23/10: Japanese mnemonics
As promised, here is a longer post on using mnemonics to study Japanese.
As we mentioned previously, it's quite easy to come up with mnemonics for Japanese because the number of sounds is limited. We're going to look at two types of mnemonics here:
1) Relating Japanese words to similar-sounding English words
2) Learning Japanese homonyms (words with the same sound) together
Before we start, there are a couple of other sites that include some useful mnemonics to help you remember a few Japanese words. It's all kind of random, but it's good to look at what other people use to help you in coming up with ideas of your own. Here are the sites:
1. Edochan's famous mnemonics - very whimsical and fun
2. Blog on Japanese mnemonics - exactly what we will talk about today!
First of all, what are mnemonics? Basically, a mnemonic is a trick or shortcut that you use to help you remember something. For example, many people use "Never Eat Shredded Wheat" to remember the order of compass points, which must upset the fine folks at Post Cereals no end. This is a prime example of a mnemonic - it's easier to remember a sentence of words that follow grammatically from each other than to remember four unconnected nouns, and the order of words in that sentence gives you the order of the directions.
An example of a mnemonic to memorize the Japanese word 揺らす (yurasu, to shake something) would be the English phrase "shake your ass" (because "your ass" sounds a lot like "yurasu").
Because this is already an English phrase, those words are already related in your mind. It is far far easier to remember related information together than to remember unrelated information together. When you make a mnemonic, you are just using the already-present links between things in your head to convey new information - sort of a mental shortcut.
As we mentioned previously, it's quite easy to come up with mnemonics for Japanese because the number of sounds is limited. We're going to look at two types of mnemonics here:
1) Relating Japanese words to similar-sounding English words
2) Learning Japanese homonyms (words with the same sound) together
Before we start, there are a couple of other sites that include some useful mnemonics to help you remember a few Japanese words. It's all kind of random, but it's good to look at what other people use to help you in coming up with ideas of your own. Here are the sites:
1. Edochan's famous mnemonics - very whimsical and fun
2. Blog on Japanese mnemonics - exactly what we will talk about today!
First of all, what are mnemonics? Basically, a mnemonic is a trick or shortcut that you use to help you remember something. For example, many people use "Never Eat Shredded Wheat" to remember the order of compass points, which must upset the fine folks at Post Cereals no end. This is a prime example of a mnemonic - it's easier to remember a sentence of words that follow grammatically from each other than to remember four unconnected nouns, and the order of words in that sentence gives you the order of the directions.
An example of a mnemonic to memorize the Japanese word 揺らす (yurasu, to shake something) would be the English phrase "shake your ass" (because "your ass" sounds a lot like "yurasu").
Because this is already an English phrase, those words are already related in your mind. It is far far easier to remember related information together than to remember unrelated information together. When you make a mnemonic, you are just using the already-present links between things in your head to convey new information - sort of a mental shortcut.
Beginner students of Japanese often struggle with the three words used as relative pronouns in Japanese, これ (kore, this), それ (sore, that) and あれ (are, that over there). The reason it's difficult, of course, is that English only really has two: this, and that, so the difference between それ (meaning, something closer to the listener than the speaker) and あれ (something not close to either the listener or the speaker) can be quite difficult to grasp.
Along the same lines, a student in our Japanese for Exams course had some questions about the other forms of these words, こう (kou, this way/like this), そう (sou, that way/like that), and ああ (aa, the other way), and こんな (konna, this kind), そんな (sonna, that kind), and あんな (anna, the other kind). In the interests of furthering the knowledge of the world at large (or at least, that small portion of it that reads this blog), here is an explanation of the difference.
So, to the questions. These questions are taken from study materials for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, level 3. We'll leave the answers till later, to give you the chance to figure them out for yourself:
１）Ａ：「いい天気ですね。」
Ｂ：「ええ。＿＿日は外で散歩でもしたくなりますね。」
１．こう ２．こんな ３．そんな ４．あんな
２）Ａ：「Ｂさんは字がきれいですね。」
Ｂ：「＿＿ことないですよ。」
１．こんな ２．あんな ３．そんな ４．そう
３）＿＿汚いところへ行きたくありません。
１．あんな ２．こう ３．どんな ４．ああ
４）にんじんは＿＿切って下さい。
１．こんな ２．あんな ３．どう ４．こう
５）鈴木さんはスキーがじょうずですが、＿＿は見えません。
１．ああ ２．どう ３．そう ４．こう
６）Ａ：「佐藤さんｈあ＿＿見えても、子供がいるんですよ。」
Ｂ：「そうなんですか。若く見えますけどね。」
１．そう ２．あんな ３．ああ ４．どう
Along the same lines, a student in our Japanese for Exams course had some questions about the other forms of these words, こう (kou, this way/like this), そう (sou, that way/like that), and ああ (aa, the other way), and こんな (konna, this kind), そんな (sonna, that kind), and あんな (anna, the other kind). In the interests of furthering the knowledge of the world at large (or at least, that small portion of it that reads this blog), here is an explanation of the difference.
So, to the questions. These questions are taken from study materials for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, level 3. We'll leave the answers till later, to give you the chance to figure them out for yourself:
１）Ａ：「いい天気ですね。」
Ｂ：「ええ。＿＿日は外で散歩でもしたくなりますね。」
１．こう ２．こんな ３．そんな ４．あんな
２）Ａ：「Ｂさんは字がきれいですね。」
Ｂ：「＿＿ことないですよ。」
１．こんな ２．あんな ３．そんな ４．そう
３）＿＿汚いところへ行きたくありません。
１．あんな ２．こう ３．どんな ４．ああ
４）にんじんは＿＿切って下さい。
１．こんな ２．あんな ３．どう ４．こう
５）鈴木さんはスキーがじょうずですが、＿＿は見えません。
１．ああ ２．どう ３．そう ４．こう
６）Ａ：「佐藤さんｈあ＿＿見えても、子供がいるんですよ。」
Ｂ：「そうなんですか。若く見えますけどね。」
１．そう ２．あんな ３．ああ ４．どう
It?fs very hard to understand Japanese in the beginning because the structure of sentences is so completely different from English. So, unlike learning French, Spanish, or other languages with quite similar grammar to English, you can?ft just plug foreign words into a sentence pattern you?fre already accustomed to. Instead, you have to remember both new words AND new word order at the same time, which can be too much for some people.
That?fs why we think there is some benefit to beginners of direct word-for-word translation of Japanese sentences into English ? that is, translating the words of a sentence into equivalent English, but leaving them in exactly the same place. A simple example, just to make it clear what we mean:
私の母の名前はパトリシャーです。
I ?fs mother ?fs name (topic) Patricia is.
Doing this frees your brain from having to think about all the new vocabulary, and lets you focus just on the sentence structure. Thus you can internalize the format of Japanese sentences, and get used to putting the verb at the end, for example, by getting used to thinking like that in English first.
And it can actually be kind of fun to try to translate Japanese sentences into Japanese-structured English sentences! Thinking in English but with a new grammatical paradigm is like a brain twister.
Of course, we don?ft recommend doing it for ever, as at some point you?fll obviously want to start combining Japanese grammar and Japanese words to make real Japanese sentences. However, it?fs a good technique in the beginning of your study, to smooth you into the process of thinking in a new layout.
That?fs why we think there is some benefit to beginners of direct word-for-word translation of Japanese sentences into English ? that is, translating the words of a sentence into equivalent English, but leaving them in exactly the same place. A simple example, just to make it clear what we mean:
私の母の名前はパトリシャーです。
I ?fs mother ?fs name (topic) Patricia is.
Doing this frees your brain from having to think about all the new vocabulary, and lets you focus just on the sentence structure. Thus you can internalize the format of Japanese sentences, and get used to putting the verb at the end, for example, by getting used to thinking like that in English first.
And it can actually be kind of fun to try to translate Japanese sentences into Japanese-structured English sentences! Thinking in English but with a new grammatical paradigm is like a brain twister.
Of course, we don?ft recommend doing it for ever, as at some point you?fll obviously want to start combining Japanese grammar and Japanese words to make real Japanese sentences. However, it?fs a good technique in the beginning of your study, to smooth you into the process of thinking in a new layout.
The latest version of the 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, Shogakukan's Japanese Dictionary, and the largest of all the Japanese-Japanese dictionaries) has over 500,000 words listed. How are students of Japanese supposed to memorize them all? The easy answer is, you can?ft. The better answer is, you don?ft have to, as a working vocabulary in Japanese is far far smaller than this. However, it?fs still a daily struggle for students to memorize vocabulary. Here are a few tips to help you in this struggle:
1. Always always carry a notebook/input device with you.
Make sure that you keep a list of the vocabulary you have (ostensibly) learned on hand, so that when you can?ft quite remember that word, you have somewhere to easily refer to. The simplest method is just to write new words in a small (tiny is great!) notebook. This has the added benefit of practicing writing at the same time.
2. Buy a Palm or Pocket PC device, and Supermemo.
A used PDA can be picked up for next to nothing, and Supermemo is less than $20, but this combination can be the best memorization tool you will ever buy. Supermemo is simple flashcard memorization software. Input the words you want to memorize, and Supermemo will test you on them tomorrow. If you get a word right, it?fll test you in a few days again, with the interval increasing each time. If you get it wrong, it?fll test you again tomorrow. You can use it to study vocabulary in downtime on the train, on the bus, walking to school ? anytime you have a few minutes to spare. Using this software for 15 minutes a day, one of our students was able to memorize 10 new words each day for a year, or a grand total of about 3,650 new words! This would have been an almost unthinkable struggle without Supermemo.
3. Buy a Palm and install Dokusha.
This incredible entirely free software is a big install (something like 8MB with full dictionaries), but when used in conjunction with the (also freeware) Dokusha Converter, allows you to copy any Japanese text from your PC to your Palm. When opened in Dokusha, any word or kanji in the file can be clicked on for English meaning, and registered as a flashcard for later memorization. You can also search for kanji by constituent parts, which really helps when trying to read printed Japanese, for example on menus, etc. And it acts as a simple Japanese-English dictionary ? when you hear a new word, you can easily search for the meaning in Dokusha, then flag that word for later memorization.
Please note that Dokusha is not being developed any more. Luckily, it's perfect as is, so that shouldn't be a problem!
1. Always always carry a notebook/input device with you.
Make sure that you keep a list of the vocabulary you have (ostensibly) learned on hand, so that when you can?ft quite remember that word, you have somewhere to easily refer to. The simplest method is just to write new words in a small (tiny is great!) notebook. This has the added benefit of practicing writing at the same time.
2. Buy a Palm or Pocket PC device, and Supermemo.
A used PDA can be picked up for next to nothing, and Supermemo is less than $20, but this combination can be the best memorization tool you will ever buy. Supermemo is simple flashcard memorization software. Input the words you want to memorize, and Supermemo will test you on them tomorrow. If you get a word right, it?fll test you in a few days again, with the interval increasing each time. If you get it wrong, it?fll test you again tomorrow. You can use it to study vocabulary in downtime on the train, on the bus, walking to school ? anytime you have a few minutes to spare. Using this software for 15 minutes a day, one of our students was able to memorize 10 new words each day for a year, or a grand total of about 3,650 new words! This would have been an almost unthinkable struggle without Supermemo.
3. Buy a Palm and install Dokusha.
This incredible entirely free software is a big install (something like 8MB with full dictionaries), but when used in conjunction with the (also freeware) Dokusha Converter, allows you to copy any Japanese text from your PC to your Palm. When opened in Dokusha, any word or kanji in the file can be clicked on for English meaning, and registered as a flashcard for later memorization. You can also search for kanji by constituent parts, which really helps when trying to read printed Japanese, for example on menus, etc. And it acts as a simple Japanese-English dictionary ? when you hear a new word, you can easily search for the meaning in Dokusha, then flag that word for later memorization.
Please note that Dokusha is not being developed any more. Luckily, it's perfect as is, so that shouldn't be a problem!
04/09: Speaking Japanese is easy!
We at GenkiJACS think Japanese is an easy language to learn to speak. (Reading and writing are a different matter, though!) Here are the reasons why. (Its long! Id bring coffee, if you have some)
1. Simple sounds
2. Standard rhythm
3. Few tones
4. Phonetic alphabet
5. Standard word roots
6. Little pronunciation difference between dialects
7. Many homophones
8. No plurals, and countable/uncountable nouns
9. No articles
10. Only two irregular verbs!
11. One-word sentences
12. Japanese people are happy to help!
Details for each topic are after the jump...
1. Simple sounds
2. Standard rhythm
3. Few tones
4. Phonetic alphabet
5. Standard word roots
6. Little pronunciation difference between dialects
7. Many homophones
8. No plurals, and countable/uncountable nouns
9. No articles
10. Only two irregular verbs!
11. One-word sentences
12. Japanese people are happy to help!
Details for each topic are after the jump...
It takes a long time of living with the Japanese counting system to be able to be truly comfortable with it, because it has one small but fundamental change from the English one: instead of units of 1,000, Japanese uses units of 10,000 (as does Chinese).
In English, after we get to 1,000, everything up to a million is counted in terms of how many thousands it contains. A million, of course, is a thousand thousand. Then we count up to a thousand again, and when we get there we call it a billion.
In Japanese, however, we count up to 10,000 ({ichi-man), and every new unit thereafter is a power of 10,000. Commas are also placed to divide digits up not into groups of 3, but groups of 4. So, a hundred million in Japanese notation is not 100,000,000 but 1,0000,0000. Of course, Western notation is spreading through Japan and it is more common now to see digits in groups of 3. However, dividing into groups of 4 helps to understand the concept of the number naming system. This is important because Japan doesn't have a high-order denomination (for example, 1 dollar= 100 cents), so large amounts of yen quickly become very large numbers indeed.
In English, after we get to 1,000, everything up to a million is counted in terms of how many thousands it contains. A million, of course, is a thousand thousand. Then we count up to a thousand again, and when we get there we call it a billion.
In Japanese, however, we count up to 10,000 ({ichi-man), and every new unit thereafter is a power of 10,000. Commas are also placed to divide digits up not into groups of 3, but groups of 4. So, a hundred million in Japanese notation is not 100,000,000 but 1,0000,0000. Of course, Western notation is spreading through Japan and it is more common now to see digits in groups of 3. However, dividing into groups of 4 helps to understand the concept of the number naming system. This is important because Japan doesn't have a high-order denomination (for example, 1 dollar= 100 cents), so large amounts of yen quickly become very large numbers indeed.
One of the problems junior translators always have in Japan is the difference between the phrases {X or more{ and {more than X{. In Japanese, there are 3 kanji expressions in common use:
- {ijou{ - X or more
- {ika{ - X or less
- {miman{ - less than (but not including) X
Interestingly, there is no commonly used kanji expression for {more than (but not including){. The formal opposite of {miman{ is {chou{, using the kanji for {koeru{, to surpass. However, most Japanese people themselves don't know this word in this meaning, and it is not in common usage. More common are the simple phrases {X yori ookii{ (bigger than X) and {X yori chiisai{ (smaller than X).
- {ijou{ - X or more
- {ika{ - X or less
- {miman{ - less than (but not including) X
Interestingly, there is no commonly used kanji expression for {more than (but not including){. The formal opposite of {miman{ is {chou{, using the kanji for {koeru{, to surpass. However, most Japanese people themselves don't know this word in this meaning, and it is not in common usage. More common are the simple phrases {X yori ookii{ (bigger than X) and {X yori chiisai{ (smaller than X).
19/03: Japanese compound verbs
One of the most interesting and flexible elements of Japanese is how verbs can be combined to create new words. In English, it's quite rare for two verbs to be stuck together, end to end, to have a single meaning. However, this is quite common in Japanese.
So, for example, in English we have the phrase {copy and paste{, whereas in Japanese, this is shortened to {kopi-pe{ - the two actions are run together as one. Perhaps the most common form of this is when the {root{ form of verbs (what's left after {-masu{ is removed from the polite form) is used to make a noun. For example, {Norikae{ is a noun meaning to change trains. This word comes from the root forms of {noru{ (to ride) plus {kaeru{ (to change). In this way, two simple words can be combined to create a third word.
So, for example, in English we have the phrase {copy and paste{, whereas in Japanese, this is shortened to {kopi-pe{ - the two actions are run together as one. Perhaps the most common form of this is when the {root{ form of verbs (what's left after {-masu{ is removed from the polite form) is used to make a noun. For example, {Norikae{ is a noun meaning to change trains. This word comes from the root forms of {noru{ (to ride) plus {kaeru{ (to change). In this way, two simple words can be combined to create a third word.
10/12: Shitsurei desu ga...
Sometimes the implied meaning of words can be very different from the stated meaning.
A friend of ours in Japan, on a recent visit to the offices of another company, asked the receptionist, {Kobayashi Hiroko, onegai shimasu{ ({Please get me Hiroko Kobayashi{), only to be told, {Shitsurei desu ga...{ ({Excuse me...{). Thinking that she hadn't been able to catch the name of the person he was looking for, he repeated himself. She laughed a little, and said {Onamae wa nan desu ka?{ ({What's your name?{).
In this case, the Japanese phrase {Shitsurei desu ga{ (literally, {it's rude, but{) implied something like {Excuse me for being so rude, but who should I say is asking for her?{ This is just one of the many situations in Japan where just being able to understand the spoken words is not enough - to communicate successfully, you have to understand the cultural background, and hear the unspoken words as well as the spoken. This is a major part of our approach at GenkiJACS (the {C{ stands for {Culture{!), and the reason we offer a cultural component to all our courses. Words alone are nearly meaningless - cultural context, it could be argued, can change everything...
A friend of ours in Japan, on a recent visit to the offices of another company, asked the receptionist, {Kobayashi Hiroko, onegai shimasu{ ({Please get me Hiroko Kobayashi{), only to be told, {Shitsurei desu ga...{ ({Excuse me...{). Thinking that she hadn't been able to catch the name of the person he was looking for, he repeated himself. She laughed a little, and said {Onamae wa nan desu ka?{ ({What's your name?{).
In this case, the Japanese phrase {Shitsurei desu ga{ (literally, {it's rude, but{) implied something like {Excuse me for being so rude, but who should I say is asking for her?{ This is just one of the many situations in Japan where just being able to understand the spoken words is not enough - to communicate successfully, you have to understand the cultural background, and hear the unspoken words as well as the spoken. This is a major part of our approach at GenkiJACS (the {C{ stands for {Culture{!), and the reason we offer a cultural component to all our courses. Words alone are nearly meaningless - cultural context, it could be argued, can change everything...
One of the hardest things for students of English as a second language is the subjunctive mood, especially talking about what might have been. Just look at the grammar of the title of this post: If I had been X, Y would have been Z. And that's with the simplest of all verbs, {to be{! Because of this, many non-native speakers will simply avoid saying sentences with the subjunctive in them, as there's just no time to get the grammar right when speaking... Another result of this is that many students of Japanese avoid using the subjunctive even when speaking Japanese.
However, the truth is that in Japanese, sentences about what could have been are extremely easy! For example, a current advert for a Japanese newspaper shows a serious-looking student, and the caption {If I hadn't read the newspaper, this would have been a pretty boring day.{ In Japanese, {Shimbun wo yomanakattara, kyou ha taikutsu na ichinichi datta.{ Transliterated to English, this is something like {Newspaper (object marker) if don't read, today (topic marker) boring day was.{ The fact that the speaker did read the newspaper and so this wasn't a boring day (i.e., that the sentence is expressing what could have been), is all held in the suffix {ttara{, {if{. If we change just that part, for example to {node{ (meaning {therefore{), the meaning of the whole sentence changes: {I didn't read the newspaper, so this was a pretty boring day.{ ({Shimbun wo yomanakatta node, kyou ha taikutsu na ichinichi datta.{)
Isn't that simple? Notice how much the English changed between those two sentences, for comparison. It's often hard for native speakers of English to grasp the simplicity of this sentence pattern, and we see students trying to make sentences that are as complex as the corresponding English. But there's really no need! Sometimes simple really is best.
However, the truth is that in Japanese, sentences about what could have been are extremely easy! For example, a current advert for a Japanese newspaper shows a serious-looking student, and the caption {If I hadn't read the newspaper, this would have been a pretty boring day.{ In Japanese, {Shimbun wo yomanakattara, kyou ha taikutsu na ichinichi datta.{ Transliterated to English, this is something like {Newspaper (object marker) if don't read, today (topic marker) boring day was.{ The fact that the speaker did read the newspaper and so this wasn't a boring day (i.e., that the sentence is expressing what could have been), is all held in the suffix {ttara{, {if{. If we change just that part, for example to {node{ (meaning {therefore{), the meaning of the whole sentence changes: {I didn't read the newspaper, so this was a pretty boring day.{ ({Shimbun wo yomanakatta node, kyou ha taikutsu na ichinichi datta.{)
Isn't that simple? Notice how much the English changed between those two sentences, for comparison. It's often hard for native speakers of English to grasp the simplicity of this sentence pattern, and we see students trying to make sentences that are as complex as the corresponding English. But there's really no need! Sometimes simple really is best.
