Track One - Michel Thomas Japanese Language

Click play to listen to Michel Thomas' Japanese course

Might be completely different from ours, but still Japanese
people call it "ise creemu" at least!

Michel Thomas approach as you probably know teaches you a language by asking you questions in your native language and let you answer them in the target language. In this case, the course is for English speakers who want to learn Japanese.

Track One gives you an idea of what the course is about, it also mentions that although Japanese language doesn't have that much similarities with English, it encourages you not to think of the Japanese language as an alien language, to do so, it gives you some examples of words in common English has with Japanese.

Kimono, a word meaning "cloth", it is somehow popular among English speakers. It comes directly from the Japanese language.
Karate, another Japanese word that we use in our everyday language. It might be different from how we pronounce it though.
Karaoke , a song in a pub.

On the other hand, Japanese language took some of its vocabularies straight from English, but after adopting them to their own pronunciation. They don't have any distinction between R and L sounds. And they also tend to stash a vowel between each two consonants.

Kamera, meaning "camera"
Digikame, short Japanese version of "digital camera"
Hoteru/Hotelu, meaning "hotel" of course.
Isu Creamu, meaning "ice cream"
T-shatsu, meaning "t-shirt"

Language Partners

Some language learners find it useful to have a language partner when they start learning a new language, while some other learners don't find it necessary, or ever it is not something that would cross their mind, to look for a language partner.
For you to decide whether you need a language partner, you need to ask yourself few questions:
1- What am I learning the language for?
2- How good do I want to be in it?
3- How important are culture, pronunciation and daily expressions to me?
Most people who want to learn a language, they want to be (or they don't mind being) perfect in it, having as much vocabulary as they possibly could have, and sounding like ,or close to, a native speaker.
To help you answering the question whether you need a language partner, let me tell you that a language partner can be a great boost to your language skills, but as you can tell, you need to have language skills to start with!
If you are an absolute beginner, then the need of a language partner will not be that important right now, unless you are interested in the culture of the country which you are about to learn its language (most learners are!) Say you want to learn Japanese, and (or because) you are really interested in the Japanese culture, then it would be a great idea to have a Japanese language partner, who would keep you interested and enthusiastic, and also keeps track of your language improvement, which is really important to you later to know exactly how far you gone with the language. Unbelievable how your partner would know exactly how good you are, better than you.

If you are not addicted to chatting, go for it. But if you are, then be careful. Having such a partner in an early stage can distract you from your main mission you have set, the language learning mission.Unless you already have some conversational skills you want to practice, try to keep the idea of a having a language partner later.
Once you decide you want a language partner, there are few things you need to keep in mind. First of all, a language partner is someone you have to stick to for the next year or two, or maybe longer, so be sure you get one who you can really talk to; someone who shares lots of interests with you. In the beginning you won't feel the need for being so picky, most language learners don't consider this when they look for a partner, since it's not ''personal'', but after few months, when they start having some conversational skills they start finding the need of having few conversations about random topics, guess what? the partner then doesn't make that good company to be with, and they start looking for another partner from scratch, or they draft into normal conversations with few native speakers online, which is not bad itself, but having a constant language partnership beats anything else. In one year, your partner would know everything about you, what you want to say, what is on your mind, what mistakes you always do, what words you don't know, what words you overuse, and much more. and this is incredible for your language progress.
If you are Jewish, look for  a Jewish partner, if you are a person full of passion for politics, try to look for someone like that, etc...
Soon I will post a list of free methods to find a language partner.

MICHEL THOMAS GERMAN (BASIC) COURSE: CD3 Transcript

CD 3 (52.42)
(1) 9.16
I want voglio
I want it lo voglio
I don't want it non lo voglio
I want to do it voglio farlo, lo voglio fare
(Italian words do not end in a consonant, as a rule)
what do you want? cosa vuole?
do you want it? lo vuole?
don't you want it? non lo vuole?
why don't you want it? perché non lo vuole?
I want it but not now lo voglio ma non adesso
what are you saying? cosa dice?
why don't you tell me? perché non mi dice?
(for "it to me", the person comes before the thing, and mi lo becomes melo)
why don't you tell it to me? perché non melo dice?
to you Le
I am going to tell you later Le dico più tardi
I am telling you Le dico
I am telling dico
you are telling dice
to tell dire
I will tell you Le dirò
to understand capire
I will understand capirò
to speak parlare
to see vedere
("I will see" is contracted a little)
I will see vedrò
he will see vedrà
we will see vedremo
I will see it lo vedrò
he won't see it non lo vedrà
we will see it lo vedremo
I will see you later la vedrò più tardi
he will not see me non mi vedrà
(2) 6.21
to give dare
I give do
he gives da
he gives me something mi da qualcosa
the book il libro
why don't you give me the book? perché non mi da il libro?
why don't you give it to me now? perché non me lo da adesso?
to bring portare
I am going to see you tonight and I will bring you the book la vedo stasera e Le porterò il libro
to him gli
I will give him the book gli darò il libro
I am going to tell him gli dico
I will tell him gli dirò
I want to tell him voglio dirgli
(3) 4.53
I won't tell him, I will not tell him non gli dirò
I don't want to tell him non voglio dirgli
I don't tell you because I don't want to tell you non Le dico perché non voglio dirle
will you tell me, would you tell me vuole dirmi
can you tell me? può dirmi?
(4) 5.03
to tell dire
he will tell me mi dirà
he won't tell me non mi dirà
he doesn't want to tell me non vuole dirmi
please per favore
will you please tell me per favore, vuole dirmi
will you tell me vuole dirmi
why don't you want to tell me? perché non vuole dirmi?
he won't tell me non mi dirà
I won't tell you non Le dirò
I will tell you later Le dirò più tardi
I won't tell you now non Le dirò adesso
will you tell me vuole dirmi
(5) 5.26
I am sorry but mi dispiace ma
it pleases me, I like mi piace
I like very much mi piace molto
I like very much to do it mi piace molto farlo
but I don't like to do it now ma non mi piace farlo adesso
I will do it later if I have the time lo farò più tardi se ho il tempo
I like mi piace
I like very much to speak Italian mi piace molto parlare italiano
you like Le piace
do you like? Le piace?
I don't like to stay here non mi piace stare qui
I like very much to do it mi piace molto farlo
I want to do it voglio farlo
but I won't do it ma non lo farò
I want to do it voglio farlo
I don't want to do it now non voglio farlo adesso
I won't do it non lo farò
(6) 6.49
I want to do it voglio farlo
I cannot do it now non posso farlo adesso
I cannot tell you where it is because I don't know it non le posso dire dov'è perché non lo so
I want to tell you something voglio dirle qualcosa
I won't tell you non Le dirò
I want to tell you voglio dirle
it pleases me mi piace
you like Le piace
does it displease you? Le dispiace?
doesn't it displease you, if you don't mind non Le dispiace
(7) 6.01
(non le dispiace can be used for "if you don't mind")
won't you mind telling me, will you tell me... non le dispiace dirmi...
what do you want to say? what do you mean? cosa vuole dire?
to explain spiegare
I will explain to you later Le spiegerò più tardi
will you please explain to me vuole spiegarmi
will you explain it to me vuole spiegarmelo
why don't you want to explain it to me? perché non vuole spiegarmelo?
(8) 3.34
I don't know what it means non so ciò que vuole dire
to wait aspettare
will you please wait for me vuole aspettarmi
to do fare
will you do it vuole farlo per favore
can you do it for me? può farlo per me?
will you wait for me vuole aspettarmi
can you wait for me? può aspettarmi?
(9) 5.19
there is c'è
near here qui vicino
I want to know where there is a good restaurant near here voglio sapere dove c'è un buono ristorante qui vicino
far lontano
it is not far non è lontano
to walk andare a piedi
you can walk può andare a piedi
will you tell me where it is because I cannot find it vuole dirmi dov'è perché non posso trovarlo
I want to see it voglio vederlo

(end of recording)

MICHEL THOMAS ITALIAN (BASIC) COURSE, CD2 TRANSCRIPT

CD 2 (63.50)

(1) 7.06

to stay stare

I am staying sto

I am staying at home tonight sto a casa stasera

are you staying home tonight? sta a casa stasera?

how long are you staying? quanto tempo sta?

to leave partire

I am leaving tomorrow parto domani

at what time are you leaving tomorrow? a che ora parte domani?

why don't you want to leave with me? perché non vuole partire con mi?

why can't you leave with me? perché non può partire con me?

to come venire

why can't you come with me now? perché non può venire con me adesso?

I am going to... vado a...

I am going to eat vado a mangiare

he is going, she is going to, you are going to eat va a mangiare

why can't you come to see it with me this evening? perché non può venire a vederlo con me stasera?

I must devo

to have to dovere

you must deve

you must come with me deve venire con me

you must speak Italian with me deve parlare italiano con me

to wait, await aspettare

to wait for me aspettarmi

to understand capire

to understand me capirmi

can you understand me? può capirmi?

why can't you understand me? perché non può capirmi?

(2) 9.23

to say, to tell dire

I cannot say it in Italian non posso dirlo in italiano

can you tell me? può dirmi?

will you, will you please, do you want vuole

will you tell me where it is vuole dirmi dov'è

(In English, "will you..." meaning "will you please..." does not express the future, but makes a polite request)

will you tell me vuole dirmi

can you tell me? può dirmi?

can you tell me where it is? può dirmi dov'è?

to find trovare

will you tell me where it is because I cannot find it vuole dirmi dov'è perché non posso trovarlo

I have ho

I have it lo ho, l'ho

I don't have it non l'ho

you have it lo ha, l'ha

why don't you have it for me now? perché non l'ha per me adesso?

I want to have it voglio averlo

I want voglio

I want it lo voglio

I want it now lo voglio adesso

I don't want it now non lo voglio adesso

why don't you want it now? perché non lo vuole adesso?

to have avere

I have ho

you have, he has, she has ha

to know sapere

I know so

I don't know non so

I know it lo so

I don't know it non lo so

you know it lo sa

why don't you know it? perché non lo sa?

do you know where it is? sa dov'è?

can you tell me where it is? può dirmi dov'è?

can you tell me how much it is? può dirmi quant'è?

because I want to buy it perché voglio comprarlo

today oggi

I must have it today if it is possible devo averlo oggi se è possibile

(3) 5.13

I am staying home tonight because I am tired sto a casa stasera perché sono stanco

to prepare preparare

I am preparing it lo preparo

why don't you prepare it for me? perché non lo prepara per me?

the dinner la cena

to dine, to have dinner cenare

will you have dinner with me tonight vuole cenare con me stasera

where do you want to have dinner tonight? dove vuole cenare stasera?

I cannot speak with you now because I am eating non posso parlare con Lei perché mangio

(to say "I am in the process of eating", you say sto mangiando, or sto -endo with verbs from the other track)

I am eating mangio

I am in the process of eating sto mangiando

what are you preparing? cosa prepara?

what are you in the process of preparing? cosa sta preparando?

(you can also use sto with per followed by any full verb, meaning "I am just about to...")

I am just about to eat, I am getting ready to eat sto per mangiare

I am just about to prepare it sto per prepararlo

(4) 5.36

(whenever "to" implies "in order to", you say in Italian "for to do it" - per farlo)

I don't have the time in order to do it now non ho (il) tempo per farlo

(but if you use a noun which is followed by a verb, then after the noun you mostly throw in di meaning "of")

I don't have the time to do it non ho (il) tempo di farlo

to leave partire

I will leave tomorrow parto domani

at what time do you leave? a che ora parte?

the week la settimana

next prossima

next week la settimana prossima

at what time do you leave next week? a che ora parte la settimana prossima?

at what time are you leaving next week? a che ora parte la settimana prossima?

(there is, in fact, a future tense in Italian. "I will leave" became "to leave-I have", which contracted from partire ho to partirò, with the stress on the final syllable)

I will leave partirò

you, he, she will leave partirà

(the endings -rò and -rà are universal for all Italian verbs)

(5) 5.52

to do, to make fare

I will do farò

I will do it lo farò

I won't do it non lo farò

he will do it lo farà

when will you do it? quando lo farà?

to say, to tell dire

to call chiamare

I will call you la chiamerò

I call you tomorrow la chiamo domani

I will call you tomorrow la chiamerò domani

I will call you la chiamerò

I am staying sto

I am staying here sto qui

I am staying home tonight sto a casa stasera

I will stay home tonight starò a casa stasera

how long are you staying in Italy? quanto tempo sta in Italia?

how long will you stay in Italy? quanto tempo starà in Italia?

I don't know non so

still ancora

yet (in a negative sense) ancora

I don't know yet, still I don't know ancora non so

I don't know yet how long I will stay in Italy ancora non so quanto tempo starò in Italia

(6) 7.08

I am ready sono pronto

it is ready è pronto

to be essere

you must be ready soon deve essere pronto subito

it can be ready soon può essere pronto subito

I will be sarò

you will be, he will be, she will be sarà

it will be ready soon sarà pronto subito

I don't know yet at what time it will be ready but I must have it today if it is possible ancora non so a che ora sarà pronto ma devo averlo oggi se è possibile

to see vedere

to see it, to see him vederlo

to see her, to see you vederla

to see me vedermi

I am going to call you later la chiamo più tardi

(for the future tense, -are verbs have the ending -erò, not -arò)

I will call you later la chiamerò più tardi

to speak parlare

I will speak parlerò

to eat mangiare

I will eat mangierò

he will eat mangierà

(for "we", use the future ending -remo)

we will eat later mangieremo

we will stay home tonight staremo a casa stasera

we will leave tomorrow partiremo domani

(7) 4.36

(in the present tense, for "we" use the ending -iamo)

we speak parliamo

we are staying stiamo

we are leaving partiamo

to go andare

we are going andiamo

(andiamo expresses different meanings, such as "let's go!")

let's go and eat! andiamo a mangiare!

we are eating mangiamo

let's eat! mangiamo!

to start cominciare

I am starting now comincio adesso

at what time are you starting? a che ora comincia?

at what time are you going to start tomorrow? a che ora comincierà domani?

let's start! cominciamo!

I want to know voglio sapere

I want to know at what time it will be ready voglio sapere a che ora sarà pronto

I am going vado

he is going, she is going, it is going, you are going va

where are you going? dove va?

where are you going to be tonight? dove sarà stasera?

(8) 5.10

good buono

it is very good è molto buono

quite proprio

it is quite good è proprio buono

it is quite possible è proprio possibile

(words in English ending -ant and -ent are similar in Italian)

it is very different that way è molto differente così

(così can also translate "so")

it is not so different non è così differente

it is so good è così buono

it is not so different that way non è così differente così

important importante

it is very important that way è molto importante così

I have to know it because it is very important for me devo saperlo perché è molto importante per me

I would like vorrei

I would like to know it vorrei saperlo

I would like to go with you vorrei andare con Lei

there ci

(this word is also hooked on to the end of the whole verb)

I would like to go there with you vorrei andarci con Lei

I would like to go and see it with you tonight vorrei andare a vederlo con Lei stasera

(9) 6.35

(words that can be hooked on to the end of the verb, can also come way up front)

I want to do it voglio farlo, lo voglio fare

(either way is as good as the other)

I cannot do it now non posso farlo adesso, non lo posso fare adesso

why can't you tell me now? perché non può dirmi adesso, perché non mi può dire adesso

it is not ready yet but it will be ready for you soon ancora non è pronto ma sarà pronto per Lei subito

to do, to make fare

I do, I make faccio

he does, he makes fa

why don't you do it? perché non lo fa?

I am doing it now lo faccio adesso

I am in the process of doing it lo sto facendo

I'm just about to do it sto per farlo

I say, I tell dico

you say, you tell dice

what are you saying? cosa dice?

why don't you tell me? perché non mi dice?

(10) 7.11

to understand capire

I cannot understand it non posso capirlo

can you understand it? può capirlo?

can you understand me? può capirmi?

why can't you understand me? perché non può capirmi?

I understand capisco

I understand it lo capisco

I don't understand it non lo capisco

you understand capisce

do you understand it? lo capisce?

do you understand me? mi capisce?

don't you understand me? non mi capisce?

why don't you understand me? perché non mi capisce?

I am sorry but I don't understand it very well mi dispiace ma non lo capisco molto bene

what are you saying? cosa dice?

(when you use "what" in the middle of a sentence, you use ciò che)

I don't know what you're saying non so ciò che dice

(you can also say qualche instead of ciò che)

I don't understand very well what you are saying non capisco molto bene ciò che dice

it is not what I am saying non è ciò che dico

I don't understand what you want to say non capisco ciò che vuole dire

("want to say" is the Italian for "mean")

I don't understand what you mean non capisco ciò che vuole dire

what do you mean? cosa vuole dire?

you don't understand what I mean non capisce ciò che voglio dire

(end of recording)