Basic Japanese. Eriko Sato

Japanese Phrases

      Beginner students of the Japanese language are often puzzled by simple, daily expressions when they see their literal translations. This is mainly due to socio-cultural differences between Japan and other countries, especially in the West, although structural differences in the language are also responsible. Many Japanese phrases were derived from locutions that express modesty and respect. For example, when the Japanese introduce themselves to others, they say yoroshiku onegai shimasu at the end. Phrase books will offer a conventional translation, like ‘Nice to meet you,’ but the literal translation is very different. Literally, yoroshiku means ‘well,’ appropriately,’ or ‘favorably.’ Onegai means ‘wish’ or ‘request.’ Shimasu means ‘will do.’ So, the entire phrase literally means something like ‘I request (you to act) in favor (of me)’ or ‘please be kind to me.’ You may wonder why Japanese people say something that implies their helplessness at the very moment they introduce themselves, but the phrase actually expresses their modesty, their respect for the person they’re speaking to, and their willingness to have a good relationship with him or her. And while the literal translation of the phrase is awkward, understanding the culture, understanding the idea of the phrase, and learning exactly when the phrase is used—by whom, to whom, and for what purpose—is the key to success in acquiring the language. Conventional English translations may be useful for you at the outset, but in a later context they will eventually confuse you. So, when you learn Japanese, think in Japanese, not in English!

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Basic Vocabulary

      FAMILIAR JAPANESE WORDS

折り紙 origami	origami
着物 kimono	kimono
空手 karate	karate
すし sushi	sushi
刺身 sashimi	sliced raw fish
すき焼き sukiyaki	sukiyaki (beef stew)
うどん udon	udon noodles
うなぎ unagi	eel
アニメ anime	anime, animation
マンガ/漫画 manga	comic books
ドラマ dorama	TV drama series
オタク otaku	otaku (people with obsessive interest in their hobby)
J-POP jei poppu	Japanese pop (music), J-pop

      FAMILY

お父さん otōsan	father
お母さん okāsan	mother
お兄さん onīsan	older brother
お姉さん onēsan	older sister

       CULTURE NOTE Manga

      In Japan, people of all ages read manga, or comic books. At restaurants in the business district, it’s common to see office workers in suits reading manga during their lunch breaks. Most cyber cafés in Japan offer their clients shelves of manga. There are popular long-running manga magazines like Shonen Jump, and some super-popular manga—for example, Nana by Ai Yazawa—have been turned into anime and/or movies. Manga’s history can be traced back to the twelfth century, but the modern style of manga has flourished since World War II, with themes varying from action-adventure to romance, history, comedy, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror, among others. Manga are studied by scholars, and there are even manga museums (for example, the Kyoto International Manga Museum). One reason for the appeal of manga is that they are very much accessible to anyone. They can influence people’s lives, giving them courage, offering enlightenment, and releasing stress. Near 40 percent of the total sales of books and magazines in Japan are from manga publications. In fact, many supplementary teaching materials take the form of manga, teaching kanji, proverbs, history, and other subjects. Manga can be a good study tool for learners of Japanese like you, because they introduce kanji with the aid of a pronunciation guide (furigana), vocabulary words, colloquial phrases, onomatopoeia, and other features in illustrated contexts.

      ANIMALS

犬 inu	dog
猫 neko	cat
兎 usagi	rabbit
猿 saru	monkey
馬 uma	horse

      LANDSCAPE

山 yama	mountain
川 kawa	river
海 umi	ocean, sea
池 ike	pond
湖 mizuumi	lake

Structure Notes

1.1. Pronunciation

      Every language has a system of sounds, and no two systems are exactly alike. The same organs are used in pronouncing the sounds of Japanese and those of English, but they are used in somewhat different ways. These organs are parts of the mouth, the tongue, the nose, and the throat. You will find it helpful to learn a bit about how these organs are used to make the sounds of English and those of Japanese. Many of the sounds in these two languages are so similar that you can use English sounds for the Japanese ones without being misunderstood, but there are some English pronunciation habits that you must avoid if you are to speak understandable Japanese. And if you don’t want your Japanese to have a marked American accent, you will want to pay close attention to the slight differences between even those sounds that are most alike in the two languages.

1.2. Rhythm

      English is spoken in a SYNCOPATED fashion—we bounce along, rushing syllables in between heavy stresses, keeping an irregular rhythm and tempo based on our stress system. Each normal English syllable is spoken with one of four stresses—and there’s even an extra one, especially loud, to show unusual emphasis. If you listen to the word windshield wiper you will notice that the first syllable (‘wind-’) is more heavily pronounced than the others; the last syllable (‘-er’) is the weakest; and for some speakers there is a difference in stress between the remaining syllables (‘-shield-’ and ‘-wipe-’). Those Americans who hear no difference in stress between ‘-shield-’ and ‘-wipe-’ may hear the somewhat stronger stress on the syllable ‘new’ in the phrase “a new windshield wiper” (with the strongest stress still on the syllable ‘wind-’).

      Japanese, on the other hand, speak in a METRONOMIC fashion—as if there were a musician’s metronome evenly beating out each syllable. Instead of putting a heavy stress on some syllables and various weaker stresses on the others, the Japanese gives each syllable a moderate and even stress. And instead of rushing syllables in between the heavy-stressed ones, speeding up the weaker syllables, slowing down for the stronger ones, the Japanese speaker allows about the same amount of time for each of his syllables, regardless of the apparent prominence of the syllable. To the ears of an American, accustomed to hearing distinctive stresses, not all Japanese syllables are heard evenly strong. This is because not all Japanese syllables are equally PROMINENT. The prominence of a syllable is conditioned by a variety of factors, such as stress, vowel color, pitch, voicing, etc. Of these factors, stress is the most important in English, but the least important in Japanese. Of course, those syllables that have voiceless or dropped vowels in Japanese will sound weakly stressed to an untrained American ear. So the first English habit to overcome in speaking Japanese is syncopation. Try to time your Japanese syllables evenly,