Week 5

Last night we looked at chapter 5 of BBC talk - saying where things are (in relation to other things) and covering some vocabulary about things you find in a town. See the power point on BB for vocab.
Saying where things are
The key words were:
tonari - next to
mae in front of
ushiro - behind
mukai - opposite
naka - inside
chikaku - near

EG: York wa Leeds no chikaku desu. York is near Leeds.

Useful phrases

There are also some useful phrases in this chapter for saying "I don't understand" "Please repeat that" "Please speak more slowly" - they are worth learning!

Adjectives
We have already come across a number of adjectives in the book so I talked a little bit about the use of adjectives both modifying a noun and also as a predicate:

Modifying noun --> hot coffee --> atsui kohi
Predicate --> Kono kohi wa atsui desu


There is also a negative form of adjectives:
atsui --> atsukunai
samui --> samukunai

See notes on BB (under grammar notes) for detail. Also check the link http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa040101a.htm for finding out more about adjectives.


Homework

Most people have already handed in their homework for feedback, I will look at them and get them back to you next week. If you haven't handed it in, make sure you get it in next week.

Week 4

The topics for this class were:

review of last week - introducing people
ordering in a restaurant, offering/ accepting and refusing food/ drink and also set phrases for eating and drinking.
Please make sure you have done all the exercises in ch 4 of the book.

The main grammar points covered were:
This and that
This - kore
That - sore
That over there - are

Counters
1. hitotsu
2. futatsu
3. mittsu
4. yottsu
5. itsutsu

Particles:
wa - topic marker
ga - subject marker
o - object marker
mo - replaces wa to add the sense of "aswell" e.g watashi mo - Me too.

After ch 4, there is a section called Checkpoint 1 - have a go at that and then identify which areas you need to work on.

Katakana - I am pleased to see that many people are working hard to get to grips with katakana. If you are still not confident, there are lots of resources in the library (orange box in the langauge resource room) as well as online resources to help you. Also try copying them out again and again. At this point, recognition is more important than being able to write them all from memory so concentrate on that. Also check youtube for the katakana alphabet song.

ASSIGNMENT FOR SUBMISSION
This must be handed in next week, and I will return it the following week with feedback.

Write a dialogue either people meeting for the first time and introducing others/ people making small talk at the bus stop/ at a restaurant or pub

Try not to just stick to phrases and vocab learnt in class but expand on what we have covered. This is your chance to show off to me how much you know. Try to make it as long as possible without being repetitive.
If you already know hiragana please write in hiragana. Otherwise, write in Romaji, try writing any katakana words in katakana.

Week 3

We completed chapter 3 of the book. You should now be able to introduce someone and mention what their relationship is to you. Make sure that you have done all the exercises in the book including the Now You're Talking section. Use this section to build up material for your portfolio - either written out dialogues or recorded ones.

Try to expand on the topics covered by
a) finding out about words for various family relationships ( see blackboard for some reference materials)
b) finding out more about adjectives and how to conjugate/use them

Also keep practicing the numbers so until you can say any number from 1-99 in random order and also say your own phone number and age.

You should have learnt all the basic katakana by now at least to recognise if not to write out. Work on learning the kana with sound changes and combinations. Don't forget there are resources in the language resource room as well as on BB/ internet etc.
If you are having trouble with any aspect of the language, or just need support/encouragement, come along to the Tuesday sessions from 3-4.

Week 2

This weeks topics were nationality and occupation.
You should be able to ask and answer yes/no questions about nationality

America jin desu ka
Hai sou desu / iie. igirisu jin desu

And also wh- questions about both topics:
O-kuni wa dochira desu ka
O-shigoto wa nan desu ka

Nan and dochira are so-called wh- question words because in English they begin with wh- what and where respectively.
There are resources on blackboard with additional vocabulary for these two topics.

Make sure you have completed all the exercises in chapters 1 and 2 including the "Now you're talking section"

You should also have learnt all the basic katakana by next week - there will be a small test. Don't forget there are materials in the resources room in the library (orange box on the high shelf that I showed you last night) for practicing katakana.

I am on campus on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon every week so if you have any questions or would like to talk to me about anything, get in touch and we can sort out a time.


Don't forget next Monday there will be a training session in the language lab from 4.30 - 5.30. Chexk out some head phones from the library desk on the ground floor. You could use this time to practice the "Now you're talking" sections and learn more about the lang lab system.

Week 1

Konnichi wa.

This week we learnt how to greet someone for the first time and ask their name.
I introduced katakana and some loan words which would be written in katakana in Japanese - food vocab.

We also learnt how to ask what's this
Kore wa nan desu ka

Also yes/ no questions

Kore wa piza desu ka

Hai, so desu
Hai, piza desu

Or
Iie, piza ja arimasen.
Chigaimasu, donatsu desu

NOTE:
You will have noticed that Watashi wa Mary desu and Kore wa piza desu ka both have the ----wa------desu pattern. Desu is the equivalent of is/am/are (present tense verb to be) - it doesn't change according to number, gender or person.
The wa is a grammatical marker that marks the topic of the sentence -the most important part.
It is actually known as a "particle" Japanese has lots of these particles, ka is another one which makes a statement into question.

Kore wa piza desu - this is a pizza
Kore wa piza desu ka - Is this a pizza?

They don't use question marks in Japanese punctuation because the ka has the same function.(Someone once remarked that Japanese has audible punctuation, this is an example of that)

HW: Make sure that you have read and understood ch 1 thoroughly by next week, if you can't get the book in time, there are copies in the library (in the languages resource room on the 2nd floor)