Okay, so I know that there are a lot of people out there that love Anime as much as I do, right? And I also know that a lot of those people prefer Anime in its original language because it's just better; it funnier, it's more captivating-- at least for me it is. Plus, it's a lot easier for me to get lost in another world when I'm listening to a language I'm not used to.
The problem here is,when it comes to learning a language, it's never been easy--- how many people out there have said that?
Well, let me get something perfectly clear-- it's NOT hard!! If learning a language is so hard, then how come you speak English, or whatever language you learned first?
I can tell you why......wanna hear it--here it go--
You use it over and over and over again!!
When you were two, all you knew how to say was "Mommy, milk!" or "Daddy, up!"
You got up some size, and eventually you could say, "Mommy. I want milk!" or "Daddy, I want up!"
By the time you were six or seven, you could already say, "Mommy, Can I have milk?" or "Daddy, pick me up, I want to see that." Do you know why???? Because you kept using them, and using them, and using them until they were ingrained in you skull! Not to mention, you only added a few words at a time.
That was my biggest mistake; When I was first trying to learn Japanese, I was learning all by myself, and I didn't really know what I was doing, so I though I could just learn a few phrases at a time, and whenever I came across a word that sounded interesting while watching Anime, I would write it down and later look it up in my dictionary trying to memorize it-- just that ONE word, not that word in a sentence; which REALLY does you NO good!
You have to USE the word, or YOU'RE GONNA LOOSE IT!!
Okay, so now, let's give an example;
I'm sure a lot of you know how to say "thank you" in Japanese,
Arigato
Do you know how to say Mr., Mrs., or Miss. in Japanese?
San.
Now Suppose You're saying thank you to Mr. Sato. How would you say it? (TRY TO FIGURE IT OUT BEFORE YOU LOOK)
Arigato, Sato San.
(Oh, I forgot to mention for those who don't know, unlike us, the name comes before the address. IT'S NEVER SAN SATO.)
Okay, anyway, do you know how to say "yes" in Japanese?
Hai
Do you know how to say "no"?
ie (pronounced "ee-eh")
Now suppose Mr. Yamaguchi offers you a drink. Say, "Yes thank you, Mr. Yamaguchi". (TRY TO FIGURE IT OUT BEFORE YOU LOOK!)
Hai! Arigato, Yamaguchi San.
Say it's Mr. Sato offering you a drink. Tell him, "Yes, Thank you, Mr. Sato." (AGAIN, FIGURE IT OUT, THEN LOOK!)
Hai! Arigato, Sato San.
Okay, one more.
Ie, Kekko Desu.
This is a polite way of declining someone's offer. It's like saying, "no thank you" or "No, I'm fine."
Okay, Say again that Mr. Yamaguchi's trying to offer you another drink (cause he's obviously got drinking issues, seeing as it's the thirteenth one in an hour!) Say, "No, I'm fine, Mr, Yamaguchi". (FIGURE IT OUT THEN LOOK! TAKE YOUR TIME....)
Ie, kekko desu, Yamaguchi San.
Did you get it? Good!!
Now Say it's Mr, Sato who's got the drinking problem. Say, "No thank you, Mr. Sato." (TAKE YOUR TIME....)
Ie, kekko desu, Sato San.
Now say, "Thank you". (THINK FIRST!)
Arigato
Say, "Thank you, Mr. Sato".
Arigato, Sato San.
Say, "Thank you, Mr, Yamaguchi".
Arigato, Yamaguchi San.
Now another thing, you don't have to put "ie" in front of "kekko desu" every time. "Kekko Desu" will suffice.
Now, Tell each one, "No thank you." Leave "Ie" out.
Kekko desu, Sato San.
Kekko desu, Yamaguchi San.
THERE!! Now it's good and ingrained in you head! As long as you use it, you'll be able to come back to it easier and quicker than the last time, every time!! Now, you HAVE to be patient with yourself, just keep coming back to the same posts until you've got it ingrained, but after a while, you'll be able to make more and bigger sentences than that! Even understand the songs from some of the best Anime out there!!
Now there's a couple of things I do recommend, though;
First, have a folded sheet of paper handy.
In case you haven't noticed, it is a blog, not a recording. When reading this it could get a little too easy to cheat and just look before even trying to figure it out for yourself. You gotta train your brain or you're wasting your time, so do like you used to do in school; take either a thick or a folded sheet of paper (something you can't see through), put it over the screen, and while you're reading, slide the paper down to the next line....that way you won't cheat.
Next, find someplace else where you can chat in Japanese. It's always good to have other sources to sharpen your skull muscle on, so find another website or some Japanese Coffee house and find someone who'll get to know you and help you out.
I'm on this one all the time, thejapanesepage.com
And another thing DON'T be afraid to get something wrong! The easiest way to remember no to do something is do it wrong in front of someone who can correct you! it's also the most helpful.
I'll have some more Posts up soon, and we'll get more in depth about sentence structures and cultures soon enough. Until then,
Ja Mata! (See you Later!!)
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