I recently purchased a new Japanese-English dictionary that has been such an incredible help to me, I thought I would rec it here. It's called 漢字そのまま楽引辞典 (Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten), and it runs on my Nintendo DS. While it's a Japanese game cartridge, it's completely compatible with the U.S. version of the DS.

What makes it so awesome is that it uses the DS's touch screen. All I have to do when I come across an unfamiliar kanji is draw it on the screen with the stylus in order to look it up. No counting strokes, no looking up radicals. The dictionary then gives me the hiragana pronunciation, the definition in English, and several example sentences. Plus I can look up words by either kanji or hiragana -- for example, I can write 外人 or がいじん in order to look up the word "foreigner". So it's great when all I know is the pronunciation of a word but I'm not too sure about the kanji.

Another huge plus is that it includes look-ups for katakana words. That's been a big help to me, because while I've got all of the katakana characters memorized I often have difficulty deciphering which English word they're trying to represent. Not sure what ライオン means? Draw it on the touch screen and the Rakubiki Jiten will tell you!

It's also really forgiving of bad handwriting, which is a must because writing with the stylus isn't as easy as writing with a pencil and paper. The dictionary will make a guess as to which kanji it thinks I'm referring to, but will also provide several alternate suggestions that are close, just in case I didn't get it quite right.

The cartridge has several other features including a calendar, calculator, world clock, both Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionaries, a search history, a bookmarking feature, and (if you're REALLY good at Japanese) a quiz mode. It's selling on amazon.com for around $60 right now, which compared to other Japanese-English dictionaries doesn't seem too pricey to me (especially when you take into account the touch screen technology it uses, which is incredibly convenient and fast). It makes reading Japanese so much easier and more fun because looking up an unfamiliar word takes seconds now instead of several minutes, which means I don't lose the flow of the story every time I have to stop and look up a word. If you have a Nintendo DS (or are thinking about getting one), then I highly recommend giving it a try!

Here's the link on amazon if anyone's interested: Click here

Just some miscellaneous tidbits from the grammar notes I have lying around....


( んです - explaining things )

( でしょう - probably )

( く / に なる - become )

( ましょう - let's )

( ましょう　か - shall we )

( なくちゃいけない - must do )

( ないでください - please do not )

( ませんか - won't you )

( から - because )

( てから - after )

( まえに - before )

( ほうがいい - it is better to do )

( まだ〜ていません - have not yet )

( のがすきです - like to do )

( のがへたです - be poor at )

( のがじょうずです - be good at )

( ている - an action in progress )

( たいです - want to )

( すぎる - doing too much )

( たり・・・たりする - do such things as )

( たことがある - has the experience of )

( つもりです - intend to )

( てもいいです - to give permission )

( てはいけません - to deny permission )

Here is a list of some books I've been reading lately that have been a huge help in my struggle to learn Japanese:

Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You, by Jay Rubin

This one is really great, especially the first couple of chapters ("The Myth of the Subjectless Sentence" and "Wa and Ga"). The wa vs. ga discussion was particularly enlightening and cleared up most of the confusion I had about these two particles. I really like this writer's style, his humor, and the way he makes the more confusing (to me, anyway) grammatical issues of Japanese seem almost ridiculously easy to grasp. Here's a quote as an example of the book's general feel: "As usual, official policies of the United States toward Japan are totally misdirected. Instead of pressuring the Japanese into lowering trade barriers or taking a greater share of the responsibility for their own defense, we should be urging them to bring their verbs from the ends of their sentences into second place, right after their subjects, where they belong. Unless we accomplish this, the rest of our foreign policy is so much tofu." Not an easy read by any means, but definitely a fun one. ^_^

Reading Japanese With a Smile, by Tom Galy

Another wonderful read. This one is a collection of nine stories from a Japanese weekly magazine, designed to help develop skill in reading Japanese. Each story is slightly humorous, which makes it more interesting than reading dry excerpts from textbooks. The stories each come with an English translation as well as a sentence-by-sentence breakdown that provides readings for every kanji along with grammatical notes. This has been the most exciting thing for me, because I'm actually reading Japanese now, and not just scattered words and sentences designed to instruct. It's a tremendous feeling of accomplishment to get to the end of a story and realize that I understood the entire thing. :)

Kanji in Mangaland, by Marc Bernabe et al

This is a wonderful study guide IMO. I'm still on Volume 1 because I haven't been studying near as much as I should lately, but it's an incredibly useful tool for self-study. I learn very well in a classroom environment, and the way these books are arranged into lessons works very well for me. Each lesson starts with a number of new kanji with associated vocabulary, then follows up with a one-page comic in Japanese using the newly learned words. At the end of the lesson is a short quiz that stresses not only kanji recognition but pronunciation. I'm using both the textbook and the workbook, which offers a full-length comic broken into blocks for each 5 lessons with various quizzes and exercises attached. One of the things I like best about this series is that it assumes the reader already knows hiragana and doesn't try spoon-feeding the romaji to us. So it's wonderful practice for reading hiragana as well as learning new kanji.

Quantity expressions are used as adverb phrases. The word order is generally: noun particle quantity verb. When they are used to modify adjectives, they come just before the adjective. For example, "very hot" is "totemo atsui　（とても暑い）".

Here are some quantity expressions that are frequently used:

takusan たくさん	many, much
totemo とても	very
kanari かなり	considerably, rather
sukoshi 少し	a little, a few
chotto ちょっと	a little (Less formal than "sukoshi")

( Examples )


Here are some quantity expressions used only in negative sentences:

amari あまり	(not) very, (not) much
zenzen 全然	(not) at all

( Examples )

This year I included "nengajo" inside the Christmas cards I sent out. Nengajo are Japanese New Years cards, which I decided to make for everyone because I thought it would be good handwriting practice. ^_^ Here are scans of some of the ones I wrote:

( Nengajo 1 )

( Nengajo 2 )

元旦 (gantan) means the morning of January 1st, therefore it is not necessary to write "ichi-gatsu gantan". For the year, the Japanese era name is often used. The year 2008 is "Heisei nijuu-nen", the 20th year of the era Heisei. Although nengajo are often written vertically, it is acceptable to write them horizontally.

There are two ways to express a desire or wish. When what one desires takes a noun (I want a car, I want money, etc.) "hoshii (to want)" is used. When what one wants involves action (I want to go, I want to eat, etc.), the stem of the verb "~ tai （～たい）" is used.

( Examples )

In informal situations, "~ desu（～です）" can be omitted.

( Examples )

When describing a third person's desire, "hoshigatte imasu （欲しがっています）" or the stem of the verb "~ tagatte imasu （～たがっています）" are used.

( Examples )

Note that the object of "hoshii （ほしい）" is marked with the particle "ga （が）," while the object of "hoshigatte imasu（欲しがっています）" is marked with the particle "o （を）." The "~ tai（～たい）" expression is not normally used when asking about the desire of one's superior.

Ability and potential can be expressed by two different ways.

(1) Attaching the phrase "~ koto ga dekiru （～ことができる）" after the basic form of the verb. Literally "koto （こと）" means "thing," and "dekiru （できる）" means "can do." The formal form of "~ koto ga dekiru （～ことができる）" is "~ koto ga dekimasu （～ことができます）," and past tense is "~ koto ga dekita (~ koto ga dekimashita)."

( Examples )

"~ dekiru （～できる）" can be directly attached to a noun, if a verb is closely associated with its direct object.

( Examples )

(2) By potential form of the verb. Potential verb forms are formed as shown below.

	Basic form	Potential form
U-verbs: replace the final "~u" with "~eru".	iku (to go) 行く	ikeru 行ける
	kaku (to write) 書く	kakeru 書ける
RU-verbs: replace the final "~ ru" with "~ rareru".	miru (to see) 見る	mirareru 見られる
	taberu (to eat) 食べる	taberareru 食べられる
Irregular verbs	kuru (to come) 来る	koreru 来れる
	suru (to do) する	dekiru できる

In informal conversation, "~ra （～ら）" is often dropped from potential form of RU-verbs. For example, "mireru （見れる）" and "tabereru （食べれる）" instead of "mirareru （見られる）" and "taberareru （食べられる）."

The potential form of the verb can be replaced with the form using "~ koto ga dekiru （～ことができる）." It is more colloquial and less formal to use the potential form of the verb.

( Examples )

There are several ways to express uncertainty. "~ darou" is a plain form of "~ deshou," and means "will probably." The adverb "tabun (perhaps)" is sometimes added.

( Examples )

"~ darou" or "~deshou" is also used to form a tag question. In this case you usually can tell the meaning from the context.

( Examples )

"~ darou ka" or "~ deshou ka" is used when guessing with doubt. "~ kashira" is used only by females. A similar expression used by both genders is "~ kana," though it is informal. These expressions are close to "I wonder ~" in English.

( Examples )

"~ kamoshirenai" is used to express a sense of probability or doubt. It shows even more uncertainty than "~ darou" or "~ deshou". It is used when you don't know all the facts and are often just guessing. It is similar to the English expression "might be." The formal version of "~ kamoshirenai" is "kamoshiremasen".

( Examples )

The last thing to mention is, "~ darou" or "~ deshou" can't be used when referring to one's own actions, though "~ kamoshirenai" can be used in these situations.

( Examples )

When expressing one's thoughts, feelings, opinions, ideas and guesses, "~ to omou (I think that ~)" is frequently used. The particle "to" indicates that the preceding sentence or words are a quotation. Since "~ to omou" always refers to the speaker's thoughts, "watashi wa" is normally omitted.

( Examples )

If the content of the quoted clause expresses one's intention or speculation about a future event or state, a volitional form of a verb is used preceding "~ to omou." To express a thought other than one's volition or opinion toward the future, a plain form of a verb or adjective is used preceding "~ to omou" as shown in the examples above.

( Examples )

To express a thought or idea you have at the time of your statement, "~ to omotte iru (I am thinking that ~)" is used rather than "~ to omou."

( Examples )

When the subject is a third person, "~ to omotte iru" is used exclusively.

( Example )

Unlike English, the negation "I don't think" is normally placed within the quoted clause. It is possible to negate "~ to omou" such as "~ to omowanai," however, it expresses stronger doubt, and is close to the English "I doubt that ~."

( Examples )

Just some lookalike kanji I need to watch out for....

木	MOKU, BOKU, ki	tree
本	HON moto	book, unit for counting cylindrical objects source, origin
方	HOU kata	direction, side side, way of
万	MAN BAN	ten thousand many, all
力	RYOKU, RIKI, chikara	strength
刀	TOU, katana	sword, knife
土	DO, TO, tsuchi	earth, ground
士	SHI	man, samurai, retainer
大	DAI, TAI, oo(kii), oo(kina) oo(i ni)	big greatly
夫	FU, FUU, otto	husband
天	TEN, ame	heavens, sky
日	NICHI, JITSU, hi -ka	day, sun suffix for counting days
目	MOKU, BOKU, me -me	eye ordinal suf.
白	HAKU, BYAKU, shiro, shiro(i)	white
自	JI, SHI, mizuka(ra)	oneself, in person
見	KEN, mi(ru) mi(seru)	see show
貝	kai	(sea) shell
手	SHU, te	hand
年	NEN, toshi	year
千	SEN, chi	thousand
人	JIN, NIN, hito	person
入	NYUU, hai(ru) i(reru) i(ri)	enter put/let in entering
主	SHU, SU, nushi omo(na) shu (to shite)	master, owner main mainly
生	SEI, SHOU u(mu) u(mareru) i(kiru) ha(yasu/eru), o(u) nama ki-	life give birth to be born be alive grow raw pure, undiluted
書	SHO, ka(ku)	write
事	JI, koto	matter, thing

Putting together some of the kanji and vocabulary I've learned so far with particles and other grammatical tidbits....

Instructions: Translate each of the following sentences from kanji into romaji/English. Highlight the white box to check your answers.

( Pop Quiz #7: Putting It All Together )