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    Japanese for Fun: A Practical Approach to Learning Japanese Quickly (Downloadable Audio Included)
    Japanese for Fun: A Practical Approach to Learning Japanese Quickly (Downloadable Audio Included)
    Japanese for Fun: A Practical Approach to Learning Japanese Quickly (Downloadable Audio Included)
    Ebook411 pages2 hours

    Japanese for Fun: A Practical Approach to Learning Japanese Quickly (Downloadable Audio Included)

    By Taeko Kamiya

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    About this ebook

    This is a concise guide to learning beginner Japanese and includes an accompanying audio CD

    This pocket book is intended for people who want to learn the basics of the Japanese language quickly. Whenever you have a few minutes--waiting in a hotel lobby, riding on a train, or whatever--open this book and you can learn phrases you'll use again and again during your stay in Japan. The book is divided into twenty-one chapters, each covering a specific topic. Each chapter includes the following three sections:
    • Words & Expressions: This section introduces words and expressions needed in specific situations. Vocabulary is presented systematically for quick and easy understanding.
    • Expressions in Context: This shows how to use in context the words and expressions given in the preceding section. Gives you confidence in using new words in original sentences.
    • Additional Words & Expressions: This section enables you to create many new sentences using the patterns just learned. There's no need to memorize all the words or phrases presented here: concentrate on just those you want to use.

    To use this book, start by reading the first three chapters of the book. These introduce many of the most commonly used words and phrases and familiarize you with the basic sentence structures. After Chapter 3, go straight to any chapter that interests you. If you want to know what to say on the phone, read Chapter 14: if you have to take a train, a few minutes with Chapter 6 should enable you to reach your destination quickly and conveniently. Although this book contains over three hundred carefully selected words and expressions, there is very little grammar included and there is no need for hours of rote memorization. All that is required is a few minutes of your time.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTuttle Publishing
    Release dateNov 30, 2013
    ISBN9781462913701
    Japanese for Fun: A Practical Approach to Learning Japanese Quickly (Downloadable Audio Included)

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      Book preview

      Japanese for Fun - Taeko Kamiya

      THE EASY WAY TO LEARN JAPANESE QUICKLY

      JAPANESE

      FOR FUN

      PHRASEBOOK & DICTIONARY

      Taeko Kamiya

      Revised by Shimomura Kazuhisa

      TUTTLE Publishing

      Tokyo | Rutland, Vermont | Singapore

      Contents

      Foreword

      Pronunciation

      A Few Words About Japanese Grammar

      CHAPTER 1 Basic Expressions

      CHAPTER 2 What’s What

      CHAPTER 3 Introducing Yourself

      CHAPTER 4 Numbers

      CHAPTER 5 Telling Time

      CHAPTER 6 Days of the Week

      CHAPTER 7 Days, Months and Years

      CHAPTER 8 Asking Directions

      CHAPTER 9 Taking the Train

      CHAPTER 10 Taxis and Buses

      CHAPTER 11 Asking About Schedules

      CHAPTER 12 Talking About Food

      CHAPTER 13 Dining Out

      CHAPTER 14 Making a Phone Call

      CHAPTER 15 Using the Internet

      CHAPTER 16 Making a Reservation

      CHAPTER 17 Describing Your Travel Plans

      CHAPTER 18 Expressing What You Want

      CHAPTER 19 Shopping

      CHAPTER 20 Talking About the Weather

      CHAPTER 21 Describing What You Did

      CHAPTER 22 Help!

      English-Japanese Dictionary

      Japanese-English Dictionary

      How to Download the Bonus Material of this Book.

      1. You must have an internet connection.

      2. Click the link below or copy paste the URL to your web browser.

      http://www.tuttlepublishing.com/japanese-for-fun-with-downloadable-cd-content

      For support email us at info@tuttlepublishing.com.

      Contents

      - Audio Files (.mp3)

      Disclaimer:

      Please check the audio and video specifications of your ebook reader before downloading any additional content.

      Foreword

      ORIGIN OF THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE

      Where did the Japanese spoken language come from? No one knows for sure. Some feel there’s a strong connection with the Altaic languages of Central Asia. Others believe Japanese is derived from the languages of Southeast Asia and Polynesia. And a few insist that Japanese has no connections at all with any other language.

      The writing system, on the other hand, came from China in the sixth century. At that time, Buddhism was being introduced from China, and a writing system was necessary to propagate the wisdom of the sutras.

      JAPANESE FOR FUN

      This pocket book is intended for people who want to learn Japanese quickly. Whenever you have a few free minutes—waiting in a hotel lobby, riding on a train, or wherever—open this book and you can learn phrases you’ll use again and again during your stay in Japan. The book is divided into twenty-two chapters, each covering a specific topic. Each chapter includes the following three sections:

      Words & Expressions: This section introduces words and expressions needed in specific situations. The vocabulary is presented systematically for quick and easy understanding. Simple sentences using the words and expressions are provided under the title Examples.

      Expressions in Context: This shows how to use the words and expressions given in the preceding section within the context. The Mini Dialogues, sometimes followed by Other Expressions, is aimed at giving you confidence to use new words in sentences.

      Additional Words & Expressions: By providing more words and expressions related to the topic of each chapter, this section enables you to create many new sentences using the patterns just learned and increase your vocabulary. Simple sentences under the title Examples will also show you how to use the vocabulary in daily situations. There’s no need to memorize all the words or phrases presented here; concentrate on just those you want to use.

      Start by reading the first three chapters of the book. These introduce many of the most commonly used words and phrases, and familiarize you with the basic sentence structures. After Chapter 3, go straight to any chapter that interests you. If you want to know what to say on the phone, read Chapter 14; if you have to take a train, a few minutes with Chapter 9 should enable you to reach your destination quickly and conveniently.

      This book contains a total of over three hundred carefully selected words and expressions. There is very little grammar included and there is no need for hours of rote memorization. All that is required is a few minutes of your time.

      One final word of advice: do not be afraid to use what you learn. Only by taking the initiative and speaking regularly can you experience the joy of communicating in a foreign language. We hope you’ll discover how fun and easy speaking Japanese can be.

      Taeko Kamiya

      Pronunciation

      VOWELS

      The Japanese language has five vowels: a, i, u, e, and o. The vowels are pronounced as follows:

      a as in father

      i as in eat

      u as in rule

      e as in met

      o as in solo

      In spoken Japanese, the i and u vowel sounds are often weak. This occurs in words like shika (deer), which may sound like shka, or desu, which may sound like dess.

      Long vowels are pronounced twice as long as regular vowels and are marked ā, ū, ē and ō. In this book the double ii is used instead of a macron.

      CONSONANTS

      Most Japanese consonants are pronounced like English consonants. One exception is the Japanese r, which sounds like a combination of the English r and l.

      As shown in the following table, each consonant is followed by a vowel, by a y and a vowel, or by an h and a vowel. Each syllable is clearly pronounced; thus haru (spring) is ha-ru; kyaku (customer) is kya-ku; and shumi (hobby) is shu-mi.

      When n is followed by a vowel within a word, an apostrophe is used to show the break between syllables. Examples of this include kin’en (nonsmoking) and man’in (no vacancy).

      Double consonants (kk, pp, ss, tt) are pronounced as follows: Nikko (a famous tourist spot) like the k sound in book-keeper; rippa (fine) like the p sound in top part; issō (more) like the s sound in less sleep; kitte (stamp) like the t sound in hot tub.

      Here is a table of all the sounds in Japanese. It is recommended that you practice the sounds aloud at least two or three times.

      * These sounds are used only in loanwords, that is, words derived from other languages.

      PITCH

      Japanese pronunciation is not very difficult once you get used to putting a vowel after every consonant, except n. What might puzzle learners is the difference between its high and low pitches. For example, when you say, hashi, pronouncing ha with a high pitch and shi with a low pitch, it means chopsticks (hashi), whereas if the pitches are the other way round, it means a bridge or an edge (hashi). Listen to the audio recordings, and follow the native speakers’ pitch as closely as you can.

      For e.g.

      Good morning.

      Ohayō gozaimahss.

      おはようございます｡

      A few Words About Japanese Grammar

      It is not the purpose of this book to explain Japanese grammar. However, it is probably worthwhile to point out a few basic differences between Japanese and English to help you have a better idea of how the sentences are formed.

      1. Japanese verbs come at the end of a sentence.

      e.g., Watashi wa biiru o nomimahss. (I drink beer or literally, I beer drink.)

      2. Japanese nouns generally do not have plural forms. The noun kodomo, for example, can mean either child or children.

      3. Articles and some common English adjectives are not used in Japanese. There are no Japanese equivalents for words like a, the, some, and any.

      4. The subject of a sentence, especially watashi (I) and anata (you), is often dropped.

      5. The same verb form is used

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