1

-DSDQHVH3RGFRP
/HDUQ-DSDQHVHZLWK)5((3RGFDVWV

Ultimate Getting Started with Japanese Box Set

Lessons 1 to 55
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-DSDQHVH3RGFRP
/HDUQ-DSDQHVHZLWK)5((3RGFDVWV

Introduction to Japanese
Lessons 1-25
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/HDUQ-DSDQHVHZLWK)5((3RGFDVWV
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Basic Bootcamp
Self Introduction/Basic Greetings

1 Vocabulary
Grammar Points
2
2
 5

Vocabulary
Kanji Kana Romaji English
kon'nichi wa hello
watashi I, me
hajimemashite Nice to meet you.
d please
yoroshiku onegai Nice to meet you.
shimasu

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

Hello, everyone.
I'm a counselor.
Hello. Nice to meet you.
I'm Taro's mother. Please be nice to me.
I'm Taro Tanaka. It's a pleasure to meet
you.
Hello, everyone.
I'm a counselor.
Hello. Nice to meet you.
I'm Taro's mother. Please be nice to me.
2 I'm Taro Tanaka. It's a pleasure to meet
you.

Grammar Points
Basic Bootcamp #1: Self Introduction/Basic Greetings
The Focus of This Lesson is to Teach You Some Japanese Essentials to Get You
Speaking Right from Your First Lesson.

Today's phrases are used when we introduce ourselves:

A:
A: Kon'nichi wa. Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Tanaka desu.
A: "Hello. Nice to meet you. My name is Tanaka."

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B:
B: Watashi wa Suzuki desu. Yoroshiku o-negai shimasu.
B: "My name is Suzuki. Nice to meet you."

Vocabulary and Lesson Notes

Kon'nichi wa
This phrase is the Japanese equivalent of "hello" and can be used at any time of
day.

Watashi
The word watashi (
females to refer to themselves.

wa
"Wa" is a particle that follows the topic you are going to be talking about (often
called the topic marking particle). Think of it as the equivalent to "as for" in
English.

3 Desu
This word is called a copula and refers to one type of "to be" verb. In the above
conversation, we showed the construction as watashi wa [name] desu (
[name] Desu will always come at the end of a sentence.
For more information on the copula, please see Conjugation Lesson #1.

Hajimemashite
This phrase means "nice to meet you," and we use it when meeting someone for the
first time. We often follow this phrase with the next one.

Yoroshiku onegai shimasu

We often use this phrase when meeting people for the first time. There is no
English equivalent, but literally, this phrase roughly translates to, "Please look
favorably upon me." Using this phrase shows respect for the person you are
meeting, and also indicates that you are looking forward to a good relationship

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 7

with them. Whether you are meeting one person or fifty, using this phrase will
make a great impression.

To make this phrase even more polite, you can attach the word d (
beginning to create D (
the other hand, if you are speaking to someone who is much lower in status than
yourself, you can shorten this phrase to simply yoroshiku (

Names in Japanese

In Japanese, we give our full names by saying or writing our last name before our
first name. In formal situations, it is common for people to introduce themselves
using their full name or only their last name. When addressing other people you
are not familiar with or are higher than you in status, it is important to attach
the suffix san ( san (
to your own name!

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8

Basic Bootcamp
Basic Japanese sentence structure

2 Vocabulary
Grammar Points
2
2
 9

Vocabulary
Kanji Kana Romaji English
Nihon Japan
Nihon-jin Japanese
Amerika America
Amerika-jin American
(Nationality)
Igirisu England
Igirisu-jin English, British
(nationality)
Ch China
Ch China (nationality)

Vocabulary Sample Sentences

I live in Japan.
Natsuko is Japanese.
The U.S. is huge.
Mr. White is American.
British cookies are delicious.
I'm British.
2 I'm from China.
Yao Ming is Chinese.
I live in Japan.
Natsuko is Japanese.
The U.S. is huge.
Mr. White is American.
British cookies are delicious.
I'm British.
I'm from China.
Yao Ming is Chinese.

Grammar Points
Basic Bootcamp #2: Basic Japanese Sentence Structure
The Focus of This Lesson is Talking About Yourself in Japanese.

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In this lesson, we learned the following phrases:

A:
A: Kon'nichi wa. Watashi wa Naomi desu. Nihon-jin desu.
A: "Hello, I'm Naomi. I'm Japanese."

B:
B: Kon'nichi wa. Watashi wa P
B: "Hello, I'm Peter. I'm American."

Talking About Yourself

To talk about one's nationality, you add the word for person, jin
name of a country. Let's take a look at some examples.

Countries and Nationalities:

1.
Nihon
"Japan"
2.
Nihon-jin

3 3.
"Japanese person"

Amerika
"America"
4.
Amerika-jin
"American person"

Other Countries and Nationalities:

1.
Igirisu
"England"
2.
Igirisu-jin

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"English person"
-
Ch
"China"
-
Ch
"Chinese person"

Talking About Nationality:

†††††† 1.
†††††††† (Watashi wa) amerika-jin desu.
††††††††† I'm American.
†
watashi wa if it's
already understood that you are talking about yourself. In that case, your†††††
nationality plus desu is enough.

††††† More examples:

1.
Watashi-tachi wa amerika-jin desu.
"We're American."

4 2.
Anata wa nihon-jin desu.
"You're Japanese."

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Basic Bootcamp
Useful Phrases for Learning

3 Grammar Points 2
 13

Grammar Points
Basic Bootcamp #3: Useful Phrases for Learning Japanese
The Focus of This Lesson is to Learn Some Japanese Phrases That Come in Handy
When Learning More Japanese

1.
M
Marvin: "Excuse me. How do you say this in Japanese?"
2. "
U
Waitress: "Shoyu."
3. :
M onegai shimasu.
Marvin: "Excuse me, could you say that one more time, please?"
4. : "
U
Waitress: "Shoyu."
5.
2 M egai shimasu.
Marvin: "Excuse me, could you say it slowly, please?"
6. : "
U
Waitress: "Sho-u-yu."

Vocabulary and Lesson Notes

Sumimasen.
"Excuse me."

Sumimasen translates to "excuse me" in English. We often use it to try to get

someone's attention when we are about to say something or ask a question.

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†
† [ word ] wa Nihon-go de nan desu ka?
"How do you say (word) in Japanese?"

You can use this phrase when you don't know what something is called in Japanese.
In the blank, you can put an English word or point to something and use kore wa
(

If someone uses a Japanese word that you are not familiar with and you would like
to ask for the English translation, you can use the same structure to ask what it
is called in English:

Eigo de nan desu ka?

"What is it in English?"

Onegai shimasu.
"Please."

Onegai shimasu is a phrase that means "please." You can use this phrase when you
are asking for something or asking someone to do something for you.
3 You can pair the following two phrases with onegai shimasu to ask someone to
repeat something.

M
"One more time"

Yukkuri
"Slowly"

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15

Basic Bootcamp
Counting I

4 Grammar Points 2
 16

Grammar Points
Basic Bootcamp #4: Counting I
The Focus of This Lesson is to Teach the Numbers 1 to 100 in Japanese

Dialog
Setting: Kazuki is at the gym, counting while doing exercises on a weight lifting
machine.

Kazuki: 1 (ichi), 2 (ni), 3 (san), 4 (yon), 5 (go), 6, (roku) 7 (nana), 8 (hachi),

9 (ky

Vocabulary and Lesson Notes

Numbers from 0-10:

0 zero / rei
1 ichi
2 ni
2 3
4
san
shi / yon
5 go
6 roku
7 shichi / nana
8 hachi
9 ky
10 j

Numbers from 11-20:

11 j
12 j
13 j
14 j
15 j
16 j

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 17

17 j
18 j
19 j
20 ni-j

Multiples of 10 up to 100:
10 j
20 ni-j
30 san-j
40 yon-j
50 go-j
60 roku-j
70 nana-j
80 hachi-j
90 ky
100 hyaku

Some more numbers discussed in this lesson:

25
ni-j

3 43
yon-j

77
nana-j

92
ky

48
yon-j

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 18

55
go-j

100
hyaku

Culture Tip

The Japanese are very superstitious when it comes to numbers. Many people believe
that certain numbers are auspicious, while other numbers are unlucky ones you
should avoid. This originates from the fact that many Japanese words are
homophones. Certain numbers have pronunciations that are similar to other words
that have either good or bad connotations.

For example, the Japanese believe the number four is very unlucky and they avoid it
whenever possible. The reason is that the pronunciation of the number four ( shi
) in Japanese is very similar in sound to the word for "death" ( , shi). We
consider the number nine ( ky ) to be unlucky for the same reason-one of the
pronunciations is ku, which is the same as the word for "suffering" [ ku
Because of these beliefs, many hospitals and apartment buildings do not have room
numbers with four or nine in them.
4 On the other hand, the Japanese believe that the numbers seven ( shichi) and
eight ( hachi) are lucky numbers. The concept of "lucky seven" is largely a
Western one, but the Seven Deities of Good Fortune ( shichifukujin) are one
instance of the number seven signifying luck in Japanese folk religion. The
Japanese consider the number eight ( hachi) to be lucky because of the way the
strokes in the Chinese character gradually broaden out, which is connected to the
idea of growing prosperous.

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Basic Bootcamp
Counting II

5 Grammar Points 2
 20

Grammar Points
Basic Bootcamp #5: Counting II
The Focus of This Lesson is to Teach Numbers from 100 to 100,000 in Japanese

Let's take a look at the numbers from 100 to 100,000 in Japanese.

Dialog

Setting: Hiro and Kazuki are at an auction, where an antique comic book is being
auctioned off.

Auctioneer: And here we have an antique comic book-this is a true collector's item
that's one of a kind! We'll start the bidding at 100 yen.

†††††††††† Hiro: Hyaku! (100!)

†††††††††† Kazuki: Ni-hyaku! (200!)
†††††††††† Hiro: Go-hyaku! (500!)
2 ††††††††††
††††††††††
Kazuki: Sen! (1,000!)
Hiro: Sen san-byaku! (1,300!)
†††††††††† Kazuki: Sen ro-ppyaku! (1,600!)
†††††††††† Hiro: Ni-sen! (2,000!)
†††††††††† Kazuki: San-zen! (3,000!)
†††††††††† Hiro: Ha-ssen! (8,000!!!)
†††††††††† Kazuki: ....

Auctioneer: Sold! To this person right here for 8,000 yen!

††††††† Hiro: Yatta! (Yay!)

Vocabulary and Lesson Notes

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 21

hyaku
100

sen
1,000

ichi-man
10,000

To create multiples of hundreds and thousands, attach the number before the word
hyaku ("hundred") and sen ("thousand").
100 hyaku 1,000 sen
200 ni-hyaku 2,000 ni-sen
300 san-byaku* 3,000 san-zen*
400 yon-hyaku 4,000 yon-sen
500 go-hyaku 5,000 go-sen
600 ro-ppyaku* 6,000 roku-sen
700 nana-hyaku 7,000 nana-sen
800 ha-ppyaku* 8,000 ha-ssen
900 ky 9,000 ky
3 *The words marked with an asterisk are exceptions. Please note the sound changes
that take place in these words.
10,000 ichi-man
20,000 ni-man
30,000 san-man
40,000 yon-man
50,000 go-man
60,000 roku-man
70,000 nana-man
80,000 hachi-man
90,000 ky
10,000 j
1,000,000 hyaku-man

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 22

More Complex Numbers

hyaku j
111

yon-hyaku nana-j
470

roppyaku ni-j
621

san-zen go-hyaku ky
3,590

nana-sen ha-ppyaku hachi-j

7,880

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23

All About
Top 5 Reasons to study Japanese

1 Grammar Points 2
 24

Grammar Points
Background of the Japanese Language

1. Japanese is thought to be an isolated language or an Altaic language. It ranks

in the list of the top ten languages based on number of native speakers, with
around 130 million people speaking Japanese as their native language.

2. The Japanese language is rich with regional dialects, with some being so
radically different from hy (
some native speakers have trouble understanding them. The most well-known dialect
is Kansai-ben (
region of Japan. The Kansai region refers to an area in western Japan that
includes major cities Osaka and Kyoto.

3. The Japanese written language consists of three alphabets: hiragana, katakana,

and kanji. Hiragana and katakana are phonetic alphabets, with the latter being
used primarily for writing foreign words. Kanji is a system of characters of
Chinese origin used to represent various ideas.
2 4. As mentioned above, the Japanese language's writing system has borrowed heavily
from that of the Chinese language. Although the number of borrowed Chinese
characters is in the thousands, many of them have fallen out of use. The Japanese
Ministry of Education has created a list of 1,945 j (
use kanji" made up of characters commonly used in everyday life. Japanese children
will have studied all of these kanji by the time they graduate from junior high
school.

About Japan

Japan is known as Nihon or Nippon (

meaning "sun" and "origin." This is why Japan is sometimes known as the "Land of
the Rising Sun."

Where Japanese Is Spoken

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 25

Japanese is mainly spoken on the island of Japan, but there are large communities
of Japanese speakers all over the world, including China, Korea, Australia, the
United States, Canada, and many other regions.

Top Five Reasons to Learn Japanese

So why should you learn Japanese? Here are some of the top reasons!

#5. To communicate with Japanese people! Over 130 million people throughout the
world speak Japanese, placing it in the top ten languages spoken in the world.
Just imagine all of the conversations you could have!

#4. Japanese pronunciation is easy! Japanese is pronounced just the way it looks,
so you can start speaking it right away.

#3. You will learn more than just a language. Learning Japanese will give you
great insight into the world of Japanese culture you just can't get any other way.
By learning how the language works, you'll learn more about how the culture works.

#2. Japanese is fun! Japan has a lot to offer in the way of pop culture-fun and

3
interesting movies, music, TV shows, comics, games-you name it! Learning Japanese
will give you even greater access to the rich world of Japanese pop culture.

#1. Learning Japanese makes you smarter! Recent scientific studies show that
learning a second language can actually hold off Alzheimer's Disease. Learning a
second language also increases your memory and makes you stay sharper, helps your
attention span, and sharpens your critical thinking skills. What excuse is there
NOT to study Japanese now?

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26

All About
Learn the Japanese Writing System

2 Grammar Points 2
 27

Grammar Points
The Writing System

The Japanese writing system uses two syllabic scripts, known separately as
hiragana ( katakana ( kana (
well as thousands of Chinese characters known as kanji (
a different function. We use hiragana for grammatical elements and for words that
do not use kanji (or for words where the author doesn't know the kanji). We most
frequently use katakana to write borrowed words of foreign origin and onomatopoeic
sound effects. Finally, we use kanji for words of both Japanese and Chinese origin
as well as many Japanese names.

The earliest written form of Japanese was based on kanji. In this system, known as
man'y , these kanji were used for their pronunciation rather than their
meaning. Because this system was quite complicated, kana were invented as a way to
simplify it. As a result, each hiragana and katakana character comes from a
simplified version of a man'y kanji. If you look at some of these man'y
kanji and their simplified kana equivalents side-by-side, it is easy to see how
they came to be.

2 There are forty-six characters in the hiragana and katakana scripts, for a total
of ninety-two characters in all. These characters represent sounds, specifically
syllables. A syllable is generally made up of a consonant plus a vowel, though
some are only a vowel. In Japanese, there are five vowels (a, i, u, e, and o) and
fourteen basic consonants (k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w, g, z, d, b, and p).

We use the hiragana syllabary for two types of words that do not use kanji:
okurigana (
grammatical elements called "particles." Hiragana is also used to write furigana
( kanji character that
indicate how it is read. While furigana is most frequently used to aid children
and foreigners learning Japanese, it is also used when the reading for a kanji is
particularly difficult or uncommon. Hiragana are characterized by their curvy,
flowing lines.

We use the katakana syllabary for gairaigo (

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onomatopoeic words that indicate sounds, scientific names, and also for emphasis,
much like how italics are used in English. Katakana are characterized by their
angular, boxy lines.

Kanji are Chinese characters that have been adapted into Japanese over many years.
The characters were originally pictographs of people, animals, and other objects.

Kanji Reading "Meaning"

kuchi "mouth"
yama "mountain"

As you can see in the table above, the character kuchi, means
"mouth" and is a box shape that resembles an open mouth. Another example is the
character yama, which means "mountain" and indeed looks like the
skeleton of a mountain. However, over the centuries, kanji have become
increasingly stylized and most no longer resemble the things they represent. Kanji
are made up of smaller parts known as radicals. Many characters have been combined
with others to create new ones. When written on the page, each character is given
exactly the same amount of space, no matter how complex it is. In written
Japanese, there are no spaces between characters.

The number of kanji in existence number into the tens of thousands, but the good

3 news is that a large number of these are rarely used variants, accumulated
throughout history. The Japanese government has created a list of characters
recommended for daily use known as j (
1,945 characters (as of 2009). As this list occasionally undergoes revisions, this
number may increase in the future. Studies have shown that full literacy in the
Japanese language requires knowledge of around two thousand characters.

Most kanji have at least two different kinds of readings: kun yomi (
is the Japanese reading, and on yomi (
reading. To give an example, we can read the kanji mizu (
kun yomi) or sui (on yomi). We usually use the kun yomi when the kanji stands
alone and the on yomi when the kanji is part of a compound. However, there are
exceptions to this rule you simply must remember.

R ( r ,
one can read Japanese without any prior knowledge of the Japanese writing system.
There are several systems of r , with the Hepburn system being the most widely

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used.

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30

All About
Learn Japanese Grammar

3 Grammar Points 2
 31

Grammar Points
Basic Japanese Grammar

Welcome to our explanation of Basic Japanese Grammar! Now, we know the mere
mention of grammar is enough to make your palms sweat and perhaps bring back some
not-so-good memories of your old high school language classes. But don't worry -
we're here to give you a basic overview of Japanese grammar using language that's
easy to understand - no drawn-out, long-winded explanations here! Learn Japanese
grammar quickly while having fun at the same time!

Before we take a look at Japanese grammar, let's quickly review the basics of
English grammar. By understanding more about how English grammar works, you'll be
able to see how it differs from Japanese grammar.

First, let's take a look at sentence order.

English is what we call an SVO language, which means the sentences come in the
order of subject-verb-object. Let's illustrate this with an example.

2 English Sentence Order

Subject Verb Object
I eat fruit

The subject, or the thing taking the action, is "I." The verb, or action, is "eat."
The object, or the thing receiving the action, is "fruit." This is an example of a
sentence in an SVO language.

Japanese is a bit different from English in this respect. Japanese is what's called
an SOV language. This means the subject comes first, followed by the object, and
then the verb. Remember that: the verb comes last. So our previous example, "I eat
fruit" in English, becomes "I fruit eat" when put in Japanese SOV order.
†
Japanese Sentence Order
Subject Object Verb
I fruit eat

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 32

This is one of the biggest differences between English and Japanese grammar and one
of the most important aspects to keep in mind!

Characteristics of the Japanese Language

Now let's compare some characteristics of the Japanese language with the English
language. First, we'll talk about features that are much simpler than their English
counterparts are.

Tense
Let's start with tense. Tense is a method we use in English to refer to time -
past, present, and future. If you are a native English speaker, you might not even
be aware of how many tenses there are in English. Let's think about the future
tense for a moment. The present-tense sentence "I jog", when changed to the future
tense, becomes "I will jog" or even "I'm going to jog". (And there's even a slight
difference between them!)

Japanese, on the other hand, only has two tenses: past and non-past. It's called
non-past because Japanese uses the same tense for the present and future. How does
this work? Let's take a look! Here's an example of our sentence in the present
tense.

( )
S
3 "I go to the supermarket."

So how do we change this to the future tense? Simple! We just add a word that
indicates the action will occur sometime in the future:

[( / )
Ashita/raish S
"I will go to the supermarket tomorrow/next week."

There you have it! By adding a word like "tomorrow" or "next week" that indicates
some point in the future, we've turned our present tense into future tense without
even changing the verb.

Conjugation
English is full of irregular verbs. In many cases, we can turn present tense verbs
into past tense by adding the suffix -ed to the end, but think of how many
exceptions there are to this rule: "fly" becomes "flew," "run" becomes "ran," "buy"

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 33

becomes "bought"...the list goes on! If you've ever studied a Romance language,
then you know how common exceptions are when it comes to conjugating verbs. In
contrast, Japanese only has two - count them - two verbs that conjugate
irregularly. The rest follow the same patterns, so they're easy to get the hang of!
Japanese verbs are divided up into three different groups according to how they
conjugate, which we will refer to as Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 later on.

English and many other languages also conjugate verbs according to who's taking the
action: for example, "I go" vs. "he goes." When you get into Romance languages,
this system gets even more complex. However, in Japanese, it doesn't matter who is
doing the action - the verb will not change! Let's look at a few examples so we can
really appreciate this advantage of Japanese. First, note that the verb "to go" is
ikimasu. The other words in red are "I", "him", and "you", respectively.

1.
Watashi wa gakk ikimasu.
"I go to school."
2.
Kare wa gakk ikimasu.
"He goes to school."
3.
Anata-tachi wa gakk ikimasu.
"You (pl.) go to school."

4
Take a look at ikimasu! It doesn't change! Who is doing the action has no effect
on the following verb. Great, isn't it?

Singulars and Plurals

Remember learning all of the complicated rules for forming plurals in English when
you were in grade school? We first learn that you add the suffix -s to a word to
make it plural, but then came one exception after another, such as words like
knives, candies, and mice. Well now, think about this: Japanese words almost never
change to reflect plurals. Nezumi, the word for "mouse," could refer to one mouse
or ten mice! What a big change from having two different words to differentiate
between singular and plural.

Forming Questions
Think for a moment about how you form questions in English. You have to change the
order of the sentence. Here's an example:

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 34

"He is a student" becomes "Is he a student?"

In Japanese, it's extremely easy to create questions. By simply putting ka at the

end of a sentence, you can turn it into a question! Let's take a look at the
Japanese equivalent of the sentence above:

†††††††††††††††††††† ††
(Kare wa gakusei desu.)†† (Kare wa gakusei desu ka?)
"He is a student."††††††††††† ††† "Is he a student?"

Let's look at one more:

††††††††††††††††††† ††

(Anata wa T )†††††† †† (Anata wa T ka?)

"You live in Tokyo."††††††††††††††††††† † ††††

Okay, now let's take a look at some characteristics unique to the Japanese
language that may not have any equivalent in English.

Formal and Informal Speech

In English, we can use certain words and phrases to make our speech sound more
polite to others. Japanese uses entirely different grammar structures when it
5 comes to polite speech. There are three politeness levels in spoken Japanese:
informal, formal, and honorific.

Gender
By gender, we do not mean feminine and masculine words that show up in many of the
romance languages. By gender, we mean that female speakers will use different
words and phrases than men, and that there are some exclusively masculine words.
In Japanese, it is very possible to look at written dialogue and guess whether the
speaker is male or female without any verbal cues.

Counters
Japanese has a long list of counters, or words that we use to count specific
items. The corresponding counter depends on the appearance or makeup of the item.
For example, there are different counters for sheets of paper and bottles because
they differ in shape. While English does contain some counters (think "loaf of
bread" or "bottle of wine"), the range of counters in Japanese is much more
extensive.

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Omission
In English, we almost always need to state the subject in our sentences:
"Yesterday I went shopping at the mall, and then I went to Starbucks where I had a
latte." Note that we need to state "I" for every action.

In Japanese, the writer often omits the subject from the sentence when it's
understood who is doing the action. In fact, stating the subject every time will
actually make your Japanese sound unnatural. The key is to only state the subject
when it's absolutely necessary. In this way, Japanese lets you get straight to the
important part of your sentence!

That wasn't so bad, was it? We hope this overview has given you a good idea of
some of the most unique characteristics of Japanese. Keeping these in mind will
give you an idea of what to look out for and will prepare you as you dive further
into the world of Japanese grammar!

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36

All About
Learn Japanese Pronunciation

4 Grammar Points 2
 37

Grammar Points
Basic Japanese Pronunciation

It's often said that Japanese pronunciation is one of the easiest aspects of the
language. And guess what - it's true! But it still takes some practice, and we're
here to help you with it. We'll introduce you to the ins and outs of Japanese
pronunciation and show you how it differs from English pronunciation.

Sounds and Syllables

Let's first take a look at how Japanese sounds work. Compared with other
languages, Japanese has a relatively small set of sounds, with only fourteen
consonants (k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w, g, z, d, b, and p) and five vowels (a, e,
i, o, and u). In Japanese, there are no such words as the English word "strength,"
which has clusters of three or more consonants. Japanese is made up of syllables,
which are made up of a consonant and a vowel. The only exceptions are the vowels
and the n sound, which stand alone.

Stress
Let's think about stress in English for a moment. Try saying the words "important"
2 and "interesting" aloud. When you say these words aloud, you're putting emphasis,
or stress, on a certain syllable. In "important," the stress is on the "port"
syllable. In "interesting," the stress is on the "int" syllable. If you haven't
studied phonetics before, it's probably something that just comes naturally that
you've never noticed! Because correct English pronunciation emphasizes certain
syllables, English is known as a stress language.

Japanese, on the other hand, doesn't have stress! It's a stress-free language!
(Until you start learning kanji, perhaps...) In Japanese, each syllable is held
the same length of time and given equal stress. Stressing only certain syllables
will sound unnatural, so keep this in mind when pronouncing Japanese.

Let's take a look at a word in Japanese and compare how it is pronounced in both
Japanese and English. Let's take the word teriyaki, the name of a cooking
technique where meat is marinated.

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 38

English pronunciation: [ ter-uh-YAH-kee ] Note how the third syllable is stressed.

Japanese pronunciation: [teh-ree-yah-kee ] In Japanese, each syllable receives the
same amount of stress.

This might sound like a lot to consider, but remember that learning good
pronunciation is one of the easier aspects of learning the Japanese language!

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39

All About
Top 5 Must Know Japanese Phrases

5 Grammar Points 2
 40

Grammar Points
Top Five Must-Know Japanese Phrases

Here we'll introduce five phrases in Japanese that will take you a long way and
help you out in a variety of situations!

Sumimasen ( ) "Excuse me" / "I'm sorry" / "Thanks"

Sumimasen is a versatile phrase with a few different meanings depending on the
situation, the closest of which is "excuse me." Whether you are trying to get
someone's attention to ask them a question, making your way through a crowded
area, or apologizing for running into someone or stepping on their foot, sumimasen
is the phrase you want to use. If someone gets something for you or kindly does
something for you, you can use sumimasen to thank them as well as apologize for
the trouble they have gone through to help you. The correct spelling and
pronunciation of this phrase is sumimasen, but quite a few people pronounce it as
suimasen, omitting the first "m" sound.

D ( ) "Thanks" / "Hi"

2 D is a simple and easy way to say "thank you" as well as greet someone. This
phrase is more casual than using kon'nichi wa ("hello") or arigat ("thank you"),
and you can use it when these two phrases might be a little too formal for what
the situation calls for. Some people use this to thank shop clerks because they
think that using the formal arigat gozaimasu ("thank you very much") might be a
little too polite and out of place.

D ( ) "Please go ahead" / "Please"

If you're offering something to someone or would like someone to go ahead of you
or do something before you, d is the phrase you are looking for. Offering your
seat to someone on the train? D . Holding the door for someone and would like
them to go right ahead? D . At a restaurant and someone else's food came before
yours and you would like them to start eating? D . Try your hand at making some
delicious o-nigiri ("rice balls") and would like to offer them to someone? D

O-negai shimasu ( ) "Please"

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 41

You can use this handy phrase when you would like to ask for a favor or make a
request of some kind. By using this phrase, you can show your appreciation in
advance for the favor or request you have asked. In a business situation, it means
something like "please take care of this for me." In addition to requests or
favors, you can also use it to ask for tangible objects.

hai) "Right" / "Yes" / "Here you go"

And now for the most compact phrase of the top five: the phrase hai. The most
common translation for this word is "yes" or "right," but depending on the
situation, it can also mean "here you go" if someone says it as they hand
something to you. Something important to note, though, is that Japanese people
often use this phrase as they are listening to show they are following what the
speaker is saying - it doesn't necessarily mean they agree with or are affirming
anything the speaker is saying. Just something to keep in mind to hopefully avoid
any confusion!

You can also use this word when you aren't able to catch what someone is saying
and you would like them to repeat what they have said. When said with rising
intonation, like a question (hai?), it is the equivalent of saying, "Excuse me?"
or "I'm sorry?"

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42

All About
Think You Can Answer These 5 Questions About Japan?

6 Grammar Points 2
 43

Grammar Points
How much do you really know about Japan?

Test your knowledge of Japan with this fun quiz!

This lesson will test your basic knowledge of Japan by quizzing you on five areas
of knowledge: geography, pop culture, travel, economics, and myth-busting.

Questions

1)† Geography Question: How many prefectures does Japan have?

A)† 50
B) 38
C) 47

2)† Pop Culture Question: Below are the names of three popular characters that
2 originated in Japan. Can you put them in order of their creation, from oldest to
newest?

Godzilla
Pikachu
Hello Kitty

3)† Travel Question: The following are popular tourist sites in Japan. Which one
is not located in Tokyo? ††

A)† Tsukiji fish market

B)† Mt. Fuji
C)† The Imperial Palace

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 44

4)† Economic Question: Where does Japan's economy fall in the ranking of world
economies?

5)† Debunking a Myth About Japan Question: True/False: Japan's main staple diet is
sushi.

Answers

1)† Geography Question: How many prefectures does Japan have?

The answer is C) 47. Japan has forty-seven prefectures, the largest of which is
the northernmost prefecture, Hokkaido, and the most populous of which is the
country's capital, Tokyo.

2)† Pop Culture Question: Below are the names of three popular characters that
originated in Japan. Can you put them in order of their creation, from oldest to
newest?

3 Answer: The correct order is Godzilla (1954), Hello Kitty (1974), and Pikachu
(1995). All three characters have accumulated a large fan following not only in
Japan but also around the world.

3)† Travel Question: The following are popular tourist sites in Japan. Which one
is not located in Tokyo?

The answer is B) Mt. Fuji. While Mt. Fuji is visible from Tokyo on a clear day, it
is actually located 100 km/60 miles away, on the border of Shizuoka and Yamanashi
prefectures.

4)† Economic Question: Where does Japan's economy fall in the rankings of world
economies?

The answer is #2. Japan's economy is the second largest in the world after that of

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 45

the United States.

5)† Debunking a Myth About Japan Question: True/False: Japan's main staple diet is
sushi.

The answer is false! Many people think of sushi when they think of Japanese food,
but the truth is that this food is more of a delicacy than anything else. You
won't find many people who eat sushi every day or even on a regular basis. The
main staple food in Japan is rice, which the Japanese eat with almost every meal.

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46

All About
Top 5 Japanese Dishes You Have to Try and Top 5 Dishes for the Really
Brave!

7 Grammar Points 2
 47

Grammar Points
All About Japanese Food

What comes to your mind when you think of Japanese food? Sushi, perhaps? Rolls
containing various kinds of seafood and vegetables stuffed inside? Well, while you
might find lots of sushi and rolls in Japan, they are merely the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to Japanese cuisine - there is a whole lot more for you to
discover!

Table Etiquette
Before we go on to the food, let's first talk about Japanese table etiquette.
Before eating, it is customary to say itadakimasu, which means, "I will humbly
receive," as a way to show gratitude for the meal.

When using chopsticks, it is important to remember a few things to avoid being

rude. Don't stab your chopsticks into your rice and leave them there, and never
pass food with your chopsticks directly to someone else's chopsticks, as both of
these actions are related to funeral traditions.

2 When eating and drinking in a big group, wait for others to pour your drink for
you, and then return the favor when you see someone's glass getting low.

In some Asian countries, such as Korea, it is unacceptable to pick up your rice

bowl when eating, but in Japan, this is very common.

Regional Dishes
One of the most interesting aspects of Japanese cuisine is its vast array of
regional delicacies. Each area of Japan boasts its own selection of specialty
dishes that have become closely associated with that area. It is not uncommon for
Japanese people from all over Japan to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles
to try the different specialties in the place that they originally come from.

One of the most famous examples of regional cuisine is okonomiyaki, which is a

flat, pancake-shaped food. Cooked on a hot plate, okonomiyaki usually contains
chopped cabbage, meat, and seafood. However, because the name contains the word
okonomi, meaning "to one's liking," it is up to you to decide what goes into your

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okonomiyaki. Cheese, mochi, and even Korean kimchee ("pickled vegetables") are
among some of the most popular additions to okonomiyaki. There are two regional
variations of okonomiyaki: Osaka style and Hiroshima style. In Osaka style, which
is considered the dominant style that you'll find all over Japan, the chef mixes
all the ingredients together before transferring them to the hot plate. There, the
chef cooks it and then tops it with dried seaweed, dried bonito, or fish flakes,
and a thick okonomiyaki sauce. On the other hand, in Hiroshima style, the chef
layers the ingredients one-by-one instead of mixing them together. It is very
common to add noodles, and the amount of cabbage is anywhere from three to four
times the amount usually used in Osaka-style okonomiyaki.

Other popular regional dishes include g , a stir-fried dish containing

g wanko soba, buckwheat noodles from Iwate
served in bite-served portions that keep coming until you say stop; basashi, raw
horse meat, from Kumamoto; gy , cow tongue, from Miyagi, and much, much more.
If you have a chance to visit Japan, definitely try some of the local specialties!

Popular Dishes
Some of the most popular dishes in Japan are usually quite different from what
people might imagine. If you were to look at the average Japanese person's lunch,
what would you find? The most common Japanese lunch is the bent . Bent refers to
a meal served in a box that is either prepared at home or bought at restaurants
and convenience stores. Anything goes when it comes to the contents of a bent ,
although white rice, fish, and vegetables are common elements found in many bent .
3 Visually, bent range from very simple to elaborately arranged. There is even a
kind of bent called kyaraben, short for character bent , where the food is
arranged and decorated to look like people, animals, popular characters, and so
on.

Other everyday Japanese foods include o-nigiri, rice balls wrapped in seaweed with
various fillings; curry, usually containing potatoes, carrots, onions, and served
together with white rice; karaage, Japanese-style fried meat, usually chicken;
r , a Japanese noodle dish that originated in China; and more.

Seasonal Dishes
The Japanese really love their seasons, and they especially love eating the
different dishes associated with each season. When the cold weather sets in in the
winter, people line up to eat nabe and oden, which are both hot stew-like dishes.
Nabe is a hot pot that consists of a stew with assorted meats and vegetables. The
host usually places the pot in the center of the table so many people can share
it. Oden, on the other hand, is an assortment of vegetables and meat stewed in a

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 49

light, soy-flavored broth. Common ingredients found in oden are daikon radish,
boiled eggs, meat skewers, and fish cakes. You can purchase even oden at
convenience stores, where you can pick and choose what goes into your oden.

In spring, along with the sakura ("cherry blossoms"), comes sakura no shiozuke
("salted cherry blossoms") and leaves that chefs use in various ways in Japanese
cuisine, the most commonplace being sakura-mochi. Sakura-mochi is mochi, a sticky
rice cake, wrapped in a salted sakura leaf and topped with a salted cherry
blossom. The sweltering heat in the summer accounts for the popularity of cold
dishes such as hiyashi s , ("chilled wheat noodles"), and kakig , ("shaved
ice"). In fall, kuri, known as chestnuts, come into season and chefs use them in
many dishes, such as kuri go-han, which is cooked rice with sweet chestnuts.

Top Five Foods to Try in Japan

Sushi
Sushi is probably the most famous Japanese food. Make your way to Tsukiji Fish
Market, one of the largest fish markets in the world, for some of the freshest
sushi around. For a unique sushi experience, try kaiten zushi, which also known as
conveyor belt sushi. In kaiten zushi restaurants, the chefs place plates of sushi
on a rotating conveyor belt that makes its way through the restaurant, moving past
every table and seat. Customers are free to pick and choose the sushi they want

4
off the conveyor belt, although they can also place special orders.

Soba and udon

Soba, buckwheat noodles, and udon, thick noodles made from wheat, are two of the
most popular types of Japanese noodles. You can serve both hot or cold, and there
are many different varieties in different regions of Japan.

T
Let's face it; tofu doesn't have the best reputation in the West. Even if you
aren't crazy about tofu or just can't shake its bland, flavorless image, you're
sure to find a t recipe that will make you reconsider this Japanese delicacy.
In Japan, there are innumerable ways to prepare tofu that give it tons of flavor.
Some of the most popular include agedashi-d ("deep-fried tofu"), mab
("spicy t g , †a
dish from Okinawa made with g and t .

Shabushabu

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Shabushabu is a dish that uses thin slices of meat dipped in boiling water or
broth, which you then dip into a flavored sauce and eat. This dish is usually
served with t

R
R is a Japanese noodle dish that has its roots in China. It consists of a
meaty broth, noodles, shredded meat, and vegetables. R shops are located all
over Japan, with many regional variations available. Some of the most popular
r flavors are miso (a paste made from fermented soybeans), sh ("soy
sauce"), shio ("salt"), and tonkotsu ("pork bone").

Top Five Foods for the Brave

Natt
Natt is a traditional food made from fermented soybeans, infamous for its bad
smell and sticky consistency. So infamous, in fact, that one question Japanese
people are sure to ask you is whether or not you have tried natt . Natt is
usually eaten as a topping on rice.

Nama tamago
Nama tamago, or raw egg, shows up in a variety of Japanese dishes, including the
popular favorites sukiyaki, where you dip meat into a bowl of raw egg before you
eat it, and tamago kake go-han, cooked rice mixed with raw egg and a little bit of
5 soy sauce.

Shiokara
Shiokara is Japanese fermented seafood that has a very strong flavor and is quite
salty. It is definitely an acquired taste, even for many native Japanese people.

Reba-sashi
Reba-sashi is short for reb , which is "raw liver." You can usually find
this at yakiniku (Korean barbeque) restaurants in Japan.

Kusaya
Kusaya is a Japanese style salted-dried fish. The name comes from the word kusai,
which literally means, "smells bad." You make kusaya by soaking fish into a "
kusaya gravy" (that is used over and over again) and then leave it to dry in the
sun. The smell of kusaya is very strong, but the taste is relatively mellow. While
it is fairly well-known because of its bad smell, even among Japanese people, few
have actually tried it.

LC: ALL_L7_081709 © www.JapanesePod101.com - All Rights Reserved 2009-08-17