Learn Japanese Today

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!