The University of Oklahoma Spring 2008 Japan Today and Tomorrow: A Seminar for Educators .

1. The University of OklahomaSpring 2008Japan Today and Tomorrow: A Seminar for Educators. ~Japanese Language~ Oklahoma State University Yuko O’Banion

2. What is the Japanese Language? Overview

3. The only language used widely in Japan. • Japanese varies widely depending upon the speaker’s regional identification (regional dialects), gender, social status, and occupation. • These differences have diminished since the educational system and mass media adopted a “standard” Japanese based upon the “Tokyo” dialect. • Japan’s increasing importance in the global community has sparked greater study of the Japanese language internationally.

4. How many people are studying Japanese in the world? • About 60% of learners of Japanese is from elementary to high school students. • Korea has the most learners. (30.6%) • China has the second. (23%) • Australia has the third. (12.3%) • America shares only 4%. • In America: (Hawaii, West&East coast, WI,IL,MI etc.)

5. Origins • Still a mystery where it originated • Citing the many grammatical similarities, some scholars have linked Japanese to Korean or to Mongolian and other languages, but … • Yet we really don’t know!

6. Japanese writing system Japanese is written with 3 types of characters: hiragana, katakana, and kanji (Chinese characters). They have different functions, and combinations of the three are used to write sentences.

7. Kanji • Because ancient Japanese didn’t have a written language, we imported it from China before 500AD, and absorbed it into Japanese language by assigning Japanese reading and meanings. • At the time Japanese was written solely in Kanji. • Kanji are different from hiragana and katakana because they have specific meanings. • Ideographic characters

8. Roots of kanji • Developed from Hieroglyphics:

9. Roots of kanji • Developed from Notation:

10. Hiragana • Developed from kanji starting in the Heian period (794~). • Simplified writing of the kanji. Ex.)

11. Hiragana cont. • Like the English alphabet: Each hiragana letter represents a specific sound, but do not have any meaning per se. • 104 sounds. Ex.) English: A, B, C, D, E, F, G… Japanese: a, i, u, e, o….

12. Hiragana cont. • Unlike in English: There is ONLY one way of pronouncing a single hiragana letter or combination of letters. Ex.) “e” in English: as in ‘red’ ‘redo’ ‘poorer’ “a” in Japanese: ALWAYS as “a” in father “e” in Japanese: ‘Emi’ ‘e’

13. Katakana • Developed from kanji. • Taking parts of the different kanji. Ex.) • Used to use as ‘support’ for kanji reading.

14. Katakanacont. • Nowadays, used to express the borrowing words from foreign languages. • 104 sounds. Ex.) banana pizza milk coffee jeans T-shirts America Snoopy

15. Reading Japanese To read a newspaper, one must know about 1,945 commonly used kanji, hiragana and katakana, which are taught in elementary school and junior high school, along with English alphabet.

16. Japanese writing 私は、コーヒーを飲みます。 Katakana Kanji Kanji Black letters = Hiragana

17. Pronunciation <How to present in English alphabet> • Use of Romanization • Romanization is the transcription of Japanese using rooma-ji (lit., Roman letters), or the English alphabet. • In Japan the only words you see written in Romanization are station names (for the sake of foreigners), trademarks, ad catchphrase, etc.

18. Japanese pronunciation • 5 vowels (a, i , u , e , o) ‘i’ in ‘machine’ ‘e’ in ‘bet’ • 9 basic consonants (k, s, t, n, h, m ,y ,r, and w) plus each vowel Ex.) k + a = ka s + i = si • Independent consonant: Ñ • One sound counts one beat. • High and low pitch accent

19. Pronunciation Cont. • Long vowel Ex.) Yoko (Yooko) Tofu (Toofu) Nintendo(Nintendoo) obasan vs. obaasan (meaning difference) • Double consonants Ex.) Nissan Pokki (Pocky)

20. Let’s learn the Japanese sounds! ~How to read Romanization~ One sound= 1 vowel or 1 consonant + 1 vowel

21. sushi Honda Sudoku Karaoke Sake Sapporo Inuyasha Karate Pokemon Tsunami su shi Ho n da Su do ku Ka ra o ke Sa ke Sa ppo ro I nu ya sha Ka ra te Po ke mo n Tsu na mi Practice #1

22. Now you can read it, right?

23. When you encounter Japanese sounds in a textbook that you cannot pronounce… • Always consult with native speakers • Practice saying the Romanization before class • Do not hesitate to use a student who is familiar with Japanese sounds

24. References • Kid’s web Japan: http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/ • A Bilingual Guide “Japan as it is” published by Gakken Co., Ltd, Tokyo Japan 1997 • Japan at Glance: Updated published by Kodansha International Ltd., Tokyo 1997 • My email: yuko.hamaie@okstate.edu

25. Arigatoo gozaimasita! Thank you very much.