Learn Japanese FAQ

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Although October has its own “Health & Sports” national holiday ( to commemorate the opening of the Tokyo Olympics), and Trick or Treating isn’t well known, it’s still Halloween decorations that fill the city streets now that things are cooling down.

So that’s the theme for this month’s calendar.

As usual, keep liking them on Facebook and I’ll keep making them for you!

P.S. I’m also thinking of starting a “Photo from Japan” column from my friend Shoko who’s a photographer over here.  What do you think?  Good idea? Bad idea?

Q: Konnichiwa Richard Sensei,

I want to ask you about how to order things and all like how to say “I’ll take two strawberry cakes” or “I’ll take three umbrellas”? Thanks in advance! -Darren~ Peace out.

A:  Hi Darren,

Cool question.

As usual there is a textbook “official” way of saying this, and also the downright cheating real life way that Japanese people use everyday.

Needless to say I go for the latter!

(Ah, those Japanese, not following the textbook rules when speaking!)

So the ninja cheating formula is ….

Name of the thing you want + how many you want of it + kudasai

e.g.  イチゴケーキ   二つ　ください

ichigo keeki futatsu kudasai

= strawberry cake 2 please

Dead easy!

or if wanted just one it would be イチゴケーキ 一つ(hitotsu) ください

Or …

傘　三つ　ください

kasa mitsu kudasai

= umbrella three please

So if the counter for “four” is 四つ = yotsu and beer is ビール = biiru,  how do you say “I’ll take four beers please?”

Q: I am a bit confused on Onegai shimasu  in the song it says “Ill take it” however, in other places Ive seen it mean “please” .. can you tell me all the meanings of it? Thank you,   Ludi

A: Hi Ludi,  yeah basically they are the same meaning, in the song I just translated it as “I’ll take it” because that’s what you’d say in English.  But I could have just as easily gone with “please”.

Onegaishimasu is a really cool phrase that you can use all the time.  You finish meetings with it (meaning “please do what we’ve discussed it would be fantastic”) or if you really have to beg for something it’s also the word to use – e.g. you see it all the time on TV when someone has done something wrong, they drop to their knees in a full on bow and say “onegaishimasu”  Plus of course it can also just mean, “I’d love your continued support in this”   Literally an “onegai” is just a wish or request.

All very cool stuff!

Be sure to check out the next set of questions,  yoroshiku onegaishimasu !

Be genki,

Richard

P.S.  The Genki Japan download pack (with the new Heads & Shoulders song in Japanese!) is going up in price today.  So get your order in ASAP!

Here’s the latest Genki Japan song (and video!) for you, Head, Shoulders, Knees and toes, in Japanese of course!

As usual the mp3 and poster are available in the Genki Japan Download Pack
http://genkienglish.net/genkijapan/download.htm

(If you’ve already bought it, give me an email  for a free upgrade – thanks for your support!)

As there is a new song the price is going up soon, so get it ASAP!
And the English version is in the Genki English Teacher’s Pack (Just in case you happen to be teaching over here!)
http://genkienglish.net/downloadpack.htm

OK, the words to the song are pretty simple:

頭 = atama = head
肩 = kata = shoulder or shoulders
膝 = hiza = knee or knees
脚 = ashi = leg or legs
足 = ashi = foot or feet

Notice the last two are pronounced just the same, the only difference is the kanji! (See I told you it was useful! )

目 = me = eye or eyes
耳 = mimi = ear or ears
口 = kuchi = mouth
鼻 = hana = nose

Again “hana” is pronounced just the same as 花 for flower, but of course they have different kanji!

Anyway hope you enjoyed the song.

I’ve got a few more ideas so keep telling your friends, and liking on Facebook and hopefully it will inspire me to get back to the studio and bring you some more funky new songs!

Be genki,

Richard

Q: I love your site and am a complete novice attempting to teach myself to read, write and speak Japanese. I am currently working through “Lets learn Hiragana” and am confused. The same syllables (ka, ke, etc.) are in katakana, but look different. Why is this, why not use just one? Also, when Japanese is written, like in a newspaper, does it use a combination of Kanji and Kana, and if so, could it be written out completely in kana only? Why don’t they? – Oscar

A: Hi Oscar.  It’s just like English really,  why do we have ABC BIG LETTERs but also abc small letters?  They’re just the same, but we just use them in different places.  You just have to learn the rules e.g. Big letter to start a sentence, katakana to write out foreign names etc.

Newspapers use as much kanji as possible and then kana for the rest.  Now you could write it out in kana only, and some children’s newspapers do, but …. it would be unreadable!   One reason is that many words in Japanese sound the same, and hence would be written the same in kana, but have totally different meanings.  For example “jishin” could either mean “confidence” or “earthquake”.  The pronunciation is exactly the same but it’s not until you see the kanji (自信 for confidence, 地震 for earthquake) that you know what people are talking about.

Plus one really, really cool thing about kanji is that it allows you to “read” a page without actually reading it!  You can just look at a page and get a good idea of what it is talking about by just looking at the kanji pictures.  This is really useful when you are flipping through a book to find the part you need.

So kanji isn’t going anywhere, and of course it’s what makes Japanese look so beautiful!

Be genki,

Richard

And just in case any of you are teaching Japanese, Jessie just sent in this very nice email!

Q: When ever we learn something new in my Japanese class in school, my teacher always plays one of your videos. We always are laughing and singing along during these songs! Thank you so much for having these songs on your website!!!!!  - Jessie

September is the month for 月見 – tsuki mi – or “Moon watching” in Japan. The idea is you are supposed to watch the rabbits that are up there on the moon making rice cakes!

( But it’s basically another chance to have outside picnics, just like the sakura watching hanami in April!)

So that is the inspiration for this month’s printable Japanese calendars:

And as you can see in this video the shops are full of rabbit and rice cake goods!

As usual if you like the calendars and would like me to keep making them, keep liking the posts on Facebook and I’ll see what I can do!

P.S. There are lots more posters in the Genki Japan “Ninja Download Pack“.  Yep I just made that name up!

Thought you’d like to see the grand finale of the Japanese fireworks the other day.

(Click here if you are on email and can’t see the video!)

Are the fireworks like this where you are?

Here’s a quick look at the fireworks in the park the other day.  But this is just the beginning.

As usual, if it gets enough “likes” I’ll upload the full finale video! Enjoy.

Thanks for all the great comments and questions this month!

As you’ve probably seen August is fireworks season in Japan.  So that’s the inspiration behind the anime style calendar this month.  I hope you like it!

There are more posters in the Genki Japan Download Pack and if you’d like to see another calendar for next month then please  “like” this page on Facebook and I’ll see what I can do!

It’s Summer time! So that means fireworks and festivals in Japan.

I just popped down to video you some of the atmosphere and also the Japanese summer kimono yukata.

Please “like it” if you’d like me to upload the one of the fireworks soon!