NDS and Japanese practice

To help my study of Japanese I use these programs on my NDS:

DS 美(び)文字(もじ)訓練(くんれん) （DS美( び)文字(もじ)トレーニング）
learn to draw Kanji correctly

陰(かげ)山(やま)メソッド：正 (ただ)しい漢字(かんじ)かきとりくん
more stroke order learning, done via the normal school grade levels.

漢字(かんじ)そのまま楽(らく)引(びき)辞典(じてん)
a dictionary that u can draw in the characters and therefor find words quicker than doing stroke counts or radical lookups etc

At a loss

When wondering whether to do something or not first we have the question 'shall' then the term for lost (mayo~) <-- I'll fix this statement sometime soon...

私(わたし)は 今(いま)ワーキングホリデーでオーストラリアに行(い)こうか迷(まよ)ってます。

Some words

I always seem to forget how to say "some (people, things, words, etc)
here's my reminder.

分(わ)からない言葉 (ことば)もある
not-understood words exist.

ie. There are words I don't understand.

いくつか分(わ )からない 言葉(ことば) があります

some not-understood words exist.
ie. There are some words I don't understand.

Because - Therefor

Today the subject is because/therefor.
[だ]から : so, therefore; since, because (から meaning 'from')
なぜなら[ば] : because　(なぜ meaning 'why')

our examples are:

英：I brought an umbrella because it's raining.
日：雨が降ってる - から - 傘を持って来た
日：it's raining - because/so/therefor - [I] brought an umbrella

英：There's clouds - therefor - seems like rain.
英：seems like rain - because - there's clouds
日：雨が降りそう - なぜなら - 曇り

Head Last

Japanese, in my view, is easy to pick up.. ie. the early stages of your Pidgin Japanese shouldn't be too difficult, if you're a native English speaker. The phonetics are not hard and the basic words necessary for essential communication are not too complex.

In later stages you will come across more and more polysyllabic words. This is because of the limited phonetics in the language. Hawaiian is another such language.


As you start to learn more words and make sentences the most challenging concept with Jp (Japanese) is that it is a head last language.

eg. one might say:
Eng: I'm going to the shop, with Tom, at 6.
Jp: with Tom, at 6, to the shop, [I] am going.

Eng: I'll get that, and that, and those, and this. (for instance ordering food)
Jp: that and, that and, those and, this I'll get.

In the next post I'll get a little grittier :)

Japanese - Passive verbs

受身(うけみ)

Active: 先生(せんせい )は　けいこさんを　褒(ほ)めました

Passive: けいこさんは　先生(せんせい)に　 褒(ほ)められました

Conjugates the same as for Causative verbs

Japanese - Causative verbs

Verb conjugation is complex and integral to speaking Japanese.

Today I'll take a look at causative verbs.
as in
make.../ let..., allow...to...

～は　～に　～を　[Vt Causative]

英語(えいご)で
She made him eat.

Confusingly though, the same sentence in Japanese can also mean
"I allowed him to eat." OR "I let him eat."

日本語(にほんご)で

彼女(かのじょ )は彼 (かれ)に食事(しょくじ)を食(た)べさせた

丁寧(ていねい )語 (ご)、「ます」形 (ケイ)

彼女(かのじょ )は彼 (かれ)に食事(しょくじ)を食(た)べさせました

Please let me... / Please allow me to...

[Causative て　form] 下(くだ)さい

すみません。帰( かえ)らせて下(くだ)さい。
すみません。帰( かえ)らせていただけませんか。


Group 1 Verbs

飲(の)みます
飲(の)ませます

Group 2 Verbs

食(た)べます
食(た)べさせます

Group 3 Verbs

来(き)ます
来(こ)させます