Simple Japanese sentence structures

For today's Japanese lesson, let us leara some simple structures.

In Japanese, the subject is indicated by a subject marker, namely　は pronounced as 'wa'.

The equivalent of 'I' in Japanese is わたし (watashi). です or 'desu' is the equivalent of 'is' in English. Hence if you want to tell people that your name is Tanaka. Then you would write:

Hiragana: わたし は たなかです。　
Romanji: Watashi wa Tanaka desu.
English: I am Tanaka.

By the way, Romanji is Romanised way of writing Japanese.

Now let us use this is and that is to construct sentences in Japanese.

In Japanese, 'this is' is これ or 'kore' and 'that is' is それ (sore) or　あれ (are).

Look at the following sentences.

Hiragana: これ は みず　です。
Romanji: Kore wa mizu desu.
English: This is water.

Hiragana: それ は　かぎ　です。
Romanji: Sore wa kagi desu
English: That is a key.

Hiragana: あれ は　かさ　です。
Romanji: Are wa kasa desu.
English: That is an umbrella.

So much for some simple Japanese sentences.

How to use 'antara' correctly

For today's post, I will talk about the usage of 'antara'.

The word 'antara' (between or among) can exist as a preposition or 'kata arah' (direction word).

As a preposition, 'antara' is used for non-position situations. Look at the following examples:
1 Pertandingan pingpong antara kelas akan diadakan pada hujung minggu ini.
[The inter-class table-tennis competition will be held this weekend.]
2 Antara mereka berdua, saya lebih suka bergaul dengan Hashim.
[Between them, I prefer to mix with Hashim.]
3 Kerjasama antara negara amat penting demi kebaikan bersama.
[Co-operation among neigbouring nations is important for their common good.]
4 Antara cerpen dengan novel, saya lebih suka membaca cerpen.
[Between short stories and novels, I like reading short stories more.]

Note that when two parties are involved, 'dengan' is used after 'antara'. For example, 'Perhubungan antara Ali dengan Muthu amat baik.' [The relationship between Ali and Muthu is good.]
However, when three people are involved, 'dan' is used instead. An example is:
Antara Ali, Bakar dan Chandran, Bakar paling gemuk.
[Among Ali, Bakar and Chandran, Bakar is the fattest.]

As a directon word in combination with prepositionn 'di', i.e. 'di antara', position is involved. Look at look at a few examples below:
1 Kedai ubat itu terletak di antara kedai guning rambut dengan kedai runcit.
[The pharmacy is situated between the barber shop and the sundry shop.]
2 Adik duduk di antara ibu dengan bapa.
[My brother sat betweem my mother and my father.]
3 Kuala Lumpur terletak di antara negeri Perlis dengan negeri Johor.
[Kuala Lumpur is situarted between the state of Perlis and the state of Johor.]

I hope after the explanation and the examples, readers can use 'antara' and 'di antar' correctly.

So much for 'antara' for today.

Japanese words about the face and related parts

In today's post on Japanese, we will learn 10 words about our face. Here they are:

1 あたま[a ta ma] = head
2 かお [ka o] = face
3 くび [ku bi] = neck
4 まゆげ [ma yu ge] = eyebrow
5 め [me] = eye
6 まつげ [ma tsu ge] = eyelashes
7 はな [ha na] = nose
8 くち [ku chi] = mouth
9 みみ [mi mi] = ear
10 かみのけ [ka mi no ke] = hair

I hope you will try to write out the Japanese words and read them as well remember their meanings.

How to scan with Canonscan LiDE 20 in Windows 7 64-bit

This is how I got around not having scanner driver for my Canoscan LiDE 20 since my Windows 7 64-bit OS is unable to access this scanner.

I download VueScan which can access my scanner when it runs. Then I use it to can my text as jpeg files. After that I use my old faithful FineReader 6 to scan the jpeg as text and copy to clipboard. From clipboard, I copy it to my Word to do the processing for my need.

I begin to like VueScan as I need only to preview my document to be scanned once and I can crop any part I want to scan and save to a file. After that I press preview to go back to the same image, select the part I want to crop, then press scan. I can then save this second part to a new file.

This completes the 50 basic vowels of Japanese

In this post, I will list the rest of the basic vowels or sounds of the Japanese language. These are:

ま み む め もん [ma mi mu me mo]
や ゆ よ [ya yu yo]
ら り る れ ろ [ra ri ru re ro]
わ を [wa wo]
ん [n]

ま [ma] is pronounced as mo in mother
み [mi] is pronounced as mi in missing
む [mu] is pronounced as moo in moon
め[me] is pronounced as may in May
も[mo] is pronounced as mo in more

や [ya] is pronounced as
ゆ [yu] is pronounced as
よ[yo] is pronounced as

ら [ra] is pronounced as ra in rather
り [ri] is pronounced as re in repeat
る [ru] is pronounced as ru in rule
れ [re] is pronounced as ray in rayfish
ろ[ro] is pronounced as ro in roll

わ [wa] is pronounced as wo in won
を[wo] is pronounced as wa in wall

ん [n] is pronounced as n

Try to remember all the 50 vowels given in this blog and you will enjoy reading Japanese then. Of course, there are other sounds such as g, z, d, b, and p. They are formed by adding straightened right inverted commas on the right upper sound of k for g sound, s for z sound, t for d sound, h for b sound. However, you add the degree sign to h for p sound.

Here they are:

g sound: が ぎ ぐ げ ご [ga gi gu ge go] pronounced as [gargle, guitar, good, gay, god]

z sound: ざ じずぜぞ [za ji zu ze zo] pronounced as [beza(Malay), Jill, zoo, zay, zo]

d sound: だ じずでど [da ji zu de do] pronounced as [radar, Jill, zoo, day, doll]

b sound: ば び ぶ べ ぼ [ba bi bu be bo] pronounced as [bar, bee, book, bay, bore]

p sound: ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺぽ [pa pi pu pe po] pronounced as [part, pee, put, pay, pore]

Another Internet Scam

I just received an e-mail from 'Public Bank' telling me that my e-banking has been blocked and I have to go to a site indicated to key in my ac number, user id and password. I knew it was an Internet scam.

However, I clicked the site to see what it looked like. My good browser or my genuine windows 7 Internet securities tells me that it is a fake site and refused to take me there. Anyway, should readers come across such an email, do not respond to it or your money will be syphoned by the syndicate.

The next 10 Japanese vowels

These are the next 10 Japanese vowels to be memorised to master the Japanese language. Here they are:

な に ぬ ね の [na ni nu ne no]

は へ ふ へ ほ [ha hi fu he ho]

な [na] is pronounced as na in nasty.

に [ni] is pronounced as ny in many.

ぬ [nu] is pronounced as noo in noodle.

ね [ne is pronounced as na in naked.

の[no] is pronounced as no in nor.

は [ha] is pronounced as ha in harmony.

へ [hi] is pronounced as he in he( is a boy)
)
ふ [fu] is pronounced as foo in foolish

へ[he] is pronounced as hay as in hay

ほ[ho] is pronounced as ho hollow

How to use 'adalah' correctly

As promised, here is the post on the correct usage of 'adalah'.

'adalah' (is) is often wrong used when 'ialah' should be used. Now, let us see how to use 'adalah' correctly.

'adalah' is used in front of 'frasa adjektif' (adjectival phrase) and 'frasa sendi nama' (prepositional phrase). The following examples will make this rule clear to readers.

1 Kereta yang dibelinya itu adalah terlalu mahal dan saya tidak mampu memilikinya.
[The car that he bought is too expensive and I can't afford to own it.]
In the above sentence, 'terlalu mahal' is an 'frasa adjektif' or adjectival phrase.

2 Surat yang saya baca ini adalah daripada sahabat penaku.
[The letter I am reading is from my pen-pal]
'daripada sahabat penaku' is 'frasa sendi nama' or prepositional phrase.

3 Hadiah ini adalah untuk adikmu.
[This present is for your younger brother.]
The prepositional phrase here is 'untuk adikmu'.
Note that 'untuk' here is considered as a preposition because it is used in front of a noun (adik).
It can be a conjunction if it is used in front of a vcrb. For example, the 'untuk' in the sentence below is not a preposition but a conjunction:
Dia pergi ke kedai itu untuk membeli ubat.
[He went to the shop to buy medicine.]

4 Peraturannya adalah sepert yang berikut.
[The rules are as follows.]
In the above sentence, 'seperti' is a preposition.

I hope the above explanation is clear to readers as to how 'adalah' should be used.

How to use 'ialah' correctly

For today's post, I would like to benefit learners of the Malay language. I will talk about the correct usage of 'ialah'.

In most Malay newspapers, 'adalah' is used when 'ialah' should be used. The correct usage has been put in Tatabahasa Dewan, the official Malay grammar reference for writers and teachers and those who use Malay.

Look at the rule:
'ialah' (is) is used in front of a noun phrase.

1 Dia adalah ahli sains yang terkenal. [wrong]
Dia ialah ahli sains yang terkenal. [correct]
[He is a famous scientist.]
[ahli sains yang terkenal is a noun phrase and should be preceded by 'ialah' instead of 'adalah' which I shall deal with in my next post]

2 Jambatan Pulau adalah yang terpanjang di Asia Tenggara. [wrong]
Jambatan Pulau ialah yang terpanjang di Asia Tenggara. [correct]
[The Penang Bridge is the one that is the longest in Southeast Asia.]
[yang terpanjang di Asia Tenggara is a noun phrase. Usually, a phrase that starts with 'yang' is a noun phrase, e.g. yang putih itu ialah baju saya. 'Yang putih itu (The white on)' is a noun phrase that begins with 'yang']

So much for the correct usage of 'ialah' for this post.

How to write sushi in Japanese

These are the next ten Japanese sounds to be learned for this post.

さ し す せ そ - sa, shi, su, se, so

た ち つ て と - ta, chi, tsu, te, to

さ [sa] is pronounced as sa in ‘Lisa’.

し [shi] is pronounced as shi in ‘shilling’.

す [su] is pronounced as soo in ‘soothing’.

せ [se] is pronounced as say

そ [so] is pronounced as ‘so’ in ‘solely’.

た [ta] is pronounced as ‘ta’ in ‘Rita’.

ち[chi] is pronounced as ‘chee’ in ‘cheetah’.

つ [tsu] is pronounced as ‘tch’ in ‘catch’

て [te] is pronounced as ‘tay’ in ‘stay’.

と[to] is pronounced as tow.

Out of these ten sounds, you can form すし [sushi] , a type of Japanese food.