興味があれば。。。

教うるは学ぶの半ば A guide to, and collection of resources for, learning Japanese. Photos are mine unless stated otherwise.

[kyoumigaareba]

Japan: From Aichi to Yamanashi! #4

It’s been a while, but I’d like to welcome back the feature “From Aichi to Yamanashi”, which looks in closer detail at each of the prefectures in Japan. Today, we’re looking at Chiba.

Chiba Prefecture is located to the east of Tokyo. If you have ever visited Tokyo, chances are you flew in to Narita Airport, which is located in this prefecture~ The capital is Chiba - what a suprise!

I’m sure you’ve seen this big ol’ yellow face around the Internet. This is Funasshi. In case you’re wondering, it’s supposed to be a “pear fairy” and is actually the unofficial mascot of a city in the prefecture, named Funabashi.

Other than Funabashi, there’s Urayasu, home to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Sea, the Bōsō Peninsula, which is where the rather terrifying Mount Nokogiri is, as well as the temple, Nihon-ji, home to the daibutsu (large Buddha) you see pictured at the start of this post, and though the beach might not be the first thing you associate with Japan, there’s a lovely looking one in the fishing town of Onjuku.

Planning on attending a festival or big trade show in Japan? Chances are it’ll be in Chiba at Makuhari Messe! The large convention centre has played host to events like Summer Sonic, Jump Festa, as well as huge dates on artists’ tours. Note that this is not the other famed convention centre, Big Sight, which is in Tokyo proper and hosts events like Comiket.

If you have ever seen the anime Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru, which is set in Chiba, you might already know a little about the local cuisine.

Apparently, peanuts are big in this prefecture, and you can find a whole assortment of peanut flavoured candies and snacks. There’s even a peanut-themed mascot, named Pinyattsu, a pun on the word peanuts and the noise cats make in Japanese - nya.

In general, the prefecture is known for vegetables and seafood, with dishes such as sazae curry to be found in local establishments; a sazae being a type of sea snail dubbed the “horned turban” in English. Though not a dish, Chiba is also well known for soy sauce production, given that Kikkoman is headquartered there. Those with a sweet tooth might want to stop by Zourokumochi Kimuraya in Sakura for one of their famous bean paste treats.

Given its proximity to Tokyo, I naively thought Chiba wouldn’t have many dialectal differences, but it turns out the southern part of the prefecture in particular has some peculiarities. Even something as simple as the first person pronoun is vastly different - ate instead of watashi.

Finally, a famous face you might know from Chiba :p Yoshiki of X Japan!

_____

Photo credits:

Daibutsu at Nihon-ji: Travelblog and taken by Kristi Knupp

Funasshi: still from this bizarre video

Mt. Nokogiri: Flickr user kana hata

Makuhari Messe from Wikimedia (User 掬茶)

Sazae curry: Planetyze

Zourokumochi from Zourokumochi Kimuraya’s site

Yoshiki from Huffington Post Japan

[kyoumigaareba]

Vocabulary building #16

First vocabulary post of the year! For all new followers, be advised that these vocabulary posts are based on the material in books 1 and 2 of the Genki series. Currently, we are on chapter 15 of book 2. After I complete these, I plan to offer vocabulary lists I have created myself~

絵　え picture;painting;drawing

映画館　えいがかん cinema, movie theatre

外国人　がいこくじん foreigner (this is where the word gaijin comes from, but gaikokujin is more formal and often less offensive)

家具　かぐ furniture

観光　かんこう sightseeing (to sightsee is kankou suru)

結婚式　けっこんしき wedding (kekkon suru means to marry)

地震　じしん earthquake

締め切り　しめきり deadline

ジャケット　jacket (this can also refer to the “jacket” of a CD or book i.e. the cover)

習慣　しゅうかん custom or practice (in the sense of “It is a custom to bow in Japan”)

税金　ぜいきん tax

卒業式　そつぎょうしき graduation ceremony (to graduate is sotsugyou suru)

地図　ちず map

電池　でんち battery (a useful phrase you might want to know is “to charge a battery” which is 電池を充電する denchi o juuden suru)

庭　にわ garden

発表する　はっぴょうする to present; to announce

番組　ばんぐみ programme e.g. on TV

プール pool

ペット pet

予定　よてい schedule; expectation; plans

旅館　りょかん inn (ryokans are inns, but this word refers specifically to the traditional Japanese inns known by this name)

割引券　わりびきけん discount coupoin (waribiki by itself means discount)

下す　おろす to withdraw (make a note of this guys! I always forget this orz. It means, amongst other things, to withdraw, as in money from the ATM)

探す　さがす to search for something, to look for

誘う　さそう to invite

着く　つく to arrive (as in arrive in a place. You may see todoku translated as “to arrive” also, but this, imo, is closer to “to reach”)

調べる　しらべる to investigate, to look into; to look up

捨てる　すてる to throw away (those of you who watch Japanese TV and anime may have often heard misuteru, which means “to abandon”)

予約する　よやくする to reserve, to make a booking

一日中　いちにちじゅう the whole day, all day

最近　さいきん recently

…について about, concerning

もういちど once more, again

[kyoumigaareba]

Monthly feature: Jan. 2017

As the New Year holidays draw to a close, I thought it would be fitting to look at the concept of hatsumōde. I talked more generally about New Year’s celebrations last year and wanted to do something similar for new followers~

Hatsumōde literally means “first visit to a temple” but is usually used to mean “first visit to a shrine” - people will visit either though. The New Year is a big deal in Japan and it’s one of the few chances most Japanese folks get for a holiday consisting of consecutive days. Within the first few days of the year, it’s customary to visit a shrine or temple to make your first prayer of the year, pick up new o-mamori (protective charms), and o-mikuji (fortunes). Old o-mamori should be returned and burned at this time, but I’m ashamed to admit I have multiple three year old charms that I haven’t been able to do this with as I’m no longer in Japan :( I’m sure in some form or other you have all seen the tying of paper onto trees, and perhaps you wondered what this was all about. Well, if the fortune, or o-mikuji, that you pick out turns out to be pretty rotten, then this is the action you take to hopefully reverse that fact. If you get a good fortune, then you’re off to a good start!

Some of you may be wondering if there is any religious meaning in performing hatsumōde and I’m inclined to tell you there is not. I of course can’t speak for every person taking part, but I believe most people do it out of custom and obligation. The lines to get into particularly popular and large shrines are usually long, but the actual worship or praying is done pretty swiftly. If you are ever spending New Year’s in Japan, I highly recommend you visit a local shrine to take part. Big shrines, like Meiji Jingu in Shibuya, are packed for long periods of time, so unless you like to people watch for hours, you’re better off sticking to smaller places.

Have you ever spent New Year’s in Japan? How did you find it?

___

Photo credits:

Meiji Jingu on New Year’s - Traveljapanblog

Unlucky O-mikuji - matcha-jp

[kyoumigaareba]

Conditional #4: なら

I’m sure you’ll all be glad to know that this is the last post on conditionals (for now :p)

Today we’re looking at なら.

What should make なら a little bit easier to learn is that you are a more limited as to when you can actually use it. Especially when it is followed by ba, that is ならば, it has a more formal tone to it, so you don’t hear it as often as other conditionals in conversation, though it has its place.

 As well as if, you could possibly have the very literal translation of if that’s the case or if you’re going to do x... .

Let’s look at some examples.

おいしいワインなら、フランスで買ったほうがいい。 oishii wain nara, furansu de katta hou ga ii

“If it’s tasty wine you want, then you’re better off buying it in France”

Notice here I’m making a suggestion. This is quite common in conditional nara constructions.

日本なら富士山！nihon nara fujisan!

“If you go to Japan, you have to go to Mt. Fuji!”

This kind of construction is very unusual for English speakers, I think. It’s literally saying “if Japan, Mt. Fuji!”, but the function again is a suggestion.

There’s also the conjunction sorenara in Japanese, which literally means “if that’s the case”

Maggie Sensei has a great conversation example that displays how this works. Check it out.

A: ハワイに行かない？

B: そんなお金ないよ。

A: 僕が全部払ってあげる。

B: それなら話は別！行く！行く！！

“Don’t you want to go / Aren’t you going to Hawaii?”

“I don’t have that kind of money”

“I’ll pay for everything”

“Well that changes everything! I’ll go!!”

Hopefully from that interaction you’re starting to also get a feel for the kind of closed conditions nara has. When nara is used conditionally, often the condition you give is the only one which will allow the next action to occur, just like how person B here can suddenly go to Hawaii now that the very generous person A will be covering all the expenses.

For now, I’d like to leave it there as I only want to talk about conditionals, but nara does have other uses which aren’t conditional. I’ll probably cover those in a future post, but if you’re interested now, then please do check out the linked Maggie Sensei post above as it’s quite thorough. Here’s a few more examples to finish off!

二週間なら、間に合うと思う。 nishuukan nara, maniau to omou

“If I have two weeks (to do it), then I think I will make it on time”

先生なら付き合わないほうがいいよ。 sensei nara tsukiawanai hou ga ii yo “If he/she is your teacher, you shouldn’t date them”

旅行なら海だ 。 ryokou nara umi da

“When I go abroad, I hit the beach” or “If you’re going abroad, you should go to the beach”

ちゃんと運転するのを習いたいなら僕の友達に頼んだほうがいい。chanto unten suru no o naraitai nara boku no tomodachi ni tanonda hou ga ii

“If you want to learn to drive properly, you better ask my friend (to teach you)”

人の前で話すならまず自信を持つべし　hito no mae de hanasu nara mazu jishin o motsu beshi*

“If you’re going to talk in front of people (an audience) you should first have confidence in yourself”

(* beshi is a classical suffix meaning “should”. Don’t worry about it. I just picked out this sentence online as an example using nara~)

And a fun, very casual example to finish: 居酒屋行くなら俺んち来い。 

izakaya iku nara orenchi koi

“If you’re going to the pub, come to my house”

This use of “chi” with names and pronouns is something I only learnt a couple of years ago, but I like it~ Basically, uchi can be used to refer to one’s home, so no uchi would be “the home of x” and people shorten it to nchi. Another example is 友達んち tomodachi nchi

[kyoumigaareba]

Hey everyone!

Sorry it’s been a while!

How did those of you taking JLPT get on? Personally, I found it pretty tough this time around! Waiting for those all important results in about a month’s time!

Happy new year too!

Do any of you have Japanese learning related resolutions? I wish you all success!

Ok, time for a grammar post to get back into the swing of things!

[kyoumigaareba]

Sorry for the lack of posts recently!

I am actually studying for the upcoming JLPT. I’m going for N1 this time! Any other JLPT-takers in the room?

If any of you are by some chance taking N1, feel free to join me on Memrise. I’m building a kanji flashcard deck over there for the exam~

I will be trying to post here again really soon! I hope your studies are going well~

[kyoumigaareba]

Vocabulary building #15

Back with another vocabulary list~ Lots of katakana in here! The list originally contained a few counters in Japanese, but I really think we should cover those separately. It also included ageru and kureru, which is part of the way one expresses giving and receiving in Japanese. This is a much larger topic that, again, should really have its own post.

大家さん　おおやさん landlord/landlady

お返し　おかえし

Often translated as “return”, which is quite vague. Okaeshi is often used in the sense of repaying somebody’s gift or favour. Take this example from Jisho.org: 私は彼女のもてなしのお返しにバラの花束を贈った (I gave her a bunch of roses in return for her hospitality) How many Ghibli fans are out there? Hopefully, some of you, like me, are big fans of the film The Cat Returns. The Japanese title of this film is 猫の恩返し (Neko no ongaeshi) Though here kaeshi is part of a compound*, it retains its meaning and ongaeshi specifically means the repayment of a favour, or some kindness.

クラブ club

サークル circle

“Circles” in Japanese universities refer to clubs or “societies”, and this is where you will most often hear this word used. Sports clubs are usually not described as circles, though. They take the suffix bu ( 部 ) e.g. 空手部 (karate club)

クリスマス Christmas

コップ glass; tumbler

カップ　cup

お皿　おさら plate, dish

電子メール　でんしめーる e-mail, often just メール

ネクタイ tie

ビデオカメラ video camera

夫婦　ふうふ married couple

カップル a couple, not necessarily married

マフラー scarf

漫画　まんが manga, comic

マンション  apartment building

Yup, it’s called a mansion! Try not to get confused!

みかん mandarin orange (FYI, some of the cheapest fruit you can buy in Japan)

指輪　ゆびわ ring, as in ones you wear on your finger

両親　りょうしん parents

履歴書　りれきしょ CV, resume

欲しい　ほしい to want

けち（な） stingy, cheap

似合う　にあう to suit; to match; to look good on sb

諦める　あきらめる to give up

できる dekiru has quite a few meanings, including: to be complete or ready, to be made from/of, and to be able to do. I anticipate dekiru also getting its own little post~

相談する そうだんする to discuss; to consult

プロポーズする to propose, to ask for somebody’s hand in marriage

同じ　おなじ same

ちょうど just, right, exactly

Often heard in the phrase ちょうどいい meaning “just right!” This could be in reference to time, size, and so on.

よく We’ve come across yoku meaning “often” before. It also means to “do well”. The phrase よくやった, for example, means “to have done well”. For you grammar nerds out there, this is the adverbial form of よい.

___

* Please don’t think too much about why kaeshi becomes gaeshi in this instance. It’s something you will learn about a bit later and isn’t relevant if you’re still at the beginning of your studies~

[kyoumigaareba]

Hey guys, just dropping by with something nice for you to read. I follow the blogs and adventures of a number of polyglots, as I would like to be one in the future :D. One of the people I follow is Luca, a lovely polyglot from Italy who can speak 11(!) languages. He sometimes has guest posts, including the one I have posted today, which comes from a Brit who is fluent in Czech. I think it’s a nice and novel way of looking at language learning and what it means to become fluent. After I read this piece, I decided to try and do a little of what Anthony does to improve in my other languages. I hope you take something away from this too~

[kyoumigaareba]

Conditional #3: と

It’s time for another conditional!

I know, I know. Not many more to go now. Promise.

As with other conditionals, と can mean either “if” or “when”.

と is said to describe natural or unavoidable consequences. That’s why you’ll see と in instructions, like このボタンを押すと　チケットが出ます。(A ticket will come out when you press the button)

In this case, it’s obvious that と is to be interpreted as “when”, but arguably could also be replaced with “if”, though it might sound weird to an English native. Either way, we can agree that, as long as the machine isn’t broken, a ticket coming out is the expected result.

Situations where the outcome is extremely likely can also be described with と, though usage is not as widespread as when describing a surefire and natural outcome

e.g. 亮くんは私が浮気をしていることわかると、蹴り出される！(I’ll be kicked out if Ryo-kun finds out I’m having an affair!)

We don’t know if Ryo is the forgiving type or not, but his girlfriend can be reasonably sure this a likely outcome. This kind of usage is being a little bit liberal, which is why you can’t always use と in this way.

と could also be translated as “whenever”, in the sense of a habitual action. For example, チョコを食べると、気分が悪くなる。　(Whenever I eat chocolate, I start feeling sick/unwell)

As I mentioned, one can also interpret と as meaning when, though the literal translation may not always match up:

３月になると、天気がよくなる。(The weather will get better in March lit. the weather will improve when we are in March)

What I’m about to say will frustrate you immensely, but と can also describe unexpected events!

帰ると、妹がいなくなった。 (When I got home, my little sister wasn’t there/had left)

Of course, adjectives are a-okay to use with conditionals too, like so:

友達は悲しいと、 慰める。　(When my friend is sad, I cheer him/her/them up)

There’s also an oft used structure that translates into something close to “I hope” or “I wish”, depending on the situation. Take a look at these examples:

合格するといいです。　(I hope you pass (your exam))

At first, this might seem strange, but think of it like this: “it would be nice if you passed”

毎日は晴れるといいのに。(I wish it were sunny every day)

See that のに at the end? That’s your hint that is a hypothetical situation and should be understood as the speaker’s wish despite reality.

So, what can’t you do with と？I’m glad you asked...

You cannot:

- talk about your will or desire e.g. I want to do xyz

This also includes an innocent sentence like “In Spring, I will go to Austria”

と is closely linked to habitual, natural, and expected actions. In saying that you will go to Austria in the Spring, you’re not allowing for the usual conditions e.g. time, money and other circumstances. Of course, if you habitually travel to Austria, it’s perfectly fine to use と.

毎年、春になると、オーストリアに行きます。(I go to Austria in Spring every year lit. I go to Austria every year when it becomes Spring)

If you were to say this, I’d be expecting that you have family there or a reason to be there that means you go every year, without fail, around Spring.

- make suggestions

雨が止むと、散歩しましょう (Let’s go for a walk if it stops raining)

INCORRECT. The above is not grammatically correct in Japanese. Again, it carries this implication that going for a walk is a natural result of the rain stopping. Also, the rain may well not stop at all. It’s a case of if a certain condition is fulfilled, which is why other conditionals describe the situation much better. In this case, you could you use ば, for example.

Phew! Okay, I think that covers most of what と is used for. If I remember anything else, I’ll be sure to add it. Please don’t try to remember this all at once. Feel free to keep returning for reference, particularly when you see a と sentence used out in the wild. Try to figure out how it’s being used in that particular situation. Once I have covered all the conditionals, I will be writing a masterpost on all the differences and rules too.

Last hint before I go! Don’t confuse the conditional と with the conjunction と meaning “and”. The conjunction と will appear between nouns~

[tofugu]

Hello! I am learning any languages but I can talk with no one. Do you know a webpage where I can find language exchange friends? :)

Hi Buksika!

There are tons of websites where you can find language exchange friends! Here’s a list of sites we know that can help with this kind of thing:

HelloTalk

Shared Lingo

Tandem

Lang-8

Hi-Native (App)

italki

There are probably a ton more too. If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to add them!

[kyoumigaareba]

Relevant to the anon answer I just posted!

[kyoumigaareba]

Wanted to tell you that even if I don't like nor reblog, I always read & reread all the posts and they help me a whole lot. Thank you so much for doing this!!

Thank you for your kind words ^o^ I don’t focus too much on how popular Tumblr thinks I am lol as long as somebody out there is learning something, I’m happy :)

[kyoumigaareba]

Hi, I'm interested in self studying Japanese but I don't have any idea on where and how to start. I was wondering if you have any tips? Thank you.

Hey there~Thanks for your message!

This is a toughie, because it really depends on you, your goals, and your learning style. I’ll explain to you how I started out with Japanese and how I self-study other languages, and hopefully that will help! If anyone else has any other tips, I hope they’ll chip in~ The following is purely my personal opinions.

When I first started out, I made sure to learn both hiragana and katakana. Some people might not agree with this - particularly if they don’t want to read or write Japanese - but I feel like it opens up your learning resources and you can see and hear the sounds of Japanese much better than if you are following romanized texts. After the first couple of beginner books, you’re going to need some reading skills, so it’s really worth investing a couple of weeks in memorizing these basic scripts. How you do this is up to you. You might like to make flashcards or simply rote write until you remember. I really like images and mnemonics, but it’s whatever works for you! Kanji is really useful too, even if you only learn maybe one or two hundred, but don’t feel like you have to rush.

If you are struggling to map out a course of study, textbooks might help you get started as you can follow a path of some kind and learn some necessary information, vocabulary and grammar, all while going at your own pace. Invest in a book that covers everything and not just one particular thing. Books like Genki, for instance, will offer you vocabulary, grammar, kanji, reading exercises, listening exercises, and speaking prompts all in one volume. Personally, I would advise against once a week classes as I strongly believe - like many other language learners - that you need to be interacting with your language in some way every day, and three hours a week or so will quite simply not get you very far unless you are very proactive outside the classroom, in which case, these classes may help in your endeavour.

If you can’t get hold of books for some reason, fear not! The internet is filled with lots of helpful things for self-studying Japanese, whatever your goal may be. Have you learnt any other languages? Do you have any old textbooks? These can be helpful in figuring out paths too. Right now I’m studying Gujarati, for which there is very little resources available for English learners. I took my Japanese beginners books and plotted out the themes and skills I’d covered and I’m simply mirroring that as a way of structuring my self study of Gujarati :)

When self-studying, I like to approach from all four directions - reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Time of course doesn’t always permit for this daily, but I will do something with my languages every single day. At first, you won’t be able to do this of course, but once you’ve laid the foundations, it will really help to try and round all your skills. For example, for speaking, nobody expects you to start speaking fluently after a month, but try things like repeating phrases you hear, talking alongside - or after - audio exercises, reading out loud, that kind of thing. Your best friend in learning Japanese will be planning. Plan ahead what you want to cover in a day e.g. a grammar point you want to study, or a group of words you want to memorize. Make concrete goals you can work towards so you can actually see your progress e.g. “In two weeks time, I would like to be able to order a meal in Japanese”. Come up with a timeframe that you think you can attain this goal in and feel that buzz when you complete the goal~

If, like a lot of people, you’re really focused on your speaking, then hook yourself up with a Skype partner, either directly or through sites like iTalki, local community groups (university groups are particularly good), and so forth. This is a good idea in general to be honest, because forcing yourself into a position where you need to use the language on a regular basis will naturally improve your skills (especially good if you are not in Japan.)

Above all, I think the two best pieces of advice I can give you are: be patient and don’t compare yourself to others. Learning languages takes time, and it’s quicker for some and tougher for some. I see now that Japanese isn’t as tough as people like to imagine it is, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come without its challenges. You should reward yourself at every step and take time in crafting your skills. One day you’ll hear a conversation or read a sentence and suddenly realize you just understood without any help! Those are the moments you should be working towards~

[kyoumigaareba]

Vocabulary Building #14

Sorry for the slow updates recently. I’ve been in the middle of organizing my return to university - hurrah! I hope there’s been enough on the blog to keep you all busy ^o^ Just so you know, I’ve now moved on to Genki II for vocabulary lists and inspiration. As always, I’ll add anything I think is useful along the way. Please feel free to request particular vocab lists or words  :)

大人　おとな adult

外国語　がいこくご foreign language

楽器　がっき musical instrument

ケーキ　cake

紅茶　こうちゃ black tea (as in tea like you find in the UK)

言葉　ことば word; language

コーヒー coffee

セーター sweater, jumper

象　ぞう elephant

文法　ぶんぽう grammar

募集　ぼしゅう recruiting (you will see this in the window when part time jobs are advertised)

弁護士　べんごし lawyer

店　みせ shop, store

約束　やくそく promise

うれしい happy

悲しい　かなしい sad

辛い　からい spicy; harsh/difficult

厳しい　きびしい strict

近い　ちかい close

色々（な）　いろいろな various

幸せ（な）　しあわせな happiness

編む　あむ to knit

貸す　かす to lend

借りる　かりる to borrow

頑張る　がんばる to do one’s best

泣く　なく to cry

歯を磨く　はをみがく to brush one’s teeth (migaku means “to polish”, but is found more often than not in this set phrase)

感動する　かんどうする to be moved (emotionally)

実は　じつは actually, in fact

[kyoumigaareba]

~*~ Anime Recommendation ~*~

[Bungou Stray Dogs]

If you like anime, and you’re on Tumblr a fair bit, I bet you know this series already, but I watched it recently and loved it, so I want to recommend it to you all. I’m sorry I couldn’t find a English-subbed trailer, but maybe this trailer will be fun listening practice for some of you out there with a bit of experience under your belts.

The story of this anime basically revolves around Atsushi Nakajima (the kid with the grey hair you can see above) and the Armed Detective Agency, who he is taken in by after being kicked out of the orphanage he was living in. Yokohama is the backdrop to this action-fantasy show, featuring rival gangs and individuals with special powers. Atsushi is wanted for his special powers, and the Agency protects him while going about their duties. His colleagues include a wily charmer with a disturbing, yet somehow hilarious, obsession with suicide, and a kid with superhuman strength when he’s hungry. To top it all off, most, if not all, of the characters are named after writers - and not just Japanese writers either! I found it quite amusing that there’s a villain named Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, who actually uses the phrase “old sport”.

Season 2 is due to premiere in October, so if you hurry, you can be ready for it!~

[kyoumigaareba]

Monthly Feature: August

Somewhat late, but here’s something fun for you guys this month!

Look at all that tasty food!

I’m afraid to tell you that it’s all actually fake; nothing more than plastic!

Perhaps some of you are already familiar with the quite wonderful yet wacky world of shokuhin sanpuru, but after a friend of mine discovered that this was actually an industry in Japan, much to her great surprise, I thought it would make a fun theme for the month.

I don’t think I have ever seen this kind of thing outside of Japan (perhaps in South Korea, but I honestly can’t recall) and even up close these dishes look super real. You’ll find them in shop and restaurant windows to show you what’s on offer inside. According to this article from The Japan Times, it is thought that this practice began in the Showa Period (1926 - 1989, and the period just before the current period, Heisei). Apparently, back then menus weren’t all that common, and this was a way for potential customers to find out what was on the menu without having to ask about it. From the Meiji Period onwards, Japan was rapidly exposed to all kinds of foreign foods and goods, so it was probably also easier to just show people what these new dishes were!

If you’re enticed by these fancy, fake dishes, do not despair! You can get your mitts on a variety of miniature phone straps that echo these designs. UK followers, your best bet is Tofucute! Followers elsewhere, please let everyone know where they can get these in your country~ Of course, if you are in, or will be visiting, Japan, you’ll be able to find these straps quite easily.

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Photo from Mag.Japaaan.com

[kyoumigaareba]

Conditional #2: ば

"Not sure if I’m getting better at Japanese or not”

Hey guys! Sorry for the little break between posts. Today we’re covering another conditional! The ば conditional.

Like tara, ba can mean if or when, but most of the time it is used to mean “if”

To make the ba form, follow these rules:

Positive: ru verbs change the ru to re and add ba, u verbs change the u to e and add ba e.g. 食べる　＞　食べれば、遊ぶ　＞　遊べば

The exceptions are sureba (suru) and kureba (kuru)

Negative: Simply change nai to nakereba　e.g. 話さない　＞　話さなければ

I adjectives: drop the i and add kereba for the positive and kunakereba for the negative e.g.　暑ければ、寒くなければ

na adjectives: the positive is technically naraba, but it’s shortened to nara almost always – same with nouns! In the negative, nouns and na adjectives take denakereba e.g. 学生なら（ば）、便利なら（ば）

ba is not only conditional, but often also hypothetical. It is ba you would use for things like “If I won the lottery, I would buy a house” Using to or tara here would make it sound like you think this situation is tangible, or that you’re saying when this happens, like it’s a solid fact.

Ba comes with some pretty specific rules. I’ll be the first to confess that I don’t often have these in mind and it comes down mostly to what is expressed in German as Sprachgefühl, or an intuitive feeling. It’s been a good few years since I learnt this stuff, so even I had to remind myself of some of these rules! In some cases, misusing ba will just sound plain wrong, like how tara doesn’t fit in the example above, but you should be patient and learn from your mistakes. When constructing a ba sentence, keep in mind that if the subject is the same in both parts of the sentence, you:

> Can’t express your will or desire in the second sentence e.g.日本に行けば、秋葉原に行きたいです　ｘ　(Wrong because you can’t express your will or desire with a verb and ば. In this case, the desire is to visit Akihabara if/when you go to Japan)

> Can’t express a request or invitation e.g. 東京に到着すれば、電話してください　ｘ　(Please call me if/when you arrive in Tokyo) This is wrong because you cannot pair an action (in this case, arriving) with a request when using ば

> Can’t express prohibition or permission

[By “same subject in both parts” I mean that these rules don’t apply in cases such as this: 上川さんが行けば、僕も行きます。 See how we used a verb here? This is okay because we have two subjects: Kamikawa-san and myself]

These rules apply ONLY if you’re using an action verb. If you’re using an i adjective, negative form, or iru/aru, it’s okay to do the above. That’s why the following phrase is okay:

わからないことがあれば、聞いてください。 If there is anything you do not understand, please ask me.

Also, the condition you are expressing cannot have happened yet, so you’ll never use the ba conditional to talk about the past. Though I’m not sure if it’s a rule per se, ba seems to deal primarily with positive outcomes.

There are other uses of ba that produce different grammar, but we will cover those separately. They include:

> ba yokatta (briefly covered before, I believe) meaning “I wish/I should have done X”

> ba...hodo meaning “the more you x the more you y”

>  ba...ii/daijoubu meaning “it will be good if you do x”

We’ll get to those in good time, but, believe it or not, we still have two more conditionals to cover: to and nara

Please get in touch if any of the above is unclear. Happy studying~

[kyoumigaareba]

Textbook Guide

We’re all different learners, but for some people it’s nice to have some structure and perhaps a course to follow. Here, I’m going to list textbooks I’ve used, or been recommended, over my learning journey so far. Please feel free to let me know what you have used too~

This is not an exhaustive list, and I may add to it in the future. You’ll notice less advanced books are listed. If nothing else, this is because at this level you’re looking more to read and learn from native material because you’ll have picked up most necessary grammar and just need to keep packing in new words and phrases.  If you’d like to know more about any books listed here, please let me know. If I have personal experience with the book you’re looking for, I’ll try to give you a good idea of how useful it is. Please don’t forget to check out the learning resources page as well.

Before I forget, I wanted to give a quick explanation of what the JLPT is, as I refer to it quite often! For those who don’t know, JLPT stands for the “Japanese Language Proficiency Test”. It’s held bi-annually; once in Summer and once in Winter. It’s held in a number of countries and you can check here to see if it’s held in yours.

The test covers candidates’ strengths in reading and listening, as well as kanji and grammar. There is no speaking or writing component in the test, which I personally find strange, but having a JLPT qualification is still seen as a good indication of your abilities in many places, particularly in Japan, where most, if not all, companies will expect you to have passed the highest level, N1. N2 is sometimes also accepted depending on the work you’ll have to do. There are five levels in all, with N5 being the lowest, so please don’t get confused by looking for N1 material when you’re just starting out! You don’t have to follow JLPT frameworks, but they are a pretty solid guide to grammar and vocabulary you’ll need if you want to become a fluent speaker. In addition to JLPT studies, I suggest focusing on your own goals and interests to create a wide and varied vocabulary. For example, I have a deep interest in alternative Japanese music and spend a lot of time reading blogs by band members, so I have picked up a lot of slang and Internet vocabulary!

Key:

G: Grammar

V: Vocabulary

A: All (books, or series, that focus on improving lots of skills at once, including things like kanji, vocabulary, grammar, listening, etc.)

Keep in mind that many of these books will also contain content in Chinese and/or Korean, so if you are studying either of these languages, you get two/three languages for one!!

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Beginner

(A) Genki I and II

(A) Minna no Nihongo (Shokyu Series)

(A) Nihongo Sō-Matome (N5, N4)

(V) Nihongo Tango Speed Master (Basic)

(A) Kanzen Master Series [Kanzen Master only covers N4 upwards, I believe]

(A) Mimi Kara Oboeru Nihongo Nouryoku Shiken [I think this series is only N4 upwards too]

Intermediate

(A) Minna no Nihongo (Chukyu Series)

(A) An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese

(A) Nihongo Sō-Matome (N3, N2) [N2 would be upper intermediate, moving towards Advanced]

(A) Tobira: Gateway to Advanced Japanese Learning Through Content and Multimedia  [Upper intermediate. As a guideline, I was using this textbook in Japan when I was in my third out of four years at university]

(V) Nihongo Tango Speed Master (Intermediate)

(V) Nihongo Noryoku Shiken Target (N2)

(A) Kanzen Master Series (N3, N2)

(A) Mimi Kara Oboeru Nihongo Nouryoku Shiken (N3, N2)

Advanced

(A) Nihongo Sō-Matome (N1)

(V) Nihongo Tango Speed Master (Advanced)

(V) Nihongo Noryoku Shiken Target (N1)

(A) Kanzen Master Series (N1)

All levels

(G) Donna Toki Dou Tsukau Nihongo Hyogen Bunkei Jiten [Covers N5 - N1 in one book!]

(G, V) Common Japanese Collocations: A Learner's Guide to Frequent Word Pairings