Speak Japanese in 90 Days: A Self Study Guide to Becoming Fluent Volume One Copyright © Kevin Marx 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the author. Table of Contents Foreword The Japanese Writing System and Pronunciation Katakana Words Grammar Basics Question Words Greetings, Farewells, Yes and No Meeting, Thanks, Sorry Common Phrases Pronouns, Politeness, Suffixes To be Countries, People, Languages Sentence Structure, Particles は, が, も Particles をand で Particles に and へ End of Sentence Particles か, の, よ Ownership, Particle の Family There is, There are, to Exist こそあど Words Some, Any, No Vocabulary Practice Verb Basics Verbs and U-Form I-Form A-Form E-Form O-Form Te-Form Ta-Form Suru Verbs Compound Verbs Mono and Koto, Verbs as Nouns Present Tense, Future Tense, Habitual Action Continuous Tense Past Tense Certainty Negative Te-Form Commands Like, Love, Hate, Need Vocabulary Practice Intermediate Grammar Want Invitations Can Transitive and Intransitive Verbs かかる and かける Should Have to, Must May And But Because How to, Difficult to, Easy to, Too Much Experiences Intend to Adjectives Adjectives Adverbs and Adjectival Nouns Adjective Commands Comparisons Superlative Vocabulary Practice Numbers, Dates, Time Numbers Counting Dates Time Already, Still, Yet Before, After, During, While, When Special Words Honorific and Humble Speech False Cognates Conclusion E-Note cards Day 1 Day 11 Day 21 Day 31 Day 41 Day 51 Day 61 Day 71 Day 81 Foreword This is the first book in the series Speak Japanese in 90 Days. It covers all of the grammar tested in the JLPT N5 (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) as well as most of the grammar in the JLPT N4. Please read the following sections which will teach you how to study with this book. Thank you for your purchase, I hope you enjoy studying with this book! How to Study This book consists of 90 lessons that can be studied in one day each. Each lesson will present you with ten vocabulary words to memorize and most will also contain a grammar structure to memorize. To memorize vocabulary, please use note cards, or some device to write down the vocabulary words, and follow the method that will be outlined in the following paragraphs. If you do not wish to create your own note cards, you can use the E-note cards provided at the end of this book. However, creating your own note cards and writing out the words will help you learn and memorize the vocabulary. It is important that you have access to your vocabulary at all times during the day. On both sides of the card write the numbers 1-10. On one side write the English word and on the other side write the Japanese equivalent. Read word number one out loud. Flip the card. Read the Japanese equivalent word out loud. Go on to the second word. Do this at least ten times for each word. You may notice, by the tenth time, that you can remember some of the words without making any effort. Please note that out loud is bold and underlined. It is extremely important that you say the words out loud. Do this at least three times a day. The more often you do it, the easier it will be to recall the words. At the end of the day, try to make a sentence with the words you've memorized, or simply use the sample sentences provided in this book. Making sentences with your vocabulary words is just as important as saying everything out loud. If you do these two simple things, your progress will be much faster. Practice each new card along with the old ones every day until you are able to freely use the vocabulary words on your own. Review all vocabulary at least once a week, even if you feel you have memorized it. You brain will play tricks on you, and you may begin to memorize the order of the words on the card, so it is important to mix them up, do the odd words, then do the even words. Do the words backwards. You can also switch the language you start with. Start on the English side to improve your speaking, start on the Japanese side to improve your reading and listening. Say everything out loud. Motivation The most difficult thing to learning a language is actually taking the time to study. Languages are different than most subjects, in that you cannot cram the information in one sitting. You must study as often as possible rather than as long as possible. It is imperative that you study and practice every day. You will gain more benefit from studying every day for fifteen minutes than you will from studying two hours once a week. Your motivation for learning Japanese is very important. Ask yourself, why do I want to study Japanese? Remind yourself of the reason. Tell yourself I want to study Japanese. Say it, out loud, right now: I want to study Japanese. It is all a matter of will. You may find yourself one day feeling lazy, your thoughts telling you to relax, to procrastinate. Do not let this happen to you. Do not give in to negativity. If you feel this is happening, remind yourself of why you want to speak Japanese, remind yourself that you want to do this. You want to study. You want to improve. It is my hope that you are able to finish this book in 90 days, however, everyone has different learning curves and busy lives, so if you find that it may take you 180, or even 360 days to finish this book, do not feel down. This book was designed to be done at your own pace. You can do it! Good luck! Practicing You perfect what you practice. If you play video games all day, you will get good at playing video games, if you read books all day, you will become a fast reader. The same goes for language, if you practicing reading, you will increase your reading skill, if you practice listening, you will increase your listening skill, if you practice speaking, you will increase your speaking skill. The problem for most people learning a language is that they waste time doing written grammar