The test for this lesson should be "go to your local Japanese restaurant and read the menu in their language" lol

Anyway, I've heard of another translation for "meal", though it may not be exactly accurate. It could probably just mean "food" or something else, so for now I'll stick to whatever words we're being taught.

For the voiced u in gozaimasu, I think that voicing the u might be a sign of not-so-much formality. I've seen a single anime character both voicing the u and omitting it, and judging by the instances in which each one was used, looks like voicing the u is slightly less formal. I might be wrong, but it's the most logical explanation as to why a single person (or character) uses both versions.

Japanese people love their sake so much that they went as far as use that word to reference ALL alcoholic beverages. It's true that it's the most famous alcoholic beverage over there and thus has become a general term, much like other things I could mention in Spanish, but in the field of alcoholic beverages the differences between drinks are very huge and thus I'm not happy with this generalization.

Summon list:
Mynamescox44 :
m0ssb3rg935 :
deggle :
SacredShadow :
ZeroTails :
sevencube3 :
Jygin :
Frodlex :
Zlinqx :
tytytec04 :
lordbelial669 :
A user of this :
EX Palen :
I won't be able to post a lesson for this week. I reached the end of my first book and it contained six fairly intense tests in a row, so I've been spending a lot of time working on clearing those. I apologize for this, but I'll be sure to have a lesson up next week (Sunday) if I am at all able. Also I'll try to make sure this doesn't happen again, and if it does that it's a long while before it does.

Also if you were summoned twice, please let me know.



PoptartSlayerXD : My apologies. I've been failing to summon you. You've been added to the summon list now, so that should no longer be a problem.

I did get a double summon. I expected an accidental double post, but looks like it was something else.

Six tests in a row? Man, that sounds incredibly taxing for you. Not surprised you didn't manage to have the lesson up and ready if you were clearing that.

Reaching the end of the first book is a good sign, this means we've gone through a lot already. Let's see what else do your books have in store for us, I'd be ashamed if they didn't save the best for last.

だいにじゅぅにか。dai nijuunika.

Vocabulary:



しお
shio
Salt

こしょぅ
koshou
pepper

しょぅゆ
shouyu
Soy sauce

はし
hashi
Chopsticks

おいしい
oishii
Delicious

あまい
amai
Sweet

すっぱい
suppai
Sour

にがい
nigai
Bitter

からい
karai
Spicy

からい です
karai desu
It's spicy

からく ありません、or からく ない です
karaku arimasen Or karaku nai desu
It's not spicy
More about this phrase and the next will be covered in the grammar section.

あまり からく ありません 、or あまり からく ない です
amari karaku arimasen Or amari karaku nai desu
It's not very spicy

おちゃ
ocha
Tea

こおちゃ
Koocha
Japanese tea

フォーク
fooku
Fork

スップーン
supuun
Spoon

ナイフ
naifu
Knife

コーヒー
koohii
Coffee

ミルク
miruku
Milk


Grammar:
Adjective is a word that's made to do what every good teaching term does: make something extremely simple sound extremely difficult. In case you don't know what adjectives are, or even if you do but, like me, it makes things easier to retain when everyday language is employed, allow me to simply this word and the other scary ones like conjugation and declension.
An adjective is just a fancy way to say description or descriptive word. Adjectives are a key part of not only communicating, but also being generally expressive. Try imagining what it would sound like to speak with someone who never used any sort of descriptive words. They couldn't say food tasted good or bad, that a game was fun, that a books was interesting, or that something was pretty, clean, dirty, etc. It would sound pretty awkward, right? This is why adjectives, or descriptive words, are important.

That's awesome, but we have one small problem...


Negativity.

We recently covered several i-adjectives, and we even covered a few this week with the words oishii, amai, suppai, nigai and karai. That's all well and good as long as we never find ourselves in a position where we need to express that something Is not delicious, sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, big, small, long, short, old, new, etc. but what are the odds of being able to avoid saying that without sounding robotic, or at least unnatural? Not very good at all, and that's why we now need to learn how to negate i-adjectives.


Wow. Negation of i-adjectives. Sounds scary. Don't worry: it isn't. This simply means we're learning how to say something is not [insert a descriptive term here]. For example: "These sour candies aren't very sour." or "This story just isn't very interesting." or "This pudding isn't very good." Just kidding -- who would ever say that last one?

Anyway, how do we express those things? It's simple: take an i-adjective, such as karai, replace the i at the end with ku, and add nai desu, or the appropriate verb (in this case, arimasen).


So now you know how to negate an i-adjective, or in other words, how to say someone or something isn't [insert descriptive term].

But wait: we have one last problem here. Changing the form of a verb.
So we know now how to change an i-adjective from positive to negative, but how do we do the same for verbs? Well if you've been paying extra close attention, you probably already know, but just in case you don't know how, it's simple. You see, Japanese verbs end with masu typically, such as おねがいします onegaishimasu. To turn these into their negative form, simply change masu to masen.


Finally, you may have noticed that, while we learned that "very" in Japanese is とても totemo, in this lesson it was あまり amari. The reason for this change is, you guessed it -- negative expressions. In Japanese there's one word for "very" in a positive sentence, and one for "very" in a negative sentence. So remember: とても totemo, = very, あまり amari. = not very.


Practice
So let's practice that and see how it looks in action.
You may remember the following dialogue bit from our last lesson:

Eirinn - マッスさん は、どこに いきますか。massu-san ha, doko ni ikimasu ka.
Where are you going, moss?

m0ssb3rg935 - コンビニに いきます。konbini ni ikimasu.
[to the] convenience store.

But what if m0ss had wanted to say that he wasn't going to the convenience store? He would have probably chosen to employ the use of a negative form of the verb いきます ikimasu, like so:

m0ssb3rg935 - コンビニに いきません。konbini ni ikimasen.
[I'm] not going [to the] convenience store.

Not sure why he would need to say it that way unless he had an attitude that day, but you get the idea.


That's it for this week's grammar section. Be sure to study it carefully, as it contains crucial tips to speaking proper Japanese. Trust me, this is what made me fail a test for only the second time in my entire life. lol Negativity and third grade math stink.

Speaking of tests...


Test:
Woot!

Section A.
Match the Japanese vocabulary to it's English counterpart.

A. しお

B. にがい

C. スップーン

D. からい

E. おちゃ

F. あまい

G. しょぅゆ

H. おいしい

I. こしょぅ

J. コーヒー

K. からく ありません

L. ミルク

M. はし

N. フォーク

O. こおちゃ

P. からい です

Q. からく ない です

R. あまり からく ありません

S. すっぱい

T. ナイフ

U. あまり からく ない です






1. Spoon
2. Delicious
3. It's not spicy
4. Sweet
5. Milk
6. Bitter
7. It's not very spicy
8. Pepper
9. Fork
10. Spicy
11. Soy Sauce
12. Sour
13. It's spicy
14. It's not very spicy
15. Salt
16. Chopsticks
17. Knife
18. It's not spicy
19. Japanese Tea
20. Tea
21. Coffee

___________________________________

Section B.
Translate the following sentences into English.

やまださんのくるまは くろいです。

なかむらせんせいのむすめさん じゅぅに です。

さくらちゃん とても かわい です。

いっぱい ごはん と しょぅゆ。

にはい ミルクを おねがいします。
___________________________________

Section C.
Translate the following sentences into Japanese.

This tea isn't very sweet.

Is that chicken very spicy?

The pork is delicious!

I don't have a fork.

Where's the beef?
___________________________________


Video link for this week's lesson


___________________________________


EX Palen : Interestingly enough, ごはん can also mean meal. So yeah, rice and food are one and the same. There are several other words I've heard for it too, so apparently it's pretty flexible.

I have literally nothing to base this off of, but I wonder if the さけ thing is because they gave actual にほんしゅ to Americans (or any nationality) and they in turn associated the term さけ with because にほんしゅ because にほんしゅ is indeed an alcoholic beverage. I say that because sake in Japanese just means alcoholic beverage in general, but the Japanese word for what WE call sake is nihonshu. But as for さけ referring to all alcoholic beverages, I suspect there are probably also specific terms for each as well, such as ビール and ワイン. I'm hardly an authority though. lol


Summon list:

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

Keeping on with the cuisine lessons, huh?

I can't help but smile at からい. It's also a word in Spanish, which would be translated to "Wow!" or things like that. It's funny because you would actually say that word in Spanish when eating something spicy. It's incredible what can you learn in other languages, isn't it?

While I understand the difference between からく ありません and からく ない です, since this is Japanese, I take it as being both equally correct but the first is more formal than the second. Like you would use the second when eating with friends or close relatives and the first when eating with not-so-close people. We probably covered this in a previous lesson, but formality is very important in this language and insisting over it is not bad.

I wonder if we will have more cuisine lessons next week. If so, maybe I should check this at lunch time to practice a bit xD

だいにじゅぅさんか。dai nijuusanka.

Welcome to lesson twenty three, everyone. This lesson, upon completion, will put us at 75% of the way through the first book of our materials on the Japanese language. We're almost to Intermediate, where we begin learning how to actually hold conversations by putting full length sentences together, whereas this section has been more of a vocabulary builder with basic grammar tips. Exciting, right?

Well let's get into this lesson so we can knock out that 75% mark and progress a little further, shall we?


Vocabulary:
Because you wanted it, here it is: more food!
Actually there were two words I forgot to list on last week's lesson, so I'll start off with those before proceeding to the next portion of vocabulary.
Additionally, I made an error in the spoken and written version of the lesson last week. The text in the video corrected this, but the rest was still uncorrected if I recall properly. The error was in the meaning of おちゃ ocha and こおちゃ koocha, which were listed as tea and Japanese tea respectively. As it turns out, the proper translations are as follows: おちゃ ocha Japanese tea, and こおちゃ koocha Black tea. みな ごめんなさい。

Now on to the vocabulary.

さとう
satou
Sugar

おかいけい
okaikei
Check


いま
ima
Now

なんじ
nanji
What time

いまなんじですか。
ima nanji desu ka.
What time is it now?
Yes, that's actually written as "Now what time is it?"

いちじ
ichiji
One o'clock

にじ
niji
Two o'clock

よじ
yoji
Four o'clock

しちじ
shichiji
Seven o'clock

くじ
kuji
Nine o'clock

いっぷん
ippun
One minute

にふん
nifun
Two minutes

さんぷん
sanpun
Three minutes

よんふん or よんぷん
yonfun or yonpun
Four minutes

ごふん
gofun
Five minutes

ろっぷん
roppun
Six minutes

しちふん
shichifun
Seven minutes

はっぷん or はちふん
happun or hachifun
Eight minutes
(Am I the only one that finds happun to be almost distractingly similar to harpoon?)

きゅぅふん
kyuufun
Nine minutes

じゅっぷん
Juppun
Ten minutes

ごぜん
gozen
A.M.

ごご
gogo
P.M.

Grammar:
Quite the timely lesson, eh? heh...heh... yeah, I didn't think it was funny either.

So you doubtless noticed the confusing differences between the suffixes for counting minutes, and by now you're thoroughly confused and wondering why they're different, and how to tell what makes them different for ease of remembering them, right?
The short answer is: I have no idea.
The long answer is: I have no idea, and when I looked around, even the teachers I found had no idea.

So have fun there.


Kidding, of course. There seems to be no reason I can offer you, though perhaps some digging into the history of the language would reveal it. I didn't do that however, but I did find a way of recalling them properly until you get them down by memory.
Beginning with One minute, each number alternates from ぷん pun to ふん fun to ぷん pun again until four which works either way. From five on, that order is reversed.
Another way of remembering is that, below five, odd is ぷん pun and even is ふん fun (Because it's fun getting even? Yeah, I need to stop with the jokes), then from five to ten that's reversed (And it's fun being odd).
I have one more that I learned from an online tutor's notes, but it could be considered an offensive mnemonic, so let's leave it there.


Hours:
So now that we understand the ふん fun ぷん pun fiasco, or at least we'll pretend we do, we can move on to telling hours. Did you notice that to tell hours you just add ji after the number? The exception of course being よじ yoji, which is only the first half of the number よん yon. But by now you're probably used to seeing the ん n in よん yon being lopped off in a word combination anyway.


Meridian stuffs:
When telling the time in Japanese, be sure to put ごぜん gozen (A.M.) and ごご gogo (P.M.) before the hour when you include them. So for example, 4:00 P.M. would be ごごよじ gogo yoji, or, P.M. 4:00. This is actually a common thing in other languages, but you know how weird English is.


Half past...:
Finally, when saying the time, if it ends with :30, you can say さんじゅっぷん sanjuppun or はん han, with はん han meaning half.
Example:
"It's 8:30 P.M." -- 「ごご はちじ さんじゅっぷん です。」gogo hachiji sanjuppun desu.
or
"It's 8:30 P.M." -- 「ごご はちじ はん です。」gogo hachiji han desu.


かたかな:
Katakana time! We're going to cover five more kana this week. Take your time and study them until you're confident that you remember them properly.

サ -- さ -- sa.

シ -- し shi. Katakana she looks to the sky. :3

ス -- す su. Katakana sue has one leg.

セ -- せ se. Katakana se looks enough like Hiragana se to tell on sight.

ソ -- そ so. Katakana so I only have one eye. Big deal.


テスト:
Section A.
Match the Japanese vocabulary to it's English counterpart.

1. いま ima
2. いちじ ichiji
3. いっぷん ippun
4. はっぷん happun
5. なんじ nanji
6. きゅぅふん kyuufun
7. よんぷん yonpun
8. さとう satou
9. さんぷん sanpun
10. にじ niji
11. よんふん yonfun
12. じゅっぷん juppun
13. おかいけい okaikei
14. よじ yoji
15. にふん nifun
16. ごふん gofun
17. ごご gogo
18. しちふん shichifun
19. ~のとなり ~no tonari
20. いまなんじですか。ima nanji desu ka.
21. ごぜん gozen
22. くじ kuji
23. ろっぷん roppun
24. はちふん hachifun
25. しちじ shichiji
26. ~のむかいがわ ~no mukai gawa



A. Sugar
B. What time is it now?
C. Five minutes
D. What time
E. Four o'clock
F. Four minutes
G. A.M.
H. Nine minutes
I. One o'clock
J. P.M.
K. Nine o'clock
L. Ten minutes
M. Now
N. Three minutes
O. Eight minutes
P. Seven o'clock
Q. One minute
R. happun
S. Four minutes
T. Two o'clock
U. Two minutes
V. Six minutes
W. Check
X. Seven minutes
Y. Next to...
Z. Across from...
______________________________________

Section B.
Fill in the blank.

1. いち_ ichi_
One o'clock

2. に_ ni_
Two o'clock

3. よ_ yo_
Four o'clock

4. しち_ shichi_
Seven o'clock

5. いっ__ i___
One minute

6. に__ ni__
Two minutes

7. さん__ san___
Three minutes

8. よん__ yon___
Four minutes

9. ご__ go___
Five minutes

10. ろっ__ ro____
Six minutes

11. しち__ shichi___
Seven minutes

12. は_____ ha____
Eight minutes

13. きゅぅ__ kyuu___
Nine minutes

14. じゅっ Ju____
Ten Minutes
______________________________________


Video
Fair warning: I got a little carried away and opened the video with a minute and a half long clip of Sword Art Online. It's kind of spolierish...okay, it's VERY spoilerish. Feel free to skip ahead to around 1:45 or so if you plan on watching the show at some point, or just don't care to see the clip of it.

That does it for this week's lesson. Next week we'll look at a new way of using a familiar particle, and learn how to express some of what we plan to do, and when we plan to do it. Until then, keep on studying, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!


_____________________________________


EX Palen : lol That's actually pretty funny. It's strange to hear things like that when learning a new language. I've experienced similar things with other phrases and words in other languages, but so far in Japanese the closest I've come to with that is words that sound almost identical to English words, but have different meanings. It still helps me with remembering them though.

Indeed, you got your additional cuisine words! lol That won't be the last of them either, or at least, not the last of meal related words anyway. lol



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

You shouldn't stop the jokes, I got some good laughs with them. It really gets us into the mood to learn new things.

Hourly times in Catalan are even weirder than Japanese, to the point we've "Spanishized" the traditional way of saying it to make it equally correct. If I recall correctly, "half past three" in the traditional way would be translated into "two quarters of four". Still wondering why we adapted a simpler method?

And speaking of hourly times, just to make sure, it should be equally correct to say "six o'clock in the morning" instead of 6 AM, right? I'm more used to that since it's the literal translation of what we'd say in Spanish, so that's why I had to ask.

Let's keep on going! To Intermediate and beyond!!!

だいにじゅぅよんか。dai nijuuyonka.

Hello and welcome to lesson number twenty four. This week we'll learn how to communicate our schedules, as well as a new use of the particle に ni. This lesson will be less intense than some of the more recent lessons, which should help offset the difficulty of the last lesson we had which was a little long and complicated.

So on into the vocabulary.


Vocabulary:
なんじに~ますか。
nanji ni ~ masu ka.
What time do you...?
Literally it would be more like "What time...do?" but this is very broken grammar in english, so as always, the closest proper translation is given.

おきます
okimasu
To get up

たべます
tabemasu
To eat

ちょぅしょく(formal) or あさごはん (informal)
choushoku (formal) or asagohan (informal)
Breakfast
あさごはん asagohan literally means "morning meal" or "morning rice".

ちゅぅしょく(formal) or ひるごはん (informal)
chuushoku (formal) or hirugohan (informal)
Lunch
ひるごはん hirugohan literally means "noon meal" or "noon rice".

ゆうしょく (formal) or ゆうごはん (informal)
yuushoku (formal) or yuugohan (informal)
Dinner
As you might expect, ゆうごはん yuugohan literally means "evening meal" or "evening rice".

がっこう
gakkou
School

しごと
shigoto
Work
Just in case it may prove helpful, I remembered this with the mnemonic "she go to work at..." I'm also goofy.

うち
uchi
House, one's home, one's family

うちにかえります
uchi ni kaerimasu
To go home
Yes, we had to tack on that huge addition to "home" to express that we were going there.

べんきょぅします
benkyoushimasu
To study

にほんご
nihongo
Japanese (language)

えいご
eigo
English (language)

ねます
nemasu
To go to sleep/to sleep

も
mo
Also/too


Grammar:
New particles are so last month. This time we're just finding new uses for old friends, namely に ni.

Did you notice how we added に ni to the question なんじに~ますか nanji ni ~ masu ka (what time do you...?), and うちにかえります uchi ni kaerimasu (to go home) as a particle? If so, be proud of your perceptiveness. Why did we use に ni that way though?

Well you already know why we used に ni in うちにかえります uchi ni kaerimasu -- to express movement in a direction (see lesson twenty), but that doesn't explain why we used it for なんじに~ますか nanji ni ~ masu ka since it doesn't imply movement at all. This is where に's ni's new groove usage comes in.

In this usage, に ni is added to indicate a time. By that I mean that when most specific time expressions are used, they are to be followed by に ni. Think of に ni as the Japanese equivalent of the English words at in this usage.
For example:
「（わたしは）しちじに おきます。」 shichiji ni okimasu.
"I get up at seven o'clock."

Don't worry: に ni isn't the only particle living a double life -- we'll see more returning particles soon.


も mo:
A new particle. I usually try to limit a lesson to only one particle, but since も mo was part of the vocabulary, it needs to be mentioned here as well.

も mo is used to add something essentially, which is why it was listed as meaning also or too. Additionally, the particle も mo can also replace the particle は ha, as we'll see below, building on the example dialogue above.

なかむらせんせい: 「やまださんは、なんじに おきますか。」yamada-san ha, nanji ni okimasu desu ka.

やまださん: 「しちじに おきます。」 shichiji ni okimasu.
"I get up at seven o'clock."

なかむらせんせい: 「わたしも しちじに おきます。」watashi mo shichiji ni okimasu.
"I get up at seven o'clock too." or "I too get up at seven o'clock."
I mean...the second translation is more accurate, and it works in English...but it sounds weird.


Anyway, notice how, when なかむらせんせい nakamura-sensei said わたし watashi, she omitted は ha which she normally would have used to indicate that she was switching the subject to herself, and instead followed わたし watashi, with the particle も mo? This is how you would express that you also do something, rather than by placing the two particles together.


Then why did they say...
It's important to understand that Japanese, much like any other language (at least the ones that I know enough about to say) has both proper and colloquial forms, as well as more than one way of saying certain things even without being improper.

Some example of multiple ways to say the same thing and still be proper in English would be:
"That was great."
"That was amazing."
And so on.

Some improper, but more commonly used expressions for the above statements would be:
"Sweet!"
"That was so cool."
And so on.
Both of these examples also apply to Japanese, albeit with different words, obviously. So while there will be times that we'll cover a word or phrase here and you'll have heard it another way, that doesn't necessarily mean that either way is improper. If one of them is improper however, it's likely that the improper one is just colloquial speech. Much like how if I said a game was sweet, I wouldn't literally mean that I had actually tasted the game.

Finally, we're still covering basic stuff, so there will be many times when something could be said in a more natural way than the way we learn it. Those things will be cleared up later on in more advanced lessons.


Test:
Section A.
Match the Japanese vocabulary to it's English counterpart.

1. ちょぅしょく choushoku
2. ひるごはん hirugohan
3. がっこう gakkou
4. べんきょぅします benkyoushimasu
5. たべます tabemasu
6. うちにかえります uchi ni kaerimasu
7. ちゅぅしょく chuushoku
8. えいご eigo
9. ゆうしょく yuushoku
10. おきます okimasu
11. うち uchi
12. しごと shigoto
13. あさごはん asagohan
14. にほんご nihongo
15. ゆうごはん yuugohan
16. も mo
17. ねます nemasu


A. To eat
B. Lunch (formal)
C. School
D. Work
E. Breakfast (formal)
F. To study
G. Dinner (informal)
H. Japanese (language)
I. English (language)
J. To get up
K. To go home
L. Breakfast (informal)
M. Lunch (informal)
N. House, one's home, one's family
O. Dinner (formal)
P. To sleep/sleep
Q. Also
______________________________________
Section B.
Insert the appropriate particles in the blanks.

1. 「わたし_ しちじ_ おきます。」watashi __ shichiji __ okimasu.
"I get up at seven o'clock too."

2. いもうと_ みじかい です。imouto __ mijikai desu.
"My little sister is short too."（ごめん いもうと）

3. いいえ。わたし_ねこ_ くろいとしろい です_。iie. watashi__neko__ kuroi__shiroi desu _.
"No. My cat is black and white."
______________________________________
Section C.
Reply to the following dialogue, in Japanese.

NOTE: Romaji for the following will be omitted. If you need it, PM me and I'll send it to you.

1.
Random Dude That I Can't Think of A Name or Title For (henceforth referred to as RDTICTOANOTF): こんにちは。

RDTICTOANOTF: おかげさまで。ありがとうございます。


2.
RDTICTOANOTF: あなた ごきょぅだい いますか。
NOTE: Since we haven't covered あなた yet, I'll translate it here: あなた = You.


That'll do it for this week's lesson. The video will be posted later. If you'd like to be notified when it goes live, let me know.
______________________________________

EX Palen : Alright, but when the humor becomes even worse, you've only yourself to blame. lol

As for saying "six o'clock in the morning", I'd assume that works as well. I haven't seen it done yet, but it seems logical enough. We do the same here more often than not, barring more formal settings. I'm not sure how you would say it though. ろくじにあさ, ろくじのあさ, or something else entirely. But on the bright side, you won't always have to say if it's in the morning or at night. For example, if you say you get up at six, it should be taken as meaning six in the morning. If I find out anything more about that, I'll let you know.

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

Man, I'm starting to love Japan. We drink too much sake? Then let's call anything alcoholic like that! We eat too much rice? Then let's call all kinds of meals like that!

I've heard あさごはん a few times, sometimes people simply drop the prefixes and say directly ごはん at any given time of the day. I may not have paid much attention, but I'd bet that I'm more used to hear the formal expressions for lunch and dinner rather than for breakfast even when talking between siblings. Maybe it also has to do with the instance you say it, like it's the formal way only when saying "I'll be home for dinner" or things like that. 

I feel kind of guilty for you adding the "while there will be times that we'll cover a word or phrase here and you'll have heard it another way, that doesn't necessarily mean that either way is improper" line. Looks like I was pestering you a bit too much sensei I got carried a bit for trying to understand every single word. If it's not my fault, then there's this word I have heard for the translat *punches self* I'll simply stick to what we're given and what I have to learn, which is already a lot.

だいにじゅぅごか。dai nijuugoka.

Hello and welcome to lesson number twenty five. This week's lesson will be a short one due to time restrictions, so I apologize for that now. I've also yet to post the video for last week or this week, but I'm still intending to do so soon. Hopefully I can get those up over the next few days (life has been really busy for me lately).

Additionally all I can do if I want to get this posted today is throw you some new vocabulary, and since there is no real need for a grammar section due to us following the same grammatical structure as always and having no new particles, I'll omit the tests as well. Please still be sure to drill yourself on the vocabulary as if there were tests. I'll start work on the new lesson tonight in hopes of being able to make a full size lesson by Sunday.

Again, my apologies for the lateness and lack of content this time.
Now on to this week's vocabulary.


Vocabulary:
しょくぎょぅ
shokugyou
Occupation


いしゃ
isha
Medical Doctor


かんごし
kangoshi
Nurse


けいさつかん
keisatsukan
Police Officer


しょぅぼうし
shouboushi
Firefighter


かいしゃいん
kaishain
Office Worker


てんいん
tenin
Store Clerk



だいがく
daigaku
College


だいがくせい
daigakusei
College Student


こうこう
koukou
High School


こうこうせい
koukousei
High School Student


けいざいがく
keizaigaku
Economics


ぶんがく
bungaku
Literature


げつようび
getsuyoubi
Monday


かようび
kayoubi
Tuesday


すいようび
suiyoubi
Wednesday


もくようび
mokuyoubi
Thursday


きんようび
kinyoubi
Friday


どようび
doyoubi
Saturday


にちようび
nichiyoubi
Sunday


That'll do it for this week's vocabulary. Like I said before, we'll return to full length lessons next week. If you have any questions about the vocabulary (or anything, really) feel free to ask.

Finally, if you spot any errors, let me know. I wrote this up while watching two small kids so I probably made at least a few.

____________________________________

EX Palen : Oh no, sorry about that. That wasn't about anyone in particular, if you remember we talked a while back about how I should talk about the differences in the lesson vocabulary and the vocabulary you hear in shows and games. I actually appreciate hearing what you have to say about the vocabulary and various expressions you've heard. So please do keep offering your input.

Speaking of which, Intermediate (I've been in that book for about a month now) has begun covering some informal vocabulary as well which should help clear up the confusion of some of what we face with what we've heard and what we've learned. It's an interesting experience seeing all that Kanji too. .__.



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

Hmmmm, quite the high-level vocabulary we had here. I actually learned some English words as well, not used to utilize this kind of words in the internet lol. Also interesting to see a repetitive pattern in the days of the week, for once Spanish is the one who doesn't have that.

Happy to hear it's not because of me that you wrote that line. I always feel like insisting can be very tedious and I tend to not do it, but I'm so energetic for this that I just can't keep my questions to myself. I have nothing to ask now, mainly because I haven't heard these words nor I think I actually had the chance of hearing them, but I'll keep on asking if I ever have any doubts.

It's interesting that Intermediate dwells beyond the formality to cover the whole language. Can't wait to get more words listed for the same meaning and finally be able to choose between formal and informal instead of what sounds better

だいにじゅぅろくか。dai nijuurokuka.

Hello and welcome to lesson number twenty six! This week we'll be covering more words used for describing occupations, touching on some old vocabulary, and more. So we'll jump right on in to the lesson now.


Vocabulary:

いつ
itsu
When

なんようび
nan youbi
What day of the week

〜から〜まで　
...kara...made
From... to...

あさ
asa
Morning

ひる
hiru
Noon

ごご
gogo
Afternoon

ゆうがた
yuugata
Evening

よる
yoru
Night

きょぅ
kyou
Today

あした
ashi ta
Tomorrow
Note that ashi ta should be written as one word, but I had to break it into two in order to avoid the censor blocking it (assuming that word is censored).

こんしゅぅ
konshuu
This week

らいしゅぅ
raishuu
Next week


Now to do some power learning: learn twelve words at once!
To say what month it is, simply add the word がつ gatsu after the appropriate number. So literally, January would be いちがつ, or month one, February would be にがつ, or month two, and so on. There are only two exceptions: April is しがつ (shigatsu) and October is くがつ (kugatsu). Still words for those numbers, but they're the less utilized versions.
See there? I just taught you twelve words in ten seconds. Who says I'm not an efficient teacher? Well... I'm not a teacher, but still.



Grammar:

Return of the の
Don't worry, this isn't a new usage for the particle の, just a sort of refresher. As you remember we learned that の is used to join two nouns to either make a new word, or join two idea. Below are some examples of using の to be more specific as to what kind of せんせい sensei you're talking about.

にほんごのせんせい
nihongo no sensei
Japanese teacher


えいごのせんせい
eigo no sensei
English teacher

けいざいがくのせんせい
keizaigaku no sensei
Economics teacher

Be sure not to use の for terms that already have a set word for them, like だいがくせい daigakusei (college student).
And remember that の can also show ownership, such as in わたしのねこ watashi no neko (my cat).


A particle in にd is a particle indeed
No, I'm not proud of that pun. Not at all.
Remember how に ni was originally introduced as a way to show direction, and then a couple of weeks ago we learned to use it when referring to the time? Well now we get to relearn it again! Well, sort of.


We're still referring to time, but this time we aren't talking about hours, but rather dates. The particle に ni follows the days of the week, and in this capacity is similar to the English word on. For example: げつようびに getsuyoubi ni (on Monday).

You do not use the particle に ni with the generic time and day words いつ itsu (when), きょぅ kyou (today), あした ashi ta(tomorrow), こんしゅぅ konshuu (this week), or らいしゅぅ raishuu (next week).

With the more specific terms あさ asa (morning), ひるhiru (noon), ごご gogo (afternoon), ゆうがた yuugata (evening), and よる yoru (night) に ni is optional.

Also when you use the term 〜から〜まで ...kara...made (from...to...) you do not use the particle に ni even after the days of the week.

Finally, usage of に ni after combined expressions like げつようびのよる getsuyoubi no yoru (Monday night) depends on the last word in the combined expression. So for example, you wouldn't have to use に ni after げつようびのよる getsuyoubi no yoru because the last word in the expression is よる yoru, but you would have to use it after らいしゅぅのすいようび raishuu no suiyoubi because the last word in the expression is すいようび suiyoubi. It's likely a little overwhelming right now, but don't worry, you'll get it down with some practice.



Test:

Section A. Match the Japanese vocabulary to it's English counterpart.

1. 〜から〜まで　...kara...made
2. きょぅ kyou
3. ごご gogo
4. なんようび nan youbi
5. あした ashi ta
6. こんしゅぅ konshuu
7. いつ itsu
8. ひる hiru
9. がつ gatsu
10. らいしゅぅ raishuu
11. あさ asa
12. よる yoru
13. ゆうがた yuugata



A. When
B. Evening
C. Night
D. Morning
E. From... to...
F. Noon
G. This week
H. What day of the week
I. Suffix for months
J. Next week
K. Tomorrow
L. Today
M. Afternoon

_________________________________

Section B. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate particles. The particles used here will be は ha, の no, と to, and よ yo.

にほんご__せんせい。
nihongo__sensei.
Japanese teacher

わたし__いぬ__しろいです。
watashi__inu__shiroi desu.
My dog is black.

いもとう__がくせいです__。
imouto__gakusei desu__.
My little sister is a student (this is new information).

テーブル__いす。
teeburu__isu.
Table and chair(s).

_________________________________

Section C. Translate the following from Japanese into English.

1. わたしのねこはあなたのいぬをたべます。ごめんなさい。
watashi no neko ha anata no inu wo tabemasu. gomennasai.
(note: anata = you)

2. あにくるまあります。
ani kuruma arimasu.

3. なんじにしごとにいきますか。
nanji ni shigoto ni ikimasu ka.

_________________________________

Section D. Make two sentences using at least one word (in each) from this week's vocabulary.

1.

2.

_________________________________



Link:
Just audio this time
If you can't play this because it's M4a instead of Mp3, let me know and I can convert it and re-upload. If you need it in video format, let me know and I'll get to work on that.

Also this audio file must be downloaded and contains the audio for lessons 24, 25 and 26. My apologies for the delay.


_________________________________

EX Palen : Exactly, and that excitement for learning Japanese is encouraging. It helps drive me on to see that not only are these lessons being utilized fully, but also I have friends learning it alongside me. Surprisingly enough, this is a language that I wasn't interested in learning but began doing so just because I thought it could be useful for me at some point in the future, but now I'm really interested in the language itself. I've learned a lot of things from studying it, and not just things pertaining to the language.

うん I'm really glad to see that as well. I understand that formal is important to learn for obvious reasons, but I also know that literally no one I know in person ever uses polite (or proper) forms of words in English except for very rare occasions, such as job interviews and such. As such I suspect that I'd honestly sound out of place in many conversations in Japanese if all I knew was formal speech. Another nice thing that I don't know if I mentioned or not is that the Intermediate lessons are also covering old words and giving more meanings than just what we learn in the Essential courses. うち was one such example of that. In the Essential courses it was listed simply as "home" but in Intermediate it was listed again, this time with the definitions I gave here. I've also learned some important things that Essential didn't prepare us for with the vocabulary we learned early on... So there's a lot to cover and even revisit in the near future!





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

Hooooooly crud do I have a lot of material that I missed while I was gone that I have to catch up on. Gonna really need to focus to catch up.

Also, I laughed a little at sentence one of section C. I'm not entirely sure I understood it correctly, but it was still funny.

だいにじゅぅななか。dai nijuunanaka.

Hello and welcome to lesson number twenty seven! This week we enter the final stretch of lessons in the basic book, so with a week for testing we have around a month before beginning our dive into deeper aspects of the language, when we'll begin building sentences and more.

For now however, let's settle for some more vocabulary, eh?

Vocabulary:
しゅぅまつ
shuumatsu
Weekend

こんしゅぅまつ
konshuumatsu
This weekend

します
shimasu
To do

よみます
yomimasu
To read

ほんをよみます
hon wo yomimasu
To read a book

ききます
kikimasu
To listen

おんがく
ongaku
Music

おんがくをききます
ongaku wo kikimasu
To listen to music

みます
mimasu
To watch

えいが
eiga
Movie

えいがをみます
eiga wo mimasu
To watch a movie

かいもの
kaimono
Shopping

かいものにいきます
kaimono ni ikimasu
To go shopping

スポーツをします
supootsu wo shimasu
To play sports

フットボールをします
futtobooru wo shimasu
To play football


Grammar:
So did you notice that the word します was used in three of the above expressions? If you look closer still, you'll notice that the last two syllables ます masu were also used in all of the other action verbs listed in this lesson. Now while not all verbs in Japanese contain ます masu in them, it can make it easier to remember the verbs in this lesson if you realize that, rather than learning several new words, you're basically just learning various forms of the same word ー します. Of course, this isn't proper teaching material that I'm relating here, but since when am I proper? This is simply a learner's tip to assist with the new vocabulary.


Katakana:
I gave you plenty of time to rest, and now it's time to resume Kana crunching! Okay the truth is I forgot to give you more kana. Well anyway, it's here now. lol

タ = た (ta)

チ = ち (chi)

ツ = つ (tsu)

テ = て (te)

ト = と (to)


Test:
Match the Japanese vocabulary to it's English counterpart.

A. しゅぅまつ - shuumatsu
B. ほんをよみます - hon wo yomimasu
C. します - shimasu
D. ききます - kikimasu
E. かいものにいきます - kaimono ni ikimasu
F. おんがく - ongaku
G. こんしゅぅまつ - konshuumatsu
H. えいが - eiga
I. フットボールをします - futtobooru wo shimasu
J. よみます - yomimasu
K. かいもの - kaimono
L. みます - mimasu
M. えいがをみます - eiga wo mimasu
N. おんがくをききます - ongaku wo kikimasu
O. スポーツをします - supootsu wo shimasu



1. Weekend
2. To listen
3. This weekend
4. To do
5. To watch
6. To listen to music
7. To read
8. To watch a movie
9. Music
10. To go shopping
11. To play sports
12. To read a book
13. Shopping
14. Movie
15. To play football


Link:
Video


Notes: Since we had just over forty words left in our current book, I decided to reduce the number of words per lesson in order to balance out the rest of the lessons that we'll be getting from this book. The reason was because I didn't feel it would be good to mix the two books in one lesson, and the flow of lessons changes drastically. It will take the same amount of time as if I had offered a five word lesson in two weeks, but who would want that? lol

Additionally it has come to my attention that one of the questions on last week's test was wrong. The words were right, but it didn't make much sense. I apologize for this mistake.

Finally, I typo'd the word よみます in the video. It should be obvious, and the second time it appears it's spelled correctly, but it bears mentioning.

____________________________________


m0ssb3rg935 : Life likes to happen at the wrong times, doesn't it? Take your time with the backed up lessons, man.


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

I knew that being home alone separated me from this site as I focused on other things, but to skip two lessons in a row was starting to become just too much.

Glad to hear we're reaching the end of the first book. If I manage to find a hole in my schedule, it would be a good timing to go through all the lessons of the first book to ensure I can jump onto the next level without many complications.

Don't worry if I have no questions for the last two lessons, it's just that I haven't really heard any of those words nor I remember instances where I could have heard them. Verbs are on a different level due to their many forms, so all I can say is that I recognize the main syllable that can make all the rest of forms.

I shouldn't have much time home alone until next lesson, so let's hope I can keep a close eye on this again. I totally need to regain my pace, but I'll probably leave that for September to sync with regaining the pace for everything else lol

だいにじゅぅはちか。Dai nijuuhachika

Hello and welcome to lesson number twenty eight. It's time for more words that aren't in English (or Spanish ) and stuff, so let's go.


Vocabulary:
うちにいます
uchi ni imasu
To stay home


~ましょぅ。
...mashou.
Let's...


~ませんか。
...masen ka.
Why don't we...


~いっしょに。
...issho ni.
Together...


~がすきです。
...ga suki desu.
To like


~はすきではありません。
...ha suki de ha arimasen.
To not like


~がとてもすきです。
...ga totemo suki desu.
To like very much.


~はあまりすきではありません。
...ha amari suki de ha arimasen.
To not like very much


~はすきですか。
...ha suki desu ka.
do you like...?


どんな
donna
What kind (of)...
Note: I added the "of" in parentheses because the literature teaches that it means "What kind of..." in the first book, but teaches in the second book that it means "What kind". I suspect that the latter is more accurate and the former was simply used because it was an early lesson and adding the of made it make more sense to an English speaker. ie. "What kind of sports do you like" instead of "What kind sports do you like?".
Speaking of which...


どんなスポーツがすきですか。
donna supootsu ga suki desu ka.
What kind of sports do you like?


やきゅぅ
yakyuu
Baseball


バスケットボール
basukettobooru
Basketball


フットボール
futtobooru
Football
Note: I'm assuming this is American football, simply because there is a separate word for "soccer" (football), and also because my Japanese keyboard tries to replace the word フットボール with a picture of an American football. lol



Grammar:
Time for everyone's favorite part of languages: grammar! *hears Palen groan and throws a football at his head* This week's grammar will look more like vocabulary 2.0 than grammar though, so don't be too disappointed.


So I personally was a little excited to get vocabulary for suggesting actions finally, namely ましょぅ mashou, ませんか masen ka and いっしょに issho ni. Such simple additions to our vocabulary, but quite useful. So yeah, it's great that we know them and all, but how do we use them?

I'm so glad you asked *pulls random name out of hat* ...m0ss! Here's how it works: when making a suggestion to do something with someone, you simply replace the verb ending ます masu (I promise I picked m0ss at random. I didn't realize what great wordplay m0ss and ます made until it was too late!) with ましょぅ mashou to say "let's", or ませんか masen ka to say something like "why don't we...?"*

examples:
「（わたしは）おんがくをききます。」(watashi ha) ongaku wo kikimasu.
"(I) listen to music."
Becomes
「おんがくをききましょぅ。」
ongaku wo kikimashou.
"Let's listen to music."
or
「おんがくをききませんか。」
ongaku wo kikimasen ka.
"Why don't we listen to music?"

To say "together" you can use the above and add いっしょに issho ni to the start of them.
So
「いっしょにおんがくをききましょぅ。」
issho ni ongaku wo kikimashou.
"Let's listen to music together."
or
「いっしょにおんがくをききませんか。」
issho ni ongaku wo kikimasen ka.
"Why don't we listen to music together?"

Simple enough, right?

Now, because I may have failed to address this earlier, Japanese makes no difference between present tense and future tense. The meaning is understood from the context of the sentence.

So 「しゅぅまつになにをしますか。」 shuumatsu ni nani wo shimasu ka. can mean "What are you going to do for the weekend?" or "What do you do on weekends?".


Weeeeeeeeeeee grammar! *ducks football thrown at his head by Palen*



*ませんか masen ka is listed as being similar to "Why don't we", so it may not be a perfect translation.



Katakana:
ナ - な = na
ニ - に = ni
ヌ - ぬ = nu
ネ - ね = ne
ノ - の = no



Test:
Match the Japanese vocabulary to it's English counterpart.


A. ~がすきです。 ー ...ga suki desu.
B. どんなスポーツがすきですか。 ー donna supootsu ga suki desu ka.
C. ~ましょぅ。 ー ...mashou.
D. やきゅぅ ー yakyuu
E. ~ませんか。ー ...masen ka.
F. フットボール ー futtobooru
G. ~はすきではありません。ー ...ha suki de ha arimasen.
H. うちにいます ー uchi ni imasu
I. ~はあまりすきではありません。 ー ...ha amari suki de ha arimasen.
J. ~がとてもすきです。 ー ...ga totemo suki desu.
K. どんな ー donna
L. ~いっしょに。 ー ...issho ni.
M. ~はすきですか。 ー ...ha suki desu ka.
N. バスケットボール ー baskettobooru



1. To like very much.
2. To not like
3. Why don't we...
4. do you like...?
5. To stay home
6. What kind of sports do you like?
7. To not like
8. What kind of...
9. Baseball
10. Let's...
11. To like
12. Basketball
13. To not like very much
14. Together...
15. Football


Link:
Video


____________________________________

EX Palen : Okay, cool. Thanks for letting me know that you're still following the lessons too.

As for the next book: I'm looking forward to posting lessons that I get from it. It focuses more on sentences than vocabulary, and as a result the lessons are actually really fun. Of course there are definitely plenty of new words to learn in them as well, but they aren't the main focus.


____________________________________
Summon list:

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

If the football you threw at me is the "ball" with which American football is played, you didn't have to duck because my accuracy sucks. If it was a TRUE football, the sport that people in America likes to call soccer, then there's no way you could have avoided it

Going to serious matters, building sentences will be a lot easier after this lesson. I have heard of other possible translations for words that can be accurate enough, like masen ka translated as "Can we...?", though I've also heard instances where mashou could mean it as well.

I have two questions to ask in this lesson: the first is why issho ni is not written as a single word (to my knowledge, issho has no meaning by itself whereas masen can be used without any particle), and the second is if totemo is actually still used because I've always heard dai being used instead (though I know that dai is used to represent something big or greater and thus is accurate enough to also mean "very much", even if it makes little sense in English and Spanish).

Next lesson will be different, I promise. I'll either learn to dodge Eirinn's deadly-accurate shots or I'll learn to shut up :3

Just checking to see if you guys want to have an extra taxing lesson this week with added, more intense testing, or break the tests down into two more lessons. The tests will basically cover most of what we've learned so far, though obviously we won't cover all of the vocabulary to date.



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

Kind of a tough call, really. I'm excited about picking up the pace, but at the same time, I'm still a little behind and working to catch up. If it's just more thorough testing on stuff we already have so far, I'm fairly certain I could handle that but it's gonna take me a little while to really retain vocabulary.

Short answer: either works, really. I'm behind and leaning towards more tests, but I should be able to manage fewer, more concentrated ones.

I haven't given tests very much attention this month due to summer and other things, so kind of hard for me to choose anything.

Looks like most people, even I as of lately, are a bit behind trying to get a hold of the lessons, so we probably should play with caution and break tests down so nobody falls behind a lot more than usual. I don't mind having a more intense test, but if speaking for the team I prefer to proceed with caution.