simp-nihongo

[simp-nihongo]

12-5-2017

a lot of grammar taken from 第１課 of とびら

any english translations are my attempts, not official ones. my translation style tends to be ‘non-literal,’ meaning i’ll try provide what i think is the most natural sentence as english native speakers, rather than provide a stilted literal translation of the japanese sentence word for word. my translations are certainly not perfect, so if you have a problem with any of them feel free to let me know so we can learn from each other :)

Noun {で/から} できる

{〜で/から} できる means “to be made [of/from/out of].” から is used when the material from which something is made isn’t obvious; for instance, から would probably be used to say that paper comes from trees, as it’s not immediately obvious that paper indeed comes from trees. 

instead of できる, you can say できている to describe a specific thing, such as ‘this book’ or ‘Japan.’

examples:

チーズやヨーグレトは牛乳からできます。

この皿はプラスチックで、そして、このコップは紙でできている。

{Nounの/Verb} ように

ように is used like “like; as; as if.” it’s quite nuanced, so i think it’s best to explain by examples.

examples:

これはチョコレートのように見えるけれど、消しゴムだから、食べられませんよ。

although this looks like chocolate, it’s actually an eraser, so you can’t eat it.

先生がおしゃるように、言葉は毎日勉強しなければ上手にならないと思います。

like the teacher says, i think one cannot get better at the language if one does not study every day.

この本に書いてあるように作れば、美味しいドレッシングができるよ。

if you make the dressing as it’s written in this book, it’ll be delicious!

〜は〜で { 有名だ / 知られている }

this construction is used to state what something is famous for or the reason something is famous. i personally think 知られている carried a connotation more like “is known for ...” rather than “is famous for ...”

examples:

エジプトはピラミッドやスフィンクスで有名です。

egypt is famous for its pyramids and the sphinx (, for example).

熊は冬眠する (とうみんする) ことで知られていますが、動物園の熊も冬眠をしますか？

bears are typically known for hibernating, but do bears in zoos also hibernate?

Verb-non-past こと { が / も } ある

this pattern is used to say ‘there are times when ~’. it’s used when something occurs occasionally. if you use も, you carry the nuance that something else may also occur. take note not to confuse this with verb-past ことがある, which looks similar but means a different thing entirely.

examples:

晩ご飯はたいてい家で食べますが、ときどき友達とレストランに行くこともあります。

usually i eat dinner at home, but there are also times where i go to a restaurant with my friends.

週末はたいてい両親の家に帰るが、忙しくて帰れないこともある。

on the weekends, i usually go to my parents’ house, but there are times when i’m too busy to go.

{ Noun1/Question-word 〜か / 〜かどうか } は Noun2 に { よって違う / よる }

this structure is used to indicate that something differs depending on the situation, location, time, etc. 〜によって違う means ‘differ depending on ~’ while just 〜による means ‘depend on ~’.

examples:

何歳で運転免許 (うんてんめんきょ) が取れるかは、国によって違う。

the minimum age requirement to earn one’s driver’s license differs from country to country. 

私にとって、読み物が難しいかどうかは、漢字の多さによります。

for me, the difficulty of the reading depends on how many kanji there are.

〜は Sentence と言われている

this structure is used to introduce something commonly said about something or someone. it kind of functions like the english phrase ‘it is said that ...’ or ‘~ is said to be ~’.

examples:

世界で一番長い川はナイル川だと言われているが、アマゾン川だという人もいる。

it is said that the longest river in the world is the Nile, but there are also people that say it is the Amazon.

「電気の町」秋葉原は、さいきん 「オタクの町」 だとも言われている。

akihabara, the “town of electricity,” has also recently been called “the otaku town.”

〜と言えば

this is most closely translated to ‘speaking of ...’ it requires previous context. thus you can’t just start a conversation with 「〜といえば、...」 

example:

A: 今晩、道子さんに会うんです。

B: そうですか。道子さんと言えば、来月田中さんと結婚すると聞きましたが、本当ですか。

A: i’m meeting with Ms. Michiko tonight.

B: is that so? oh, speaking of Ms. Michiko, i heard she’s getting married with Mr. Tanaka next month. is that true?

this was a lot of grammar, haha~ i’ll continue on a later date.

[simp-nihongo]

i tried reading the 読み物 from the first chapter of tobira. i’d look at the passage and read through it (not aloud) about two or three times and had read through it aloud once at that point.

i’m glad that i recorded myself reading, and i’m glad that it sounded awkward overall and not perfect because i think that’s a realistic depiction of where i’m at in my studies: in need of constant, slow but steady improvement. i attached the date (12-4-2017) to the file so that maybe in the future, i can re-record myself reading this passage and compare to see if i’ve improved. that’ll be fun. :)

[simp-nihongo]

12-4-2017

same old drilling kanji through wanikani, drilling genki vocab through anki, etc. i’ve decided to start reading tobira, and i’m pleasantly surprised by the immediately noticeable increase in difficulty, yet not making it too difficult. 

chapter 1, 日本の地理 (geography of japan) is an interesting read. i’m happy that i could understand a sentence like this in this stage of my learning:

建物の形が白鷺という白い鳥が羽を広げて休んでいるように見えるので白鷺城（白露城）とも呼ばれています。

this was in reference to himeji castle, located 兵庫県 (hyōgo-ken). an attempt at translation: 

as [himeji castle’s] appearance seems to look like a white egret (a type of bird) relaxing and spreading its wings, it has also been referred to as “the white egret castle.”

i think this sentence would have been much too complicated for me to understand only months prior, but now i’m starting to get the feel for sentences like these. it’s a great feeling. :)

[simp-nihongo]

11-25-2017

i bought some books!

let’s read japanese level 2 (vol. 2) - it’s a graded reader meant for japanese learners, not native elementary school kids. the level i chose is classified as ‘intermediate’ which i’m wondering if it’s ambitious. the level 1 readers were a little too simple, though.

my girlfriend joanna lent me her tobira textbook, which will be waiting for me patiently once i feel like i’m done with genki 2. i bought the grammar power supplementary workbook.

i chucked a couple more chapters of genki 2 vocab into anki, pretty much done with lesson 14 vocab at this point and going to start going into lesson 15 vocab tomorrow. i think the one lesson every two days-ish approach for vocabulary is a fine pace. i’m ignoring the extra vocab at the end of each chapter because honestly, i don’t find it as interesting and think such ‘real-world scenarios’ are highly situational. maybe after i finish genki 2, i’ll go back and learn the relevant extra vocab that i feel is actually useful.

blessed to have a copy of DBJG on my computer that i can look to for almost any grammar point i see. i saw a couple physical copies of DBJG, DIJG, and DAJG in kinokuniya and was very tempted to just snag the whole set, but decided that online downloads would probably be available.

[simp-nihongo]

11-23-2017

in the middle of level 11 in wanikani, i can read a surprising amount of japanese now! but i still have way way way lots to go before i can even begin to stop using dictionaries for everything. in the meantime, i’ve begun to use anki again, not for kanji, but for making genki 2 cards myself. reviewing lesson 14 now (i’ve been somewhere around lesson 18-19 currently but have been only reading the grammar and eschewing the vocab). there’s no harm in taking things a bit slower.

grammar:

ほしい （欲しい）

ほしい is an い-adjective that means to “want something.” が is the particle usually used, although は is fine too in the negative sense.

いい漢字辞書がほしい。

I want a good kanji dictionary.

お金はあまりほしくないです。

I don’t have much desire for money.

（私は）X がほしい　ー　I want X.

〜かもしれません

〜かもしれません is kind of like 〜でしょう. It means something is a ‘possibility.’ You’re not sure what’s really going on, but you’re taking a guess.

明日は雨が降るかもしれません。

It may rain tomorrow.

田中さんより、たけしさんのほうが背が高いかもしれません。

Suzuki is perhaps taller than Tanaka.

〜かもしれません goes right after a noun or な-adjective, like 〜です or 〜でしょう.

[simp-nihongo]

11-8-2017

vocabulary from nhk easy news

北朝鮮 (きたちょうせん) - north korea

太陽 (たいよう) - sun

演説 (えんぜつ) - speech

a grammar point - conditional form + ば

conditional form is constructed as follows:

all verbs: change -u to -e.

聞く -> 聞け

食べる -> 食べれ

くる -> くれ

する -> すれ

i-adjectives: change -i to -kere.

高い -> 高けれ

na-adjectives, nouns: add -nara.

静か -> 静かなら

先生 -> 先生なら

what can you do with conditional form? well, putting ば after conditional form creates a conditional clause:

安ければ買います。(If it’s cheap, I’ll buy it.)

時間があれば行く。(If I have time, I’ll go.)

In general, (X ば Y) defines a conditional relation between X and Y such that Y will hold if X holds. 

[simp-nihongo]

11-6-2017

today i just worked through a lot of vocabulary on wanikani. here are some words i learned today that i was familiar with through korean:

角度 / 각도 / angle

全部 / 전부 / all

部分 / 부분 / portion

重要 / 중요 / essential, important, necessary

here’s a grammar point i learned yesterday: 

using 〜し

when you want to state a reason for something that happened, you can usually use 〜から. but if you have more than one reason, you can use 〜し. for example:

アニメが好きだし、日本に行きたいし、日本語を勉強する。

i am studying japanese because i like anime and i want to go to japan. 

more generally, the format is (reason)し, (reason)し, ..., (reason)し, (situation). the (reason)し clauses should be in short form, although in very polite conversation you can use long forms too.

you can use just し if the situation is clear from context, and you can use just one (reason)し clause if you’re providing a reason but implying that’s not the only reason a situation has occurred.

[simp-nihongo]

where i’m at

i started self-studying japanese a year ago. so far, this is where i’m at:

- through(ish) with genki 1, starting genki 2

- working through level 10 of wanikani, can’t put an exact number to the kanji i know but it’s probably at most 500

- could probably pass N5 comfortably, probably wouldn’t pass N4

i’m making this blog so i can post daily(ish) things i learn in japanese so i can track my progress and share what i know :) i hope you enjoy~