Learn Japanese Today

Well, a lot has happened since I posted last. I’ve officially transitioned back to school, making my base of operations Minnesota rather than Chicago.

Also, I broke my nose.

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks.

But.

I have a shiny new toy for you. It’s called Getting Things Done.

Getting Things Done was the brainchild of management consultant / life coach David Allen. It’s essentially a way of thinking about life and how to best manage your “work.”

“Work” in this sense, refers to things you either want to, or are expected to do. It can be answering e-mails, writing a term paper, planning a birthday party, and yes, studying Japanese.

The goal of GTD is to have you focusing 100% on the task at hand and not on other things. If something else enters your mind, it’s probably something you still have to do, but are helpless to do anything about. So you just worry. And that wastes your mental energy.

So what you need to do when something else enters your mind is write it down somewhere, somewhere you know you’ll check later. If it’s someplace you know you’ll check later, then you can trust that you’ll get to it then, and stop worrying about it in the present.

Doing this regularly will allow you to completely respond to your “work” and focus yourself as best as possible.

I can’t summarize the whole book in this article, so you’ll just have to get it yourself here.

As far as Japanese goes, there are some really useful ideas for working on your Japanese in this book. Beyond the benefits of getting all the other thoughts out of your head, this book also stresses the importance of breaking down your long-term goals, like learning japanese, into smaller goals, like learning the jouyou kanji, into smaller tasks, like studying kanji for two hours a week.

I’ve been trying this system out for the past couple weeks, and I’ve noticed a big increase in my productivity as far as studying, schoolwork, and writing goes. Try it. It works.

I’ve touched on some key ideas in Getting Things Done, but I can’t summarize the whole book in this article, so you’ll just have to get it yourself here.

デブ

Reading: debu (usually written in katakana)

Definition: Fatty, or fat. Can be either a noun or a na- adjective. Rarely used in a positive context.

I have a special attachment to this word not only because derogatory colloquialisms are the best way to endear yourself to native speakers (sad, but true), but also because of a story my high school Japanese sensei told me.

My sensei was one of many young Japanese girls that came to America to teach Japanese and ended up marrying German newspaper reporters. Or maybe there weren’t that many. Anyways, the important part is that her husband and his family are hakujin (white people). And like any good hakujin family, her husband had a brother named Dave. Maybe you see where this is going already. Don’t spoil it.

It may surprise you to know that to the inexperienced Japanese ear, all the Vs in English turn into Bs, and just about every word ends in u. And that’s how my sensei that her brother-in-law was named “fatty” for years. Brings a tear to your eye that one does.

And this week, since I’m feeling extra generous, I’ll incorporate a bonus word. This one is a gitaigo, or onomatopoeia, and if there’s one thing you should know about Japanese people, it’s that they take their gitaigo seriously.

Anyways, ごろごろ is the sound a fat person makes when they roll down a hill. No joke. And it’s really not used for much else.

Here’s your practice sentence:

あのデブは階段で落ちて下までごろごろ転がった。ちょう面白かった。

ano debu wa kaidan de ochite shita made goro goro korogatta. chou omoshirokatta.

That fatty fell down on the stairs and rolled all the way to the bottom. It was hilarious.

Take care.

For all you loyal readers who noticed, the Word of the Week for this week will be tomorrow as I missed it on Saturday. The US Open took its toll on my blogging ability.

This song is one of my all time faves. What I really like about The Radwimps is that out of the many Japanese bands that frequently sing in English, their English is actually good. Like really good. I know that’s not exactly important to learning Japanese; but at the same time, it’s always frustrating to be focusing hard on learning Japanese from a song and all of a sudden hear “I rearry want you back.”

Just saying.

So enjoy this video, it’s one of the better YouTube music videos I’ve seen, and done all in Microsoft Paint. Check it OUT!

And thanks to loyal reader Joel, who rightfully hates Romaji, here are the lyrics in the appropriate kanji and kana. I’ll try to find the lyrics in actual Japanese as often as I can, but I’m just saying, sometimes you might have to deal with romaji, because I don’t have time to write the lyrics down myself. Sorry. Them’s the brakes.

なんやかんやと　溢れてるけど
ここにあるもの　ここにないもの
それで全てです

今言えること　それはなんだろう
生きてることと　死んでくことと
それくらいです

他にも何かないかと思いまして　歌を歌ってるわけです

あなた一人と　ほか全人類
どちらか一つ救うとしたら
どっちだろかな？
迷わずYOU!!!!

Monday　泣いて
Tuesday　吐いて
Wednesday　やってらんねぇってなっても
Saturday Sunday　笑っていいんですか

I hope your coming with me today
It’s a shame, it’s a shame if you’re clogging your mind

Now don’t you ever say it’s like the end
It’s OK, it’s OK, not even started yet

I hope you remember this word I said
Then everyday, everyday will be a holiday

OPQRSTUVW double you and me let’s slide along side
Both you and me let’s slide along side

In accordance with the whole new Sunday Sing-Along idea, I thought you all should be made more aware of the best way to convert songs into knowledge.

Alright, first things first. Listen to the song a couple of times. Don’t look at the lyrics yet, they don’t matter. Just listen to the song a couple of times and try to figure out what it’s about. You don’t have to know every word, just figure out the situation.

Why is the singer singing the song? Who is the song to? What’s the purpose of the song?

Once you’ve done that, you can start looking at the lyrics. Use the lyrics to guide you through times when the singer is unclear and you’re not quite sure what they’re saying. It doesn’t matter yet if you don’t know certain words. Look at words you know, then keep trying to figure out what the song is saying.

Think of each verse and chorus as its own chapter in a book. Each of these “chapters” will be about a more specific person, place, thing, or event, while the whole “book” (song) tells a story connecting the chapters. Try to see how that’s done.

Now you can bust out your dictionary. Look up words you don’t know, and if they’re not in there, look up the root word. Then look around on the internet for colloquial conjugations or just try to figure out what it means by context. The words you find in songs are often quite different from the ones you find in textbooks.

Keep looking up words until you understand the song. If you have the time, you can translate it as well. It certainly won’t hurt your Japanese. If you don’t want to translate the whole thing though, you can choose some of the choicer sentences and plug them into your SRS to study later.

Good Luck!

One of the best ways to become comfortable speaking in Japanese is to first become comfortable singing in Japanese. It’s all smooth sailing after that. Just about everyone is at least a little bit timid when it comes to singing, and combining that nervousness with a general lack of self-esteem when it comes to Japanese makes singing Japanese songs the perfect hurdle for cowardly Japanese students. Why would you be afraid to talk to someone in Japanese if you aren’t afraid to sing to them.

That’s why I’m introducing the Sunday Sing-Along. I know today’s not Sunday, but that’s not important. Every Sunday from now on I’ll post a YouTube video of a Japanese song and accompany it with the lyrics. Watch the video and Sing-Along. Then do it again. Actually get a feel for the song. Sing with some moxy. My high school Japanese teacher really advocated this approach, and its really effective.

Here’s an example of what this kind of thing will be like. This is the first song I learned in Japanese. Enjoy Banzai, by ULFULS

IEEEI kimi wo suki de yokatta
kono mama zutto zutto
shinu made happy
BANZAI kimi ni aete yokatta
kono mama zutto zutto
la la la futari de

tsumaranai koto de kimi wo komarasete
omoi dasu tabi akaku naru
waracchimau kurai ni mainichi wa
tada mou sugiteku a tto iu ma ni

sugee sugee shiawasena kibun no toki wa
kaeri michi de kimi wo omidasu
combini wo uro uro shinagara
omoidashi warai wo kami korosu

dassai kakko wa shitakunai
toshi wa toranai you ni
tsukuri warai nanka shitakunai
dakara BABY soba ni oide yo

IEEEI kimi wo suki de yokatta
kono mama zutto zutto
shinu made happy
BANZAI kimi ni aete yokatta
kono mama zutto zutto
la la la futari de

ii on’na wo mireba furikaeru
honto sukebe ore no ataman’naka
demo yappa gutto kuru hodo no on’na wa
kokoro no naka ni hitori dake

kiza na kotoba wa terekusai
kakko tsukezu ni ikou
itsumo futari de jaretetai
dakara BABY koko he oide yo

IEEEI kimi wo suki de yokatta
kono mama zutto zutto
shinu made happy
BANZAI kimi ni aete yokatta
kono mama zutto zutto
la la la futari de

dakara BABY BABY
soba ni oideyo

IEEEI kimi wo suki de yokatta
kono mama zutto zutto
shinu made happy
BANZAI kimi ni aete yokatta
kono mama zutto zutto

IEEEI kimi wo suki de yokatta
kono mama zutto zutto
shinu made happy
BANZAI kimi ni aete yokatta
kono mama zutto zutto
la la la futari de

Now go forth and SING!

You can visit Denshi Jisho at jisho.org.

Some things are just simpler, and easier-to-use versions of other things in a way that makes them immensely successful. Macs did this to PCs, Google to other search engines and the list goes on. You can’t build a better mousetrap, but you can build one with less packaging and less time to setup.

This is essentially what Jisho.org did for Jim Breen’s WWWJDIC dictionary . Jisho.org, also called Denshi Jisho, even uses the same definition files as WWWJDIC, so you know your information is accurate, it just uses the search better and is overall more user friendly.

Ease of Use: 9

The search box for WWWJDIC is intimidating, and fails to highlight the options that are really important. Denshi Jisho trims down the extra stuff you don’t need and leaves you with the three most important options: which dictionary you look in, common words only, and kana/romaji.

The most important of these is “Common Words only,” which is a button that is not made obvious enough on WWWJDIC, and is a button you’ll want to press on 95% of searches. The times when the “Common Word” is not the one you want are few and far between.

Other than that, the site lets you type in Japanese words in romaji, look up kanji by running your mouse over the character, and see sample sentences with the word you looked up with one easy click. Easy. Convenient.

Authenticity: 7

Denshi Jisho has a similar problem to WWWJDIC of not always having the ideal word float to the top, especially if “Common Words Only” isn’t selected. You usually have to scroll down a bit to find a definition that seems appropriate.

However, the example sentences used on DJ are easy to access and well edited, providing a good sense of context. Before you use a word in a paper, look at the sample sentences to see if they make sense.

Quantity of Knowledge: 10

Denshi Jisho has all the words from Jim Breen’s dictionary, with the addition of kanji information from other sources. Lots of good stuff.

Price: 10

Ever so free.

Fun: 7

Denshi Jisho is still a dictionary, so you won’t believe me if I tell you it’s too fun. But you get results quickly and there are interesting sample sentences to read, even some funny ones. DJ is far from the mind-numbing despair I get from WWWJDIC.

Overall: 8.7

Although there is room for improvement, mainly in kanji lookup and the order of words that show up on a search, Denshi Jisho is currently my favorite online dictionary. You get all the knowledge of WWWJDIC without the hassle. I recommend.

なんぱ

Reading: (usually written in kana alone)  nanpa

Definition: Flirt, pick up girls, chase skirts…

This word doesn’t make the cut for most textbooks for obvious reasons. Well, not quite so obvious reasons. If (When) I make a textbook, this word will definitely be in it. I mean come on, it’s not hurting anyone. But yeah, most textbooks don’t really include any words that have any sort of sexual subtext or anything you’d ever really want to do. But don’t worry, old Todd is here.

This is a word used often among younger guys in such phrases as “nanpa shiyou” (let’s pick up some girls!) and “nanpa umai, Takeshi wa” (Takeshi is great at flirting.) This is one of those words you can use to encourage your Japanese friends to come out of the woodwork and go actually meet people. That’s how I use it.

And here’s your example sentence:

Chotto nomisugite shimatte, nanpa heta ni nachatta

I drank a little too much and I became terrible at picking up women.

Go get ‘em tigers.