Living Language Note: Over the next few months, our new friend Eric will be learning Japanese and sharing his journey on the blog! When he’s not studying with Living Language Platinum Japanese, Eric is an English instructor at Temple University’s Tokyo campus. Make sure to leave a comment & say hello in the language you’re learning.
Konnichiwa minasan! It’s been a long time since my last post, and I’ve been working hard to get all of my grades completed for the university. Despite all the stress, I’ve been continuing my Japanese studies using Living Language Platinum Japanese. In my recent lessons, I’ve been learning about the extremely useful verb, shimasu which means do. As you can probably guess, this is an extremely useful word to use in many situations. For example, during cherry blossom season, which just finished up in Tokyo a few weeks ago, we can say Hanami o shimasu, meaning do hanami. Hanami is the act of looking at cherry blossoms. It’s a pretty fun time during which Japanese people really relax in the park under the cherry blossoms (often with a bottle of wine or sake and some snacks) and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Of course, we need to know how to make suggestions about what to do during this beautiful time of year! When we make suggestions, we often change the –masu ending to –shoo. Notice in the following expression, I suggest that we do hanami: Hanami o shimashoo!
Meanwhile, I could also say Let’s do hanami together by adding Issho ni (together) to the beginning of my sentence: Issho ni hanami o shimashoo!
I could also make my suggestion in the form of a question: Why don’t we do hanami? by changing the –masu ending in the verb to –masen ka: Hanami o shimasen ka? If I want to use together, I could again add Issho ni and say Issho ni hanami o shimasen ka? (Why don’t we do hanami together?).
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- Hanami in Yoyogi Park
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- Hanami in Kamakura
Unfortunately, as the academic year at the university has come to an end, it’s time for me to leave Japan for a while. I’ll continue learning Japanese and blogging about my experiences from New York City using Living Language Platinum Japanese, which has really made my experience in Japan so much more meaningful. I couldn’t have survived in Tokyo without the program, nor Sakura sensei, who has been helping me through eTutoring. Rest assured, on my last night in Tokyo, I’ll be asking my friends Issho ni karaoke o shimasen ka?
Arigatoo gozaimashita!
