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7th Kyu Language Tutorial
Vocabulary
Memorize these words.
| Shizen |
Natural |
| Shizen-tai |
Natural posture. Tai is the pronunciation for the
character that means body. |
| Tai-sabaki |
Body manipulation. Sabaki comes from the infinitive
sabaku, meaning to maniupulate. In aikido, this term means proper
evasion (i.e., with good balance, distance, etc) so that you are in a
position to properly respond to an attack after getting out of the way. |
| Migi shizen-tai |
Right (foot forward) natural posture. |
| Hidari shizen-tai |
Left (foot forward) natural posture. |
| Ude |
Arm |
| Ashi |
Foot or leg. The Japanese concept of ashi includes
what in English are both the lower leg and the foot. |
| Atama |
Head |
| Me |
Eye |
| Tsuke |
Putting on, attaching. From the infinitive tsukeru, to
put on or attach. |
| Metsuke |
Eye contact. This term also used to mean a spy, as
spies put their eyes on you. |
| Ma-ai. |
Proper distance between you and your opponent. |
| Ai |
Matching, blending. This is the ai in aikido. |
| Ki |
Energy. This is the ki in aikido. |
| Do |
Road, path, The Way. This is the do in aikido. |
| Kamae |
Stance, posture. |
| Aigamae |
Matching stances. (Both you and your opponent have the
right foot forward, for example.) |
| Gyaku |
Opposite, opposing. |
| Gyakugamae |
Opposite stances. (You are in migi shizentai while
your opponent is in hidari shizentai, for example.) |
| Aigamae ate |
Matching stances strike. A technique name. |
| Gyakugamae ate |
Opposite stances strike. A technique name. |
| Aigamae katate dori |
A one-handed grab when both persons are in matching stances.
Since your stances match, and you grab at the closets thing, this implies a
cross-handed grab (as opposed to a same side grab). That is, if both
of your are standing with your right foot forward, and you want to use your
right hand to grab his closer arm, his closer arm will be his right arm, so
that you use your right hand to grab his right arm--i.e. you grab across
your center line and across your body. |
| Gyakugamae katate dori |
A one-handed grab when you and uke are in opposite stances.
Since your are in opposite stances (i.e. you are standing right foot
forward, and he is standing left foot foward) you end up doing a same-side
grab if you are grabbing for his closer arm. For instance, if you are
right foot forward, and he is left foot forward, then his closer arm will be
his left arm, and if you grab at it with your right hand, you are grabbing
directly in front, on one side of your body. |
| Hiki |
Pulling. From the infinitive hiku, to pull. |
| Hiki-taoshi |
Pulling-toppling. A technique name. |
| Tenkai |
Spinning |
| Hineri |
Twisting, from the infinitive hineru, to twist. |
| Tenkai Kote Hineri |
Spinning gauntlet twist. A technique name. |
| Zenpou |
Forward, to the front |
| Kaiten |
Rolling, rotary |
| Zenpou Kaiten Ukemi |
A forward roll. |
| Tegatana dousa |
The handsword/footwork exercises we do at the start of
class. |
| ii |
good, OK, functional |
| dame |
bad, not alright, not functional. |
| ii desu |
is good. (Here, ii means to hold the i sound for two
beats.) |
| ii desu ka? |
Is it OK? Is it good? Am I doing it alright? |
| dame desu ka? |
Is it bad? Is it not right? Am I doing it wrong? |
Grammar Section
Here I will cover particles. Particles are syllables used in Japanese to
indicate the function which a word is fulfilling. They can indicate that word is
a subject, an object, etc. They also serve as prepositions to indicate physical
position or abstract relationships.
Let us begin with wa and ga. Wa is the so-called topic marker, which tells what
the subject of the sentence is about. Ga indicates the subject of the noun. To
see the difference, consider the following sentence. The verb shimasu at the end
of the sentence means does or they do or is done depending on what the subject
is.
Amerika wa aikidou ga shimasu.
You should translate this sentence as, “As for America, aikido is done.” The
topic is America. Once that is determined, you say something about the topic. In
this case, we say that aikido is done. Or, more colloquially, “In America,
(people) do aikido.” The topic can change without changing the subject. Consider
the following sentence.
Sensei wa aikidou ga shimasu.
The topic here is Sensei. And what you say about him is that he does aikido.
Here are other examples.
Rebeka sempai wa judou (judo) ga
shimasu.
Maruko sensei wa ueito (weight
lifiting) ga shimasu.
The Japanese word for France is Furansu (fu-ran-su; three syllables).
Furansu wa uain (wine) ga ii desu.
This sentence is literally translated as, “As for France, the wine is good.” But
of course, in colloquial English, what you mean is, “The wine is good in
France.”
Let us now learn to say French, that is turn a noun like France into an
adjective like French. This is done by using the particle “no.” “Furansu no”
means France’s. “Sensei no” means Sensei’s. “America no” means America’s. Thus,
“Furansu no uain” means French wine, and “Amerika no aikido” means American
aikido. And “Sensei no pen” means sensei’s pen. As you can see, the possessive
is used to turn nouns into adjectives in Japanese. Study these examples.
Rebeka sempai no aikidou ga ii desu.
Sensei no judou ga dame desu.
The Japanese word for “I” is watashi. Thus, “Watashi wa sensei desu” literally
means “As for I, am sensei.” But this of course should be properly translated
as, “I am sensei.” Tell people your own name:
Watashi wa ___________ desu.
The word mine is simply, “Watashi no” or, literally, “I’s.” So “Watashi no pen
desu” means “It is my pen.” And “Watashi no shizentai desu” means “It is my
shizentai.”
Translate the following
1) I am good.
2) I am bad.
3) Aikido is good.
4) Aikido is bad.
5) American aikido is good.
6) French aikido is bad.
7) Sensei’s pen is good.
8) Sensei’s pen is bad.
9) My judo is good.
10) My wine is bad.
11) My hand sword is bad.
12) My taisabaki is good.
13) I do judo.
14) Rebecca sempai does aikido.
15) I am ___________.
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