色　Colours　いろ

Colours
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KanjiHiraganaEnglish
黒くろBlack
白しろWhite
灰色はいいろGrey
赤あかRed
オレンジOrange
茶色ちゃいろBrown
黄色きいろYellow
緑みどりGreen
青あおBlue
紫むらさきPurple
ピンクPink
黄緑きみどりLime

数Numbers (かず)

Abacus
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KanjiHiraganaEnglish
ゼロぜろ　／　れいZero　⓪
一いちOne　①
二にTwo　②
三さんThree　③
四よん　／　しFour　④
五ごFive　⑤
六ろくSix　⑥
七なな　／　しちSeven　⑦
八はちEight　⑧
九きゅうNine　⑨
十じゅうTen　⑩
十一じゅういちEleven　⑪
二十にじゅうTwenty　⑳
百ひゃくOne hundred　100
千せんOne thousand　1,000
万まんTen thousand　10,000
numbers　in　Japanese

Japanese Counters – Wago and Kango

KanjiWagoKangoArabic
零　／　ゼロれい｜ぜろ0
一ひとついち1
二ふたつに2
三みっつさん3
四よっつし4
五いつつご5
六むっつろく6
七ななつしち7
八やっつはち8
九ここのつきゅ9
十とおじゅう10
Both　reading　types　can　be　heard　depending　on　the　usage

Adjectives

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#sorrynotsorry these posts will be a wall of Kanji.

As my vocabulary increases I will add more words to these

Colours

  • 灰色　灰色猫　(grey　cat）
  • 黒　黒猫　(black　cat）
  • 白　白猫　(white　cat）
  • かわいい　猫はかわいい　(cats　are　cute）
  • 小麦色　小麦色猫　(tan　cat）

Weather

  • 暑い　今日は暑い　(today　is　hot）暑すぎる　(too　hot）

Verbs

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Keeping in mind the subject-object-verb sentence structure.

I am attempting to consolidate my learning of verbs into their teinei and kudaketa versions.

As always, please feel free to use the comments below to correct, suggest, or otherwise.

Kudaketa is the dictionary form, and teinei is the polite form.

To create the polite form from the dictionary form you need to create the verb stem.

Verb Stem

For ru-verbs, drop the る. For u-verbs, change the ‘u‘ sound to an ‘i‘ sound.
Except for する, this goes to し and くる, this goes to き.

Teinei

For positive add the suffix –masu to the verb stem ます
For negative add the suffix –masen to the verb stem　ません

kudaketa –> teinei –> phrase

Verbs I Have Learnt So Far

  • 食べる　食べます　おすしを食べます　(Eat sushi)
  • 読む　読みます　雑誌を読みます　(Read magazine)
  • 書く　書きます　研究ノートを書きます　(Write study note)
  • 勉強する　勉強します　私勉強します　（I study)
  • 料理する　料理します　照り焼きを料理します　(Cook teriyaki)
  • 飲む　飲みます　水を飲みます　(Drink water)
  • 着る　着ます　背広を着ます　(Wear suit)
  • 買う　買います　背広を買います　(Buy suit)
  • 愛する　愛します　彼女を愛ます　(Love her)
  • 好く　好きます　彼女を好きます　(Like her)
  • 好く　好きません　彼女を好きません　(Don’t like her)
  • 嫌う　嫌います　彼を嫌います　(Hate him)
  • 嫌う　嫌いません　彼を嫌いません　(Don’t hate him)
  • 求める　求めます　おすしを求めます (Ask for sushi)
  • 欲しい　欲しいます　おすしを欲しいます (Want sushi)
  • 会う　会います　ひろを会います　(Meet Hiro)
  • 言う　言います　りくさんは「六時に食べます」と言いました (Riku said, “I will eat at 6 o’clock”)
  • 起きる　起きます　りくは起きます　（Riku　Gets up)
  • 寝る　寝ます　りくを寝ます　(Lie down Riku) [Also, go to bed, lie in bed, to sleep, to lie idle)
  • 立つ　立ちます　りくを立ちます　(Stand Riku)
  • 座る　座ます　りくを座ます　（Sit Riku)
  • 走る　走ます　りくを走ます　（Run Riku)
  • 足す　足します　七を足します　（Add Seven)
  • 引く　引きます　七を引きます　（Subtract Seven）
  • 着く　着きます　東京を着きます　（Arrive Tokyo)
  • 行く　行きます　東京を行きます　（Go to Tokyo)
  • 帰る　帰ります　家へ帰ります　（Return home)
  • 見る　見ます　鳥を見ます　（See　Bird)　Also, watch, observe
  • 聞く　聞きます　鳥を聞きます　（Hear bird)
  • 描く　描きます　鳥を描きます　（Draw Bird)
  • 探す　探します　鳥を探します　（Look for bird)
  • 晴れる　晴れます　今日を晴れます　（Sunny today)

Hello World

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As I am a programmer and geek at heart I figured that the best way to start this JLPT journey was to follow in the great programmer’s tradition of making a “hello world” script.

はじめまして、ジェームスと申します。
オーストラリアのシドニーから来ました。
趣味は食べる事です。
これから日本語を一生懸命勉強したいと思います。
JLPT N5を勉強したいています。
宜しくお願い致します。

Learnt so far

What I have learnt so far is:

  • In Japanese sentences are structured as Subject Object Verb, this differs from the English Subject Verb Object that I am used to.

    In English I would say “I ran home“, in Japanese it would be 「私は家に走った」(watashi wa ie ni hashitta) [maybe, assuming I am correct with my phrase].

  • In Japanese, there are politeness levels. There are three main levels in spoken Japanese.
    • The plain form (kudaketa),
    • The simple polite form (teinei), and
    • The Advanced polite form (keigo)

Relationships between people are based around each other’s position. Based on their job, age, experience, etc. The person in the lower position is expected to use a more polite level of speech whilst the higher position may use a more plain form of speech. Two strangers would speak politely to each other.

  • How you conjugate verbs will depend on the level of politeness you need to speak.
    • For teinei, adding -masu or using desu can be sufficient,
    • For keigo there are further rules including adding the prefix o or go to nouns and adding the suffix san to people’s names.

There are four ways to write:

  • The two kanas, a logographic writing system that makes up the syllables that form part of the writing system
    • Hiragana – is a cursive syllabary. You can technically write everything using hiragana however, it is common to use it for native Japanese words.
      ひらがな
    • Katakana – is an angular syllabary. It contains the same syllables as hiragana however, it is used to write foreign words and can be used to add a ‘cool’ stylist look to native words especially in marketing.
      カタカナ
    • Kanji – adopted logographic Chinese characters that are used in the Japanese writing system. Kanji is used together with hiragana and katakana.
      漢字
    • Rōmaji – is a Latin script used to write Japanese characters.
      roumaji

About JLPT and Timeline

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test is a test performed twice a year worldwide for Japanese students.

There are five levels of proficiency that test students reading, vocabulary, grammar, and listening comprehension. These range from N5 to N1 and are referred to as JLPT N5, JLPT N4, etc…

  • JLPT N5 – The student has the ability to understand some basic Japanese (easiest),
  • JLPT N4 – The student has the ability to understand basic Japanese,
  • JLPT N3 – The student has the ability to understand everyday Japanese to a certain degree,
  • JLPT N2 – The student has the ability to understand everyday Japanese in a variety of circumstances to a certain degree,
  • JLPT N1 – The student has the ability to understand Japanese used in a variety of circumstances (most difficult).

There is are two testing dates, Sunday 5th July 202 and Sunday 6th December 2020 with registration for the test dates opening a few months prior.

Methodology

I am currently using the free apps DuoLingo, Drops, and HelloTalk along with various web sites to practice.

  • DuoLingo state that their course has been designed within the JF Japanese language education framework (CEFR A1 or the basic ability to communicate) to give a basic level of understanding of Japanese with all the vocabulary and grammar to pass the JLPT at the N5 level.
    So, it will be interesting to see how this works in reality.
  • Drops is similar to a flashcard process where you are given a phrase within a group of phrases for a similar topic etc and a graphic depicting the item and you drill on the phrases.
  • HelloTalk is a social media style application where you are paired up with people studying the same languages as you and you can converse, be corrected, and just put out general statuses.

Both DuoLingo and Drops give you the phrases with a limited explanation, so I am supplementing their drills with further reading.

I plan on obtaining some practice guides and/or workbooks as I progress. Genki 1/2 appears to come highly recommended, along with Clay Boutwell and Clayton MacKnight.

 

NRL 2011 Manly v New Zealand – Manly are Premiers!

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A season of success culminated in Manly winning its eighth premiership, defeating the New Zealand Warriors by 24–10 in the Grand Final. Glenn Stewart was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for his 34 tackles and a crucial try in the second half, making he and brother Brett Stewart the first ever brothers to score tries in the same Grand Final (in the 10 matches where this Stewart Brothers’ double has occured, Manly has won all 10 matches)