Colloquial Japanese

The Complete Course for Beginners

Junko Ogawa, Fumitsugu Enokida

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317306214
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Colloquial Japanese provides a step-by-step course in Japanese as it is written and spoken today. This new edition has been completely rewritten by experienced teachers; it combines an accessible approach with a thorough treatment of the language, equipping learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Japanese in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required.

Key features include:

• progressive coverage of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills
• jargon-free explanations of grammar, with key structures presented through user-friendly diagrams
• Coverage of the different writing systems of Japanese: hiragana, katakana and kanji
• an extensive range of focused and stimulating exercises
• realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of scenarios
• useful vocabulary lists throughout the text
• additional resources available at the back of the book, including a full answer key, a grammar summary, a verb/adjective list with conjugation aid, bilingual glossaries and English translations of dialogues

Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Japanese will be an indispensable resource both for independent learners and for students taking courses in Japanese.

Audio material to accompany the course is available to download free in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills. Supplementary exercise sheets for hiragana, katakana and kanji and two additional units can also be found here. These additonal units cover more advanced features of Japanese and incorporate a wide assortment of supporting exercises.

By the end of this course, you will be at Level B1 of the Common European Framework for Languages and at the Intermediate-Mid on the ACTFL proficiency scales.

Unit One

Watashi wa Nihon-jin desu

I am Japanese

In this unit you will learn about:

• how to introduce yourself (name, nationality, occupation)

• Basic Japanese structure: X wa Y desu

• Japanese names and -san (Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss)

• asking and answering yes/no questions

• numbers up to 10

• giving and asking for telephone numbers

• hiragana of Unit 1

あいうえお

かきくけこ

がぎぐげご

Dialogue 1

How do you do? I am Honda (Audio 1:14)

Miss Honda is introducing herself.

HONDA	Hajimemashite.
	Jikoshōkai shimasu.
	Watashi wa Honda desu.
	(Watashi wa) Nihon-jin desu.
	(Watashi wa) Daigakusēdesu.
	Dōzo yoroshiku.
MISS HONDA	How do you do?
	(I will) introduce (myself).
	I am Honda.
	(I) am Japanese.
	(I) am a university student.
	Nice to meet you.

Vocabulary

hajimemashite	how do you do?
Jikoshōkai shimasu	introduce (oneself)
watashi	I
wa (particle)	[topic marker]
desu	desu can be “am”, “are” or “is”
Nihon-jin	Japanese (nationality)
Daigakusē	university student
dōzo yoroshiku	pleased to meet you.
ohayō (gozaimasu)	good morning
konnichiwa	good afternoon
konbanwa	good evening

Language points

Basic Japanese structure: X wa Y desu

One of the basic Japanese structures is “X wa Y desu”. This is equivalent to the English “X is Y”. The word order is different between English and Japanese, as you can see below:

The topic marker wa is the indicator of what the sentence is talking about (X = topic). In the above case, the sentence is talking about watashi “I”. Then, the information about the topic (Y = comment) follows in the comment section, in the above case, Honda desu “am Honda”.

“X” and “Y” in the X wa Y desu structure can take...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• The Colloquial Series
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Japanese scripts and pronunciation
• 1 Watashi wa Nihon-jin desu I am Japanese
• 2 Tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka When is your birthday?
• 3 Otearai wa doko desu ka Where is the toilet?
• 4 Ano kamera wa ikura desu ka How much is that camera over there?
• 5 Donna ongaku ga suki desu ka What kind of music do you like?
• 6 Watashi wa rainen Nihon e ikimasu I will go to Japan next year
• 7 Watashi wa yoku sūpā de hiru-gohan o kaimasu I often buy lunch at the supermarket
• 8 Ōsaka ni yūmēna (o)shiro ga arimasu There is a famous castle in Osaka
• 9 Nichi-yōbi issho ni ēga o mimasen ka Won't you watch a film with me on Sunday?
• 10 Dōshite atarashī pasokon ga hoshī desu ka Why do you want to have a new PC?
• 11 Shinjuku Gyoen wa hirokute kirēna kōen desu Shinjuku Gyoen is a spacious and beautiful park
• 12 Musuko-san wa se ga takai desu ne Your son is tall, isn't he?
• 13 Koko ni suwatte mo ī desu ka May I sit down here?
• 14 Kinō no yoru 8-ji goro ēga o mite imashita I was watching a film at around 8 p.m. yesterday
• 15 Pūru de oyoidari, toshokan de hon o karitari shimasu I do various things such as swimming in the pool and borrowing books from the library
• 16 Sukoshi dake Supein-go o hanasu koto ga dekimasu I can speak a little bit of Spanish
• Translations of dialogues
• Grammar summary
• Appendix
• Key to exercises
• Japanese–English glossary
• English–Japanese glossary
• Index of language points