* BONUS!!!* Darker Than Black

Here's another that I like. Tell me what you think......
In the mean time, I'll have the latest lesson for you benkyo nuts soon!
Laters!!






P.S., You can follow me on facebook, if'n yeh wanna talk about it there.

Bonus!!! Ouran High School Host Club

Hey guys!! Here's a little something for you benkyonuts to chomp on Leave some comments On what you think of it!! This episode is one of my faves......


P.S., You've gotta Leave comments or I won't know what to answer back to you guys about..... Do you guys want me to explain anything in the vid? You gotta let me know!! TTYL!!

Lesson 5~ Dozo, Nanika, Nomimasen and brushing up!

WARNING!!! If you're new to this site, start at the beginning!! Back up too the first entry (or whichever entry that has words you don't know) and start there. YOU NEED THE INFO!!!

WUS HATNIN!!! KONNICHWA!!!

Sorry, guys, that I haven't been on in a while, I'm having a few technical difficulties, and need to...... um..... enlighten you all Library Style. Oh, yeah. I know, real stylish, right?

Yeah, I know you're jealous.

So anyway, where were we? I'm trying to remember.......

I remember the last entry was about Hiragana and Katakana, right? okay, well, let's go over that........

Here's are some words-- get a pen and paper out!!

Hai

Ie

Yamaguchi

San

Wa

Arigato

Dozo

Nani

Ka

Nanika

Nomimasu

Nomimasen

Sato

Okay, that's enough of that.

Okay, now look back.

What do you remember?

Well, We know we've gone over hai, ie, Yamaguchi, san--
well, you now what you remember.

But, what don't you recognise?

Let's see..... hm... Dozo is one of them.

Dozo is like saying "go ahead". We'll get to that one in a minute..........

Let's go to Nanika. "Nanika" means "something".

Kayso, someone might be like "whatever-your-name-is san!"
And you'd be all like, "Hai, nanika?"
And Mr. Someone'd be like, "Sato san wa doko desu ka?"
And you'd be all like "wakarimasen!" (that means I don't know).
And Mr. someone'd be like "Kuso!!" (that means crap!! putting it nicely.)

When Mr someone is trying to get your attention and You say, "Hai, nanika?" it basically means, "Yes What is it?" or, "is there something (you want to say)?"

Kayso, Mr. someone's all like, "Oi" (that means "hey") Whatever-your-name-is san!"
What do you say? (GET A PIECE OF PAPER AND COVER YOUR SCREEN.)

Hai, Nanika?

Than Mr. someone'd say, "Sato San wa doko desu ka?"
What do you say?

Wakarimasen

Now. Mr. Someone'll say "Oi! Whatever-you-name-is san!!"
What do you say?

"Hai, Nanika?"

Mr. Someone says, "Nanika nomimasen ka?"
What word don't you understand?

Nomimasen, right?

"Nomimasen" means, "Won't drink" or in this case, "you won't drink".
Okay, look back-- What did Mr. someone say? (THINK-- YOU CAN DO IT.)

"Won't you drink something?"

Look at the word order; "Something you won't drink?" You should know that the subject of the subject comes first.

Now, here's what you say; "Hai, nomimasu!" Translate that to english....... I know you can.....

"Yes! I will drink!"

Okay, one more....  You ask Mr. Someone, "Kore o nomimasu ka?" ("Kore" means "this")What did just say? (YOU CAN DO IT....)

"Can I drink this?"
Then Mr. Someone says, "Dozo." Look back, What did I say this meant?

"Go Ahead."

Now read this;

Me: Oi! Sato San!
You: Hai, nanika?
Me: Nanika nomimasen ka?
You: Hai, nomimasu.
(I pour you something to drink.)
You: Yamaguchi san wa doko desu ka?
Me: Wakarimasen.
You: Hoteru de? ("de" means "at")
Me: Wakarimasen.
You: Kuso!!!
Me: Kare wa anata no tomodachi desu ka?
You: Hai.(To yourself)Kuso!! Kare wa? (that's just a short way of saying "where is he?")
After a minute--
You: AH!! Wakarimasu!! Eki ni ikimasu!
(You get up. In all that time, you hadn't touched your drink. I pick it up.)
Me: Kore o nomimasu ka?
You: Dozo.

Okay, I think that's enough.
Today's assignment; Write that conversation in Hiragana. All the stuff in parentheses you don't have to touch, but I want you to put "Me" and "You" in katakana. It'll help you to get the hang of that as well. And remember, GO OVER ALL OF THIS!! Even the stuff from the other posts!! YOU NEED THE REPETITION!! It's good. It's healthy. It's fluffy. It has essential vitamins and minerals. It changes lives. Embrace it. Hey a kitty.

Okay, that's all for now. I'll have another entry as soon as I can. TTFN!!! Love you!!!*^_^*

Lesson 4~ Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji

Hello again!!

Hey, you guys see where at the top of the page it says "Home, Hiragana Chart, Katakana Chart"? Well, right now we're gonna use them.
I can't teach you Japanese properly unless you're writing the stuff as well. I mean, you could survive if I just taught you to speak it, but I might as well get you used to writing it along the way.
Now, I do mean WRITE IT-- like get a pen and paper out and start scribbling.

Now, in case you don't know, in Japan the kids learn to write using hiragana first, and in case you haven't noticed, it's all over in Japan. it's one of those scripts you see the most on signs, books, TV shows-- I mean everywhere! The second is kanji, Which we won't be using until WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY down the road! That's one of the hardest ones you see written. I kid you not, there are OLD PEOPLE who are still learn new kanji everyday, because there are over 2500 characters to pick up!

So, of course, we're not going to touch that.

Then there's katakana. It may not be the most used in the written language, but it is the most frequently seen on signs around town, so it is really useful when you're new to the place. There are many, many, MANY  words borrowed from the English language into Japanese, and all of them when written are in katakana.

Little rule of thumb; if you're in Japan, and you still can't read or understand the language, if you learn katakana and sound out the characters, you can figure out what it is.

Okay, here's your assignment;

I'm gonna give you a set of words and phrases and sentences and you're going to use the hiragana chart to translate the "romaji" into hiragana.... on paper. Like I said, get a pen and paper and write these bad boys!!

(By the way, "Romaji"-- Roma= roman, ji= written word, romaji. There, now you know.)

Eki

Doko

Kare

San

Sato

Sato San

Hai

Ie

Arigato

Gozaimasu

Hai, Arigato gozaimasu!

Desu

Watashi

Tomodachi

no

now these two, I want you to write in katakana;

Hoteru

Pen

And, now back to hiragana;

Yamaguchi

Wa

Watashi wa Yamaguchi desu.

Kare wa Sato San desu.

Hoteru wa doko desu ka? (BE CAREFUL, NOW.)

Eki wa doko desu ka?

Ookii (hint: o-u-ki-i-- look for those.)

Hoteru ni ikimasu. 

By the way, you don't have to separate the hiragana into groups like you letters. Just write them out like they're one big word.

Sato San wa Ookii desu.

Yamaguchi San wa chiisai desu.

Watashi no tomodachi wa ookii desu.

Watashi no pen wa ookii, demo, Kare no pen wa chiisai desu.

Okay, I think that's enough.
Keep practicing! As a matter of  fact, write it twice! Get the hang of writing it as much as you can. And I'll see you later!

Lesson 3~ Kare, Doko and Ka

Warning, If you're new to this site, BE SURE TO START AT THE BEGINNING!!! If you don't you'll be lost. You're gonna need the info.

Hey there, you!!! Konnichiwa!!!

Great to see you again!!

Say, I was wondering;
Has anyone ever seen an anime called Gosick? It's about this kid named Kazuya Kujo who leaves Japan to go to this made-up country in Europe-- I can't remember the name-- to go to school. It's set in the springtime in 1924, and somehow he finds himself in the middle of solving some mystery.
Honestly, it was interesting at some points, but I couldn't quite make heads or tales of it. Maybe you could check it out and see for yourself. There's a place where you could email me and tell me what you thought after a few episodes. I post what you thought in the next blog.

Okay!! Let's get down to brass tacks.

Read this:

Konnichiwa! Watashi wa Sato desu. Kare wa Yamaguchi San desu.

Watashi no pen wa ookii, demo Yamaguchi san no pen wa chiisai desu.

ARIGATO GOZAIMASU!!

Did you understand that? GOOD!!! (If you didn't, that's fine! Go back over the other entries before doing this one. I've said this already, repetition is the ONLY way to learn!)

Before we move on, which word didn't you recognize?

Kare, right?

We'll get to that later.

Now, do you have something to cover part of your screen with? If not, get something, I'll wait...... [JEOPARDY THEME]........*yawn* (I wish they wouldn't take so--) Oh! you're back!! Okay, good.

Okay, Now, today, we're gonna ask questions. Cover your screen.
And don't forget to say these things aloud!! you've gotta get used to speaking it!!

Here's a new word;

Doko

"Doko" means "Where".

And here's another one;

Ka

"Ka" is "the question mark", if you will (though you would still write a question mark, of course).

Try to figure this one out;

Watashi no pen wa doko desu ka?

Did you get it? Yoshi! (Alright!)

Look at the word order; "my pen where is?"

Now try to say, "Where is Mr. Sato?" (TRY TO GET IT, THEN MOVE THE PAPER.)

Sato San wa doko desu ka?

Say, "Where is Mr. Yamaguchi? (TRY FIRST)

Yamaguchi San wa doko desu ka?

Here's how to say "Hotel"

Hoteru

Now Say, "Where's the hotel?" (TRY FIRST!)

Hoteru wa doko desu ka?

A little quickie note here; there is no "the" in the Japanese language. Just thought you should know that.

Say, "The hotel is big". (REMEMBER, THERE IS NO "THE").

Hoteru wa ookii desu.

Now say again, "Where is the hotel?"

Hoteru wa doko desu ka?

Now, what did I just say, "ka" meant?

It makes any sentence a question, right?

Say again, "The hotel is big".

Hoteru wa ookii desu.

Now, try to say, "Is the hotel big?" (TAKE YOUR TIME.)

Hoteru wa ookii desu ka?

Did you get it? YOSHI!!!

Now say, "is the hotel small?"

Hoteru wa chiisai desu ka?

Say, "Is Mr. Sato's pen big?"

Sato San no pen wa ookii desu ka?

Say, "Yes, Mr, Sato's pen is big."

Hai, Sato San no pen wa ookii desu.

Here's how to say, "go";

Ikimasu

And here's another one;

ni

"ni"means, "in," or "to".

Hoteru ni ikimasu. What did I just say? (TRY FIRST, THEN LOOK!! I MEAN IT!!!)

Go to the hotel.

Watashi wa hoteru ni ikimasu. What did I just say?

I go to the hotel.

Say, "Mr. Yamaguchi goes to the hotel." (TAKE YOUR TIME.)

Yamaguchi San wa hoteru ni ikimasu.

Here's a new one;

Tomodachi

"Tomodachi" means "friend".

Try to say, "My friend goes to the hotel." (TRY FIRST.)

Watashi no tomodachi wa hoteru ni ikimasu.

By the way, I hope you guys are actually saying this aloud...... if not, you should be.

Remember in the beginning when I said we'd get back to "Kare"?

Okay, "kare" (pronounced kah-rey) means "he".

Say, "He is big." (KEEP YOUR MIND OUTTA THE GUTTER! JUST GUESS...)

Kare wa ookii desu.

Say, "Is he big?" 

Kare wa ookii desu ka?

Say, "Where's my friend?"

Watashi no tomodachi wa doko desu ka?

Okay, one more;

Eki

"Eki" means "Station" or, "train station".

Try to say, "Where's the train station?"

Eki wa doko desu ka? 

Say, "My train station"

Watashi no eki

Say, "Mr Sato's train station"

Sato San no Eki

Say, Mr, Yamaguchi's train station"

Yamaguchi San no eki

Try to say, "My friend's train station" (TAKE YOUR TIME.)

Watashi no tomodachi no eki

Do you remember how to say "but"? (THINK FIRST)

Demo

Now try to say, "I go to the hotel, but my friend goes to the train station". (THINK FIRST, TAKE YOUR TIME!!!! YOU CAN DO THIS!!)

Watashi wa hoteru ni ikimasu demo, watashi no tomodachi wa eki ni ikimasu.

How'd you do? I'm sure you did great!!!

Go over these a few more times before moving on to the next post. MAKE SURE the words have become second nature to you so you can answer quickly. Then find some people you can talk to. You can always go here and go to the chatroom or find some people from that little box full of people on the left side of the page (you'll see what I'm talking about).

Okay, that's it for today!! I know that one wa a little long but coming up, I've got a lot of videos that we're gonna use in the near future. I'm gonna break them down to a science for you so when you hear them again (and you WILL)  you'll understand them without a hitch.

Until then......              JA MATA, NE?

Lesson 2~ Desu and Wa

Attention new people!!

If you're new to this blog, start at the beginning! You're gonna need it to keep up!!

Hey there!! Konnichiwa!!

Have you guys ever heard of Skip Beat! ? It's REALLY GOOD! It's about this girl named Kyoko that moves to Tokyo from Kyoto to help out this guy that she's known her whole life. She'd been helping him by working two jobs and paying all the bills to support his ass, never thinking about herself even once, so that he can support him  on his rise to the top in showbiz, when one day, Kyoko finds out that he's just been using her, so she plots her revenge by working her way into showbiz herself. I'm watching it on crunchyroll.com right now for the second time, it puts you on the edge of you seat at times.
New lesson  time!!!
The best thing about this is that I get to do this with someone else for once!! I love this!! I'm not Japanese, and I'm the only one who likes to learn languages in my family, I think that this could be a great relationship together, you and I! SQUEE!!! HAPPY FACE!!

Okay, so there's three things I want to pay a little bit of attention to.
No, wa
and desu.

Okay, first of all, when it comes to "wa", there are things that even I don't fully explain. But all we need to know for the moment is, when pointing out the subject in a sentence, put "wa" right after it. We'll worry about the rest later.

Now, do you remember how to say, "no, thank you?" (GIVE IT A SEC, THEN ANSWER.)

Ie, kekko desu.

Do you remember what it literally means? (THINK FIRST.)

It means "No, that's okay", or more importantly in this case, "no, it's fine". (I know I said "no, I'M fine" in the last entry, but this is what it means as well.)
In the case of "No, IT'S fine", it's the "it is " in the sentence that we're talking about.

"Desu" means  "is", "are", or "am". But in Japanese, It's ALWAYS at the END  of the sentence.....ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!! NEVER FORGET THAT!!!!!!!!

Let's use it a bit, shall we?

Here's the word for "big"---

Ookii (pronounced oh-kee-ee)

And here's the word for "small"--

Chiisai (pronounced chee-ee-sa-ee)

Now say, "Mr. Sato". (THINK FIRST)

Sato San

Now here's how you say, "Mr Sato is Big" (get your mind outta the gutter and just read.)

Sato San wa ookii desu.

"Sato San" is the subject, so "wa" comes after it.

Now say, "Mr, Sato is small". (THINK FIRST, THEN LOOK)

Sato San wa chiisai desu.

Say "Mr. Yamaguchi".

Yamaguchi San

Now say "Mr. Yamaguchi is small". (THINK FIRST)

Yamaguchi San wa chiisai desu.

Say, "Mr, Yamaguchi is big".

Yamaguchi San wa ookii desu.

Does everybody get the whole "desu" thing? how about "wa"? That's okay, if you don't then just go back over it. That's the beauty of all this.

Okay next; NO.

If you watch the first episode of Skip Beat!, there's this point at the beginning where Kyoko's getting changed in the dressing room of her first job to get ready to go to her second, and there are some other girls are talking in there about how cool and awesome Sho Fuwa is. (That's the guy that Kyoko's devoted her life to like a friggin' idiot.)
Now she never told anyone that she lives with him and takes care of him because apparently he didn't want anyone to know, so she's contentedly listening in on how one of the girls bought two CDs and got two free posters with them.
Now Kyoko's starting to do that typical over dramatic downward spiral that most animes do at this point (you know, they do a few freeze frames as they stare in horror and the camera pans back and forth around them-- I think that's hilarious) because she bought two of his CDs as well and he never got any posters!
"Well" the other girl says, "If you still have your receipt you can always go back to the store and tell them you never got one and they'll give you one."
OH! Well, now she's on a rampage!!!
Before you know it, or even see it She's on her bike doing mach 12 down the street SHO CHAN NO POSUTA! SHO CHAN NO POSUTA! SHO CHAN NO POSUTA!!!!!
"NO" in a Japanese sentence points out who the object belongs to, like an apostrophe "s".
(As for the "chan" part to that sentence, well, if you don't know already, then we'll have to go over that another time-- probably next time.)

Here's how to say "pen" in Japanese--

pen......

I know, that's a hard one. Take a deep breath, recoup. You'll be fine.

Okay, try to say "Mr. Sato's pen". (SERIOUSLY, TRY, THEN LOOK.)

Sato San no pen

Say, "Mr Yamaguchi's pen".

Yamaguchi San no Pen

Now try to Say, "Mr's Sato's pen is big". (TRY FIRST!!!)

Sato San no pen wa ookii desu.

Did you get it? Good!!! Happy Face for you!!! ;D

Now say, "Mr Yamaguchi's pen is small".

Yamaguchi San no pen wa chiisai desu.

Okay, Here's another one;

Demo

"Demo" means "But".

Now, Try to Say, "Mr, Sato's pen is big, but Mr, Yamaguchi's pen is small. (TRY FIRST, THEN LOOK!!)

Sato San no pen wa ookii desu, demo Yamaguchi San no pen wa chiisai desu.

I know that was a little tough, but did you get it? GOOD!!

Okay, here's another one;

Watashi

"Watashi" means "I".

Now, try to say, "I am Big".

Watashi wa ookii desu.

Okay, now try to say, "My pen is big." (TRY, YOU CAN DO IT!)

Watashi no pen wa ookii desu.

Say, "Mr. Sato's pen is small".

Sato San no pen wa chiisai desu.

"But" (SAY IT)

Demo

"My pen is big."

Watashi no pen wa ookii desu.

"Mr Yamaguchi's pen is small, but my pen is big." (TAKE YOUR TIME)

Yamaguchi San no pen wa chiisai desu demo watashi no pen wa ookii desu.

YAY!!!!!! That's it for today. We're gonna go a little more in depth over some of the word structure, but I didn't want to scare you....

I really want you to spend more time listening to your pronunciation. It's a good thing to-- like I said before-- use it as much as you can.
You can also listen to the pronunciation of "Desu" HERE and watch the first Episode HERE. After you've done that, come back here and let me know what you think.

Okay, TTFN!!!! Love Ya!! Smooches!

Lesson 1~ Baby's First words!!

Hey there!! Konnichiwa!!
 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!!)