There is absolutely no need to think that the title may be speaking of some theory or metaphysics. Because, it is just speaking of the grammar of Japanese language! Any student who gets a chance to learn the Japanese language would have known at least two verbs that indicate the ‘movement’ - ‘iku’(行く) and ‘kuru’(来る), which mean ‘to go’ and ‘to come’ respectively. These verbs are so common in any language, that even a child can use them correctly to express the intention. But when an alien thinks of an idea in his / her mother tongue and tries to express that in Japanese language, there is always a scope for mistakes that throw up confusions, often filled with fun!

Direction of Movement

The ‘direction of movement’ has a vital role to play in using the verbs ‘iku’ and ‘kuru’. With any form of the verb ‘iku’, which indicates the action of ‘going’, the direction involved usually is ‘from here to there’. But the determining the direction is not so simple because it depends on the person involved in the movement as well as the position of the speaker. Further, these directions get complex with the position indicators – ‘soko’(そこ= there), ‘koko’(ここ=here) and ‘asoko’(あそこ=that place) , which all beginners would come across while they learn Japanese. When the speaker is not the person moving, it is easier to use ‘iku’ and ‘kuru’ forms, as in “kare ga koko kara soko ni ikimasu” (He goes there from here). But if the speaker moves, the position and the direction matter a lot. In such a case, the sentence is not a mere translation of the original thought. This becomes clearer when students make a note of the difference in the meanings of ‘iku’ in sentences like “ashita kareno gakkou ni ikimasu” (Tomorrow, I am going to his school) and “ashita anatano gakkou ni ikimasu” (Tomorrow, I am coming to your school).

Typically, the use of places connected with First and Second persons (‘speaker’ and ‘listener’), can change the meaning of ‘iku’ from ‘go’ to ‘come’! Here is an interesting conversation between two Japanese neighbors –

“Ryou-kun, ashita eiga wo mini ikimashou ka?” (Ryo, shall we go to a movie tomorrow?)
“ashita nara, Kana-chan mo kuru to itte ita.” (If tomorrow, then Kana too wanted to come.)
“ashita Kana-chan wa koko ni kuru no?” (Will Kana come here tomorrow?)
“iie, jitensha de eigakan ni iku rashii” (No, she seems to go to the cinema hall by bicycle)
“ja, boku mo jitensha de soko e ikimasu. Ryou-kun mo jitensha de ikimasuka?”
(OK, I too go there by bicycle. Ryou, will you too come by bicycle?)
“un, boku mo isshoni jitensha de ikimasu” (Yes, I will also come with you by bicycle.)

So, if you are ‘coming’ with me, then actually you must be ‘going’ in Japanese style. And if you learn Japanese well, your instantaneous answer for the ringing door bell will be “ikimasu” (I am going), even if means “I am coming”!

Anyone who wants to learn Japanese would have come across katakana (片仮名) system of writing. It is almost well known that it is used to script the foreign words / loanwords (gairaigo-外来語) in Japanese language. No doubt, it definitely helps a beginner to understand and differentiate between the original and loanwords while reading the Japanese sentences.

On the other hand, it throws up a bigger challenge of re-tracing the ‘original’ spelling of the loanword in its ‘original’ language. It is mainly because the writing system of Japanese cannot represent all the phonetic units of the loanword. For example, Japanese language has no equivalent phonetic units for the sounds of ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘l’ and ‘t’ in English. In reading, one can make out the loanword by katakana and strive to re-trace the original word and understand; but when it comes to spoken Japanese, the beginner is lost in the jungle ‘gairaigo’!

A foreign student who joined a literature course at some ‘tandai’ (短大 – junior college) in Japan was asked to learn Japanese. She was fun-loving as well as pun-loving and her friends admired her ability to learn Japanese using rhyming words. A Japanese friend asked “je-n chan, ‘buranko’ tte shiranaino?” (Jane, don’t you know what a ‘swing’ is?)

With a dramatic action, the gaijin started thinking aloud “are kana (Is it that) … kore kanaa (Is it this)… nihongo ja nai kanaa (It isn’t Japanese; is it?)… ah wakatta! yappari katakanaa… (Ah! I got it! It is katakana)” giving her usual naughty answer with a ‘kanaa’ pun.

And by the time she understood that ‘buranko’ (ブランコ) is the ‘refined’ form of ‘balanço’ of Portuguese, she was out of tandai! She still wonders why the most common thing like swing at a park does not have original Japanese word!

Another student Sarah still remembers an incident that happened the very next day she arrived. Her friends had planned a surprise visit to another friend Hanako’s place to wish her on her birthday. One of them asked Sarah in Japanese – English

“sara- chan, tsumaro- is Hanako’s ba-su de-, wiru you go?”
“Oh! Tomorrow is a bus-day? Sorry, but I’ve already bought train tickets.” came a quick reply!

Anyway, the friends tried their best to show her what is a ‘ba-su de-’ (バースデー), by enacting puffing a candle – “wan, tsu-, tsuri-, seino ooof” (One, two, three, let’s go for ooof) and finally she understood that it was a ‘birthday’ and had nothing to do with the city bus!

Alien students come across similar words and incidents which make their study more interesting and they learn Japanese with great fun and pun! After sometime, they get used to the katakana style and one can listen to their routine conversations in Japanese accents:

“maza-bo-do ga nai!” (There is no Mother board!)
“za ringu mita?” (Did you watch The Ring?)
“sankyu; chippu wa iranai” (Thank you; No need of tips)

And when a Japanese girl says “ai rabu yu” to her alien boy-friend, who knows katakana, he never wonders what she would rub him with. Instead, he definitely knows that she meant “I love you” and immediately he replies “ai rabu yu tsu-”!

Well, definitely I am not speaking of the physics part of the title here because everybody knows that any matter is made up of particles. And I am sure that any student trying to learn Japanese language would appreciate the analogy. Yes, the subatomic particles make up the matter, while the grammatical particles make up the language. Perhaps this would emphasize the need to study and use the particles (“joshi” – 助詞) in Japanese language very carefully. Post-positional particles, commonly known as “joshi” in Japanese, play a vital role in giving a definite sense to the sentences. The use of particles is one of the challenges a beginner faces while studying Japanese language.

There are some students who learn Japanese from an English point of view. They translate English prepositions into Japanese particles to make a ‘satisfying’ sentence! I found two students arguing about the correct use of particles when one heads towards, enters, walks and exits a park:

The first said “kouen e ikimasu, kouen ni hairimasu, kouen wo arukimasu, kouen kara demasu”.
“No! The correct ones are…” the second argued “kouen ni ikimasu, kouen ni hairimasu, kouen de arukimasu, kouen wo demasu”.

The first student learns by translating the English prepositions and so, he first imagines “go to the park, get into the park, walk through the park, exit from the park” and translates -to, -into, -through, -from as e, ni, wo, kara. However, this leads to more of confusions and wrong usages of “joshi”. While it is fine to use e/ni with “ikimasu”(go), “hairimasu”(enter) must have ni with it always and “demasu”(exit) in this context must have wo as the particle. “kouen wo arukimasu” means that you are crossing the whole length en-route, while “kouen de arukimasu” shows that the action of ‘walking’ is taking place at the park. So, both are correct grammatically but their sense and intention are different. There is one more similar pair – “densha wo norikaemasu” and “densha ni norikaemasu”, both meaning “I will change the train”. In fact most of the students choose one of these options spontaneously and that would be practiced further, without their knowledge. But a good student must have a good observation in sensing the intention and choose the correct particle. And that surely would help students learning Japanese language to develop a skill to use appropriate particles.

I know a beginner working at an Indian restaurant in Osaka. He wants to learn Japanese but gets confused often with these particles as well as the context, while at work. A Japanese lady, a frequent visitor to his restaurant, was found enjoying a funny dialogue with him:

“kumaru-san, nan dekitano?” (Mr. Kumar, is Nan ready?)
“watashi desuka?” he replied in confusion “basu de kimashita” (Me?, I came by a bus!)

And the lady started laughing at his confused countenance because he misunderstood her question for “kumaru-san, nan de kitano?” (Mr. Kumar, how did you come?). Later he served the Nan bread and stood at a corner with a grinning face! The Japanese lady reminded him –

“kumaru-san, kare- ga kitenai desu yo!” (Mr. Kumar, curry is not served!)
The guy got perplexed as he asked “e, dare desu ka?” (Er, who?)

The lady started laughing aloud again, clapping her hands. He had mistaken “kare-” (カレー=curry) for “kare” (彼=he) and to him it was “kare ga kitenai desu yo!” (He has not come!). Anyway, later I heard that he used the perplexed behavior as an entertaining skill to attract more customers and keep his “joushi” (manager) happy with his confused “joshi”!

One of the interesting features of the Japanese language is the abundance of honorific usage of words and sentences. Japanese people are fond of using honorific forms in their conversations, whether it is a casual greeting or an official talk with a customer. A “gaijin” (foreigner) who tries to learn Japanese by conversations, finds it interesting to note that the alphabet ‘O’ (お) is used as the honorific prefix most of the times. ‘O’ (お or 御) is used as a prefix to “kunyomi” (Japanese reading) words so commonly that a beginner gets confused between the O-prefixed words and the natural “kunyomi” (訓読み) words starting with letter ‘O’. Sometimes, the potency of honoring the word is so strong that the O-factor throws out funny usage of prefixes!

O in Conversations

It is most common to start a Japanese conversation with “Ohayou gozaimasu” (Good morning) and the famous “Ogenki desuka?” (How are you?). As one can notice, even during such casual greetings, the O-factor has a role to play. Yes! They are “O-hayou” and “O-genki” when you split those greeting words. And even after learning Japanese for a good period, it is difficult for a student to recognize this O-factor easily. Any foreigner would appreciate the honorific prefixes when they are used in sentences like “onegaishimasu” (I request you). Rather, it is so obvious that nobody recognizes “onegai” (request) as “O-negai” (the holy – request!!) consciously. No doubt that the O-factor makes the language really polite; but its abundance makes a beginner face different situations, which may be funny sometimes. A “gaijin” student trying to learn Japanese was found enquiring his Japanese classmate about the honorific ‘O’ used with “mizu” (水- water). It was not clear to him why such a great honor must be conferred on a commonest material like water. He was struggling to make out the contexts in which “mizu” (water) must be used as “O-mizu” (Holy-water!?). Indeed, many beginners wonder how “suidou no mizu” (tap water) becomes “O-mizu” (holy water!!) when transferred to a glass!

Some more Japanese O-humor

In fact, a lot of funny things gush into the mind when one starts separating the O-factor from the commonly used words. For instance, an alien who visits a Japanese clinic waits at the reception until the “o-nesan” (revered – sister) sends him to the “o-isha” (revered – doctor), and the basic knowledge of O-factor imparted on him is enough to understand the dialogues. Also he can try to understand “o-kusuri” (holy – medicine!) administered for his own “o-naka” (sacred – stomach!) ailments. But when the revered – sister at the reception asks him to collect some “o-shikko” (holy – urine) for routine clinical tests, he would definitely burst into a big laughter trying to make out the potency of the politeness conferred with the O-factor! Once this mischievous idea of recognizing the O-factor separately as a sacred prefix enters the mind, any student who wants to learn Japanese would look for more and more of it because it makes the study more humorous!

The most important fact one observes while studying Japanese language is the gesture of the speaker and the listener involved. As a matter of fact, study of any language also involves the study of non verbal parts like accent, intonation, body language, gesture, countenance and so on. With a language like Japanese that evolved in an island indigenously, a lot needs to be observed with the gesture of a speaker in order to learn Japanese in a better way! But this should never be mistaken for the abundance of facial or bodily expressions in Japanese conversation. For an alien visitor, the first language lesson starts from the gesture of the airhostess, when she welcomes with the famous Japanese bow “rei” (礼) saying “irasshaimase” (Please come in)!

Japanese Bowing

In Japan, it is very common to find people bending at acute angles facing one another and thanking with “Arigato Gozaimasu” (=Thank you). There are even people showing great respects by bending again and again sometimes almost at right angles, saying “iie, iie” (No, not at all). This definitely makes a first timer feel a comic scene or “something wrong?” about the bending exercises! On the contrary, one can also find simple bows exchanged between two well acquainted salary-men greeting “konnichiwa” (Good after noon) or “doumo” (Hello), when there is no actual bow at all, except for the nodding of the heads in a unique pecking pattern. And among co-workers these nods are so routine and frequent that there is no actual verbal greeting exchanged between them. An alien working with them starts enjoying this silent pecking action of the heads like a comic scene. There are some people who greet all co-workers at once as they walk down the corridor from the entrance saying “ohayou gozaimaaaaaaaaasu” (Good moooooooorning!) aloud until they reach their seats, without nodding the heads. Now a days, fresh graduates entering the companies have a new, low toned and very short greeting style, like an “ouz” (short for – ohayou gozaimasu!!) with the pecking nod at each person! Many foreigners working with Japanese co-workers feel that one can surely learn Japanese in a fun-filled manner by following the Japanese ways of expressions.

As a matter of fact, often I have heard many “gaijin” (foreigners) say that the Japanese people can communicate effectively with their nods. It may be because the vertical and horizontal movements of the head mean definite things in Japanese. A “hai” (yes) or a “sou desu” (that’s right) is always accompanied by a vertical nod indicating the assertiveness, while an “iie” (no) or a “chigaimasu” (no, it is not so) has a horizontal movement of the head associated with it. During simple conversation with Japanese people, this nod is a weather cock in distinguishing between the meanings of sentences like “sou desu” (that’s right) and “sou desu ne” (Let me see). So, a beginner who tries to learn Japanese must always have an observing eye for catching a ‘nod’ from the speaker to get a right direction to the conversation!

The term ‘Japanese’, whether it refers to the Language, the People, the Culture or the
Technology, is simply ‘different’ from the others! This indigenous identity has acquired its
own status in the world for its uniqueness in all respects! And that is what attracts people from
other parts of the world to learn Japanese Language, to know more about Japan and to get a
feel of the culture, of course much more than just the taste of Sushi (寿司)!

This is important!

A foreigner in Japan would always feel this difference starting from the day he lands. If
he wants to catch a cab home, or get a train ticket at the vending machine, or ask someone
where a public telephone is, the international lingua franca may not be of much use! Most
of the Japanese people do not understand English, let alone the accent or the slang! Yes,
this is the biggest ‘difference’ an alien would face during the stay in Japan. So definitely he
should have done some by-heart exercises like “Ano sumimasen…” (Er… Excuse me…)
or “Arigatou gozaimasu” (Thank you) or the famous “Ginko wa doko desuka?”(Where is the
bank?), useful in routine conversations. He would usually not get any answer except for a
bland look when he asks “I want to buy a phone card”. I know what you might be thinking of
now – “Come on; this must be a joke! Are you saying that the Japanese won’t understand even
such a simple sentence?” . Unfortunately, this is not a joke; leave the sentence, they won’t
understand the word “phone-card” until you slow down and say “terehon kaado”(Telephone
card). I know of a first timer who purchased a lot of things at a kiosk and finally tried to ask
for a “calling card”. The lady at the shop searched in the dictionary as usual and humbly
presented her visiting card! Yes, the language makes the big difference and the difference
in usage complicates it! But one thing is simple; when in Japan, you need to use Japanese
language.

Get Out and Learn These!

To a beginner, Japanese language may look like a series of complicated pictorial
representations. In fact most of the beginners have a notion that Chinese and Japanese are
similar – just series of ‘complex pictorial calligraphy’! But unlike Chinese, Japanese has
alphabets or the Kana system of writing. While ‘Hiragana’ is used for native Japanese
words, ‘Katakana’ is used for writing words of foreign origin. But Japanese writing system
also uses ‘Kanji’, the Chinese letters that challenge most of the beginners who wish to learn
Japanese. This may be due to a prejudice that learning ‘Kanji’ is difficult. But actually,
learning Kanji is ‘different’, a great fun and a brain sharpening technique that demands just
a playful heart to enjoy it. At the same time, spoken Japanese is surely easier and is the most
powerful tool in making friends in Japan! In simple words, to learn Japanese is to have fun
with a feeling that is just ‘different’!