Japanese Titles

Titles

Apr

16

2009

I’m gonna go over some common titles that you might of heard people use when they refer to other people. In addition to titles, I also describe them as suffixes that you attach to names. These suffixes can do two things: 1) they identify the relationship you have with the speaker (intimate or formal) or 2) they identify who the speaker is (male/female, elder/junior).

The first suffix is さん. This is the most common of the honorary suffixes. It’s kind of like the title, “Mr./Mrs./Ms.”. This suffix is really flexible in that you can use it for both genders and it doesn’t matter whether the lady is married or not. The important thing to remember is that it’s a title used to show politeness and respect towards someone. You should use this with people you’ve never met before and people older than you.

The next suffix is くん. The general rule of thumb is that you use くん for young boys, but that’s not always the case. I’ve heard it used for women and for older men as well. It all depends upon the relationship of the speaker and the person whom くん is being referred to. くん is generally an indication that the speaker and the person being referred to are on a first name basis. The important thing to remember is that you can use くん to refer to other people’s children, but you can’t use it to refer to your own.

ちゃん is the female equaivalent, but again, it can be used towards young boys as well. The general rule of thumb is that It’s used for younger girls, but sometimes older and married women can be referred to this suffix as well. For example, an older brother may call his younger sister ちゃん even though she’s married and has children of her own. ちゃん is a form of endearment, so it’s usage indicates that the speaker and the person being referred to are on close terms.

せんせい literally means “teacher”, but it’s usage extends outside of the teaching profession. せんせい is one of those titles that you can use on its own. For example, if you just called people by くん without a name in front of it, it would sound weird, but calling someone by the general title of せんせい is not weird at all. The important thing to remember here is that せんせい is used to show respect towards people who have mastered a special skill or craft. For example, a karate instructor would be called せんせい and so would a doctor.

Lastly, さま is a highly honorific form of さん. You can hear this term attached to the word “customer” in Japanese, which is おきゃくさま. Back in the day when Japan had shogun rulers, the shogun were referred to as うえさま. The only restriction with this title is that you shouldn’t use it to refer to yourself. It’s considered arrogant to use it with your own name attached. Sometimes, さまcan be a derrogative title. It can be used sarcastically to refer to someone who is not that good looking or a know-it-all.

This is not an exhaustive list, so if you can think of other titles, write it in the comment box. Alright, I’m gonna wrap this up. See ya next time.

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.