2.1 You already know three thousand Japanese words — Epoché
What you will be able to do Read roughly a hundred and twenty borrowed words on sight, without having learned any of them as vocabulary. Apply the sound-conversion rules in both directions: from an English word to its katakana, and from katakana back to the English. Write an English word in katakana and be right most of the time. Know what the shortcut does not buy you, so that you do not over-trust it. Prerequisites : lesson 1.5 — the sounds English has that Japanese does not, and what each becomes. English and Japanese share almost nothing. The measured rate of words an English speaker can recognise from their form alone is 0.1% — twenty-five words out of a sample of twenty-four thousand — which is the lowest figure of the fifteen languages this library teaches. Japanese is, by that measure, the most distant language available to you. And yet there is one bridge, and it carries more traffic than the same bridge does in any European language. Japanese has around ten thousand borrowed words in ordinary use, roughly eighty per cent of them from English, and every one is written in katakana. That is not a scattering of cognates; it is a substantial vocabulary that you already half-own, and it is available to you in your first month rather than your second year. This volume spends that advantage properly. This lesson gives you the conversion rules and a hundred and twenty words. Lesson 2.2 covers the shortening that hides the English inside a word. Lesson 2.3 covers the words that look English and are not. Lesson 2.4 covers the borrowings that came from somewhere else entirely. The rule Ten rules, in the order they usually apply. They were derived from the sound inventory in lesson 1.5, so none of them should be a surprise; what is new is that they are reliable enough to run forwards. Rule Example 1. Every consonant needs a vowel after it. The default is u . desk → デスク 2. After t and d the added vowel is o , not u . test → テスト , salad → サラダ 3. l and r both become the ラ -row. milk → ミルク , rule → ルール 4. th becomes s or z . theme → テーマ , methane → メタン 5. v becomes b . video → ビデオ , vest → ベスト 6. f becomes フ plus a small vowel. fork → フォーク , fan → ファン 7. A stressed vowel plus a single final consonant doubles it with a small ッ . cut → カット , hit → ヒット 8. A long English vowel, and any -er , -ar , -or ending, becomes ー . computer → コンピューター , door → ドア 9. -tion becomes ション ; -ing becomes イング . station → ステーション 10. si becomes シ , ti becomes ティ or チ , tu becomes ツ or トゥ . city → シティ Run them forwards on a word you have never seen: printer . Rule 8 turns -er into ー . Rule 3 turns the r of pr- into the ラ -row, and rule 1 gives it a vowel. Result: プリンター , which is correct. Try schedule : スケジュール . Try sandwich : サンドイッチ . The rules get you close enough to be understood almost every time, and exactly right most of the time. Two honest limits. First, the rules do not tell you the beat count of the result, and lesson 1.1 showed that the beat count is what makes you intelligible — so having derived the katakana, you still have to count. Second, the same rules run backwards less reliably, because several English sounds map onto one Japanese one: ベスト could be "best" or "vest", and ライト could be four different English words. Going from Japanese to English, you need the context. Word list A hundred and twenty words, in six groups. Read each one aloud, count its beats, and only then look at the English — the point of this lesson is that you can do the first two steps unaided. Food and drink Katakana English チーズ cheese バター butter ジャム jam スープ soup トマト tomato オレンジ orange レモン lemon ステーキ steak ハンバーガー hamburger サンドイッチ sandwich アイスクリーム ice cream スパゲッティ spaghetti レモネード lemonade ソース sauce オムレツ omelette デザート dessert メニュー menu ランチ lunch レシピ recipe カロリー calorie Around the house Katakana English ソファ sofa カーテン curtain ベッド bed キッチン kitchen トイレ toilet タオル towel スプーン spoon カップ cup グラス glass (a drinking glass) ガラス glass (the material) — from Dutch エアコン air conditioner ストーブ heater — from "stove", but it means a heater シーツ bedsheet カレンダー calendar ハンガー clothes hanger ランプ lamp スイッチ switch ケーブル cable ブラシ brush シャンプー shampoo Clothes and shopping Katakana English シャツ shirt スカート skirt コート coat ジャケット jacket ベルト belt ボタン button — from Portuguese botão ポケット pocket バッグ bag デパート department store レジ the till, the checkout — from "register" レシート receipt カード card セール a sale サービス service — and also "free of charge" ポイント point; loyalty points ブランド brand — usually a luxury brand ジーンズ jeans サンダル sandals ブーツ boots サイフ purse, wallet — actually native, often written in katakana City and travel Katakana English カフェ café チケット ticket パスポート passport エレベーター lift, elevator エスカレーター escalator トンネル tunnel ビル an office building — from "building" アパート a flat, an apartment ホーム a railway platform — from "platform" センター centre ガイド guide ツアー tour マップ map ステーション station — though えき is the ordinary word バスターミナル bus terminal タクシースタンド taxi rank スーツケース suitcase レンタカー hire car — from "rent-a-car" チェックイン check-in フロント reception desk — from "front desk" Work and study Katakana English ペン pen レポート a report; an essay for a class ミーティング meeting プロジェクト project メール email データ data ファイル file プリンター printer オフィス office スケジュール schedule チーム team リーダー leader メンバー member グループ group システム system コピー a copy; a photocopy パソコン personal computer — shortened; see lesson 2.2 アイデア idea テーマ theme, topic — from German Thema レベルアップ improvement — made in Japan from two English words Sport and leisure Katakana English サッカー football — from "soccer" ゴルフ golf スキー skiing ダンス dance ゲーム game スポーツ sport ボール ball ジム gym ヨガ yoga マラソン marathon オリンピック the Olympics コンサート concert ドラマ a television drama アニメ animation — shortened ギター guitar カラオケ karaoke — half native, half borrowed プレゼント a present, a gift パーティー party ニュース news クリスマス Christmas What the shortcut does not buy you Three limits, and knowing them is what keeps the advantage an advantage. The meaning has often narrowed or moved. ストーブ is a heater, not a cooker.