subject: Japanese Language Learning Tips - 25 Japanese Words You Already Know! [print this page] Japanese Language Learning Tips - 25 Japanese Words You Already Know!
That's right. Believe it it not, you already have an impressive Japanese vocabulary that you can instantly put to use!
Would you believe me if I told you that you already have an impressive vocabulary of hundreds of Japanese vocabulary words? Well, I'm going to show you that you do, and introduce you to 25 of them right now!
Pronunciation of Japanese Vowels
Before I show you the Japanese vocabulary that you didn't know you had, we need to quickly go over Japanese vowels, so that you'll be able to pronounce these words correctly.The Japanese language has only 5 vowels (a-i-u-e-o), which are combined with 9 different consonants (K, S, T, N, H, M, R, W and Y (another consonant, N, is sometimes tacked onto the end of these combinations)) to make up all of the units of sound in the Japanese language. Once you learn to pronounce these basic sounds in Japanese, you'll be good to go with basic pronunciation.
The Japanese vowels are pronounced as follows:
A: pronounced as in "pa" or "ma" or "saw"
I: pronounced like the letter "E"
U: pronounced as in "you" or "goo" or "wu" or "sue"
E: pronounced like the letter "A" but abruptly, without dragging out the sound
O: pronounced like the letter "O"
25 Japanese Vocabulary Words You Already Know
Now that you know how to pronounce Japanese vowels correctly, let's get right to the vocabulary you already know. You may be surprised to learn that Japanese vocabulary contains thousands of borrowed words from English that are commonly used in everyday speech. By drawing on these words, you can tap into an enormous built-in vocabulary of Japanese words! Here are 25 to get you started, broken down phonetically, along with their meanings.
Anime (a-ni-me): animation (Japanese anime)
Apaato (a-paa-to): apartment
Baiku (ba-i-ku): motorcycle (but not bicycle!)
Bataa (ba-taa): butter
Biru (bi-ru): building
Biiru (bii-ru): beer
Desuku (de-su-ku): desk
Dorama (do-ra-ma): TV drama
Eakon (e-a-kon): air conditioner
Furonto (fu-ron-to): front (reception) desk at a hotel
Garasu (ga-ra-su): glass
Geemu sentaa (gee-mu sen-taa): video arcade
Karaoke (ka-ra-o-ke): karaoke (but now you know how to actually pronounce it!)
Keeki (kee-ki): cake
Kurabu (ku-ra-bu): club, nightclub
Koo-hii (Koo-hii): coffee
konbini (kon-bi-ni): convenience store
Meeru (mee-ru): email (not not snail mail!)
Nooto (noo-to): notebook
Posuto (po-su-to): mailbox or postbox
Puroresu (pu-ro-re-su): professional wrestling
Raningu (ru-nin-gu): running
Sarada (sa-ra-da): salad
Tenisu (te-ni-su): tennis
Terebi (te-re-bi): TV, television
So there you have it. 25 Japanese vocabulary words that you already knew. You probably noticed that some of these words, such as meeru for e-mail, have been altered from the original English meanings. That's pretty common in Japanese, but you'll pick up how these words are used as you begin to practice and use the language.
As you probably surmised by now, these 25 words are just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of other similar Japanese words that have been derived from English, most of which are used in everyday speech. As you tap into your inner-Japanese vocabulary, you'll discover that you already know a lot more Japanese than you thought!
Hopefully these Japanese language learning tips will help you get your Japanese learning off to to the right start. For a free guide to learning the Japanese language, visit http://www.essential-japan-guide.com/japanese-learning-guide.html
