LEVEL 1
What should I learn first?
So you want to learn Japanese, or are thinking about it, but you are not sure of where to start?
In Japanese they have a saying that says " If you want to know about the sea, ask the fishermen"
As you can probably guess, the meaning of this saying is:" If you have a question about something, ask somebody who has a lot of experience on that subject"
What''s my experience in the Japanese language?
Almost 20 years. I have been living in Japan for 8 years now.
And I'm going to share with you my conclusions and tips about learning Japanese right now.
If you want to spare yourself a few years of hardship when learning Japanese, then you'd better stick around.
Learning is all about CONCENTRATION. The higher your concentration, the more you will learn. And, from the very beginning, I strongly encourage you to concentrate on MASTERING your BASIC Japanese verb conjugations (some people call them STEMS or BASES). The name doesn't really matter that much.
What matters is that you MASTER them.
What about the other aspects of the language such as nouns, salutations, adjectives, etc?
Of course, there's nothing wrong with learning those. It's just that your brain can only absorb a certain amount of new information at a time; so it is a good idea to give priority to that information that will offer you the highest returns.
The really nice thing about Japanese verb CONJUGATIONS is that they CAN BE, in fact, learnt in a matter of hours! But, ONLY if you follow the steps I'm going to share with you right now!.
Speaking is a decision making process that, obviously, takes place inside our brain. In order to be able to conjugate a Japanese verb, first one must be able to, accurately and quickly, determine or decide to which conjugation group that verb belongs to. Below, I have created an ALTERNATIVE way of organizing Japanese verbs that will save you years of study. (This is without a doubt the most accurate way to organize them)
First, you want to know:
How many verb groups are there?
Eight (8), and they are as follows:
1.- V+RU (Vowel+RU) ending verbs. e.g NARU (become), KIRU (cut), URU(sell) , TORU(take). Notice how all of these verbs end in a VOWEL+ RU.
2.- V+U (Vowel+U) ending verbs.e.g AU(meet), IU(say), SUU(inhale), OU(chase), etc.
(NOTE: The vowel "E" is excluded because verbs ending in E+RU form a group of themselves. See group 7 "E+RU group")
3.-TSU ending verbs e.g KATSU(win), MATSU(wait), UTSU (hit) etc.
4.- KU/GU ending vebrs; e.g. KAKU(write), KIKU(hear), KAGU(smell), NUGU (undress or remove), etc.
5.- BU/MU/NU ending verbs; e.g. TOBU(fly),YOMU(read), SHINU(perish), etc.
6.-SU ending verbs; e.g. HANASU(speak), KASU(lend), TASU(add), etc.
7. E+RU ending verbs; e.g. TABERU (eat), NERU(sleep), kangaeru(think),etc.
and,
8.- Special verbs. The Special Verbs group is subdivided into the following 3 groups:
1. Irregulars. there are five of them: SURU, KURU, IKU, ARU, DESU. (Traditional systems only include SURU and KURU; but , this an ALTERNATIVE system! and this system makes a lot more sense!)
2.-Honorifics. e.g. GOZARU(be), NASARU(do), IRASSHARU (be,come, go), OSSHARU(express), KUDASARU(deign do).
and
3.- Reversed conjugation verbs. This group is also subdivided into 2 groups:
1.Reversed I+RU verbs. (Verbs that end in Vowel+ RU, such as
MIRU(see), IRU(be),but are conjugated as E+RU ending
verbs)
( I will give you a more comprehensive list of these verbs later)
2 Reversed E+RU verbs. (Verbs that end in E+ RU, such as KAERU(go back), SHABERU(chat),but are conjugated
as Vowel+RU ending verbs)
What should I learn first?
So you want to learn Japanese, or are thinking about it, but you are not sure of where to start?
In Japanese they have a saying that says " If you want to know about the sea, ask the fishermen"
As you can probably guess, the meaning of this saying is:" If you have a question about something, ask somebody who has a lot of experience on that subject"
What''s my experience in the Japanese language?
Almost 20 years. I have been living in Japan for 8 years now.
And I'm going to share with you my conclusions and tips about learning Japanese right now.
If you want to spare yourself a few years of hardship when learning Japanese, then you'd better stick around.
Learning is all about CONCENTRATION. The higher your concentration, the more you will learn. And, from the very beginning, I strongly encourage you to concentrate on MASTERING your BASIC Japanese verb conjugations (some people call them STEMS or BASES). The name doesn't really matter that much.
What matters is that you MASTER them.
What about the other aspects of the language such as nouns, salutations, adjectives, etc?
Of course, there's nothing wrong with learning those. It's just that your brain can only absorb a certain amount of new information at a time; so it is a good idea to give priority to that information that will offer you the highest returns.
The really nice thing about Japanese verb CONJUGATIONS is that they CAN BE, in fact, learnt in a matter of hours! But, ONLY if you follow the steps I'm going to share with you right now!.
Speaking is a decision making process that, obviously, takes place inside our brain. In order to be able to conjugate a Japanese verb, first one must be able to, accurately and quickly, determine or decide to which conjugation group that verb belongs to. Below, I have created an ALTERNATIVE way of organizing Japanese verbs that will save you years of study. (This is without a doubt the most accurate way to organize them)
First, you want to know:
How many verb groups are there?
Eight (8), and they are as follows:
1.- V+RU (Vowel+RU) ending verbs. e.g NARU (become), KIRU (cut), URU(sell) , TORU(take). Notice how all of these verbs end in a VOWEL+ RU.
2.- V+U (Vowel+U) ending verbs.e.g AU(meet), IU(say), SUU(inhale), OU(chase), etc.
(NOTE: The vowel "E" is excluded because verbs ending in E+RU form a group of themselves. See group 7 "E+RU group")
3.-TSU ending verbs e.g KATSU(win), MATSU(wait), UTSU (hit) etc.
4.- KU/GU ending vebrs; e.g. KAKU(write), KIKU(hear), KAGU(smell), NUGU (undress or remove), etc.
5.- BU/MU/NU ending verbs; e.g. TOBU(fly),YOMU(read), SHINU(perish), etc.
6.-SU ending verbs; e.g. HANASU(speak), KASU(lend), TASU(add), etc.
7. E+RU ending verbs; e.g. TABERU (eat), NERU(sleep), kangaeru(think),etc.
and,
8.- Special verbs. The Special Verbs group is subdivided into the following 3 groups:
1. Irregulars. there are five of them: SURU, KURU, IKU, ARU, DESU. (Traditional systems only include SURU and KURU; but , this an ALTERNATIVE system! and this system makes a lot more sense!)
2.-Honorifics. e.g. GOZARU(be), NASARU(do), IRASSHARU (be,come, go), OSSHARU(express), KUDASARU(deign do).
and
3.- Reversed conjugation verbs. This group is also subdivided into 2 groups:
1.Reversed I+RU verbs. (Verbs that end in Vowel+ RU, such as
MIRU(see), IRU(be),but are conjugated as E+RU ending
verbs)
( I will give you a more comprehensive list of these verbs later)
2 Reversed E+RU verbs. (Verbs that end in E+ RU, such as KAERU(go back), SHABERU(chat),but are conjugated
as Vowel+RU ending verbs)