japanes lesson

This lesson will teach you how to greet and to carry out a conversation in Japanese. In this dialog, Yota Suzuki and Jason Miller meet for the first time at Jason's house in Tokyo.

JAPANESE:
Yota: Kon'nichi wa.¹

Jason: Kon'nichi wa.

Yota: Watashi² wa Suzuki Yota desu. Hajimemashite.³

Jason: Watashi wa Jeson Miraa desu. Hajimemashite. Doozo yoroshiku.

Yota: Miraa-san, anata wa Amerika-jin desu ka. (?)

Jason: Hai⁴, watashi wa Amerika-jin desu. Anata wa. (?)

Yota: Nihon-jin desu.

Listen to Dialog up to this point.

Jason: Suzuki-san, anata wa daigaku-sei desu ka. (?)

Yota: Hai, soo desu. Miraa-san wa. (?)

Jason: Watashi wa kookoo-sei desu.

Yota: Otomodachi⁵ mo kookoo-sei desu ka. (?)

Jason: Hai. Suzuki-san wa nan'nen-sei desu ka. (?)

Yota: Daigaku ninen-sei⁶ desu.

Listen to the rest of the Dialog.
TRANSLATION:

Yota: Hello.

Jason: Hello.

Yota: My name is Yota Suzuki. Nice to meet you.

Jason: My name is Jason Miller. Nice to meet you. (May I ask you to be kind to me.)

Yota: Mr. Miller, are you an American?

Jason: Yes. I am American. How about you?

Yota: I am Japanese.

Jason: Mr. Suzuki, are you a college student?

Yota: Yes. How about you, Mr. Miller?

Jason: I am a high school student.

Yota: Is your friend also a high school student?

Jason: Yes. Mr. Suzuki, what year are you in college?

Yota: I am a sophomore (second year student).

VOCABULARY:
Listen to the Vocabulary Words.

kon'nichi wa hello

watashi I, me, myself

desu am, are, is

anata you

Amerika-jin American (person)

Nihon-jin Japanese (person)

otomo-dachi friend

nan'nen-sei what grade level, what year (in school, college)

ninen-sei second level, second year (in college = sophomore)

This sentence means "I am Yota Suzuki." It is standard for Japanese to use their family name first followed by their given name. The sentence pattern is "Noun wa noun desu" which translates as "Noun is Noun". The wa is a particle indicating a subject or a topic, while desu is an equivalent to "am", "are", and "is".

Examples:	Watashi
                                    wa Sumisu desu.
                                                    I am Mr. Smith.
                                    
                                                    Watashi wa Tanaka desu.
                                    		I am Mr. Tanaka.

2. Anata wa Amerika-jin desu ka.

This sentence means "Are you an American?" The word ka is a particle which makes a sentence a question.

Examples:	Anata wa Nihon-jin desu ka.
                                    		Are you Japanese?
                                    
                                    		Anata wa Suzuki-san desu ka.
                                    		Are you Mr. Suzuki?

3. Otomo-dachi mo kookoo-sei desu ka.

This sentence means "Is your friend also a high school student?" The word mo is a particle and means "also".

Examples:	Sumisu-san mo Amerika-jin desu ka.
                                    		Is Mr. Smith also an American?
                                    
                                    		Watashi mo daigaku-sei desu.
                                    		I am also a college student.

4. Nihon-jin desu.

This sentence means "I am Japanese". The word Nihon-jin is a compound of the two words, Nihon and jin. Nihon means "Japan" and jin means "person". The word jin is added to the end of a country's names to signify a person of that country.

Examples:	Gaadana-san wa Igirisu-jin desu.
                                    		Mr. Gardiner is English. (Igirisu=England)
                                    
                                    		Rozenbawa-san wa Doitsu-jin desu.
                                    		Mr. Rosenbauer is German.(Doitsu=Germany)

5. Watashi wa kookoo-sei desu.

This sentence means "I am a high school student". The word kookoo-sei is a compound of the two words, kookoo and -sei. Kookoo is a shortened form of the word kootoogakkoo which means "high school" and -sei is an ending which means "student".

Examples:	Waatamanu-san wa daigakuin-sei desu.
                                    		Mr. Waterman is a graduate student.(daigakuin=graduate school)
                                    
                                    		Rassoru-san wa daigaku-sei desu.
                                    		Mr. Russell is a college student.

DRILLS:

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words.
1. Watashi ( ) Amerika-jin desu.
2. Anata ( ) America-jin desu ( ).
3. Watasi wa kookoosei ( ).
4. Anata ( ) nannen-sei ( )( ).

Answer the following questions according the question given.

  (1)	Anata wa Amerika-jin desu ka.
                                            (yes)_______________________
                                       
                                      (2)	Yota-san wa Nihon-jin desu ka.
                                    	(yes)_______________________
                                    
                                      (3)	Anata wa daigaku-sei desu ka.
                                    	(yes)_______________________
                                    
                                      (4)	Anata wa nannen-sei desu ka.
                                    	(sophomore)___________________
                                    
                                      (5)	Anata wa kookoo-sei desu ka.
                                    	(yes)_______________________

ohayoo gozaimasu good morning

sore that

kore this

are that over there

nan what

kamera camera

dare whose

kono this (possessive)

konpyuutaa computer

Nihon-go Japanese

denwa telephone

hon book

zasshi magazine

NEW VOCABULARY: (added July 29, 1998)

kon'nichi wa good afternoon, hello

konban wa good evening

sayoonara good bye

pen pen

koppu cup

teeburu table

isu chair

The sentence means literally "As for this, it is a camera". A better English translation would be "This is a camera". The sentence pattern is Kore wa noun desu, which translates as "This is Noun". Kore, sore, are and dore are a group of related words meaning "this", "that", "that over there" and "which"
kore this sore that are that over there (further away) dore which Examples: Sore wa konpyuutaa desu That is a computer Are wa daigaku desu. That over there is a college.

2. Kore desu ka. Kore wa denwa desu.

This sentence means "This? This is a telephone". The pattern "Noun desu ka" in the beginning of the sentence is for emphasis.
Examples: Watashi desu ka. Watashi wa Itaria-jin desu. Me? I am Italian (Itaria = Italy) Are desu ka. Are wa tomodachi no konpyuutaa desu. That over there? It is my friend's computer.

3. Dare no kamera desu ka.

This sentence means "Whose camera is it?" Dare means "who" and dare no implies "whose". No is a particle that shows possession between two nouns. In this sentence, the subject sore wa is omitted because in Japanese, if the subject is already mentioned, it is not necessary to repeat it.
Examples: Dare no konpyuutaa desu ka. Whose computer is it? Dare no denwa desu ka. Whose telephone is it?

4. Watashi no kamera desu.

This sentence means "This is my camera". Again, the subject is omitted for the same reason as seen in #3. Watashi no implies "my" and anata no implies "your". The sentence pattern with no has the first noun possessing the second. For instance, Miraa-san no zasshi means "Miller's magazine".
Examples: Sore wa anata no denwa desu. That is your telephone. Kore wa Waatamanu-san no hon desu. This is Mr. Waterman's book.

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