Note 1: "The" and "a" are not expressed in Japanese. But Japanese sentence structure is a little tricky: The subject always has -wa as in the sample sentence. To call the teacher, you say just Sensei! But when you say that the teacher does something, you must say Sensei-wa (odorimas). Note 2: The verb always has -mas, as expressed in the special association: "Sentence-structure is what you must use." Always use the subject.

Step 1: Word-Quiz Translate each of the following words. 1. teacher 2. writes 3. person 4. dances 5. I 6. tea 7. please 8. meat 9. chopsticks 10. subject marker

Step 2: Pattern-Drill Sensei-wa kakimas. Practice the sentence-pattern by saying your own sentences. Practice until you can say any sentence. Now say several sentences of the new pattern, and thus "tell (simple) stories." Of course, you can’t do much yet: But, because of the mathematics of combination, when you know twenty words, you can say almost a hundred sentences; and with 40 words, you can say many hundreds of sentences.

Step 3: Talk Now! For the "narrative" and "descriptive" sentence-patterns introduced in these lessons, you can use the situation of an imaginary "party": What does everyone do there? Remember to speak loudly!

When you talk with native speakers: •Take the initiative: Talk first, take the lead. Avoid saying "what?" •Use what you know, and avoid what you don’t know. Say what you can say, adjust your needs to your vocabulary. Catch whatever words you hear, and guess meaning as effectively as you can. •Don’t self-correct. Ignore corrections: have conversations, not lessons. If not understood, add more sentences.

 

Take the initiative when talking. That’s the best way to know what’s going on.