Archive for November, 2009
Japanese Vocabulary Related To Family Part 2 Posted by Ginny on Nov 30, 2009
おにいさん – older brother (someone else) あに – older brother (own family formal) (兄) (お)にいさん – older brother (own family informal) おねえさん – older sister (someone else) あね – older sister (own family formal) (姉) (お)ねえさん – older sister (own family informal) おとうとさん – younger brother (someone else) (弟) おとうと – younger brother (own family…
Japanese Vocabulary Related to Family Posted by Ginny on Nov 27, 2009
In Japanese, there are different terms used to name members of your own family versus someone else’s family. There may also be two ways to call members of your own family depending on whether the situation is formal or informal. Let’s take a look: Father (own family in formal situation) – ちち (父) Father (own…
Labor Thanksgiving Day Posted by Ginny on Nov 24, 2009
In Japan, the twenty-third of November is きんろうかんしゃのひ, or Labor Thanksgiving Day. (きんろう = labor. かんしゃ = thanks, gratitude. の = no particle. ひ = day.) Labor Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday where people remember all the hard work done in the agricultural industry, the service industry and many other industries. I think nowadays…
Deep Fried Side Dishes Posted by Ginny on Nov 21, 2009
While perhaps not the most healthy, there are some delicious deep fried side dishes called 揚げ物 (agemono). One well known deep fried dish inside and outside of Japan is コロッケ. The ingredients for コロッケ differ by restaurant, but the most basic and commonly used ingredients include meat, potatoes, onion, salt rolled into oval shaped patties. After rolled in some flour, they…
~ませんか Posted by Ginny on Nov 18, 2009
For today’s post we’ll take a look at the ませんか construction. Let’s take a look at this sample sentence, “にほんご を べんきょうしませんか“. (にほんご = Japanese language. を = wo. べんきょうしませんか = won’t you study.) In English this sentence would mean “Won’t you study Japanese [with me]?”. To form the “Won’t you” construction, take the present polite negative…
Let’s/Shall Posted by Ginny on Nov 15, 2009
For today’s grammar point, let’s look at a sentence like this, “レストラン に いきましょう“. (レストラン = restaurant. に = ni particle. いきましょう = let’s go.) This sentence means, “Let’s go to [a/the] restaurant”. To form the “let’s” construction, just add ましょう to the stem of the verb. In this case the verb we used was いく, which…
20th Anniversary of the Emperor’s Ascension to the Throne Posted by Ginny on Nov 12, 2009
Today is the Kokumin Saiten (国民さいてん) or the day of the Emperor’s Ascension. The official ceremony for Emperor Akihito’s ascension to the throne was held in 1990 on the twelfth of November. Today is the twentieth anniversary of Emperor Akihito’s ascension. In celebration of this event, there was a concert held at the Koukyo (皇居) or…