How to be funny in Japanese

Hey there.. today I thought I’d share with you something you don’t get to see much when it comes to learning a new language. Sure, you may learn idioms, but will you learn jokes and know how to make your own? I’ll share with you my experience on how to make your friends laugh. Note that you’ll need at least minimal conversational Japanese capabilities.

Making jokes is a great way to remember new vocabulary and entertain your friends.  Fortunately, if you’re sharp, making jokes in Japanese is particularly easy. Plus, your friends will laugh either because it’s funny or they’re being polite and recognize you tried. Either way, you’ll feel good.

ahahaha... she said "思ってサンド"

Method 1: Puns
Homophones are everywhere in the Japanese language, if you haven’t noticed already. Notice three meanings for the one word はし. 橋，箸　and 端. Just as an example. Of course, an opportunity for a pun  will come up given the right context. Take, for example, the word 確かに（たしかに）.You’ll notice they say it a lot… be silly and turn it into たし蟹 making the hand signals for our quotation marks while you say it. They’ll take it as crab. Be creative with your puns. Notice a word that people use frequently and is new to you and create sentences with all the puns possible. In American culture, puns may be corny… but in Japan they love it.

Method 2: Sarcasm
Be careful with this one. It can be offensive if not used in the right context. Make sure you’re with good friends first. In Japanese, sarcasm isn’t so much a tone… they use keigo instead (the super polite form of speech). This is perfect if you need to practice your keigo in a friendly manner without worrying about messing up. Instead of 元気だよ as an answer, you can say, お元気でございます. If you’re a girl, you can do the nasal tone of voice you hear in stores while you say it. Guys can do a silly deeper voice. Do some silly bouts between your friends using keigo. You’ll impress them with your Japanese ability and get a good laugh at the same time.

Method 3: Mockery
Making fun of the things around you is great. Nothing too personal.. again be careful of who you mock. For me, I always loved making fun of the train announcers while riding the train. I’d plug my nose and talk like them and say their sentences. This was great since I learned how to listen to keigo and train language, and I also learned my train stops. I also paid more attention to the marquee and learned to read them faster and I learned the kanji for each train stop I frequented… learning the kanji led me to learn the pronunciation of them when used in other names… for example… 中村橋 and　赤橋… hmmm it’s always ばし!

Method 4: Being Outright Ridiculous
Take a look at Variety television if you’re in Japan. (If not.. maybe you can catch it on youtube or KeyHoleTV). Japanese humor is sort of similar to Monty Python in that it’s just plain silly. Hitting someone on the head if they made a bad pun… shivering if the joke was corny… Notice how light and happy the humor is… always slightly teasing and always ridiculous. Mimicking the actions you see and especially mimicking current, popular comedians (maybe オッパッピー as of 2007) will always spring a laugh and teach you Japanese pop-culture!

Where to not get your humor:
Anime… unless it’s really popular anime like Bleach, One Piece, or classical like Sailor Moon and Pokemon. If it’s something like Cowboy Bebop (not so widely known in Japan) and you try to make a joke relating to it, you won’t be so successful… and if you constantly do it you’ll be otaku. However, you can pretend to be super dramatic like anime does sometimes… turn a regular friend into a 恋人 whom you’re having issues with as a joke.

Overall, making jokes in Japanese has great benefits if you’re careful. Don’t be too insensitive and be careful about who you’re joking with and what the joke is about. Staying away from personal issues and people who aren’t your close friends is usually a good choice. Rule usually goes, the less friendly you are with the person the lighter and more general the joke should be. Otherwise, jokes are a great way to learn Japanese and keep it in your head.

 

Kana or Kanji?

Romaji?

For those are just beginning their reading and writing, and are on your own, you may wonder which you should start with. I’ll give you an overview of which you should use and lose so you can begin your studies.

Romaji is fail. I’m sorry. For learning Japanese just leave it. If you use it, it should only be for someone who isn’t learning Japanese just so they can read what you meant. Romaji is an awful way to learn Japanese because it gives you the wrong pronunciation. Take a Japanese name for example like Hiro. Yes, because of Heroes we know how to say it… but let’s say it’s out of context and it’s read as “high row” instead. See what I mean? No Japanese person will understand what you meant. Then at times when people use romaji, they forget to leave out longer vowel sounds. So instead of “shounen” which means “boys” you get “shonen” which means “first years”. Big difference as the second one pertains to time, not human age. Using romaji for words like sushi, tempura, and Tokyo is good when you’re talking to someone who isn’t learning Japanese. Otherwise, learn them the Japanese way.

Kana. This means Hiragana and Katakana. I think these are the ones you should begin with. Forget Romaji as fast as you can and start your Japanese with kana only. Do whichever you want first… but I’ve heard starting with Katakana makes it easier ahead of time. I still can’t remember how to write all of my Katakana because I learned hiragana first. Hiragana is easier to learn and katakana looks so similar to itself it can be hard to remember after memorizing all of your hiragana. See which way works for you.

Then it’s time for kanji. There’s two ways to approach it: Number of strokes and in the same order as the kids in Japanese approach it or learning them by topic. Numbers are always a good way to start. Go from 1 to 10,000. It’s an easy system, so don’t get too scared. After you’ve got numbers you can learn them by theme.. like.. transportation, pronouns, bedroom items, feelings… etc.

Here’s some books I recommend to get you started:

Genki series:

Genki Textbook

Genki Workbook

You can’t fail with the Genki series. The explanation of each new grammar set is almost flawless. Very understandable. However, I wouldn’t use it’s Kanji to learn since they seemed too disjointed. They’ll give you 難 and 月 in the same chapter.. or something like it.

For Kanji I suggest you find a book that suits you. Each person is different in how they learn. Don’t waste your money on a book that teaches you hiragana and katakana. All you need is a chart, your own writing practice and homemade flash cards.

 

JET – The interview

After successfully making it through the initial process, I gave an interview for the Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) position. Unlike the other participants, I live an hour away from Portland. Others had to stay at a hotel for the night. Dressed professionally, my name was called and I went into one of the four rooms prepared for us.

They had a table set up and three people asking me questions. Two of them were former JET participants, the other was a Japanese language teacher. I felt confident and ready to answer any question they threw at me.

First they asked me the basic questions such as, what is my current position, have I ever applied to JET before, etc etc. Then they asked, “Why did you choose JET?” I knew the worst reply would be, “I love anime and Harajuku fashion!!!”  Which isn’t true.

Then they started to ask me questions based off my answers such as, “You said you wanted to join JET because you want to learn Japanese, but JET is more of a cultural exchange, not language. How would you adjust?” Then they asked me some culture based questions like, “What if a tall American guy came into the classroom and left and your students began to ask, ‘Sensei, when is the American coming?'” and things like, “What if you’re at an izakaya with your faculty and your boss came up behind you and offered a massage?”

Then they gave me a small portion in Japanese to see where my Japanese level is at. Had no affect on my interview, but they wanted to know how well I could speak Japanese.

Lastly, they asked me what my hobbies were. I said one of them was singing. That’s when they made me sing. They told me to sing something for them that would work with little kids. So I sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. They liked it! They asked about any other hobbies I had, and I told them that I like painting.

After that, they asked if I had any other questions.. and I asked.. shook hands and I was out the door. I felt good from my interview and I think I did well.