Sugoi Japanese Lesson 1 - Greetings

Lesson 2: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=_k41joLM9Qw

In this lesson you'll learn 8 common Japanese greetings:

Good Morning - ohayou
Hello - konnichiwa
Good Evening - konbanwa
Goodbye - sayounara
Goodnight - oyasumi nasai
Thanks - arigatou
Sorry - sumimasen

You'll also learn 5 hiragana glyphs: (a, i, u, e, o) as well as 3 words you can write with them:

aoi = blue
ie = house
ai = love

MUSIC:
Unique Musical Instrments - To Kito Ranban
Unique Musical Instrments - Tsutsune

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Japanese
• beginners

[Mychel213]

is it very difficulte to learn japanese ??

[steevmac]

@Mychel213 The pronunciation is extremely easy, but the grammar is very different from European languages which often proves to be a challenge.

The writing is by far the hardest part. The 46 hiragana, and 46 corresponding katakana are 95% phonetic and can be learnt in a relatively short time, but in order to do any serious reading there are just over 2000 kanji (Sino-Japanese characters) that you need to read, write and recognise.

[steevmac]

@Mychel213 Not sure if you've learned any other languages, but in Japanese the focus of grammar is different. In European languages we focus on time & tense, agreement of number, person & gender and directness. In Japanese the focus is on social position, politeness & register and attitude & motive..

Therefore, the verb "give" doesn't conjugate based on singular/plural, masculine/feminine or 1st/2nd/3rd person distinctions, but dependent on who gives what to whom and in which social setting.

[XxSkyPirateBunansaxX]

This might be just me being an idiot,

but why does ohayo have a u after it in the hiragana? Just i was reading over some earlier work of mine and got confused =]

[steevmac]

The "u" after the "o" makes it a longer sound.

[xXxXAssassin]

@steevmac doesnt gomen nasai also mean im sorry and sumimasen excuse me

[steevmac]

@xXxXAssassin Both "sumimasen" and "gomen nasai" can mean "sorry"... "Gomen nasai" is stronger, a bit more like "I apologise".

However, "sumimasen" can also sometimes mean "excuse me", like in some varieies of English when you call someone's attention by saying "sorry". In fact "excuse me" even in English can sometimes mean "sorry".

I'd say there isn't a literally 1-to-1 translation, but the more you use them and hear them used, the more you'll get a feel for their usage.

[Mychel213]

@steevmac Thx for unsewring :)

[bestiaccia]

Thanks for this lesson; I really enjoyed it! 

[instrumentmakertje]

" it's a nice place ", where you are ?