Episode 12 – Japanese Made Easy

Full Episode Audio (download link is to the right of the volume icon)

Exercises Only

Welcome to Japanese Made Easy Episode 12. In this lesson we’ll be picking up a new usage of the “wa” particle and expanding on what we can already say. First let’s pick up a new word. Just listen.

できる　 できる (dekiru) 

I want to change the style a bit. This time, the way I structure the English will somewhat reflect Japanese sentence structure. Listen and follow along.

John didn’t want to go in the deep end of the pool, and he looked nervous. A bit concerned I asked, “Swim..

できる? (Dekiru?)   He replied.. No, I never learned actually. So, “Swim

できない.  (Dekinai) And another one…

After a long night out, I asked John if he could drive, as I was feeling too sleepy and didn’t want to risk it. He said, “I learned when I was 16 so… yes drive a car

できる (dekiru) 

He then said, “But my license just expired. So, sorry but tonight drive

できない (dekinai) 

We didn’t learn the word officially, but from the word “sports drink” we also got the word

スポーツ スポーツ (supōtsu) 

With that, how would you translate this question? Just two words…

スポーツできる？ (Supōtsu dekiru?) Sports can? More naturally, “Can you play sports?”

How about this answer?

うん、できるよ。(Un. Dekiruyo.) More naturally, “Yeah, I can.”

We’ll expand on this idea in just a second. But real quick, ask somebody if generally speaking, they can play sports.

スポーツできる？ (Supōtsu dekiru?)  How would you translate this response?

いや。。できないよ。(Iya, dekinaiyo.) 

Remember that little “iya”, is like a casual negative response, like “nope” or “nah.” Then we heard…

できない (dekinai)  or can’t. More naturally. “Nope, I can’t.”

ない (nai) 

Should sound familiar, recalling this idea… In casual Japanese pointing out that there aren’t any sandwiches..

サンドイッチない。 (Sandoicchi nai.)  or that Masaharu isn’t where you thought he would be.

正治(まさはる)いない。(Masaharu inai.) 

So in casual Japanese “can do something…”

できる(dekiru)  changing that to “can’t do something”

できない。(Dekinai) 

So far so good. Now let’s practice with a bunch of sports cognates.

The word

バスケットボール バスケットボール (basuketto bōru)  is often shortened to just

バスケ バスケ (basuke) 

So let’s go with the short version. In casual Japanese, ask “Basketball can?”

バスケできる？ (Basuke dekiru? )  Tell them… “Yeah, can yo.”

うん、できるよ。(Un, dekiruyo.)  Megumi, what sport is Tiger Woods known for?

ゴルフ　 ゴルフ  (gorufu)  If you ask Tiger woods..

ゴルフできる？ (Gorufu dekiru?)  

Everybody in the room is going to give you a funny look, and he’d probably respond in the affirmative. If I were standing next to Tiger Woods and somebody asked me if I can play golf… I’d tell them…

できないよ。(Dekinaiyo.)   Simply… “Can’t.”

Speaking about yourself, tell somebody, literally.. “Basketball and golf can.”

バスケとゴルフできるよ。(Basuke to gorufu dekiruyo.)   This next sport, I don’t really know the rules for, but I guess all the players are angry at the ball, because they keep kicking it.

サッカー サッカー (Sakkā)  Notice the hesitation in the middle, so it’s not saka… but

サッカー (Sakkā)  Ask somebody if they can play soccer.

サッカーできる？(Sakkā dekiru?)   How would they reply.. “Yeah, I can.”

うん、できるよ。(Un, dekiruyo.) We can include the word if we want to.

うん、サッカーできるよ。(Un, sakkā dekiruyo.)  Try that with golf, but say you can’t.

So literally, “Nope, golf can’t.” Try that…

いや、ゴルフできないよ。 (Iya, gorufu dekinaiyo.) 

Just listen.

テニス　テニス (tenisu)  Try saying, “I can play tennis and football / soccer.”

テニスとサッカーできるよ。(Tenisu to sakkā dekiruyo.)  Say, “I can’t play golf and tennis.”

ゴルフとテニスできないよ。(Gorufu to tenisu dekinaiyo.) 

Let’s do a little bit of review that leads to a new point.

In earlier episodes we heard, I will…

飲む(のむ)、(nomu) but yesterday I

飲んだ。(Nonda.) Later today,

トマトを食べる(たべる)。(Tomato o taberu. ) 　Yesterday,

オレンジを食べた。 (Orenji o tabeta.) 

Sticking with casual Japanese, tell somebody “You will see a movie.”

映画(えいが)を見る(みる)。(Eiga o miru.) Tell somebody literally, “With a friend, comedy saw / watched.”

友達(ともだち)とコメディを見た。(Tomodachi to Komedi o mita.)  Finally, “I’ll go to a convenience store.”

コンビニに行く(いく)。(Konbini ni iku.)   “I went to Tokyo.”

東京(とうきょう)に行った。(Toukyou ni itta.) Remember a few episodes back at the battle of the electronics shop, we heard…

テレビない。　(Terebi nai.)  There isn’t or aren’t any TV’s. Opposite of that,

テレビある。(Terebi aru.)  ”There are TV’s.” or “TV’s exist.” Given that, listen to this.. When you went to the electronics shop..

パソコンあった？ (Pasokon atta?) 

いや、なかったよ。(Iya, nakattayo.) Hmm.. ok.. I wonder though…

ノートパソコンあった？(Nōto pasokon atta?)   Surely they had those right？

うん、あったよ。(Un, attayo.) 

New word we can use for this practice…This is a type of phone, and keeping in mind words are often shortened.. can you guess what this is?

スマホ スマホ(Sumaho) 　As we heard when learning coffee, there is no pure “F” sound in Japanese. With that in mind listen again. What kind of phone is this?

スマホ スマホ (Sumaho)  Speaking of the electronics shop, ask somebody if there were any smartphones.

スマホあった？(Sumaho atta?)   How would they respond.. “Yeah, there were.”

うん、あったよ。(Un, attayo.)  How would they respond, with a casual “No, there weren’t.”

いや、なかったよ。(Iya, nakattayo.) The country..

イタリア (Itaria)  is known for things like spaghetti, lasagna, and other types of

パスタ パスタ (pasuta)

You just told uncle Ned that you went to an authentic sushi restaurant, and how awesome it was. Uncle Ned, tired from all the rocket science he’s been working on, asks… “Was there pasta?”

パスタあった？ (Pasuta atta?)  Tell him.. “No, there wasn’t any pasta.”

パスタなかったよ。(Pasuta nakattayo.) 

Alright that was a lot, so let’s take a break.

—————————— Tip Of The Day

This next tip comes from another podcast that I’m involved with behind the scenes. The instructor for that podcast is a friend and fellow language learner and language instructor. So, this is regarding his experience, with students learning Russian. The advice though, applies to anybody who is learning a new language. It goes like this…

How many of you are supplementing your studies with a language app? Ok…And those of you with your hand in the air, how many words would you say you’ve learned from that app?

This might come as a surprise, but if you answered anything over 200 words and you’re a complete beginner, you’ve really got your work cut out for you.

I, too had the mistaken mindset that “More words is better”. I mean, on the surface it seems like a good idea. What can happen though, is we become word collectors, addicted to the idea of increasing our word count while thinking… I’ll get to actual speaking part later.

This is such a common issue these days, because people striving to build this long list of vocabulary words, as if that will lead to better speaking ability. The problem stems from all these apps that have made a game out of the process. “Earn points!’ “Keep that streak going!” right?

Well, the problem with that approach is that by ignoring Japanese grammar and constructions, you end up practicing mistakes. And those mistakes quickly become ingrained in your speech.

Single vocabulary words, may or may not come in to use. But the ability to speak with correct grammatical patterns and constructions is essential to every sentence you will make.

So, as a beginner that is where you should be spending the most of your practice time. That’s why in this podcast we are focusing less on new vocabulary, and more on learning grammatical patterns and constructions.

Later you can just insert vocabulary that you learn.

I know of a student who said he’d learned over a thousand words in one of those apps. And yet, when asked to talk about something as simple as his family members, he had to use hand gestures to have a conversation. It’s kind of funny, but it’s also sad.

Bottom line: If you have a high word count, but can’t participate in even a basic Japanese conversation, forget about building a Gigantor Vocabulary.

Instead, focus on mastering the key constructions of Japanese. Do that, and you’ll earn points not in some game, but in conversations with real Japanese speakers.

—————————— Tip Of The Day

Just as we did with ある (aru) and あった(atta)  , the same pattern applies to existence for living things…Somebody mentions that Yamamoto sensei isn’t in a place..

山本先生(やまもとせんせい)いない。 (Yamamoto sensei inai.) 

You confirm and want a bit more information asking…

山本先生いなかったの？(Yamamoto sensei inakattano?) 

They confirm with “Yeah,” then repeat the statement…

うん、山本先生いなかったよ。 (Un, Yamamoto sensei inakattayo.) 

and they go on to explain the situation a bit more.

Ok, Tell somebody “Kenji wasn’t there.”

健司(けんじ)いなかった。(Kenji inakatta.) 

Confirm what you just heard, asking.. “Kenji wasn’t there?”

健司いなかったの？ (Kenji inakattano?) 

Giving a casual confirmation with “Yeah,” then restate just.. “Wasn’t there”.

うん、いなかったよ。 (Un, inakattayo.) 

Let’s do a quick review of the words and phrases we heard at the beginning. A native speaker will say them in Japanese and you translate to English. All of these are speaking about yourself…

ゴルフできない。(Gorufu dekinai.)  That would be… “I can’t play golf.”

テニスできる。 (Tenisu dekiru.)  “I can play tennis.”

うん、サッカーできるよ。(Un, sakkā dekiruyo.)   “Yeah, I can play soccer.”

いや、バスケできないよ。(Iya, basuke dekinaiyo.)  “No, I can’t play basketball.”

Let’s add our casual question making “の” (no) on the end that also hints at wanting a bit more information.

So.. Mayumi’s friend who she knows played basket ball in high school on a highly ranked team says…

バスケできない。(Basuke dekinai.)  “I can’t play basketball…” That’s confusing to Mayumi so she follows up saying…

え？バスケできないの？ (E? Basuke dekinaino?)  

So the friend explains a knee injury and basically that they can’t play anymore.

Ok, you try. You’re at 711 and Tiger Woods is behind you in line. He’s on the phone with somebody and mentions that he can’t play golf these days. How would you show surprise like… “Huh? You can’t play golf?”

え？ゴルフできないの？ (E? Gorufu dekinaino?) 

As promised, let’s work with the wa particle a bit more. The usage of wa we’ll talk about is a big source of confusion, because on paper it looks easy, but the nuance doesn’t come across at all.

As a beginner it’s a good idea to get used to this nuance early on. Before I was used to this usage of wa, I made a big and possibly offensive mistake when using it. Luckily a Japanese friend jumped in to save the situation. So, I want to go over this one even though it’s a fairly high level concept.

What happened was, I went to a small restaurant with a friend, who knew the owner. The owner was generously, giving us free samples of chicken with different sauces he’d been making and wanting to know what we thought.

So, we tried one, then another and another, and I wanted to say something nice. So in Japanese I said essentially, “This wa is tasty.”

Which, as it turns out, was an embarrassing mistake. In using “wa” in this situation I introduced the nuance that it carries. In this case, “This one is tasty. The others, not so much.” Not at all what I intended to imply.

The implication here is… The last one was good, the others not so much. In English we tend to do this with word choice, or emphasis. In Japanese, depending on the situation the wa particle is often used to give the listener the same feeling. It can be strong or subtle, but this is a common and need to understand usage of the “wa” particle.

So, let’s look at some Japanese examples. Kenji and Masaharu are thinking of getting into shape by playing sports.

Kenji asks Masaharu if he can play baseball. Masaharu says… “Nope.”

Kenji asks. “How about Golf?”

“Nope.” “Soccer?”… “Nope.”

Kenji thinks to himself.. certainly he can play tennis at least… and asks.

テニスはできますか？” (Tenisu dekimasuka? )

Tennis, wa, can?” In English this question has the nuance of .. “Other sports aside, can you play tennis?” Masaharu answers…

はい。テニスはできますよ。(Hai. Tenisu wa dekimasuyo.)   Literally, this is like saying..

Yes, Tennis, regarding it and implying other sports not so much, I can.

In English, maybe something like…”Now tennis, I can do. I can’t do the other ones, but tennis I can do.” Implying I can play tennis, other sports, not so much.

If the answer was simply…

はい。できますよ。(Hai. Dekimasuyo.)   “Yes. Can yo.” Without the wa particle, this is simply… “Yes, I can play tennis.” It doesn’t carry any nuance about ability with other activities.

This next one actually happened to me not too long ago. I was walking and then stopped by a woman who didn’t appear to be Japanese. She seemed distressed, maybe lost. She asked me a question in English and I didn’t really understand. Given that we are in Japan, I figured Japanese is our best bet for communication, so I asked her…

日本語(にほんご)はできますか？(Nihongo wa dekimasuka?)   On paper or in a grammar book, this is just “Japanese language, regarding it, can?” But the nuance with wa in this situation is completely…. Japanese, regarding it and other languages aside, English, Arabic, or anything else… Can you speak it?

Listen again…

日本語はできますか？　(Nihongo wa dekimasuka? ) Other languages aside, can you speak Japanese? I’m often asked this way, when Japanese people want to know if I can speak Japanese. It’s because they likely don’t speak English, and so other languages aside.. they want to know if I speak Japanese.

So, if you are in Japan for the first time, and not feeling confident with Japanese, and wanting to speak English in particular, you could ask somebody…

英語(えいご)はできますか？ (Eigo wa dekimasuka? )

English, regarding it and other languages aside, can? Other languages aside, can you speak English?

On paper though, it just looks like “Can you speak English?” This is why this usage of wa is often confusing, and it’s good to be aware of early on.

Here’s an important point to keep in mind, don’t think of this as “wa” alone, think of this as “something wa dekiru” this will help keep it clear in the future.

So write down, or commit to memory, this usage of “wa dekiru” as a pair.

Other things aside, can you?

If it’s a statement, we are saying

I can do whatever sport, or speak whatever language, while implying others not so much.

Let’s run through some to really get a feel for this.

I heard you don’t really play any sports, but can you play tennis?

テニスはできますか？ (Tenisu wa dekimasuka?) 

Yes. Tennis…I can do. “Other sports not so much.” is implied in the answer.

はい。テニスはできますよ。(Hai. Tenisu wa dekimasuyo.) 

So, if somebody asks you…

日本語はできますか？(Nihongo wa dekimasuka?)   How would you answer, “Yes, I can speak English and Japanese.”, while implying other languages not so much

はい。英語と日本語はできますよ。(Hai. Eigo to Nihogo wa dekimasuyo.) 

Now, remember if this seems overwhelming, this isn’t a random “wa” usage, It’s the something “wa dekiru” as a pair that carries this nuance.

We will use this with other verbs and adjectives in later lessons, but for now just remember it this way or it will become confusing.

Casual Japanese, ask a person if they can play soccer. No nuance, just Soccer, can?

サッカーできる？ (Sakkā dekiru?)  No implication of can or can’t do other sports.

The reply.. “Yeah, I can.”

うん、できるよ。 (Un. Dekiruyo.)  Polite Japanese, “Other sports aside, can you play soccer?”

サッカーはできますか？(Sakkā wa dekimasuka?)  And a polite, “Yes. Soccer, now that I can do.” Implying other sports not so much.”

はい。サッカーはできますよ。(Hai. Sakkā wa dekimasuyo.)  Casual Japanese, a simple question

“Can you play basketball?”

バスケできる？ (Basuke dekiru? ) There was no wa in there, so no nuance or implication about other sports. Answer casually with a simple, “No I can’t.”

いや、できない。(Iya, dekinai.) 

Let’s do just two more questions based on the following scenario…

Megumi ‘s been working on her basketball skills at the local park and wants to get a friendly game together, but we need one more person.

She sees a guy nearby hitting tennis balls against a wall. How would she politely ask him, implying other sports aside, can you play basketball?

バスケはできますか？ (Basuke wa dekimasuka?) 

And how would he politely reply but with no nuance in regard to other sports, just a simple… “Yes, I can.”

はい。できますよ。(Hai. Dekimasuyo.) 

So we start to play and everything with the new guy was going fine, but then the elbow throwing and trash talking started.

And the guy could handle that, but when Megumi dunked on him, and said “In your face.” then something about prison rules… that was the last straw. He quit and went back to hitting tennis balls against the wall.