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Saturday, March 8, 2008

日本語で - Nihongo de

Of course this blog will cover some Japanese. To start things off, maybe I shall start with some basics yet essential phrases particularly for independent travellers. I would not say I'm good in Jap but I'm confident to find my way about if I were to travel there. Having a blog on the language doesn't mean I'm a pro in it. In fact, I've got lots to learn on Kanji (chinese characs but in Jap pronounciation. Learning it would be very helpful since it's widely used in writings all over Japan considering my poor Chinese reading skill.




Introducing Yourself


Intro.wav


はじめまして ー Hajimemashite : Hello, nice to meet you....

あきらです。- Akira desu : I'm Akira

いいえ、 インドからきません。マレーシャです。ー Iie, Indo karakimasen, Mareshia desu
: Nope, (I'm) not from India. From Malaysia.
(Why India of all country? This is dedicated to an Indian friend. Thinking this phrase will come handy to her when she there.)



OK, I'm getting lazy now. I shall omit the hiragana & katakana to speed up things.




Greeting Others


greeting.wav


Ohayou gozaimasu : Good morning
Konnichiwa    : Good afternoon
Meari-san, Konnichiwa : Good afternoon, Miss Mary
Preetha-san, konnichiwa : Good afternoon, Miss ...




Locating A Place


direction.wav


Sumimasen, toire wa doko desuka : Excuse me, where's the toilet?
Kochira or kocchi : Here
Achira or acchi : Over there
Soudesuka, arigatou : IC, thanks.



Asking About Time

time.wav


Ima nanjidesuka : What's the time now?
Hachi ji : 8 o'clock
Hachiji hang : 8.30
Asa hachi ji : Morning 8 o'clock
Gogo sanji jiugofun : Afternoon 3.15
Ichi, ni, san, yon(shi), go, roku : 1,2,3,4,5,6
Nana(shichi), hachi, kiu, jyu, jyuichi, jyuni
: 7,8,9,10,11,12




While Shopping

shopping.wav


Kore..ikuradesuka : This..how much?
Chotto takaidesuyo : It's a lil expensive, you know?
Mou yasukutte iidesuka : Can it be cheaper?
Ja, koreni shimasu : Ok, I'll go for this.




When you are a guest, it's IMPORTANT to say

dining.wav


HMMM...OISHII : hmmm... DELICIOUUUUSSS ( LoL..in general...every host loves to hear this)




Common Expression

expression.wav


Hai : Yes
Iie : No
Soudesuka : OIC (new info)
Soudesune : IC and I agree
Ee.. sugoii : Wow...amazing ( or great, fantastic)
Ja mata : Till then, bye!
Mata ashita : See you tmr
Mata atode : See you later



Fuh.......at last...mission accomplised... Do I get any credit for my effort?
Last but not least, remember to imitate my tone and pronounciation as close as possible. You won't know what they understand if u pronounced wrongly.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Ching, I just read your blog. Thanks so much for the educational info! Hope i remember at least some of it while Im there! Arigato!

Call me A.S for AkiraSabine said...

Hey Preetha, thanks for dropping in. My pleasure, dey.

Sze Wei said...

Really good effort!! =D
You even have .wav files to hear the pronunciations, nicee! =D

Tips:
1) 'otearai' also means toilet. =p

2) 'kiu' should be 'kyu' cos it came from 'ki-yu' =)

3) 'gogo' generally means PM rather than afternoon =)

4) typo: 'hachi ji hang' -> 'han' =/

5) 'ja' generally means 'ok', 'fine' =D

6) 'ja ne...' means 'let me think', 'well then'. It's to pause a conversation. =)

7) The repeating in ur .wav files kinda irritating and ur voice a little monotonous =p

Hope you don't take this personally cos this is how I feel, expecially on no.7 =)

Tomorrow my japanese exam!! SAVE MEE!! Lol... =D

Call me A.S for AkiraSabine said...

Hi Sze Wei,

Koko kita, arigatou.

Well, thanks for your comments and generous tips. Anyway, this post was actually meant as a quick fix for ppl who never learnt Nihongo before. That's why i did not stress on the spellings. As long as they can pronounce, it's already enough for me. Ohh..is it? 'ja-ne' means to pause. Then I think the right word should be ja-mata.

Yeap, I did the audio just for the fun of it and to make it clearer on how to pronounce the words. Far off if you wanna compare me with language learning audio sounds in the market or those on more established language websites.

Btw, what exam is that? Are you taking your Nihongo at a language centre? I've long left this language behind eversince I graduated from uni. Took it only as an elective subject.

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