Japanese Classroom

[Cheesus 6]

That is a WIN!

Man Rosetta stone is getting confusing now.

Sandwich,Coffee,dog,cat,horse,bike.

Then theres sentences like:

I am walking. I am not walking. (something like that)

[Officer Kaoko 142]

Lesson 1 - 5 Revision:

Konnichi wa minna! I hope you are all doing fine and doing good in your Japanese study.

Now that we've learnt the first five Japanese characters which are: あ, い, う, え, and お (and also vowels), we are now going to review them .

Now, if you still have problems with them, I recommend you write them again (exercise in your textbook). Memorize the order of the strokes, the sound of it (pronunciation), their shape, etc. Easy!

Test

Here we go (these are the romanized version. We want you to change it to it's original Japanese characters):

First...

I

E

A

O

A

Aoi

Ie

Ii

Ou

Kinda lame, but I'll think of the best way in the future (it'd be better to do it with audio though... umm, guessing if I could find some Japanese audio on the web suitable for this ).

Did you know that with those characters from which you have learnt, that now you already could read some Japanese words?

Here're some Japanese words having only those 5 characters... tell us if you could read them :

1. 青い = あおい (blue)
   
2. 王 = おう (king)
   
3. 家 = いえ (house)
   
4. いいえ (no)
   
5. いい (good; fine)
   
6. おい (hey -> I guess you all have heard of 'oi, oi,' in animes a lot (Conan usually says them) )
   

So? Have you mastered the 5 Japanese vowels? Should we move on to next lesson ?

[Parkur 165]

Too difficult

[CarpetCrawler 280]

Too difficult

Way to give it the ol' college try, Parkur. <3

[Officer Kaoko 142]

Too difficult

How's my/our lesson's too difficult? I tried hard to make it easy for everyone .

...

I guess, I'm not a good senpai after all ...

...

Still editing above

[Parkur 165]

Way to give it the ol' college try, Parkur. <3

Oh...you know me <3

[Cheesus 6]

Kaoko your lessons are the best

[Parkur 165]

How's my/our lesson's too difficult? I tried hard to make it easy for everyone .

...

I guess, I'm not a good senpai after all ...

...

Still editing above

That's not true, you're awesome, Kao-chan <3

[Kiel95 86]

also, sorry i can't be too involved (not on too often) but once i find a japanese program that i can download that will work with my computer i'll also try to help a bit ^^ i don't really know many japanese words, but i know most of the hiragana... so i can translate things into romaji, i just can't translate into english XD

[Xcommando 0]

Watashi wa Tanner-kun.

[Pr1me 101 15]

Story 'fuikinotou' Page 2:

どこかで、 小さな こえが しました。 『よいしょ、 よいしょ。 おもたいな。』

竹やぶの そばの ふきのとうです。

雪の 下に あたまを 出して、

ゆきを どけようと ふんばって いる とこです。

『よいしょ、 よいしょ。 そとが 見たいな。』

Romanji:

Dokoka de, chiisana koe ga shimashita. "Yoisho, yoisho. Omotaina."

Takeyabu no soba no fukinotou desu.

Yuki no shita ni atama wo dashite, yuki wo dokeyouto funbatte iru tokoro desu.

"Yoisho, yoisho. Soto ga mitai na."

My English translation:

"Yoisho, yoisho! It's heavy," came a cry from somewhere.

It was the plants near the bamboo forest.

It heads popped out from beneath the snow, it tried it best to move the snow out of its way.

"Yoisho, yoisho. We want to see the outside world!"

My translation:

Somewhere, a small voice could be heard. "Heave ho, heave ho. It's heavy."

It was a bud of a fuki near the bamboo forest.

Popping his head up from under the snow,

trying very hard to push the snow away

"Heave ho, heave ho. I want to see the outside."

Please note that よいしょ、 よいしょdoesn't exactly mean heave ho. It's basicly a phrase that describes when the person (or thing) is panting. In this case, the fuki (a japanese plant) is panting from pushing the snow off of him.

[Officer Kaoko 142]

Revision of lesson 1 - 5 has been edited ->

Kaoko your lessons are the best

Arigatou, Cheesus-kun...

That's not true, you're awesome, Kao-chan <3

Thank you, Parkur <3

...

My lessons... are... too difficult...

also, sorry i can't be too involved (not on too often) but once i find a japanese program that i can download that will work with my computer i'll also try to help a bit ^^ i don't really know many japanese words, but i know most of the hiragana... so i can translate things into romaji, i just can't translate into english XD

Check out the links I provided again. Or describe the details. I may be able to help you, Kiel-chan .

Watashi wa Tanner-kun.

Kimi no namae wa 'Tanner-kun' desu ka? Utsukushii o-namae .

Would you like to join, Xcommando?

My translation:

Somewhere, a small voice could be heard. "Heave ho, heave ho. It's heavy."

It was a bud of a fuki near the bamboo forest.

Popping his head up from under the snow,

trying very hard to push the snow away

"Heave ho, heave ho. I want to see the outside."

Please note that よいしょ、 よいしょdoesn't exactly mean heave ho. It's basicly a phrase that describes when the person (or thing) is panting. In this case, the fuki (a japanese plant) is panting from pushing the snow off of him.

Subarashii, Kenny-sensei ! Your translations are amazing, I love it . Domo arigatou...

Ohh, so that's how it was. 'よいしょ、 よいしょ', I asked a native speaker about it, but they said that it doesn't have an English translation. But... if you translate it to 'heave ho, heave ho,' it makes a lot of sense . Oh, so 'fuki' is a Japanese plant? I always though it was just a plant .

All of my wondering questions in my mind about this page (of the story) has been answered . Sugoi, Kenny-sensei. Kimi wa saikou! Domou arigatou gozaimashita!

Is it OK if I post the third page :mrgreen: ?

[Kiel95 86]

when downloading it it has this error saying it can't save the file on my computer... for both links... i've tried like 3 times for each link

[Cheesus 6]

nice lesson AGAIN!~

[Officer Kaoko 142]

Now that we've finished with the vowels' section, let's move on to the next, and this will be 'k' section and which can also be modified to 'g'.

Hiragana: Lesson 6 - 'か' [ka]

Pronunciation:

'か' = is romanized 'ka'.

Word beginning with 'か':

1. かぎ (kagi -> key)
   
2. 買う = かう (kau -> to buy)
   
3. 傘 = かさ (kasa -> umbrella)
   
4. かれ (kare -> he)
   
5. 風 = かぜ (kaze -> wind)
   

Stroke order:

The Hiragana か is made with three strokes:

1. A horizontal line which turns and ends in a hook facing left.
   
2. A curved vertical line that cuts through the first line.
   
3. A small curved line on the right.
   

The Japanese character 'ka か (and the other 4)' can easily be modified/change to 'ga/i/u/e/o' by adding two small little curve at the top on the right (look below).

Word with 'が':

1. ひらがな (Hiragana -> Japanese characters: hiragana~)
   
2. がき (gaki = brat; kid)
   
3. 'が' is also used for particle indicating a subject. Ex. adding soon.. (we will be introducing the Japanese particles in the future, hopefully. After we finish with the characters~)
   

Note: You shall write 'か' at least 50 - 100 times in your textbook. If you want, you can also separate them, like write 'か' 70 times and 'が' 30 times . Will be going to the next character in a short time

[Cheesus 6]

ka~ Got it

[Stopwatch 36]

@OfficerKaoko err... did you write 'い' instead of 'か' in places on purpose? Anyway, cool lessons :mrgreen:

[Xcommando 0]

Kimi no namae wa 'Tanner-kun' desu ka? Utsukushii o-namae .

Would you like to join, Xcommando?

Yes.

[Cheesus 6]

question:

i know います takes place in the present. But lately i have been having these sentences in my Learning program that give me sentences that do not end in imasu. Im trying to figure out if its past or present tense.

Also. かれわ (kare wa) refers to I as a guy(am i right?) and kanojo wa refers to I as a girl(am i right?). but ive been also getting senteces reffering to kids. i think it was kadomo(かども). Am i right?

[Officer Kaoko 142]

when downloading it it has this error saying it can't save the file on my computer... for both links... i've tried like 3 times for each link

Umm... maybe your hard disk is full? Try moving your files (videos, pictures, stories, etc) from disk C (if they were there) to disk: D and try again . You may have virus in your computer , take it to CPU shop

ka~ Got it

Memorized it ? The shape, the sound, the stroke order, etc?

@OfficerKaoko err... did you write 'い' instead of 'か' in places on purpose? Anyway, cool lessons :mrgreen:

OMG! Sorry! I use Chrome and it's all like... squares . I write them (the Japanese characters) in Njstar and copy-paste it here. Guess that I made the error without noticing. Thank you for pointing it out, Stopwatch-chan ! And many thanks! Keep up and stay tuned ~

Yes.

Ohh... sugoi, sugoi *adding Xcommando to the list *

question:

i know います takes place in the present. But lately i have been having these sentences in my Learning program that give me sentences that do not end in imasu. Im trying to figure out if its past or present tense.

I figured as much, Cheesus-kun .

います is the polite version of 'いる'.

Watashi wa ringo wo tabete iru (plain) -> I am eating apple.

Watashi wa ringo wo tabete imasu (polite) -> I'm eating apple.

Umm... or you probably heard something like (following the example above) watashi wa ringo wo tabeteru (I am eating apple). Another thing that needs to be mentioned about the Te Form + iru is that it is often "slurred" together . For example, tabete iru (eating) will sound like tabeteru. In fact, it is even written this way — with the i in iru omitted — in comics and novels where the writer wants to show characters using everyday conversational Japanese . I'm sure you've heard of this when characters in anime says, 'wakatteru! (-> I know!)'

I hope this helps ~ But just in case, let's hear Kenny-sensei's opinion and see what he says .

Also. かれわ (kare wa) refers to I as a guy(am i right?) and kanojo wa refers to I as a girl(am i right?). but ive been also getting senteces reffering to kids. i think it was kadomo(かども). Am i right?

You are right in the first two beginning but I think the third what you are trying to say is こども (kodomo) .

Let's wait and hear what Kenny-sensei says .

[Kiel95 86]

i give up on understanding my computer XD i'll just see if i can find any other links...

[Cheesus 6]

so what if its past tense. what would it end like?

[Inspector Gin 45]

I know them all. next lesson!!

[Officer Kaoko 142]

Hiragana: Lesson 7 - 'き' [ki] & 'ぎ' [gi]

Pronunciation:

'き' = is romanized 'ki'.

Word beginning with 'き':

1. 木 = き (ki -> tree; wood; timber)
   
2. 切る = きる (kiru-> to cut)
   
3. 着物 = きもの (kimono -> Japanese traditional clothing)
   
4. きのう (kinou -> yesterday)
   
5. きみ (kimi -> you)
   
6. 訊く = きく (kiku -> to hear; to listen; to ask; request)
   

Stroke order:

Same with the previous lesson, the Japanese character 'ki き (and the other 4)' can easily be modified/change to 'gi 'ぎ'' by adding two small little curve at the top on the right (look below).

Word with 'ぎ':

右 = みぎ (migi -> right)

Note: You shall write 'き' & 'ぎ' 50 - 100 times in your textbook. If you want, like with the previous lesson, write 'き' 70 times and 'ぎ' 30 times . Memorize the shape, the stroke order, the sound, the pronunciation, etc. Oh, and after you do that, write 'か' and 'き' one after each (か, き, か, き, か, き, etc.) 50 times (100 if you have the time).

Will be going to the next character in a short time.

PS. There's another thing with 'き' and 'ぎ'... mmm... but because those certain (や (ya),ゆ (yu), よ (yo)) characters aren't yet introduced, I think we'll discuss it later when we get to know/learn about them first.

Oh, and I (if Kenny-sensei isn't yet available) will be answering the questions above in a short time -> Kaoko-senpai is currently very busy .

Edited January 26, 2011 by Officer Kaoko

[Parkur 165]