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Post by moderator on Feb 26, 2015 0:13:15 GMT
In this thread is the Japanese word of the day, where I will attempt to post up a new Japanese word everyday - maybe even some grammar or a few phrases.  I'll post the English meaning, the kanji if possible, the hiragana spelling unless specified, the Romanization, and finally how to properly pronounce it - I'll also provide a meaning for each individual kanji. Just keep in mind that the pronunciation I'll give will not be 100% accurate - it's only as best as I can give via writing. Here's our first word... Japan - Kanji: 日本 - Hiragana: にっぽん、にほんRomanization: nippon, nihon = neep-pohn, neehohn (pronounce the n at the end nasally, like the n at the end of the French word non) 日 - sun, 本 - origin
The kanji for Japan literally means the suns origin; this is where the name the Land of the Rising Sun comes from. |
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Post by moderator on Feb 26, 2015 21:53:09 GMT
The Japanese word of the day for February 26, 2015 is...
South Korea - 韓国 - かんこく
Romanization: kankoku = kahn-koku
韓 - Korea, 国 - country
Another word for Korea is 朝鮮 - ちょうせん - chousen = chou-sen
(the 'ou' is pronounced like a more drawn out oh. Again, the n at the end is pronounced nasally)
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Post by Fritz on Feb 27, 2015 15:20:10 GMT
"chousen" clearly comes from the Korean's own historic name of their country, Joseon (조선). In fact, North Korea is still called Joseon by Koreans today.
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Post by moderator on Feb 27, 2015 23:03:10 GMT
The Japanese word of the day for February 27, 2015 is...
To do - 為る - する
Romanization: suru = soo-roo (when saying 'u' in Japanese, the lips are not rounded, and the 'u' sound is not prolonged. Also, the Japanese r sounds like a mixture between an l, a d, and an r.)
A word of note: the kanji for suru, 為る, is pretty much never used - it's only spelled in hiragana.
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Post by Crystoph on Feb 27, 2015 23:15:51 GMT
Mushimushi. xD
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Post by moderator on Feb 28, 2015 1:12:08 GMT
I introduced our first verb, する (suru), which means to do. This one of the most common verbs in the language, and one of its properties is that it can be utilized to make a verb out of a noun.
For example, take the noun 喧嘩 (kenka), which means a fight or argument.
Now, if you add する at the end, it becomes 喧嘩する (kenkasuru), which means to fight or argue.
Here's the verb endings. Like Korean, Japanese has polite ways to end verbs... let's look at ways to end the verb する (I'll also include past tense).
Plain - する (suru)
Plain Past - した (shita)
Polite - します (shimasu)
Polite Past - しました (shimashita)
In Japanese, the everyday polite way to end verbs is by taking the 'i' form of the verb and adding ~ます at the end.
For example, the plain form of する is する. The 'i' form of the verb is し~ (shi). A word of note, する is actually one of two irregular verbs in the Japanese language - I'll take some time here to introduce the three main groups of verbs: u verbs, ru verbs, and irregular verbs.
Ru verbs are so named because they always end in either 〜える (eru) or 〜いる (iru) only, and their conjugation differs from u verbs in that their past tense always ends in 〜た (ta).
Here are some ru verb examples:
食べる - たべる (taberu) to eat
起きる - おきる (okiru) to wake up
着る - きる (kiru) to wear
Now, the past tense of these verbs would be like this:
食べた - たべた (tabeta)
起きた - おきた (okita)
着た - きた (kita)
To form the past tense, the final ru is replaced with ta. To form the 'i' forms, simply remove the final ru.
U verbs are so named because they always end in u (yes, some verbs that end in ru are actually u verbs), but their endings depend on the syllable they end with. Let's take a look at each kind of u verb.
書く - かく (kaku) to write - ku verb
泳ぐ - およぐ (oyogu) to swim - gu verb
切る - きる (kiru) to cut - ru verb... that is actually an u verb. It'll help to remember that if a verb ends in ~ある (aru), 〜おる (oru), or 〜うる (uru), it's definitely an u verb.
待つ - まつ - (matsu) to wait - tsu verb
思う - おもう (omou) to think (ie, what you think of something) - u verb
話す - はなす (hanasu) to talk - su verb
読む - よむ (yomu) to read - mu verb
遊ぶ - あそぶ (asobu) to play - bu verb
死ぬ - しぬ (shinu) to die - nu verb... note that this is the only nu verb.
Now, for past tense...
~く (ku) becomes ~いた (ita)
~ぐ (gu) becomes ~いだ (ida)
~る (ru) becomes ~った (tta)
~つ (tsu) becomes ~った (tta)
~う (u) becomes ~った (tta)
~す (su) becomes ~した (shita)
~む (mu) becomes ~んだ (nda)
~ぶ (bu) becomes ~んだ (nda)
~ぬ (nu) becomes ~んだ (nda)
These are the 'i' forms - from now on let's refer to them as the roots - of the previous u verbs we just looked at. Here you simply remove the u and replace it with an i.
~く (ku) becomes ~き (ki)
~ぐ (gu) becomes ~ぎ (gi)
~る (ru) becomes ~り (ri)
~つ (tsu) becomes ~ち (chi)
~う (u) becomes ~い (i)
~す (su) becomes ~し (shi)
~む (mu) becomes ~み (mi)
~ぶ (bu) becomes ~び (bi)
~ぬ (nu) becomes ~に (ni)
Finally, conjugations for the two irregular verbs.
する (suru) to do
来る - くる (kuru) to come
We've already covered the endings for する, so let's look at the endings for 来る:
Plain - 来る - くる (kuru)
Plain Past - 来た - きた (kita)
Polite - 来ます - きます (kimasu)
Polite Past - 来ました - きました (kimashita)
The root for する is し (shi) and the root for くる is き (ki).
One last thing I'd like to go over is pronunciation. When you see a small tsu (っ), it indicates a glottal stop - a small pause before the next syllable. Next, on the pronunciation of し (shi) - the 'sh' sound of し isn't strong, so pronounce it as if it's barely there. Now when pronouncing した (shita), it's pronounced as "shta".
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Post by Fritz on Feb 28, 2015 14:02:54 GMT
I only ever dabbled with learning Japanese - I didn't get much further than basic greetings and introductions. While Japanese and Korean are considered language isolates, meaning they evolved independently, I'm struck by the similarities between the two, particularly with grammar. Like the Japanese verb, suru ( する), Korean has a verb, hada ( 하다), meaning "to make" or "to do", which is used in a similar manner to create verbs from nouns and adjectives. The words themselves are nothing alike, but their function is exactly the same.  |
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Post by moderator on Feb 28, 2015 18:02:56 GMT
 The grammar similarities between the two are very interesting. |
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Post by Crystoph on Feb 28, 2015 18:27:24 GMT
Like....
Korean: Hoobae, Sunbae
Japanese: Kohai, Senpai
xD
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Post by Crystoph on Feb 28, 2015 18:28:00 GMT
I had this friend and she was older than me so she always called me kohai and I always called her senpai. xD
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Post by moderator on Feb 28, 2015 18:28:39 GMT
The Japanese word of the day for February 28, 2015 is...
Hello/Good Afternoon - 今日は - こんにちは
Romanization - kon'nichiwa (kohn-nichiwa)
Kanji: 今 - this, 日 - day
This is the standard greeting to say "hello" or "good afternoon" in Japan. Now, the kanji for this greeting is actually not used very often. Note that the wa at the end is actually spelled using the hiragana for the ha sound. This is because the greeting uses the topic particle は - the hiragana は (ha) is pronounced wa when used as a particle.
Pronunciation - the n at the end of こん (kon) is pronounced nasally, and the ch sound in ち (chi) is not as hard as you might think - pronounce it more like a soft t, barely giving away to a ch sound.
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Post by moderator on Mar 1, 2015 21:57:28 GMT
The Japanese word of the day for March 1, 2015 is...
Week - 週 - しゅう
Romanization - shuu = shoo (with an extended oo sound like this, round your lips for this one)
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Post by Crystoph on Mar 1, 2015 22:03:02 GMT
How do you pronounce 'um'? When I hear the actors say it, it sounds like 'ano'.
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Post by Crystoph on Mar 1, 2015 22:04:52 GMT
And how do you say 'delicious'? Because in one of the anime's I'm watching, it sounds like 'oishi'.
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Post by moderator on Mar 1, 2015 22:09:02 GMT
The Japanese equivalent of "umm..." is 「あの…」(ah-noh)
Delicious is 美味しい - おいしい (oishii - oh-ee-shee).
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