Loving the dark
roasted bean ...
roasted bean ...
the teaching ...
and the learning ...
and, one day, the earning ...
and the learning ...
and, one day, the earning ...
Konnichi wa, mina san. こんにちは , みな さん.
It's time to build our vocabulary. The more words you know in Japanese the better able you will be to speak and understand it. So, today we're going to learn words relating to family. In Japanese, there are different ways to say the family terms depending upon if we're referring to our own family or someone else's family. Mainly, when referring to someone else's family we use more polite words and honorific terms. Check out the table below:
I've included the kanji so you can see what it looks like. But not to worry, we're not going to focus on kanji today. Also, there are additional words for the family members in the chart above that I haven't listed. Check the sources below to learn the alternate words for family members. Just remember, whatever term you use, make sure you're using the correct politeness level.
According to Wikipedia*, "The Japanese language has many honorifics, referred to as keigo (敬語, literally "respectful language"), parts of speech that show respect. Their use is mandatory in many social situations. Honorifics in Japanese may be used to emphasize social distance or disparity in rank, or to emphasize social intimacy or similarity in rank." As you can see, when talking with someone (outside of your family), you refer to your own family in the familiar (or humble) terms. And, when you refer to someone else's family you use the honorific, or polite, terms. It's the difference between saying, for example, grandma or grammy (when it's your grandmother) and Grandmother Smith (when it's the Smith family's grandmother). You wouldn't say, "How's your Granny doing?" to Mr. Smith whom you've just met at work, right? You'd be more polite. Now in some of the honorific forms (someone else's family), you see the ending さん, or san. This ending shows respect to the person referred to. [When talking directly to someone else's family it gets more complicated. We'll be going over that in upcoming posts. ] In the familiar, or humble, forms (your own family) you may see the ending ちゃん, or chan, which is a term of endearment. You can add the term ちゃん to a couple of the other family terms (your family) as well. For example, aunt and uncle would be おばちゃん, oba-chan, and おじちゃん, oji-chan. Adding the chan ending makes the term more familiar, while leaving it out makes the term more formal. [When talking directly to your own family this changes as well. Again, we'll work on this in later posts.] Pay close attention to the words for aunt and uncle, and grandmother and grandfather because they have similar spellings but are pronounced differently. For example: おば oba means aunt おばあ obaa means grandmother (hold the ah sound longer) おじ oji means uncle おじい ojii means grandfather (hold the ee sound longer)
Okay, here's a video from Japanese101.com. It is a bit advanced, however it's good pronunciation practice. And any chance you get to have the language in your ears is good. We'll be going over the rest of the family words in Part 2 so you can get a head start in hearing and seeing them.
Here's your free practice writing worksheet for this week:
Okay, that's it for this week. Oh, wait! That's right, I almost forgot. Here's this week's Kanji to practice:
一 いち ichi = one (the number one) It's is drawn as a straight horizontal line from left to right. Okay, now that's it for this week. Thank you for reading and learning with me. I'll meet you back here next week for All in the Family, Part 2. Mata ne!
Sources:
*Wikipedia entry on Keigo Wiktionary Appendix: 1000 Japanese Basic Words And, of course, Japanesepod101.com
0 Comments
Konban wa, mina san! Good Evening everyone. I'm posting this a bit early mainly because I wanted to introduce a new greeting: Konban wa (which means good evening). And, also because since you've all done a wonderful job learning the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets, it's time to think about where you want to go from here.
What's next? Should it be Kanji? Truth be told, I've done fine with my own learning with regard to Hiragana and Katakana. I'm also able to hear and understand really basic Japanese dialogues. But when it comes to Kanji, that's where I start to pull my hair out. Over the years, I've found many wonderful resources for learning Kanji. The best of all has been Japanesepod101.com. (<-- Yes it's an affiliate link but don't feel pressured to use it.) They have been by far the best resource for learning Japanese in general. And even with the resources there, I've had difficulty remembering Kanji. With that said, I'd be happy to muddle through learning Kanji with you all. If you're up for the challenge of learning more Japanese, Kanji included, and you're determined to do it without joining an online learning program, here are some suggestions and links to FREE resources that might help. [The following (aside from those of Japanesepod101.com) are NOT affiliate links.]
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☺ For memorizing Hiragana and Katakana characters as well as Kanji I find Mnemosyne an indispensable tool.
☺ It's a digital flash card program that, by noting which cards you've self-graded as "learned", analyzes what you're remembering (or learning) and chooses which cards to show, and their frequency, based on what you don't know by heart yet. The flash cards are fully editable and they even have pre-made cards by users available for download on their site.
☺The book Remembering the Kanji vol. I, by James W. Heisig, is an awesome reference and tool for learning Kanji. I like that it's has nice mnemonic/graphic memorization tricks that really seem to work for me. What I wished it would have had, was the On and Kun readings (along with hiragana) listed on each frame. It helps to see all of it in one place. But aside from that, it is a powerful tool.
☺Jisho.org says that it is, "a powerful Japanese-English dictionary. It lets you find words, kanji, example sentences, and more, quickly and easily." And it is powerful indeed! I've used it often when I've had a difficult time finding example words here for my Learning Japanese posts. If you come across a Japanese word you don't understand or a character you need the meaning of, it is the best search engine I've found that will help with that.
☺RomajiDesu.com is another very useful dictionary. It's main benefit is that it offers audio pronunciation of the words. You can type in any word in english or Romaji (Japanese words written phonetically in the Roman alphabet) and it will find the hiragana, katakana or kanji for you. And, it has the extra added benefit of breaking down the Kanji (Kanji Details) so that you can understand the radicals that make up the words.
☺Kana Loan Words by ARMiller has one of the most extensive lists of Katakana loan words (words that aren't of Japanese origin) that I've found to date. It has been very helpful to me when trying to find example words for the katakana alphabet.
☺Appendix:1000 Japanese basic words by Wiktionary has a large list of the most used Japanese words. It has also been very helpful to me in the making of my Learn Japanese series.
And there are probably some resources I'm forgetting. But the above should help you get a good start in learning the beautiful language of Japanese.
So, although I won't endeavor to post formal lessons on Kanji, I will try my best to introduce one or two Kanji of the week for each Wordly Wednesday post from going forward. Together we'll tackle the mysterious characters and practice writing them.
☺And, if you really want a head start with Kanji (in addition to the above resources) I strongly suggest you download Japanesepod101.com's FREE Mastering Kanji eBook. It's a very useful and colorful resource that will help demystify and breakdown the Kanji learning process into manageable, bite-sized chunks. Okay, mina san. That's it for this week. Make note of the above resources and buckle your seat belts. Next post it will be Kanji time! |
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