『Classifying de Tango』
Studying vocabulary of a new language can be a daunting task, not only do you have to study endless lists of words but with so many different types it won’t take long before you mix up which is what, what goes where and when to use what. In this latest issue of Study Tips learn how to effectively separate different types of words by using a smart marking system of abbreviations. No dancing experience required!
In this hot new issue of Study Tips, all about classifying your「単語」(たんご, word), something that is actually easier than dancing the Tango♪ Japanese 単語, needless to say, come in all different forms, sometimes it’s handy to know what kind of word you are studying to avoid confusing and to understand how to use certain words. Understanding words like 始まる and 始める can be difficult if you don’t know in which class they belong. By classifying your Japanese words as soon as you learn them will make it easier to employ its usage and thus minimizing mistakes. First let’s take a look at what kind of word classes there are:
Let’s talk about verbs first
Don’t be intimidated by all those linguistic terms, we’re going to break those down using easy abbreviations to mark and classify your study words. Although the above terms are self-explanatory I do want to get into the verb class a bit. As you might know, verbs can be classified into different groups. Though I’m not going to explain what kind of different verb groups there are because that’s beyond the scope of this article and you’ve probably learned that already in class or you can find it in any beginners textbook. What you do need to know is that verbs can be roughly classified into 5 categories. They are:
All verbs are either「一段」,「五段」or「する-class」. Furthermore, they can either fall into「他動」,「自動」or both categories. When you study verbs it can be helpful to know what category verb it is and to mark them we will abbreviate the above categories by only taking the first kanji of a verb term for instant recognition when studying. Let’s try classifying two example verbs:
◆ 踊る (おどる) to dance
A quick look up in a dictionary says this is an intransitive verb and a Godan verb. Now let’s take the「自」from「自動」and the「五」from「五段」and attach them together and it becomes:「自五」! From the first kanji you can see it’s an intrasitive verb, the second will tell you it’s a Godan verb.
◆ 見る (みる) to see
The dictionary says this is a transitive Ichidan verb. Take the「他」from「他動」and the「一」from「一段」and it becomes:「他一」!
There are only a couple of combinations possible but there are exceptions and sometimes a verb can be both transitive and intransitive, in that case I only mark as「一」,「五」or「する」.
So what leaves this for the other classes?
◆ 名詞 becomes「名」
◆ 形容詞 becomes「形」
◆ 形容動詞 becomes「形動」
◆ 副詞 becomes「副」
By marking your study words using only one or two kanji of their respective classes you can instantly see what kind of word you are studying and understand better how they are used. Ofcourse you don’t have to classify and mark every single word, just the words you feel needing attention and needless to say this can be done with words in either your textbook, notepad or SRS application. When I study I always write in front of the word what class they are and draw a small box around it so I know I classified the Tango♪ Can you guess where the following words are classified in?