tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26272609794675922092024-03-13T02:31:26.200-07:00Nihon-A-Go-goUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627260979467592209.post-52268772414026504272011-07-13T00:17:00.000-07:002011-07-13T00:21:28.413-07:00Theory of Multiple Intelligence<a href="http://nihonagogo.blogspot.com/2010/11/note-on-foreign-languages.html">Earlier</a> I talked about Multiple Intelligences. Well, I have links for you! <a href="http://lth3.k12.il.us/rhampton/mi/MIIDENTIFIED.htm">This is a page about Multiple Intelligences</a>, and <a href="http://www.nedprod.com/Niall_stuff/intelligence_test.html">here is a link to a test</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627260979467592209.post-78866097904927039682010-11-24T12:55:00.000-08:002013-07-11T10:01:10.621-07:00A Note on Foreign Languages<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Here I sit, in my room at almost 6 am, after a largely sleepless night. My friend William asked me earlier if I could help him with Chinese and Japanese. I thought it would be tutoring him in grammar or something. Turns out, he just wanted to know how to do it. I'm taking out my parts of the conversation and editing them into a respectable post, because this blog's reason for being is foreign languages.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">First, let me say this: I HATE people who say they aren't language people or they don't have a knack for it. It's a shit ton of work no matter how you split it, but motivation and practice make perfect. If you can remember just one thing remember that: practice makes perfect, persistence wins the battle and attitude begets results. You can do it, even if it's after 1,000 failures.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">If you think about it, y</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">ou don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">every</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> word and grammatical pattern in your native language (in this case, English) at your disposal. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Also, shocking news: you probably only used about 10,000 words. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">And you probably use less than 200 grammatical patterns. A</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">nd you're considered fluent. Congratulations. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Okay, so how do we start adding languages?</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">1. It's not English, so don't force it into being English. A method might be to make an equation of a grammatical point. The boy kicks the ball SUBJECT(article NOUN) verb OBJECT(article NOUN). You can do that with Chinese, French, Greek, Nahuatl and so forth if you treat it that way. It might be old fashion and inaccurate, but it might help 80% of the time.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">2. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Try using your target language as often as you can - even if it's speaking to yourself. You will feel more confident with it and you'll get a feel for what is natural and what isn't. Open the refrigerator and think "I will open the fridge, I am opening the fridge, I opened the fridge" in your target language: you'll be using 2-3 grammatical patterns an elementary level, and you can build on it to higher levels.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> Speaking the language to yourself makes you comfortable with speaking in general.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">3. If you have the opportunity to get a tutor (even if you're just talking to a friend who speaks the language), ask them if you can talk in the language and correct the most GLARING errors. By focusing on larger trends in your deficiencies, you'll break down your largest obstacles. As you go on, you'll save yourself from those mistakes, and then you won't make those mistakes anymore. And your tutor can correct the finer points as you progress.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> In the same vein, if you know that XYZ is "book," don't study it. "Study automatic vending machine" instead.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">4. Don't stress over it. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Don't expect perfection and don't worry about mistakes. You're obviously NOT XXXXX. Even if you were, you live in YYYYY. And unless you went to a language school or were immersed in language XXXX-ese since a young age, you're going to make mistakes. Most people you talk to will at least try to make the effort to communicate.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">5. Also, while writing, reading, listening or speaking while </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">thinking</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> in your target language. It will cut down on time and you won't go "He said 'I will do to ihfiewhade... what is sugfuegw? OMFG I don't know this!!!! DEERINHEADLIGHTS'" If you're in language mode, you'll think "Okay he said "I will go to thejhdsgfjhbce because I'm hungry.' I thought I heard "student" in there... student... hungry.... ah-hah - student cafeteria.'" Just keep at it and it will become automatic.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">6. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Don't cram for 4 hours a day... at once. If you want to study 4 hours a day, do it in maybe 30 minute bursts a few hours apart. And it can be as simple as making a deck of 20 vocabulary flash cards here, reading from the text there, Skyping friend X on Thursdays for an hour. You'll digest the material easier and you'll become adept with switching gears quicker and quicker. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Do you have an iPod touch or something like that? Download flash card apps - especially if you can make your own lists - to study on the go. Listening AND reading no matter where you go! You have your iPhone everywhere anyway. Whip it out do a few cards while you're waiting for the prof to come in, while you're in line at the store, poopin'. Seriously. We have some of t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">he most ingeniously convenient technology and we carry it everywhere... and we use it for Plants vs Zombies. Download songs in your target language, watch TV and movies, read anything from shampoo labels to the newspaper. While we're at it, try writing a blog, diary or anything else.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">7. You are an intelligent, bright person starting to speak a second (third, fourth...) language. Some people can speak very well in their second language, but only know a few words and fairly simple grammar (they stay at an intermediate level, you should be able to hold a basic debate or give broad-strokes explanation about something). You may not be able to deliver a speech in Japanese about the finer parts of thermonuclear dynamics, and no one expects you too, but surely you can tell some one about that funny thing that happened the other day. And which are you going to use most often?</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">8. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Have fun with the words. Children learn languages by babbling. Try it. Say </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">suihanki</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> slowly, tasting each syllable. Say it in a yakuza accent. Say it fast, slow, angrily, lovingly -- sing it. Write the kanji and make up stories to remember them. Use your hands to act out a sentence. Engage your body and your mind.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">9. Keep a daily journal in said language. Go back and review it every so often. Edit it, have people help you edit it. Use EVERY kanji you can as often as you can when reading or writing. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Write vocab on index cards and stick them to things. "DOOR" goes on the door, WINDOW on the window... Seeing them daily helps make the language part of your daily life.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">10. Listen to the target language as often as you can. Download music you like, podcasts on topics that interest you personally or professionally. Watch movies and TV shows unsubbed. New research and theories suggest that listening to a target languages 2 years before trying to speak it yields better results in comprehension and pronunciation. Increased listening while already speaking a language also boosts comprehension and pronunciation.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Lastly: search "The Theory of Multiple Intelligences." You should be able to find a quiz or two that will take 15 minutes and allow you to find out how you learn. Apply that to your endeavors, especially if you're young. We're forced at a young age to learn by one mode, and although a student might be brilliant, he or she might not learn math well if it's taught as abstract symbols. They might need to move jellybeans into jars. You might not learn Japanese from reading a textbook by rote, but you might learn it by conversation, or a comic strip from the newspaper into Japanese</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And visit this website: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0000ee;"><a href="http://l2mastery.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">http://l2mastery.com/</span></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0000ee;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Yeah. There are A MILLION ways to learn something.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Right now you're are 100% Engish. You're maybe 25% fluent in Japanese and 12% Chinese (for arguement's sake). </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">You could have started the two at the same time, so long as you keep them separate there should be no problems. Say y</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">ou have Chinese class 3 hours and 45 mins a week. S</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">pend another 12 outside class an</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">d alternate it with 12 hours of Japanese a week (Monday Japanese, Tuesday Chinese....) a h</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">alf hour here and a half hour there. T</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">ry and do it when you feel best. If you for some reason are a studying machine when watching prime time TV on Thursdays, that is 45 mins of, say writing kanji while </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">doing flashcards during commercials. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">BOOM - done.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Don't forget to keep yourself interested and self motivated. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">You are not doing this for a just grade, right? </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">You obviously </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">want </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">to learn the language(s). Why? You like the culture, you think it's a beautiful language, y</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">ou want to live in China, Taiwan, Japan.... </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Whatever the reason, you have some sort of GOAL to obtain that's not just LEARN IT FOR FRIDAY'S TEST. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">You're learning it because it's something you WANT TO DO. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Too many people say "When am I going to need to use French?" When you want to go to France, maybe? When you meet that special someone who's Swiss? When you go Quebec for business? In those three scenarios are three valid scenarios with different degrees of need behind them, all of which have some degree of motivation behind them. Find out your reason and never for get it. And never drop a language. It will come back to haunt you when you least expect it.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0000ee; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">You're doing something very difficult and t</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">hat is impressive in and of itself. If you're hazy but getting it, that's amazing. If you can make sense of it, you're pretty much a genius. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">If you have some rudimentary degree of command and proficiency when trying to make a complex sentence there is NOTHING stopping you from becoming fluent in time. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">It's not going to be over night. And it might not be in a year.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">It might take 10. </span></span></span></span>But I'm willing to bet it'll be less than that.</span></span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627260979467592209.post-51327688682268047202010-04-21T19:25:00.000-07:002013-07-11T10:04:05.986-07:00About Japanese Verbs - Plain Form<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
Level 5 – Honorific/Humble: certain words are substituted to increase the politeness level</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>To eat: meshi-wo-agarimasu (honorific) / itadakimasu (humble)</div>
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Level 4 – Without using Level 5, we can still achieve a higher level of politeness by changing the verbs <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>into their “~masu” form</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>To eat: tabemasu</div>
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Level 3 – By using “desu” at the end of a Level 2 verb, we can bump up the politeness of a sentence <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>without sounding too formal or too informal</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>To eat: taberu desu</div>
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Level 2 – An intimate form used between close friends and family as well as in the smaller phrases that <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>occur in complex sentences, such as “the boy wearing a blue coat”</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>To eat: taberu</div>
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Level 1 – Vulgar or colloquial language; the word choice maybe deliberately course, a matter of <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>sex/gender or dialect</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>To eat: kuu</div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Plain Forms (Level 2)</span>:</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Japanese has several distinct levels of politeness, as noted above. A honorific/humble level (Level 5), a daily formal form, also called the “~masu” form (Level 4). At the familiar level (Level 2), we have the plain/informal form of the verbs. There are several types:</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The regular <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">える</span> and <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">いる</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Then the semi-irregular groups of: -<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">す</span>; -<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">く</span>; -<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ぐ</span>; -<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">つ</span>; -<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">る</span>; -<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">う</span>; -<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ぬ</span>; -<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">む</span>; -<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ぶ</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And the completely irregular <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">する</span> and<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">くる</span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Plain Positive</span>:</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>These are also called the “dictionary form” because we find verbs in this form while consulting a dictionary. Every verb (including Level 5 and Vulgar/colloquial (Level 1) verbs). In their plain form, these verbs have their own distinct way of behaving.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In their natural form, these verbs are in their imperfect tense (to ~), but can mean “does,” “will do in the future,” or “will as a matter of habit.”</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">食べる</span> taberu - (to eat)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">見る</span> miru - (to see)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">履く</span> haku - (to wear pants/shoes)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">脱ぐ</span> nugu - (to undress)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">貸す</span> kasu - (to lend)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">待つ</span> matsu - (to wait)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">とる</span> toru - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">と</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">とった</span> (to take)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*beware: some verbs that end with <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">いる</span>/<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">える</span> conjugate like this type of verb</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">買う</span> kau - (to buy)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">死ぬ</span> shinu - (to die)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">読む</span> yomu - (to read)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">飛ぶ</span> tobu - (to fly)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">する</span> suru - (to do)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">くる</span> kuru - (to come)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>John eats/will eat sushi. : <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ジョンは寿司を食べる。</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In the case of です (desu), we have two forms: <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">だ</span> (da: used for casual speech and in newspapers and books) and<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">である</span> (dearu: for formal public addresses, such as speeches and official documents). In the case of true adjectives, we preserve them as is (<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">大きい</span>).</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Plain Negative</span>: </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In this form, we create the opposite of the plain positive, and as one would think, these words be come “does not~,” “will not do in the future,” or “does not/will not do as a matter of habit.”</div>
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<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">いる</span>/<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">える</span>: Remove final <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">る</span> and add <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ない</span> (nai)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">食べる</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">食べ</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">食べない</span> taberu - (to not eat)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">見る</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">見</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">見ない</span> miru - (to not see)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In the other verb's cases, let's make an easier way to conjugate for now and the future. Japanese has 5 types of vowel sounds: A I U E O. If we order these as A = 1, I = 2, U = 3, E = 4 and O = 5. To create the negative, all we must do for these verbs is simply change the U-sound tail into the corresponding A-sound and add <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ない</span>. This can be called the V(erb-stem)1+ない form.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">履く</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">履か</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">履かない</span> hakanai - (to not wear pants/shoes)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">脱ぐ</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">脱が</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">脱がない</span> nuganai - (to not undress)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">貸す</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">貸さ</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">貸さない</span> kasanai – (to not lend)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">待つ</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">待た</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">待たない</span> matanai - (to not wait)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">とる</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">とら</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">とらない</span> toranai - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">と</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">とった</span> (to not take)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*beware: some verbs that end with <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">いる</span>/<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">える</span> conjugate like this type of verb</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>* the verb <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ある</span>aru is irregular in this case: <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ある</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ない</span> to not exist (inanimate)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">買う</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">買わ</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">買わない</span> kawanai - (to not buy)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*this form is irregular through out -<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">う</span> verbs</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">死ぬ</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">死な</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">死なない</span> shinanai – (to not die)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">読む</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">読ま</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">読まない</span> yomanai – (to not read)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">飛ぶ</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">飛ば</span> – <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">飛ばない</span> tobanai – (to not fly)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The irregular verbs, being irregular, need to be memorized for their correct conjugation:</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">する</span> becomes <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">しない</span> shinai – (to not do)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">くる</span>becomes <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">こない</span> konai - (to not come)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>John doesn't eat/will not eat sushi. : <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ジョンは寿司を食べない。</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>です, becomes <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">じゃない</span> in casual communication or <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ではない</span> for official documents and public speeches. The final <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">い</span> in true adjectives becomes -<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">くない</span>: <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">大きくない</span>.</div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Plain Past-<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tense:</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">One of the more vexing plain verb forms comes from a contraction of V2 stem with </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">た; here it's called the </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">V2'ta. Pay close attention to the divisions made because the grouped verbs behave the same:</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">いる</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">/</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">える</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">: Remove final </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">る</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> and add </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">た</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">食べる</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">食べ</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">食べた</span> (to eat)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">見る</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">見</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">見た</span> (to see)</div>
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<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">く</span>/<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ぐ</span>: Change <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">く</span>/<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ぐ</span>into <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">いた</span>/<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">いだ</span>. The "ten-ten" remains preserved; i.e.: GU - IDA</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">履く</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">履</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">履いた</span> (worn pants/shoes)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">脱ぐ</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">脱</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">脱いだ</span> (undressed)</div>
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<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">す</span>: Changes into <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">した</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">貸す</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">貸</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">貸した</span> (lent)</div>
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<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">つ</span>/<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">る</span>/<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">う</span>: Becomes <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">った</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">待つ</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">待</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">待った</span> (waited)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">とる</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">と</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">とった</span> (took)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*beware: some <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">いる</span>/<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">える</span> verbs conjugate this way</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">買う</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">買</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">買った</span> (bought)</div>
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<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ぬ</span>/<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">む</span>/<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">ぶ</span>: Becomes <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">んだ</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">死ぬ</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">死</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">死んだ</span> (died)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">読む</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">読</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">読んだ</span> (read)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">飛ぶ</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">飛</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">飛んだ</span> (flown)</div>
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Irregular: Must be memorized</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">する</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">した</span> (did)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">くる</span> (<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">来る</span>) - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">きた</span> (came)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">行く</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">行った</span> (went)</div>
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Adjectives:</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>True adjectives’ final <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">い</span> is removed and is replaced by <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">かった</span>.</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">新しい</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">新し</span> - <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">新しかった</span> (new)</div>
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<b>***Coincidentally, to achieve the PAST-NEGATIVE, all we have to do is conjugate the final -</b><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;"><b>ない</b></span><b> like an adjective to get the plain past-negative form.***</b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></b><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;"><b>食べる</b></span><b> – </b><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;"><b>食べない</b></span><b> – </b><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;"><b>食べなかった</b></span> tabenakatta (did not eat)</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>です and だ become<span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">だった</span> in informal exchanges and in books or newpapers. <span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN;">であった</span> is used in the case of official notices or speeches.</div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">V2’</span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Hiragino Mincho ProN'; letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">て</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">-Form:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The so called -te form is handy. By know it, we can begin to stack sentences to create longer and more complex thoughts, such as creating a sequence of actions, listing qualities and expressing modes of how something is done among other complex ideas. It conjugates like the V2'た form, but we obviously use て instead.</div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">いる</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">/</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">える</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: Remove final </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">る</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> and add </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">て</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">寝る</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">寝</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">- </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">寝て</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to sleep)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">見る</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">見</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">見て</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to see)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">く</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">/</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">ぐ</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: Change </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">く</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">/</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">ぐ</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">into </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">いて</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">/</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">いで</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">. The ten-ten remains preserved; i.e.: GU - IDE</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">履く</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">履</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">履いて</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to put on pants/shoes)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">脱ぐ</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">脱</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">脱いで</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to undress)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">す</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: Changes into </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">して</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">貸す</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">貸</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">貸して</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to lend)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">つ</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">/</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">る</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">/</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">う</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: Becomes </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">って</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">待つ</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">待</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">待って</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to wait)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">とる</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">と</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">とって</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to take)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*beware: some </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">いる</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">/</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">える</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> verbs conjugate this way</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">買う</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">買</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">買って</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to buy)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">ぬ</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">/</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">む</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">/</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">ぶ</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: Becomes </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">んで</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">死ぬ</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">死</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">死んで</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to die)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">読む</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">読</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">読んで</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to read)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">飛ぶ</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">飛</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">飛んで</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to fly)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Irregular</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">: Must be memorized</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">する</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">して</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to do)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">くる</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">来る</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">) - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">きて</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (</span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">来て</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - to come)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">行く</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">行って</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (to go)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;">Adjectives</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">:</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>True adjectives’ final </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">い</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> is removed and is replaced by </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">くて</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">新しい</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">新し</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> - </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">新しくて</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> (new)</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">です becomes </span><span style="font: 12.0px Hiragino Mincho ProN; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">で</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">The plain forms are, in general, more useful than the formal -masu forms, because these forms become imbedded phrases, can act like adjectives and are sentences in and of themselves.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627260979467592209.post-69501548321770979712010-03-10T14:04:00.000-08:002010-09-18T20:46:52.523-07:00Lesson 1: Grammar, Syntax and Nouns<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Obviously languages function in a certain way so that their speakers can communicate. In English our basic syntax is SUBJECT VERB OBJECT, as in "The <i>cat</i> <i>drinks</i> the <i>milk</i>." In Japanese, the syntax is SUBJECT OBJECT VERB; <i>猫</i>は<i>ミルク</i>を<i>飲みます</i>. However, a grammatical particle must be used, in the cases of English and Japanese to show how the subject, object and verb relate to each other. In English, we use <i>the</i> for this purpose. "The" is a definite article allows use to specify a particular subject and item. The verb too allows us to identify a single milk-drinking cat, so conjugation is also important.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In Japanese, there is a lack of definite articles, a pluralization of nouns and conjugation of plural verbs as well as no separate future tense makes this sentence vague; it could become "the cat drinks the milk," "cats drink milk," or even "the cats will drink milk." So what are we to do?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In the case of nouns, we have a system of numbering related items by type. For instance, cats are small animals, so they have a distinct counting word which can also be used for all small animals. That is to say, things like cats and dogs would have a different counting word than cars or boats. This system is not used as often as one might think; it's only used when the number of a noun needs to be specific.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Occasionally the suffixes like -たち will be used. たち (tachi) means "group" and again, is generally used when a specific group needs to be defined. 猫たち would mean "the group of cats," although using just 猫 would be sufficient to imply cats as a whole. Saying 私たち (watashitachi) would be an acceptable use as it sets apart ME (私) and my group (たち), or simply "we."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Verb conjugation in English is difficult because the verb has to agree with number and tense: I drink, I drank, I will drink, I do not drink, I did not drink, I will not drink, You drink.... etc. Japanese's basic verb conjugations are Present/Future Positive, Present/Future Negative, Past Positive and Past Negative: 飲みます, 飲みません, 飲みました, 飲みませんでした. These conjugations also account for I, you (singular and plural), he/she/it, we, and they.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Now, to reflect the parts of speech, we use post-positional particles. In other words, the particle after the word tells us what its doing in the sentence. は shows us the subject or topic of the sentence. Interestingly, a Japanese sentence does not require a subject; so long as the topic has been introduced and hasn't been changed, we can omit it: 猫はミルクを飲みます。一杯を飲みました。太っています。The cat drinks milk. (It) drank a lot. (It) became (and remains) fat; or even (It) is fat. Our direct object particle を, in this case shows us our direct object (what is affected by a verb) and usually goes before a transitive verb (a verb that needs a subject and an object to work).</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Hopefully this was enlightening, and I'm going to be editing and adding to this and all posts constantly.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Vocabulary:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">猫 - neko - cat(s)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">ミルク - miruku - milk</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">飲みます - nomimasu - (will) drink (polite)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">私 - watashi - I/me (polite)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">私たち - watashitachi - We/us (polite)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">飲みません - nomimasen - will/do not drink (polite)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">飲みました - nomimashita - drank (polite)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">飲みませんでした - nomimasendeshita - did not drink (polite)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">は - wa - topic/subject particle; sometimes translated as "Speaking of..." or "As for..."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">一杯 - ippai - a lot (of a liquid); literally "one (cup, spoon etc) full"</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">太っています - futotteimasu - to get (and remain) fat</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">を - (w)o - marks a direct object taking a transitive verb; the "w" isn't usually pronounced</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627260979467592209.post-42221635663574418342010-03-09T08:58:00.000-08:002013-07-11T10:05:33.270-07:00Review: The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; line-height: normal; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Edited by Jack Halpern</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1999, Kodansha International</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ISBN 978-4-7700-2855-6</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">$39.99 US, but can be found as cheap as $24 and change</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I have nothing bad to say about this book, save it was expensive when I bought it, but it is worth every penny. This dictionary </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: medium; white-space: pre;">is easy to use, fairly portable and contains 2200+ kanji. The SKIP system employed by the dictionary could not make it easier </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: medium; white-space: pre;">to find a character, and each entry has several examples per reading of a given kanji. Just browsing the book makes for an </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: medium; white-space: pre;">interesting read.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2627260979467592209.post-66407493956652500432010-03-07T12:24:00.000-08:002013-07-11T10:09:06.873-07:00Review: Japanese Step by Step<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKFqr50phlQdBWgJqKhnOixd86TCqo_hkc4Yy-dJOu6mVdzwAc8Zn9dmHbv_Czs-g423qeianADi_2DPAa4inuIaeLYsq4jGAocu8cXVRP5qffCOTSj_0s61Oy6Cz7MJHc435Mbe0FuzI/s1600-h/nishi.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445993989838063586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKFqr50phlQdBWgJqKhnOixd86TCqo_hkc4Yy-dJOu6mVdzwAc8Zn9dmHbv_Czs-g423qeianADi_2DPAa4inuIaeLYsq4jGAocu8cXVRP5qffCOTSj_0s61Oy6Cz7MJHc435Mbe0FuzI/s320/nishi.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 320px;" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Japanese Step by Step:</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> An Innovative Approach to Speaking and Reading Japanese</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Nishi, Gene</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">2000; McGraw-Hill</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ISBN 0-658-01490-0</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">$16.95 US (a new edition will be published soon at $12.00)</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">New edition pictured; Image from Amazon</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">I</span></span> bought this book about 2 years ago and it remains a favorite. I absolutely adore Nishi's code for conjugation, which simplifies <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; white-space: pre;">the process of conjugating mentally on the fly. His clear, practical and concise explanations are practical and easily bring the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; white-space: pre;">student to an intermediate level of grammar. And the index for counters and numbers is a rich resource for the beginning and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; white-space: pre;">advanced student.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">However, vocabulary is somewhat lacking; although it possesses one of the richest compendiums of verbs that I've ever seen, as well as a large index of counter-words,</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; white-space: pre;">the lack of a comprehensive noun glossary makes this book a little less than adequate for it to remain a core text for self-study.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; white-space: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Still, this book is great for a beginner, or if one already knows some Japanese from travel/phrase books and are looking </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; white-space: pre;">to take the next step without enrolling in a course, or don't want to tackle a textbook.</span></div>
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