Introduction to Japanese

Introduction

• Presenters: Alisha and Risa
• Lesson Focus: Basics of Japanese grammar

Word Order in English and Japanese

• English Word Order: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)
  • Example: "I ate apple"
  • Breakdown: Subject (I) + Verb (ate) + Object (apple)
• Japanese Word Order: Subject-Object-Verb (SOV)
  • Example: 私がりんごを食べました ("I ate an apple")
  • Simplified Breakdown: Subject (私, I) + Object (りんご, apple) + Verb (食べました, ate)

Language Prominence

• English: Subject-Prominent Language
  • Subject is the key element affecting the sentence's meaning
  • Omitting the subject alters the sentence significantly (e.g., "Ate an apple")
  • Subject is more important than the object
• Japanese: Topic-Prominent Language
  • Focus is on the topic rather than the subject
  • Subject can be omitted if already established or obvious
  • Common structure in conversation: Object + Verb
  • Example: "りんごを食べました" ("Ate an apple") omits the subject

Creating Simple Sentences in Japanese

• Most Japanese sentences omit the subject
• Sentence Structure: Object + Verb
  • Example: "I ate a hot dog" translated as "hot dog wo tabemashita"
  • Meaning: "Ate a hot dog"

Summary

• Japanese uses SOV word order
• Importance of the topic over the subject in Japanese
• Construct simple sentences by focusing on object and verb
• Note: Further learning in Japanese grammar and phrases available in their video series

Next Lesson

• Focus: Basics of Japanese writing
• Closing Remarks: "See you in the next lesson!"