にほんごべんきょうしましょ (Let's learn Japanese)

Learning Japanese couldn't have been easier, in these short lessons we will provide you with very useful.

Phrases and sentences that could help you when travelling to Japan.
Although learning any new language can be difficult, you are already at a distinct advantage as a native English speaker.
English is actually one of the hardest languages to learn and most of those who decide to study it end up learng it so do not worry
This Japanese lessons will be a piece of cake.

Why Learning Japanese?

As the world’s economies become increasingly global, it makes perfect sense to use language as a tool for branching out and increasing your business options.
Looking to work in Japan? It would make things work more smoothly if you learned the language rather than trying to find American-owned businesses or hoping like heck that your coworkers will understand you. You will find that learning
at least one other language could greatly increase your job prospects.

Hiragana Alphabet

あ いうえお
a i u e o

か き く け こ
ka ki ku ke ko

が ぎ ぐ げ ご
ga gi gu ge go

さ し す せ そ
sa shi tsu se so
ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ
za ji zu ze zo

た ち つ て と
ta chi tsu te to

な に ぬ ね の
na ni nu ne no

は ひ ふ へ ほ
ha hi fu he ho

ば び ぶ べ ぼ
ba bi bu be bo

ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ
pa pi pu pe po

ま み む め も
ma mi mu me mo

や ゆ よ
ya yu yo

ら り る れ ろ
ra ri ru re ro

わ を ん
wa wo n/m

/////

LESSON 01

This conversation might seem a little bit difficult to understand but it is not. we will make it easy for you so you could understand it without
any problem at all. this conversation is between two persons at a street one of them is Anna an international student who's just arived to Kyoto and is now
looking for the college where she will start learning Japanese.let's see how well she comunicates with the Japanese people.

Anna : こんにちは.すみません。でも.きようとだいがくはどこですか？
Japanese person : ええと.しゆうびんきよくのひだりにあります.あぞこです。みえますか？
Anna : はい、みえます！どうもうありがとうございます。
Japanese person : いいえ,いいえ,ちつれですが.ところで.あなたはこうかんがくせいですか？
Anna : はい.ぞですよ.
Japanese person : すみません.でも。わたしはあたらしいしつもんがあります.あなたはカナダじんですか？
Anna : いいえ、ちがいます,カナダじんやないです.わたしはイギリスじんです.わたしのしゅうしんはロンドンです.
Japanese person : なるほど.
Anna : にほんがだいすきです.わたしのいちばんすきなくにです。
Japanese person : わかりました.いま。しごとにいきます。よろしいくおねがいします。
Anna : わたしもにほんごのクラスにいきますです.やまた.
Japanesr person : さようなら.

/Pronuntiation/

: Konishiwa, demo, kyoto no daigaku wa dokodesuka?
: eeto, yubinkioku no hidari ni rimasu. miemasuka?
: hai, miemausu domo arigatou gozaimasu.
: iie, iie, chitsuredesuga, tokoro de. anatawwa konkanriugakuse desuka?
: hai, zodesu.
: sumimasen, demo watashiwa atarashi chitsumon ga arimasu.anata wa kanadiyin desuka?
: iie, chigaimasu. watashi wa igirisuyin desu.watashino shushinwa romdon desu.
: naruhodo.
: nihonga daisuki desu. watashino ichiban sukina kuni desu.
: wakarimasu. ima. shigoto ni ikimasu.yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
: watashimo nihongo kurasuo ni ikimasu, yaamata
: sayonara

/English translation/

: Hello, Excuse me but do you happen to know where the University of Kyoto is located?
: Hmm, it's next to the post office. do you see it?
: yes I see it. thank you very much.
: There's no need to thank me. excuse me but by the way. are you a student? (Note : She is in one of those exchange student programs)
: Yes, that's correct
: Excuse me. but I got another question for you.are you Canadian?
: No, I am British. I'm from London (London is my town).
: I see.
: I like Japan very much. It's my favorite country.
: I understand. now if you excuse me I need to go to work. nice to meet you.
: I also need to go to my Japanese lessons. See ya
: Sayonara

Vocabulary
こんにちは (konichiwa) : Hello
すみません (sumimasen) : excuseme
でも (demo) : but
きようと (kyoto) : Kyoto (This is a Japanece is a city located in the central part of the island of Honshu, Japan)
だいがく (daigaku) : Collge
は (wa) : It's a particle which is often use to connect words in a sentence
どこ (doko) : Where
です (desu) : is, are (Present form)
ええと (eeto) : (Interjection)
しゆうびんきよく (yubinkyoku) : post office
ひだりに (hidari) : right next to
の (no) : see grammar section for more details
あります (arimasu) : to exist object not living things
みえますか (miemasuka) : to see stems from the vernb ( みる / miru)
はい (hai) : yes
どうもうありがとうございます (doumo arigatou gosaimasu) Thank you very much
いいえ (iie) : no/not
ちつれ (chtsure) : rude/ unpolite
ちつれですが (chitsuredewa) : excuse my rudeness
ところで (tokorode) : by the way
あなた (anata) : you
こうかんが (koukan) : exchange
ぞですよ (zodesio) : that's right
でも : (demo) : but
わたし (watashi) : I
なるほど (naruhodo) : i see
にほん (nihon) : Japan
にほんご (nihongo) : Japanese language
いち (ichi) : one
いちばん (ichiban) : davorite / number one
すき (suki) : to like
しごと (shigoto) : job
いきます (ikimasu) : to go (いく)
じん (yin) : person
よろしいくおねがいします (yoroshiku onegaishimasu) : nice to meet you
も (mo) : also
やまた (yamataa) : good bye casual form
クラス (kurasu) : class
イギリス (igirisu) :England
イギリスじん (igirisuyin) : British person
カナダ (kanada) : Canada
カナダじん (kanadayin) : Canadian
くに (kuni) : country
さようなら (sayonara) : good bye

GRAMMAR POINT

Desu です is a Japanese copula. That means it's a word that grammatically links subjects and predicates. It's usually translated to English as "to be" or "it is."

But knowing what it is doesn't mean you know how to use it.

In almost every aspect of Japanese language and culture, there are multiple levels of politeness. Some say there are three general levels. Others get more specific and (terrifyingly) claim there are nine.

It all depends on whether you know the other person well, how old you are compared to them, and a dozen other things that even Japanese people can't figure out. So don't worry about it too much (right now).

With formality and politeness in mind, let's look at desu. There are polite ways to say desu, and yakuza/gangsta ways to say it as well. Here's the three you need to know:

(NI = に) The particle "Ni" に is used when a motion or action is directed at or onto an object or place which indicates time and place where
the action will be developed.

example
kondo no kinyobi ni nihongo no shiken ga arimasu.
ashita ha nihon ni ikimasu.
koko ni gokazuku no namae wo kaitekudasai

When you want to say “my name” or “his friend” how will you say it in Japanese? In order to complete this exercise you’ll need to know the Japanese possessive called no (の). Take a look at this sentence: watashi no namae (わたしのなまえ). Notice that the no (の) goes between the word watashi (わたし) and namae (なまえ). Watashi (わたし) means “I” while namae (なまえ) means “name”. Since the no (の) possessive is after the watashi (わたし), you know that the person who is doing the possession is “I”.
So in English this would change to the word “my”. Altogether the sentence watashi no namae (わたしのなまえ) means “my name”.

The no (の) particle is used to connect nouns together. This means that the no (の) particle has a wide range of uses other than just a possessive particle. For example, wasada daigaku no gakusee (わさだだいがくのがくせい) connects the noun daigaku (だいがく) to gakusee (がくせい). Let’s break this sentence down. Wasada daigaku (だいがく) is a proper noun. Daigaku (だいがく) means college and Wasada (わさだ) is the name of the college. Next, gakusee (がくせい) means “student”. Altogether the phrase wasada daigaku no gakusee (わさだだいがくのがくせい) in English means, “A student at Wasada College” or “A student of Wasada College”.

There are a couple of things to note here with the phrases, “(A) student at Wasada College” and “(A) student of Wasada College”. One, there is no “a” or “the” function in Japanese. That’s why the “A” is in parentheses. Second, the no (の) particle in this instance can mean “at” or “of” in English. This just goes to show how flexible the no (の) particle is.

Another thing to note is that the first noun is the more descriptive noun, while the second noun is the general noun. For example the phrase, “kookoo no sensee” (こうこうのせんせい) has the first noun, kookoo (こうこう) as being the more specific noun, while the sensee (せんせい) noun is the main idea. Kookoo (こうこう) means high school. Sensee (せんせい) means teacher. Altogether the phrase “kookoo no sensee” (こうこうのせんせい) means “high school teacher”.

The hiragana は is pronounced as wa when used as a particle, and ha in all other words.We learned that the Japanese particle wa (は) marks the topic of the sentence.

This material (text and illustration) is property of my friend Joseph Czesin, published with his permission. If you want email him request it in the comments.

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