Currently viewing the category: "Japan"

Japanese sentence patterns – asking permission (~te mo ii desu ka)

On March 19, 2012 By

The structure for this sentence pattern is quite simple:

action in its “te form” mo ii desu ka?

Here are some examples:

でんきをけしてもいいですか。
Is it okay if I switch off the light?

テレビをつけてもいいですか。
Is it okay if I switch on the television?

ドアをしめてもいいですか。
Is it okay if I close the door?

まどをあけてもいいですか。
[...]

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Oomiwa jinja (大神神社)

Oomiwa Jinja Shrine in Nara, Japan

On July 7, 2011 By

Next year is going to introduce some big changes to my life, and I’m really looking forward to it.  Sometimes life has hard lessons, and just sometimes it seems that fate plays you the most wonderful cards.  One of the things that I’m looking forward to most is a rather significant trip to a [...]

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Is Japanese difficult to learn? A programmer’s perspective

On July 5, 2011 By

When I mention that I’m learning Japanese, many people ask something along the lines of “isn’t it a difficult language to learn?”  To be honest, the only true answer is that it’s difficulty is a direct inverse of your interest level, so really the question boils down to time, and how one would rather be [...]

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A few of the most useful phrases for a Japanese beginner

On June 21, 2011 By

There are a couple of key phrases that are really useful to remember when you’re starting to learn Japanese.  First though, there are some of the niceties:

onegai shimasu.
おねがいします。
Please.

doumo arigatou gozaimasu.
どうも ありがとう ございます。
Thank you very much.

gomen nasai.
ごめんなさい。
I’m sorry.

The key phrases [...]

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Japanese particles “ne” and “yo”

On June 21, 2011 By

So far I’ve found two particles that are pretty useful, although care is needed when you use them.

ne (ね) can be used at the end of a statement to mean “don’t you think?”  It sort of makes the assumption that the listener is going to agree with what you’re saying, and that they do [...]

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ookii

Japanese Calligraphy

On June 19, 2011 By

Today I was being taught how to write a few of the strokes using Japanese Calligraphy (習字). It’s an ancient art that’s surprisingly precise and uses a brush and special paper.

The tools are as follows:

Brush – ふで or 筆 Paper – わし or 和紙 Paperweight – ぶんちん or 文鎮 Ink stone – [...]

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11th March 2011 2:46pm (Japan Standard Time)

On March 15, 2011 By

I don’t need to tell anyone about what happened as it’s hard to avoid the news, but to give an idea of the scale and scope of the problem I’ve decided to collate information I find about the earthquake that hit North East Japan a few days ago.

The earthquake

The earthquake in Japan was [...]

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Japanese Vocabulary Wordsearch for Android

On February 23, 2011 By

This is a game for Android that helps you learn the hiragana, as well as build up your vocabulary in a fun way.

There are loads of applications on the Android platform, and the majority of those are either variations on phrase books or flash-cards.  While these are undoubtedly great tools in their own right [...]

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Japanese pronunciation

On February 18, 2011 By

There aren’t as many sounds in Japanese as there are in English, and they tend to be quite consistent which is also good to know when you start learning.  The sounds are made up from a set of basic syllables and their “alphabet” (Hiragana) is a list of syllables (a syllabary).

Key words (terms that [...]

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Japanese song lyrics – “Ue wo muite arukou”

On February 10, 2011 By

I found the lyrics to a popular, albeit old, Japanese song “Ue wo muite arukou” 「上を向いて歩こう」 by Sukiyaki (坂本九)

Ue o muite arukō

上を向いて歩こう
うえ　を　むいて　あるこう
I look up while I walk

涙が零れないように
なみだ　が　こぼれないように
So the tears won’t fall

思い出す春の日
おもいだす　はるの　ひ
Remembering those spring days

一人ぼっちの夜
ひとりぼっち　の　よる
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