*A new contributor to Learn Japanese, Louis Constant, shares her two cents on effective study techniques*

The Internet, and sites like this one, have made self-study of foreign languages to high levels of proficiency a very real and attainable goal. But the most important thing is to keep it fun, because as soon as it becomes boring, your progress will slow, and you might end up quitting altogether. So to prevent that from happening, and to maximize the use of your time, here are a couple of Japanese ‘study’ techniques.

Watch TV

Japanese TV is a gift to learners of Japanese. For learning the language, it doesn’t matter what you watch, and in the information age, it isn’t too much of a challenge to find out about shows that you’d enjoy – and therefore want to keep watching. But, rather than simply watch, it’s best to take an active approach. The great thing about Japanese TV shows, is that a large amount of them are accompanied by large, colorful, and often animated Japanese subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Didn’t quite catch that word that made everyone laugh? There it is, in giant pink letters. Now you can easily look it up in your favorite dictionary. Why is this a good idea? Well, for that new word you just heard, you’ve got its kanji. You know that it’s a word that people use. You’ve got a sentence as an example of its correct usage. And because you learned it from a specific point in one of your favorite TV shows, rather than a decidedly less exciting vocabulary list or other such more traditional study material, by recalling that scene and that joke, you’ll be much better at being able to recall it when you see it next.

Listen to Music

Why is music good for learning Japanese? The answer lies in the repetitive nature of the way in which we consume it. We listen to our favorite songs hundreds and hundreds of times. This means that, for a song with lyrics in Japanese, you’re getting all-important vocabulary, expressions and grammar delivered right into your ear, over and over again. This repetition can be incredibly valuable. Many songs can be mini-treasure troves of new Japanese, and by investigating and understanding their lyrics, they can be an excellent study resource. No matter how nonsensical a song’s content is, you can learn from it. Whether it’s a song about unrequited love (失恋), or a yellow submarine (黄色い潜水艦) – any song can be a source of new vocabulary at the very least.

Be Inquisitive

Investing in an electronic dictionary, or a dictionary app for your smart phone, can’t be recommended enough. Equipped with this tool, you’re prepared to increase your Japanese proficiency every time you come into contact with the language. If you’re lucky enough to live in Japan, you’re surrounded by words you need to know every day. Take the packet of tissues the girl on the street hands you – maybe it has a new word for you on it! Boring commute? Figure out exactly what that advert on the train says! Waiting for noodles to boil? Read the packet! It doesn’t matter what you use; if it’s in Japanese, it’s useful to you. If you haven’t made it to Japan yet, you’re not as disadvantaged as you might think. It’s reasonable to say that the entire Japanese language is out there on the Internet – you just need to expose yourself to it. And there are thousands of Japanese people out there who want to talk to you – you just need to find them.

December and the start of January are interesting times to be in Japan. Although winter may not be considered a prime time for visitors to come to these shores, there is much to be said for the atmosphere at this time of year, with people slowing down and reflecting on the past year (not to mention the great skiing/snowboarding options!).

One notable feature of this time of year for those employed in Japan is the year-end party (bounenkai, ぼうねんかい, 忘年会; “gathering to forget the year”). Here, colleagues from specific workplaces gather together to reminisce on the year past and often drink quite a lot of alcohol (to aid the forgetting, of course). This usually takes place in the run up to Christmas, a festival that is celebrated somewhat differently from that elsewhere.

I’m dreaming of a howaito kurisumasu…

There are around one million Japanese who follow the Christian religion (kuristo-kyou, ク リストきょう, クリスト教), particularly on the southern island of Kyushu and among the Japan-based community with Korean roots. However, Christmas as an annual event is embraced by the majority here, with an emphasis on commerce and gift-giving similar to that in other countries. Much money is also spent on Christmas lighting and trees in public places, with the displays such as that in Roppongi, Tokyo, on a level with those anywhere in the “Christian world” in terms of breathtaking sparkle. One Christmas-related contrast that foreign residents may note is that this time of year is not so much focused on gathering with one’s family, but instead is about couples getting together to have a romantic meal or evening together.

A Relaxing New Year

New Year (shougatsu, しょうがつ, 正月) is when families really get together and spend a few days enjoying each other’s company without having to worry about work, school, or other pressures. The large cities in Japan become strangely quiet for a few days, owing to both many shops and offices being closed for a few days around the official national holiday (shukujitsu, しゅくじつ, 祝日) of New Year’s Day (ganjitsu, がんじつ, 元日), and many people returning to their hometowns to visit family. However, a lot of work and effort often go into the preparation for this period.

In strong contrast to Japan’s Christmas celebrations, New Year for the Japanese is often very ritualized and traditional. Activities include the first visit of the new year to a temple or shrine (hatsumode, はつもうで, 初詣), especially to hear the bells toll at midnight of New Year’s Eve. Popular shrines, such as Meiji Jinguu (明治神宮) in Tokyo, are especially crowded during this period. In addition, a range of food specific for this time of year is also consumed (osechi-ryouri, おせちりょうり, 御節料理). Another interesting tradition is the sending of New Year’s postcards (nengajou, ねんがじょう, 年賀状) to friends and family, which have a complex set of rules and customs related to the design, content, and who and when to send them. Overall, it is a fascinating time for those in interested in Japan to witness the Japanese at their most introspective (or even spiritual) and relaxed.

It’s important to know how to get what you want. When you go to another country this is especially true. It’s a good idea to try to be polite when you do this with people you don’t know or even with people that you do know. If you are studying Japanese, you need to learn a little more than just a magic word. There is more than one way to say please in Japanese and it effects the grammar of the sentence but it shouldn’t be too difficult. Let’s take a look at three different ways to say “please” in Japanese

The most common and useful way to say please in Japanese is by ending a sentence with kudasai. This is used in both casual and formal situations and is the most flexible way to say please. We can’t just throw it at the end though, we need to change the verb to the -te form. If you cooked a nice dinner and want to invite your friends to eat the feast in front of them you can say “食べてください” or “Please eat”. We take the word taberu and change it to the te form and add kudasai. Not too hard, right? If your friend gets a little too drunk and starts to tease you about your bosses crush on you, you can tell them 「やめてください！」 or “Quit it”! I use kudasai for all of my pleases except for in super formal situations and when I make very very casual requests.

Onegaishimasu is much more polite and is used for business occasions and with strangers when you want to be particularly polite. You can also use it as a stand alone word, unlike kudasai, when you just want to say “please”. An example of this would be if someone offers to give you a tour of the city, “Onegaishimasu!” means “please do!” Most of the time this word is used with nouns. 　We might say to a waiter 「水おねがいします」 or “Can I please have water”. Most people wearing a uniform, be it a suit or a fast food restaurant uniform will opt for this more polite variant of the magic word. You can also use it to someone you don’t know to be polite. A casual way to use this is 「おねがい」but be careful as it sounds a bit more desperate. 　

Choudai is the most casual way to say please. We may use it in a very casual way with close friends for small requests. 「水ちょうだい」 means “Water please” but you don’t want to say this to a waitress or even to a friend who is older than you as it is very casual. Children often use choudai with their parents if you say it in a childlike voice, it might be considered either really cute or really annoying. While a word for word translation does not reveal it’s nuance, the above sentence could roughly translate to “Gimme water please”. Even with close friends, it’s a good idea not to use this for big requests.

In a country where being polite is so important, it’s important for anyone studying Japanese to learn how to say please.

For your education and entertainment purposes, a few more katakana loan words that didn’t work out exactly as intended.

These words of encouragement didn’t even resemble any English word in my mind and it took me a while to figure out that it actually came from English at all. One common place to hear this is school sports teams but it is sometimes used in the business world or with friends. It comes from the English words “Don’t mind” and basically means “Don’t worry about it?” I don’t feel stupid for not realizing this right away. This loanword, like many others, took a shortcut in accuracy in exchange for convenience. It’s ok, Don mai!

This one baffles me as well. When spelled out in romaji, “Oorai” certainly doesn’t look like it came from English but after hearing numerous Japanese men yelling it out to parking cars, you can easily figure out that it comes from the English world “Alright”. But why go through the effort of adopting such a useful and versatile words if you are going to limit it to it’s least common usage? When asked how you are doing, or when describing if a movie was good or not, you never hear the word “Oorai”. It is used solely for the purpose of helping drivers back up. Talk about Mottainai.

This word bothers me because it paints an image (no pun intended) of something very different. The first thing I thought of when I first heard “irasuto” is the word it sounds most similar to “lust”. Maybe I just have a dirty mind but my common sense never lead me to think this could possibly mean “illustration”. The actually meaning and the sound “lust” always conjures up an inappropriate image in my mind and I feel like I need to lower my voice when I say this word. I guess I’m not 100% used to Japanese life after all.

In high school I would make up words similar to this one. I would turn nouns and adjectives into verbs, however ridiculous it sounded. For example “I frogged him” meant “I threw a frog at him”. I suppose this makes me as guilty as the Japanese of breaking the rules of the English language for their own amusement. In Japanese, “cunning” is used as a verb and means to trick people, so in other words “She cunninged me” means “She tricked me”. Japan has way fewer scams than the rest of Asia but just in case, be careful not to be cunninged.

Apparently there are two kinds of smart people. One is really intelligent and the other has a really hot body. Smart is often used in Japanese to refer to someone who is thin or slender. I have heard from certain people that this actually is real native English somewhere in some time period for someone, but not for myself or most of the Americans I know. On the contrary, this was quite baffling for me at first. Keep in mind that the real meaning of smart is also included in this word.

The reason that を tends to be a somewhat easy particle to master is that it is only used to mark nouns that fall under a grammatical role that corresponds to the “direct object” argument in English: I kicked a ball; Michael lost a tooth last night; the quick fox jumped over the lazy dog; I went to the store and purchased some bread.

Examples:

中内さんは図書館で本を読みました。
“Nakauchi read a book at the library”

髪型を変えて、友達に会いに行った。
“I changed my hairstyle and went to meet with a friend.”

いつか夢を全部果たして、有名になるでしょう。
“I’ll someday achieve all of my dreams and become famous.”

私は穴を掘って、指輪を埋めたんだ。
“I dug a hole and buried the ring.”

最近新しいピアスをあけたよ。
“I recently got a new piercing.”

It’s very easy to see how を tends to be much less complicated than はand が; however don’t be fooled into thinking that を doesn’t have any tricks up its sleeve. Like は intrudes upon the territory ofが, に intrudes upon that of を. This is because を only works when preceding a transitive verb. Intransitive verbs must take に instead.

In case you might not remember what I have previously written about transitive and intransitive verbs, I’ll provide a short reminder. Transitive verbs are those that are able to take a direct object (they suggest that something or someone is doing something directly to another participant); intransitive verbs are those that do not have the ability to describe the relationship between a subject and a direct object. In Japanese, verbs are generally paired in transitive/intransitive forms. For example: 変える・変わる、する・なる、溶かす・溶ける、壊す・壊れる、割れる・割る、倒す・倒れる、転がす・転げる。

Observe the differences in the following sentences:

私はテレビを壊した。
“I broke the TV.” (Subject-Verb-Direct Object)

私にテレビが壊された。
“The TV was broken (directly) by me.” (Agent of Action-Subject-Passive Transitive Verb)
私にテレビが壊れた。
“Because of me, the TV broke.” (Source of Action-Subject-Intransitive Verb)

私はテレビが壊れた。
“My TV broke.” (Topic-Subject-Intransitive Verb)

私のテレビは壊れた。
“My TV broke.” (It was my TV that broke.) (Possessed topic of Discussion-Intransitive Verb)

私は敵を皆倒した。
“I defeated all of my enemies”

私に敵が皆倒された。
“All of my enemies were felled before (directly by) me.”

私に敵が皆倒れた。
“All of my enemies fell because of me.”

私は敵が皆倒れた。
“All my enemies fell.”

私の敵は、皆倒れた。
“All my enemies fell.” (I was my enemies that fell)

彼はあのトレンドを流している
“He’s spreading that trend.”

彼にあのトレンドが流されている。
“That trend is being propagated (directly) by him.”

彼にあのトレンドが流れている。
“Because of him, that trend is catching on.”

彼はあのトレンドが流れている。
“That trend of his is catching on.”

彼のあのトレンドが流れている。
“That trend of his is catching on.” (It’s his trend that is catching on)

Much of the above content tends to speak for itself; the を particle really is extremely straightforward, so long as the active verb is a transitive. Thankfully, a great deal of verbs dropped in every day conversation tend to be transitive in nature, so を is generally a pretty easy particle to master quickly.

To conclude this week’s entry, let’s take a look at a completely ridiculous sentence:

ギェリソン先生の性転換手術はサウス・パーク小学校の４年生の子供達を皆ショックした。
“Mr. Garrison’s sex change operation shocked everyone in South Park’s fourth grade class.”

ギェリソン先生の性転換手術にサウス・パーク小学校の４年生の子供達が皆ショックされた。
“Everyone in South Park’s fourth grade class was shocked (directly) by Mr. Garrison’s sex change operation.

ギェリソン先生の性転換手術にサウス・パーク小学校の４年生の子供達は皆ショックになった。
“Everyone in South Park’s fourth grade class was shocked because of Mr. Garrison’s sex change operation.”

(The first sentence sounds more natural than the third, which sounds more natural than the second)

Words don’t always translate well. Sure, dictionaries tend to give one single word that is supposed to correspond one English word with one Japanese word but more often than not, the nuance between the Japanese word and the English word are slightly different and an explanation is very useful. It is important to be careful of this when you study Japanese and make note of the words that don’t translate well, otherwise you will use Japanese words as if they are English words and people are going to be a bit confused about what you are trying to say. This time we are going to talk about how to express some extreme situations that will hopefully come in handy for anyone studying Japanese.

大変　Taihen

This is a negative word. It may be the ultimate negative word because you can use it in just about every bad situation. It can be used to describe a difficult situation or some kind of trouble as well as express that something is terrible or extreme. When used alone 大変です is pretty close “That’s pretty rough” or “This is pretty bad!”. People often say this as a sign of sympathy for others. If you tell someone about your hard day at work or about your boyfriend flirting with other girls, you are bound to have this thrown at you. You can also use it as an adjective to describe a difficult situation with 大変な状態。.　You can use the word to express extremity as well such as 大変暑い or “It is extremely hot!”

やばい　Yabai (Yabe)

This is a tricky one because depending on the situation it could express something great or something terrible. Sometimes I like to translate it as “Holy Shit!”. It is basically a word to express surprise over something but usually this surprise comes with a nuance of being either really good or really bad. If you see a movie and it was really good you can say あの映画はやばかった　which might translate to “That movie was really something!” or “That movie was crazy!”. You have to use the context to figure out if it was a really good movie, a really bad movie or just a surprising movie. If you say テストはやばかった, it probably means something like “the test was really hard” You can also use it to describe a person. A やばいやつ　could be a variety of things. If you see a scary looking guy on the street, it probably means he is a “dangerous guy”, if he is on a basketball team he is a “tough opponent” and if its a cool looking guy, it might just mean he gets all the girls. My personal favorite: if a bear is chasing you, you can turn around and shout to your friend “これはやばい”, which I would translate as “We’re f—ed!”.

If you liked this check out my Japanese concepts part 1 post Ganbare and Gaman