Friday, March 12, 2010

カタカナ Katakana confusion

Many of the Tango(vocabulary)that look like Eigo(English)are also Nihongo(Japanese).You will be amazed at the number of Tango which are identical in both languages.Of course, They don`t always sound the same when spoken by a Japanese speaker, but the similarities will certainly surprise you to make your work easier.
If you want to find where your hotel is? You can say:

ホテルは どこですか。
hoteru  wa  doko   desuka?  hoteru →hotel
Hotel  (P)   where     is   ? (Where is the hotel?)
☆ wa is a particle, subject marker.
        desu: to be verb(am, is, are,)  
        ka   :  = ?

basu→bus  resutoran→reataurant   toire→toilet   takushii →taxi....

but some Japanese katakana is very  different from English meaning.


Today's lesson 今日のレッスンは?


フリーサイズ??


Please take a look at this dialogue.

Shinji: I'm thinking about getting some new winter gloves.
冬用の新しい手袋を買いたいと思っています。
fuyu yoo no atarashii tebukuro o kai tai to omot te i masu . 

Rachel: Good idea. What size do you need?
いいですね。サイズは何ですか。
ii desu ne . saizu wa nan desu ka?

Shinji: There are different sizes?
いろんなサイズがありますか。
ironna saizu ga ari masu ka?

Rachel: Small, medium and large.
小とか中とか大がありますよ.  
shoo toka chuutoka dai ga ari masu yo.

Shinji: Oh, I thought gloves were フリーサイズ.
へー、手袋ってフリーサイズだと思っていました。
hee , tebukuro tte furii saizu da to omot te i mashi ta . 

Rachel: What's free?
フリーって何ですか。
furii tte nan desu ka?

Shinji: Free size. That means it fits both big hands and small hands.
フリーサイズですよ。大きな手にも小さな手にもフィットするって言う意味ですよ。
furii saizu desu yo . ookina te ni mo chiisana te ni mo fitto suru tte iu imi desu yo 

Rachel: Oh, you mean "one-size-fits-all."
あー、それは "one-size-fits-all" のことですね。
aa , sore wa " one - size - fits - all " no koto desu ne.


There are S size, M size ,L size LL size 3L,4L...5L... in Japan. I think the フリーサイズ free size is just an another way when people want to say big size...

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

What's the Parrot saying?





1.おじいさんojiisan
 wa shiba 刈りgari e おばあさんobaasan wa kawa e 洗濯sentaku ni 行きiki ましmashi ta .

A old man went to cut the lawn and an old woman went to the river to do laundry.
2.川kawa de 洗濯sentaku o shi te いるiru to , 大きなookina どんdon ぶらbura ko ~ ~ to 流れnagare te ki ましmashi ta An big acorn drifted to her when she was washing laundry at the river.
3.家ie (  e )  もっmo tte 帰っkae tte 割っwa tte みるmiru to , naka からkara 男の子otokonoko ga 生まれumare ましmashi ta . 
She took the big acorn home and broke it,  then saw a boy born inside and then came out.
4.男の子otokonoko wa 桃太郎momotarou to 名付けnaduke られrare ましmashi ta .
The boy was named Momotaro(by the old couple).


Do you know the Momotaro story?桃太郎物語 →http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/japan19.htm


今日のレッスンは? Today's Lesson?
How to make Verb past tense? Try to find all the  past tense forms of the verbs from the Parrot saying.


せんたくにいきました  went to  do laundry
ながれてきました          drifted to
うまれました                  was born
なづけられました  was named...by....(passive voice past tense


Verbs ますForm    Present Tense
☆ The present tense of verbs either means❶that a person habitually or regularly engages in these activities,or❷that a person will or is planning to,perform these activities in the future.


わたしは コーヒーをのみます
I  always drink coffee. or  I am going to drink coffee.


Verbs ました Form   Past Tense
わたしは きのう コーヒーをのみました
I drank coffee yesterday.