Need to Know some Japanese Phrases:
 

Ok, I am a tennis counsler and I need to know a few phrases for these two japanese kids who speak 0 english.

Basiclly just how to say.

"Come over here"
"Forehand"
"Backhand"
"Hit the ball"
"Dont hit the balls"
"Sit down"

And anything else you might think is helpful would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

How about "Can you direct me to the nearest used schoolgirl's panties vending-machine?"

/joke

Those crazy Japanese!


Mr Mephisto

dont know that much Japanese, but can help you with one.
"suwattekudasai" would be "please sit down"
also helpful might be "mittekudasai" would be "please watch"
and if you want them to do something again "mouichidokudasai" is "one more time, please"
"mae te" is litterally "front hand", and "ushiro te" is "back hand", not sure if that is the proper term for it though in Japanese.

Ok so lemme get this phonetically out:
suwattekudasai = sew-wa-tay-keh-da-sai

mittekudasai = me-tay-keh-da-sai

mouichidokudasai= i have no idea

Mae te would be prounced "Me-Tay"

and ushiro te would be pronounced "Oo-Shero-tey"

Thanks for the help.

damn, should have done it phonetically
sue-wa-tay-coo-da-sigh
me-tay-coo-da-sigh
moe-ee-chee-dough-coo-da-sigh
ma-eh-tay
ooh-she-row-tay
its not really phonetic, but thats pretty much how its pronounced.
I only have one year of japanese, but we used some of those phrases alot.

Yeah, thats what i was trying to get at with my "Phonetics" :D

Oh yeah and also, if i want to say anything else in the command voice politely I just add kudasai to the end?

like Yamettekudasai - means stop please???

Or Mattekudasai - means wait please?

essentially, you can drop the kudasai, and the phrase wont be rude, just not AS polite.
Also, while they might not know any english, they might know "japanese-english". Like, "racket" is "raketto" <'ra-keh-toe'>, "tennis" is "tenisu" <'tay-knee-suh(the "u" is almost silent")'>.
Since tennis is a foreign thing to Japnaese, I think many of the phrase might exist there. If you speak slowly, and mangle the words, they might know what you mean.

Well I did over hear their mom talking to them about "Hitto ball"

Also, how would you say run, like and in you need to go run

another one you will wish you could use often
"baka"-idiot :D
if one of them gets knocked out by a ball youll ask:
"dai-jho-bu?=are you alright?
answer:(hai=yes, anything else="where am i?")

^ yeah I know how to say all that stuff.

What i'd really like to know how to say before tomorrow is something like:

What is that?

And I mean, I think i know that Nani means what, and Desu is the verb IS but im really not sure how to put a sentence together.

*Edit:
I think i figured out how to say What is that? Tell me if yout his right:

Kore wa nan desu ka?

thats right, but you only use "kore" if the object your talking about very close to you. If you are pointing to something close to the listener, "sore"; and away from both of you, "are". Chances are if you want to say "what is THAT?", you'll use 'sore'. "dore" would be used for "which".
co-ray-wa-nan-day-suh-ka
soe-ray
ah-ray
dough-ray
the u in desu is almost silent when spoken, so don't be suprised if you dont hear it.

So, take for instance what happened today...

The kids were drinking these like, energy drinks or something, and I wanted to say "what is that"
I would just say "Sore wa nan desu ka?".

Also, how would i pose the question:

"Is that water?"

Edit, alright... im trying to figure this out:

Would it be:

"Sore wa mizu desu ka?"

"Sore wa mizu desu ka"
My Japanese is sketchy at best, but I think that's about right. Honestly, as long as you get at least a few of the right words in there somewhere, they'll be able to understand the basic question you're asking. It's kind of like someone talking you you in broken english: it's not perfect, but you can usually understand what they are asking.

Other things that might be useful: (translations aren't completely accurate I'm sure, but it's close.)

Konnichiwa= basically hello. Kon-ni-chi-wa
followed by
Ogenkidesuka= how are you Oh-gan-ki-dess-ka (the way I was taught, the "oo" sound is silent or very rushed) The probable answer will be "hai, genkidesu" which is along the lines of "I am doing well"

Do you understand= wakarimasuka wa-cari-masska (with a curious tone)
them: hai, wakarimasu (yes, I undersand) iie, wakarimasen. (no, I do not understand)

arigato ari-gaa-toe= thank you
domo arigato gozaimasu do-mo ari-gaa-toe go-zai-mass = more formal way of saying thank you.

ooh...this isn't close to all of the things you want, but it's got a few phrases that might be useful. http://www.ida.net/users/aikido/Clas...n-phrases.html