The Week of April 7.

Dear Parents:

This week, students learned very basic, but the most important (I think), grammar rule of Japanese verbs. That is Japanese verbs consist of 2 parts: the verb stem and the conjugated portion. The verb stem tells the meaning of the verb, the conjugated portion tells the verb tense and whether the verb is affirmative or negative.

Verbs we have covered are “to speak”, “to eat”, “to drink”, “to read”, “to listen”, “to study”, and “to do (homework)”. By now, students should know how to form present tense/ affirmative, present tense/ negative, past tense/ affirmative, and past tense/ negative of a verb.

Also, they learned several sentence structures; from a simple one to more sophisticated ones.

Examples are:

I ate sushi.

I ate sushi yesterday.

I ate sushi for dinner yesterday.

I ate sushi in Kona yesterday.

I ate sushi with my friends yesterday.

I ate sushi with my friends in Kona yesterday.

I ate sushi for dinner with my friends in Kona yesterday.

With whom do you eat lunch usually?

Where do you eat lunch usually?

What do you eat for breakfast usually?

Etc…



Homework for this weekend? Study for the next week test.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Body Parts, Colors, and Katakana

Last week, the students learned body parts and expressions using body part words. For instance, "is smart" is あたまが　いいです(あたま A TA MA=head, いい II=good, thus means "has a good head"="is smart"), or "かおが　いいです(かお KA O=face, いい II=good, thus means "has a good face"= "is good looking." etc.

Body parts they learned were hair, ear, eye, nose, mouth, tooth, hand, stomach, foot/leg, head, face, body, finger, voice, heart and height.

Also, they learned kanji for body parts. Can you guess what these kanji means? HINT: These kanji were derived from the shapes of body parts.

a. 口

b. 目

c. 耳

d. 手

e. 足

f. 心

This week, we covered colors, such as あかA KA(red), しろ(SHI RO) white, くろ(KU RO) black, あお(A O) blue, きいろ(KI I RO) yellow, ちゃいろ(CHA I RO) brown, みどり (MI DO RI) green, and むらさき(MU RA SA KI) purple.

Speaking of colors, certain colors have significance in the Japanese culture. Red and white are used for happy occasions such as weddings, engagements, baby birth, etc. Black is used for funerals. Green has a clean, new and fresh image and therefore is used often to create a positive image.

Also, あお(A O) translates as "blue, " but oftentimes also means green. The green color of traffic light is called あお(A O=blue) in Japanese. New young leaves and fresh green grass are not described as みどり(MI DO RI=green), but as あお(A O=blue). So confusing!

In addition, the students have started to learn katakana, one of Japanese phonetic characters in this semester. Katakana is used to mainly to write non-Japanese words or names. Your child should know how to write his/her first name using katakana. Katakana is also sometimes used as a device to call attention to certain words (i.e., in advertising, announcements, etc.) It is also used to write onomatopoetic expressions.

Have a wonderful weekend!




Answers for kanji:

a. mouth
b. eye
c. ear
d. hand
e. foot/leg
f. heart

Double Consonants Hiragana, Hiragana Combinations, and Nationality

We have completed all hiragana, including double consonants and hiragana combinations!!

Confusion Points in Hiragana:

は /HA/ vs. ほ /HO/:
Note that the first has only one horizontal, and that the second does not have a line protruding at the top.

ね /NE/, わ /WA/ and れ/RE/:
Note that the first has a funky piggy tail curl, which the second misses. Also, the first two curl to the left, the third to the right.

め /ME/ vs. ぬ /NU/:
The first has no piggy tail curl.

い /I/ vs. り /RI/:
Note that the first is long-shorter, while the second is short-longer.

ろ /RO/ vs. る /RU/:
Note the curl difference.

さ /SA/ vs. ち /CHI/:
Simply note the direction.

さ /SA/vs. き /KI/:
Remember to count the horizontal lines.

お /O/ vs. あ /A/:
Note that the first is one connected vertical plus curl, while the second is most definitely two strokes.

Double Consonants:
When writing in hiragana, the double consonants (/KK/, /PP/, /SS/, or /TT/) are expressed with a small つ /tsu/ in place of the first consonant. See the examples below:

school GAKKO がっこう

slowly YUKKURI ゆっくり

magazine ZASSHI ざっし

a little CHOTTO ちょっと

Hiragana Combinations:
When a や/YA/, ゆ /YU/, or よ /YO/ sound follows certain characters in Japanese, the sound is shortened and so instead of two separate characters, the sound is written as the combination of the first character and a small version of the や, ゆ, or よ.

For example, SHOYU (soy source) is written しょうゆ, and GEISHA is written げいしゃ.

By the way, did you know the main actress of movie "Memories of a Geisha", Ziyi Zhang, is not a Japanese but she is a Chinese?

Anyway, students will have hiragana test on Tuesday, December 4th.

Nationality:

Also, students learned how to say their nationality and ask someone's nationality.
To say your nationality, put じん (JIN), which means person, after the name of your country.

"WATASHI WA (= I ) [country name in Japanese] JIN (= person) DESU ( = am) ."

For example, "I am an American." would be "WATASHI WA A ME RI KA JIN DESU." in Japanese.

America ("A ME RI KA" in Japanese) and Canada ("KA NA DA" in Japanese) fit the Japanese syllabary very neatly but some countries have to be changed quite a bit. Can you guess what these countries are?

1. CHUU GO KU
2. FU RA N SU
3. O O SU TO RA RI A
4. KA N KO KU
5. SU PE I N
6. DO I TSU
7. GI RI SHA
8. I GI RI SU
9. NYUU JII RAN DO
10. RO SHI A


Have a wonderful weekend!





Answers:
1. China
2. France
3. Australia
4. Korea
5. Spain
6. Germany
7. Greece
8. England
9. New Zealand
10. Russia

Particles, Hiragana for R+Vowels

Addition to particles は /WA/, の /NO/ and か/KA/, which were introduced already, your child learned new particles.

Particles are probably one of the most difficult and confusing aspects of Japanese sentences. A particle (JOSHI in Japanese) is a word that shows the relationship of a word, a phrase, or a clause to the rest of the sentence. Some particles have English equivalents. Others have functions similar to English prepositions, but since they always follow the word or words they mark, they are post-positions. There are also particles that have a peculiar usage which is not found in English. Most particles are multi-functional.

は/WA/: topic marker. It is written with the hiragana は ha, but it is pronounced WA when it is used as a topic particle.

e.g. WATASHI WA JOHN SMITH DESU. "I am John Smith."

の/NO/: possession, noun linking

e.g. JOHN NO TOYOTA "John's Toyota"

HPA NO SEITO "Students of HPA"

か/KA/: question particle. Makes a sentence into a question. When forming a question, the word order of a sentence does not change in Japanese; rather just adding this question particle か at the end of a sentence.

e.g. ANATA WA NIHON-JIN DESU KA. "Are you Japanese?"

と/TO/: To conjoin nouns

e.g. Tom TO Jerry "Tom and Jerry"

も/MO/: "also"

e.g.: WATASHI MO "Me, too"


Hiragana for R+ vowels:

Also, your child learned more hiragana:

ら/RA/, り/RI/, る/RU/, れ/RE/ and ろ/RO/

Japanese "r" is similar to Spanish "r". It is quite different from English "r", and using English "l" is better. Therefore, Japanese people have difficulty distinguishing English “l” and “r” sounds, play vs. pray, lice vs. rice etc.

To pronounce Japanese "r", flick the tip of the tongue against the gum behind the upper teeth. There are variations in the pronunciation of this sound, but the one I described here is the Tokyo standard pronunciation.

Speaking of "R", Nissan GT-R new modle debutted at the Tokyo Motor Show last month. Nissan has not sold GT-R here in US, but they will sell this modle in US. I wish I could buy this iconic and legendary Japanese sports coupe...

Kinship Terms and Hiragana や, ゆ, よ

This week, students learned the terms of family.

In Japanese, the terms of family relationships differ according to whether you are talking about your own family to someone else, or the other person's family.

When talking about your family:

father= chichi
mother=haha

older brother=ani
older sister=ane

younger brother=otooto

younger sister=imooto
grandfather=sofu
grandmother =sobo

uncle=oji

aunt=oba

When talking about another's family:

father=otoosan

mother=okaasan

older brother=oniisan

older sister=oneesan

younger brother=otootosan

younger sister=imootosan

grandfather=ojiisan

grandmother=obaasan

uncle=ojisan

aunt=obasan

How do Japanese people address their family members?

When they address family members OTOOSAN or PAPA (yes, like an English "papa") is used for father, OKAASAN or MAMA for mother, ONIISAN for older brothers, ONEESAN for older sisters and the given names for younger brothers ans younger sisters. PAPA and MAMA are generally used by younger persons. (Yet, my wife, who is not young at all, addresses her parents "PAPA" and "MAMA"! Ha, ha, ha. I have a young wife!, I guess... )

Anyway, Japanese do not use given names for family members older than themselves. Even spouses rarely uses their given names when addressing one another. The interesting point of the kinship address terms is that the viewpoint is usually fixed on the youngest member of the family. For example, it is not uncommon at all for a man with a child to call his wife "OKAASAN"(mother) or MAMA and for his wife to call her husband "OTOOSAN" (father) or PAPA, because their word usage is based on their child's viewpoint.

Also, we covered more hiragana. This week, students learned:

や/YA/, ゆ/YU/ and よ/YO/

The consonant in these syllables is kike the first sound in "yes."

The sound /YI/ and /YE/ do not exist in standard Japanese, yet we spell "Inouye" for Daniel Inouye, US Senator for Hawaii. Why? I don't know...

Have a wonderful weekend!

Counting People and Hiragana ま, み, む, め, も

Each language has different ways of counting objects. Japanese uses counters. They are similar to English expressions such as "a cup of ~," "a sheet of ~" and so on. There are a variety of counters, often based on the shape of the object. The counters are attached directly to a number. When combining a number with a counter, the pronunciation of the number or the counter might change.

Another thing I want to mention is when grouping objects, Japanese divide them into groups of five and ten unlike six and twelve in the West. For example, sets of Japanese dishes or bowls are sold in units of five. Traditionally, there was no word for dozen, though it has been used because of Western influence.

COUNTERS:
MAI: for flat, thin objects: paper, stamps, dishes, etc.
KO: for broad category of small and compact objects
HAI: for liquid in cups, glasses, bowls, etc.
SATSU: bound objects: books, magazines, etc.
DAI: for vehicles, machines etc.
KAI: for the floor of a building
KEN: for houses, buildings
SOKU: for pairs of footwear: sock, shoes, etc.
TSUU: for letters

Counting people
Here we use the suffix "NIN" but this changes depending on the number before, and 1 and 2 have exceptions again just learn by counting over and over out loud.

1 person: HITORI
2 people: FUTARI
3 people: SAN NIN
4 people: YO NIN
5 people: GO NIN
6 people: ROKU NIN
7 people: SHICHI NIN or NANA NIN
8 people: HACHI NIN
9 people: KYUU NIN
10 people: JUU NIN
How many people: NAN NIN

Please notice that 4 people is “YO NIN”, not “SHI NIN”. Ask your child why we don’t say “SHI NIN.”

Also, we covered more hiragana:

ま /MA/, み/MI/, む/MU/, め/ME/, and も/MO/.
The initial sound here is like that in “my” but with less force behind it.



Halloween Costume Contest Winners and Miss Lay

School system, Hiragana, and more...

This week your child learned how to say university/college, high school, middle school, elementary school, what grade he/she is in, and the differences between schools in US and Japan.

Also we covered hiragana は /ha/, ひ/hi/, ふ/fu/, へ/he/, ほ/ho/, ば/ba/, び/bi/, ぶ/bu/, べ/be/, ぼ/bo/, ぱ/pa/, ぴ/pi/, ぷ/pu/, ぺ/pe/ and ぽ/po/.

The Japanese school year starts in April and consists of three terms, separated by short holidays in spring and winter, and a one month long summer break.

The basic school system in Japan is composed of elementary school (lasting six years), middle school (three years), high school (three years), and university (four years).

Other differences between schools in Japan and US are: school uniform, inside shoes, and teachers move around.

School Uniform:
An uniform is standard among most schools in Japan. Uniforms are more common at the middle school and high school levels than at the elementary. Some private schools now hire top fashion designers to design their uniforms to satisfy the tastes of today’s highly fashion-conscious teens. Generally, however, uniforms tend to remain conservative in style, and are usually black, navy blue, or gray.

These come in several basic varieties: for boys, it is usually the black pants and jacket with gold button down the front and a white shirt inside, or sometimes it is a sort of suit like thing. For girls, it is a dark blue or gray skirt, with either a sailor top or a white shirt and matching vest. These vary in detail from school to school, and so you can tell what school people you meet on the street go to.

Most school students have two sets of school uniforms: a summer uniform and a winter uniform. However, you don't get to decide whether to wear the summer uniform or winter one just by if you are cold or not. All students switch from one uniform to the other on pre-determined days, called “KOROMO-GAE (changing of the clothes), in May or June and October. On that day every student changes uniform on the same day.

Japanese girls wearing thier summer uniforms.

Inside Shoes:
When you enter school building in Japan, you have to change your shoes, just like when you enter a house. You go to your shoe locker, called “GETA BAKO”, and switch your outside sneakers for "UWA BAKI" or "inside shoes", which are bought at school and generally are some form of slip on soft-soled sneaker.

"GETA BAKO" or shoe locker at a school

Teachers move around:
Another major difference between Japanese and American middle /high school is that whereas in USA schools the students change classes, in Japan you stay in one class all day long (or at least most of the day) and instead the teachers move around from class to class. So, you are with the same people all day long. Since students don't change rooms and are in the same classroom all day long, the room is full of stuff owned by the students like bags, and the walls are covered with student-made props and posters for events and such.

Hiragana は/ha/, ひ/hi/, ふ/fu/, へ/he/, ほ/ho/

Though transcribed with an "h", the initial sound here is much weaker than that of the English "h" in word like "hat" or "home.”

ひ /hi/: The "h" before an "i" is pronounced by raising the tongue closer to the hard palate and producing friction, somewhat similar to the German "ch" as in "ich."

ふ /fu/ differs from the English "h" or the "f" of "fox." It is made by bringing both lips together as if blowing hot soup and producing friction. The lips are not rounded, and the teeth do not come in contact with the lips.

Finally, did you have a chance to see Middle School musical, "The Pirates of Penzance" at Gates Performing Arts Center last week? Several students in Japanese class were on the show. They were great and the show was one of the best middle school performances to grace the stage of the GPAC!

If you missed it, this is a photo slide show of the musical. Enjoy!