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| Hi! |
| Welcome to Introduction to Japanese. |
| My name is Alisha and I'm joined by... |
| Hi everyone. |
| I'm Risa! |
| In *this* lesson, we'll focus on teaching you the most useful Japanese words and phrases for absolute beginners! |
| Make sure you're repeating the words out loud after I say the examples! |
| Are you ready? Let's get started! |
| Expressing Thanks and Forgiveness |
| Bar none, the best phrase to learn when studying a new language is one that expresses gratitude and appreciation. If you had to learn only a single phrase, this would be it! |
| We taught you this phrase in the very first lesson, do you remember what it was? |
| (pause 2 seconds) |
| ありがとう |
| It means "Thank you." |
| ありがとう |
| Keep repeating after Risa until you get it! |
| ありがとう |
| Your turn! |
| ありがとう |
| ありがとう |
| Do you remember this character here? We talked about it in lesson 2. Even though this character is transcribed as an 'R' and an 'L', don't pronounce it like an English 'R'. Listen to how Risa is pronouncing this sound. |
| り |
| It sounds like a mixture between an R and an L sound. |
| り |
| Another way of pronouncing this sound, is to think of the quick tapping motion your tongue makes as it strikes the top gum ridge in words like "ladder" or "butter". |
| り |
| Altogether it's... |
| ありがとう |
| OK. One last time... |
| ありがとう |
| OK. The next phrase we'll teach you, is perhaps the second most useful of all phrases. It's to apologize or to excuse yourself. |
| We taught you this phrase in lesson 2, do you remember what it was? |
| (pause 2 seconds) |
| すみません |
| And it means "excuse me" or "I'm sorry" |
| すみません |
| Use *this* phrase when you want to grab a waiter's attention, or when you're hustling through the busy streets of Tokyo! |
| すみません |
| Your turn! |
| すみません |
| Imagine you're on the street and you want to stop someone to ask them for directions, what do you say...? |
| すみません |
| OK. One last time... |
| すみません |
| Now you can say "thank you", "excuse me", and "I'm sorry" in Japanese. Let's move on. |
| Where is...? |
| Asking where something is, is an incredibly important and useful phrase to learn. You're going to need this when asking where the bathroom, the train station, or where the hotel is. |
| To ask where something is, put the name of the place or location *first*, and then add... |
| ○○はどこですか。 |
| For example, if you want to ask "Where is the bathroom?"... |
| トイレはどこですか。 |
| For the train station, it'll be... |
| 駅はどこですか。 |
| And so on. |
| You can ask where something is, by simply adding... |
| ○○はどこですか。 |
| は marks the place as the subject of the sentence, どこ means "where", です is a polite word that roughly translates to "is", and か marks the sentence as a question – you can kind of think of it like a question mark in Japanese. |
| Altogether it's... |
| ○○はどこですか。 |
| Your turn! |
| ○○はどこですか。 |
| ○○はどこですか。 |
| OK. Now let's teach you some vocabulary so that you can use it in the sentence. |
| Here are some of the most common words you'll need to learn: |
| トイレ |
| bathroom |
| トイレ |
| トイレはどこですか。 |
| Next... |
| 駅 |
| station |
| 駅 |
| 駅はどこですか。 |
| If you ask someone this question, they'll direct you to the closest train station. |
| If you'd like to ask where a *specific* train station is, like Tokyo station for example, simply place the location before "station"... |
| 駅 |
| 東京駅 |
| 東京駅はどこですか。 |
| Next... |
| ホテル |
| hotel |
| ホテル |
| ホテルはどこですか。 |
| For a specific hotel, do the same as before, just place the name before "hotel"... |
| ホテル |
| ヒルトンホテル |
| ヒルトンホテルはどこですか。 |
| Next... |
| コンビニ |
| convenience store |
| コンビニ |
| コンビニはどこですか。 |
| You can substitute almost anything and simply add... |
| ○○はどこですか。 |
| to ask where something is in Japanese. |
| In this final lesson, you learned how to say "thank you," "excuse me," "I'm sorry," and to ask where something is in Japanese. |
| And in this series, we introduced you to the basics of Japanese pronunciation, grammar, writing, and more. |
| Let's conclude with some parting advice from Risa, and listen to some of her tips on how to learn Japanese from a native Japanese perspective. |
| Parting Advice - Insider Knowledge |
| The best way to learn Japanese, particularly if you want to improve your communication skills, is to watch and study contemporary Japanese videos. That's because we often use expressions that aren't necessarily introduced in grammar text books in daily conversation. |
| The biggest mistake that I see learners make is watching and mimicking what they see and hear in anime, and to a lesser degree Japanese dramas. A lot of the expressions used in anime are not commonly used in daily conversation, as their reactions are often exaggerated. The same thing happens in Japanese dramas too, but to a lesser extent. |
| One such example, is the use of どうも as a casual way to say "thanks." We often see this in comedic shows, and so a lot of learners are saying どうも, but in fact, it is rarely used even amongst friends. It should generally be avoided. |
| Watching contemporary videos, such as our videos here at JapanesePod101, will ensure that you're learning real, applicable Japanese in the fastest and most effective way. |
| You've reached the end of this course 'Introduction to Japanese', but it's only the *beginning* of your journey to Japanese fluency! Where do you go from here? Try our Japanese Can Do series where we teach you beginner vocab and *even more* useful phrases! Or check out any of our other video series. We have many different categories for you to choose from. |
| Good luck as you continue learning Japanese, and I'll see *you* in another video! |
| Bye! |
| Bye~! |
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