Archive for September, 2008
“wa” and “ga”?
Author: Richard
Q: What’s the use of “wa” and “ga” and its differences.could you give me a more clear example.doumo arigatou – Fe
A: This is one of those questions that textbooks spend far too long over analyzing, whereas in real life it hardly ever matters. When I write articles in Japanese I can give it to two different sets of Japanese editors and half of them will change all the “ga”s to “wa”s and the other half will change them back again!
And when we talk we hardly ever use them, they just get dripped out of normal sentences.
If you do use “ga” then it usually is used to add a bit of emphathis. But don’t worry about it at all as hardly native speakers do. As with anything just listen to lots of Japanese and you’ll pick up these types of things naturally!
Be genki,
Ricahrd
Posted in 
Why is chan, hachi and usagi written in katakana?
Author: Richard
Q: Why is chan, hachi and usagi written in katakana in the food game? - Erin
A: Hi Erin, good question. Chan is actually written in hiragana (ちゃん） but as you say hachi (bee) and usagi (rabbit) are in katakana. The reason is that often kids haven’t learnt the kanji (Chinese symbols) for many animals, so in picture books they are often written in katakana. It also makes them sound cuter when they are in katakana. Even in science though you often see animal names in katakana rather than kanji (i.e. wikipedia tends to not use the kanji!)
If you want the kanji, usagi can be written as 兎 and hachi can be written as 蜂
Be genki,
Richard
Japanese katana inscription
Author: Richard
Q: Hello, I have a quick question. I have two japanese swords, a katana and a kodachi, both with engraved japanese symbols. I have no idea what those symbols mean, and therefore I was wondering if you could help me translate them? If so, I will e-mail you pictures of the symbols on the swords. Thanks in advance! Sincerely,
Mattias
A: Hi Mattias, Thank you very much for getting in touch.
Moon Watching Festival
Author: Richard
In September all the shops(and even MacDonald’s) start getting 月 見 (tsuki mi) themed. As you may have seen in the months of the year video 月 means moon, so September is the time for moon watching!
What are you looking for? All the rabbits making mochi rice cakes up there of course!
Anyway, they make great decorations, sort of like decorating your house for Halloween.
be genki,
Richard
Genki Spanish
Author: Richard
Fancy learning a little Spanish? Here’s the new Genki Spanish site full of games to learn Spanish for free. They’re just like the Japanese games, but in Spanish (of course!)
Please tell all your friends about it, either Myspace, Facebook or even real life ones!
Just to give you a quick taster, here’s the colours (or colors if you prefer!) game.
The trick is to:
1. Know nothing before you start,
2. Get a friend on another computer at the same time
3. Race to see who can do the game the quickest.
Be genki,
Richard
Hardest part of learning japanese?
Author: Richard
Q: What was the hardest part of learning japanese? – Iliana
A: Good question! Probably it was, and still is, all the readings of the kanji characters. The problem is that you can’t set a specific goal to learn all of them because even educated Japanese adults can’t read every single character in a newspaper! So you just have to learn as much you can. Which in a way takes the pressure off as no one else is perfect, so you don’t have to be yourself!
Be genki,
Richard
How long do Japanese summer holidays last?
Author: Richard
Q: How long do Japanese “long” summer holidays last? – Chimi
A: Usually Japanese summer holidays last from around 海の日 (umi no hi) which is around July 21st to the beginning of September, so around 6 weeks (ish). In Hokkaido it’s so cold in winter that their winter holiday is longer and they end the Summer holidays part way through August!
Be genki,
Richard
How do you say “where is the bathroom?” in Japanese
Author: Richard
Q: Hey! I’m a big fan of this site, I’m really learning alot from here! But I just got one question; How do you ask “where is the bathroom?” in Japanese?- Rebecca
A: Hi Rebecca, glad you like the site! In Japanese, just like in England or Australia, if you ask “Where’s the bathroom?” （浴室はどこですか？ yo ku shi tsu wa do ko desu ka?) they’ll actually show you the room that has the bath!
If you want to use the toilet, then you’ll ask “トイレはどこですか？( to i re wa do ko desu ka?). You sometimes also see the word 手洗い (te a ra i) which means “hand washing” but is actually a toilet. You might also want to see this post:Women & Mens Bathrooms in Japanese
Be genki,
Richard
Electronic Dictionaries for learning Japanese
Author: Richard
Q: I really like your site especially the video songs. My question is that I am looking to buy an English to Japanese electronic dictionary. My main goal is to hear the pronunciation of Japanese words. Please let me know what are your thoughts. Thanks, Jerry
A: Hi Jerry, thank you very much for the nice words! As I wrote in my how to get fluent in Japanese page I’d totally 100% absolutely recommend getting an electronic dictionary. It’s probably the single biggest thing that made the biggest difference to my Japanese.
I used to use a really old Canon Wordtank, which was great then, but now there are so many out there that I have a tough time keeping up with them, never mind writing reviews. So I’d say try and head out to a big electrical store and try a few out. If you find a good one please let me know and we can share it with everyone here!
Similarly, if anyone else has a good electronic dictionary to recommend, please put it in the comments below!
Be genki,
Richard
Can you tell me the Japanese alphabet?
Author: Richard
Q: Can you please tell me what the japanese alphebet is so i can write to my fried in Tokyo! thanx- Chelsea
A: Hi Chelsea,
Here’s some information about the Japanese Symbols & Alphabet. But it’s usually better to start speaking first, then figure out how to write it. So I’d say the best thing to do is to simply Skype your friend!
Be genki,
Richard
