more on numbers

The Big Numbers

Apr

13

2009

We’re gonna learn how to count the big numbers:

1,000 : せん

2,000 : にせん

3,000 : さんぜん

4,000 : よんせん

5,000 : ごせん

6,000 : ろくせん

7,000 : ななせん

8,000 : はっせん

9,000 : きゅうせん

10,000 : いちまん

20,000 : にまん

30,000 : さんまん

40,000 : よんまん

50,000 : ごまん

60,000 : ろくまん

70,000 : ななまん

80,000 : はちまん

90,000 : きゅうまん

Let’s have a look at a number like 1,300. You would tackle the 1,000 first, which is せん. Then you’d take care of the 300, which is さんびゃく. Altogether 1,300 = せんさんびゃく. With a number like 35,000 you’d need to count the number of places. The last place holder starting from the right is the number 3 in the ten thousands place. So in Japanese this would be さんまん. Then count the place holder that contains 5. It’s the thousands place. So this would be ごせん. Altogether 35,000 = さんまんごせん. Let’s look at a number like 234,567. Let’s use ten thousand as the marker for dividing up the units. If you count from the right you’ll see that 23 occupies the ten thousand marker which would be にじゅうさんまん or 23,000. I’ll give you the number altogether. See if you can figure out it on your own. 234,567 = にじゅうさんまん よんせん ごひゃく ろじゅう なな.

Japanese Age

Japanese Age

Apr

10

2009

In English, you state the number of years that you are, and attach the phrase “years old” or “year old” to the number to state your age. In Japanese, it works much like the same way, expect that there are some pronunciation changes that some of the numbers go through. The suffix sai (さい) means “years old”. See if you can see any irregularities in the numbers:

1 year old: いっさい

2 years old: にさい

3 years old: さんさい

4 years old: よんさい

5 years old: ごさい

6 years old: ろくさい

7 years old: ななさい

8 years old: はっさい

9 years old: きゅうさい

10 years old: じゅうさい

Ok, so the irregular ones are 1 and 8. 1 just by itself is いち, but when you add the suffix さい to it, it changes to いっさい. The same goes for 8. 8 by itself is はち, but when you add さい you get はっさい. Both 1 and 8 end in ち. When ち is pronounced just before さ, the pronounciation will change to either はっ or いっ. These changes are meant so that it’ll be easier to pronounce. One more thing I want to note is that 1 years old and 8 years old is pronounced as issai (いっさい) not itsusai (いつさい), and hassai (はっさい) not hatsusai (はつさい). The small tsu (っ) indicates a double consonant.

Another thing to note is that 4 years old is よんさい. よさい and しさい is incorrect. Also for 7 years old, しちさい will not work. If you look at the explantion above, you’ll see why. For 9 years old, its きゅうさい not くさい.

To form numbers 11-19, just take the second digit ending and add it to じゅう. 11 years old will be じゅういっさい. 1 is the second digit in 11 and since 1 years old is いっさい, attach that to じゅう and you get 11 years old.

One another thing to note is that you might hear people use はたち for 20 years old a lot more often than にじゅうさい. Technically にじゅうさい is not wrong, so feel free to use it. Just be aware though, that はたち also means the same thing. Just like 20 years old, 30 years old, 40, 50 and so on are formed in the same way. Take the number for 30 and add sai (さい). No biggie.

See you next time!

Japanese Minutes

Japanese Minutes

Apr

7

2009

Before I list the minutes, pay attention to the endings of each minute. I’ll explain why later:

1 : いっぷん

2 : にふん

3 : さんぷん

4 : よんぷん

5 : ごふん

6 : ろっぷん

7 : ななふん

8 : はっぷん or はちふん

9 : きゅうふん

10 : じゅっぷん

If you look carefully at the endings, you’ll see that each of the minutes end in either ぷん or ふん. These endings will hold true when you get to the higher numbers.

For example: 11 minutes in Japanese has the same ending for 1 minute in Japanese. 1 minute = いっぷん. Notice how it has the ぷん ending. Take the ぷん ending and attach it to the word for 11, which is じゅういっぷん or 11 minutes.

The same goes for 18. Look at the second digit for 18. It ends in an 8. Look at the ending for the number 8, which is either ぷん or ふん. Just attach either ぷん or ふん to the number 18 and you’ll get 18 minutes.

Now let’s look at how to form 20 minutes. The second digit ends in zero, which means we’ll have to look at the ending for 10 minutes. The ending for 10 minutes end in ぷん. That means that we’ll have to add ぷん to the number 20 to get 20 minutes. The same goes for 30, 40, 50 and onwards.

Hopefully this method will help you with the minutes!

Japanese Companies

Japanese Companies In the U.S.

Apr

5

2009

I think most people take it for granted when it comes to the products they use. I’m willing to bet that everyone has at least one item made by a Japanese company. We’re going to play a little game today. Try to guess the company by the logo:

Bandai (バンダイ): They’re known for their toys and figurines.

Panasonic (パナソニック): Mostly for tv sets and other electronic appliances.

Honda (ホンダ): If you have never heard of this name, please get out of the cave.

Toyota (トヨタ): “I love what you do for me, Toyota!” Does this ring a bell?

Fujifilm (富士フイルム): Say cheese!

Nintendo (任天堂): This is sooo 80s and 90s, but I think it deserves to be here because it changed the video game industry as we know it.

Citizen (シチズン): In Japanese it’s pronounced as Shichizun and by the way, what time is it?

It’s time to say sayoonara (さようなら) or goodbye.�

Baby names

Japanese Baby Names

Mar

31

2009

You’ll find that Japanese names that end in certain syllables tend to be names for boys while others tend to be names for girls.

Take for example, names that end in roo (郎). Names that end in roo (郎) tend to be names for baby boys.

Taroo (太郎) = eldest son. Ta (太) = big. Roo (郎) = son.

Jiroo (二郎)= second son. Ji (二) = two. Roo (郎) = son.

Names that end or begin with ta (太) tend to be boy names as well.

Kenta (健太). Ken (健) = strong. Ta (太) = big.

Yuuta (勇太). Yuu (勇) = brave. Ta (太) = big.

Names that end in ko (子) tend to be female.

Akiko (明子). Aki (明) = bright. Ko (子) = child.

Keiko (慶子). Kei (慶) = celebration. Ko (子) = child.

Names that end or begin with mi (美) tend to be female as well.

Michiko (美智子). Mi (美) = beautiful. Chi (智) = wisdom. Ko (子).

Yumi (由美). Yu (由) = reason. Mi (美) = beautiful.

In general flower names like sakura (桜) = cherry blossoms, tend to be female while masculine names like takeshi (武) = warrior, tend to be for males.

Japanese Castles

Japanese Castles

Mar

30

2009

Like the medieval castles of Europe, the castles of Japan were meant to be a fortress against attacks. The general term for castle is shiro (城), but when the word for castle is a proper noun, the word castle is pronounced as joo (城) is attached. For example Chihaya castle would be pronounced as chihayajoo (千早城) not chihayashiro (千早城). Some of the castles reflect a military sensibility rather than a mansion built for royalty. Some of the most famous castles in Japan are located in harsh terrain. Castles located in the mountains were called yamashiro (山城). Castles surrounded by water were called mizuki (水城), while those hidden by low elevation are called hirayamashiro (平山城).

Some of the many impressive castles contained the yagura (櫓), which were towers used to view the enemy from below. There were tiny slits called yasama (やさま), where arrows could pass through, and even bigger holes for taihosama (たいほさま), where cannons could be shot through the air.

If the daimyoo (大名) was especially rich and powerful, he had smaller castles called shijoo (しじょお), in which lower ranking samurai (さむらい) lived. The daimyoo (大名) or lord lived in the honjoo (ほんじょお) or the main castle. That way, if the daimyoo (大名) was attacked, he had the convenient disposal of warriors ready at all times. Some of the castles that remain today stretch for many miles on end, and from a bird’s eye view you can see the main castle surrounded and protected by the smaller castles.

Although many castles are being restored and preserved for future generations, there are many castles are only survive in bits and pieces of stone. Many of the castles were destroyed in WWII and only the stone bases remain. Despite that, archaeologists have been able to see and learn what specific castles looked like by the records left by the previous residents of the castle. Luckily today, the castles are used as museums and for sight-seeing, not for military purposes.

Japanese Literature

Japanese Literature

Mar

28

2009

I’m going to recommend a classic piece of Japanese literature from the Heian (平安) period.

Genji Monogatari (源氏物語) or the The Tale of Genji, is a famous and renowned novel about a prince and his romantic dalliances. As much as Shakespeare is respected and praised all over the world, so is the author of Genji Monogatari (源氏物語) in Japan. Her name is, or I should say was, Murasaki Shikibu (紫式部). You can find translated versions of The Tale of Genji in English so there’s no excuse not to read it!

If you want to take the challenge and try reading it in Japanese, I’m going to warn you that it’s not an easy task. The language is written in the old Heian (平安) court style of Japanese, which is highly refined. On top of that, Murasaki (むらさき) has an unusual naming convention for her characters. In Heian (平安) times, it was considered rude to call someone directly by their name. For example, if I were to address the person next to me with a simple “Hello Jonathan” I would be committing a grave social mistake. In The Tale of Genji, you’ll find many characters with a title such as “the beautiful princess of the east”. This is not to say that the lady was an actual princess, but it’s just a polite title attached to the region from whence the person came. In the same vein, some of the men are referred to as “his excellency” or by the role or occupation the man serves in court.

It gets confusing when there’s a dialogue between several women and you have to sort out which “princess” is doing the talking and which “princess” is being refered to in the conversation. On top of that, some of the conversations are not direct, but involve some deductive thinking. For example, it’s not unusual to see a character recite a poem in place of an actual conversation. Some of the words have double meanings, which adds to the complication.

Before I go, I just want to add that the Tale of Genji is really a fun read. Once you get the characters down (which number in the hundreds), you’ll find some intricate and fascinating details about the life of upper class women, courtlife in general, and the workings of the Heian (平安) etiquette and social status system. One more thing that I’ll add is that you might find some of the moral codes of the Heian (平安) society distateful. In fact, if we were to judge the behavior of Genji (源氏) in a modern court of law, he would probably be sentenced to some MAJOR jail time. However, despite that, the book is interesting, so if you get a chance read it anyway.