ＨＥＬＬＯ！ Ｉ　ＡＭ　ＱＵＩＺＢＯ™！Welcome to Word of the Week Wednesday, a wonderful way to work at words without wandering wastefully. I am your hopefully helpful Heisei era robot computer assistant, QUIZBO™, but maybe one day, I will be able to call you ‘friend’ just as I call my co-hosts, Kiki and Koko. During Mondays and Fridays, I join them for many lessons and quizzes to read words aloud and create questions for you. However, there is quite a long gap betwixt Monday and Friday which used to be devoid of learning until Word of the Week was created.

Normally, Word of the Week is meant to do just as it says: introduce Japanese vocabulary. But, today, there will be an addition to this particular segment, as Kiki and Koko wanted to add something that will perhaps kindle your need to revise a few previous lessons, but also assist you in practising them. However, we will reach that portion soon enough. If you ever run across a word that you may already know, it is still certainly worth following this segment even if you are further along in your learning. During this segment, it may not only inspire you to return to previous lessons in order to revise / review them to keep the information fresh in your mind, but there are many other forms of practise to be had during this segment.

For absolute beginners, we have romaji to assist you in learning to read hiragana and eventually, kanji. For both beginners and intermediate level students, you can benefit from hearing the words aloud. I am always sure to say every character individually, as well. But, always be sure you understand concepts such as youon and chouon which definitely require following along with the characters in order to be sure that you will spell them correctly in future. But, on top of this, you will experience hopefully interesting and useful sentences which will show both beginners and intermediate as well as perhaps even advanced forms of grammar. There are many times that advanced grammar is a bit subjective, as anything can feel advanced if you are new enough. So, simply think of each part of the learning experience as something you can absorb for now or for future reference.

After I read the sentences aloud to you, you can use this as a great opportunity to practise your own composition as well. In order to get a grasp on some essential grammar, you can visit the Japanese Language Essentials section. Creating sentences assists you in creating more schemas or scaffolding in your memory to absorb the vocabulary word more efficiently. You can return as many times as you wish to this and previous Word of the Week segments which should help you learn them after multiple exposures.

While writing can help you make sense of the words, as well as creating a great learning opportunity for hiragana or even kanji, and grammar, repeating the words aloud is an invaluable part of learning. If you are riding the train or other public transportation, you can always wait until you are somewhere more comfortable to repeat aloud. Unless it is a very friendly area where you would wish to get others involved, or even friends. But, if you are keen on keeping quiet, we understand. Just do not deprive yourself of learning and pronunciation practise, and take it at your own pace.

And, speaking of advocates for taking it at your own pace, I am joined by Kiki and Koko with their extra special segment for today.

Without further ado, let us NihonGO!!

Word(s) of the Week:

綺麗【きれい】※
kirei
na-adjective
1. beautiful (美しい); lovely; pretty
2. clean; tidy; neat
3. clean (i.e. fair; honest)
4. [綺麗に] entirely (まったく); completely

BONUS Word(s) of the Week:

汚い【きたない】※
kitanai
i-adjective
1. dirty; unclean; filthy
2. messy; untidy; disorganised
3. dirty; vulgar (e.g. language)
4. underhanded
5. tightfisted; stingy

※Helpful Hints+ Quick Quiz with Kiki+Koko

via @kikikokoNihonGO!!

Hello, there!

We’re Kiki and Koko~! You may know us from the Japanese language and culture blog Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online, or perhaps you’ve seen us on social media as @kikikokoNihonGO on Twitter or @kikiandkokoletsnihongo on Instagram. One of our first photos, there, was a sneak peek at our「綺麗な」, kirei na,  office. In the previous Word of the Week’s Quick Culture Corner, we mentioned about the tradition of THE BIG CLEAN, as we two fancy to call it, which included a noun and a verb— well, technically two verbs, but at any rate! We all reckoned it the best way to follow up the next Word of the Week than with associated adjectives. Oddly enough, these adjectives have very similar definitions to their English counterparts. So, rather than focus on meaning, we’re going to focus on usage.

However, we’ll be doing this in a much different way~! We’ll be the ones giving the quiz, today. But, it’s not exactly a quiz, more so a way to practise sort of like flash cards. It’s an honour system sort of way. We don’t want to confuse you with incorrect answers, so instead, you’ll think of the answer or write it down, then click the word to ‘flip over’ the card. But, what will this entail? Well, we’re going to ask for negative form(否定形 ), past tense (形容詞の過去形), and te form (テ形). But, if you’re not familiar, this is a great time to revisit these lessons, or if you’re new, visiting these lessons for the first time~! In which case, we definitely recommend starting from the beginning to get the benefit of the previous knowledge necessarily to grasp these concepts.

So, without further ado, it’s Quick Quiz time with Kiki+Koko, and QUIZBO™ will technically be presenting these as he’s woven into the coding itself~!

Answer the following questions by writing them down for practise or in your head, then click the question to reveal the answer. (Hints may be found above or below the questions as the randomiser may end up placing them atop the question)

Remember, conjugating adjectives can be a bit tricky, but pay attention to the type of adjective and practise conjugating often, and you’ll find it becoming more natural~! Never be afraid to make mistakes, it’s an essential part of learning~!

Also, you’ll definitely want to learn how to read hiragana, if you’re very serious about becoming fluent. As you may be able to see, conjugation begins to become a bit lengthy when you use romaji.  At the same time, you’ll want to be very careful with these, as there are definitely some pitfalls with the word 汚い, kitanai. In future, it’s important to become familiar with kanji, and reading in general, at least little by little. It you’re not to the point of learning kanji yet, that is completely fine, as the point is really just being aware of it at the moment as well as reading. Auditory learning is important, but it’s even more important to combine methods like visual and kinaesthetic learning.

When you look at the word 汚い, kitanai, in romaji, or simply hear the word, as an absolute beginner with only knowledge of how to conjugate, you may think this is the negative form of some sort of fabled adjective kitai, but when you have a look at how its written, it makes it a bit more clear where the stem of the adjective begins. Also, reading and writing as well as becoming familiar with the basics of these will be important as when you get to conjugations like 汚くなかった, kitanakunakatta, meaning ‘was not dirty’, then it may become a bit much.

That’s why we really advocate taking your time~! If you rush, you may find yourself discouraged by tripping over things that may be easier to digest if you had taken the time to break it into pieces over time. Soon, you’ll be able to see it as ‘Oh, 汚い, kitanai, 汚くない, kitanakunai, 汚くなかった, kitanakunakatta‘ And, with more time, your brain will go straight to 汚くなかった, kitanakunakatta. But, this takes time for everyone. So, be kind to yourself, and give yourself the patience and time you need.

We hope that helps!! Until the next lesson!
♡Kiki+Koko

Thank you, Kiki and Koko! Wow-wow, you have certainly outdone yourselves for a Word of the Week Wednesday. I was glad to help support your quiz, as well. That is my purpose.

And, it is certainly important to take your time and learn thoroughly as well as correctly. It is better to be patient now rather than frustrated in future. It is akin to removing a Universal Serial Bus without saving your work or approval from your computer, possibly corrupting files. It is best to wait rather than wait until its too late, spending more time to scan the drive and attempt recovery. However, now it is time to read and listen to some example sentences to hopefully solidify these adjectives in your memory over time.

Example Sentences:

The first row is in Japanese with Kanji. The Next row is in hiragana, then romanised using rōmaji with the final row translated into English.
(Japanese→Hiragana→Rōmaji→English)

Example #1:

[casual speech]
宇宙空間は綺麗だと思ったけど、実は汚くてゴミと人工衛星だらけのです。綺麗にできるのかなあ。
うちゅうくうかんは　きれいだとおもったけど、じつは　きたなくて　ごみと　じんこうえいせいだらけのです。きれいにできるのかなあ。
uchuukuukan wa kirei da to omotta kedo, jitsu wa kitanakute gomi to jinkou eisei darake no desu. Kirei ni dekiru no kanaa.
I thought the void of space was clean, but in reality, it’s disorganised and full of rubbish and satellites. I wonder if we can tidy it up.

Example #2:

[casual speech]
おばあちゃんはいつも子供たちに「窓、触んなってば！」と言ってるのだけど、もう汚い指の跡だらけになちゃった。
おばあちゃんは　いつも　こどもたちに　「まど、さわんなってば！」といってるのだけど、もう　きたないゆびのあと　だらけに　なちゃった。
obaachan wa itsumo kodomotachi ni ‘mado, sawanna tteba!’ to itteru no dakedo, mou kitanai yubi no ato darake ni nachatta.
Gran is always saying to the kids, ‘Don’t touch the windows!’ but they ended up already covered in dirty finger prints.

Example #3:

[basic polite speech]
ちゃんと勉強できて集中できるに、部屋を綺麗にしておきます。
ちゃんと　べんきょう　できて　しゅうちゅうできるに、　へやを　きれいにしておきます。
chanto benkyou dekite shuuchuu dekiru ni, heya wo kirei ni shite okimasu.
I’ll keep my room clean so I can properly study and concentrate.

🔊Japanese Word(s) of the Week w/ QUIZBO™ | 【楽しい】+ BONUS:【つまらない】(+Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko)

That is all for today! But, perhaps you are interested in opposites? 🔊Japanese Word(s) of the Week w/ QUIZBO™ | 【楽しい】+ BONUS:【つまらない】(+Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko). Whether or not you have already visited the article, you can return again to try to practise your adjective conjugation or simply sentence creation. The possibilities or learning are endless. Or have a look at any previous Word of the Week segments. Go out and share these with your friends so you can practise together. No friends? Share with enemies! The neighbour’s dog! Your second cousin! Either way, we are here for you and you can comment with your sentences below. We hope to see you there!

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Thank you so much for learning with us!
♡QUIZBO™

    
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