Studying Stories

Hi friends! The Seitokai Bookclub is STILL ongoing--the only reason why you haven't seen a post about it lately is because we were still reading コンビニ人間. However, starting on Feb 26, we will be reading とつくにの少女 (Totsukuni no Shoujo), also known as The Girl from the Other Side. If you're interested in joining us or want more details on how our bookclub runs, come join us in the server or feel free to message me/drop an ask (or even @litheah and @tokidokitokyo).

What if I've never read a book in Japanese yet? I'm not confident in my skills. That's fine! Not only do we always have a group vocab sheet that we collectively add to (anonymously), but we have ongoing discussions about whatever book we're reading. That means you're free to ask questions, send screenshots, rant about a character or anything like that. You'll definitely find me asking about certain grammar points or if using a particular set of kanji for a word changes the nuance in a particular sentence.

What's the goal of your bookclub? Well, we're interested in fostering confidence in reading in your target language without feeling that you have no one to turn to. Our server has people of all levels of fluency, meaning that there's always someone who can answer your question. And if we can't, we have people we can reach out to ask. We won't leave you hanging!

You don't seem to choose books I'm interested in--how can I change that? Well, we take suggestions and vote as a bookclub for what we'll be reading next. If your book doesn't win the first time you submit it, try try again! とつくにの少女 was suggested and in voting 3-4 times before it finally won (same with a lot of our other books.) Don't be discouraged!

We hope to see you there! | Seitokai's Nihongo Discord Server

2月13日 Summary:

Before the Meiji Restoration, the use of surnames were only allowed to be used by nobles. However, during the Meiji Restoration, an act was passed that required everybody (nobles and commoners alike) were required to have both first names and surnames registered.

Vocab beneath the break:

Step 1 of getting doing CIR is done.

Next steps are:

Hello! Thank you for your question and for reading my blog! It means a lot to me! :) ❤️

Let's see. I believe the key to learning grammar is to first memorize the grammar structure that you have to learn, and then proceed to search for as many examples as you could until you feel confident enough to make your own sentences! Don't get discouraged if they are a bit forced(in such sense that Japanese will choose other ways to write the sentence), that's because your brain is still thinking in your first language! With time, advancing through the foreign language and discovering its own unique points will help you develop your intuition on what sounds as being correct and what doesn't.

When it comes to verbs, you'll have to retain the three groups that verbs come in: Godan, Ichidan and Irregular Verbs. For a better and easier understanding, they are also referred as Group I, II and III verbs. The attributed group of a verb is judged by the last one or two characters that the verbs end in.

GODAN (GROUP I) : う、く、す、つ、ぬ、む、る; ぐ、ぶ

例: 買う、着く、貸す、待つ、死ぬ、産む、売る; 脱ぐ、遊ぶ

ICHIDAN (GROUP II) : える、いる

例: 食べる 、借りる

⚠️GODAN VERBS confused as ICHIDAN VERBS and how to differentiate between them : 帰る(KAERU), 喋る(SHABERU), 入る(HAIRU). The prime method of telling the difference is by looking at the KANJI and what characters it encompasses. Usually, Ichidan Verbs has its endings written apart from the kanji: 変える(kaeru), whereas Godan Verbs encircles the え and い: 帰る(kaeru). The dictionary is also a good call because it states the type of verb that you are dealing with.

IRREGULAR VERBS (GROUP III) : する、来る(kuru)

〔Note: Those are the only two irregular verbs〕

––––––––––––––––

Since we have cleared that out of the way, we must now come to learn the verb tenses, which are only two: PRESENT and PAST. Both have AFFIRMATIVE and NEGATIVE values.

PRESENT AFFIRMATIVE (dictionary form)

GODAN: 買う(kau)

ICHIDAN: 食べる(taberu)

IRREGULAR: する、来る(kuru)

PRESENT NEGATIVE

GODAN(う + わない/あない) : 買わない(kawanai)、 着かない(tsukanai)、 待たない(matanai)

ICHIDAN(える、いる + ない) : 食べない(tabenai)、借りない(karinai)

IRREGULAR: しない、来ない(konai)

PAST AFFIRMATIVE

GODAN ( う/る/つ + った ; く/ぐ + いた/いだ ; す + した ; ぬ/む/ぶ + んだ) : 買った(kau/katta)、売った(uru/utta)、待った(matsu/matta)、着いた(tsuku/tsuita)、脱いだ(nugu/nuida)、貸した(kasu/kashita)、死んだ(shinu/shinda)、産んだ(umu/unda)、遊んだ(asobu/asonda)

ICHIDAN(える、いる + た) : 食べた(taberu/tabeta)、借りた(kariru/karita)

IRREGULAR: した、来た(kita)

PAST NEGATIVE (same conjugation as Present Negative, but instead of ない, you use なかった)

GODAN: 買わなかった(kawanakatta)、着かなかった(tsukanakatta)、待たなかった(matanakatta)

ICHIDAN: 食べなかった(tabenakatta)、借りなかった(karinakatta)

IRREGULAR: しなかった、来なかった(konakatta)

⚠️ The PRESENT tense that you are taught as being PRESENT actually has a FUTURE value when used in sentences(90% of the time, at least, as I have yet to delve deeper into it, but most Japanese I have had conversations with, they all have taught me that this is the primary usage). If you wish to express that an action is happening at the moment of speaking or at this point in time, you HAVE to use the ~ている conjugation.

Let's take the Group III verb 勉強する(benkyousuru) as an example:

PRESENT: 日本語を勉強している。

I am studying Japanese.

FUTURE: 日本語を勉強する。

I will study Japanese.

If you(or anybody else at that matter) have any more questions, please do ask! I can explain more about verbs(the difference between simple past tense and the ~ていた conjugation; or the formal ~ます conjugation; transitive/intransitive verbs) and some other things, too! I love to be of help. :)

And never forget to learn languages as a way of having fun! Learn it like a child would do! Speak with people, listen to audios, watch movies in the specific language and it'll come easy for you to understand its uniqueness in no time!

お疲れ様です!

––––––––––––––––

VOCABULARY LIST:

買う (kau) - to buy

着く (tsuku) - to arrive

貸す (kasu) - to lend

待つ (matsu) - to wait

死ぬ (shinu) - to die

産む (umu) - to give birth

売る (uru) - to sell

脱ぐ (nugu) - to undress, to take off (shoes, clothes etc.)

遊ぶ (asobu) - to play

食べる (taberu) - to eat

借りる (kariru) - to borrow

する (suru) - to do

来る (kuru) - to come

帰る (kaeru) - to return home

喋る (shaberu) - to chat

入る (hairu) - to enter

変える (kaeru) - to change

勉強する (benkyousuru; formed with the noun benkyou and the irregular verb suru) - to study

日本語 (nihongo) - Japanese language

For those of you who are keeping up with what books are being read in the Seitokai discord server, we're back from our brief bookclub hiatus and will be reading 夜カフェ (Yoru Cafe).

If you're interested in reading with us or even just taking a peek at the public, shared vocab list that we make so that you can read in your own time, I highly recommend that you join the server and check out the bookclub channel. As usual, our bookclub is run by @litheah. We hope to see you there! We've already started Chapter 1, but there is no such thing as "being behind" when you're reading with us! Read at your own pace and know that there are always other people there to answer your questions and discuss the novel with.

If you're worried about being able to get a copy of your own or access it, please send me a DM :D