Archive for June, 2009
How much Japanese do you need to visit Japan?
Author: Richard
Q: How much Japanese do you need to know if you want to visit Japan? - Racheal
A: For tourists there’s no Japanese test on entry so the answer is “zero”!
But of course, just like anywhere else, the more Japanese you know the more fun, and cheaper, your time here will be.
Be genki,
Richard
Posted in 
How to say My, I want in Japanese
Author: Richard
Q: Your website has helped me alot!=D…what is the most used style of writing in Japanese? How do you say “my, and i want” in Japanese? arigato gozaimasu! – Da’Veena
A: Hi Da’veena,
Thank you very much for the nice comments! The most popular style of writing in Japanese is everything except roman letters!
Katakana, hiragana, and Kanji are all used all the time.
To your questions, if you use the word 私 (watashi) to mean “I” then “My” becomes 私の (watashi no).
Similarly you’ll hear guys saying 僕の (boku no) or 俺の （ore no) when talking with friends.
“I want” is ほしい (hoshii) in Japanese. “You want” is also ほしい, as is “he wants” or “she wants”, it’s always just ほしい。 e.g. ビールほしい (I want a beer) or ゲームほしい(I want a video game)
Although just like the English it can be a little impolite in certain situations so it’s probably better to say ….ください (ku da sai) which is more like “I would like” e.g. ラーメンください (ramen kudasai!)
Be genki,
Richard
