BL sensei

2016-11-04T13:13:00.001-07:00

I think the Elsa and Anna plaited bread is marketing's greatest triumph ever.
Can you spot the Japan title in the products? "Anna and the Snow Queen"?

2016-10-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

Remembering Japanese onomatopoeia through FOOD

1. Gari-gari (crunching into something very HARD, like a very frozen popsicle)

2016-10-21T00:12:00.002-07:00

wasabi and mayonaisse

does Pringles localize to other countries as well? or just Japan and America?

2016-10-20T14:27:00.002-07:00

Maybe next time you'll listen to your sensei about the dangers of sloppy handwriting. Would you be able to read the katakana without the English version beside it?

2016-10-10T09:51:00.002-07:00

Try to read the katakana before checking the English to see if you're right.

How different is the menu in your country? They don't serve shrimp burgers in mine.

2016-10-04T02:11:00.001-07:00

Only a Japanese toaster would have settings for mochi.

2016-10-01T23:43:00.000-07:00

Good thing Japanese garbage bins have pictures too.

2016-10-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

The real, popular detergent brand "atakku" versus the miniature "reshiibu". Seme vs. uke. Get it? "

2016-09-30T06:46:00.003-07:00

Look at that. Tomato spelled in hiragana??

2016-09-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

Guess what's inside.

2016-09-11T08:06:00.000-07:00

http://otarunet.com/it/webdesign/craft-cardboard2/

What better way than to learn about fruits in Japanese?

2016-09-10T12:49:00.001-07:00

Can you spot the toy label spoof of the popular hand soap brand from the previous post?

It is still pronounced the same way, with the silent "i" at the end.

These and more mini toys from Japan are available from

https://www.facebook.com/Animeme10/?ref=page_internal (Philippines)

2016-09-10T12:03:00.001-07:00

Out of the hundreds of characters even beginner nihongo students won't fail to spot the word for "clean".

mono ka

2009-12-13T05:28:00.000-08:00

This part (forgotten what comic, sorry) has special meaning for me. Because of it I was able to remember jlpt level 1-2 grammar.

From the right:
"Soshite ki ga tsukeba otoko wa sude ni sugata wo keshite iru shimatsu."
(Lit, And then when I came to my senses the guy was already figure disappearing came to be.)
"When I came to, he was already gone."

The "shimatsu" at the end is an expression that indicates a bad result. I'm not sure if English has an equivalent expression.

"Shinsetsu wo ada de kaesareru to wa masa ni kono koto janai ka?"
(Lit. Kindness unfairly exchanged returned is this experience isn't it?)
"Is this how my kindness is repaid?"

English would dispense with the "ada de" (unfairly exchanged). Still, it's a good way to remember words without kanji.

"Ammari da." or "Anmari da."
(Lit. Too much is.)
"This is too much."

Not related to jlpt, but for emphasis consonants are doubled. Thus, anmari is actually amari. In the same manner, sometimes you'll come across tottemo which is actually totemo. I'm sure there's more. Can anyone think of any?

"Sono hi boku wa chikatta."
"That day I vowed."
We learned in basic nihongo sono/sore/soko refer to things near the one you are talking to. Another use for it is to refer to things that your listener does not know about nor experienced. Thus he refers to that day as "sono hi". If we were there at that time he would refer to it as "ano hi."

In the same manner, when giving directions soko is used eventhough the place is far away from both of you.

"Mou ni do to hitotasuke nanka suru monka."
(Lit. Already twice rescuing people something like that should?)
"I'll never help people out ever again!"

We think "never", the Japanese think "not twice" (mou ni do to). "Mon" is actually "mono ", "no" is sometimes shortened to "n". "Mono" usually refers to something one should do. I don't know why adding the interrogative marker "ka" would turn "mono ka" into something one won't do. At any rate, it was that puzzlement that made me remember this expression.

suki

2009-12-13T05:23:00.000-08:00

Japanese adjectives are divided into two, the i-adjectives and the na-adjectives.

I-adjectives are conjugated this way:
高い　taka-i (basic form)
高くない　taka-kunai (negative)
高かった　taka-katta (past)
高く　taka-ku (adverbial form)

While na-adjectives are conjugated this way:
好きだ　suki da (basic form)
好き　じゃない　suki janai (negative)
好き　だった　suki datta (past)
好き　に　suki ni (adverbial)

But as we can see from the above scenes from "Cafe Relish ni Oide" the na-adjective suki is treated as an i-adjective.

Thus:
好き　suki
好くない suki-kunai (negative)
好かった suki-katta (past)
好く suki-ku (adverbial)

Notice too that the okurigana "ki" き disappears during conjugation, eventhough it is still pronounced. Not exactly grammatically correct but I guess you can't stop language from changing.

te form 2 gu gimasu

2009-08-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

Let's take up the second type of godan verb. For verbs ending in gu, or the more formal gimasu, the end is dropped and "ide" is added to form their te form.

Thus:
To swim
oyogu (dictionary form)
oyogimasu (formal form)
oyoide(te form)

To hurry
isogu (dictionary form)
isogimasu (formal form)
isoide (te form)

To pedal or row
kogu (dictionary form)
kogimasu (formal form)
koide (te form)

Adding "iru" or the more formal "imasu" to the te form turns it into the present progressive tense.

Thus:
swimming
oyoide iru (casual)
oyoide imasu (formal)

hurrying
isoide iru (casual)
isoide imasu (formal)

pedalling or rowing
koide iru (casual)
koide imasu (formal)

Let's Practice!

Hitobito wa nani wo shite imasu ka?
(What are the people doing?)
Hitobito wa oyoide imasu.
(The people are swimming.)

Hitobito wa nani wo shite imasu ka?

(What are the people doing?)
Hitobito wa isoide imasu.
(The people are hurrying.)

Karera wa nani wo shite imasu ka?
(What are the boys doing?)
Karera wa jitensha wo koide imasu.

(The boys are pedalling their bikes.)

Futari wa nani wo shite imasu ka?
(What is the couple doing?)
Futari wa fune wo koide imasu.
(The two are rowing a boat.)

What other japanese verbs do you know that end in gu/gimasu? What is their te form? Could you give me a sample sentence?

The "te form" part 1 ku/kimasu

2009-08-06T02:45:00.000-07:00

Converting japanese verbs into their progressive form (or the so-called "te form") is probably the most difficult verb conjugation could get. Difficult because eventhough japanese verbs fall neatly into 3 groups (the ichidan, the godan and the irregular), the rule for the godan group is further divided into 5 groups (hence the term "go" for 5). Today we take up the first godan group.

For verbs ending in ku, or the more formal kimasu, the end is dropped and "ite" is added to form their te form.

Thus:
To write
kaku (dictionary form)
kakimasu (formal form)
kaite(te form)

To listen
kiku (dictionary form)
kikimasu (formal form)
kiite (te form)

To work
hataraku (dictionary form)
hatarakimasu (formal form)
hataraite (te form)

Adding "iru" or the more formal "imasu" to the te form turns it into the present progressive tense.

Thus:
writing
kaite iru (casual)
kaite imasu (formal)

listening
kiite iru (casual)
kiite imasu (formal)

working
hataraite iru (casual)
hataraite imasu (formal)

Let's Practice!

Kanojo wa nani wo shite imasu ka?
(What is she doing?)
Kanojo wa tegami wo kaite imasu.
(She is writing a letter.)

Kanojo wa nani wo shite imasu ka?
(What is she doing?)
Kanojo wa IPhone wo kiite imasu.
(She is listening to an IPhone.)

Kare wa nani wo shite imasu ka?
(What is he doing?)
Kare wa kaisha de hataraite imasu.
(He is working in a company.)

What other japanese godan verbs do you know that end in ku/kimasu? What is their te form? Could you give me a sample sentence?