Kiso Nihongo Yo Jikan

Japanese may be one of the most peculiar languages existing in the world today. The Japanese language is not a member of the Indo-European family, and is neither related to English nor French languages. It is not related to Chinese, even though it has borrowed a large vocabulary from Chinese ideograms. Some Japanese scholars think that Chinese is influenced by Japanese.

Contents:
Introduction - by Herman Aihara
Four Hours to Basic Japanese
Pronouns
Sentence Structure
Numbers
Prepositions
Adjectives
Adverbs
Verbs
Common Expressions
Basic Word List
Appendix 1 - Japanese Alphabets and Brain Functions
Appendix 2 - Some Etymology
Appendix 3 - Sentence Patterns
Appendix 4 - A Japanese Article Written in Roman Alphabet

George Ohsawa used to say that Japanese is the language of the infinite world. In other words, Japanese has relatively no regulations. It is detached from this world. Since it is detached from this world, it often lack regulations and indications of time and space. You can express in any tense simply by using the present tense. However, in the beginning, this lack of time regulation may cause confusion when studying Japanese. This is caused by the fact that you are speaking or writing while thinking in terms of English grammar. In learning Japanese, the most important thing is that you change your concept of the world and its way of expression. To learn Japanese is to learn another way of thinking. Since Japanese was developed by the Japanese mentality, the learning of Japanese entails the assimilation of Japanese thought. From this perspective, studying Japanese is studying Macrobiotics, because the Macrobiotic mentality and principle is the foundation of the Japanese mentality.

Of course, it is not an easy job to master such Japanese. This small publication aims at giving you the key to enter the gate leading towards further study of the Japanese language. It is with the utmost pleasure that I am able to serve you with this guide as you once served me with a guide to English or American language. (.1)

 

1. Four Hours to Basic Japanese - Introduction - Herman Aihara

Four Hours To Basic Japanese - George Ohsawa - First published - 1971
©Copyright George Ohsawa Macrobiotic Foundation - G.O.M.F