ＨＥＬＬＯ！ Ｉ　ＡＭ　ＱＵＩＺＢＯ™！I wish you Happy Holidays from SpeRaToBo HQ as well as all of us here at Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online! Simply because an Earth holiday is occurring soon does not mean we shall take a rest. This year has been full of incalculable surprises to say the least, but we think it is important to provide you the gift of knowledge on this fine holiday week. We have presented you with quite a bit of resources throughout this year, the gift that continues to give to you year round. If this is your first visit, I want to be sure to welcome you and let you know that this is only a quick segment meant to supplement our Japanese language and culture resources, there is so much more to discover sitewide. And, with a new year approaching quickly, maybe you would like to open up a new world of communication and media that you would not have otherwise been able to experience without the in depth knowledge learning a language can bring to you. Do not feel overwhelmed, though. We are always sure to explain everything thoroughly and step-by-step in order to help you fully understand each and every concept. It may seem like a lot, but I prefer to explain it in this way: no matter your Internet speed, it is better to at least attempt the upload and wait for it little by little than to wait until you have used your time in another way only to have to start the upload at a later time. Think of Word of the Week as small boosts of information that will give you some fun messages on the loading bar of your journey. Though, you may still be asking yourself: What is Word of the Week Wednesday?

During what some may refer to as the ‘before times’, the site had begun as a place where Japanese lessons and articles regarding language and culture were regularly created and uploaded regularly, every Monday and Friday. Though such a consistent flow of information would seem to be enough for other sites, it was clear that there could be even more. For between Monday and Friday was a long gap in which there was no new information being presented. Not only was there a long gap between information, but many would forget to return to revise previous lessons. In learning any language, it is important to be consistent, even if it is only once a day. Thus, Japanese Word of the Week Wednesday was born. Word of the Week Wednesday not only acts as a great reminder for those who have either missed previous lessons or those who simply require revision, returning to previous lessons and articles, but it also gives just enough new information for students and visitors not to feel overwhelmed. Whether it is simply a quick addition to their vocabulary or studying sentence structure and pronunciation or reading, this segment serves beginners and more advanced learners alike. However, What happens during Word of the Week Wednesday?

During Word of the Week Wednesday, with the assistance of Kiki and Koko, a Japanese word or phrase is chosen and presented to you with the possibility of a bonus word, as well. I provide a definition and other useful information about the vocabulary word, and if applicable, Kiki and Koko provide a helpful hint in using the word or phrase. However, that is not the whole of it. I personally sound out each word or phrase aloud for you to repeat as many times as you wish, and you can ask me to say it as many times as you wish. I will never tire of it, as it is my function. From there, an example sentence is created. You can not only use the sentence to see how the word is used or to see the definition in action, but you can also use it to practise your reading and writing. You can compose your own sentence based on it; you can use it to see examples of grammar; or you can even use it to learn other adjacent vocabulary. Each sentence is written in a way that is useful to beginners through advanced learners. So, there is something for everyone. And, again, I will be there to read it aloud for you. I can only read it at one speed, so there is no need to repeat after me, but it can still assist you in picking out vocabulary within natural speeds of speech. And, if you would like to know more about how to create your own sentences, be sure to consult the grammar section of the Essentials.

And, now it is time for the essential part of this segment, which is the vocabulary! Kiki and Koko will be joining us in their Helpful Hints segment of this corner to give some insight relating to today’s vocabulary.

Without further ado, let us NihonGO!!

Word(s) of the Week:

プレゼント【ぷれぜんと】
purezento

Noun (名詞)、suru verb (「名詞＋する」の動詞)

1.present (noun); gift (noun)
2.to [give] a present/gift (verb)

jlpt n4| common word (常用語)

Stick around for Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko, after these messages…!!

※Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko

Photo via @kikikokoNihonGO on Twitter

Hello, there! We’re Kiki and Koko, your personal Japanese language and culture instructors visiting you every other day of the week for the past few years with new resources and content to help you on your Japanese language journey. So, if you’re a long-time friend of this site, then you probably won’t have much trouble with today’s vocabulary. However, we want to be sure that if you’re brand new, you can still benefit from every lesson! So, today’s hint is simply to guide you to where you should go to understand today’s vocabulary usage.

But, first, we want to mention, if you’re interested in something festive, we want to be sure to direct you to a useful Holiday Helpful Hints Quick Culture Corner fromJapanese Word(s) of the Week w/ QUIZBO™ | 【メリークリスマス】+ BONUS:【メリクリ】which happened to line up exactly with Christmas. If you’re interested in some useful holiday facts and phrases, it should be a fun treat!

So, in order to understand how to use today’s vocabulary, it’s important to know the basics of how sentences are made in Japanese. When learning a new language, it’s common for people to want to simply translate their thoughts word for word with a dictionary. But, this doesn’t quite work for several reasons. One, the Japanese language’s sentence structure is different to English. But no worries, we’ve explained the basics of basic sentence structure and continue to do so starting in How To: Make Basic Japanese Sentences | Particles は+が. Also, culture shapes words used as well as expressions. Today’s vocabulary is what is called a loanword. Sure, there’s a Japanese word for present or gift, but there are many often unnecessary times where loanwords are used over their native counterparts. But, that’s a topic for another day.

Also, when we present to you a verb, it’s important to note that these are dictionary form. Now, one, Japanese verbs are very different to English verbs. They’re placed differently, used differently, connote politeness or friendliness and more! But for now, we just recommend you at least understand 動詞の基本| Basics of Japanese Verbs| |（ｉｎｔｒｏ＿ｐｔ１）, 動詞の基本| Basics of Japanese Verbs| |（ 辞書形ｉｎｔｒｏ） to understand dictionary form, and… well quite a few lessons concerning how to make the verb more polite…as well as almost everything else in between. But, to make it a bit easier, you can at least reference the article How to: Dictionary to Masu Form?｜ （辞書形をマス形に）|う-Verbs マス形 Crib Sheet| 動詞の基本 (though today’s verb is actually a special case verb) but if you scroll there’s a block of several lesson thumbnails that take you step by step through beginning to hopefully understanding and then using verbs in Japanese. 

But of course, we’ll be presenting a few sentences as usual in order to give you a basic idea of where to get started and hopefully, you’ll be able to make your own sentences! Though as one last thing, we want to be sure to mention that learning to read and write in Japanese is quite important to not only proper communication, but it really does wonders when it comes to pronunciation. And, honestly, it’s a lot easier on the eyes than a string of romanised text. We discuss this in the succinct article: Romaji: The Discouraging Double-Crossing Crutch, but also communicate the importance of still familiarising yourself with both in Romaji: Not as bad as they say…

So, if you’re new, there certainly won’t ever be a lack of new things to learn and to get yourself started with a new language and a new skill! It’s going to be a new year, but there’s no reason you can’t start on your goals a bit early. Seriously, one little bit of revision/studying a day can really add up over a year! We know as your content creators that on our end, it’s always been a mountain of lessons we want to create for you, and each day that we do a bit more and create a bit more, it’s added up to an entire website of content! We can only imagine what you can accomplish as someone on the learning end of this exchange. This website’s content is kind of like our gift to you and anyone who wants to open up a whole new window to see and experience what’s always been there in plain sight. We have so much more we’d like to say when it comes to this, but we’ll leave that for our End-of-the-Year Retrospective. 

We hope that helps!! Until the next lesson!
♡Kiki+Koko
P.S. Look out for something fun this week along with something else that is new for the new year!

Thank you, Kiki and Koko! Learning one kilobyte at a time can still add up to megabytes and terabytes of knowledge over time! Giving yourself the gift of taking time to do something which you may very much enjoy and something about which you may either be passionate or in which you may be interested can be the more valuable than one could know. It is as though an entire layer of life and a new world can be opened up to you that you may never have experienced otherwise. And, hopefully, the following sentences will open up a world of exemplification of vocabulary like you have never seen before.

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]
今年、プレゼントを買う余裕がなかったので、君にこの箱をかったのだ。
ことし、ぷれぜんとを　かうよゆうが　なかったので、　きみに　このはこを　かったのだ。
kotoshi, purezento wo kauyoyuuga nakatta no de, kimi ni kono hako wo katta no da.
I couldn’t afford a present this year, so I got you this box.

Example #2:

[basic polite]
大抵はクリスマスかハヌカーかにどんなプレゼントを受け取りますか。何をプレゼントをしますか。
たいていはくりすますか　はぬかーかに　どんな　ぷれぜんとを　うけとりますか。　なにを　ぷれぜんとを　しますか。
taitei wa kurisumasu ka hanukaa ka ni donna purezento wo uketorimasuka? nani wo purezento wo shimasuka?
What kind of gifts do you usually get for Christmas or Hanukkah? What gifts do you give?

Example #3:

[casual]
キミがボクに何をプレゼントしろうと、何ももらって喜んじゃうの。キミがくれたものだから。
きみが　ぼくに　なにを　ぷれぜんとしろうと、なにも　もらって　よろこんじゃうの。きみが　くれたものだから。
kimi ga boku ni nani wo purezento shirou to, nanimo moratte yorokonjau no. kimi ga kureta mono dakara.
No matter what you give me (as a) present, I’ll be happy to receive anything. Because it was given by you.

That is all for today! But, maybe you have not had enough Japanese vocabulary, yet? Perhaps you would like to learn more vocabulary related to today’s vocabulary? Well, maybe you can give this one a go: Japanese Word(s) of the Week w/ QUIZBO™ | 【メリークリスマス】+ BONUS:【メリクリ】(+Holiday Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko) Or maybe you want to experience an even broader range of vocabulary. In which case, you can have a look at our fine selection of segments on the main Word of the Week page. Or, you can be sure you are caught up with the latest with the sidebar link: 今週の単語 | Word of the Week. These segments alone serve as weeks of material. Share these segments with your friends and family who may be interested in broadening their Japanese vocabulary, that is if you would like to spread the knowledge and show the fun things you are learning with us. Be sure to return often to keep your pronunciation properly in check, as well! If you have any questions, feel free to contact us, and we will do our best to assist how we can. We hope to see you at the next lesson!

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

    
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