Giles's Rough and Ready Guide to Holiday JapaneseDISCLAIMER! In writing this my only consideration has been the minimum knowledge you will need to make yourself understood while visiting Japan. If you're trying to learn Japanese "properly" or are concerned about speaking japanese "correctly" then this guide is not for you. In particular no attention is given to grammar, levels of politeness, word order, verb endings and the like (since learning these is rather tedious and pointless anyway.) Enjoy your holiday! A. The Japanese you already know.The Japanese rather cheekily have poached a lot of words from English which means that you probably already know alot more Japanese than you realise. Take a quick look at the following list, paying particular attention to the strange pronounciation. (A hyphen in the Japanese words indicates a long vowel sound.) orenji ju-su - orange juicebi-ru - beer mineraru uo-ta- - mineral water aisu kuri-mu - ice cream chokore-to - chocolate ba-ga- - burger furaido poteto - fried potato (french fries) so-su - sauce chi-zu - cheese ke-ki - cake to-suto - toast tomato - tomato chikin - chicken furu-tsu - fruit bata- - butter naifu - knife fo-ku - fork supu-n - spoon sutoro- - straw kichin - kitchen dainingu ru-mu - dining room toire - toilet eakon - air-con (air conditioning) terebi - television bideo - video kamera - camera teberu - table sinku - sinku furai pan - frying pan beddo - bed doa - door erebe-ta - elevator esukare-ta - escalator takushi- - taxi basu - bus hoteru - hotel resutoran - restaurant tsua - tour ofu pi-ku - off peak sama- se-rusu - summer sales shi-to beruto - seat belt asupirin - aspirin chansu - chance ATM (ei chi emu) - ATM ka-do - card ru-ru - rule ko-to - coat su-tsu - suit se-ta- - sweater shatsu - shirt suka-to - skirt inta-netto - internet uebu - web nyu-su - news bijinesu - business supo-tsu - sports sa-ka - soccer tenisu - tennis bo-ru - ball chi-mu - team B. Making it up as you go alongSo now you've got a bit of an idea about how Japanese words are formed from English words its time to learn how to make up new Japanese words. Yes thats right - you can make up a new Japanese word from any English word and provided you get the right pronounciation you'll be understood. Check out this list of pseudo-Japanese words all of which have proper Japanese equivalents (shown in parenthesis) but all of which are prefectly understandable to your average Japanese. hotto - hot (atsui, atatakai)biggu - big (o-ki-) sumo-ru - small (chi-sai) happi- - happy (ureshii) reddo - red (akai) sutoroberi- - strawberry (ichigo) mappu - map (chizu) Here are some simple rules for constructing Japanese words from English words. 1. No groups of consonants. No lone consonants at the ends of wordsConsonants in Japanese are always followed by a vowel sound except for N. To separate constants put a U between them, except after T and D which add an O. Constants that are not pronounced strongly in English can be dropped (e.g. Rs are frequently dropped) Examples:straw adds U after the S and O after the T to make sutoro- start adds U after the S, drops the R and adds O after the final T to make suta-to Spain adds U after the S and the N remains unchanged to make supein 2. tu -> tsu, si -> shi, ti -> chiJapanese has no real sounds for TU, SI or TI tour becomes tsuaseat belt becomes shi-to beruto team becomes chimu 3. v->b, w->u, l->rJapanese has no sound for V. It has a sound for W but in Japanese W can only be followed by an A. And of course the Japanese famously are not able to distinguish between l and r. video becomes bideoweb becomes uebu terminal one becomes ta-minaru wan live (e.g. live TV) - raibu 4. th -> s, wh -> htheatre -> shiata-thank you -> sankyu- white -> howaito 5. Discussing sportsWhen discussing sports the same rules apply but can be used for entire phrases or sentences. All of the following can be frequently heard listening to sports commentary. daun za rain pasu - down the line pass (tennis)sa-bingu fo za setto - serving for the set (tennis) wan oba- fo za raundo - one over for the round (golf) C. Essential phrasesUnfortunately having mastered the art of vocabulary creation you will still need a tiny amount of real Japanese in order to make yourself understood. Here are a few simple words and phrases to sort you out. 1. Pointing at what you want. (This and that and that one over there)As with speaking any foreign language, if you don't know the name of something the easiest thing to do is to point at it. While pointing feel free to sprinkle the following vocabulary into the conversation. kore - this onesore - that one (near you) are - that one (over there) 2. The verb "to be"Tokyo desu - This is TokyoKyoto desuka - Is this Kyoto? nandesuka - What is this? 3. Determining if something is allowed.The word for OK is daijoubu or ii (ii actually means good but is frequently used with the meaning OK)The word for "not OK" is dame (when saying dame the Japanese put their arms together to form a cross shape for emphasis) daijoubu desuka?/ii desuka? - is it OK? hai, daijoubu desu/ii desu - yes it is OK. do-zo - go ahead (also used when letting someone walk in front of you) iie, dame desu - no, its not OK. (you can also say "okke" for OK - you will be understood) 4. Asking where something is.(Name of place), doko (desuka)? (with rising intonation)toire, doko? - Where is the toilet? yuniba-su hoteru, doko? - Where is the Universe Hotel? 5. Do you have?(Thing you want), arimasuka?chi-zu ke-ki arimasuka? - Do you have cheese cake? sake arimasuka? - Do you have sake? 6. Asking the Priceikura (desuka)? - how much is it?takai (desu) - its expensive yasui (desu) - its cheap 7. I want to go to ...(Name of place) e ikitaiGinza e ikitai - I want to go to Ginza baru e ikitai - I want to go to the bar 8. Please and Thank-you and No Thank-youonegai shimasu - please (literally "I make a request")domo - thank-you (this is the shortest and simplest version of thank-you and therefore preferable to other variants such as "arigato-" and "domo arigato-" and "domo arigato- gozaimashita") kekko- (desu) - no thank-you (literally "it [what I already have] is enough") 9. Eating outeigo no menyu arimasuka? - Do you have an English menu?pikucha menyu arimasuka? - Do you have a picture menu? Many restaurants have plastic replica dishes outside - if you have a camera phone or digital camera with LCD I recommend photographing the dish you want and showing it to the waiter/waitress ii desuka? - we'd like to order (literally "Is it OK [to order now])?") okaikei onegai shimasu - the bill please (or just che-ku if thats easier to remember) karai (desu) - this is spicy daijoubu (desu) - that's OK oishii - delicious After the meal, leaving the restaurant gochisousama deshita - that was delicious! (literally "I had a feast") For the incredibly ambitious nanika susumemasuka? - can you recommend something? 10. Greetingskonnichi wa - good day (this is the most general greeting - stick with this if you can't be bothered learning "konban wa" good evening or "ohayo gozaimasu" good morning)11. When it all goes wrongsumimasen - excuse me/ I'm sorry (when attracting attention or apologizing)sumimasen nihongo hanasemasen - I'm sorry I don't speak Japanese wakarimasen - I don't understand mo- ichido onegai shimasu - please can you repeat that? (literally "Once again please") eigo hanasemasuka? - Do you speak English? eigo hanaseru hito imasuka? - Is there someone who can speak English? 12. Making conversation(Name of Country) jin desu.sukottorando jin desu - I'm Scottish supein jin desu - I'm Spanish Other country names: amerika - America, aruzenchin - Argentina, igirisu - England, doitsu - Germany, kanada - Canada nihon suki - I like Japan subarashii kuni desu - it is a great country 13. Dogs and babiesYou will inevitably see lots of very cute children and pets on your travels round Japan so there will be plenty of opportunity to use the following essential piece of vocabulary. kawaii - cutekaawaaii - really cute 14. Numbersichi(1), ni(2), san(3), yon(4), go(5), roku(6), nana(7), hachi(8), kyu-(9), ju-(10), ju- ichi(11), ni ju-(20), hyaku(100), sen(1000), man(10000)15. Daystoday - kyo-tomorrow - ashita yesterday - kino- getsuyo-bi (Mon), kayo-bi (Tu), suiyo-bi (Wed), mokuyo-bi (Th), kinyo-bi (Fri), doyo-bi (Sat), nichiyo-bi (Sun) 16. Weathertenki - weatherii tenki desune? - good weather isn't it? atsui desune? - its hot isn't it? so- desune? - yes it is - isn't it? 17. Miscellaneousnihongo kantan desune? - Japanese is easy isn't it?so- desune? - yes it is - isn't it? |