November 10, 2007
Filed Under Japanese is Hard, Life |  

I’m Learning Japanese

Ok, I have about nine months until I take my trip to Japan. That’s nine months to learn enough Japanese to ask where the bathroom is, how to find a train station, and how to find Capcom’s headquarters. Every time I learn a few words well enough to remember them, I’m going to post them in my blog. So, to start:

Otokonoko/Otokonohito = boy/man

Onnanoko/Onnanohito= girl/woman

Zoo = Elephant

Inu = Dog

Neko = Cat

Uma = Horse

Hikoki = Plane

Taburu = Table

Ue = Above, on, over

Shita = under, below

That’s most of the first lesson for Japanese 1 using Rosetta Stone. Japanese sentence structure is confusing.

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4 comments

  1. Adam wrote on 12 November 2007, 9:19 am

    English: I ate an apple.
    Subject-Verb-Object

    Japanese: Watashi wa ringo o tabemashita.
    Subject-Object-Verb

    Just remember that the object and the verb are reversed and it’ll make it easier.

  2. Ryan wrote on 14 November 2007, 2:07 am

    So…for those of us who can’t read Japanese, that’d be “I, apple ate”?

  3. Adam wrote on 14 November 2007, 5:17 am

    Pretty much, yeah.
    Watashi = I/me
    ringo = apple
    tabemashita = ate

    wa is a subject marker (so who/what did the eating)
    o marks that the preceeding object (the apple) is being acted upon in a manner specified by the succeeding verb (eaten/ate).

    Examples-
    Watashi wa ringo o tabemashita = I ate an apple.
    Alex wa ringo o tabemashita = Alex ate an apple.
    Alex wa terebi o tabemashita = Alex ate a TV.
    Alex wa terebi o mimashita = Alex watched TV.

  4. Ryan wrote on 14 November 2007, 12:05 pm

    Thanks!

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