Learning Japanese: A Gateway into Culture

Learn the five vowel and 15 consonant sounds of Japanese, only two of which differ significantly from English. But unlike the English alphabet, each Japanese character can represent a syllable, not just a single sound. Begin to explore the three Japanese writing methods—hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

As you practice introducing yourself in Japanese using your name and nationality, you will also learn the polite, present, affirmative form of the verb “to be,” and its location within a sentence. While you might also expect to learn all the pronouns, you’ll find that Japanese speakers almost never use second-person pronouns in their conversations. Begin learning to write hiragana.

Get an introduction to the basic interrogatives that will help you when you’re in a new culture, as well as the casual and more polite ways to say, “thank you.” Listen to a conversation in which two people are discussing foods with vocabulary you have just learned. You will also practice writing additional hiragana.

Learn to count to 99 and develop the vocabulary and sentence construction to speak about time. Your grammar lesson will focus on the dictionary non-past-tense of some ru and irregular verbs—always using the polite form of the verb. And, you’ll listen to a conversation between two people as they take the bullet train to Kyoto.

Learn how to ask positive and negative questions, extend an invitation, and identify a direct object in a sentence. As you listen to this lesson’s dialogue, you’ll learn about the famous Tokyo shopping district called Harajuku. You’ll also practice writing new hiragana as you expand your vocabulary.

Discover the U-verbs—those that are neither ru-verbs nor irregular—and the patterns used to change them from their dictionary form into the polite form. In the dialogue, you’ll hear two women asking for directions to a “cat café,” which is very popular in Japan. You’ll also learn about the many wards of Tokyo.

You’ll learn the vocabulary for a variety of stores and restaurants, numbers related to money, and how to speak about animate and inanimate objects—always in the politest forms. You’ll also learn why Japanese school children write their largest numbers like this: 1,0000,0000—with four digits to the right of the comma instead of three.

Learn the meaning of numerous Japanese i- and na-adjectives, increasing your vocabulary and ability to describe the people around you—again, always in the politest terms. You’ll also learn the most appropriate ways to eat Japanese food, whether with chopsticks or a renge, and you’ll have your final lesson in hiragana as you learn the double consonants.

Discover how to add new endings onto verbs you already know in order to create the polite volitional form—the form used when suggesting that someone take a particular action. Learn about the cultural importance of the cherry blossom, including a Japanese song about the sakura, and begin writing your first kanji characters.

Explore the additional grammar and vocabulary necessary for you to describe in detail if you like or don’t like a particular object or activity. By learning conjunctions, you’ll be able to create more complicated sentence structures. And with a cultural lesson on manga, you’ll see why these popular books appeal to readers of all ages on a wide variety of topics.

Learn how to give your opinion about an individual’s skill level on a particular task, as well as the polite (always indirect) way to indicate that you personally excel at something. You’ll also learn some vocabulary for baseball, the most popular sport in Japan, and sumo wrestling, the official national sport.

In this lesson, you’ll engage with some verb forms for speaking about the past—as well as vocabulary related to the weather, days of the week, and months—and then use those tenses to learn about the historic Edo period. With your first lesson in katakana, you’ll be writing and reading some familiar words.

Discover additional ways to speak about the past by using the past-tense forms of i-adjectives, and the aizuchi words that will help your conversation move along more smoothly. You’ll also learn about sushi, from the Edo period up to the present day—and why no one could have eaten the sushi of old with chopsticks.

Learn how to express your desires using the tai desu form of the verb. You’ll also learn the indirect way to convey that you don’t agree with someone’s suggestion; in Japanese, it is not acceptable to bluntly say that you disagree. You will also learn vocabulary related to the seasons, and all the remaining katakana.

Learn how to change adjectives or adverbs into superlatives, and how to best use wa and ga to emphasize the new information in your sentence, communicating more effectively. In this lesson’s dialogue, you’ll learn about the town of Hakone and its beautiful natural features—especially its view of Mt. Fuji.

In English, we use the single word “and” to connect many different parts of speech. But in Japanese, you’ll learn the words for connecting nouns and those for connecting adjectives. You’ll also learn the Japanese vocabulary for liking something for the first time versus continuing to like it. You’ll discover the beautiful Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa and begin your writing with kanji.

Become familiar with additional verbs and verb forms you can use for better conversational flow. Learn about Japanese descriptive counter words—words that let the listener know exactly what class of object you’re counting. In the dialogue, you’ll hear more about train stations, lines, and platforms. And you’ll practice writing more words in kanji.

Consider the many different degrees of being polite and gracious in Japanese culture through this vocabulary lesson. While English speakers might use the single word “please,” a Japanese speaker’s choice of polite or honorific words conveys much more information. You’ll also learn more about train stations and you’ll practice writing additional kanji.

Grasp the important vocabulary you’ll need to express “from” and “to,” as well as the appropriate sentence structure used to express a sequence of actions. Unlike English sentences, which have more flexibility, Japanese sentences always begin with whichever action happens first. Learn about the Japanese ryokan, a traditional-style inn, and continue writing in kanji.

Explore the differences between English and Japanese present-tense verbs and learn the Japanese progressive form to describe actions that are happening right now. With new dialogue, you’ll learn additional shopping vocabulary. You’ll also practice writing kanji related to numbers, including the more complex form of kanji that is still occasionally used today.

In Japan, it is appropriate to ask permission to perform many actions that non-Japanese people might take for granted, such as looking closely at an item in a store or even throwing trash in a trash can. Learn the appropriate vocabulary to use each step of the way, so as not to seem pushy or rude. And be sure to use the genkan whenever entering a home; always remove your shoes.

Increase your vocabulary related to family, learning the polite and formal, and modest and humble words for parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Given that modesty is valued so highly in Japanese culture, learn how a Japanese person might react to receiving a compliment on their appearance, achievements, or even on their family’s achievements.

Learn the counting words and verbs that apply to keeping small animals to increase your vocabulary when talking about pets. While we use the verb “wear” to describe any clothes or shoes, you’ll learn the specific Japanese verbs that refer to clothes that cover specific parts of the body. You’ll also learn the words for colors—and the special historic relationship between blue and green.

Discover why naming the months is so much easier in Japanese than in English, but why counting the days is so much more complicated. You’ll learn that Japanese verb tenses are not about whether an action takes place in the past or present, but whether the action has been completed. And you’ll discover the joys and challenges of Golden Week.

Explore the vocabulary and syntax for making polite negative requests, and the difference between the easier ru-verbs and the more difficult u-verbs. You’ll also discover some more casual conversational vocabulary, learning how it differs from the more polite, and the circumstances in which casual use is acceptable. Learn vocabulary related to a person’s age and to the zoo.