Michel Thomas Beginner Japanese Lesson 4

What is the Michel Thomas Method?

Lessons 1-8, the Beginner course: This course makes no assumption of knowledge of any language other than English and gives the beginner practical and functional use of the spoken language. It is also appropriate for anyone who has studied Japanese before, but has forgotten much of it or does not have confidence in speaking. The Beginner course is designed to take you from complete beginner to intermediate level.

Lessons 9-12, the Intermediate course: This course is for those with an intermediate-level foundation in Japanese, or those who have completed lessons 1-8 and want to take their learning to an advanced level and speak Japanese proficiently and easily.

How does it work?

Unlike most language courses that focus around topics or grammar forms, the Michel Thomas Method works by breaking a language down into its component parts, enabling you to reconstruct the language yourself - to form your own sentences, to say what you want, when you want. Within the first 10 minutes of the course, you will be generating complete sentences on your own. It is important that you complete the lessons in order. The Method is successful because it builds on the language you learn in each lesson and 'recycles' language taught in earlier lessons, allowing you to build ever-more complicated sentences. Because the Method is based on understanding, not memorisation, there is no set limit to the length of time that you should study each lesson. Once you feel you have a good grasp of the language taught in one lesson, you can move on to the next.

In lesson 4 of the Japanese Beginner course, you’ll be able to use personal pronouns ('my' etc.) and speak about the past, and learn how to show politeness with…- Japanese word order is fairly flexible because the markers tell us what function the nouns carry out in the sentence- nouns: 'friend', 'parents', 'report', 'mobile (phone)/cellphone'- showing politeness: prefix 'go ', suffix ' san'- placename: 'Mount Fuji'- pronouns (used for emphasis/clarification only): 'I', 'you'- marker: 'no' ('of')- use of 'wa' clarifying marker with 'to be'- translating 'my', 'your' etc.: use pronoun + 'no' ('of') marker- translating nationality: use 'no' ('of') marker (e.g. 'Japan [marker] TV' = 'Japanese TV')- social communications: 'thank you', 'thank you very much', 'you've helped me' (= 'thank you')- past tense: ' mashita' verb ending- time expressions: 'yesterday', 'today'In the next lesson you’ll learn the past tense of 'to be' and the past negative of ' masu' verbs, and how to use the marker 'de' (to specify location).