All About the Verbs

So, this time I am actually going to finish a post....

I have recently finished my Japanese text book "Genki" level 1 and I realised I can actually do quite a lot with a verb in Japanese. It's a shame I don't know many of them though but I just bought a book for that. Anyway, as an exercise for me (and hopefully of some interest to anyone studying Japanese) here are some ways to use the the verb "to eat" （食べる）

私は　＋

I eat sushi (polite) : すしを　食べます。 (family\friends) : すしを 食べる。

I ate sushi (polite) : すしを　食べました。 (family\friends) : すしを　食べた。

I don't eat sushi (polite) : すしを　食べません。　(family\friends) : すしを　食べない。

I didn't eat sushi (polite) : すしを　食べませんでした。(family\friends): すしを　食べなかった。

「。。。」は　＋

Lets eat sushi : すしを　食べましょう。


A new years resolution
After reading my friends resolutions, where he talked about his lack of regular Japanese study time, I have decided that one of my resulotions this year is to keep an Japanese diary and actually keep it updated. Good luck eh!

I want.....

I recently studied how to say "I want to....." in Japanese.

Well here are my wants:

にほんご

1. 毎日　すしを　食べたいです。
2. にほんごで　話たいです。
3. 大阪に　　

Me, myself and 私

I've been asked to write a little Japanese about myself and here is my attempt:


にほんご
私は　マイケルです。　２４さい です。　えいこくじんです。

English
My name is Michael. I'm 24 years old. I'm English. I'm a teacher.


Boring
After writing what I wanted to say in Japanese in English, it dawned on me that I don't have much creativity in Japanese. I suppose that's ok considering my level but it's still a little frustrating sometimes.

5th December

にほんご
今日は　さむかったです。 十二時に　でんしゃで　しごとまで　行きました。　しごとは　おもしろかったですよ。　私のがくせいは　おもしろかったですから。 九時に　でんしゃで　いえまで　行きました。 ばんごはんに　おべんとを　食べました。　ショーンくんのいえに　行って、　ショーンくんと　話しました。

今日　なにを　しましたか？

English
Today was cold! I went to work at 12 o'clock by train. Work was interesting because my students were interesting. I went home at 9 o'clock by train. I ate bento for dinner. I went to Shauns house and talked to Shaun.

What did you do today?

Wow....
I'm waiting for some people to tell me if that Japanese is completly correct or not, but regardless it was an effort to even write such a simple entry. I thought that, because Japanese is spelt phonetically, I would have no problems with spelling but I had to constantly check the spelling of words.

Also in English we always have the subject (I eat sushi) but after talking to some people, they commented that having Watashi (I in Japanese) at the start of the sentances were a little strange as it is clear from the context that I am the subject so it can be left out.

Difficult!

Hello, こんにちは

What's this blog about then?
Simply this blog is going to be used by me as a place to store my Japanese writing. The writings will be mainly small diary entries, hopefully increasing in complexity, about my life as an English teacher in Japan. These are mainly for my Japanese teacher and friends (Japanese and fellow gaijin) to read and correct.

Some entries will be in English about the frustrations, pleasures and strangeness associated with learning a language.

Enjoy or not!