Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 2

50 Date National Holidays English name Official name January 1 New Year's Day 元日 Ganjitsu 2nd Monday of January Coming of Age Day 成人の日 Seijin no hi February 11 National Foundation Day 建国記念の日 Kenkoku kinen no hi March 20 or March 21 Vernal Equinox Day 春分の日 Shunbun no hi April 29 Shōwa Day 昭和の日 Shōwa no hi May 3 Constitution Memorial Day 憲法記念日 Kenpō kinenbi May 4 Greenery Day みどりの日 Midori no hi May 5 Children's Day 子供の日 Kodomo no hi 3rd Monday of July Marine Day 海の日 Umi no hi 3rd Monday of September Respect for the Aged Day 敬老の日 Keirō no hi September 23 or September 24 Autumnal Equinox Day 秋分の日 Shūbun no hi 2nd Monday of October Health-Sports Day 体育の日 Taiiku no hi November 3 Culture Day 文化の日 Bunka no hi November 23 Labour Thanksgiving Day 勤労感謝の日 Kinrō kansha no hi December 23 The Emperor's Birthday 天皇誕生日 Tennō tanjōbi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_calendar 7-2-4 Informal Style: Noun Sentence and Adjective Sentence All Japanese sentences take either the formal style or informal style. ~ masu , ~ desu, and their variants (negative forms and past forms) all designate that the sentence is in the formal style. The formal style is typically used when talking to someone who is not very close to the speaker and some formality is expected. We covered this style first in this textbook because it is socially less risky to use. In this lesson, we introduce the informal style, which is typically used when speaking to those close to you such as friends, family, children and yourself, in casual settings. We start with the noun sentences and adjective sentences here, and the verb sentences in the next lesson. Please note the following:  For Adjective sentences, you just drop ~ desu /~ deshita to make the informal style.  For Noun sentences, you can replace ~ desu with ~ da and ~ deshita with ~ datta .  However, the ~ da in the sentence final position is often dropped.  The question particle ka is usually dropped and replaced by a rising intonation while other sentence particles such as yo, ne, nee, ka nee , etc. remain.  It can be challenging for learners to figure out the right speech style for a given situation. Styles are chosen to indicate the right distance between speakers. However, distance can change even within a course of conversation, between the same pair of speakers. Each shift carries some linguistic and social meaning.