Intermediate Japanese Language

Lunch-time sessions at PCCBy Peter Missen

Session 2

Family

Objectives for this session

Family

Grammar

Existence

“And” particles

Culture – Japanese holidays Mar & Apr

Counters

long slender things

Japanese word processing

Communities of Practice for Public Service

Family

In Eastern cultures there are two sets of words to express members of a family.

One set of words to describe your own family.

One set of words to describe someone else’s family.

Plus they make a difference between older and younger brothers and sisters.

In essence LOTS OF WORDS TO LEARN!

Your own immediate family

• Grand father• Grand mother• Father• Mother• Older brother• Younger brother• Older sister• Younger sister

• sofu 祖父 • sobo 祖母 • chichi 父• haha 母• ani 兄 • otouto 弟 • ane 姉 • imouto 妹

Your own immediate family

• Family• Grandparents• Parents• Siblings• Husband• Wife• Children• Son• Daughter

• kazoku 家族 • sofubo 祖父母 • ryoushin 両親 • kyoudai 兄弟 • otto 夫 • tsuma 妻 • kodomo 子供 • musuko 息子 • musume 娘

Someone else’s immediate family

• Grand father• Grand mother• Father• Mother• Older brother• Younger brother• Older sister• Younger sister

• ojiisan• obaasan• otousan• okaasan• oniisan• otoutosan• oneesan• imoutosan

Someone else’s immediate family

• Family• Grandparents• Parents• Siblings• Husband• Wife• Children• Son• Daughter

• gokazoku• sofubo• ryoushin• kyoudai• shujin• okusan• okosan• musukosan• musumesan

Grammar – existenceThere are two ways to indicate the existence or presence of

things.

arimasu. あります。 (thing is inanimate and does not move by itself)

imasu. います。(thing is animate and moves by itself)

The particle ni is used to indicate the place where the thing is present.

Inanimate existence - examples

watashi no heya ni konpyu-ta- ga arimasu.

私の部屋にコンピューターがあります。

There is a computer in my room.heya = room (2kanji: part + roof)

kouen ni ki ga arimasu.

公園に木があります。 There are trees in the park.ki = tree.

Animate existence - examplesniwa ni neko ga imasu.

庭に猫がいます。 There is a cat in the garden.neko = cat

daidokoro ni inu ga imasu.

台所に犬がいます。 There is a dog in the kitchen.daidokoro = kitchen (2kanji: table + place)inu = dog.

Grammar – “and” particlesThere are two particles to express “and”.

to と (inclusive – shows all items)

ya や (a few representative items - others exist)

sometimes nado など is used at the end of the representative list to indicate etc.

Grammar – “and” particles - examples

hako no naka ni tegami to shashin to kippu ga arimasu.

箱の中に手紙と写真と切符があります。

In the box there are letters, photos, and tickets.

hako = box

naka = inside

tegami = letter (2kanji: hand + paper)

shashin = photograph (2kanji: copy + true)

kippu = ticket (2kanji: cut + tally)

Grammar – “and” particles - examples

hako no naka ni tegami ya shashin ya kippu [nado] ga arimasu.

箱の中に手紙や写真や切符 [ など ] があります。

In the box there are letters, photos, tickets etc.

[ ] square brackets are optional.

Grammar – “and” particles - examplesbaggu no naka ni hon to enpitsu to zasshi ga

arimasu.

バッグの中に本と鉛筆と雑誌があります。In the bag are books, pencils, and magazines.

hon = bookenpitsu = pencil (2kanji: lead + pen)zasshi = magazine (2kanji: miscellaneous + magazine)

Grammar – “and” particles - examples

baggu no naka ni hon ya enpitsu ya zasshi [nado] ga arimasu.

バッグの中に本や鉛筆や雑誌 [ など ] があります。

In the bag are books, pencils, magazines, etc.

Sentences with familykazoku wa nanijin desu ka.

家族は何人ですか。How many are there in your family?

kazoku = family (2kanji: home + clan)nani = what

There are 5.

五人です。go nin desu.nin = people (as well as jin)

Sentences with family - continuedryoushin to ane to ani ga imasu.

両親と姉と兄がいます。

My parents and,my elder sister and,my elder brother.(Plus me is assumed)

ryoushin (2kanji: both + parent)

Culture section – holidays & festivalsMarch and April National holidays:

Around March 20th Spring Equinox Day (shunbun no hi): Graves are visited during the week of the Equinox Day.

April 29th Showa Day (Showa no hi): The birthday of former Emperor Showa. Before 2007, April 29th was known as Greenery Day (now celebrated on May 4th). Showa Day is part of the Golden Week.

The Golden Week is a collection of four national holidays within seven days.

In combination with well placed weekends, the Golden Week becomes one of Japan's three busiest holiday seasons along with New Year and the Obon week.

Culture section – holidays & festivalsMarch and April Non-national holidays:

March 3rd Doll's Festival (hina matsuri): Also called girl's festival. On this day, families with

girls wish their daughters a successful and happy life.

Dolls are displayed in the house together with peach blossoms. The doll’s festival has its origin in a Chinese custom in which bad fortune is transferred to dolls and then removed by abandoning the doll on a river.

During Doll’s festival, the Japanese typically drink sweet sake and eat chirashi (scattered) sushi.

Culture section – holidays & festivalsMarch and April Non-national holidays:

March 14th White Day: The opposite of Valentine's Day. One month later the men

get to give cakes or chocolates to women. Men who received "courtesy chocolate" on Valentine's Day are expected to return the favour by giving gifts, usually more expensive!

Traditionally, popular White Day gifts are cookies, jewellery, white chocolate, white lingerie, and marshmallows.

Sometimes the term sanbai gaeshi "thrice the return" is used to describe the generally recited rule that the return gift should be two to three times the cost of the Valentine's Day gift.

Counters – long slender things 本

There are some minor irregularities in the way certain numbers are pronounced. 1 is ippon 2 is ni hon 3 is sam bon 4 is yon hon 5 is go hon 6 is roppon 7 is nana hon 8 is happon 9 is kyuu hon10 is juppon11 is juuippon…

いっぽん にほん

さんぼんよんほん

ごほん ろっぽん ななほん はっぽん

きゅうほんじゅっぽん

  じゅういっぽん

Japanese word processing (at home!)

Any questions/experiences to share?

Did anyone try to install Japanese characters on their computer?

Did anyone download JWPce?

Communities of Practice for Public Service

Communities of practice for local government is a website that supports collaboration across local government and the public sector. It is a freely accessible resource that enables like-minded people to form online communities of practice, which are supported by collaboration tools that encourage knowledge sharing and learning from each others’ experiences.

A Community of Practice is a network of individuals with common problems or interests who get together and explore ways of working to identify common solutions and share good practice and ideas.

The benefits of CoPs lie in providing a collaborative environment that connects people to other people, information and knowledge. Specifically CoPs can:

• encourage the development and sharing of new ideas and strategies• support faster problem-solving• cut down on the duplication of effort• provide potentially endless access to expertise

Language Learning & Development - Portsmouth City Council

A community has been created for us to communicate outside the sessions (Thanks Bev)

Library

Forums

Blogs

Events

Wikis

News feeds

You all have an invitation to join…

Home page

Homework

Nothing compulsory

Suggestions

– Work on making a few sentences

– Great if you can practice with a colleague

– Think about uses for the Community…

Questions

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