Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Sentence Practice 5/31/2016

I'm trying to make myself more aware of common questions so I can be prepared for a better self-introduction. I'm going to practice all these sentences from memory and review them afterwards. I realize these are mostly repeats from an earlier post, but that's because this is a review.

名前はなんですか。
What's your name?

私は、ホリです。
My name is Holly.

どこからきましたですか。
Where are you from?

アメリカからきました。
I'm from America.

なんさいですか。
How old are you?

二十五才です。
I'm 25 years old.

お仕事はなんですか。
What's your job?

私の仕事は、エンジニアです。
My job is an engineer.

プログラミングをしています。
I do programming.

趣味はなんですか。
What are your hobbies?

趣味は、ゲームが大好きです。
I really like games.

ハイキングも大好きです。
I also like hiking a lot.

どんな食べ物が好きですか。
What kinds of food do you like?

お菓子やケーキやチョカレートが好きです。
I like things like candy, cake, and chocolate.

誕生日はいつですか。
When is your birthday?

There were only a couple words I had to look up to write these sentences: candy, and the proper wording for "Where are you from?" So I'm fairly pleased with that. I'm beginning to feel more confident in my introduction capabilities, but now I have to prove it via speaking.

New Vocab 5/31/2016

This week I've been trying to expand my vocab to include more critical words. I'm going to write them here from memory, then do a check afterwards to see if I got them right.

Months of the year:

一月 - January
二月 - February
三月 - March
四月 - April
五月 - May
六月 - June
七月 - July
八月 - August
九月 - September
十月 - October
十一月 - November
十二月 - December

Days of the week:

日曜日 - Sunday
月曜日 - Monday
火曜日 - Tuesday
水曜日 - Wednesday
木曜日 - Thursday
金曜日 - Friday
土曜日 - Saturday

Double checking, I think I got all of them correct, which is good. Honestly, both sets are much easier to learn in Japanese than in English, because the months are just "one month", "two month", etc. And the days of the week are "sun day", "moon day", "fire day", etc. That makes it easy to form mnemonics for each of them (like Tuesday is easy to remember as fire day because that's when everything catches on fire at work).

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Sentence Practice 5/28/2016

My first speaking lesson forced me to realize that I haven't practiced my self-introduction enough. I'm going to try to improve my skills there by writing both questions and potential answers to common topics that come up when you first meet somebody.

名前はねんですか。
What's your name?

私はホリです。
I'm Holly.

ホリです。
I'm Holly.

私の名前はホリです。
My name is Holly.

はじめまして。
Nice to meet you.

 どこからがきましたですか。
 Where are you from?

 アメリカからきました。
 I'm from America.

アメリカ人です。
 I'm American.

なんさいですか。
How old are you?

二十五才です。
I'm 25 years old.

お仕事はなんですか。
What's your job?

仕事はエンジニアです。
I'm an engineer.

エンジニアをしています。
I do engineering.

どんな食べ物が好きですか。
What kinds of food do you like?

そうですね。お菓子やケーキやチョカレートが好きです。甘い物が好きです。
Let's see. I like things like candy, cake, and chocolate. I like sweet things.

趣味は、なんですか。
What are your hobbies?

ゲームが大好きです。
I really like games.

ハイキングも大好きです。
I also like hiking a lot.

日本語は難しいけどもう大好きです。
Japanese is difficult, but I still like it.

よろしくおねがいします。
Please treat me well.

Friday, May 27, 2016

The Lessons Begin

Last night I had my first trial session with a Japanese tutor found on iTalki. I need speaking practice more than anything due to my lack of opportunities in that regard, so that's what I'm aiming for in my lessons.

We had a practice conversation where she asked me simple questions about myself, such as my name, what foods I like, what my hobbies are, and where I work. Those are all fairly basic, yet it was extremely difficult to answer because even if I know the vocab, putting those thoughts together to express myself is something else entirely.

I felt like an idiot, frankly, but I think that's inevitable when learning a new language like this. I was able to answer the first two questions, but I'm less familiar with the words used relating to work and hobbies, so those were more challenging.

For the next week I think I should study vocab and sentence structures used in a basic self-introduction so I can improve upon that ability. I've scheduled another half-hour lesson (because I think an hour might be pushing it right now), so I hope to be much better next week.

To have a sort of formal list I can check off, my goals for next week are:
1. Improve vocabulary in terms of hobbies and jobs
2. Practice speaking introductory sentences
3. Have more confidence!

I think confidence will be one of my biggest hurdles, because if I'm unsure about a word I often pause to debate its usage. Really I should just speak it as I think of it and have my mistakes corrected. I'm hoping my next lesson is a bit less nerve-wracking for me.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Sentence Practice 5/25/2016 2.0

This is a continuation of the last post where I'm practicing shorter sentences to "drill in" the new grammar concepts I've recently learned. Next is sentence-joining particles, which is probably the most difficult concept of the three recent new ones.

だけど、どうして好きじゃない?
But, why don't you like it?

いつも憤ろしいのに。。。
Even though he's always angry...

だからじゃばかだよ。
So then, you're an idiot.

猫は好きだが、犬は好きじゃないね。
You like cats, but you don't like dogs, huh?

なので車は青。 
So his car is blue.

図書館はあまり静かなのに。。。
Even though the library isn't very quiet...

Sentence Practice 5/25/2016

I think tonight I'm going to do several groups of shorter sentences, kind of in a "drill" manner so I can get used to using certain grammar concepts I've recently learned.

I'll start with the の particle being used to request an explanation. Again, when it comes after a noun or na-adjective, な is required beforehand. If だ or です come afterward, the の is shortened to ん.

学生なの?
He's a student?

犬なの?
It's a dog?

新しいの?
It's new?

リーさんの本なの?
It's Lee's book?

大好きなの?
You really like it?

簡単なんだ?
It's easy?

秘密なんだ?
It's a secret?

お父さんなんですか。
That's your father?

忙しいんですか。
You're busy?

難しいんですか。
It's difficult?

Now I'm going to practice state of being conjugations on various words. Again, this is divided based on whether the word is an i-adjective or a noun or na-adjective.


猫じゃない
猫だった
猫じゃなかった
Cat
Not a cat
Was a cat
Was not a cat

眠い
眠くない
眠かった
眠くなかった
Sleepy
Not sleepy (oh no!)
Was sleepy
Was not sleepy

赤ちゃん
赤ちゃんじゃない
赤ちゃんだった
赤ちゃんじゃなかった
Baby
Not a baby
Was a baby
Was not a baby

子犬
子犬じゃない
子犬だった
子犬じゃなかった
Puppy
Not a puppy
Was a puppy
Was not a puppy

嬉しい 「うれしい」
嬉しくない
嬉しかった
嬉しくなかった
Happy
Not happy
Was happy
Was not happy

憤ろしい 「いきどおろしい」
憤ろしくない
憤ろしかった
憤ろしくなかった
Angry
Not angry
Was angry
Was not angry


暇じゃない
暇だった
暇じゃなかった 
Free (meaning not busy)
Not free
Was free
Was not free

This post is getting kinda long, so I may do a second one with practice for the other grammar points. 

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Sentence Practice 5/24/2016

I'm going to try to have more vocab variety in my sentences, tonight. It may be hard because my brain is aching after doing 30+ WaniKani lessons (and I still have 40 to go). Hurray for leveling up!

スミスさんはかわいいけど、犬が好きじゃないから、私は彼が大好きじゃない。
Smith is cute, but because he doesn't like dogs, I really don't like him.
(For this sentence, I'm curious to know whether I need to specify the 私は彼が at the end.)

明日は誕生日だから、楽しみだよ。
Tomorrow's my birthday, so I'm looking forward to it.

秘密なの?だけど、友達だよ!
It's a secret? But, I'm your friend!

今晩の夕食は、チキンと卵とブロッコリーが欲しい。
For tonight's dinner, I want chicken, eggs, and broccoli.

リーさんが大好きなのに、いつも忙しい。
I really like Lee, even though he's always busy.

え、リーさんが猫なんだ?
Huh, Lee's a cat?!

Mistakes

Because I'm human, and because I'm learning Japanese as a second language, I'm bound to have a mistake at some point in my posts. If you ever happen to see one, please leave a comment (nicely) pointing out what it is and how I can potentially fix it.

This is probably stupid to say since I don't intend this blog to be read by many people (or anyone, really), but I guess I'm adding this as a just-in-case.

Also, in my practice sentences there will probably be mistakes in terms of "hey, there's a better way to say this", so I'm open to feedback in that regard, as well.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Sentence Practice 5/23/2016

Since I've learned a couple new grammar points lately, I'm going to practice writing some sentences where I make use of them.

先生の授業は面白くないから、学生はあまり好きじゃない。
The teacher's class is not interesting, so the students don't like it very much.

私は野菜が大好きだけど、果物が好きじゃない。
I like vegetables a lot, but I don't like fruits.

今日はいい天気だね。
Today is good weather, huh?

授業は難しいから、好きなんですか。
You like the class because it's difficult? (surprised)

リーさんの新しい本はとても面白いけど、今はいつも忙しい。
Lee's new book is really interesting, but now he's always busy.

私の猫トキちゃんはチリが大好きです!
My kitty Toki loves chili!

これは、いくらですか。
How much is this?

先生はあまりかっこよくなかったのに、彼の授業がもう楽しかった。
Even though the teacher wasn't very handsome, his class was still fun.

アリスちゃん、今日はとても眠いよね。
Alice, you're really sleepy today, huh?

It's hard to form a variety of sentences with limited vocabulary and lack of basic verbs, but I'll get to that point eventually. I know how to use the plain form of a verb, but I still need to learn more about direct objects to improve my sentence-writing skills.

Seeking or Providing Explanations

I've read over Tae Kim's lesson relating to the の particle a few times to try to improve my understanding of it. It can be used at the end of a sentence to make it clear that we are providing or seeking an explanation for something, depending on whether the sentence is a question or statement. In my first example, I'm going to assume I'm talking to a cat-man, or a man who has the ability to transform into a cat, because why not. His name is Lee.

リーさん、猫?
リーさん、猫なの?

Lee, are you a cat?
Lee, you're a cat?

In the first sentence, I'm asking him a yes/no question. In the second sentence, I'm expressing surprise at the fact that he's a cat (because who wouldn't), and possibly asking him to explain WTF is going on.

With the second sentence I had to add な before の due to 猫 being a noun. I'd have to do the same with any na-adjective. I-adjectives don't require the な, though.

リーさん、忙しい?
リーさん、忙しいの?

Lee, are you busy?
Lee, you're busy?

Again, the first is a yes/no question, while the second is expressing surprise (and possibly dismay) at the fact that he's busy. The particle can also be used when you're providing an explanation for something.

Person A: 先生なの?
Person B: はい、先生なの。

Person A: You're a teacher?
Person B: Yes, I am indeed a teacher.

That's not the best translation, but the point is that Person B is basically saying "Yes, I am, in fact, a teacher" (while sounding more polite, in my opinion). If that sentence didn't have なの at the end, it would sound like "I'm a teacher" as a factual statement, and less explanatory.

Things get a little more complicated if I want to use the declarative だ or the polite です, because why wouldn't they?

Person A: 先生なのですか?
Person B: はい、先生なのです。

These sentences mean the same thing, just in polite form, but using なの in this case would be considered archaic or outdated. At first I was confused by this, but if you read it a few times, the なの does sound awkward when placed right in front of です. We can fix this problem by transforming the の into ん。

Person A: 先生なですか?
Person B: はい、先生なです。

I've bolded the ん to make it more obvious. Now when reading the sentences, I think they sound much more natural, and this is considered proper grammar. Not that the other isn't proper grammar, it's just outdated.

One thing that bothers me about this is that it sounds like the word なん (meaning "what") is being used here. So in reading or listening, it might be initially confusing because it's easy to read it as "what", rather than reading it as the appropriate explanatory particle. It takes practice, I guess. It's less of a problem with i-adjectives, where you don't have the な beforehand.

とても難しいんだよ。
It's really difficult, you know.

This may be a response to a question like "You're failing the class??!" where I'm explaining why I'm failing. I have the declarative だ used at the end, so because of that, my の becomes ん. It sounds much more natural in this case, as well.

I know there's more to learn about using の with other noun and adjective conjugations, but I'm going to pause here because this is enough for my brain for the day.

Credit goes to Tae Kim's lesson seen here.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Noun and Adjective Conjugation

Another grammar point I learned semi-recently is conjugation of nouns and adjectives to show state of being for present/past and positive/negative. This is something I need more practice with so I don't have to stop and think about a conjugation for five minutes each time I want to speak.

Nouns and na-adjectives:

Present positive: 犬
Present negative: 犬じゃない
Past positive: 犬だった
Past negative: 犬じゃなかった

These are saying the following, in order:

Dog
Not a dog
Was a dog
Was not a dog

I'm not sure why we're having a discussion on whether someone was a dog, but there you go. Even though 犬 is a noun, the exact same conjugation rules would apply with a na-adjective like 簡単. You just add the appropriate ending to the word and you're done.

I-adjectives:

Present positive: 忙しい
Present negative: 忙しくない
Past positive: 忙しかった
Past negative: 忙しくなかった

Busy
Not busy
Was busy
Was not busy

These are a bit more complicated, but all you do is drop the last い and then add the appropriate ending, just like we did above.

I'm going to practice a few sentences with various conjugations and some other grammar to cement my understanding of it.

あれは、猫じゃなかった。
That was not a cat.

アリスさんは、忙しくないよ。
Alice isn't busy, you know.

今日の授業は、面白かったね。
Today's class was interesting, huh?

リーさんは、あまり楽しくないね。
Lee isn't very fun, is he?

ジー二さんは、とても静かだよ。
Ginny is very quiet.

Here I've tried to incorporate usage of the particles ね and よ, which add a more conversational feel to the sentences.

Credit goes to Tae Kim's lessons seen here and here.

Sentence-Joining Particles

Today I took a more in-depth look at sentence-joining particles on Tae Kim's guide. I've been meaning to get around to this for a few days now, but each time I looked at it, my brain would hurt. Well, today I finally forced myself to review it, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I'll try to summarize what I understand so far.

I can use けど or が (which is different from the identifier particle) to join two sentences with a "but." けど is more casual or conversational, while が is more polite or formal. Examples:

日本語は難しいけど、大好き。
日本語は難しいが、大好き。

Japanese is difficult, but I like it a lot.

日本語は簡単だけど、大好き。
日本語は簡単だが、大好き。

Japanese is easy, but I like it a lot.

In this case, I have to use the declarative だ after 簡単 because it's a na-adjective. I have to do that for nouns, as well, but not i-adjectives.

I can use から or ので to join two sentences with a word similar to the English "so." The format is [Reason] から/ので [Result]. Examples:

猫は静かだから、好き。
猫は静かなので、好き。

Cats are quiet, so I like them.

Since 静か is a na-adjective, I have to add だ when I use it with から and な when I use it with ので. Initially this was hard for me to remember, but I try to remember that the two n's go together (な with ので).

日本語は難しいから、好き。
日本語は難しいので、好き。

Japanese is difficult, so I like it.

With these I don't have to use だ or な because I have an i-adjective beforehand. I also don't have to use them if the noun or adjective is conjugated in any way, or if ですis there for the polite form. They're only used with a plain noun or na-adjective.

Finally, there's のに that can be used as an "in spite of" equivalent. Examples:

日本語は難しいのに、好き。

In spite of Japanese being difficult, I like it.

There are more natural ways to translate the sentence, but that captures the more literal meaning and ordering of the words.

日本語は簡単なのに、好き。

In spite of Japanese being easy, I like it.

In this case, I have to add the な after the na-adjective to ensure it is grammatically correct.

I can also do partial sentences, which was difficult to understand at first, but I just have to remember the correct placement of the particles. I'm going to practice a couple below.

だけど、楽しい。
But it's fun.

難しいから。
Because it's difficult.

だから、簡単。
So it's easy.

静かなのに。
In spite of it being quiet.

なので、面白い。
That's why it's interesting.

I think that's everything for now. As a disclaimer, this is NOT at all meant to be a copy-paste of Tae Kim's guide. This is me practicing using the vocabulary and grammar I have learned from his guide, on my own time. Being able to do this consistently from memory helps a great deal in learning Japanese grammar. Still, to make this clear, I'm going to credit the lesson I used in my studies at the end of any posts like this one.

Credit goes to Tae Kim's lesson seen here

Introduction

Well, this is awkward.

I'm creating this blog to have a place for me to practice my writing as I continue to learn Japanese. Almost daily I've said to myself "man, I need to practice writing" but only wrote a few sentences on notebook paper. I think having this here as my online notebook will encourage me to write more freely so I can practice using new vocab and grammar as I learn it.

Anyway, I'm Sleepy. I go by Sleepy on many sites. I'm 25 at the time of creating this, and I currently work as a software engineer. I'm not exactly sure what made me want to start learning Japanese. My friend was learning it, and I had another friend who knew some of it from her college course, which made me want to know more. Also, after playing games that had Japanese voice-acting (but English translations) I found the language to be beautiful and wanted to learn about it.

So currently I'm studying on a daily basis with the goal of becoming fluent in the language. Some of my resources right now are Tae Kim's guide, his group on facebook, WaniKani, iTalki (for language partners), Japanese From Zero (though I use it far less, lately), and a few random books I got from Amazon for reading and writing practice. If I ever find anything new that seems useful, I try to snatch it up since using multiple sources can provide you with new perspectives and broaden your horizons.

Hopefully this blog will be of some use to me. I may or may not make posts here where I track my lessons or time spent studying, as well as any formal goals. One goal I will mention upfront is the ability to play a full game in Japanese. There are several I'd like to play that have no translations and are unlikely to ever be translated, so I'm determined to play them one way or another. I've promised myself I will learn Japanese!