Uki Uki Japanese Lesson 18 - Q&A 4

Uki Uki Japanese Lesson #18 Q&A Part 4
Welcome to Uki Uki NihonGO! + Culture

Q.1 What are different ways to say goodbye in Japanese?

Casual level:

じゃあね(jaane) or またね(matane) See you.

バイバイ(baibai) Bye.

Polite level:

どうも(doumo) or さようなら(sayounara) Goodbye.

ではまた(dewa mata) or またこんど(mata kondo) See you soon.

Respectful level:

しつれいします(shitsurei shimasu), or しつれいいたします(shitsurei itashimasu) Goodbye.

*If you are leaving before someone else does, you say おさきにしつれいします (osakini shitsurei shimasu.)


Q.2 What are the Japanese writing systems?

There are three writing systems we use in Japanese: Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana.

Kanji (漢字) is Chinese characters. It’s used for nouns (names of things, places) & Adj & verb stems, and Japanese names

e.g. 机 desk、木 tree、友達 friend、駅 station、美術館 art museum、朝 morning、日本人 Japanese people、私 I、急行列車 express train

Hiragana (ひらがな) is traditional Japanese characters. It’s used for Adj & verb endings for its flexibility to change forms. Importantly, particles are written in Hiragana.

e.g. 私は日本人です。I am Japanese.

弟の友達は8時に着いた。My younger brother’s friend arrived at 8 o’clock.

Katakana (カタカナ) is used for non-Japanese words, loan words from foreign languages

e.g. コンピューター(English), カフェ(French)、ピザ(Italian)

Guess what these are?

コンセプト(concept), ポテンシャル(potential), プレゼント(present)、マクドナルド(McDonalds)

Interesting Katakana words: ビル(building), ビール(beer), ホーム(home or platform)

Foreign countries: オーストラリア(Australia), イタリア(Italy), ベトナム(Vietnam)

Non-Japanese names: スミス(Smith), ジェニファー(Jennifer), ローレン(Lauren), チャン(Chan)

Onomatopoeia words are also commonly written in Katakana.

They are often rhythmical words that vividly describe how you feel, how you are, and how you do things.

e.g. ドキドキ (heart pumping fast, nervous), カンカン(furious), じろじろ(stare at someone rudely)

You can see all three of these in any given Japanese sentence.

e.g. 私はアメリカ人です。I am American.

明日日本語のテストがあるから、ドキドキしている。I have a Japanese exam tomorrow, so I’m nervous.

ポメラニアンはフワフワして可愛い。Pomeranians are fluffy and cute.


-----Follow and subscribe to Japan Society online!
‪  / japansociety  
‪  / japansociety  
‪   / japansoc.  .

Music by: Soichiro Migita