ThePete’s 12 Second Japanese Lesson #13: How Are You?

Yep! It's been a while, but I decided to start doing 12 second Japanese lessons again! すごい！すごい！

So, here is #13: How are you?


12second Japanese Lesson #13: how are you? on 12seconds.tv

The hiragana (romaji and English) for this lesson is:

げんき　ですか (genki desu ka? - fine are?)

You can add an "oh" or "お" to the front of that to make it polite.

Please remember that my Japanese kind of sucks, but the stuff I put in these lessons I know is generally accurate, though my pronunciation is not perfect. I also don't usually differentiate between formal and informal Japanese since these lessons are just 12 seconds long and I think most Japanese people will cut you some slack.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I’ve got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. ありがとうございます！ (arigatou gozaimasu - thank you very much!)

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke’s LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he’s up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline. I have also found My Japanese Coach for the Nintendo DS to be of HUGE help in learning the basics. Also, there are quite a few cool apps for the iPhone that I use for studying, as well.

UPDATE: http://12seconds.tv user Phlow pointed out in a comment on the original post of this lesson that:

Just minor clarification, truer meaning of 元気　（げんき、　ｇｅｎｋｉ） is not so much "fine" but more "healthy, energetic, vigorous". You will hear old folks refer to a lively puppy as "genki", as well.

Effectively, however, it's used in Japanese culture as we would use the word "well" or "fine". But I definitely appreciate the clarification!

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #12: Counting to 12

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #12: Counting to 12 on 12seconds.tv

The hiragana, romaji, and English for this lesson is:

いち ichi (ee-chee) 1
に ni (nee) 2
さん san (sahng) 3
よ yo 4
ご go 5
ろく roku 6
なな nana 7
はち hachi 8
きゅう kyu (sometimes ku) 9
じゅう juu 10
じゅういち juu ichi (literally 10+1) 11
じゅに juu ni (literally 10+2) 12

Now, these numbers have kanji that I'm not going to go into, but basically, all you need to know is that it's the difference between spelling out the word "one" and using "1". So, "one" in Japanese is "ichi" but "1" in Japanese is "一". To make it more confusing for us, they use both kanji and our numbers. But this is taking much longer than 12 seconds, so I'll wrap it up!

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke’s LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he’s up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I’ve got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. ありがとうございます！ (arigatou gozaimasu - thank you very much!)

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #11: You and Me

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #11: You and Me on 12seconds.tv

Here is the hiragana for this lesson:

あなた わたし

Here's the romaji:

anata watashi

you me/I

That's it for lesson 11!

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke’s LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he’s up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I’ve got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. ありがとうございます！ (arigatou gozaimasu - thank you very much!)

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #10 Please

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #10 Please on 12seconds.tv

Here's the hiragana for this lesson:

おねがい

Here's the romaji:

onegai (oh-neh-ga-ee)

The "shimas" on the end is to be a little less informal. That looks like this in hiragana:

します

and in romaji:

shimasu

Lots of times in Japanese you drop the final vowel sound from the end of words. Like that last "す" or "su".

Actually, lots of times throughout a word in Japanese you'll drop vowels. The word you say when you love someone is "daisuki" but sounds more like the English words: "die" and "ski" shoved together.

So, the full phrase to be generally polite when asking for something is:

おねがいします

or in romaji:

onegaishimasu (oh-neh-ga-ee-shee-mah-su)

But you can probably get away with just the "onegai" with friends and maybe even strangers. I've always heard they let gaijin (foreigners) get away with stuff. :)

That's it for Lesson 10!

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke's LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he's up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I've got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. ありがとうございます！ (arigatou gozaimasu - thank you very much!)

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #9 Apple

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #9 Apple on 12seconds.tv

The hiragana for this lesson is:

りいんご

The romaji is:

ri i n go (reeng go)

The only note I have here is that the "n" sound here is the "ã‚“" which is more of an "ng" sound, than an English "N" sound.

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke's LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he's up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I've got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. ありがとうございます！ (arigatou gozaimasu - thank you very much!)

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #8 See ya!

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #8 See ya! on 12seconds.tv

This lesson's hiragana is:

じゃね (the "や" or "ya" is small so you mush it in with the ”じ” or "ji".)

And the romaji is:

Ja ne

This is almost the least formal, basic way to say good-bye to someone. You could drop the "ne" to make it even more basic.

I've heard a LOT of different ways to say "see ya!" so don't be surprised if you don't hear Japanese people say this when they walk away from you. But this is a good safe thing to say to them when they do.

Remember, unless you're leaving town for good, you *don't* want to say "sayonara"! It's "Ja!" or "Ja ne!" Perhaps I'll go over a few other ways to say "see ya" in future lessons. Check out Lesson 7 for more on "sayonara" here: http://is.gd/3lLB

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke's LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he's up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I've got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. ありがとうございます！ (arigatou gozaimasu - thank you very much!)

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #7 Good-Bye

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #7 Good-Bye on 12seconds.tv

Here is "good-bye" in hiragana:

さよなら

In romaji:

sayonara (sah-yo-nah-rah)

All the "a" sounds in Japanese are long "a" sounds like in the word "alternative"--NOT like in the word "Albert".

"R" sounds sound almost like "d" sounds in Japanese (but not quite!).

PLEASE NOTE: While Pimsleur's Japanese lessons on CD tell us that "sayonara" is the standard way to say good-bye to people in Japanese, THIS IS NOT CORRECT.

According to what I've been told by an actual Japanese person, you only say "sayonara" when you are saying good-bye forever.

When you're just saying good-bye at the end of the day or when you're done meeting with someone for coffee, you want to say something like "see ya later". No, I'm not going to tell you how to do that now. I'll cover how to do this in the next 12 Second Japanese lesson!

Ja, ne!

D'oh!

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke's LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he's up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I've got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. Thanks!

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #6 Good Night

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #6 Good Night on 12seconds.tv

ThePete's 12sJL#6 teaches the word for "good night". Here it is in hiragana:

おやすみなさい

oo ya su mi na sa i (oh-ya-su-mi-na-sa-ee)

Sometimes this word sounds more like "ohyashiminasai" when I hear it, but the literal spelling is as I have it above.

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke's LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he's up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I've got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. Thanks!

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #5: Talk Like a Pirate Edition

12 challenge: Talk like a Pirate! Arrrrr! on 12seconds.tv

This both my answer to the 12seconds.tv challenge for Talk Like a Pirate Day and today's 12 Second Japanese Lesson! Sorry for the long explanation below...

Today's lesson teaches you how to be a party pooper (like me!) on "Talk Like a Pirate" Day and how to do it with style.

Mind you, I'm far from fluent but if I were, the Japanese I speak in the video would have taken much less time than it did and my pronunciation would have been better, too. Still, by listening, you can at least hear each syllable. My mistake was putting the emphasis on the "zo" in "kaizoku" (the Japanese word for pirate). A general rule of thumb in Japanese for me is that each character of kana (kana=hiragana or katakana) should take up about the same amount of time to speak. This isn't always true, but when I first started learning, thinking this way helped my accent, I think.

So, in the vid, I say "kaiZOku" when really it should just be "kaizoku" spoken very quickly.

ANYway, so here's how that phrase looks in hiragana:

かいぞくのはなしをやめてください

And here's how it breaks down in romaji with phonetics in parenthesis:

かいぞく = ka i zo ku (kah-ee-zo-ku) = pirate

の = no (no) = possessive marker. It's my understanding that you say "no" after adjectives. In this case we're describing talk as being pirate.

はなし = ha na shi = speak or talk

ã‚’ = wo = topic marker - I'm still learning about markers, there are a couple of different types of these, not sure why "wo" is here instead of "ga" or others.

やめて = ya me te (yah-meh-teh) = one of the many ways to say "stop it" in Japanese

ください = ku da sa i (koo-dah-sa-ii) = one of a couple ways to say "please".

Special thanks to Alex-san (Forum Ninja) and Coffeebot3000 as well as Mushrooshi and Nexusc over at the forums at http://LearnJapanesePod.com for their help in translating my feelings into Japanese. You guys rock! I'm smarter now because of you!

ThePete’s 12 Second Japanese Lesson #4 Good Evening

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #4 Good Evening on 12seconds.tv

Good evening (how you greet people after 5 or 6pm)

こんばんは
ko ng ba ng wa

Please note that when you write the hiragana for this that last character is the "ha" character but it's pronounced "wa". Don't ask me why. Japanese does that sometimes.

Another note: the "ã‚“" is generally described as an "n" sound without a vowel after it (most characters have a vowel sound after them) but
"ã‚“" is one of a few exceptions. It ends up sounding like the "ng" sound in English. It's very subtle, however, so subtle that it almost sounds like it's not there (but it is).

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke's LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he's up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I've got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. Thanks!

ThePete’s 12 Second Japanese Lesson #3 Good Morning

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #3 Good Morning on 12seconds.tv

Good morning:

おはいよ
o ha i yo

You say this to people until around 11am. Then you switch to "こんにちわ" See 12sJ lesson #2 for more on "konnichiwa".

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke's LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he's up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I've got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. Thanks!

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #2 Hello!

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #2 on 12seconds.tv

To be more specific, this lesson is about the word you use to greet someone between about 11am and 6 or 7 in the evening. It looks like:

こんにちわ

In Romaji it's spelled konnichiwa.

The thing to note here is that double "n". It's not just a long consonant sound, like you'll find in some other Japanese words. It's actually two separate sounds--and two different sounds. The first n sound looks like "ã‚“" when written and sounds like a lite version of the "ng" sound, which you make with the back of your mouth. The second "n" sound is the same "n" sound you know and love in English.

That's why I made that silly "ng-nnn" sound in the video ^_^

OK, that's a little longer than 12 seconds of explanation, but I wanted to make sure I explained everything I know about it.

To learn more Japanese online, I recommend checking out Alex Brooke's LearnJapanesePod.com (also visit his site AlexBrooke.com to check out what else he's up to). You might also check out JapanesePod101.com or pick up the book Japanese from Zero: Volume 1 if you want to learn offline.

Did I get something wrong? Tell me! I've got a LOT to learn still, so please help me and others by commenting. Thanks!

ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #1

So, here's my attempt to make Japanese much more approachable than most people think it is! It's ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lessons where you'll learn Japanese in tiny, bite sized chunks--like sushi! Only I'll make it easier since you won't need chopsticks. :P

I won't get too detailed in these--expect to learn basic, informal stuff only. I'll mention it if I'm going over stuff I know to be formal Japanese. Just please remember that I'll be going over informal Japanese unless otherwise noted.

In lesson #1, I cover the most important words to know if you're interacting with a Japanese person: "yes" and "no".


ThePete's 12 Second Japanese Lesson #1 on 12seconds.tv

Here's how both look when you write it in hiragana:

はい and いいえ

Here they are in romaji (almost phonetic spelling)
hai and iie (hah-ee and ee-yeh)

The two basic sets of characters in Japanese writing are katakana and hiragana. The latter is for words native to Japanese and the former is for words taken from other language. Most of the words I'll be teaching are going to be in hiragana. You can recognize the difference when you see the more angular katakana for the foreign words versus the more curvy hiragana for the indigenous Japanese words.

Special thanks to Alex Brooke for teaching me a good chunk of what I know through his free podcast available at LearnJapanesePod.com (check out his music and other cool stuff at AlexBrooke.com!).

In case you're curious, I'm not terribly qualified to teach Japanese, but I consider myself at a tourist level. In other words, I know how to ask for directions. What I know I've taught myself by listening to Pimsleur's Japanese, Alex Brooke's podcast, the podcast at JapanesePod101.com, the book Japanese from Zero Volume 1, the computer program "Power Japanese" and, of course, watching hours and hours of Japanese films and anime.

If you know Japanese better than I and see me make a mistake, please speak up! I want to learn, too! ^_^