July 31, 2011

Never too Old :)




How old are you? What is your age?

ですか。
[何(なん), 歳(さい)]

19です。I am 19 years old.^^


***NOTE: 20 years old: 二十 is read: (はたち).

漢字(かんじ)KANJI

Years Old

Simple kanji for "years old": 才

What

***NOTE: 音読み (おんよみ) --> Chinese origin reading
                     訓読み (くんよみ)    --> Japanese origin reading

July 29, 2011

Money, Money, Money ♫♪


This is the Kanji for "YEN-¥", it can also mean "circle" or "round", read まる. But Today I'll write about money. 

Let's say you're in Japan and you want to buy something:

-すみません、これはいくらですか。Excuse me, how much is this?
-それは500です。That is 500yen. (read えん)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10000円                                             5000円
 

                                              2000円                                              1000円
  

500円 

100円 50円 
5円10円1円 


For more info, wikipedia x): JPY

July 27, 2011

What TIME is it?


What time is it? - 何時ですか?[何 = なん ; 時 = じ]

Pattern: number + 時 じ (There are some strange ones...)

1 O'Clock - 一時 いちじ
2 O'Clock - 二時 にじ
3 O'Clock - 三時 さんじ
4 O'Clock - 四時 よじ
5 O'Clock - 五時 ごじ
6 O'Clock - 六時 ろくじ
7 O'Clock - 七時 しちじ
8 O'Clock - 八時 はちじ
9 O'Clock -  九時 くじ
10 O'Clock - 十時 じゅうじ
11 O'Clock - 十一時 じゅういちじ
12 O'Clock - 十二時 じゅうにじ

  Pattern: number + 分 ふん (There are some exceptions to the pattern)

1 minute - 一分 いっぷん
2 minutes - 二分 にふん
3 minutes - 三分 さんぶん
4 minutes - 四分 よんぷん
5 minutes - 五分 ごふん
6 minutes - 六分 ろっぷん
7 minutes - 七分 ななふん
8 minutes - 八分 はっぷん
9 minutes - 九分 きゅうふん
10 minutes - 十分 じゅうっぷん

30  minutes - 半 はん
half past - 三重分 さんじゅうぷん

Examples:

5:27 - 五時二十七分 ごじにじゅうななふん
 3:30 - 三時半 さんじはん
12: 04 - 二十時四分 にじゅうじよんぷん

July 25, 2011

Hello! :D

First a self-introduction, it's nice to know what to say when you meet someone~

はじめまして。Nice to meet you, literally "for the first time".

私の名前は_______。My name is ______. [私 = わたし ; 名前 = なまえ]

Or

私は_______です。I'm ______.

よろしくお願いします。Pleasure to meet you, literally "please me kind to me".
[お願いします= おねがいします]


There are also casual ways such as よろしく but I'd go the safe way and be polite, just in case x)




Example:

はじめまして。私はリオターです。よろしくお願いします。


Vocabulary:

こんいちは。Hello
おはようございます。Good morning (おはようmorning ~casual)
こんばんは。Good afternoon
おやすみなさい。Good night (おやすみ~casual)
みなさんEverybody/Everyone

元気ですか?How are you? (literally "Are you healthy") (元気?~casual) [元気 = げんき]
元気です。I'm fine (元気~casual)
まあまあ。So, so
さいあく。literally "The worst"

ありがとう。Thanks
ありがとうございます。Thank You 
どうもありがとうございます。Thank You very much
お願いします。Please (おねがい ~casual)

すみません。Excuse me
ごめんなさいI'm sorry (ごめん~casual)

いただきます。((before eating)) literally "I will receive"
ごちそうさま。((after eating)) ~thanking for the food~
おいしい。delicious
かんぱい。cheers

もういちどお願いします。Repeat, literally "once again / one more time"
ゆっくりお願いします。Slowly, please.
かいてください。Please, write it down.


Today's song: FT Island - "Hello hello"


Lee Hong Ki's voice :3

July 23, 2011

一、二、三・・・

Today I learnt the Japanese numbers. From 1 to... Any number ;)

(Honestly I only know up to the number 100,000,000,000 but I think that it's really enough haha)

If you learn the basic patterns, it's easy. Plus there are some exceptions but they are also ok!

Ready... Steady... GO!

1 一 いち
2 二 に
3 三 さん
4 四 しよん
5 五 ご
6 六 ろく
7 七 しちなな
8 八 はち
9 九 きゅう
10 十 じゅう

Now, to make 11, 12, 13.... up to 19 the pattern is: 10 + number

11 → (10 + 1) → (十 + 一) → 十一 じゅういち
12 十二 じゅうに
13 十三 じゅうさん
14 十四 じゅうし 
15 十五 じゅうご
16 十六 じゅうろく
17 十七 じゅうしち
18 十八 じゅうはち
19 十九 じゅうきゅう

Moar... 20, 30, 40... up to 90 the pattern is: number + 10

20 → (2 + 10) → ( 二+ 十) → 二十 にじゅう
30 三十 さんじゅう
40 四十 よんじゅう
50 五十 ごじゅう
60 六十 ろくじゅう
70 七十 ななじゅう / しちじゅう
80 八十 はちじゅう
90 九十 きゅうじゅう

How to say the number in the middle is just following the patterns, for example:

31 → (3 + 10 + 1) → (三 + 十 + 一) → 三十一 さんじゅういち
25 二十五
72 七十二
99 九十九

Hooray! I can say the numbers 1 - 100!... Whoops, I missed 100, which is 百 ひゃく

The next pattern is for the numbers 200, 300, 400... up to 900 :) number + 100 (I'm sure that was easy to guess xD)

200 → (2 + 100) → (二 + 百) → 二百 にひゃく
300 三百 さんびゃく
400 四百 よんひゃく
500 五百 ごひゃく
600 六百 ろっぴゃく
700 七百 ななひゃく / しちひゃく
800 八百 はっぴゃく
900 九百 きゅひゃく

Examples of the middle numbers:

301 → (3 + 100 + 1) → (三 + 百 + 一) → 三百一 さんびゃくろく
256 二百六 にひゃくろく
702 七百二 ななひゃくに
999 九百九 きゅうひゃくきゅう

So continuing... 1000  is 千 せん (or いっせん)

Pattern is: number + 1000

2000 → (2 + 1000) → ( 二+千 ) → 二千 にせん
3000 三千 さんぜん
4000 四千 よんせん
5000 五千 ごせん
6000 六千 ろくせん
7000 七千 ななせん
8000 八千 はっせん
9000 九千 きゅうせん

Some examples of the numbers in between:

3014 → (3 + 1000 + 10 + 4) → (三 + 千 + 十 + 四) → 三千十四 さんぜんじゅうし
2568 二千五百六十八 にせんごひゃくろくじゅうはち
7023 七千二十三 ななせんにじゅうさん
9999 九千九百九十九 きゅうせんきゅうひゃくきゅうじゅうきゅう

And finally the last pattern, 10,000 which is 万 まん (or いちまん). So it goes... number + 10000

20,000 → (2 + 10,000) → (二 + 万) → 二万 にまん
30,000 三万 さんまん
40,000 四万 よんまん
50,000 五万 ごまん
60,000 六万 ろくまん
70,000 七万 ななまん
80,000 八万 はちまん
90,000 九万 きゅうまん

Some middle numbers...

30,147 → (3 + 10,000 + 100 + 4 + 10 + 7) → (三 + 百 + 四 + 十 + 七) → 
三万百四十七 さんまんひゃくよんじゅうなな (Simply following the pattern ^^)

25,689 二万五千六百八十九 にまんごせんろっぴゃくはちじゅうきゅう
70,234 七万二百三十四 ななまんにひゃくさんじゅうよん
99,999 九万九千九百九十九 きゅうまんきゅうせんきゅうひゃくきゅうじゅうきゅう

And finally 100,000 十万 じゅうまん

The rest of the numbers and their patterns are easily guessed if you know these...

1,000,000 百万 ひゃくまん
10,000,000 千万 せんまん (or 一千万 いっせんまん) 
100,000,000 億 おく (or 一億 いちおく) 
1,000,000,000 十億 じゅうおく
10,000,000,000 百億 ひゃくおく
100,000,000,000 千億 せんおく (or 一千億 いっせんおく)


~^^~

Today's song: Plain White T's - "1, 2, 3, 4"


<3

July 21, 2011

What is this!?

Vocabulary I learnt today:

what - なに


medicine - くすり
baby - あかちゃん

hospital - びょういん
rain - あめ
snow - ゆき
summer - なつ
winter - ふゆ
autumn - あき
spring - はる
textbook - きょうかしょ
vegetable - やさい
airport - くうこう
aeroplane - ひこうき
building/structure - たてもの
bird - とり
fish - さかな
meat - にく
head -あたま 
body - からだ
breakfast - あさごはん
telephone - でんわ
glasses - めがね
pencil - えんぴつ
food - たべもの
chair - いす
drink/beverage - のみもの

work/job - しごと

student - がくせい
author - さっか
monster - かいじゅう
demon - おに
singer - かしゅ
primary school student -  しょうがくせい
high school student - こうこうせい
middle school student - ちゅうがくせい
homeless person - びんぼう
office worker - かいしゃいん
accountant - かいけいし
politician - せいじか
farmer - のうみん
driver - うんてんしゅ
house wife - しゅふ

わたし- I (standard)
わたくし- I (female)
ぼく- I (male teenagers)
おれ- I (men)
じぶん- Oneself/myself (men)
あなた- You (standard ; affectionate when used alone, calling the loved one)
おまえ- You (Boy talking to the girl ; can be ironic, rude~)
きみ- You (affectionate ; when speaking to a kid ; elders use it too)
てまえてめえ- You (Old, angry, rude, men)
こいつ- You (Not nice, literally "this person")

When talking to someone best option is:  Name + name ender

The name ender depends...

~さん- Mr/Mrs/Miss (Standard, polite, all situations)
~くん- to address men (your age or younger)
~せんせい- "teacher" (also used on doctors)
~せんぱい- to address peers that were there already when you came or to address someone that's better than you at something.

Whoa that's loads of vocabulary at once. Nevermind, it's fun :D

And to end a small piece of grammar:

これ - This
それ - That
あれ -That (over there)

Examples: 

これえんぴつです。This is a pencil.

それ なんですか?What is this?



この - This
その - That
あの - That (over there)

The difference between  the two (this-this, that-that, that(over there)-that(overthere) ) is that the second set needs to be followed by a noun.

Examples:

このえんぴつ あたらしいですThis pencil is new.

そのたべものおいしでしたか?Was that food delicious?

All for today ^^

Today's song: Yamashita Tomohisa - "Daite Senorita"


Sorry I couldn't find the mv

July 19, 2011

Particle はand が

Hey! This is going an important post! :)

Today I'll introduce the particles  は and が. I'll try to make it simple but actually these two particles, は and が, are kinda tough for Japanese learners as sometimes it is difficult to know when to use one or another.

は is one of the Japanese particles. Although the hiragana は is pronounced "ha", when used as a particle it is pronounced as "wa".

I'm no pro explaining things but thinking that the particle は had to stick with the subject you were going to talk about helped a lot. Also there's an unsaid rule that you should only use は once per sentence. So if you've already said it once in a sentence and you want to introduce another thing in the sentence you have to use が.

Summarizing, both show what is the subject but  emphasizes what comes AFTER and が emphasizes what comes BEFORE.

Sentence pattern only using は :  A B です。A is B.
Sentence pattern only using が :  A が B です。A is B.
Sentence pattern using は and が in the same sentence: Aは B が ______ です。

This pattern is very complicated to translate so it's better to think of it as: "As for A, B is ______".

Instead of  です, you can say other things, such as じゃありません, でした, じゃありませんでした...
が です。


Examples that I hope helps everyone understand:

リオターです。I am Rioter.

リオターです。I am Rioter. [The importance is on the "I". This could be used, for example, if some asks "Who is Rioter?", so you answer "I am Rioter." ~me, not anyone else, it's me~ ]

私は猫が好きです。 I like cats. (Or more literally: "As for me, cats are liked (by me)" Oh my... This sounds so weird D: But it's the best I can do. The more you understand the structures this way, the more Japanese-like mind you'll be able to have :)

(Yes, I used Kanji and Katakana which I haven't yet made a post about. Don't worry! :) 私 is read わたし, and リオター is read りおたあ )

And that's all! I hope I could make it easy~ ^^ See you soon

-------------------------

Today's song: Mr Children - "Hanabi


 この歌が大好きです。(I love this song <3)

[ この = This ; 歌 (うた) = song ; 大好き (だいすき) = love]

July 17, 2011

Did I say... Past?

久しぶり。Long time no see... Sorry 'bout that (though I don't think anyone really reads this blog haha)

Let's take a look at past tense

Present: で
Past:  でした

Instead of "" you put "した".

That's it ._.

Example: りんご した
              It was an apple.

This was too little so I'll expand the info. If we join the negative and the past, we get the negative form of the past :D 

じゃありません   +  でした   =    じゃありませんでした

This is just so simple to be true.... Well it is true! ^^

Example: りんご じゃありませんでした。

Finished~

-------------------------------

Vocabulary I learnt today:                                     
tangerine -  みかん
cat -  ねこ
dog -  いぬ
Japan - にほん
apple - りんご
train - でんしゃ
newspaper - しんぶん
park - こうえん
dictionary - じしょ
subway - ちかてつ
restroom (polite) - おてあらい
salt - しお
sugar - さとう
desk - つくえ
box - はこ
picture - しゃしん
child - こども

---------------------------

Today's song: Miyavi "じぶん かくめい" ~ No reason for this song, was just listening to it right now!







July 15, 2011

Negative form !

hello there ! Today's topic is very important: Saying NO ! (hahaha, useful, ain't it?)

Firstly, "no" in Japanese is   いいえ  (iie).

Secondly, we have already learnt how to say "It is" so now we will learn how to say "It is not"

Let's get on with this tiny useful thing :D

"It is not" <--->  じゃありません (jaarimasen)

Pattern:      A  じゃありません


       It is not A.


Example:        ねこ じゃありません

                            It is not a cat.

------------------

Let's put together everything that we already know ^o^ !

いぬ ですか ?

Is it a dog?

いいえ、いぬ じゃありません

No, it is not a dog.

ねこ です。

It is a cat.

Not at all complicated AND we can now say positive and negative sentences! Good news :)

-------------------

Today's song: Train "Breakfast in bed"~~ :)







July 13, 2011

Asking Questions @_@

Hey everyone!! :D

This is just a tiny little thing, simple, but SO great! Asking questions is absolutely super important >.< AND for our luck, is SO easy in Japanese ^^

You just have to add   か at the end of the sentence... And... tadaa! You've just converted the sentence into a question :D

Pattern:     A   です  ?

                   "Is it A?"

Here I've set up the pattern with です because it's the verb I've learnt. You can use  か with other things, just add it up at the end ;)

example:     なし です?

                   "Is it a pear?"

So till the moment, we already know how to set up sentences and how to ask, that's a great improvement! ^^

Today's song: Biffy Clyro "Bubbles" ~I totally love this band *-*


 

July 11, 2011

Basic Sentence Pattern

みんなさん おはよお!(Morning, everyone!)

Today I learned how to make basic sentences! Isn't that great? Now I can start to speak & write :D... Only this is just a start... There's still a long way to go.

Pattern:           A   です

                       "It is A."

A being a noun. ですcan be translated to "it is". BUT it is not pronounced "desu", it is pronounced "dess".

Example:         さる です

                    "It is a monkey."

VERY simple but useful!! This is just our beginning in this Japanese long trip ;D

--------------------------------

Vocabulary I learned today: 
monkey - さる
grapes - ぶどう
strawberry - いちご
pumpkin - かぼちゃ
Yes - はい
pear - なし
cherry - さくらんぼ
mushroom - きのこ
peach - もも
octopus - たこ
watermelon - すいか

----------------------------------

Today's song: The Swellers "This is my Everest" ~This is our Everest, but we'll get to the top :)






July 9, 2011

Hiragana

Today's topic: ひらがな (HIRAGANA)

¿Easy peasy? I do think so ;) Let's get on with it then!

 Key: Follow the pattern (a i u e o

[From left to right, from top to bottom]


Really bad quality pics... ò_ó mad at blogger, can't there be an intermediate size between large and extra large!? Well, sorry for that, I got this pic from Wikipedia, so there you can see it perfect.

These are the basic characters, but by adding dakuten (marks), such as ten ten (two little strokes on the top) or maru (little circle on the top) you get more sounds. 


Also there is combination hiragana: hiragana characters combined with a small やya/ゆyu/よyo  [These must be small, I just don't know how to fully use IME very well...] 



Also to write doubled consonants, before the consonant you write a small  つtsu [This must be small too...]
Here are examples so you understand, as today I'm not explaining myself very well...
Cafe: きっさてん (kissaten) /// Stamp: きって (kitte)

That's it with hiragana, just learn them. The pronunciation of hiragana is basically "Spanish-like" sounds. There are zillions of videos on Youtube ;D

Enjoy learning hiragana, it's fun and rewarding!!

Today's song: Yui Horie (& Unscandal) "Scramble" ~Very Positive! Because we are both happy now we know ひらがな , it's a very big step on our Japanese ^^




July 7, 2011

First contact


みんなん こんにちわ!(Hello everyone!) 
A few days ago I started seriously my Japanese learning project. My goal is not only being able to speak (fluently, hard goal haha) but also being able to read and write Japanese. Sounds tough, huh? 

So the first thing to ask ourselves is: In what is Japanese written? 
English is written using an alphabet, we all know that, you combine letters (26 to be precise...) to make words. Japanese language doesn't have an alphabet as such, instead it has 4 "alphabets". They're not actually alphabets, of course, but the general idea is that. Those 4 writting systems are: Romaji, hiragana, katakana and kanji.

Romaji is just the romanization of the Japanese proper writing systems. In other words, writing Japanese with the English alphabet. This is not accurate and should not be read with the English pronunciation (quite obvious...). So it's reasonable to think that this "alphabet" isn't very useful, 99% of the time you won't see romaji on real life Japanese, therefore it's a less waste of time to focus on the other 3 ;)

Hiragana is the base of Japanese. Technically it's a syllabary that contains 48 characters (but some of them combined and some of them with a "dakuten" makes them a few more). Learning it makes you achieve more and better :D By knowing it you can start right away reading Japanese (although you won't understand much as you lack grammar and vocabulary). Each character is made up of two English letters, presicely a vowel + consonant. Exceptions: single "n", those that are consonant + ya/yu/yo. For me hiragana is fun to learn, so cute and rounded :3

Katakana has the same characters as hiragana with the diference that katakana is sqared and edgy. Also Katakana is used to write foreign words and onomatopeya. That's the main diference: Hiragana, Japanese words, katakana, foreign words and sounds.

Kanji are the chinese characters. Those big and full of strokes unreadeable smudges on the paper. Hopefully I'll get round it too. I'll beat you kanji! Wahahaha! (Ok... I got too overly exited xD). Kanji was imported to Japan several times (that's why some kanji have more than one reading!). Kanji has on-yomi and kun-yomi. In other words, Chinese reading (on-yomi) and Japanese reading (kun-yomi). Some Kanji have multiple on readings and multiple kun readings, but I am following a kanji learning method that feels pretty good and focused on the 90% time readings used :). Therefore I don't waste my time and memory space in learning readings that are never used :D. All the vocabulary words can be (and mostly are...) written with kanji. There are +10000 kanji but luckily the Japanese Government has set up a list (Jōyō Kanji with 2,136 characters) with the most used kanji (not only most used but the only that are used). Rarely you will see kanji in real life (newspapers, etc) that aren't included on the list (rarely, not never ). Let's be optimistic about it!

These are the very basic ideas for today. I'll keep on going with my Japanese and telling you about it. Therefore I take in things better by writing here.

Today's song: Toe "Good Bye" So relaxing~








July 5, 2011

About

Hello everyone! I'm Rioter (id card says Christina... But, who cares? ;D). Welcome to "Rioter, You & Japan" blog.

A short presentation of myself: I'm a 19 years old bilingual (Spanish-English) girl. I study at university and I work as a part-time English teacher.

You may be thinking "What can this blog give me? It must be just another blog which talks about Japan...-_-" ...
So I'll try hard so that that thought doesn't even pop up  in your mind! (Not promising anything though... xD, but honestly I'll try my best).
The main reason for the blog to exist is to keep track of my Japanese learning. But to make it more useful and not so boring and lonely, I've thought that the best way to learn is helping each other. That's why here you can find everything so that your Japanese learning goes on smoothly. Also I'm interested in Japan's culture and curious everything it has, so you will as well find posts related to that.

To end I have to say that for sure you will also find very random stuff ^_~ I hope you enjoy every single bit of this blog!

See you~

P.D: Gente que prefiere el español: En un principio iba a hacer el blog en los dos idiomas (español e inglés) pero es, la verdad, mucho trabajo. Aún así si no dudéis en participar en cualquier idioma, preguntad, todo, etc ;) Y por supuesto pedidme traducciones si las necesitáis! (aunque está el traductor de google aquí en el blog, ya sabéis lo bien que traduce (sarcasmo..)
Disfrutad el blog!

P.P.S: I also have a personal blog... http://rioter-is.blogspot.com/ but there's where I speak my mind, show my art work and vent all my frustrations/anger/feelings in general.

P.P.P.S: Videos I post are in my youtube channal: http://www.youtube.com/user/613RiOteR
              Twitter --> http://twitter.com/#!/Rioter_nemorock
              If you need help with Spanish and/or English don't doubt in asking for it too! ;)