Learn Japanese FAQ

Archive for January, 2010

Q: Richard:

which I read as Music and Games (this is from Amazon.jp by the way.  I was looking at your camera on Amazon.com and someone mentioned it’s a lot cheaper at Amazon.jp but all the menus are in Japanese).

Any help?  Thanks!

A:  Hi Daniel.

The small tsu ッ is an exception if that it doesn’t make a sound, it just means “take a small break”  so with ミュージック　you just put a small tiny pause between the ジ　and the ク　Again it’s one of those things you pick up naturally with lots of listening practice.

The other small kana are pronounced much the same as the bigger ones, but are blending with the previous sound.  So ミュ　isn’t pronounced “mu” and then “yu”,  you blend them together to make myu.  Pretty easy really!

I’ve just got a new camera ( a Panasonic GH1) so found this Japanese garden to video for you!

Q: Firstly, I just want to state how helpful your site has been to me! I find learning Japanese on my own isn’t as hard as i initially thought it would be, because you’re site is so helpful!

I really want to move to Japan, because i love their culture. It inspires me. I’m soon to graduate from high school, and I am thinking of pursuing a career in the aesthetics field, such as a make-up artist, massage therapist, hair stylist, etc. If i went there on my own degree with this credentials, how hard would it be for me to find a job? Thanks for your time! -  Larissa

A: Hi Larissa,  unless you spoke really good Japanese or were super talented, I think it would probably be a bit tough to find a job in a normal company in Japan.  You know what I’d do,  you know those girls on youtube who get famous doing make up on camera?  Well, I’d do your own videos with your own original make up designs, but… present them in Japanese!  Then if you got popular I bet you’d have the TV inviting you over and  you never know where that would lead!

Be genki,

Richard

Q:  In regards to the Katakana chart, you say it is easy to learn and will help you with reading menus or small things in Japanese. This would be true if one knew what the word meant in English, correct?   I appreciate you taking your time in creating a website designed to help others. I find it very useful.   -  Kaitlyn

A: Hi Kaitlyn.  What a very good question!  With regards hiragana, you are absolutely correct you’d have to know what the word means in English for the hiragana to make any sense.  But this is the beauty with katakana, because especially with menus it’s totally possible to guess at the meaning!  For example if you can read パスタ　as “pa su ta” then you can probably guess that it means “pasta” or if you can read サラダ　as “sa ra da”  with a bit of practice you can probably guess it means “salad”.   Hence why I totally recommend learning Katakana before Hiragana if you’ll actually be visiting Japan!

Q:  This could be an error in my own part, but so far, I’ve stumbled across two different words for the same thing in Japanese. Such as, in one list, I have found the word for caterpillar to be “kemushi” where in another it’s “imomushi” How do I tell if they’re right and which to use? -  Sami

A:  Hi Sami.  First of all don’t worry too much.  When you learn any language there are always words that sometimes overlap or sometimes can’t be translated.  For example what’s the difference between “couch” or “sofa” or “living room” or “lounge”.    In this case I think imomushi is one type of caterpillar.  But actually the English word caterpillar isn’t a very accurate word anyway!  So just as with everything else, simply listen to lots of Japanese and you’ll soon instinctively figure out which words to use in which circumstance.   And if you are talking you just use one word, see if the reaction is what you expect, and if not try the other word!  That’s how babies learn and that’s the same technique that people who speak many languages use to get really good!

Be genki,

Richard