Not sure if good or bad that I'm so busy I almost forgot we had this thing running, but I appreciate it's still going on and I can learn new things from this awesome language.

The counters could actually have a bit of help from the anime. For example, those revolving card games will easily teach you the counters for "thin, flat objects", and of course the counters for people because they're the most widely used (or at least should be).

I don't really have much use for the tests, at least at the time they're posted, because I'm a quick learner. My schedule could clear up a bit in a month, and maybe then I can start going through all the tests (and lessons, why not). Also, I have pending to start a course for German, so the tests in here could help me get used to a language learning course.

And before I forget, praise Spanish once again for having an exact word for asatte and ototoi, unlike English. I always like to see how one language can say something quite easily while another one has a very long and complicated way to say the same thing.

Welcome to lesson number forty! Before we go any farther, let me say to those of you that are still actively following the lessons: you guys should feel proud that you've stuck it out this far. You're dedicated, and that dedication has helped me press on with it myself, and for that I thank you.
And while we're still a long, long way from fluency (or even being able to understand Japanese in general xD), we're so much closer than we were a year ago (yes, it's been over a year already -- seventeen months, in fact!), and we're getting closer with each passing lesson, so let's keep on working at it.

This lesson we'll finish off the rest of that first vocabulary portion of the new section, so let's get on in to it.



Vocabulary:
午後 (ごご)
gogo
P.M., Afternoon


午前 (ごぜん)
gozen
A.M., Morning


朝ご飯（あさごはん）、朝食（ちょうしょく）
asagohan, choushoku
Breakfast


昼ご飯（ひるごはん）、昼食（ちゅうしょく）
hirugohan, chuushoku
Lunch


晩ご飯（ばんごはん）、夕飯（ゆうはん）、夕食（ゆうしょく）
bangohan, yuuhan, yuushoku
Dinner


よく
yoku
Often


時々（ときどき）
tokidoki
Sometimes


たまに
tamani
Once in a while


あまり/あんまり
amari/anmari
Not so often, Not so much



Grammar:
An iteration mark.
Did you notice the word in this lesson's vocabulary that sounded a bit redundant?
時々 (tokidoki).

Note that second character (々) doesn't have a pronunciation. It's an iteration mark. That is, it shows that the previous Kanji should be repeated. Without the iteration mark, 時々 (tokidoki) is written: 時時 (tokidoki), however this is an uncommon way of writing it.

Also note that when a Kanji is repeated, the first consonant to be repeated often becomes voiced, just like how the second と (to) in 時々 (tokidoki) is changed from と (to -- unvoiced), to ど (do -- voiced). In the next lesson we'll cover a few more words that do this.



Test:

A. 午後 (ごご) ー gogo

午前 (ごぜん) ー gozen

朝ご飯（あさごはん）、朝食（ちょうしょく）ー asagohan, choushoku

昼ご飯（ひるごはん）、昼食（ちゅうしょく）ー hirugohan, chuushoku

晩ご飯（ばんごはん）、夕飯（ゆうはん）、夕食（ゆうしょく）ー bangohan, yuuhan, yuushoku

よく ー yoku

時々（ときどき）ー tokidoki

たまに ー tamani

あまり/あんまり ー amari/anmari





1. P.M., Afternoon
2. Once in a while
3. Often
4. Breakfast
5. A.M., Morning
6. Dinner
7. Lunch
8. Not so often, Not so much
9. Sometimes




I decided to go ahead and post this without a video since the lesson itself has been ready for about a week, but I've been unable to find a good time to make the video. I'll try to upload the video and link it in the next lesson.



_________________________________________

EX Palen : People who can learn multiple languages at one time like you, never cease to amaze me. It takes a lot of focus to learn one well, so learning two or more at once seems like it would be a challenge.

As for anime, it's funny that you should mention that -- I recently managed to skip about a day's worth of study in my vocabulary because I'd already learned the words from watching anime. lol Of course I still went on and studied other words, but I managed to progress more quickly because of those words.

I'm actually pretty surprised about the asatte and ototoi thing. I thought it was rather strange and excessive to have words for those things, but now I'm wondering if not having them is the strange thing. lol




Summon list:
Mynamescox44 :
m0ssb3rg935 :
deggle :
SacredShadow :
Sanspai :
sevencube3 :
Jygin :
Frodlex :
Zlinqx :
tytytec04 :
lordbelial669 :
A user of this :
PoptartSlayerXD :

That thing about the iteration mark has me intrigued. Good job at keeping us hyped for the next lesson, senpai.

About learning more than one language at once, I should remind you of how school goes over here. We learn four languages at once: Catalan, our local co-official language; Spanish, the official language for the whole country; English, because it's the most international language; and French, due to being a neighboring country. I agree that, at least at my school, English and French were kept at a low level, but still we managed several languages at once and so we're fully ready to repeat the process in adulthood.

And well, now that we mention the meals, sometimes we do have terms which can be considered excessive. We have six words for meals: your breakfast equivalent, a "brunch" equivalent (around midday, but doesn't mean skipping lunch), your lunch equivalent, the "afternoon snack", your dinner equivalent and the "overnight snack". Spain is known for gastronomy, after all, so I'm not surprised we excel at terms regarding that field, though it surely can be seen strange to outsiders who don't know our country that well xD

Welcome to lesson forty one. I promise, this thing isn't dead yet.
I'm currently looking at a means of making my lesson posts more consistent, and I've figured out a few possible options. Once I narrow them down a bit more, I'll pass them along to you guys. Sorry for the extreme inconsistency, the past few months especially.

Anyway, on to lesson-ing. :V


Vocabulary:
少々（しょうしょう）
shoushou
A few, a little
(more iteration marks :3)


早々（そうそう、はやばや）*
sousou, hayabaya
Promptly


久々（ひさびさ）
hisabisa
A long absence


昔々（むかしむかし）
mukashimukashi
Once upon a time


生活（せいかつ）
seikatsu
Life


授業（じゅぎょう）
jugyou
Class


料理（りょうり）
ryouri
Cooking, cuisine


小説（しょうせつ）
shousetsu
Novel


新聞（しんぶん）
shinbun
Newspaper


雑誌（ざっし）
zasshi
Magazine


部屋（へや）
heya
Room (as in a room in a house)


居間（いま）
imá *
Living room


*Notes:
1. 早々 (Promptly) can be said as そうそう (sousou) or はやばや (hayabaya), but the Kanji remains the same, regardless of how it's said.

2. note that the a that I used in the Romaji for 居間 (ima) is pronounced the same as a normal a. I simply used the á character instead of the usual a to indicate the pitch accent on this word.
We'll get into pitch accent in the next section.



Grammar:

Pitch accent
Told ya!
So yeah, pitch accent. If you've never studied a language formally, pitch accent sounds rather intimidating: "What do you mean if I don't use the right pitch I'll say 'bridge' instead of 'chopsticks' ??". It's actually quite simple really. In fact, you've been using pitch accent your whole life, whether you know it or not.

Some good examples of English words that use pitch accent are: present and present, or permit and permit.
They're spelled the same and pronounced the same, but if your pitch is higher on the first syllable in present, it means "a gift" or "the current time. Not past or future", however, if your pitch is higher on the second syllable of present, it means "to show".
And the same goes with permit: with a higher pitch on the first syllable, you get "a license or other document granting the bearer a right or privilege", but with a higher pitch on the second syllable, you get "to allow".


So about pitch accent in Japanese: I've known for well over a year now that it existed in Japanese, but only recently did I learn that --according to a native speaker-- every Japanese word has proper pitch accent. Again, this is something we have in English as well, for example, I wouldn't be misunderstood if I said misUNderstood, raising my pitch on the "un", but I would sound like a weirdo, and I would, in a sense, be mispronouncing the word, despite getting the sounds right.

That said, after we complete the second book, I will go through all of pur previously covered vocabulary and make sure that I got the pitch right on them and upload a video or two to offer corrections on the ones I got wrong.


But back to 居間 (ima). Remember covering いま (ima) and learning that it meant "now"? The pitch on that いま was higher on the first syllable -- い (i), and lower on the second syllable.
However, in 居間 (いま), the pitch is lower on the first syllable, and higher on the second syllable (ま -- ma).

To make this noticeable visually as well, I'll be using diacritics such as á to demonstrate where the pitch is highest. This is not an official practice, nor is it a proper way of writing Romaji, but it should aid the reader.
Note that when I write imá, the pitch is going up on the entire second syllable, not just the vowel at the end. In other words it would be i-MA, not im-A.
If this wasn't clear, let me know.


That's it for this week's grammar lesson. Next week we move on to further conjugation of です(desu).



No test this time since it's taken three weeks too long to get this lesson posted as it is.

However, I do have a few questions for everyone: do you know the kana well enough that we can drop Romaji yet? Please do not answer this question in the thread, but rather, let me know via PM here, DM on Discord, or a message on PSN. This way no one has to feel bad if they don't feel prepared to drop the Romaji yet.


Also, which is easier to read when it comes to indicating pitch accent: Imá, or ima? If we use the latter, we could also write it in kana, like this: いま.

Note that if we choose to use diacritics in the Romaji to indicate pitch accent, we'll keep Romaji in the vocabulary section, even if we move to drop the Romaji. In this case, the kana would appear without Romaji in the grammar and test sections only.




Vocabulary for this lesson and last lesson
Note: there is no text in this video, just pronunciation. Also, lesson 41 starts at the 1:22 mark.



__________________________________


EX Palen : Six meals? Wow. Our doctors suggest having six meals, but we only have three traditionally. I guess we have our share of redundant words though. Out of curiosity, do you have many synonyms? I'm becoming increasingly aware of how many ways English has of saying the exact same thing, and I'm interested in finding out if that's common in other languages too.




Summon list:
Mynamescox44 :
m0ssb3rg935 :
deggle :
SacredShadow :
Sanspai :
sevencube3 :
Jygin :
Frodlex :
Zlinqx :
tytytec04 :
lordbelial669 :
A user of this :
PoptartSlayerXD :

Uhm, senpai, you forgot the translation of the characters for "a few". Or is it a hidden test?

I can't recall the exact situation now, but I'd be in to say that I've heard "heya" pronounced as "heea". We did see that sometimes w turns into h, but I recall nothing about y. Maybe it's a totally different word, or maybe the y makes the difference for rooms in a house and rooms elsewhere, but I had to point it out.

The thing about pitching is way better for me, because diacritics are actually used in writing Spanish to better help us know which syllable is the "strong" one. I fully know how a word can change with or without the diacritic, and we're enforced on always using them due to that, so nothing new for me.

I'd personally keep the diacritics to indicate pitching, they're easier to see than underlining and bolding a certain syllable, or at least it's that way for me. I don't mind which system we use, but since I'm opting for this one, I won't answer the question about dropping Romaji, for what you have already stated.

We do have lots of synonyms over here too. Not sure if as many as in English, but we do have them, if just to add "richness" to our vocabulary. Sometimes they're also an indicator of speaking more or less formally, so another thing I could have an edge with when tackling Japanese xD

i would want to learn japenese so people would not be able to understand me then, new languages are a must have and want to make my speech a little bit different

Welcome to lesson number forty two. This week we'll be covering vocabulary for the most part, but we'll also tackle some grammar, and look at some good options for helping learn Japanese.

いこう皆（みな）！


Vocabulary

寝室（しんしつ）
shínshi tsu*
Bedroom

台所（だいどころ）
daídokoro
Kitchen

洗面所（せんめんじょ）
senmenjo
An area with a washstand, washroom, bathroom


浴室（よくしつ）
yokúshi tsu*
Bathroom


お手洗い（おてあらい）、トイレ
otéarai, tóire
Toilet


玄関（げんかん）
génkan
Entrance hall


階段（かいだん）
kaídan
Stairs


庭（にわ）
niwá
Garden, Yard


ソファー
sófaa
Sofa


机（つくえ）
tsukué
Desk


ベッド
béddo
Bed (Never would have guessed that one with a translation, now would you?)


たんす
tánsu
Chest of drawers


冷蔵庫（れいぞうこ）
reízouko
Refrigerator


電子レンジ（でんしレンジ）
dénshirenji
Microwave (as in a microwave oven, not the type of wave itself)


洗濯機（せんたくき）
sentákuki
Washing machine


大変（たいへん）
taíhen
Hard



Notes:
1. In 寝室（しんしつ）the ん also receives the pitch accent, so that instead of saying SHÍnshi tsu, you say SHÍNshi tsu. This will most likely come naturally, as the former is more forced and feels a bit awkward.

2. As always, there shouldn't be a space between the shi and tsu in shinshi tsu, but the censor must be dodged. Don't ban me, please.



Grammar

Morae
Allow me to preface this by saying that m0ss introduced me to this concept.
Credit where credit is due, let's get on into this concept a bit.


Language science is confusing, so I dumb it down to make it as digestible as possible for my own sake, bear in mind that I'm relaying that dumbed down version of things to you, so if you want the more detailed, and in all honesty, better version, you should feel free to look it up.

To put the idea of morae simply, there are these things called diphthongs, which are vowels that merge to form one syllable, such as the oi in oink, coin, and poindexter. In these words the vowels aren't pronounced separately (o-eye-nk, or o-ē-nk?), but rather they merge by gliding seamlessly together, starting off as ō and ending as ē to make an "oy" sound.

Japanese has no diphthongs.

I was unaware of this when I began my studies, and as a result I ended up sounding like a Westerner speaking Japanese (go figure) while relaying these words to you. A quick example would be how I said to pronounce はい (hai) : I said it was pronounced the same way as the English word "hi", but it is not. Rather it is pronounced as it is written " ha i". It sounds a lot like hi when you hear it, but if you listen closely you'll notice that it's two syllables, not one, they're just said in such quick succession that they nearly blend together.

This makes sense when you consider the fact that Japanese has syllabaries rather than an alphabet — everything is written (barring Kanji) and spoken in single, separate syllables.


The almost exception
Long vowels. They're made up of only one syllable despite being written as two syllables, but it's written as two to indicate that you hold it's sound longer, kind of like how you might write informally in English to signify that you're stressing a letter: "okaaaay".

This doesn't double the vowel, it makes it two morae instead of one.
Think of it like music: Japanese has a certain rhythm to it. Every syllable is exactly the same length as the next one, including ん (n). Long vowel sounds however, are held twice as long as other syllables. Like if you were to say "Helloo" instead of "Hello".


To sum it up simply: Japanese is read and pronounced one character at a time (み　ず), not as multiple characters combining to make a single sound like in English (wa ter).


Like last time: let me know if that didn't make sense to you.





Resources:
Originally I bought the resources that I did, thinking that they would be nearly everything that I needed, and while they've been very good, and worth every penny I spent on them (and then some), I'm learning more and more everyday just how helpful utilizing multiple external sources is. That isn't to say that these materials are incomplete, nor do I mean to imply that these lessons are poor quality, but rather that it helps to supplement them with additional quality resources.

That said, I've been making it a point for several months now to look into finding the best free content and tools that I can find to aid in the acquisition of the Japanese language, so that I might both utilize them, and pass them on to you. What you are about to see then, is a culmination of those efforts. I hope that you find them useful.

Note that the apps listed include pay options, and one has an outright paywall, but they're solid tools.


Learning Kana
I know I'm late with this one, as I should have introduced you to it thirty lessons ago, but better late than never, right? :p

Here are a few apps that I've found to be good for learning Kana. Some help you read it and others help you write it.

1. Write It! Japanese.
This is by far the best for learning to write Kana. It covers both Hiragana and Katakana, and utilizes a mix of visual and audio recognition. It breaks the Kana down into sets of five and drills you on them in tests that feel as much like games as they do learning. You will spend your time in this app clicking on Kana in multiple choice tests; you will also be asked to write on a blank slate, writing out the kana that you hear spoken (it also gives you Romaji along with the audio prompts).

Write It! Japanese is free, and highly effective. The scoring system also makes it fun to compete against your own times, this encouraging you to learn by making it fun. If only all tests were this entertaining. lol


2. Kana Town.
This is also free, and it's quality. You'll spend your time in Kana Town recognizing both Hiragana and Katakana characters, clicking on them as you hear (and see) the prompts, but you'll have to click quickly, as you're timed, and a slow answer is a wrong answer.

This one is fun and challenging, it also feels slightly more customizable, but since it doesn't allow you to write the Kana as well as read, and it isn't quite as much fun, I've decided to make it second on the list.


3. Infinite Japanese.
Let me start off by just saying that Infinite Japanese is actually loads of fun to play, and rather challenging in it's approach to educational gaming. You'll definitely learn some kana, as well as words, if you use this one. Unfortunately it has a pay wall, so you'll only get so far before you need to pay or uninstall.

I never bothered to pay —because frankly, there are too many viable free options to drop my money on a premium one that doesn't seem to do any more for me than the free alternatives— so I can't vouch for the quality of the paid portion of the app. The free portion is solid though.


4. Japanese Dungeon.
Side scrolling action RPG turned Japanese lesson, Japanese Dungeon is an interesting little app. It's engaging enough, having you battle enemies by clicking on the Kana in tests similar to Kana Town and Write It!, but it adds an RPG element by making each correct click deal damage to your enemy, and each incorrect click cause you to take damage.

This is one of the more challenging of the apps mentioned so far, and though it's an engaging method of learning, it's also very much geared toward making you pay money to progress at a desirable rate, and that's just a bad design choice for an app made to help you learn. If you don't mind the grind, or dropping some real life coins on it, then Japanese Dungeon isn't a bad tool at all.


Note that all of these were tested on Android devices. I'm not sure if they're available on iOS or Windows devices.



Vocabulary and Grammar
The following are all free as well, though they too have paid options.
Also note that, unlike the app section, these are not listed in any certain order, so don't take the numbers as being indicative of the quality.


1. Japanese with Yuta.
https://www.youtube.com/user/YPlusShow
Yuta makes some great videos, and while his channel isn't about learning Japanese, he does offer Japanese video lessons on Vimeo. You can subscribe to his lessons by clicking on the link he provides in all of his videos on YouTube. Check him out, even if you aren't interested in his lessons. His YouTube videos are entertaining regardless.

2. Japanese Ammo With Misa.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBSyd8tXJoEJKIXfrwkPdbA
Miss has tons of videos, and they range from "absolute beginner" level to fairly advanced lessons. If you check her lessons out, I recommend looking at all of them, even the so called absolute beginner lessons, as, despite being on late Intermediate level, I found some useful (and interesting) information in them.

3. JapanesePod101.com (YouTube channel, not site).
https://www.youtube.com/user/japanesepod101
These are as much fun as they are educational. They upload frequently, and they offer a 24/7 podcast...thing..., so there's always something watch. Finally, they have livestreams on occasion, which are always entertaining and highly educational.

4. Tae Kim.
This one I've not checked out much, so unlike the others, this is more of a "try at your own risk" suggestion than a sure deal, but based on what I have found on here, Tae Kim is really good. I remember marvelling at how they taught me in a few short paragraphs what my books took multiple lessons to teach. Needless to say, what I've seen by Tae Kim has been solid and very easy to grasp, so it could be worth a look.

A link to the Japanese lesson section
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/

A link to the Blog section with more Japanese related stuff.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/blog/



Tools
1. The aptly named website, Jisho (it means dictionary in Japanese). Jisho is, yes, an online Japanese to English dictionary, and it's proven invaluable to me, especially of late. My only regret is not using it sooner.

Do be aware that, as with any dictionary, you'll run into several definitions for most words that you look up, as well as references to multiple forms of it, so try not to get overwhelmed. Note also that from this point on, I'll be using Jisho as well as my literature for definitions of the words we learn so as to ensure that we learn all applicable definitions for the words we cover here (though I won't list all possible definitions, just the ones that apply to the usages we see in these lessons), so you'll only need this tool if you want to look up other words, words we covered previously, or more possible ways of using words in these lessons. Regardless, Jisho definitely deserves a place among your bookmarks.


2. Lexilogos.
https://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/japanese.php
A must if you have no offline means of typing in Japanese, and you wish to do so. Lexilogos offers an online Keyboard for several languages, of which Japanese is one. It includes options for Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji, so it's all you'll ever need to type in Japanese... Unless you can already do so offline.




That'll do it for the recommendations. If I find any more, I'll be sure to mention them as well.

Special thanks to m0ss for introducing me to Jisho, Momo Aria for introducing me to Japanese Ammo With Misa, and Juliet for introducing me to Lexilogos!





Test:
Vocabulary.

1. 寝室（しんしつ）— shínshi tsu*

2. 台所（だいどころ）— daídokoro

3. 洗面所（せんめんじょ）— senmenjo

4. 浴室（よくしつ）— yokúshi tsu*

5. お手洗い（おてあらい）、トイレ — otéarai, tóire

6. 玄関（げんかん）— génkan

7. 階段（かいだん）— kaídan

8. 庭（にわ）— niwá

9. ソファー — sófaa

10. 机（つくえ）— tsukué

11. ベッド — béddo

12. たんす — tánsu

13. 冷蔵庫（れいぞうこ）— reízouko

14. 電子レンジ（でんしレンジ）— dénshirenji

15. 洗濯機（せんたくき）— sentákuki

16. 大変（たいへん）— taíhen





A. Entrance hall

B. Hard

C. Washing machine

D. Desk

E. Toilet

F. Sofa

G. An area with a washstand, washroom, bathroom

H. Microwave

I. Bathroom

J. Refrigerator

K. Chest of drawers

L. Kitchen

M. Bed

N. Stairs

O. Bedroom

P. Garden, Yard


Note: I broke my microphone, so I won't be able to upload any videos for this lesson or any others until I get another one. I have no idea how long that will be, but in an effort to rectify this problem as best as is possible, I'll include added pronunciation aid in future lessons until I manage to get a replacement microphone.



_______________________

EX Palen : If only I were clever enough to think adding a hidden test like that. lol
It's shoushou. I'll edit that into the post. Thanks for pointing it out. Though I'm honestly more surprised at another mistake that I see that I made: I messed up something in my own native language while describing pitch accent on it. xD I'm not sure if I'm more shocked by my mistake, or by the fact that no one noticed it.


Ah, that reminds me: I made a big error early on with that (h vs w). は is always pronounced as an h (ha), except when used as a particle. I'm not sure if I ever corrected that or not, or if you already knew it, but I wanted to put it out there.

As for the heea/heya thing, it could be anything from a dialect/location based issue (like how people in the northern part of the U.S. and people in the southern part of the U.S. differ on the pronunciation of... Well... Most things. lol). I also noticed while reading that aloud, that heea and heya sound almost exactly the same too, so it would make sense if some pronunciations varied on that.


You know, the varying degrees of formality was intimidating to me as a native English speaker, until I realized how many words we have that are used with varying degrees of formality. For example, I could say "Hey, man! How's it going?" to a friend, but to a stranger I would say something like "Hello. How are you today?" If I'm being extra formal I could throw in a "sir" in place of "man". In fact, I can think of at least six ways to say Hello, and which one I use depends on the level of formality, the occasion, the person I'm speaking to, and more. It's all very complex sounding, but also surprisingly easy to learn and remember.
I tend to find ways to compare Japanese to English as a means of helping with learning it and to keep it from being so intimidating.




KillerLatias : Well then, feel free to join us! Do be aware however, that I made a few mistakes in the early lessons, so if anything feels odd about it, be sure to ask, as it may very well be incorrect. I'm planning on getting those posts edited over the next month though.




Summon List:

Mynamescox44 :
m0ssb3rg935 :
deggle :
SacredShadow :
Sanspai :
sevencube3 :
Jygin :
Frodlex :
Zlinqx :
tytytec04 :
lordbelial669 :
A user of this :
PoptartSlayerXD :

How surprising, a lesson of vocabulary where all words are strange to me! Well, I mean, never really heard them or I didn't pay enough attention to casual dialogue out of the main action. Man, it feels so odd after so many lessons pointing out things, and this time I have nothing to point out! What am I going to do?

It was funny reading your explanation of diphthongs. In Spanish there's only one way of pronouncing each vowel, so explaining diphthongs is far easier in our language. Also, I never learned English through making syllables, due to the fact that English has no diacritics whereas Spanish does and they come with a ruleset depending on the syllable where the pitch is placed in, so twice the funny discoveries here. I'm amazed at how many things I'm learning about English despite this being a course for Japanese xD

As for the sources, I did send you a PM long ago about a couple sites I got pamphlets from in our local manga convention. I'm sure to go there this year, in early November, so I'm certain I'll find more of those. My apologies for using my own sources, but of course it's easier for me if those sources operate mainly in Spanish.

You know, I always wanted to learn Japanese as my 3rd Language (after speaking both English and French), because not just that I always love the Japanese language, but I always wanted to visit Japan some day (basically it's on my bucket list to visit Japan before I die), but the only way I will be able to is to learn Japanese.

But the only bad thing is the whole time restraint with everything such as work going on, I never really find time to learn not just Japanese, but any 3rd language, but if I do manage to find the time, I would be interested in learning Japanese as my 3rd Language.

Welcome to lesson number forty three.
In this lesson we'll cover more vocabulary, as well as that new form of です that I promised would be in last week's lesson. lol So let's get on into things.


Vocabulary:
忙しい（いそがしい）
isógashii
Busy

楽しい（たのしい）
tanóshii
Enjoyable

狭い（せまい）
semái
Narrow

広い（ひろい）
hirói
Spacious

リラックスします
rirakkusushimasu
To relax
Note: I've also seen this spelled without the doubled consonant (リラクスします
rirakusushimasu)


洗います（あらいます）
aráímasu
To wash
Note: I'm not sure if we've covered this before or not, but the accent falling on a and i in this word indicates that the pitch begins to rise on a and peaks on i.

入ります（はいります）
haírimasu
To enter

磨きます（みがきます）
migákimasu
To brush/To polish

話します（はなします）
hanáshimasu
To speak

嫌い（きらい）
kirái
To dislike

僕（ぼく）
bóku
I (masculine first person pronoun)

友達（ともだち）
tomódachi
Friend

法律（ほうりつ）
hóuritsu
Law
Note: with o and u combining forces to form a long vowel, the pitch accent that falls on o is carried throughout the entire long vowel.

弁護士（べんごし）
béñgoshi
Lawyer
Note: the tilde over the n is there because I can't add the usual accent mark. It means the same as any other accent Mark here though. Note that the accent begins on e and carries throughout the e and the n both.

フランス語（フランスご）
furáñsugo
French (language)
Note: the n here is the same as in the previous word. furANsugo.



Grammar:
Now we'll cover how to conjugate です, accounting for tense, formality, and even preference.

Note that Japanese verbs have no future tense, only past and non-past.


Non-past forms of です:
Affirmative:
です (desu)
だ (da) (plain form)

Negative:
ではありません (de ha arimasen)
ではないです (de ha nai desu)
じゃありません (ja arimasen)
じゃないです (ja nai desu)
ではない (de ha nai)
じゃない (ja nai)

Note: じゃ (ja) is the contracted form of では (de ha). Thus, じゃありま/ないです (ja arimasen/nai desu) is more colloquial than ではありま/ないです (de ha arimasen/nai desu).


Past forms of です:
Affirmative:
でした (desh(i)ta)*
だった(datta) (plain form)

Negative:
ではありませんでした (de ha arimasen desh(i)ta)
じゃありませんでした (ja arimasen desh(i)ta)
ではなかったです(de ha nakatta desu)
じゃなかったです(ja nakatta desu)
ではなかった(de ha nakatta)
じゃなかった(ja nakatta)

•Notice that the only difference between some of the negative forms is the inclusion and omission of です.


ありません and ないです, and ありませんでした and なかったです are interchangeable, and are equally acceptable in all situations, however, some people feel that ありません sounds softer. This is purely a matter of preference, though perhaps it would be wise to employ ありません when in a situation where the hearer would appreciate the softest approach possible.


だ is going to be the form of です that you want to employ in an informal setting, such as when speaking with family or close friends. In less informal settings (when speaking with anyone outside of your circle) use です. The same goes for だった/でした.

However, in formal writings, だ is typically used, despite it's informality. Finally, だ is typically followed by the particle ね (ne) or よ (yo), as it feels unnatural and, as my literature puts it, "bookish" otherwise.


*As always, the censor had to be dodged here. However, this is a good chance to point out that the i in でした is devoiced, so, almost completely silent. The result is what sounds like a longer sh sound. ie. deshhta.

You sound funny
You know how, when learning a language, you're told "this is how you say things", then after you finally get it down pat, you're told not to say things that way? Yeah, now is that time.

What we've been learning is proper Japanese, and to be fair, we've already mentioned that a few times along the way. Now it's time for us to learn a few differences between proper Japanese, and the kind of Japanese you'll be using most of the time, unless you enjoy sounding like a robot (and honestly, more than likely offensive).

IMPORTANT: the following applies strictly to informal speech.
It's common to omit particles in everyday conversations, and even だ, though obviously you'll need to employ です some, and when you do, you'll want to default to the plain form (だ). The exceptions to the particle omissions, of course, are the ever popular よ and ね, as you'll use the former with some frequency, and the latter quite a lot. More on using these particles later.

Here's an example of how an informal setting could affect a sentence:
Normally: 「ぺィレンさんは、たべたですか。」(palen-san, tabeta desu ka.)
lit. Palen, have [you] eaten?
「ぺィレン、たべた？」(palen, tabeta?)
lit. Palen, eaten?


As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.


New challenger recommendation approaches!
As promised, I'm relaying my newest discovery for study help.

Cram.com. I've never used the site itself, but I have used their Android app, and it's not only helped my short term retention (I haven't been using it long enough to know how it works for long term retention yet), but also increased my learning speed.

The site and app are for making your own digital flashcards. Again, I've never used the site, so I can't say what all it has, but the app offers a Memorize mode that lets you go through all of the cards in the set (you can make multiple sets), and mark the ones that you got right and the ones that you got wrong. At the end it shows how many you guessed correctly and how many you guessed incorrectly.

It also has Cram mode that has you guess at every card in the set four times. If you guess one correctly, the card is moved up to the next level, but if you guess one incorrectly, that card is moved all the way back to level one. You finish cram mode once all cards have been "mastered" (advanced to level five).

My personal recommendation is to use Memorize mode until you can guess 100% of them correctly, then move on to cram mode. The total study time should be around a half hour as they say that you begin to lose more of what you study the farther you go past the thirty minute mark.

This method gets repetitive, but it not only helps you to learn each word, but also to shorten the amount of time that it takes you to call them to mind. Additionally, I personally try not to put more than eight or so words in a set (I make sets of seven to ten cards usually, but rarely do I go above eight) so that I don't overload myself, and also to ensure that I repeat each word enough within that half hour to learn them all.
That's just me. Find what works best for you.


If you use this site or app, let me know how it works for you!



Test:
Grammar:
What are all if the forms of the copula です?

Affirmative - non-past:
1.
2.

Negative - non-past:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.


Affirmative - past:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.


Audio will probably return in the next lesson.

__________________________________


EX Palen : Yeah, I'm learning more about English by studying Japanese, and I've spoken it my whole life! lol I think the fact that modern English basically smooshed half a dozen or so languages together is a big part of what makes it have so many rules and odd little quirks.


No need to apologize for using your own sources, man. If anything I'd encourage it. I've learned a lot over the past two years, and the biggest thing I've learned is that I know less even now than I thought I did then. The more reliable and helpful sources each of us can successfully integrate into our personal studies, the better we'll all learn, individually and collectively. We're all students, including myself, so anything we can bring to each other's notice is bound to help.



IgorBird122 : Hey man, if you do decide to try it out, be sure to let us know. I'd love to learn multiple languages so that I can connect with and help as many people as possible. I hope one day to be fluent in Japanese and maybe help some Japanese people to learn English, among other things. Besides all that, it helps you understand others as people better if you can understand their language, I feel.




Summon list:
Mynamescox44 :
m0ssb3rg935 :
deggle :
SacredShadow :
Sanspai :
sevencube3 :
Jygin :
Frodlex :
Zlinqx :
tytytec04 :
lordbelial669 :
A user of this :
PoptartSlayerXD :

Sorry for not replying as fast as usual, life is so 忙しい right now

Well, what an interesting batch of vocabulary. We're in lesson 43, yet we're still seeing for the first time very common words we tend to frequently use in our respective languages. We really have a long way yet.

It's a must to learn a language in its more formal version. After all, you mostly plan to use those languages for business, so you have to know how to be polite with the small tricks present in all languages. It's good to start learning those differences, but I honestly doubt I'll ever be as "gangsta" when speaking Japanese than I am when informally speaking Spanish xD

I hope you weren't waiting for my reply to post the next lesson since I'm basically the only one replying through this thread. I promise to reply faster next time if so ^^

Welcome to lesson number forty four.

Woo! We have another lesson. :V


Vocabulary:
どうですか。
Dou desu ka.
How is it?

東京の生活（とうぎょうのせいかつ）
toukyo no seikatsu
Life in Tokyo (lit. Tokyo life/Tokyo's life)

日本語の授業（にほんご の じゅぎょう）
nihongo no jugyou
Japanese class

小説（しょうせつ）や 雑誌（ざっし）
Shousetsu ya zasshi
(a)Novel(s) and (a)magazine(s) and so on/among other things

ちょっと 大変（たいへん）
chotto taihen
A little difficult

とても忙しい（いそがしい）
totemo isogashi
Very busy

月曜日（げつようび）から
getsuyoubi kara
From Monday

金曜日（きんようび）まで
kinyoubi made
Until Friday

お昼（おひる）まで
ohiru made
Until noon

セミナーに出ます（でます）
seminaa ni demasu
Attend the seminar

先週（せんしゅう）の 日曜日（にちようび）
senshuu no nichiyoubi
Last Sunday

顔（かお）を 洗います（あらいます）
kao wo araimasu
To wash face

歯（は）を 磨きます（みがきます）
ha wo migakimasu
To brush teeth

シャワーを浴びます（あびます）
shawaa wo abimasu
To take a shower

お風呂（おふろ）に入ります（はいります）
ofuro ni hairimasu
To take a bath (enter in a bath)



Grammar:

and...and...
So now we've learned that と equates to the English word and, and that や also equates to the English word and.

However, the two words don't mean the same thing, and the difference is equal parts cool, and simple.

When you say や, you're speaking generally. や is translated as "and", but it's more accurate to translate it as "and...among other things" or "and...and so on"
For example: 「かばんの中（なか）が何（なに）ですか。」(kaban no naka ga nani desu ka)
"What's in the bag?"

「本（ほん）やノートがですよ。」(hon ya nooto ga desu yo)
"(a) Book(s) and (a) notebook(s), and so on." Or "(a) Book(s) and (a) notebook(s), among other things."

Whereas with と, you have to enumerate through everything.
For example:
「かばんの中（なか）が何（なに）ですか。」(kaban no naka ga nani desu ka)
"What's in the bag?"

「A本（ほん）とノートと刀と銃（じゅう）と…はあ？どうしてを はしる？」(hon to nooto to katana to juu to... haa? doush(i)te wo hashiru?)
"(a)Book(s), and (a) notebook(s), and a katana, and a gun and... Huh? Why are you running?"


Native note:
とても is sometimes pronounced とっても (tottemo) in casual settings. This is a more emphatic way of saying it.
That's very cool, and I mean, VERY cool.
It's okay, you don't have to laugh at that joke — I already have.


DO or DOn't?
Yes, another lame pun! Japanese is awesome!

So did you notice that in Attend the seminar, and Enter the bath, we used the particle に? This is because, unlike English, the words Enter (入(はい)ります) and Attend (出(で)ます) don't take a Direct Object.
For example, in English you would say I enter the store, but not I enter in the store. Whereas in Japanese, you can't say I enter the bath, but rather I enter in the bath.

Long and short of it: you need the particle に in those sentences because you'll sound weird without it.


NOTE:
In regards to the suggestion of using the YT channel Japanese Ammon With Miss: I still recommend her lessons, but I suggest skipping her adjective videos as they complicate things. Her methods are easier until it comes to the past tense negative forms, then it gets confusing. We'll cover those later.
Also, be aware that she teaches informal Japanese, so most of what you learn there will be for casual, informal settings only.



No test this week guys. Sorry about that, but this lesson has waited long enough already. Also my PS4 is experiencing technical difficulties, so no video still. :/


__________________________


EX Palen : Nah, I was actually just finishing up the lesson when I saw your comment. It took me a few more days after because my nephews have been over a lot lately.

Speaking of learning everyday ways of saying things, I plan to include the plain forms of verbs in every lesson from now on as well. It seems easier to learn the way of saying a word than learning why it conjugates the way it does first, though we will still cover the conjugation.
And what do you mean? We'll be using Japanese street lingo all the time, man. *Puts on shades* No? Okay.

Why did I miss this so long ago? I've been trying to break into Japanese for years. It's not that I can't, I just always busy myself with something else.

How far have you come?