Japanese Classroom

[Officer Kaoko 142]

Hiragana: Lesson 14 - 'せ' [se] & 'ぜ' [ze]

せ, in hiragana, or セ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represents one mora. Both represent the sound [se], and when written with dakuten represent the sound [ze].

Pronunciation:

'せ' is romanized 'ze'.

Word beginning with '':

1. 世界/せかい (sekai -> the world; the universe)
   
2. 先生/せんせい (sensei -> teacher; master)
   
3. せりふ (serifu -> speech; one's lines)
   
4. 千/せん (sen -> 1000)
   

Stroke order:

______________

The character 'せ' may also be combined with a dakuten, changing it into 'ぜ' in hiragana, and 'ze' in Hepburn romanization. With the dakuten added the pronunciation is changed, to 'ze'. せ + " (dakuten) = ぜ (look below)

Pronunciation:

‘ぜ’ is romanized (pronounced) 'ze' as in 'zebra'.

Word with 'す':

1. ぜんぜん (zenzen -> not at all [negative])
   

Task: You shall write 'せ' & 'ぜ' 50 - 100 times in your textbook. If you want, like with the previous lessons, write 'せ' 70 times and 'ぜ' 30 times. Memorize the shape, the stroke order, the sound, the pronunciation (echo the sound of the character each time you write it down), etc.

And after you've done that, write 'さ', 'し', 'す', and 'せ' one after each repetitively (さ, し, す, せ, さ, し, す, せ, etc.) 50 times (100 if you have time).

[Kazu 8]

すげい (sugei -> incredible; impressive)

don't you mean すごい?

[Cheesus 6]

yea isnt it Sugoi? Nice find Kazu!

[Kazu 8]

Not really. I speak japanese here you know.

[Pr1me 101 15]

don't you mean すごい?

There's two different ways to say it. They're both right and they both mean the same thing. It's just a matter of which is more formal than the other.

[Kazu 8]

If you mean "Sugee" it's not a very polite form. It's only spoken by young men with bad manners. And it's mostly a spoken expression. It's not in the dictionnay (I mean the japanese-japanese dictionnary 広辞苑).

I hope that you know you shouldn't try to speak japanese like in manga if you go to Japan one day. You would give a very very bad impression to the japanese people you talk with.

Actually if you do a japanese basic course you should learn the polite form first.

That means adjective finish with ~い　or ~な

[Officer Kaoko 142]

If you mean "Sugee" it's not a very polite form. It's only spoken by young men with bad manners. And it's mostly a spoken expression. It's not in the dictionnay (I mean the japanese-japanese dictionnary 広辞苑).

I hope that you know you shouldn't try to speak japanese like in manga if you go to Japan one day. You would give a very very bad impression to the japanese people you talk with.

Actually if you do a japanese basic course you should learn the polite form first.

That means adjective finish with ~い　or ~な

I read this warning many times about never to try to speak like in the manga or anime with Japanese people (or people who speaks Japanese).

Oh my bad, I didn't notice this till now...

All I know that is 'Sugei' and 'Sugoi' mean the same thing... basically an exclamation of awesome. The only difference is that Sugei is more masculine and rough and Sugoi is more feminine.

Never mind, I'll just edit it. :grin:

_________________

Story: There's Japanese neighbour living below our apartment. One day, the eldest son (8 years old) came to play. I thought it'd be a good thing to practice my Japanese by talking to him.

The first thing I did was greet him by saying, 'Ohayo, gakin-chwan .'

He bowed and greeted back, 'ohayo, Onee-san.'

I was nervous what should I say to begin a conversation, I have no idea why... but I randomly said... 'kekkon shite.'

He seemed taken back by what I just said, and suddenly freaked out and started to run away from me giggling and laughing both at the same time. He fled into his house slamming the door behind him. I was confused... what did I say that made him freaked out ?

私がなに言った かしら.... can anyone explain why to me? Put the answer in a spoiler box .

[Pr1me 101 15]

If you mean "Sugee" it's not a very polite form. It's only spoken by young men with bad manners. And it's mostly a spoken expression. It's not in the dictionnay (I mean the japanese-japanese dictionnary 広辞苑).

I hope that you know you shouldn't try to speak japanese like in manga if you go to Japan one day. You would give a very very bad impression to the japanese people you talk with.

Actually if you do a japanese basic course you should learn the polite form first.

That means adjective finish with ~い　or ~な

If you were referring to me, I already live in Japan. It's not really spoken just by men, I've seen lots of women use sugei plus it doesn't mean the other person has bad manners. It just shows that whoever uses it speaks Japanese very casually. I'm a 100% sure Osaka's got a lot of peoople who speak like that.

私がなに言った かしら.... can anyone explain why to me? Put the answer in a spoiler box .

Sorry, dunno how to create a spoiler box.

My translation: What did I say again?

Okay, there's got to be a better way to translate that sentence. When I find it I'll post it, lol .

[Officer Kaoko 142]

Sorry, dunno how to create a spoiler box.

My translation: What did I say again?

Okay, there's got to be a better way to translate that sentence. When I find it I'll post it, lol .

LOL ! You mean the sentence '私がなに言った かしら' ? Didn't I say:

watashi ga nani itta kashira... -> I wonder what I said (that made him freaked out)... '

Spoiler box... here's the code :

[spoiler]your text here[/spoiler]

I wrote a short story in Japanese. Anyone willing to read it ?

[Kazu 8]

If you were referring to me, I already live in Japan. It's not really spoken just by men, I've seen lots of women use sugei plus it doesn't mean the other person has bad manners. It just shows that whoever uses it speaks Japanese very casually. I'm a 100% sure Osaka's got a lot of peoople who speak like that.

Well, I have lived in Tokyo for one year and I pretty know the way of using the expression "sugee" and in my opinion, for japanese people it doesn't reflect exactly the meaning of beeing casual. They wanna be kind of cool but USUALLY people don't consider it as elegant or polite. It's a bit rude. I personaly heve never known a woman using it.

And actually, in Osaka, nobody use the ~ええ form for the adjectives. In kansai dialect both mens and women use the ～おい like in 凄い、かっこい、or おもろい (=　面白い).

I couldn't tell for the other dialects but because there are a lot of dialects in Japan, I don't think the ~ええ form is so usual as you may imagine.

But anyway, I just wanted to recommand you to focus on the 標準語 (the standard japanese) especially for a basic japanese lesson. I also have never seen the form すげい but only the form すげえ or すげー when I found it written.

[Pr1me 101 15]

Well, I have lived in Tokyo for one year and I pretty know the way of using the expression "sugee" and in my opinion, for japanese people it doesn't reflect exactly the meaning of beeing casual. They wanna be kind of cool but USUALLY people don't consider it as elegant or polite. It's a bit rude. I personaly heve never known a woman using it.

And actually, in Osaka, nobody use the ~ええ form for the adjectives. In kansai dialect both mens and women use the ～おい like in 凄い、かっこい、or おもろい (=　面白い).

I couldn't tell for the other dialects but because there are a lot of dialects in Japan, I don't think the ~ええ form is so usual as you may imagine.

But anyway, I just wanted to recommand you to focus on the 標準語 (the standard japanese) especially for a basic japanese lesson. I also have never seen the form すげい but only the form すげえ or すげー when I found it written.

You lived in Tokyo yet never met a woman who used すげえ? Google "ギャル" you might find something. Anyway, I don't live in the Kansai region so I don't know what kind of dialect you or the people around you use, but over where I live the "~ええ form" is normal. The way I see it, すげえ is like calling a kid a ガキ. It's just how people learned their way of speaking Japanese, whether it's how their parents spoke or how they used to talk with their friends. Nothing wrong, nothing right.

BTW, "すげい" was a typo, lol.

Oh yeah, thanks for the code Kaoko .

[Kazu 8]

I answered by MP. Sorry for the flood.

[Officer Kaoko 142]

@Zaku: Don't worry. I appreciate your recommendation :grin:. Thank you!

The last and the final character of the ‘s’ section... 'そ' [so]!

Hiragana: Lesson 15 - 'そ' [so] & 'ぞ' [zo]

Pronunciation:

'そ' is romanized 'so' and pronounced ‘sou’ as in ‘sorry’..

Word beginning with 'そ':

1. その (sono -> that... near you (near the adressee))
   
2. 空/そら (sora -> sky; heaven)
   
3. そと (soto -> outside)
   
4. そば (soba -> side)
   
5. そんな (sonna -> like that; that kind of)
   
6. そう(sou -> yes, yeah; it's like that; that's how it is)
   

Stroke order:

______________

The character 'そ' may also be combined with a dakuten, changing it into 'ぞ' in hiragana, and 'zo' in Hepburn romanization. With the dakuten added the pronunciation is changed to 'zo'. そ + " (dakuten) = ぞ (look below)

Pronunciation:

‘ぞ’ is romanized 'zo' and pronounced 'zo' as in 'zombie'.

Word with 'ぞ':

1. 象/ぞう (zou -> elephant)
   
2. 象牙/ぞうげ (zouge -> elephant’s ivory, tusk)
   

Task: You shall write 'そ' & 'ぞ' 50 - 100 times in your textbook. If you want, like with the previous lessons, write 'そ' 70 times and 'ぞ' 30 times. Memorize the shape, the stroke order, the sound, the pronunciation (echo the sound of the character each time you write it down), etc.

And after you've done that, write 'さ', 'し', 'す', 'せ', and 'そ' one after each repetitively (さ, し, す, せ, そ, さ, し, す, せ, そ, etc.) 50 times (100 if you have time).

______________

I change our site's design... what do you guys think ? ^^ we changed our URL to -> http://japanese-ken.blogspot.com

Edited February 7, 2011 by Officer Kaoko

[Cheesus 6]

Thanks for the next lesson Kaoko!

If anyone is interested heres a Hiragana Children Story book. Just try and read the characters you have memorized.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WDM8F0TP

[Officer Kaoko 142]

Thanks for the next lesson Kaoko!

If anyone is interested heres a Hiragana Children Story book. Just try and read the characters you have memorized.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WDM8F0TP

Thanks for the link, Cheesus-kun :grin:! *downloading*

Oh, did you see the new design for the blog?

________________________

Review: Lesson 11 - 15

Yosh! We had now finished the 's' section! We now covered the vowels (あ, い, う, え, お), the 'k's (か, き, く, け, こ), and the 's's (さ, し, す, せ, そ,). And now we are just going to do a quick review!

Now that we've learnt the third section (s) of the Japanese characters, which are: さ, し, す, せ, and そ. Now we are 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!

Here're some Japanese words having only the characters you've learnt so far (not including any Romanji)... see if you could read them :mrgreen: :

1. 貸す/かす (to lend)
   
2. 椅子/いす (chair)
   
3. 行く/いく (to go)
   
4. 喰/しょく (to eat, drink)
   
5. 隠す/かくす (to hide)
   
6. 開く/あく (to open)
   
7. 学校/がっこう (school)
   
8. 恋/こい (love; tender passion)
   
9. 愛/あい (love affection)
   
10. 赤い/あかい (red)
    
11. 青い/あおい (blue)
    

Here are the characters we have learnt so far (try to be familiar with them ):

And also, don't forget about YO-ON in the 'き' [ki] & 'し' [shi] characters! And... with the dakuten added to the following characters, the sound of the characters may be changed; 'k' to 'g' and 's' to 'z' (し an exception: the dakuten added the sound changes to 'ji').

[Cheesus 6]

oh ill check it now!

[Officer Kaoko 142]

Hirgana: Lesson 16 - 'た' [ta] & 'だ' [da]

Pronunciation:

'た' is romanized 'ta' and pronounced ‘ta’ as in ‘star’.

Word beginning with 'た':

1. 田/た (ta -> ricefield)
   
2. 竹/たけ (take -> bamboo)
   
3. 鷹/たか (taka -> falcon; hawk)
   
4. 建物/たてもの (tatemono -> building)
   
5. 対/たい (tai -> versus; anti)
   
6. 畳/たたみ (tatami -> tatami mat)
   
7. 食べる/たべる (taberu -> to eat)
   

Stroke order:

______________

The character 'た' may also be combined with a dakuten, thus changing it to ‘だ’ in hiragana, and 'da' in Hepburn romanization. With the dakuten added the pronunciation changes to 'da'. た + " (dakuten) = だ (look below)

Pronunciation:

‘だ’ is romanized ‘da’, pronounced ‘da’ as in ‘dan’.

Word with 'だ':

1. 大仏/だいぶつ (daibutsu -> large statue of Buddha)
   
2. 出す/だす (dasu -> to take out, to show, to turn in, to publish, to send, to begin, to serve food)
   
3. だから (dakara -> so; therefore)
   

Task: You shall write 'た' & 'だ' 50 - 100 times in your textbook. If you want, like with the previous lessons, write 'た' 70 times and 'だ' 30 times. Memorize the shape, the stroke order, the sound, the pronunciation (echo the sound of the character each time you write it down), etc.

[Cheesus 6]

Man the site looks Great!

[Officer Kaoko 142]

Man the site looks Great!

Thanks

ATTENTION: Umm... I am not really sure if what I put worked our right or not, so I would like your suggestions and ideas for our community -> http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/515599

Hiragana: Lesson - 17 'ち' [chi] & 'ぢ' [ji]

ち, in hiragana, or チ in katakana, is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora. Both are phonemically /ti/ although for phonological reasons, the actual pronunciation is ‘chi’.

Pronunciation:

'ち' is romanized 'chi'.

Word with 'ち':

Word begins with 'ち':

1. 血/ち (chi -> blood)
   
2. 小さい/ちいさい (chiisai -> small; little; tiny)
   

'ち' at the end:

1. 口/くち (kuchi -> mouth)
   
2. 日/にち (nichi -> day)
   
3. 土/つち (tsuchi -> soil; dirt; earth)
   
4. 毎日/まいにち (mainichi -> every-day)
   

Other sounds:

The pronunciation of the character 'し' can also be changed to 3 different sounds.

Stroke order:

______________

The character 'ち' may also be combined with a dakuten, changing it into ‘ぢ’ in hiragana, and 'ji' in Hepburn romanization. With the dakuten added the pronunciation is changed, to 'ji'. ち + " (dakuten) = ぢ (look below)

Due to both ‘じ’ and ‘ぢ’ having a similar pronunciation it may be difficult to differentiate them. However, one way to tell the difference is by removing the dakuten and seeing if the original word is a shi or chi. Post 1945, no words in the Japanese language start with the letter ‘ぢ’.

Pronunciation:

Same with ‘じ’, ‘ぢ’ is romanized ‘ji’ and also pronounced the same way.

______________

YO-ON

In the Japanese language there are also contracted words called 拗音 (yo-on) (as mentioned in lesson 12). They are made up of two letters written together. A Hiragana ending with “i” such as ki (き), shi (し), etc... followed by a small ya (ゃ), yu (ゅ) or yo (ょ).

The hiragana’s ending with “i” also include their dakuten and handakuten versions.

The yoon’s for 'chi' are:

1. ちゃ/cha (Pronounced: chya) Ex. 茶色/ちゃいろ chairo (brown)
   
2. ちゅ/chu (P: chyu) Ex. 中国/ちゅうごく chuugoku (China)
   
3. ちょ/cho (P: chyo) Ex. 頂戴/ちょうだい choudai (please give me (verb; comes at the end. Mostly used by women))
   

The yoon’s for 'ji' are:

1. ぢゃ/ja (P: jiya)
   
2. ぢゅ/ju (P: jyu)
   
3. ぢょ/jo (P: jyo)
   

______________

Task: You shall write 'ち' & 'ぢ' 50 - 100 times in your textbook. If you want, like with the previous lessons, write 'ち' 70 times and 'ぢ' 30 times. Memorize the shape, the stroke order, the sound, the pronunciation (echo the sound of the character each time you write it down), etc.

And after you've done that, write ‘た' and 'ち' one after each repetitively (た, ち, た, ち, etc.) 50 times (100 if you have time).

PS. Any edition to this lesson will be edited here -> http://japanese-ken.blogspot.com/2011/01/hiragana-lesson-17-chi-ji.html

And check out the Hiragana: Lesson 17 - 'ち' [chi] & 'ぢ' [ji], it has been modified by Kenny-sensei .

[Orangeburst 19]

Hi there! Well, uhm, can I join? If it's not too late...

[tengaku squared 291]

Hi there! Well, uhm, can I join? If it's not too late...

It's never too late...but let's see what Kan-chan thinks.

[Cheesus 6]

yay another member.

Hopefully you ask questions and stuff and not lurk ._.

[Wakarimashita 137]

To those who would like to study japanese (and particularly kanji), I suggest using James Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji". I've been using the french translatd version (since it's my first language) for about 2 months now and I know how to write a little less than 1 000 kanji. I use this site to train and make sure I remember them properly on a long term basis. The issue with that book is that it doesn't teach you how to pronounce or use them in a sentence, but I think that mastering hundreds of kanji is already a big step, though only a small one in fully mastering the language, obviously.

[Cheesus 6]

Thanks fo the info but none of us are at that level yet

[Wakarimashita 137]

It's preferable to know your kanas before starting that, but that's done relatively quickly (I learned them in 4 days in a very academic fashion : writing them over and over again).