> - Hi, Colin here.....well I've personally studied Japanese for the past 12 years and below are some of my recommendations for the best sites that I have used to study Japanese - My #1 recommendation for learning real everyday colloquial Japanese is JapanesePod101.com - The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese GuaranteedThis site has now been up and running for 2 years. They offer free daily podcasts and you only pay if you decide to upgrade your membership. "Absolutely brilliant site for learning Japanese!"..
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#1 - How To Thoroughly Enjoy Learning Japanese Plus 10 Useful Japanese Grammar Principles By Brett McCluskey
I am going to put here some very useful Japanese grammar that will hopefully benefit your Japanese language learning. These grammar principles are commonly used in everyday Japanese conversation. 10 principles are henceforth and coming below that may help you towards better Japanese. In the old days, when grammar-translation methods of teaching a foreign language were king, my JPPGG would have been called a substitution drills. I prefer to call this way of studying Japanese JPPGGi or Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar. The idea behind JPPGGi is while you are learning your vocabulary (nouns, verbs, adjectives, expressions, salutations, adverbs, particles etc.) the grammar won't be holding you back. Once you learn a grammar principle you simply continue to plug in more and more learned vocabulary.
It's a lot of fun too. I always use the word for, "to fart", and it makes the learning of Japanese fun. I mean the word,"to go" is fun and all, but the verb to burp or fart makes sentences come alive and all the tediousness of second language learning disappears, like magic. Honest Joe! I'll laugh and laugh about the new constructions I've made. But seriously, I would do whatever it takes to improve my Japanese skills and using JPPGGi in this un-orthodox way seems to have certainly helped me. I know boast a vocabulary of over 7000 words using my JPPGG method. So wherever you are at in your Japanese studies, just keep plugging and playing your way to a healthy and stout Japanese mouth. God luck!
Now below I am going to show you 10 Japanese grammar principles that all use a form of verbs commonly called base III verbs. If you aren't familiar with the term, base III verbs are verbs in their pure dictionary form. Un-adulterated pure words in the form of an action word, or predicate, which are taken straight from any old Wa-Ei (Japanese to English) or Ei-Wa (English to Japanese) dictionary.
Also called plain form verbs, base III verbs always ends by itself or in some sort of u vowel ending syllable cluster like, u, ku, gu, su, zu, tsu, tzu, bu, fu, mu, nu, yu, etc. Feel free to plug any verb that you are fond of into these JPPGGi constructions. Using off the wall verbs like skate boarding, surfing, frying, laying, squatting, will help you retain the essential Japanese grammar longer over time in your long term memory. In this way your vocabulary will have time to develop without being stagnated by your grammar ability (if that made any sense). I guarantee that you will not only have a blast making sentences and learning Japanese in this way, but you will also remember your vocabulary words clearer, faster, and retaining them longer.
Don't feel obligated to use common verbs; instead think of some neat, obscure verb that you would like to know, look it up in the dic. Go for it! Be a rebel! I dare you to get out of that old school mentality and utilize some word like, onara suru (v. to fart). Nobody will ever know, unless you start using it on someone. Uh oh! Even the Emperor will honorifically fart on occasions. What would you say then? Small asides, jokes of no consequence here --- So get on with the grammar Makurasuki Sensei Geeze Maneeze!!!---
Preliminary one point ghetto advice from a plug and play master **
**- Wa is the particle that I have always defined as, "As for ~" where ~ is anything at all, even nothing. Although there is not always an exact equivalent for a Japanese word to some words in English, I have found that thinking of the Japanese word, 'koto' as "the thing of ~". So koto ga and koto wa together, its meaning does sound weird to the ears of a gaijin (foreigner), as tripped out as any English we have ever heard might be, but you learn to accept these kinds of differences between languages because we know that a little disregard for proper sounds will help with our eventual improvement in our Japanese speaking ability. As of yet I have found no better way of describing these Japanese words in English, and they seem to be sufficient interpretations in the situations in which they were used... Again, although they might at first sound a little awkward, we overlook the formalities for our long range goals of Japanese language mastery, and we get over it. This is JPPGGi, It won't cost you anything but a commitment to self and a little time, and plus, if it works--- it is beautiful. Back to Serious-Ville here, geeze, koto wa or koto ga could roughly be translated as "As for the thing of~ ".
1. Verb (base III) + koto ga, koto wa - the thing of verb, the thing of 'verbing'.
2. Verb (base III) + tame ni - in order to verb
3. Verb (base III) + mae ni - before I verb, before 'verbing'.
4. Verb (base III) + koto ga arimasu - Sometimes I verb
5. Verb (base III) + koto ga yoku arimasu - I do a lot of 'verbing'. or I often verb.
6. Verb (base III) + koto ga amari arimasu - I don't often verb, I rarely verb.
6. Verb (base III) + koto ga dekimasu - I am able to verb, I can verb
7. Verb (base III) + deshou - I will probably verb, or the verb will probably happen, or it might verb.
8. Verb (base III) + koto ni suru - decide to verb, I resolved within myself to verb, I have chosen to verb, etc.
9. Verb (base III) + hou ga ii desu - It is better to verb, or, you should verb.
10. Verb (base III) + yo (u) ni - so that verb, like 'verbing'. in similitude of 'verbing'.
As always do your best!
Ganbatte Ne! Makurasuki Sensei.
Hi, I am Brett McCluskey also known as Makurasuki Sensei. I enjoy sharing my knowledge of Japanese grammar to those serious about mastering Japanese as their second language. I applaud all studious efforts towards improving your second language skills no matter what language you choose. I started my life long pursuit of fluency in Japanese when I was 19. I studied hard every day in strict self discipline, setting goals like committing to memory 30 words every 2 days etc. All while being immersed in a land I would eventually come to love. I want to show others that are sincere in their desire to speak another tongue things that I have found to be helpful. So that they won't half to waste half as much time as me as I struggled down that path of Japanese language mastery. JPPGG Japanese Plug and Play Ghetto Grammar can help you gain an edge on your language skills. If you like this article please see also http://squidoo.com/japanese123456
#2 - Why Would You Want To Learn Japanese? By Vicky Seale
There are many reasons why a person, like you, would learn Japanese.
Perhaps they do it out of necessity, or perhaps they learn Japanese because they want to open up new opportunities.
There is so much that can be gained when you learn the Japanese language. You also have to consider that while Japan has the second largest economy in the world, not many of them know how to speak English.
Nowadays there is so much to enjoy from Japan and there are many fantastic opportunities for Japanese speakers. Here are just a few...
There are many international business opportunities you could get hired by a large international business firm. Learning Japanese presents great career opportunities. You could even work and live in Japan.
Understand Japanese animations, movies, music and cartoons, and be able to enjoy the Japanese acting. Wouldn't it be great to watch the film rather than reading the subtitles?
Make your college/university application, resume or curriculum vitae stand out. "Fluent in Japanese" is eye catching and ranks high.
Unravel your own culture and language as you see where it's the same and different from Japanese and discover the unique Japanese culture that shines through their language.
You could order a sold-in-Japan-only video game and be able to understand and play it. Some items never make it to the UK or USA market.
And also, it's just mighty impressive to be able to tell your friends, family and attractive members of the opposite sex that you "speak Japanese".
The Japanese language is not as hard as you think.
It's true that Japanese has a much different system of writing than English or any other European language.
In addition, the grammar of Japanese is in many ways simpler than that of European languages. Japanese nouns have no genders, plural forms, or accompanying articles to learn. The language also has only two verb tenses, present and past, and includes very few irregular verbs.
Spoken Japanese has only 5 vowel sounds and spelling is phonetically consistent, making the language relatively easy to pronounce.
If you are struggling in mastering the Japanese language, check out Learn Japanese Easily where we review the quickest and easiest ways to learn Japanese
#3 - Learning to Write Japanese is More Difficult Than Learning to Speak Japanese!? By Takanori Tomita
Learn Japanese for a real communication for your work, school project, and communicating with your Japanese mate properly.
Many people think that Learning to speak Japanese language is more difficult than learning to write Japanese. But, it is actually vice versa, because there are 3 different Japanese symbol called Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana, if you want to learn to write Japanese.
Normally, many Westerners think that kanji symbol is the only writing form we use in Japanese. It is true that we use kanji symbols more than hiragana or katakana symbols when writing something in Japanese. However, unlike Chinese people who use only Kanji symbols, we mix up all Japanese scripts.
So, when do you have to use which script?
The answer is it all depends on a type of sentence used. Generally, the majority of Japanese textbooks says that Hiragana symbol is used when a word cannot be written in Kanji symbol, and Katakana symbol is mainly used to represent foreign words, or names which have adopted into the Japanese writing system.
However, it is always the case.
For example, "Thank you" in Japanese is "A Ri Ga To U". Normally, you will write this word in Hiragana symbol, but in a formal letter, you should use Kanji symbol. Although it is not wrong to use katakana symbol to write "Thank you" in Japanese, not many Japanese people would do so.
If you travel to Japan, you would see how each Japanese Kanji Symbols, Hiragana and Katakana symbols are used
For example, Japanese Magazine normally use 80% of Kanji symbols, and 10% of Hiragana and Katakana symbols.
Another case is the singboard of the place in a subway. Almost all the sings are written with the Kanji symbols. By the way, we can write numbers in kanji symbols as well, but normally use the numerical sign to represent.
Also, Japanese language is changing everyday.
There are new Japanese words in which old Japanese people cannot understand and those words are usually written by Katakana symbol or Hiragana symbol.
Although they are not proper Japanese language, many young Japanese people use such characters nowadays, and those words are normally abbreviated words.
That is why leaning to write Japanese is more difficult than speaking Japanese.
