today is Culture Day in Japan
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• Romaji Is Evil
• Should You Take The JLPT?

Yes, I guess it is aimed at children but I am mentioning here as I think it is a superb beginner’s book for anyone starting to get their head around Japanese and the concepts of hiragana for the first time. And I do mean the first time – anyone past that point will get nothing out of this book.

The opening pages introduce the reader to the pronunciation of the kana and then moves on through the first table of 46 hiragana. There is no mention of the dakuten or handakuten markers and that keeps things simple.

Each hiragana is represented on a full page with its stroke order, romaji reading, an example word and an explanation of that word. For example, soba is used as a word containing そ and the explantion is a full paragraph of the story behind soba.

The end of the book features a chart of the 46 hiragana and their sounds and stroke order plus a word list with English translations and several pages of illustrations of everyday objects with their hiragana, romaji and English name.

So if you’re looking to start poking around with hiragana and get a few words under your belt then give it a try.

The book seems to go in and out of stock at Amazon so you may have to dig around for a copy or kick back and wait. The publisher’s website is www.pbjomnimedia.com so best to contact them if you want to find a stockist close to you.

There is a katakana version also available.

Jimi’s Book Of Japanese Gallery

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• Hiragana: The A Line
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• Word Of The Week: Monogatari (物語)

Just imagine yourself in a seafood restaurant somewhere deep in Hokkaido and not knowing the right word to say. Sure, yeh, I liked the raw sea cucumber and eel – bring me another serving! ^_^

Anyway it’s all good, the sea cucumber is a distant memory – the sake cured that – and now it’s time to make sure we get these right.

Like (すき)

The Japanese word for like is 好き (すき). While it’s written as suki, the pronunciation is closer to the English word “ski”.

The す (su) sound gets shortened to “s” as it commonly does in desu (です) and many other Japanese words.

To say “I like…something”, you simply use the subject particle が after the item or person that is liked.

In the examples below you see たまご (egg) and いぬ (dog) followed by が. Remember that いぬ can mean dog or dogs (and the same for egg) – Japanese has no plurals.

Examples

わたしはたまごがすきです
I like eggs

わたしはいぬがすきです
I like dogs

Other variations on the “like” theme are as follows:

To say that you “really” like something or someone, it’s simply a matter of placing the word だい, which means big, in front of すき to give us “big like”.

• だいすき (大好き) – really like or love
• いちばん – favourite, number one

Examples

わたしはねこがだいすきです
I really like/love cats

If you were asked what your favourite fruit was you might answer:

メロンがいちばんすきです
I like melon the best

If you’re wanting to hook up with your hot new Japanese girlfriend/boyfriend this phrase might be useful if all goes to plan ^_^

わたしはあなたがだいすきです
I like you a lot

Dislike (きらい)

Dislike in Japanese is 嫌い (きらい). The first part “ki” (き) is a short and sharp sound followed by “rai” (らい), which has that tricky Japanese “r” sound – a cross between r and l.

To keep things simple, I’ll repeat what I used above for “like” and make the changes (marked in bold) for “dislike”.

Examples

わたしはたまごがきらいです
I dislike/don’t like eggs

わたしはいぬがきらいです
I dislike/don’t like dogs

A more harsh variation on the “dislike” theme is:

• だいきらい – really dislike or hate

Examples

わたしはねこがだいきらいです
I really dislike/hate cats

And if hooking up with your hot new Japanese girlfriend/boyfriend doesn’t go to plan…..

わたしはあなたがだいきらいです
I dislike you a lot eg get lost loser!! ^_^

Word Table

And finally, just for kicks, here’s a list of vegetables that you can put to good use in practising your dislike phrases… ^_^

• やさい (vegetables)
• なす(eggplant)
• にんじん (carrots)
• たまねぎ (onion)
• ほうれんそう (spinach)
• もやし (bean sprouts)

• Learn Japanese: Know Your Age
• Tenses: Past and Present
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• Japan Images: Dog Grooming Tokyo Style

This was taken very quickly in one of the electrical stores near Shibuya 109 in Tokyo. They have many signs up saying no pictures and I’m not sure if that’s enforced or not but I wasn’t going to get caught anyway ^_^

Notice the space bar is smaller and has been partially replaced by a kana (かな) and English (ASCII) (英数) switch on either side. I almost bought an external keyboard that had a similar layout just so I could have a Japanese keyboard for back home in Australia.

Yes mac and Japanese nerd!

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In Japan, like the rest of the world, it’s not okay to run around asking every one about their age, however given the Japanese predilection for being respectful to their elders, you’ll find that they may ask your age so they can address you properly.

I’ve collected a few sentences below that you can use in these situations plus a table of example ages.

In English, you simply add the phrase “year old or years old” to your numerical age and that’s all there is to it.

In Japanese, it works in much the same way, except (and there is always an exception, isn’t there??) for a few changes to some numbers. Remember that さい (sa-i) means “years old” in Japanese and the counter for years-old is 才.

Our first exception starts with 1-year-old, which is written as いっさい (i-s-sa-i) rather than いちさい (i-chi-sa-i) as you might expect as いち is the Japanese word for the the number one.

The phrase for 8-years-old also breaks the pattern as it is pronounced はっさい (ha-s-sai) rather than the expected はちさい (hachi-sai) – はちさい being the Japanese word for eight.

For those of you who are very new to Japanese, you’ll want to make a special note of the small tsu (っ), which functions as consonant doubler and the small yu (ゅ). Read more about how they work here.

Between 11 and 19, you’ll need to add the relevant number from the table below to the end of the word for ten, which is じゅう. So sixteen (16) becomes じゅう (ju-u) plus ろくさい (ro-ku-sa-i) to get じゅうろくさい.

The same patterns repeat the higher you get.

How do you think 41 would be pronounced? Let’s break it down.

41 is made up of よん (4) and じゅう (10) to give us よんじゅう (40) and then add on いっさい (1-year-old) to get よんじゅういっさい (yon-juu-is-sai)

Why not try a few for yourself now. 56? 72? 99?

Whoops almost forgot to mention 20-years-old. The Japanese celebrate this age with a holiday as it is said to be the “Coming of Age”, which is called はたち (hi-ta-chi) and as such the age of 20 is often referred to simply as はたち (ha-ta-chi) – there’s no さい (sa-i) at the end.

So can I just use にじゅっさい (ni-ju-s-sa-i) to say 20-years-old? Yes, you can. ^_^

Examples

Age Sentences

E: How old are you?
J: 何歳ですか?
H: なんさいですか？

E: I am 17-years-old.
J: 私は十七才です。
H: わたしはじゅうななさいです。

E: How old is your daughter?
J: 何歳の娘さんですか？
H: なんさいのむすめさんですか？

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All booklets from Level 0 through the Level 4 are written in hiragana, along with the appropriate level of kanji mixed within the text.

Furigana is used extensively throughout the series, so as long as you have a good knowledge of hiragana you’ll know enough to at least be able to read through any text at this level.

A Look Inside – ジョンさん日本へ

The feeling you get from being able to read actual Japanese text yourself is a powerful one for beginners.

Even if you only know every third word/kanji, you’re reading in another language and that’s pretty amazing I think.

Each level has several volumes (Level 1 is available in three volumes), which come in multi-booklet packs and as the level number increases, the booklets add more vocabulary, kanji and more complex grammar.

The Level 1 booklets feature a 350 word vocabulary and each story at this level has between 400-1,500 characters.

If you’re currently studying at the N4/N5 level, these booklets are an ideal starting point for you.

Box Set – Front Cover

Basic grammar is covered with conjugations ranging from the -masu, -te and tai forms through to present and past tense, desu and several others.

The five illustrated stories included in the first volume of Level 1 are:

• おんなの子 – The Girl
• ハチの話 – The Story of Hachi
• ジョンさん日本へ – John goes to Japan
• 浦島太廊 – Urashimatarou
• 笑い話 – A Funny Story

Level 1 Volume 1 Booklets

An added bonus is the free CD, which includes the text from each booklet being read by a native speaker, which is a perfect way to improve listening comprehension while reading along with each story.

When I first started the series I ripped the CD and then listened to the booklets while reading along with the text from the booklets.

Having the audio with me wherever I went enabled me to practice my listening comprehension at any time of day.

As you move through the booklets, any new vocabulary you find in a booklet will repeated multiple times throughout the other booklets to reinforce their use and meaning in context.

I found this of particular use in quickly building my arsenal of Japanese words in the early days.

Close Up – Hiragana/Kanji with Furigana

I know I bang the “no romaji” drum quite a lot but it is something I feel strongly about and that’s what I enjoy about these booklets as they are 100% Japanese and therefore there’s no option to cheat yourself with romaji or English.

If you don’t know the hiragana or kanji then you’ll need to look it up and memorise it. It’s a powerful motivator.

While the Japanese Graded Readers Series will introduce you to new words and help to maintain your current reading and listening abilities, I think the biggest plus is to keep you thinking and reading in pure Japanese – there are no crutches whatsoever.

With it’s colourful illustrations and easy to read text, the Japanese Graded Readers Series sure beats the heck out of wading through boring lists of vocabulary and grammar.

Highly recommended.

BTW check out Harvey’s views on Level 0 of the Graded Readers Series over at japannewbie.com

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• Hiragana: The S Line

To get you started I’ll kick you off with a quick explanation of some of the more popular terms.

Rōmaji

Rōmaji (ローマ字), often mis-spelt as romanji or rōmanji, is where Japanese words are written in the Latin alphabet. For example, konnichiwa rather than こんにちわ.

Rōmaji is mostly used in Japan where tourists need to be able to read signs such as a railway station, hotel, airport or restaurant. The further you get out of the major cities, the less rōmaji you’ll see.

It is also frequently seen in Japanese dictionaries and textbooks for use by Japanese language beginners.

Rōmaji is commonly used to input Japanese characters into computers. Japanese keyboards mostly look exactly the same as Western keyboards. So to input a Japanese word, the user must type in the romanised version of the word (konnichiwa rather than こんにちわ) and the computer will do the rest.

I am not a fan of rōmaji for serious Japanese students as I feel it is better to learn kana and kanji than to rely on rōmaji. Use whatever you feel works best for your situation and level.

Furigana

Furigana (振り仮名) is the small hiragana or katakana printed next to or above a kanji character to explain its pronunciation. It is mostly found in children’s books or Japanese textbooks for beginners.

Furigana is especially helpful when you are making the transition to learning kanji and don’t yet know the many readings needed to be fluent at Japanese.

Hiragana

Hiragana is the first of three writing systems (hiragana, katakana and kanji) taught to Japanese children and most books for kids are written purely in hiragana. As they move in to grade one, kanji is gradually introduced and hiragana mostly removed. A typical university graduate is expected to know over 2000 kanji!

Although hiragana is used by children and replaced by kanji in grade school, it remains a very important part of Japanese as it is commonly found in the grammatical endings of nouns, verbs and adjectives, as well as for particles like が or から, and many other Japanese words that have no kanji equivalent.

Each hiragana is either an individual vowel or a consonant followed by a vowel. The exception, and there always is one, is “n” (ん).

Find out more about hiragana and download free worksheets here

Katakana

Katakana (カタカナ) is the second component of the Japanese writing system and is generally learnt alongside or after hiragana.

While a beginner may not initially be able to tell Katakana and Hiragana apart, with a little practice they are distinctively different.

Katakana is generally more angular and has short, straight strokes while hiragana is rounded and more cursive. The difference is much like in the English language where we start off writing in a printing-style before learning cursive writing as we move through school.

Katakana is predominately used to write foreign or loan words in Japanese.

In the photo above you can see the city and country names from around the world, which are all written in katakana as they are loan words.

Kanji

Kanji (漢字) are the characters that are used in the Japanese writing system along with hiragana and katakana. They were imported from China around 500AD although the timing of its use in Japan varies substantially.

Kanji are taught to Japanese children after learning hiragana and katakana and the Japanese government has strict sets of kanji that are to be learnt at each grade level. By the time a typical Japanese student finishes university they will know approx. 2000 kanji!

The list of 1,945 kanji that must be learnt be all Japanese students is known as Jōyō kanji.

Japanese school children learn 1006 kanji characters from grades one to six and a further 939 kanji characters in secondary school.

There are changes taking place in 2010 that will see the number of official “must-know” kanji move to over 2000.

The total kanji figure is debatable but is said to be around 50,000. Let’s be thankful we don’t need to know all of those!

Readings

Kanji readings fit into just two categories, On (On’yomi – Chinese reading) and Kun (Kun’yomi – Japanese reading).

The difficulty for beginners and advanced students alike is that most kanji have more than one reading. So on top of having to learn the approx. 2000 Jōyō kanji there are also multiple readings of each kanji that you must know.

Also, when you add two or more kanji together their meaning might change or expand making the concept different.

For example the kanji for “outside” is 外. This kanji has the On readings – ガイ (gai),  ゲ (ge) along with the Kun readings – そと (soto),  ほか (hoka),  はずす (hazusu),  はずれる (hazureru),  と- (to).

So when 外 is used in the context of “outside” on it’s own you might pronounce it – そと (soto). However when it is used in 外国 (gaikoku), which means foreign country (eg outside country) then you can see the ガイ (gai) reading is used along with こく (country).

The general rule is that kanji that are on their own are typically read using their kun’yomi, as in the そと (soto) example above.

Kanji that occur in compounds, which are two or more kanji together as in the 外国 (gaikoku) example above are generally read using on’yomi.

These are only general rules and there are many exceptions but that is beyond the scope of this article so I won’t confuse things too much. ^_^

Stroke Order

In Japanese, a stroke order refers to the order in which the strokes of a kana or kanji character are written.

As a general rule, strokes are written from top to bottom and left to right. When there are upper and lower parts of the kanji, the upper strokes are written first, then the lower.

It is debatable that you need to focus heavily on learning the exact stroke order for each kanji. My personal view is that it is a good discipline to have but if you are fluent with the rest of your Japanese, not knowing the stroke orders isn’t going to hold you back too much.

Kana

Kana is the word used to refer to both hiragana and katakana. When you hear someone say that you need to learn the “kana” when starting Japanese, that just means that you need to learn hiragana and/or katakana.

That’s all for now – I hope this has helped to clear up any questions you may have had about these terms. Please leave a comment if you want to know more or let me know if I have missed anything.

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• Learn Kanji: The Kanji Starter Kit
• Book Review: Jimi’s Book Of Japanese
• Hiragana: The A Line
• Hiragana: The T Line

Everyone learns a different way. It’s an obvious statement but one that bears thinking about when you’re attempting to learn a language.

For example, if you’re studying at school I guarantee that no-one bothered to ask you about how you wanted to learn Japanese?

In a typical classroom setting, you have no input in to what time of day you start or how many students are in your study group or what textbooks you use.

What if you learn better on your own? What if you don’t want to learn romaji? Maybe you’re better suited to learn kanji mnemonically rather than delving in to readings from day one?

For some of us, this type of disconnect between how we are taught and what we actually need to be able to learn, is enormous and it can seriously affect our ability to learn a language.

A common scenario is that on your first day of Japanese class you’re filled with anticipation at finally begin able to learn the language you love so much.

However, several months later, you’re lagging behind the class and have lost all motivation and even worse, you might be questioning your own intelligence. Am I just dumb? No you’re not – please read on.

Don’t Blame Yourself

Firstly if you’re reading my blog, your intelligence is beyond question – so no worries there at all ^_^

Secondly, don’t be too quick to blame yourself if you’re not at the level you think you should be. Perhaps the classroom environment and/or syllabus is just not right for you.

If you’re at a grade school there is not alot you can do about that but outside of school hours the time is your own and if you truly want to master Japanese then you’ll need to study the way that suits you and make up for the lost time in the classroom.

I’ve listed below several study variations that may help clarify in your own mind what works best for you. These thoughts apply to anyone studying Japanese – not just in school.

Goals versus Free-Form

You’re either a goal-orientated person or not. If you’re younger you may not know that yet but by the time you finish school you will.

Some people find setting personal goals to be claustrophobic and unnecessarily draconian. They would rather just take it easy, get the job done in their own time and on a timeline that suits them.

Others can’t function without goals. They need a short or long term goal to constantly maintain their motivation and feel rewarded by attaining their goals on schedule.

Both options are okay for the individual but our non-goal friends are probably not going to enjoy the classroom environment very much.

If you’re on the non-goal team, then after-hours tutoring is perhaps a better option for you or maybe teaching yourself on the interwebs. Both of these options will reduce any unnecessary or counter-productive stress caused by the classroom environment.

Be really careful not to allow the stringent nature of the classroom to dampen any enthusiasm you have for the language as it is very hard to regain that once it is lost.

Conversely, if you need to learn in a group make sure you put yourself out there and make it happen.

RTK versus JLPT

RTK or Remembering the Kanji is a well-known method of learning kanji and JLPT is of course the standard test worldwide for Japanese proficiency.

RTK focusses more on how a kanji is put together and is very visual whereas JLPT is pretty much a learn by rote system. RTK doesn’t teach the kanji readings at all (until RTK2) while JLPT starts with the whole package – kanji, radicals and readings – from day one.

If you’re struggling to remember any kanji in class then perhaps you’re more of a visual learner. In that case Remembering The Kanji may be more suited to your needs.

The trick is not to think there is only way to learn Japanese.

If something is feeling harder than it should be, make sure you look around for other options. You know you have what it takes to learn so don’t stop until you find the right method for you.

When you’re fluent Japanese, no-one is going to stop you mid-sentence and ask what method you used. If you’re fluent, you’re fluent – job done.

Classroom or Self-study

This is a big stumbling block for some people.

If you’re at school you have no choice but to learn with others in your classroom but if you’re working during the day and trying to self-study at night and getting nowhere then you might be someone who needs to learn in a group environment.

If you’re forced to self-study due to economic or time issues then make sure you get your face-to-face time with others online. Websites such as EduFire offer live video tuition for numerous languages including Japanese. You can then get your interaction fix while still self-studying.

Don’t give up now. Fix the problem by getting to the core issue of why you feel you’re not progressing. Only you know the answer to that question.

Morning or Night

Do you struggle to learn at different times of day?

Perhaps you work during the day and study Japanese at night and find yourself going nowhere fast?

Or maybe Japanese is your first class in the morning at school and you just can’t focus no matter how hard you try?

There’s morning people and night people. Some of us come alive the closer it gets to midnight while others are at their peak at 5am.

If you’re struggling at certain times of the day, then why not try re-arranging your day to see if that changes anything.

Instead of sitting down to study at 11pm, go to bed early and hit the books at 6am.

Give it a try – it might just be the thing that is holding you back.

がんばってね!

• JLPT versus RTK: It’s Your Choice
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• Mnemonics: Learn Japanese Faster

Image Credit: Fey-Rayen (DeviantArt)

Whether you’re a beginner, advanced or somewhere in between, at some point in your Japanese studies you’ve probably “hit the wall”. I’m sure you know the feeling – you’re over it, you don’t want to see another kanji or verb conjugation as long as you live.

There are many reasons this can happen – perhaps you’re bored, too busy with school or work, sick and tired of studying or you’ve simply lost your motivation.

It happens to the best of us and it’s a common problem in any endeavour, not just learning Japanese. However, it’s the way you deal with the “wall” that will define your success or failure.

If you have read anything about successful people, a common thread is that they never give up.

It is what separates them from others who start a business and then get disillusioned when they’re not making $50,000 a week, a month after opening their restaurant and give up.

Perhaps they would have had a chance at making $50,000 a week but it would take 5 years of hard work and the determination to see it through. Either way, they’ll never know because they gave up.

The world is littered with the carcasses of great dreams that went nowhere because of a lack of staying power, focus and determination. It takes a certain person to push through the pain and keep going while others fall by the wayside.

The Tipping Point

The phrase “Tipping Point” comes from a book by Malcolm Gladwell, and basically means “the process in which, beyond a certain point, the rate at which the process proceeds increases dramatically.”

Put in the lingo of language learning it means that at a certain point everything just seems to come together.

Perhaps you’ve been studying hard for a few years and seemingly getting nowhere and suddenly there becomes a point where you just feel like it comes naturally. You’re not thinking about tenses and conjugations and how many strokes in each kanji – you’re just thinking in Japanese – it’s become part of you.

Right before this “tipping point” is where the problems lie. The years of study are taking their toll and you’re wondering if you’re ever going to be fluent. This is where many people just give up as the “wall” just seems to great to get over.

Remember The Reward

If you feel yourself losing focus or interest in your Japanese studies, it’s time to remind yourself of just how far you have come and what the rewards are for sticking with it.

Your goal may be as simple as personal improvement or as life-changing as moving to Japan to live and work. Both are valid reasons to push through any walls you hit along the way.

Value Your Progress

A great way to embolden yourself and also bring clarity and excitement back in to your daily studies is to look at how much you have achieved.

Even if it’s taken you three years to learn the basic hiragana and katakana then you’ve already accomplished what most of your friends and family will never do in their lifetime.

Just think about it – you can look at hiragana, which to others is a bunch of mindless squiggles, and make sense of it. That’s pretty impressive stuff.

It is too easy to dismiss your knowledge as “simple” but if it were that simple then everyone would know it.

Open one of your hiragana text books and show a friend or family member and I bet they won’t know what anything means and conversely I’m sure they’ll be very impressed when you can read a hiragana sentence out loud to them.

While it may seem like nothing, you’ve actually come a long way and you need to acknowledge that and use it to push yourself to the next level.

Have you ever visualised being able to read an entire Japanese newspaper or watching an entire Japanese TV show and being to able to understand everything?

Don’t think you could? Well you can – it’s just a matter of using the same skills that you used to learn hiragana and katakana – study, focus and determination.

Yes, it’s much, much harder but if 125 million Japanese can do it, so can you.

Name and Shame

If you need a kick along in the area of self-motivation then why not make your plans public? If you’re stuck on the first 100 kanji, then set yourself a goal to learn them by a certain date.

In my opinion there is no better motivation than to have your friends, workmates or classmates knowing about your goals. Post something on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or even your own blog. Outline what you plan to achieve and make it public.

I guarantee the next time you feel like watching TV rather than learning a few kanji, you’ll think twice about the consequences ^_^

It’s All About You

In the end you still have to really want to learn Japanese – there is no getting around that and it is the most powerful motivator.

You can’t be doing it just to hook up with the hot new Japanese exchange student in your class or because your Mum and Dad want you to. You have to want it badly and you have to want it all by yourself.

So if you’ve hit the wall, please don’t stop there. It’s a very long road to proficiency but it’s also very rewarding.

Imagine being able to fluently communicate in another language? It doesn’t get much better than that in my book.

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In today’s J-Vocab series we take a look at some items that you’d expect to find around the house.

The proliferation of more Western goods in Japan means that there are several loan words featured in our list including Computer (コンピュータ), TV (テレビ), Shower (シャワ) and Bed (ベッド).

Remember that loan words (words that are “loaned” from outside the Japanese language), are always written in Katakana.

• Learn Katakana: Japanese Computer Terms
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• Don’t Be Deaf To Japanese
• Hotel Claska, Tokyo: Room 502