Learn Japanese FAQ

Archive for April, 2008

Q: Konnichi wa! ^^ O genki desu ka? Hey I have a question for u..um how would you say “It’s gunna be ok”, “your cute”, “i promise” in Japanese..oh and How would u say my in Japanese? well Arigatou Richard-Kun Mata ne Jade

A: Hi Jade. Konnhichi wa!. Kochira genki desu yo!

For it’s gonna be OK, you’d normally just say “大丈夫ですよ！ = dai jyu bo desu yo = it’s OK!”

For “you’re cute” you’d simply say “かわいい = kawaii” The person you’re talking to would hopefully know you were talking about them!

You can hear these two pronounced on my useful Japanese phrases page:
“I promise” is another one you hear all the time, it’s “約束！= ya ku　so ku”. You would then curl your little finger around your friend’s little finger to seal the promise!

Finally “my” is usually said as “私の = wa ta shi no” for girls or “僕の = bo ku no” for boys. (Although in some formal cases boys might also use watashi no).

Keep the questions coming,

Be genki,

Richard

Q:  Hi, my name is jonathan and I wound up stumbling upon your site when i was searching on pointers on how to learn japanese. I found the katakana voice chart extremely useful to start and i got a copy of rosetta stone japanese but when i started playing around in a sense i found that the japanese tend to swap back and forth in between all forms instantly. I provided a link to show what im talking about, my goal is to one day read these menus but im not sure on what to do, they go from katakana, to english, to kanji, to hiragana in one  sentence, im so lost!

A: Hi Jonathan,

Thank you very much for getting in touch.

The first thing to do is to not panic, and just relax while learning for a little while.  Eventually everything will fall in to place piece by piece.

With regards the mix of kana, kanji etc. that’s just how it’s written. I guess it’s like a Japanese learner saying
“in English they switch between upper case and lower case letters all the time”.

As you learn more vocab and structures, and especially as you learn to hear and speak more Japanese you’ll soon see how it works.  Again, just relax and go with the flow for a little while longer!

Q: I have rosetta stone, i made the alphabet for katakana and hiragana into note cards to study when im on the go, but  even then i feel lost as to where to go. Even in rosetta stone they go from onnanoko to onnanohito with out saying what to is (which obviously is and) or in hiragana form there is no explanation at all

A; This is probably the only thing about the Rosetta Stone that I don’t like. They probably could do with explaining things a little more.  But if you do the listening parts before the writing parts then it is a lot easier and eventually you do figure out which is which.  The theory is that if you work out which is which on your own it sticks with you, whereas if you are just told which is which you’ll probably get them confused!

But yeah, when I was using it to learn Thai this was something that confused me no end in the beginning.

Q:  nor are their spaces to make と stand out as and and not part of a word, also when you reach larger sentences they don’t explain what each smaller word means or break it down.

It’s just how Japanese is written.  Again it’s a case of learning lots of little bits as you go along and you’ll be able to pick out and separate the bits you do know.  This is one reason why kanji is so useful because it
breaks up the kana!

Q If you could help explain or point me in the right direction in any way i would greatly appreciated. Thank you very much your your site and your help =)

A; As I say, just relax and don’t worry about it.  You wouldn’t expect a Japanese person to jump straight into Shakespere and understand everything straight away, so just keep at it a piece at a time and every couple of
weeks or so something will just click and it will all become clear!  You have the right tools and the confidence so just keep going, you’ll get there pretty soon.

Be genki,

Richard

Q: I have a question about the: 70 page Katakana Worksheets PDF Book. + FREE download A4 poster book, etc  If I buy it, I have to download, or you send the stuff?
And if you send it, how much do you charge for shipping and handle?
I hope you can understand my questions.   Marycruz

A; Hi Marycruz.  It’s a file that you download, so there are no shipping costs and you can get it right away.  Here’s the order page!

Enjoy!

Q: o genki desu ka? sensei. i want to ask what mean omoi,  dakishimete, basho, toki, i see this word in many song. ja ne  – esura

Hi Esura,

Kochira genki desu yo!

Here we go:  Omoi = 想い = a thought (although it could mean “重い = heavy”, but probably not in a song!)

dakishimete = 抱きしめて = hug me

Basho = 場所  = a place

Toki = 時　= a time

Be genki,

Richard

Q: This is very helpful. could you put the alphabet in Japanese on a chart and post it? thank you. – shelby

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A: There are actually 3 extra types of alphabets in Japanese. And here are the printable charts for you:

The Katakana Chart & Hiragana Chart

The other alphabet is “kanji” Chinese characters, but as there are a couple of thousand of those, I’d recommend buying a book from Amazon rather than a chart for your wall!

Be genki,

Richard

Q: How do u say i love u

A: Literally “I love you” in Japanese is “ai shite imasu = 愛しています　= あい　して　います”, but this sounds a bit like you’ve just translated it directly from the English, and isn’t really used in Japan.

The phrase you use most often in Japanese is “大好き！　= dai suki = だい　すき = big like!”. If you hear this you’re on the right track!

Be genki,

Richard

Q: Hey How do u say “Will you marry me?” and “Say what?!” in Hiragana? oh and i love the this site xD – Jade

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A: Hi Jade. “Will you marry me?” in Japanese is “kekkon shite kudasai = けっこん　して　ください　= 結婚　して　ください”. It ’s more “marry me!” rather than asking “will you marry me?”.

WIth something this important I think you might be better off sticking to English!

“Say what?” could be said in a few ways “nani = 何 = なに = what?” is probably the easiest way!

Be genki,

Richard

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Q: Richard i want to ask you that–(1)Where are you come from ? (2)are you a japanese ? (3) where you live? how to ask in japanese??

A: Thank you very much for getting in touch,

A: I’m not actually a Japanese teacher, but if you have a look round the GenkiJapan.net site I’m sure you’ll find lots of things to help you!