Ōkii, Chiisai: Words That Describe
🎯 Today's mission briefing
We are learning to describe things in Japanese with i-adjectives — in front of a noun and at the end of a sentence with desu — to say them accurately using beat spelling with correct long vowels, and to read and write the na- and ha- rows of hiragana.
You'll know you've got it when:
- I can say ōkii, chiisai, atarashii and tanoshii with even beats and the long vowels held for two beats
- I can use an adjective in both positions: ōkii inu (a big dog) and Inu wa ōkii desu (the dog is big)
- I can read and write the na- and ha- rows of hiragana, and explain why は is read 'wa' when it is doing its particle job
- I can describe Japan and my own place using Japanese describing words and real geographic evidence
You already speak Japanese (badly)
Connects to what your guest already knows and makes them curious. Activating prior knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of new learning.
Read this list out loud: karaoke, sushi, tsunami, origami, ninja, futon, karate, emoji, manga, wasabi. Every one of those is a Japanese word that English borrowed and then mangled. Try karaoke the Australian way — 'carry-oh-key'. Now try it the Japanese way: kah-rah-oh-keh. Four beats, all the same length, no stomping on any of them. Feel the difference? English words have a loud syllable and some quiet ones (aus-TRAL-ia). Japanese words are a metronome: every beat gets exactly the same amount of time. That single habit — even beats — will make your Japanese sound more Japanese than any amount of extra vocabulary. So here is your job for the next forty minutes: describe your world. Your big dog. Your small room. Your new bike. Your fun day. By the end you will be building those descriptions in Japanese and reading them in a writing system you can already half-decode.