ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ——SEANOWLEDGMENTS JAPANESE I Second Edition VOICES English-Speaking Instructor Female Japanese Speaker Male Japanese Speaker Jordan Weinstein Kiyoko Tanno Hisahiko Yano COURSE WRITERS Kimiko Ise Abramoff ¢ Ds. Akira Miyahara EDITOR Beverly D. Heinle Recording Engineers: Jeff Cover painting “The Lovers Hambei and ( by Kitagawa Utamaro, London British Museum Courtesy of The Bridgeman Art Library ©und © Recorded by Simon & Schuster A © Read by Simon & Schuster Audi of Simon & Schuster. Ine. All Rights Reserved,2 ———— Japanese T Table of Contents (continued) Is 16 Unit 17 kyo wa nani o shimasu ka? . Unit 18 shujin, goshujin / kanal, okwsan Unit 19 hajimemashite / dozo yoroshiku Unit 20 hitori, fusari, sannin otoko no ko, onna no ko otearai, toire. : hoshii desu, hoshii n desu ga kodomo, kedomo san Weights and Measures .. Unit 24 Driving in Japan .. Unit 25 Store Hours Unit 26 ni, san nichi....... Taxis in Japan. Unit 27 Unit 28 Unit 29 masu, mashite... Unit 30. Continuing Succe: Introduction to Reading Japanese Kanji, the Chinese Characters a8 Katakana and Hiragana aan Reading Japanese ..... 59 i ee Japanese 1 Notes on Japanese Culture and Communication The objective of Pimsleur's Japanese I. Second Edition is to introduce you to the language and culture of Japan primarily through your ears, and only secondarily through your eyes. This approach is based upon the fact that more than 95 percent of our lives is spent in listening and talking, and less than 5 percent in reading and writing. The mest elective and productive way to begin acquiring these necessary communication skills is by actually working with the “language in use,” as demonstrated by native speakers of the language being learned, Efficiency is greatly increased when what you learn first are the most-frequently-used structures and dai fe vocabulary, so that you practice with the practi: Is you require every day. This carefully selected Ore-language” allows the tutor on the wpe to keep you focused entirely on essential language. This is self- motivating because you will begin to use it immediately and successfully. Language and culture are so closely intertwined that learning them separately can make you literally “culturally-deprived,” ie. unable to produce appropriate and meaningful language.4 ——— S SS Japanese T Japanese 1 Notes (continued) Unit For this reason you must carefully notice the different Sumimasen In this unit, you have learned s. me.” You will find this expression quite useful in your as you Jeam to identify the intonation and melody of the speakers. We provide this booklet to provide additional explicit instruction to further confirm what you have Tearned, Acquiring the culture, “the map of the t like acquiring the terminology of a subject: it ‘you to operate as a fellow member in that society. Your Success in working with native speakers of Japanese will depend upon how sensitive you become to the accumulated heritage that is Japanese. 1 encounter with the Japanese, and you will also hear Japanese people using it in many different social contexts, su used to express the speaker's sincere and polite attitude toward others. Japanese people use this expression to convey not only “Excuse me,” but also “I'm sorry,” and even “Thank was demonstrated expression from 01 foot in a crowded Omission of Subjects nese speakers o| rely on the listener's ability to understand their real intention from what appears to be subtle and evasive verbal and nonverbal si Being able to leave some things unsaid so can read between the lines is an important skill Japanese communication. A person who explains thingsdpa D esi sip ee Unit 1 (continued) a Sed Yo in great detail is considered legalistic, and often frowned upon. The frequent omission of subjects is one example of this ambiguous and secmingly incomplete form of Japanese communication, This style of speech may ‘frustrate foreign learners of Japanese at first, but after a will become natural, ‘The Japanese language has several words for “you.” The one to use depends upon the speaker's relationship with the person being spoken to. Among these are the common anaia, which was introduced in this unit, the informal ania, the formal kimi (often used by a superior to address his / her junior.) and omae. used only by male speakers. However, you will often hear people address one another without using any of these. simply leaving “you” to be understood. someone's concern for your well-being. It is an important expression that serves to facilitate daily interactions. Tt not only appears in the context where a person is thanking another for asking whether he / s is fine, but you may also hear it used as a response to an inquiry about a family member: + doing in school? : nk you. okagesama de, she has graduated from high school, and is NOW going to college. erally means “thanks to you,” sama de is used in situations where the person he question has clearly not contributed to the . Success, accomplishment, ete. of you or someone in your family. It is used simply to show your on for his / her concern,8 OO Japanese T ee a ee eee Unit 2 (continued) Se a ae a OE EA Expressions of Deference in Japanese Communication Along with the Japanese tendency to credit the other Person for one's own accomplishment, success, good n. When someone compl Japanese on good work, nice clothes, a beautiful house, wonderful dinner, etc. it is customary for them to downplay their abilities, possessions, cic. As a case in point: A: That was a wonderful meal! You are a great cook, suzuki san. . Lonly followed a recipe. Anybody can Az Icertainly can't. Could you teach me? B: Can I teach? Ob, no. You cook far better than | can. I’m the one who needs to take lessons from you suzuki may be seen as too modest by American Standards, but thi ly acceptable behavior in Japan. This hurnility is only seen as avoiding appearing to be arrogant or conceited. ‘oagree with him/her. You will hear this used frequently in Japanese; in fact, some people may end virtually every sentence with ne. Living in a more col Society than the US, the Japanese value being aligned with and maintaining harmonious relationships with others. The frequent use of ne may illustrate their desire to avoid any conflict or disagreement with one another10 —————eEEe Japanese 1 ee ee Unit 3 Se ikaga desu ka? / ogenki desu ka? Each culture has its own way of greeting an acquaintance. In mariy English-speaking cultures, people greet one another by asking how they are. Such expressions as “How are you?" “How's everything?” and “How's it going?” are all popular and friendly ways to gieet a friend or acquaintance in the United States, ikaga desu ka?, an expression you've used in Units Two and Three. is a literal translation of “How are you?” While technically correct, it is not used as frequently as its English counterpart, unless you know that the other person has not been feeling well recently, Some Japanese people may find it hard to respond to the open-ended question, ka? An alternative ? is ogen you fine, or healthy?” This is introduced in Unit Three and used thereafter. You put o before genki, as an honorific, to show your deference to the other person Therefore you don’t use it when responding to the question. Simply say, hai, genki desu. okagesama de. Unit 4 a eee ts SA Questions Phrased with a Negative When speaking to Japanese speakers in English and phrasing @ question with a negative such as “Aren't you hot today?” you will find that s reverse “yes” and “no, when asked “Aren't you Japanes “No,” meaning “1 Person's implications and behaving }portant social skill in Japan, when you Japanese?” many Japanese people will assume that you must be thinking he or che is Japanese. In response to a, they deny, by wrong, T am indeed Japanese.” That is why, in the conversation the person nasu (“No, you can Speak well”) in response to de (But [can’t speak well yet"), , mace jou ja arimasen Street Names In this unit, we introduced Hibiya and Shinjuku Avenues, tWo streets that exist in Tokyo. However, while some streets in Tokyo and several other big cities such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagoya do have properSa eee Japanese I Unit 4 (continued) names, you will find that the majority of streets in mid- sized ot small Japanese cities have no specific names. ‘You will also find that no street is referred to by numbers, as in New York City. Itwill take you some time to learn how to get around, but you will usually find people to be very helpful. For example, if you're looking for a friend’s house, you might be told, “Get off at Shinjuku Station, South Entrance exit. Go straight ahead, past many small shops, for about 100 meters. Take a right at the Shinjuku Supermarket. About 500 meters down the road, you'll see the condominium complex you're looking for” Without specific street names, the Japanese landmarks instead to give directions. 13 Se i er ‘Japanese I Language of Social Levels, Age, Position, and Deference ‘The complex rules governing status in Japan play an important role in the expressions used in various social situations. In this unit, you have learned how to ask a person whether s/he wants to cat or drink: tabemast ka? and nomimasu ka? ‘These expressions are used when there is no need for the speaker to show deference. ic., between friends, family members, and colleagues. Tf, however, a native Japanese speaker is in a lower position than the hearer, s/he must carefully choose the most appropriate level of politeness. tabe ni nari masu ka? is more polite than tabemasu ka? and 0 meshiagari ni nari masu ka? is far more polite. A great variety of expressions are available, depending on the degree of courtesy needed. As a non-native speaker of Japanese, however, you are seldom, if ever, expected to be able to use these expressions, but you will hear them used, so it is better if you are aware of them.15 14 Os Japanese I Japanese T Unit 6 Unit 7 Particles Cognates and “Borrowed English Loan Words” When speaking English with non-native speakers, you can usually guess their fluency by their familiarity with idiomatic expressions, Forexample, when someone “John is engaged with Beth” instead of “engazed to" you can tell that the person is not a native speaker of En ‘The same is true of the Japanese language. There are many one-syllable words or particles that you need to be able to use properly in order to convey y ideas accurately to the listener, wa, ga, de, ni, mo, ka, no, and to are some examples of these particles. wa is often used to indicate that the preceding words are the main topic of a sentence: e.g. watashi equivalent to the English “at accompanied by a word indicating time, as in ‘al two o'clock.” mo is "as in anata mo - “you ” ka is put at the end of a sentence to make question. no is possessive, as in anata no nihongo (Your Japanese). 10 is approximately equivalent to “with” in English, as in anato to tabetai desu — “(1) want to eat with you” Though they may be confusing at time: leaming to use these particles properly will greatly contribute to your flueney in Japanese, No language is free from words borrowed from other languages, and Japanese is no exception, Many E anese, although the Pronounce them so differently that ikers can hardly recognize that they were resutoran and bi There are as h words used in Japanese whose meanings have changed to a greater or lessor extent. For example, there are many apartment complexes that are called “mansions” in Japan, usually referring 10 jums. You may find a pair of socks marked ” which really means “one size fits all.” Ina restaurant, you may be served mikkusw sando, or “mixed sandwiches.” “Mixed” in this context means “assorted.” and you will find various kinds of sandwiches on one plate.1 ——— Japanese T Unit 8 eee ee aE Ans eet ee Addressing People You may have noticed in the units that the Japanese People usc family names to address each other. The use of first name: limited to family members and close friends. The polite sam is added to a family name and this can be used to address virtually anyone: male and fernale, ld, strangers and acquaintances may be attached to one’s first name. Japanese rarcly address one another without attaching some kind o e person's name, and sa common. If they feel Close to you, they may call you, for instance, “Mary san.” or “Dave san,” equivalent to “Miss Mary” or “Mr. Dave.” as a sign of friendly courtesy, When referring to yourself, however, you would never use si. This is a polite title, used only when referring to others. Counting Things You have learned ni for the number “two By the time you complete the course, you have leaned many more numbers. You Counting in Japanese is easy, no matter how large the number may be. You will need to know large numbers, W ———_—_ Japanese 1 Japanese Unit 8 (continued) Se ve ila as 1,000, 20,000, 100,000 and maybe more. The value of one American dollar fluctuates between 80 and 120 yen, and thus prices will usually appearas large numbers For example, it costs 700 to 1,000 yen to buy_lunch, 330 yen to buy a boitle of beer, 600 yen to take a cab for the first mile, and 2,000 to 3,000 yen to take a bus from ional Airport to downtown ing (0 remember when counting ings in Japanese is that there are a wide variety of Words used as “counters” that must accompany the r” you use will vary, depending largely on the shape of the you are counting is unit, for example, you have learned ni hon for ” hon is the s, trees, poles ever, is not ichi hon, but ippon. “Three S” is san bon, and “six bottles” is nppon. Although the pronunciation of hon may appear to change without has simply been adjusted for Pronunciation. “Two other “counters” you may find useful are mai, used for flat material such as paper, books, and magazines, and dai, used for many kinds of machinery including computers, cars, and heavy industrial equipment.18 ———— Japanese 1 Se Unit9 a es Cireumlocution In this unit, you heard a man and a women tying 10 agree on the time to meet for a drink, and making altemative suggestions. ‘This provides useful practice. In reality, however, you will find the Japanese people to be much more subtle when they must express a nega- tive response. Concemed with saving face, the Japanese Tesort to a variety of verbal and nonverbal comm tion strategies, and avoid directly saying “no” whenever they can. One common way to turn down a proposal remain silent, When you do not receive an int response to an offer, then the chances are that the person does not want to accept it, but at the same time docs not Want to offend you or make you feel bad. A long delay inesponding may be another form of refusal. In Japan, unless you are speaking with someone you know very Well and a mutual trust exists, you will rarely hear a straight answer given to a difficult q when that answer involves so1 do you reach that level? Tt will take some time, but if You are sensitive to another culture quite different from ‘yours, and have a positive attitude toward adapting to you will be able to acquire the communication skills necessary to establish, maintain, and develop trusting relationships with the local people. 19 Japanese T ____Iapanese Unit 10 Se WE I Levels of Politeness The Japanese language has c the levels of different social conversations ipanese friends, you may hiear more informal expressions. For example, instead of asking man ji desu 4u? for “What time is it?” they might simply ask, nan “What time?” Another example is wakatta for lunderstood” rather than wakarimashita. The Japanese language has many ways for the speakers to differentiate between formal ‘and informal expressions in daily conversations When “pan and listen to a conversation between two friends, you may be discouraged at first but this happens when you leam any foreign language. pressions that you have leaned in this course Will serve as a strong basis for understanding the Japanese people, and given that basis, you will be able he level of politeness used throughout the course is suitable in conversation with any Japanese speaker,20 rr Ji Japanese I Unit 11 o- masen ka? When inviting a person to do something, you have a fange of forms in English to express various degrees of Politeness. The Japanese also show their deference toward the listener by changing how they end a sentence. In this unit you learned how you can invite a person 10 have lunch and dinner with you. You could directly ask the person whether s/he will have lunch wi expression, literally translated as “Do you have lunch with me?” is fur too direct and even offensive and would not be used in actual conversations. The “request” is more than likely to be turned down, Asking the same question in a negative form, ic., waiashi 10 hirugohan 0 tabemasen ka? considerably so! probabl the listener feel more comfortable either accepting ot declining the offer, This is equivalent to “Why don’t you ...?” and “Won't you gohan When the word gohan is added to asa, hiru, and yoru, or moming, aftemoon, and evening. it means 21 Es Japanese 1 Unit_11 (continued) lunch, and dinner, respectively. ‘The word gohan, however, means “rice” rather than a meal, Since the staple food in Japan is rice, regular Japanese meals tions of tice and various side dishes, such h, meat, vegetables, eggs, ete. Many people, especially those in the younger generation, often Substitute more Western style meals such as. bread, Cereals, hamburgers, pasta, and pizza for rice, and in fet the consumption of rice in Fapan has been slowly decreasing in recent years. Each meal, however. is still called gohan, even though you may not have a single grain of ice. Don't be confused when someone says to YOU, walashi to gohan o tabemusen ka? and takes you toan American style pizza restaurant.2 —————— Ji japanese T Unit 12 ee ene Li ee Ua i Yen: Japanese Currency of Japanese currency, and its jar has appreciated in the last two decades, In the early 1970"s one US dollar could buy 360 yen, but Although in wei pronuncii 10,000 yen, 5,000 yen, and 1,000 yen that are of different sizes and colors, Also there are Six kinds of coins: $00 yen, 100 yen, 50 yen, 10 yen, 5 yen, and 1 yen. While Americans in ral carry little cash and use id, the Japanese people tend to pay cash when they go shopping. You will find many kinds of vending machines th: nge i ickets. Some of the machines accept 10,000 yen notes and give change in both paper money and coins, Sayonara ssayonara has become widely known as “good-bye forever” through the movies, TV dramas, and other kinds of media. It may indeed imply in some contexts that Unit 12 (continued) Fe rere ea, Seah IF ay the person using this expression has no intention of seeing the other person ever again. But as you learned this unit, it can be readily used at the end of every conversation. In the phone conversation, you heard a female speaker say sayonara. jaa mata ashita. She Anows that she will see the gentleman the next day for dinner, and says sayonara. It is, however, a rather informal way of ending a mn, and it should be avoided in 2 more formal context such as business, Nevertheless, sayonara does not necessarily mean “good-bye forever”24 —————————————— Japanese T pe eI Unit 13 ed ee Counting in Japanese Knowing how to count is important in order to function properly in any language. You must be able to count so that you can understand the prices of goods you want to buy, services that you wish to make plane reservations, and soon. Now that you have leammed to count from one to ten, and started to work on numbers above ten, the rest will be quite easy. Just as long as You know the first ten numbers, you can make any number up to 99, simply by combining them. unit you have leamed 14, 15 and 16. They were simply made up of ten and four, ten and five, ten and six, respectively. You can continue to count in the same Way Up t0 19. Then 20 isa combination of two and ten, ie. ni ju. You may guess that the same rule is applied to every number after 20. 21 i: ni ju ic or “two ten one.” Though we are only going to introduce a few new numbers in any unit, we hope you will understand the rule early and be ready for large numbers, as you will indeed encounter them in your initial entry to Japan, Word Order Among the numerous differences between Japanese and English, the way a sentence is put together, word Unit_13 (continued) ee Se order, is one of the most significant. ‘The most notable Characteristic of Japanese word order is that the important Words are placed at the end of a sentence, Which places the important words at the beginning of or early in the sentence. In this unit you learned how to say okane 0 motte imasu, or “I have money.” In order to make this sentence negative in English, you add “do Not” or “don’t” before “have.” In Japanese, on the ly make a slight change in the last Part of the sentence; imasw to imasen. By changing ‘mast to masen you can make a positive statement into a negative one, and by changing mast to mashita, you have a sentence describing a past event rather than the Present. While these rules are quite easy to understand, in actual conversations they require your special attention. You sten 10 every sentence to its very end in order to fully comprehend whether the speaker is saying either “I have money" ot “I do not have money; “Tlove you” or “I do not love you. ving the most important information at the end seems to characterize the Japanese manner of cation, not only on the sentence level, but also in writing a paragraph, a longer essay, giving a speech or in negotiations, In the North American culture, you26 a! Japanese 1 a ne Unit 13 (continued) Se Rae ena ib a are taught to clearly state your important points at the beginning of your papers, speeches, and debates. In Japan, developing one’s ideas slowly without mzking certain points clear, by using indire: expressions, loosely structured, only hi peaker / writer's real intention, is considered as a cultured manner” of communication. Coming from a Where being clear, direct, and frank is valued, ‘tated by the Japanese manner of communi ion which only seems to beat around the bush without i you remain open to the difference, as you gain fluency you will also get a “feel” for the circumlocution, a Japanese I Spans T Unit 14 eae takusan, sukoshi have noticed by now that there is no clear ifference between singular and plural forms In MOS! Words need an “s" of “es” at the end to indicate plurals, but most Japanese words do not change. Whether the nouns are countable or of” and sukoshi for For example, “one is biira ippon, “two beers” is biiru nihon, and “many beers” is bru takusan, “I have a lot of money” Watashi wa okane o takusan mote imasu, and “I have tle money” is walaski conversations. It not only stands alone to mean a small Quantity, but you can also say watashi wa niongo o sukoshi hanashimasu, meaning “I speak a litle Japanese, “I want a little,” or even, sukoshi ososugimas, “It’s a little too late.28 Japanese T eet ON a Unit 15 SSS aa ee re ee es itte kimasu ‘The conversation in this unit began with a lady saying itte Kimasu. It literally means, “I am going” or “I am keaving.” When Japanese go somewhere, they usually Say it to those they are leaving behind. In response, the Person who is staying says itte rasshat, literally meani “Please go.” Of course they usc this expression to the person a good trip. When people come home they SAY tadaima, or “I've just come home,” to which others respond by saying okaerinasai, meaning, “Welcome back.” These sets of greetings exchanged when people g0 in and out of the house are very common among the Japanese and you are sure to hear them when staying in a Japanese home. You have heard that Japanese has two words for ve.” When you give something to ageru, and if somebody gives somet use kureru. In Unit 5, we discussed t oF politeness one displays in conversation, depending n the status difference between the speaker and the listenet. There are several words that have derived from you are gi Someone, to whom you are expected to show politeness to, You add sashi to ageru, and say sashiager. Again, er of Japanese would be rarely expression, but a sales clerk at a department store, for example, may s polite expression for kureru is itadaku, siftto a Japanese friend, and the friend is reporting that {0 her parents, she might say kore itadakimashita or “He gave this to me,30. ——_—————— JapaneseT Unit 17 kyo wa nani o shimasu ka? You learned earlier that wa is used for emphasis or comparison. In Unit 14 and the present unit you have Practiced using several words that indicate time, such as today and this evening, followed by wa. Here, this means “as for.” You will also notice that in Japanese the Words or phrases that indicate time are usually placed in the beginning of a sentence, us these words are normally at the end. You may notice when a Japanese person speaks to you in English, s/he lay, I went to see my friend.” “Today. what would you like 10 do?” When you speak Japanese, it is quite acceptable and normal to begin a sentence with a word or phrase indicating time Japanese I shujin, goshujin /kanai, okusan When Japanese people introduce their family members, particularly their spouses, they will rarely introduce them by their names. Rather, they will tell you how they are related to introdaces his wife to ay kore wa watashi no kanai desu, wife.” When Mrs, Sato wants to probably say kore wa warashi no shujin is my husband.” You may be surprised find the t someone el words to show is anata no okusan, Here we have a different word, okusan, which means “a person deep inside (the house).” Coming from the North American culture where equality between the two sexes is a serious concern, you may be astonished to see that Japanese women are still treated as a minority or a22 3 Japanese | Unit 18 (continued) weaker sex, and argue that such discriminatory use of language is partly to blame for it, Role differentiation with regard to sex is more distinct in Japan than in the United States and Japanese women may appear to be discriminated against by men. The society is changing, however, influenced by the global concem for racial, Sexual, and religious equality and is importing and incorporating some new policies, while at the same time attempting to maintain some traditional Japanese principles, Japanese I Unit 19 hajimemashite / dozo yoroshiku When you meet someone for the first time, you greet 2 “How do you do? Pleased to it. Many Japanese people Say hajimemashite. dozo voroshiku. Literally, hajimemashite means “(Tam meeting you) for the and it has come to be used as an initial greet Femark. dozo yoroshiku is a more implicit express with 2 wide latitude of possible interpret depending on the context, the nature of the relationship that is about to develop, ete, It literal be good to me” and it symbolizes the value that many Japanese people place on mutual dependency known as amae. Just as with many other expressions used as social lubricants in other languages, e,g., “Let's get together sometime,” “Drop in when you are in the *” the real function of dozo yoroshiku is to encounter between people go smoothly, watashitachi Although English has sets of words such as “T” and we," “s/he” and “they” depending on whether it’s singular or plural, Japanese only adds words such as34 35 —— = Japanese 1 Japanese I Unit 19 (continued) Unit 20 tachi and ra t hitori, futari, sannin dicate plurals. To illustrate, warashi or “I” becomes watashitachi when it is plural, Kare or “he” gains ra at the end and becomes “they.” karera. The same rule applies to the word for ‘One child is kodomo and children is kodomotachi. While you need to know whether you should add tachi or ra to tum a singular to a plural form, Japanese in general is rather ax about the notion of plurals, When you count a number of people in Jap. you can use regular numbers except for “one” and “two, You remember that Ss ichi, and “two” that the word that shows you are counting peop! The Japa at it would be awkward to say nd ninin, so most Japanese people use otoko no ko, onna no ko You have leamed o1oke no ko, and onna no ko for a boy anda girl, Notice that i portant cultural 1ay notice if you ‘nd some time living in Japan is that the Japanese ldren are gonerally mote dependent on their pare! than their US counterparts are, and that they are fre- quently és mature, Parental support for children is usually continued through, and often beyond, college You would not find it awkward, therefore, to call ‘wenty-two-year-old male college graduate otoko no ko.Japanese I Japanese I 41 Unit 21 (continued) otearal, totre Something, e.g. when buying something in a store, or when you are speaking to someone very close to you, Just as you can find many words in English that indicate a lavatory, you will come across a variety of expressions in Japanese. In this unit you have learned two of them: ofearai and toire. otearai literally means “a place to wash han or “bathro of “toilet” and it is very use keshoushitu, roughly c The most direct and straight expression of benjo, equivalent to lavatory, is rarely used in daily conversations. An interesting discovery you may make in a Japanese home is that the toilet and the bath are in Separate rooms, unlike in the find both in one In Jay regarded as faci that perform very different functions. hoshit desu, hoshii n desu ga You have leamed these two expressions, both meaning “I want something.” There is. f course, a differenc nuances between the two. While the first is more direct and is appropriate when you can rightfully demand such as friends and family members, the latter is more implicit and shows the speaker’s reservations. It implies wish to have something, but if it is not possible, then ” This expression is more suitable in a situation where the relationship between you and the person you are speaking to is not quite well-established yet, of Where there is a clear status difference. It is another example of politeness in Japanese commt38 Japanese [ Unit 22 a kodomo, kodomo san Tn the conversation the woman asked nan nin kodomo san ga tmasu ka? and the man said futari kodomo ga imasw. When you talk about someone else's family members, you show your respect by adding san at the end. The san is equivalent to Mr., Mrs. and Miss When you talk about your own family members, on the other hand, you never use san. This is an example of Japanese other-centered communication. and it serves to maintain smooth and harmonious relationships in Japanese society. ‘The Japanese manner of expressing politeness is complicated by their notion of modesty. They their deference to others by not only symbol heightening the other's status, but also by lowering their own. You may often hear the Japanese speak ill of their ‘own family members. A mother may say, for example, “My son is so lazy and dumb, and he’s doing so poorly in school. Your son seems really int motivated. Tam embarrassed.” The other person w of course, respond by saying something like, “Please stop joking. My son only spends a lot of time in his room, pretending to study so hard. But I have no idea Unit 22 (continued) ee ee Se et what he is doing. Maybe he's listening to his stereo, or reading comic books.” While such an interaction may appear to be overly condescending and People from the U.S. culture, it is an impor Of social interaction in Japan, You, as a non-native Speaker, are not expected to play the complex social game, but an awareness will contribute grcatly to your comfort in and appreciation of the culture.40 Ppa See ees Re Unit 23 ee rere a Waa a tia amu! Weights and Measures You have learned to ask for some gas for your car and also to talk about distance. Whenever you travel to a foreign country, you are likely to come across differ. ent perceptions of weights, distances, heights, volumes, te. If you are visiting Japan for a short period of time as a tourist, these differences may not affect you very if you arc t stay there for an extensive Period of time, enga, you will find some knowledge concern- ing the Japanese system quite useful. Even when the Japanese speak to you in English, they system to which they are accustomed, Here are some examples to show you how the US Weights translate to their Japanese counterparts, One about 2.5 then you are 180 centimeters tall, and if you are 5 feet 6 inches, then you are about 165 centimeters. One pound is about 0.45 Kilogram, which means that if you weigh 100 pounds, that is about 45 ki lograms, and 150 pounds tr into 67.5 kilograms. When you visit a grocery store, you will find various things priced by 100 grams, A & centimeters, Unit 23 (continued) Sa ea Steak, for instance, may be 600 yen for 100 grams which is roughly e ion and also the traffic signs indicating speed limits are all in kil meters. One mile is imately 1.6 kilometers, and thus 40 kilometers Per hour, which is a common city speed limit, is 25 miles per hour, A; a foreign visitor you may not need to know all of these, but if you can get used to them, it will facilitate your daily activities,42 Unit 24 Driving in Japan Tn the last unit we mentioned the high price of gas in Japan. Driving in Japan could cost you quite a lot of money. The Japanese people must go to a special driving school to obtain a driver’s license and the average fee is $2,000. The number of skills that are necessary to get around in crowded cities accounts for the high fee. You should apply for an international driver's license prior to departure for Japan. You must remember that the Japanese drive on the left side of the road, as the British ited space, parking is a problem in big cities and it is also quite expensive. The public transportation is well developed, so you may want to think twice before driving in Japan. 43 Japanese T Unit 25 Store Hours In the conversation in this unit, the man said that the department store may be closed because he may have said it so the lady would not go shopping, it is important to know when the Japanese department stores ure open as they do not always keep the same store hours as those in the U.S. They usually open at 10:00 am and close around 6:30 PM on regular business days, including weekends. Unlike some stores in the U.S., many Japanese department stores and small shops In fact, the stores are most crowded on Sundays. Each department store, however, has designated one weekday as a day olf, usually Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. You will find the Japanese stores exiremely crowded with people during ving seasons every year: mid to late mber. During these seasons, most stores 200 Pst or 9:00 PM.4 ee Japanese T Unit 26 ni, san nichi few people"), biiru ni, san bon few beers"), and mi, san shuwkan (“a few weeks”), We have repeatedly stressed ambi just another example. Even when the speaker knows precisely how many people s/he is talking about, the expression ni, san nin may be used. Although the expression literally indicates only two or three as possibilities. four or even five are not completely excluded. To respond to the question “How many beers did you have last night?” a Japanese person may say san bon, while he might have, in fact, had five or six. ‘The range of possibilities included in ni. san seems wider than that of “a few." Taxis in Japan You have leamed another Ei commonly used in Japanese: taku available in most cities, even in fairly small towns, You 45 ets Japanese I Unit 26 (continued) can flag one down on the street or phone for a pick-up, Most taxis, both company-owned and privately-operated, are connected by radio, They are clean, safe, and convenient, The fares vary, depending on the city you are in. They are slightly such as Tokyo, Yokohama, and Osaka than in smaller Places such as Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Sapporo. You do not need to tip the imply pay the fare displayed on the machine by the driver's sea An interesting discovery you will make is that the rear Passenger door opens and closes automatically. Just as Jong as you can clearly tell the driver where you wish to 80, or show a map and point your destination, you will get there safely and rapidly by taxi,46 Japanesel eS aah ae OTe Unit 27 Se ee a, hyaku ‘You have leaned a new you know how to count fi can now go all the way up 10 999 by simply combining the numbers you already know. One hundred 80 one hundred five is Ayaku go. One hundr Ayaku ju. You can guess that two hundred is made up of ni for “two” and hyaku for a hundred. It is ni hyakuw The rest is easy except that the pronunciation of hyakw varies slightly depending on what number it follows. Three hundred is san byaku, six jaa In any spoken language you can find several words that are interjected, but have no specilic meanings. Some ‘examples in English are “well, ah, huh, hum." jaa is a good Japanese example. Ti can be used in a variety of situations. In the present iL was introduced as being equivalent to “well then.” You can use it when 47 SS Japanese I = eee Unit 27 (continued) AUS cinta tes SPR Ties eal os you wish to say “See you later” to a close friend, You » say jaa When you ask a series of questions: iru o nomimasu ka? nomimasen. i, osake 0 nomimasu ka? How naturally you use these interjections may be a49 48, —————————— Japanese T Unit 28 donogurai donogurai or donokurai was introduced in this unit, While it is used to indicate the length of time, it als refers to many other measures such as distance, weight, height, and price, The second half of the word, 2 fovrai, means “approximately.” Itis used quite frequently and it may be seen as another manifestation of the Japanese people's avoidance of too direct and Precise. You may use it in many contexts in order to soften your tone and avoid being too definite and assertive. A Japanese person may ask you how much in the U.S., saying amerika no gasorin wa tkura desu ka? You know that it varies from one place another, and Ly, but do not wish to go the question by being appro gurai desu, or “about $1.1 Japanese T Unit 29 masu, mashita As we have stated before, Japanese word order is quite different from Eng sh, the general ‘meaning of a sentence is made clear early in the sentence. You can figure out whether something is happening now, will happen in the future, has already happe did not happen at all, sentence. The Japanese language, on the other hand, places the grammatically important words toward the end of a sentence. The difference between masu and ‘mashita is very small, and they come in the very end of 4 sentence. You need to be careful not to jump to you hear the entire sentence. Si auiribute of the Japanese language may require your extra attention, but the brighter side is that Japanese words do not change their forms depending on whether they are present or past as some English words do.Continuing Success Throughout Japanese 1, Second Edition you have learned many essential elements of the Japanese language. Practicing using the expressions you have leamed in the thirty units will assure you successful initial encounters with the Japanese people. We hope you will keep up with your daily and important is ‘Your sensitivity to cross-cultural differences in values, thought patterns, space and mannerisms, ete. your communication skills by proceed: a 1 ON 10 Japanese 51 Japanese 1 Introduction to Reading Japanese When you visit a foreign country such as Japan, where the language sounds very different, and the appearance of the written language does not even remotely resemble what you are used 10, you may find yourself somewhat ig. Mastering reaciing indeed an extremely long and re speakers have ‘You are learning spoken Japanese. While the orthographic form of Japanese will be usefull when visiting Japan, it is not necessary to acquire specch. In the following notes, however, some basic and important knowledge of written Japanese will be introduced. Once you understand the essentials that underlie written Japanese, you will find that reading in the language is much easier and less intimidating than ‘you may have anticipated,Spanet japanese I Kanji, the Chinese Characters Kanji is the “pictorial” writing the Japanese borrowed from the Chinese. Each Kanji character represents an object or idea, and in written Japanese these objects and ideas combine in various ways to form new words and pronounce the Kanji characters, and you inly not need 3,000, but it ns, and in restaurant menus. As an example of Kanji, we will introduce you here to a few that are ty Kanji characters To get you started wi character for “up” or “on.” Notice tha whole character points upward: E 33 Japanese I Kanji (continued) This character pointing down means “down” or “under. T When put together, these two characters form a Japanese word, meaning up and down. ‘The word is used i al upward and downward felationship with a status Er Here is another character, which means a “tree” Can You see how the image of a tree was transformed into the Kanji character? And here is the character for a “mountai Wa fapanese T Kanji_ (continued) Many characters are made up of two or more parts: hhen (or the left-hand radical) and ssukuri (or the right- hand radical). The Kanji for “tree” can serve as a hen, and it may be used to form such characters as “woods, ora “forest.” i three | up. and down, Put together as one word, and “down” mean a “mountain pass” ie When you can recognize some 50 basic Japanese Kanji characters, the rest wll be fairly easy, 2s you will probably be able to guess what a new character may mean just by looking at it and identifying the component parts, ‘The first step is to get xiety about reading Japanese; take the ne familiar with the fundamental pattems used to make up the Japanese Kanji characters, “mountain, Ora “peak.” Katakana and Hiragana The Kanji system adopted from Chinese is the basic Japanese written system, but, whereas the Chinese Tanguage uses only pictorial characters, Japanese uses {wo othertypes of writing systems in addition to the Kanji characters. They are Katakana and Hiragana, These are ‘wo different sets of “letters” representing Japanese sounds. Each letter represents either a vowel sound or a consonant plus a vowel, for example, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, ete. The Japanese Hiragana and Katakana are both lined same way. The vowels go: a, i, u, ¢, 0. Th nants k, s, Ln, h, m, y, x, ware placed before the vowels. If you remember the order of Hiragana and Katakana in much the same way you memorized how the alphabet goes from A to Z, you can make great Progress in reading and writing Japanese, ‘There are 46 Hiragana and Katakana symbols, as shown ‘on the chart on the next age. Each block contains the transliterated phonetic representation of the character, followed by the Hiragana and then by the Katakana (in parentheses).Japanese So ee es Pe eee Transliteration / Hiragana / (Katakana) nt ragana _/ (Katakana) _ Katakana and Hiragana (continued) EE ontrued eg Tt Katakana restaurant hotel = aIL-TZ WY Uy golf gasoline chi 5 a tak58 ipa japanese I Katakana and Hiragana (continued) Katakana systems of Japanese, there is a connection between the symbol on the paper and the spoken word, andl each letter is pronounced in only one way regardless of the context. Before Japanese children learn how wo write the complex Kanji characters, they learn how to write Hiragana and they can be written in three » Katakana, or Hiragana, is not a foreign word, it would rarely, if ever, be written in Katakana, Ww TY PE mountain mountain Kanjt Katekana Hiragana While it is possible to use the phonetic Hiragana and Katakana scripts to represent almost any Japanese word, itis usually considered more appropriate to use the Kanji Characters whenever possible, using the phonetic scripts only to represent foreign words (Katakana) or features unique to Japanese (Hiragana), Reading Japanese Most westerners are accustomed to re: Starting from the front and reading each page. The books speakers, as the “front” of a Japanese book is the “hack” of an English text. However, in signs, menus, and books in which some “English words are used, such as academic papers, Japanese is now often written from left to right, ors to Japan are fortunate in that the international Sign system and many English words are used in signs and directions. Rest rooms. for instance can often be ‘ale / female symbols, or by the words .” English names are also widely used alongside Japanese, Store signs are often written both in English and Japanese Katakana. Some signs, however, are misspelled, or are the outcome of imaginative creation known as “Japanese English,” which sometimes makes it difficult for English-speaking people to understand exactly what product the business is selling