Benjamin’s English · engVid | English Tips for Japanese Speakers @engvidBenjamin | Uploaded May 2018 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Japanese speakers have many challenges when learning English. For example, the words in a sentence are usually in a different order. In this video, we will talk about proper English syntax and word order in contrast with the Japanese language. We will also talk about the differences in verb tenses between English and Japanese, as well as issues of formality when using pronouns. I will also give you some accent tips to help make sure you are understood by English speakers. For all you native Japanese speakers, this video is made especially for you, so please watch and let me know if these tips help you.
Test yourself with the quiz: engvid.com/english-tips-for-japanese-speakers
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, and welcome back to engVid. Today's lesson is specifically designed for Japanese learners of English. Now, I know how difficult it must be to learn English if you are Japanese, because it is a very difficult language, very different language. I have no knowledge of Japanese, so I respect you for trying to learn our language.
Now, a few tips which I have written on the board for you. First of all, we should avoid putting the topic at the beginning of a sentence. For example: "Those people don't understand at all." Now, in English, we normally put the subject, then the verb, and then the object. The subject of this sentence here is not "Those people". "Those people", that is actually the object. We need a subject. The subject of this sentence should actually be "I", that is what the person means, so: "I do not understand", and then the object goes after the verb. Okay? "I do not understand those people at all." If we don't put our words in this order then you will confuse people. Again, this is a slightly strange... This is confusing. "It should be noted Benjamin's engVid videos." Okay? How I would phrase this... Let's have a subject. What do we want the subject to be? What about "You"? "You should", okay? "You should", and what the verb really is, is "watch". And the object: "Benjamin's engVid videos". Thank you for watching this video, by the way.
Okay, so let's do a little bit more on word order. In Japanese, often it's subject, object, verb. For example: "I, you, phone", whereas in English, as I've just said, we're doing: Subject, verb, object. So, subject: "I", verb: "phone", "you" needs to go at the end. "I phone you."
Now, going to a greater degree of complexity, a complex sentence. So, in Japanese with a complex sentence we would have the sub clause and then the main clause, but in English we can experiment, we can have the sub clause at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. Right. So, let me check. At the beginning... This is with a sub clause at the beginning. "Having smashed his phone, he bought a new one." He's smashed his phone, he's not had a good day. Okay, so that's with the sub clause at the beginning. We've got that. "How, Benjamin, do we have a sub clause in the middle?" Well, you start the main clause, so I start: "He", okay? I'm putting my subject. "He", now we have the sub clause. "He, having smashed his phone, bought a new one." Okay? So we start putting the main clause, then we put a little bit of extra information, and then we have the main information, the main clause. You could also have a sub clause at the end. "He bought a new phone, having smashed his old one." Okay?
Now, the verb: "to be", I understand that Japanese people do have difficulty with using the verb "to be" because there seems to be no direct equivalent, so I'm just going to show you how we conjugate this verb. "I am happy.", "He is a good person.", "I am", "He is". "She is proficient at English." Okay? Meaning good. "You are Japanese." I know in Japanese it's slightly rude to say: "You", but in English it is widely acceptable. "We are happy that you are watching this video.", "They are noisy."
My next area for today's lesson: Unreal conditionals. I know that this doesn't particularly make sense in Japanese. I will try to explain it as best as I can. "If I had known", okay? So what I'm about to say... I'm talking about me lying in bed this morning. Okay? And I'm thinking... So I'm thinking back... Okay? Because now... Now, what is it? Say it's 7 o'clock, it's 7pm, the time we are recording this right now. I'm thinking about 7am. So it's now 7pm, I'm thinking about 7am. If back then I had seen to the future... If back then I had known what was going to happen then, I would have just stayed there. In a sentence context: "If I had known that my phone was going to smash, I wouldn't have got out of bed." Okay? So it's quite a weird cycle. So I'm thinking: "What if back then I knew the future?" Obviously, you know. […]
Japanese speakers have many challenges when learning English. For example, the words in a sentence are usually in a different order. In this video, we will talk about proper English syntax and word order in contrast with the Japanese language. We will also talk about the differences in verb tenses between English and Japanese, as well as issues of formality when using pronouns. I will also give you some accent tips to help make sure you are understood by English speakers. For all you native Japanese speakers, this video is made especially for you, so please watch and let me know if these tips help you.
Test yourself with the quiz: engvid.com/english-tips-for-japanese-speakers
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, and welcome back to engVid. Today's lesson is specifically designed for Japanese learners of English. Now, I know how difficult it must be to learn English if you are Japanese, because it is a very difficult language, very different language. I have no knowledge of Japanese, so I respect you for trying to learn our language.
Now, a few tips which I have written on the board for you. First of all, we should avoid putting the topic at the beginning of a sentence. For example: "Those people don't understand at all." Now, in English, we normally put the subject, then the verb, and then the object. The subject of this sentence here is not "Those people". "Those people", that is actually the object. We need a subject. The subject of this sentence should actually be "I", that is what the person means, so: "I do not understand", and then the object goes after the verb. Okay? "I do not understand those people at all." If we don't put our words in this order then you will confuse people. Again, this is a slightly strange... This is confusing. "It should be noted Benjamin's engVid videos." Okay? How I would phrase this... Let's have a subject. What do we want the subject to be? What about "You"? "You should", okay? "You should", and what the verb really is, is "watch". And the object: "Benjamin's engVid videos". Thank you for watching this video, by the way.
Okay, so let's do a little bit more on word order. In Japanese, often it's subject, object, verb. For example: "I, you, phone", whereas in English, as I've just said, we're doing: Subject, verb, object. So, subject: "I", verb: "phone", "you" needs to go at the end. "I phone you."
Now, going to a greater degree of complexity, a complex sentence. So, in Japanese with a complex sentence we would have the sub clause and then the main clause, but in English we can experiment, we can have the sub clause at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. Right. So, let me check. At the beginning... This is with a sub clause at the beginning. "Having smashed his phone, he bought a new one." He's smashed his phone, he's not had a good day. Okay, so that's with the sub clause at the beginning. We've got that. "How, Benjamin, do we have a sub clause in the middle?" Well, you start the main clause, so I start: "He", okay? I'm putting my subject. "He", now we have the sub clause. "He, having smashed his phone, bought a new one." Okay? So we start putting the main clause, then we put a little bit of extra information, and then we have the main information, the main clause. You could also have a sub clause at the end. "He bought a new phone, having smashed his old one." Okay?
Now, the verb: "to be", I understand that Japanese people do have difficulty with using the verb "to be" because there seems to be no direct equivalent, so I'm just going to show you how we conjugate this verb. "I am happy.", "He is a good person.", "I am", "He is". "She is proficient at English." Okay? Meaning good. "You are Japanese." I know in Japanese it's slightly rude to say: "You", but in English it is widely acceptable. "We are happy that you are watching this video.", "They are noisy."
My next area for today's lesson: Unreal conditionals. I know that this doesn't particularly make sense in Japanese. I will try to explain it as best as I can. "If I had known", okay? So what I'm about to say... I'm talking about me lying in bed this morning. Okay? And I'm thinking... So I'm thinking back... Okay? Because now... Now, what is it? Say it's 7 o'clock, it's 7pm, the time we are recording this right now. I'm thinking about 7am. So it's now 7pm, I'm thinking about 7am. If back then I had seen to the future... If back then I had known what was going to happen then, I would have just stayed there. In a sentence context: "If I had known that my phone was going to smash, I wouldn't have got out of bed." Okay? So it's quite a weird cycle. So I'm thinking: "What if back then I knew the future?" Obviously, you know. […]
