Liven Up Your QSOs with a Foreign Tongue -- Part 3 Japanese for Ham QSOs by David Cowhig WA1LBP@N4QQ Tapes of the first two lessons of Japanese for Ham QSOs are now circulating among the members of the Mt. Vernon ARC. Those of you who are getting more interested in learning Japanese may want to purchase the best elementary Japanese text I have seen -- Japanese for Beginners by Yasuo Yoshida and published by Gakken. You can buy it with two sixty minute cassette tapes. Consult Books in Print and order it through your local bookstore or write to Kinokuniya, a big Japanese bookstore in New York City, at 10 West 49th St., New York, NY. 10020. Gakken also publishes another excellent text suitable for home study of Japanese, Japanese for Today by Yasuo Yoshida (also accompanied by tapes). Japanese for Today introduces the written language and builds vocabulary up to the point where you can read Japanese with the help of a dictionary. Having struggled through quite a few language texts, including these two, I can recommend them enthusiastically to anyone who would like to learn Japanese but can't attend Japanese classes. You can watch a Japanese business news program followed by a Japanese TV drama (with subtitles) every Sunday evening beginning at 8 PM on WNVC Channel 56. Japanese lessons at 10:45 PM EST on the Radio Japan english language broadcast on 5.960 MHz are self- contained, so you can start anytime. You can try out your new Japanese skills on CW, RTTY and packet as well as on phone. Leave out the dashes between words and the Japanese operator should understand the romanization used here, which is almost identical with the standard romanization of Japanese. On January 26 I heard the Japanese PBBS station JA1NID- 1 on 28.105 MHz. I connected but couldn't pass any text. Perhaps one of you will be the first one in this area to digipeat into Tokyo in Japanese! You can earn several awards for working Japanese stations. The ARRL Operating Manual lists the Worked All Japanese Prefectures Award is given for working amateur stations in all of Japan's 47 prefectures; the All Japan Districts award for working a station in each of Japan's ten call areas; and the Japan Century Cities for working amateur stations in 100 different Japanese cities. Use the map of Japan's call areas and prefectures in chapter 17 of the Operating Manual to record your progress. Now back to work! The basic structure of Japanese sentences is Subject-Object- Predicate. Example : Watashi wa ma-i ni-chi ni-hon-go o ben-kyoo shi-ma-su. Literally: I every day Japanese study (Don't worry: they think our word order is weird too). Benkyoo shimasu means to study. Here shimasu is the present form of the verb suru (to do). Shimasen (do not) is the negative form of suru. The past form of shimasu is shi-ma-shi-ta. Usually the subject is understood, so if we rewrite this sentence, putting it in the past tense, we get Ma-e ni-chi ni-hon-go o ben-kyoo shi-ma-shi-ta. Other common verbs we will be using are i-ku (to go) which has i-ki-ma-su as its present form, i-ki-ma-sen as its negative present, and i-ki-ma-shi- ta as its past form; de-su (to be) de-su is the present form and de-shi-ta (was) is the past form; a-ru (to have) : present form a- ri-ma-su, negative present a-ri-ma-sen, past a-ri-ma-shi-ta. Wa- ta-shi wa ni mee-to-ru rig-gu ga a-ri-ma-sen. (I don't have a two meter rig). San nen ma-e[my-eh] ni ni-hon e i-ki-ma-shi-ta. Ni-hon no to- mo-da-tchi to i-ssho ni ya-ma ni no-bo-ri-ma-shi-ta. Wa-ta-shi-ta- chi wa hi-ko-ki de Kyo-to e i-ki-ma-shita. Kyoo-to wa tai-hen ki- rei na to-ko-ro de-su. [Three years ago (I) went to Japan. With a Japanese friend I went mountain-climbing. We went to Kyoto by plane. Kyoto is a very beautiful place.] We -- wa-ta-shi-ta-chi Together -- i-ssho ni By airplane -- hi- koo-ki de Very beautiful -- tai-hen ki-rei to -- e San ne ma-e ni -- three years ago of -- no [Ni-hon no to-mo-da- tchi -- japanese friends] de -- by means of [To-no (if you are working a Japanese ham named Tono)]-san wa a-me-ri-ka e i-ra-shai-ma-shi-ta-ka? [Have you been to America?] Hai. Kek-kon shi-ma-shi-ta toki ni wa-ta-shi-ta-chi wa Hawaii e i-ki-ma-shi-ta. A-no to-ki ni ni me-to-ru ban-do de Hawaii no ha- mu to ha-na-shi-ma-shi-ta. [Yes. We took a trip to Hawaii when we got married. At that time I talked with US hams on two meters.] I-ra-sha-i-ma-su -- to come, to go [polite form. depends on context] I-ra-sha-i-ma-shi-ta (went, came) Hai -- yes Kek- kon-shi-ma-su -- get married Kek-kon-shi-ma-shi-ta to-ki ni - - when we got married A-no -- that (ko-no -- this) A-no to-ki - - at that time Ni me-to-ru ban-do -- two meter band to ha-na- shi-ma-su -- to speak with someone [notice the word order: "hams with spoke" (ha-mu to ha-na-shi-ma-shi-ta -- spoke with hams)] Zan-nen na-ga-ra a-me-ri-ka e ryo-koo shi-ma-sen-de-shi-ta ga rai-nen wa a-me-ri-ka e ryo-koo su-ru tsu-mo-ri de-su. Mu-su-ko wa kyoo-nen a-me-ri-ka e i-ki-ma-shi-ta. [Unfortunately, I have never been to the USA. I think I will go next year. My son went to the USA last year.] Zan-nen na-ga-ra -- unfortunately. Ryo-koo shi-ma-su -- go on a trip [ryo-koo shi-ma-shi-ta -- went on a trip] Shi-ma-sen - - do not : the negative form of shimasu "to do". Shi-ma-sen de-shi- ta -- did not. Tsu-mo-ri desu (at the end of a phrase) want to Washington, DC e ku-re-ba, ze-hi wa-ta-shi ni den-wa o ka-ke- te ku-da-sai. Den-wa ban-go wa ............ Washington e ku-ru ma- e ni wa-ta-shi ni te-ga-mi o kai-te ku-da-sai. [If you come to Washington, please call me. My telephone number is ..... Please write me before you come.] Ku-ru (to come) present form: ki-ma-su; past: ki-ma-shi-ta; conditional ku-re-ba [if (you) come] Den-wa o ka-ke-ma-su -- make a telephone call. Ku-da-sai -- please. Den-wa ban-go -- telephone number. Washington e ku-ru ma-e ni -- before you come to Washington te-ga-mi -- letter Ka-ku -- to write (kai-te imperfect form of ka-ku) Wa-ta-shi ni te-ga-mi o kai-te ku-da-sai -- please write me a letter. Pa-ket-to ga su-ki de-su ka? Roku ge-tsu ma-e ni PK-232 to iu [you] TNC ga ka-i-ma shi-ta. Wa-ta-shi no ha-mu ra-ji-o ku-rub-bu no mem-baa mi-na san wa ni mee[long may sound]-to-ru no pa-ket-to kyo-ku ga a-ri-ma-su. [Do [you] like packet? I bought a TNC called the PK-232 six months ago. All the members of my ham radio club have a two meter packet station.] Su-ki de-su ka -- do (you) like? Ro-ku ge-tsu ma-e ni (six months ago) PK-232 to iu TNC -- a TNC called the PK-232 Ka-i-ma-su -- to buy (ka-i-ma-shi-ta -- bought) Ra-ji-o ku-rub-bu -- radio club a-ri-ma-su -- to have a-ri-ma-sen -- to have not Ni-hon de wa pa-ket-to wa tai-hen nin-ki ga a-ru soo de-su. [I have heard [I have heard -- soo near the end of the sentence just before de-su, the verb to be] that packet is very popular in Japan. Ni-hon de wa -- in Japan tai-hen -- very nin-ki ga a-ru (popular). Yuk-ku-ri ha-na-shi-te ku-da-sai. Ni-hon-go o ben-kyoo no wa zai kin ha-ji-me-ma-shi-ta ka-ra su-ko-shi wa-ka-ri-ma-sen de-shi- ta. Su-mi-ma-sen ga (Re-por-to) (QTH) (Na-mae) (Rig) wa mo i-chi- doo ku-da-sai. [Please speak slowly. I began to study Japanese very recently, so I didn't understand everything. Excuse me, but please repeat (my report) (your QTH) (your name) (your rig).] Yuk-ku-ri -- slowly Zai-kin -- recently Ha-ji-me-ma-su - - to begin Ha-ji-me-ma-shita -- began Su-ko-shi -- a little bit Wa-ka-ri-ma-su -- (I) understand Wa-ka-ri-ma-sen -- (I) do not understand Wa-ka-ri-ma-sen de-shi-ta -- (I) did not understand. Su-mi-ma-sen ga -- excuse me, but Moo i-chi-doo ku-da-sai -- one more time please. 73 de WA1LBP Please let me know how you are doing with these Japanese lessons. I will make customized Japanese sentences on request. You can call me or send a message to WA1LBP@N4QQ or leave me a message on K4GAA- 1. The first three Japanese lessons are available on N4QQ and KA3DXX as JAHAM1.TXT, JAHAM2.TXT and JAHAM3.TXT.