Japanese Names

Japanese surnames are all made from a small pool of some 70 or so Kanji.
Given names are much more varied and so will often be written with furigana (esp. on TV)

To help me I've written some of them here with their furigana.. using Firefox I can view these pages and zoom in to get a nice shot of the way the Kanji is drawn.


名字(みょうじ)：

梶山(かじやま)、渡辺(わたなべ)

名前(なまえ)：
晴美(はるみ)、愛(まな)佳(か)、美佳(みか)

Japanese - Because. therefore

Today the subject is because/therefor.
[だ]から : so, therefore; since, because
なぜなら[ば] : because　(なぜ meaning 'why')

our examples are:

英：I brought an umbrella because it's raining.
日：雨(あめ)が降(ふ)ってる - から - 傘(かさ)を持(も)って来(き)た
日：it's raining - because/so/therefor - [I] brought an umbrella

英：There's clouds - therefor - seems like rain.
英：seems like rain - because - there's clouds
日：雨(あめ)が降(ふ)りそう - なぜなら - 曇(くも)り

This may seem fairly obvious/natural but to emphasis the "head last" nature of Jp here's a sample question answer:

英：Why did you bring an umbrella?
日：何(なん)で傘(かさ)を持(も)って来(き)たの？
英：Because it's raining.
日：雨(あめ)が降(ふ)ってるから (raining because)

Now go back and read those examples :)

Japanese - Head Last Language

Japanese, in my view, is easy to pick up.. ie. the early stages of your Pidgin Japanese shouldn't be too difficult, if you're a native English speaker. The phonetics are not hard and the basic words necessary for essential communication are not too complex.

In later stages you will come across more and more polysyllabic words. This is because of the limited phonetics in the language. Hawaiian is another such language.

As you start to learn more words and make sentences the most challenging concept with Jp (Japanese) is that it is a head last language.

eg. one might say:
Eng: I'm going to the shop, with Tom, at 6.
Jp: with Tom, at 6, to the shop, [I] am going.

Eng: I'll get that, and that, and those, and this. (for instance ordering food)
Jp: that and, that and, those and, this I'll get.

In the next post I'll get a little grittier :)

Back to Oz

In a bid to raise funds to finish my house and kill off my life sucking credit cards, I'm heading back to Oz to try my hand at work in Western Australia. Maybe I can hit the big bux there and get my house done in record time.
Then maybe I can take the next overseas trip with less financial stress about me.

Japanese - Passive Verbs

受身(うけみ)

Active: 先生(せんせい )は　けいこさんを　褒(ほ)めました

Passive: けいこさんは　先生(せんせい)に　 褒(ほ)められました

Conjugates the same as for Causative verbs

Japanese - Causative Verbs

Verb conjugation is complex and integral to speaking Japanese.

Today I'll take a look at causative verbs.
as in
make.../ let..., allow...to...

～は　～に　～を　[Vt Causative]

英語(えいご)で
She made him eat.

Confusingly though, the same sentence in Japanese can also mean
"I allowed him to eat." OR "I let him eat."

日本語(にほんご)で

彼女(かのじょ )は彼 (かれ)に食事(しょくじ)を食(た)べさせた

丁寧(ていねい )語 (ご)、「ます」形 (ケイ)

彼女(かのじょ )は彼 (かれ)に食事(しょくじ)を食(た)べさせました

Please let me... / Please allow me to...
[Causative て　form] 下(くだ)さい

すみません。帰( かえ)らせて下(くだ)さい。
すみません。帰( かえ)らせていただけませんか。


Group 1 Verbs
飲(の)みます
飲(の)ませます

Group 2 Verbs
食(た)べます
食(た)べさせます

Group 3 Verbs
来(き)ます
来(こ)させます