Japanese Hack: Canada vlog Kazuko From Japan

Let's learn Japanese with a Vlog by Kazuko

If you're familiar with youtubers who live in Japan and make videos about the differences in culture, language and so on...... you might know about the Channel TomokoTomoko. The channel is used to teach Japanese using live scenarios and this lady Kazuko appears on that channel. I never knew she had her own channel. She seems to be in Vancouver at the moment on a working holiday programme. This is one of her vlogs. 

How to use 多ければ多いほど

Ahhhh.... so many coffee beans 

人が多ければ多いほどにぎやかだ。

The more the people, the noisier it is. 

酒を飲めば飲むほど酔いやすくなる。

The more you drink, the easier it is to get drunk.

So, here we encounter the verb+ suppositional(conditional) + verb(plain form) + ほど 

and yes, the verb can be replaced with the adjective. 

It’s used to create a condition of comparison. 

How to use なるべく

Whoahhh,, take it easy horse-head

So, なるべく comes from the verb 成る(to make something happen, to allow something to happen) and the auxiliary verb べし(has aspects of order, reasoning, obligations, possibility)

and is used when you want to translate feelings of wanting someone to do something if possible. 

So, it's commonly used in daily life and something you will encounter on regular basis. 

Now, this is similar to できたら which translates to " if it's possible/if possible " but なるべく 　is much stronger and often a request you want to push on to someone.

If できたら was a gentle push, なるべく would be a stronger push. 

Sometimes なるべく is also used when one is irritated by a repetitous movement someone does in work environments, daily life and so on.  

Let's go through some examples, 

Japanese Slang: ヤバイ

Daaang son, what's the matter???

This is really common nowadays as a slang used among teenagers to people in their 30's,40's and even 50's. 

The term ヤバイ. The interesting thing is that it contains various meanings and can be used in very different situations. The meaning also seems to differ among the various age groups. 

How to use やる & する

The face I make on the toilet seat....

So I had this question from one of my students and I think this is something everyone would question at a certain point when learning Japanese.

How can I use する and やる when they have the same meaning?

Just understand that in most cases, する is your best bet. 

あなたは何をしますか？

What do you do? (What kind of occupation do you have) 

会社を経営しています。      or      会社をやっています。( a little more ambiguous )

I run a company. 

Japanese Slang : テンションが高い

Whoah,,,, excitement at its best. I wish I had such awesome hair. Lol

Alright guys, 

When you visit Japan and start getting immersed in the language and people, slang starts to creep up to you. It may be a very subtle thing, or something that's worth taking note of. 

I'm sure there's slang for every generation and it has its own contexts. 

Sometimes there's slang that's pretty common for almost all generations. 

One type of slang that's pretty much used and heard almost everyday is テンションが高い

今日はテンションが高いぞー！！！

How to use 当たる

I don't think I want to end up being her boyfriend.....

This is a verb that boggles our mind. Just how do you use 当たる?? 

There are an infinite number of ways one can use 当たる. Okay, maybe it's not infinity but there's quite a lot of ways. 

Let's look at some which are used quite often, together with examples. 

1.  As the picture above describes, some sort of physical contact by people and/or things. 

彼のパンチが顔に当たった。　

His punch landed(hit) on my face. 

This can also be used with hitting a ball, target, and so on. 

暖かい日差しに当たる。

Being under the warm sun. ( Get shone upon by the warm sunlight) 

The sunlight might not really be physical, but when you think of photons hitting us it's understandable. 

This way of expression can also be used for other natural elements. 　風に当たる(getting hit by the wind/feeling the wind) being the most common. 

Is money お金 or 金

Here comes the money...

When you start getting a feel for Japanese, questions start to pop up in your head. 

One of those questions can be the difference of お金（おかね） & 金（かね）and such words in general. 

What’s the difference?

お(as well asご) as a prefix of a noun can be used to give an extra dimension or aesthetic aspects to the noun. 

When I say dimension, I mean in terms of politeness. 

お金　and  金

• Money signifies royalty, power, and fruitfulness in Japanese culture. This isn’t necessarily about paper money, but more about gold ( maybe that’s why the word Zipangu exists ). It also symbolises rich heritage and social status. In short, it’s something to be revered and respected. 

That’s why most people grow up saying お金 rather than just 金 since everyone else does the same. Perhaps 金 gets used when respect for money vanishes; people who deal with huge amounts of money on a daily basis; CEO’s or owners of a million-dollar companies. Well, you get the point. 

So, お金 is a word that’s sort of kept its culture through modern times and will most likely remain so. This may be the best bet when referring to money. 

• This is very similar when referring to parents as ご両親 instead of just 両親.  But when one refers to their own parents, just 両親 is used. 

As far as aesthetic aspects goes, we’ll take a look at 店 and お店

店（みせ）as we know refers to ‘ stores ‘ in general. This is when we take it as something very neutral and have indifferent feeling towards it. When we put importance on a certain store ( it could even be several stores) and want to set it apart from the rest, お店 is used. It also adds this touch of fanciness. I’m going to a store, not just any store but that special awesome store I always enjoy being at. 

いつものお店に行ってきます。

See you later, I’ll be going to the usual store(that fancy awesome store full of goodies and treats!!) 

• Also, when you want to talk about a certain possession of someone, お can be used to signify that person’s possession. To give some care to their possession. 

これはあなたのお財布ですよ。　

This is your wallet/purse 

The best way to imagine お・ご　is to think of an angel carrying this fluffy soft blanket and trying to cover a naked baby with it.  

How to use Verb + のようになる

Just when did I become like........ THIS!!?

アニメを見てから日本に興味を持つようになりました。

I developed an interest in Japan after watching Anime (repetitiously).

Verb + ようになる　is causative; there’s always a reason when verb +ようになる is included in a sentence. It doesn’t always have to be the case but is rather common. Imagine stepping into the water for the first time…… that’s what ようになる　sort of feels like. Fresh and New. 


So, let’s look at an example: 

How to use verb(past) + ばかり

Just Married!! .... no, not me 

大学に入学したばかりです。だからまだ経験が浅いです。
I’ve just enrolled in the university. So I still have very little experience. 

verb(past) + ばかり　is used to emphasise the recent occurrence of a verb. This is most suitable when you are required to specifically indicate the recentness of something you just started doing or did. So, it can be something you just started in a repetitious manner (like going to school) or it could just be a one-verb-wonder(like chopping the wood).  It also provides aspects of a newbie or a greenhorn. 

Ending sentences with ね - The ね effect

I look good, don't I? 

Perhaps you may have had many opportunities to converse in Japanese. You may also have noticed that conversational Japanese is quite differenct from grammar book Japanese. This is pretty much the case for most languages, but it's quite easily noticed in Japanese.

One thing you may always notice when speaking in Japanese is the ね at the end of a sentence.  

This may not always be used, but used quite frequently and more often than one thinks( I mean for native Japanese speakers). 

ね is quite powerful and can have a lot more impact than one thinks. 

It's flexible since it can be used in question formatting as well as replying formats; it carries the essence of casual agreement and persuation. It can also be used to ' just follow the rest ' in terms of keeping the atmosphere of the conversation in a stable and controlled state. In other words it's an escape to confrontation which could create problems and unwanted preconceived thoughts. 

There is a lot of culture involved as well. 

Now, it's always more difficult to explain than show, so I'll show you some examples: 

Which one: のおかげで or のせいで

Smiley face .............. non-Smiley face

When you want to say “ because of ———“, which do you use?

のおかげで　　　のせいで　　or maybe　  によって

Let’s go through these expressions of giving accreditation/fault to someone else and see the difference of usage.

• のおかげで

This probably can be best translated as ‘ thanks to ‘ when you want to give credit to someone’s action. It has a positive feeling and is usually associated with positive emotions.

Stephanie:  Carlos とても嬉しそうにしてるけど、何かあったの。
　　　Hey Carlos, you look really happy. Something good happened?
　　　　　
Carlos: 彼のおかげで悩んでる問題がやっと解けた。
          Yeah, I finally solved the bloody question thanks to him.

How to use  ----そう & ----ところ

It's almost Valentine's!!

仕事が始まりそうです。

しごとがはじまりそうです。

My work is about to begin.

電車が来そうです。

でんしゃがきそうです。

The train is about to come.

彼らは結婚しそうです。　　　
する conjugates to し when followed by そう

かれらはけっこんしそうです。　　　

They are on the verge of getting married/They seem likely to get married

ーーそう　has meanings of " about to " " on the threshhold of " " on the verge of "about a certain action. Notice that it's not confirmed yet, it's just in the process of confirming a certain action. Which means that there is a small amount of doubt or gap that exists. [Most likely to] would probably be another close meaning. 

**Keep in mind that this is not a direct translation, but more of a translation that can be understood in English. 

Replying with はい,はーい or はいはい??

Mom,,,, look at me, I'm a bird !! 

In Japanese, はい means yes.

There are several versions of はい and are used in specific situations. Understanding the differences and being able to use those versions effectively can give you an edge with your conversational Japanese. 

• The normal はい

This is what you would learn in a grammar book. But, how and when is it used? And in what context?

This is the polite version of うん which also means yes. はい is used towards strangers, people you are not that close to, and in professional environments. 

Cashier: 牛乳の瓶を袋に入れましょうか？

　　　　ぎゅうにゅうのびんをふくろにいれましょうか？

　　　　　Shall I put the bottles of milk in a plastic bag?

You:　　はい、お願いします。

　　　　はい、おねがいします。

　　　　Yes, please. 

The difference of あります & います

猫が。。。。？　ありますorいます？

Alright, so I’ve noticed a lot of mistakes when it comes to differentiating ある（あります） and いる（います）for Japanese learners.

They sound similar, and they both have pretty much the same meaning(to be/to exist).

It’s much more difficult to quickly differentiate them when speaking in Japanese since you only have so much time to think and voice your thoughts.

Let’s look at some examples and see the difference. Also, let’s try to figure out a quick way to utilize them in spoken Japanese.

Natural Replies in Japanese - 自然な返事

Yes, literally,,,,,,,, 

In Japanese there are many ways to reply. Some are distinguished between polite and impolite replies. 

I’d like to introduce replies used in the household as well as in business. 

Household(can also be used with friends, people you are close to) or casual replies: 

• うん(yes, sure, alright)

Mom:ケン、皿洗いしといてね！！
　　　Ken, please have the dishes washed!! 
Son: うん。　
           Sure. 

頃(ころ) vs. 時(とき) - Which one??

Don't do this at the shopping mall....... unless you're looking for leftovers

1.デパートへ歩いた時に雨が降った。

2.デパートへ歩いた頃に雨が降った。

The rain fell when I walked to the department store.

Which is more suitable? 

The answer is 1, or at least that’s the natural way to go. 

時（とき）&　頃（ころ）both have the meaning of ‘when’, however the context in which they are used creates the difference. 

Top 5 Japanese Puns(ダジャレ) that impress

Maybe not included in the Japanese Puns,,, but hey, it's weird and funny,,,, this counts

There's nothing weirder and more interesting than Japanese jokes (ギャグ) when exploring the Japanese language and culture. One branch of jokes known as Japanese puns （ダジャレ）plays with the meaning and pronunciation of Japanese words. They can be used sparingly but caution is required when using the same set very frequently. They can get old with your buddies. It can also be seen as an 'old thing' that has passed it's generation at times so keep that in mind. But most people won't worry if you are a foreigner; they'll understand your desire to become a 日本人.