Space, The final frontier.

Konnichiwa, Mina-san.

(In order to help my students memorise their kana, we'll have kana of the day! This will be the kana which I list usually of here, and the challenge is to memorise and review these kana characters. )

Today's kana of the day: Hiragana

あ- A い- I う- U え- E お-O

Today's kana of the day: Katakana

ア- A イ- I ウ- U エ- E オ- O

(Please try and embed them into your memory, by writing them multiple times and then pronouncing their phonetic / sound. I'll test you at the end of the lesson to see if you remembered them!)

Today's lesson: Space, the final frontier.

Today's lesson is of a beginner's level, and is adequate for all. It will involve verbs (e.g to fly, to rotate, to remain still, to be silent, etc) , nouns associated with space (Spaceship, meteor, stars, etc) , adjectives (Beautiful, amazing, wonderful, etc) and planets (Earth, Mars, Pluto, etc).

The beauty of space is truly awe-inspiring. The immense contrasts between the dark, blank vacuum of space and its bright and vibrant counterparts. The illuminance and pigmentation of stars, the hypnotising colours of nebulae and astronomical anomalies. Space's aesthetics is pleasing to all humans.

. . . . . . . And, on that note, let's start off with some adjectives!

Part 1: Adjectives.

Describing the beauty of space is challenging as it is, and we may as well learn some general adjectives which can be applied anywhere,too! (We'll then later on use these in sentences, in part 2. Why? Sometimes a little added pressure to remember can be useful ;) ).

Wonderful- "Fushigi na", an expression used to show your happiness towards something, just like English's Wonderful. Fushigina, Foo- shee- gee- nah. Recite it, memorise it, and enjoy it.

FUSHIGI NA!- Wonderful!

Mysterious- Shinpitekina, a word used to describe something as non understandable, or non predictable.

Shinpiteki na!- Soooo mysterious.

Pretty- Kirei is the general word which means beautiful, appealing to the eye (weaker than beautiful).

Kirei- Pretty.

Utskushii- Beautiful, a stronger version of kirei.

Utskushii- Beautiful.

Inspiring - Although it's not a direct translation (it's more like emotion enducing, but a bit stronger? Comparatives are always difficult to teach). Kangekitekina.

Kangekitekina!- So inspiring!

Part 2: Planets & a few nouns.

Let' start off with the planets.. and specifically with the most relevant ;) This is only a beginner's lesson after all, the stress is on describing and understanding, not knowing niche language :).

Planet- The general word for a celestial body that is or was orbiting a star or stellar remnant and is massive, or a planet :P is waku-sei.

Earth- Chikyuu is the Japanese word for Earth. (Note: Chikyuu on refers to the planet Earth, "do" refers to soil, and "shizen" refers to nature).

Chikyuu- Earth.

Moon- The Japanese word for moon is "Tsuki" (Most anime lovers would know this!).

Tsuki- Hime.

Sun- The Japanese word for sun, is Taiyou.

Taiyou- Sun

Space- And of course we shall learn the general word for space, which is Chuu.

Chuu- Space

Star- Hoshi, refers to any form of star (dramatised (children's drawing type) , space stars, etc Sometimes can refer to celebrities, too!)

Hoshi- Star

Spacecraft- Uchuusen (See the "chuu", from space?) is the Japanese word for a space craft. (Refer to most large water ships as "Fune", and "hikooki" to airplanes).

Uchuusen- Spacecraft

Alien- The Japanese word for Alien is Uchuujin (literally, "space person")

Uchuujin- One who lives in space / Alien.

Astronaunt- Uchuuhikoushi, literally space professional is the Japanese word for Astronaunt.

Uchuuhikoushi- Astronaunt

Satelite- Simply "ei-sei".

Ei Sei- Satelite

Part 3: Phrases!

We will now apply the vocabulary that we just learned into phrases!

Uchuu wa totemo kangekiteki na!- Space is very awe-inspiring.

うちゅう は かんげきてきな

(Uchuu- space, totemo-very, kangekiteki na- inspiring)

Kono Uchuusen wa shinpitekina- This space ship is mysterious.

この うちゅうせん は しんぴてきな

(Kono- this (possesive), Uchuusen- spaceship, shinpitekina-mysterious)

Kono ei-sei ga jinkouchinou ga arimasu ka?- Does this satelite have artificial intelligence?

この えい-せい が じんこうちのう が あります か?

(Kono- this, ei-sei- satellite, jinkouchinou-artificial intelligence, arimasu- to be/have)

(Thanks to Mai Sasaki (on face book) for confirming the above sentence was correct, I was a bit un sure :)

Ano waku-sei wa fushigina!- That (far away) planet is strange (beautifully unique).

あの わく-せい は ふしぎな!

Uchuujin wa midori desu ka?- Are aliens green?

うちゅうじん は みどり です か?