MODULE 8 Japanese Borrowed Words/Letters

Introduction

You probably encountered a lot of Calligraphic Characters while

studying Japanese language and kind of wondered, “What are those???”. It
might be hard to understand and most of the time the letters are very
complicated to write or doesn’t have a calligraphic order on what stroke to
use first. Those letters are what you call “Kanji”. They are borrowed words
which originated from their neighboring country, the “Chinese”.

There are about 10,000 registered Kanji characters that you can read
on an everyday Japanese Magazine ( し ん ぶ ん ), which represents the
educated status of a person when reading magazine contents, while the
minority number of people cannot understand what’s in it. Some say that
Kanji is used by most Japanese person to greatly shorten the words to
say/write/read, which is true in some way. Nevertheless, it is an important
part of learning that needs to be added to a person’s vocabulary.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module the students should be able to:

 Have a basic understanding about Kanji.

 Re-apply the use of Kanji words on previous lessons and the succeeding ones.

 Increase Japanese vocabulary/ grammar threshold.

Lesson 15: Japanese Adjective and its different Forms

ごい: かんたん［な］(easy, simple) てんき(weather)

ちかい (near) あめ(rain, rainy)

とおい (far) ゆき(snow, snowy)

はやい (fast, early) くもり(cloudy)

おそい (slow, late) ホテル(hotel)

おおい (many [people], much) くうこう(airport)

［ひとが～］ うみ(sea, ocean)

すくない(few [people], a little) せかい(world)

［ひとが～］ パーチイー(party[～お します:

to give party])

あたたかい(warm) きねんび (anniversary)

すずしい(cool) しけん(shiken)

あまい (sweet) すきやき(sukiyaki)

からい (hot[taste], spicy) さしみ(sashimi)

おもい (heavy) ［お］すし(sushi)

かるい (light) てんぷら(tempura)

いい(prefer [coffee]) いけばな(flower arrangement)

［コーヒーが～］ もみじ(momiji)

きせつ (season) どちら(which one[between things)

はる(spring) どちらも(both)

なつ(summer) ただいま。(I’m home.)

あき(autumn, fall) おかえりなさい。(Welcome home.)

ふゆ(winter) でも(but)

An adjective is used to describe a verb to make it more detailed. In Japanese,

they tend to add certain word to fully convey what they want to say in a conversation,
most likely because of praise or recognition. In this portion, the Na-I adjectives will be
used. The comparison and choice modifier will also be covered in this lesson, “yori”
より and “ichiban” いちばん.
 Past tense of noun sentences and な-adjective sentences
(Present/Future) Past
Affirmative N あめ です N あめ でした
な-adj. しずか な-adj.しずか
Negative N あめ じゃありません N あめ じゃ ありませんでした

な-adj. しずか (では) な-adj.しずか (では)

Ex.

きのうは あめでした。
It was rainy yesterday.
きのうの しけんは かんたんじゃ ありませんでした。
Yesterday’s exam was not easy.

Past tense of noun sentences and い-adjective sentences

(Present/Future) Past
Affirmative あついです あつかったです

Negative あつくないです あつくなかったです

きのうは あつかったです。
It was hot yesterday.
きのうの パーチイーは あまり たのしくなかったです。
I didn’t enjoy yesterday’s party very much.

N1 は N2 より adjective です

This sentence pattern describes the quality and/or state of N1 in comparison

with N2.

この くるま は あの くるま より おおきいです。

This car is bigger than that car.

N1 と N2 と どちらが adjective ですか

…N1/N2 の ほうが adjective です

The question asks the listener to choose between two items (N1 and N2). The
interrogative used is always どちら if the comparison is made between two items.

すきやき と てんぷら と どちらが おいしいですか。

。。。すきやき の ほうが おいしいです。

Which is more delicious, Sukiyaki or Tempura?

 … Sukiyaki is.

バギオ と タガイタイ と どちらが さむいですか。

。。。バギオ の ほうが さむいです。
Which is colder, Baguio or Tagaytay?
… Baguio is.
はる と ふゆ と どちらが すきですか。
。。。 はる の ほうが すきです。
Which do you like better, spring or winter?
… Spring is.

N1 ［の なか］で なに が いちばん adjective ですか

どこ
だれ
いつ
。。。N2 が いちばん adjective です

This question pattern is used to ask the listener to choose something that is the most
“adjective”. The choice is made from the group or category denoted by N1. The interrogative
used is decide by the kind of category from which the choice is made.

フィリピンりょうり ［の なか］で なにが いちばん おいしいですか。

。。。アドボが いちばん おいしいです。

Among Philippines dishes, what is the most delicious?

… Adobo is.

にほんで どこが いちばん よかったですか。

。。。ふくおか いちばん よかったです。

In Japan, where did you like best?

… I liked Fukuoka best.

かぞくで だれが いちあん せ が たかいですか。

。。。おとうーさん が いちばん せ が たかいです。

Who is the tallest of your family?

… My father is.

１ねんで いつが いちばん さむいですか。

。。。２げつが いちばん さむいです。

When is the coldest time of a year?

… It’s coldest in February

Listening Exercise:

Activities
1. Listening
2. Real Dialogue
3. Shadowing
4. Reading

Assessment
Quiz:

Exercises:

A. Find the meaning of the word and identify if it belongs な or an い adjective.

1 やすい ________________________

2 べんり ________________________

3 きれい ________________________

4 すてき ________________________

5 ふゆい ________________________

6 たいせつ ________________________

7 やさしい ________________________

8 しずか __________________________

9 むずかしい ________________________

10 にぎやか ________________________

B. Fill up the chart with the correct sequence of adjectives.

な-adjective sentences
(Present/Future) Past
Affirmative げんき
とくべつ
ゆうめい
だいすき
しんぱい
Negative
 い-adjective sentences
(Present/Future) Past
Affirmative ちいさい
あたらしい
ながい
くろい
しろい
Negative

C. Translate the following sentences in Japanese.

1. Car is faster than train.

______________________________________________________

2. I like dogs than cats.

______________________________________________________

3. Apples are more delicious than Oranges

______________________________________________________

4. Which season do you like the most?

… Summer is.

______________________________________________________

______________________________

5. In the Philippines, where did you like best?

… I liked Palawan best.

______________________________________________________

_______________________________
D. Study the 50 list of adjectives found below.

Adjectives/Hiragana Reading English

おきい Ōkii Big

ちいさい Chiisai Small
ひろい Hiroi Wide
せまい Semai Narrow
きらい Kirai Hate
ひくい Hikui Short,low
おおい Ōi Many
すくない Sukunai Few
よい Yoi Good
わるい Warui Bad
すばらしい Subarashii Great
ひどい Hidoi Awful
うつくしい Utsukushii Beautiful
みにくい Minikui Ugly
たかい Takai Tall,expensive
やすい Yasui Cheap
やわらかい Yawarakai Soft
かたい Katai Hard
つよい Tsuyoi Strong
よわい Yowai Weak
なめらかな Nameraka na Smooth
あらい Aria Rough
ふくざつな Fukuzatsu na Complicated
おもしろい Omoshiroi Interesting
したしみやすい shitashimiyasui Friendly
おとなしい Otonashii Quiet
やさしい Yasashii Thoughtful
うれしい ureshii Happy
かなしい Kanashii Sad
おこった Okotta Angry
あかい Akai Red
あおい Aoi Blue
みどり Midori Green
きいろい Kiiroi Yellow
くろい Kuroi Black
しろい Shiroi White
くらい Kurai Dark
まるい Marui Round
しかくい Shikakui Square
まずい Mazui Bad taste
にがい Nigai Bitter
すっぱい Suppai Sour
しおからい Shiokarai Salty
つまらない Tsumaranai Boring
まずしい Mazushii Poor
かわいい Kawaii Cute
せいじょうな Seijou na Normal
ふゆい Fuyui Old
わかい Wakai Young
たいせつな Taisetsu na Important
Lesson 16 Introduction to Basic Kanji (漢字)

Overview:

*Kanji in its entirety is not originally from Japan but from China.

One kanji may have more than one way to read it. For example the
character 木, meaning "tree" may be read as moku or ki. Japan
adopted its writing system from China from the fifth century. The
Japanese language is unrelated to Chinese, and the two languages
had no common vocabulary originally, but Japanese had no written
form. Chinese pronunciations such as moku were introduced to
Japan together with the character. However, Japanese already had a
word for "tree", ki. Both the Chinese and the Japanese pronunciations
ended up being used to mean "tree".

Kanji can be considered as separate subject itself, because of its large

scope of information.
There are two common principle that is associated with Kanji, for your
question to be satisfied.
on-yomi (音読み) - kon 今 Chinese variant. nichi 日 Chinese variant.
kun-yomi (訓読み) - ima 今 Japanese variant. hi 日 Japanese variant.

There are Kanji words that has more meanings - Yes that is correct, we call
them Compounds (other associated Kanji words)

Why are there words that are not pronounced as "[Kon][nichi]" or

"[Ima][nichi]", where it would make a lot of sense? - The answer to this
might be, because no such word or meaning exists, hence making sense at
all is not the issue. There are pre-made words that are already available
and accessible to use. It might be the case that your assumption for the
existence of the words can be used to construct your desired output. But as
we have assumed also, there might not be an existing meaning in
Japanese.

Does this Kanji word like '今日', have a special approach?

Not just this one, but almost all the Kanji letters have their own approach.
There are 10's of thousands registered existing Kanji characters.

Take for example; 私 (Watashi [I, me, myself]) when added with diff.
compounds also changes in meaning, Kun-yomi(私 watashi or
watakushi), 私立 (shiritsu[private establishment]), 私たち
(watashitachi[We,Us])

So if you would think that Kanji is a problematic word.

Yes, there is, but I won't call it a problem, it is the languages' nature. Just
like how we have complications on learning deep Filipino terms, so is
Japanese.
 Figure 16.0 Kanji words Level N5

For beginners who would want to learn Kanji, there a lot of ways to understand the
concept behind being good at this Characters and how to do it.

* Memorization –
The most basic way of learning, make a flashcard or some sort of Mnemonic tool to
help you memorize every day. Discipline is the key. With the modern technology
booming and everyone else is thrown into the trends, Learning Apps are available to
use also as a replacement for flashcards.
* In-Depth Approach –
This is a tedious process but with great results. It’s not just the purpose of learning
words but with the addition of deeper understanding between the character and its
other usage. Going to learning school is such feat when performing this, as well as
in need of discipline.

* Self- Actualization –
This is a hit and chance way of approach as it doesn’t take most of your time when
learning in this “nature does it’s course” like situation. When the opportunity arises
that you have encountered a word, that is the only time that you will learn about the
certain character. There is a small chance of learning at first but with repetitive
instance, then you will eventually learn. Therefore, there is somewhat little discipline
needed here, for it is an everyday life basis.
 Listening Exercise:

Activities
1. Listening
2. Real Dialogue
3. Shadowing
4. Reading

Assessment
Quiz:

A. Write the corresponding Kanji character for this Hiragana words.

Ex.

わたし

1. がく

2. せい

3. だい

4. せん

5. ちち

6. ひ

7. ひと

8. はは

9. なに