Learn Japanese FAQ

Q: What does Wii mean in Japanese?

A: “Wii” doesn’t actually mean anything in Japanese!  Apparently it’s supposed to be a play on the English word “we”.   If you say “wii”  people will always think of the console.  Having said that you also hear just “nintendo” which is one of the few Japanese companies with cool kanji: 任天堂　which means “trust”, “heaven” (as in 天気 – tenki – for weather) and “dou” for “hall” or “building”

José has just sent in this great link in reply to Christine’s question about studying in Japan.  It looks fantastic!

Don’t know if you know this website already, but still, here it is http://www.jasso.go.jp/study_j/scholarships_sfisij_e.html.
If you go there you can find alot of information, and also do as Richard said, check the embassy of Japan in Denmark (I’m from Portugal, and the Japanese embassy here actualy has information about going to study in Japan).
Also, if you go to Japan with a scholarship you’ll get 6 months of Japanese language classes.
About classes in English in Japan… well, have no idea
Good luck.

Last week Christine asked about how to visit and/or study in Japan. Kristin has very kindly wrote in to recommend www.worldcampus.org I haven’t heard of them before, but Kristin has given them a glowing review, maybe you’d like to join too?

I saw that Christine from Denmark posted a question about how to study art in Japan, and I have a suggestion she should check out www.worldcampus.org.  They have a wonderful program for the summer! Students from all over the world spend 2-12 weeks together, travelling together all over Japan (country side and big cities), staying with local families,  learning about Japanese culture and each other and what is special about each city. Participating in World Campus Christine would improve her Japanese and it would give her a chance to explore Japan and study art on her days off and the time in between the sessions (each session is about 2 weeks, visiting 2 cities in each session).

I would highly recommend for Christine to check out their web. site!!

Kristin

Thanks Kristin, it’s great to see everyone helping everyone else out!

Be genki,

Richard

Q: Hi!! I just came across your site and I have found it really helpful. I have one question. I started learning Japanese two months ago and just when I though I had the hang of it I came across counters. They are SO confusing!!! How many counters are they???? – Lorena

A: Hi Lorena, glad you like the Genki Japan site!   The easy answer to the questions to “how many counters are there?” is …..  ” a lot less than there are in English!”

For example there are loads of English words that need a counter, e.g. a cup of coffee, a glass of water, a sack of potatoes, a bar of chocolate, a pair of scissors etc. etc.

So Japanese is actually easier because even though every word needs a counter,  they tend to be grouped together e.g. flat things are 枚 (mai) ,  long things are 本 (pon), machines are 台 (dai)　etc.

If you think of it that way it makes things a lot easier.

Again the textbooks give you loads and loads of stupid grammar rules to memorise (just so they can produce more pages of text to make the books look bigger and hence more expensive!) but that’s not the way real Japanese, or English for that matter, speakers learn to speak.

Just like English the only real way to learn them without going completely crazy is just to listen to lots and lots of Japanese.    That way you’ll learn that 紙一枚　( kami ichi mai – one sheet of paper) sounds right, whereas 紙一人　(kami hitori – one “person” of paper ) sounds wrong.

Just like you know that ” a pair of pants” just sounds right, whereas “a pants” sounds wrong.  or like you know that “a can of coke” is  different to a “bottle of coke”

Take it easy, learn the easy counter rules if you have to (wikipedia has a good list of the most popular 13 counters) , but don’t worry, make lots of mistakes and watch lots of Japanese TV!

Q: Hello  I really find your webpage wonderful, it as already taught me a lot, but the problem is: My parents won’t let me go to Japan if it hasn’t anything to do with my studies, and my Japanese is not good enough to get by even as a minimum. In fact, the language was that I really wanna learn by going there. But as this has nothing to do with my studies, my question is the following: Is there any places in Japan where they teach art in English and have Japanese classes at the same time? And what visa would it require to go and study there a whole year? (I’m from Denmark)  I hope you can help Christine

A; Hi Christine, I’d say get in touch with embassy and try and find if there are any scholarships you can find to go and study art in Japan.  They can be a bit tough for Europeans to get, but they are out there if you dig hard enough!

Q: Hi there! I’ve looked all around Genkijapan.net and I didn’t see how to say “My name is . . .”, “What is your name?”, What is her\his name?”, and “His\her name is . . .” You’d you like to tell me on how I would say this in Japanese, please? - Scott

A: Hi Scott.  There’s a mini page on this on the site called “Self Introductions”

Self intros or 自己紹介　(ji ko sho kai) are huge in Japan, you’ll get asked to do them everywhere you go!

The textbook way to say “My name is … ” is 私の名前は。。。 (watashi no namae wa) plus your name.  But to be honest it does sound a little textbooky!  In reality you usually just say your name plus です(desu) e.g.  Richard です。　  As usual, simple is always best.

There are a few more other phrases on the “Self Introductions” page.

Asking “What’s your name?” again you could use the texbook sounding お名前は何ですか？ (o na mae wa nan desu ka) but you usually hear お名前は ( o na ma e wa ) with an expectant look in your eye!

He is 彼　(kare), she is 彼女 (kanojyo) so What is his name? is 彼の名前は？　(kare no namae wa?) and What is her name is 彼女の名前は? (figure out the reading yourself ; ) )    Then it’s just the same to say the anwer..  His name is … is 彼の名前はplus the name and Her name is …. is 彼女の名前はplus the name.

Very easy once you learn the first few!

Be genki,

Richard

Q: Hey,
I’m finally going to Japan for the first time next! I was wondering how hard is it to get out of the airport and find out where you need to go (ex. buses, train for hotels)?  Thanks  -   Tyler

A: Hi Tyler.  It’s really easy!  It’s probably easier than any other major airport in the world.   There’s no hassle with hawkers or dodgy taxi drivers like in some places (Sydney was terrible last year!).    For most places I’d recommend the buses – called “limousine busses”.   There is a bus information desk right where you come out of customs in all the major airports.  You just show them the name of your hotel and they’ll tell you which number bus to get.  Strangely enough the guys and girls at these busses speak the best English in all of Japan!

You could get the train, but without speaking Japanese it’s easy to get lost.  Or you could take a taxi,  if you have far too much money to burn!  And actually I just heard about a new helicopter service to downtown Tokyo which looks cool!  But for us mortal folks then the bus is easily the best way – it’s easy and convenient and if it’s in the evening you get to see Tokyo in all its Blade Runner high tech exoticness!

Here’s a video I shot in Narita last year to give you a feel for things:

Q: Hey…love the japaneese songs? Are you planinng on more like those and similare stuffs in chineese…and spanisch too? What would be your price for a CD of each or DVD with the pictures like on you tube? Mu little one love it and  i like that too!!! Thanks BA

A: Thank you very much for the email and the nice words!

We do indeed have some Chinese songs up at http://www.GenkiChinese.com and I hope to have some Spanish songs up at http://www.GenkiSpanish.com too to go with the Spanish games there.

We don’t actually have CDs or DVDs of the Japanese materials but we do have downloads. You can find them at http://genkienglish.net/genkijapan/download.htm

Or there are CDs of the English songs at http://genkienglish.net/songs.htm

Be genki,

Richard

Q: Hi i want to ask you is it hard to get a normal job in Japan.I know if your going to teach English there you can get one. But how is it with other jobs like your profession jobs or simple you know Guard, Cleaner or something. I’m learning JP and i want to know this if there is a possibility for me to live there. (Ofc. if i know good JP).Please if you have the time then write me back going to Japan is one of my dreams and living there would be for me a dream come true. -  Adrian

A:  Hi Adrian.  Just like with most other countries, there are two main hurdles, both of which can be overcome.  The first is immigration, which usually means you need a college (university for brits) degree or you need to be married to a Japanese.   Some countries also allow you to come on a working holiday visa, which can often be the easiest.

Then the next part is finding a job.  Again like most other countries you’ll more than likely need to speak the language fluently or be really, really, really respected in your industry with lots of experience.  Hence for many people, but not all of course, most professional jobs and/or low paid jobs would probably be difficult to get.

Having said that there are lots of foreign nationals doing all sorts of cool things in Japan so anything is possible if you put your mind to it!

In any case I’d always recommend a Location Free Lifestyle – that way you can choose to live almost anywhere, not just Japan!

The first thing they ask when you go to a Japanese restaurant in Japan is “何名様?” – nan mei sama = how many people?

Now you’d think you could just hold up your fingers and say “一　ichi = one” or “二　ni = two” followed by “人　nin =

people”. But no, you have to say 一人　hitori for one person, or 二人　futari for two people!

Luckily after that it gets a bit easier.

But I made this song to make them all stick in your head, ready for your first trip to a real Japanese restaurant!

Of course to make it more fun I’ve included lots of 侍　- samurai! You might of heard of 七人の侍　= shichi nin no samurai = 7 samurai the famous movie?

So remember the song and impress your friends when you walk into a Japanese restaurant. Just don’t say “no samurai” afterwards, they’d just throw you out for being cheeky! ; )

The only other word in the song is “いるよ – i ru yo” which sort of means “there are”. But don’t worry about that for now, it’s mainly just there to balance the lyrics of the song up.

And yes, in Japan they still do sing this song as “10 little Indians” – political correctness hasn’t made its way over here properly yet!

Enjoy the song, give me some thumbs and feedback, tell your friends to subscribe and I’ll see if I can make some more songs for you!

Be genki,

Richard

P.S. My “Get fluent in Japanese” book is free at http://www.GenkiJapan.net

Or click here if you can’t see the video above!