Kanji

Okay, so I've been studying up on my kanji a lot lately, with the goal of getting to 100 in total. Right now my count is at around 90.... and here's the master list:

one　一

two　二

three　三

four　四

five　五

six　六

seven　七

eight　八

nine　九

ten　十

hundred　百

thousand　千

ten thousand　万

yen　円

time　時

day　日

book　本

person　人

moon　月

fire　火

water　水

tree　木

money　金

soil　土

weekday　曜

up　上

down　下

middle　中

half　半

mountain　山

river　川

origin　元

spirit　気

heaven　天

I　私

now　今

rice field　田

woman　女

man　男

to see　見る

to go　行く

to eat　食べる

to drink　飲む

east　東

west　西

north　北

south　南

mouth　口

to exit　出

right　右

left　左

minute　分

ahead　先

birth　生

big　大きい

small　小さい

learning　学

outside　外

country　国

capital　京

child　子

mother　お母さん

father　お父さん

word　語

to enter　入る

every　毎

high　高い

between　間

to rest　休む

noon　午

after　午後

before　前

name　名

white　白

friend　友だち

house　家

to like　好き

sentence　文

what　何

school　校

company　会

to meet　社

next　次

to serve　仕

to return　帰す

to think　思う

to read　読む

to say　言う

flower　花

tea　お茶

Genki ch. 6 verbs

Oh vocabulary learning... the most tedious part of learning a language, for me. Here's my list of verbs from Genki chapter 6.

u-verbs
asobu - to play
suwaru - to sit down
isogu - to hurry
kaesu - to return (things)
tsukau - to use
tetsudau - to help
tatsu - to stand up
motsu - to carry/hold
yasumu - to rest, to be absent
tabakoosuu - to smoke
ofuronihairu - to take a bath
kesu - to turn off, to erase
shinu - to die
hairu - to enter

ru-verbs
denwaokakeru - to make a phone call
oriru - to get off
shimeru - to close (something)
akeru - to open (something)
tsukeru - to turn on
kariru - to borrow
oshieru - to teach
wasureru - to forget

irregular verbs
mottekuru - to bring (a thing)
tsuretekuru - to bring (a person)

I have also done a whole bunch of kanji learning, but I shall wait until I have easy access to a Japanese-comprehending keyboard for that. ^.^

Nouns from Genki ch. 6

Here's the list of nouns from Genki chapter 6 (and a bit of the supplementary material from chapter 5).

ofuro - bath
hikikaeken - receipt
kyoukasho - textbook
mado - window
peiji - page
denki - electricity (ki in this context kind of means spirit... at least, its kanji does)
denchi - battery
densha - train
tsugi - next
rainen - next year (Obviously the prefix rai- means next)
raishuu - next week
konshuu - this week (... and -shuu means week)
shiminbyouin - municipal hospital
nimotsu - baggage
yoru - night
terebigeimu - video game
fuusho - letter (Letter can also be called 'tegami', and I'm not sure the distinction between them. Fuusho was introduced in the context of a post office.)

Genki vs. Living Language textbooks

I've been using the textbook 'Genki' for the last while rather than the Living Language one I had been using. The main reason behind my switch is that my Japanese partner in crime used Genki for the class she took, so it's easier if we work from the same material.

Here are some of my thoughts on the textbooks:

Genki
- lots of practice exercises, including oral and written
- no answer keys! I think this textbook is meant to be used in a classroom situation with a teacher and classmates.
- hiragana and katakana are essential after chapter 2, kanji introduced by lesson 3-4. This is good if you really want to immerse yourself in Japanese script and gain a lot of fluency, but it takes a lot of pre-studying. Learning vocab becomes a lot more difficult if you don't have a good grasp on the script.
- grammar explanations are sometimes confusing. They tend to throw all the info on a topic (e.g. adjectives) at you in the span of one lesson, which can be a lot to absorb. At the same time, this lessens the chance of developing bad habits because you don't know all the rules yet.
- no cd's/audio reinforcement as far as I know... at least not for students. The teacher's book may have something... or maybe your teacher is just supposed to demonstrate for you.


Living Language
- some practice exercises with answer keys, mostly written and multiple choice
- regular review tests
- mostly in romaji for the first 7-8 chapters, and gradually introduces the hiragana/katakana characters. This is good if you haven't sat down and memorized both alphabets before beginning to study anything else.
- grammar explanations are quite clear, with lots of charts. They also introduce the grammar one point at a time, and add details as they go.
- comes with cd set! This is excellent for pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, etc. The cd's also have a 'learn on the go' section, which means you can listen to them without the textbook in hand and learn a lot.

This is all I really have to say for now, but I'm sure I'll think of more later!

Adjectives

I'm feeling uber lazy about Japanese characters today, so you'll just have to bear with me and my (slightly confused and inconsistent) romaji spellings.

It's adjective review time! I think I've done a post on this before, but it's been a while, and I took a Japanese break and started up again, so it's time for review.

There are two basic types of adjectives in Japanese: na-adjectives and i-adjectives. You can tell the difference because i-adjectives end in i and na-adjectives end in na.... in their dictionary forms. Actually, i-adjectives end in i pretty much all the time.

When using both types of adjectives before a noun (aka as an attributive adjective), they get their dictionary form with full ending.

For example:
ookii (i-adjective)
kore ookii uchi - this big house
shizukana (na-adjective)
kore shizukana heya - this quiet room

When using i-adjectives after the noun (aka as a predicative adjective), keep the i ending followed by 'desu'.
Kore uchi wa ookii desu. - This house is big.

When using na-adjectives in predicative position, drop the na ending, and then use desu.
Kore heya wa shizuka desu. - This room is quiet.

Some adjectives:
ookii - big
chiisai - small
shizuka(na) - quiet
tsumaranai - boring
hima(na) - not busy
isogashii - busy
tanoshii - fun
muzukashii - difficult
yasashii - easy (or for a person, kind)
omoshiroi - interesting
kirei - pretty, clean
hansomu(na) - handsome

And that's all for now!