QCAA Japanese cheat sheet

Register selection rule: plain form (だ/る) for close peers and family; です・ます for acquaintances, teachers, and service contexts; 敬語 (sonkeigo/kenjōgo) for superiors, customers, and formal ceremonies.

Aizuchi (あいづち) such as そうですね、へえ、なるほど signal active listening; their absence in a Japanese exchange reads as disinterest rather than calm.

Turn-taking rule: はい is a continuer meaning 'I'm listening', not always agreement; disagreement is typically softened with ちょっと…、それはそうですが… before the counterpoint.

Indirect refusal formula: 検討します / ちょっと難しいですね / 考えておきます function as refusals; treating them as literal commitments is a pragmatic error.

Honorific verb pairs to recognise: 行く→いらっしゃる/参る、言う→おっしゃる/申す、見る→ご覧になる/拝見する、食べる→召し上がる/いただく、する→なさる/いたす。

Bowing and 名刺 exchange accompany introductions; bow depth and duration increase with the relative status of the other party.

Politeness in requests escalates by form: 〜てください < 〜ていただけませんか < 〜ていただけないでしょうか; the negative interrogative is the most indirect.

In-group/out-group (うち・そと) rule: one's own family and company take humble forms (父、弊社) when speaking to outsiders, regardless of their real status.

Text-type markers: です・ます体 signals formal writing (notices, letters, articles); だ・である体 signals reports, essays, and news copy.

Katakana in running text usually marks loanwords, onomatopoeia, emphasis, or company/product names; hiragana particles versus kanji homophones must be disambiguated by context.

Kanji radicals narrow meaning: 氵 water, 忄 heart/feeling, 言 speech, 扌 hand action, 木 tree/wood; radical cues support guessing unknown compounds.

Inference rule: Japanese often omits subjects and objects; recover the referent from the last explicit noun phrase and from verb honorific level, not from word order alone.

Discourse connectors carry argument structure: しかし/ところが contrast, したがって/そのため result, つまり restatement, たとえば exemplification, 一方で parallel contrast.

Reading for gist before detail: identify the topic sentence (many Japanese paragraphs open with a general statement and close with the writer's conclusion).

Numbers and counters change reading: 一人/二人 irregular, 四月/七月/九月 irregular readings, 二十歳 はたち; misreading counters distorts factual detail questions.

Listening cues: sentence-final particles (ね、よ、かな) and rising intonation mark stance; a final が or けど often implies an unstated request or refusal.

Paragraph structure: 起承転結 (introduction, development, turn, conclusion) is a common Japanese organisational pattern; a clear 結論 at the end is expected in speeches.

Written register control: formal letters use 拝啓…敬具, seasonal greetings (時候の挨拶), and お世話になっております in emails to external parties.

Cohesion devices: このように、以上のように、その結果 summarise; まず、次に、最後に sequence steps in a procedural or presentation text.

Speech delivery conventions: 自己紹介 follows 名前→出身→趣味→よろしくお願いします; スピーチ closes with ご清聴ありがとうございました.

Punctuation and layout: 。 ends sentences, 、 separates clauses, 「」 quotes speech, and vertical writing (縦書き) reads right to left.

Word-count planning: a 400-character Japanese script is roughly 2–3 minutes at natural pace; a 3-minute speech needs about 900–1,000 characters.

Keigo in presentations: humble forms for the speaker's own actions (ご説明いたします、発表させていただきます) and honorific forms for the audience (ご覧ください).

Visual-text conventions: 箇条書き (bullet points) use ・, headings use 【】 or ■, and charts label 単位 (units) separately from the axis.

Verb groups: Group 1 (u-verbs) dictionary form ends in う/く/ぐ/す/つ/ぬ/ぶ/む/る with る preceded by a/u/o; Group 2 (ru-verbs) る preceded by i/e; Group 3 する and 来る.

Te-form rules: う/つ/る→って、む/ぶ/ぬ→んで、く→いて (行く→行って)、ぐ→いで、す→して; て-form plus いる marks progressive or resulting state.

Transitivity pairs: 開く/開ける、閉まる/閉める、始まる/始める、落ちる/落とす; intransitive describes a state, transitive an agent's action.

Conditionals: と (natural consequence), ば (hypothetical condition), たら (once/if, most flexible), なら (topic-based supposition).

Giving/receiving: あげる (I give), もらう (I receive), くれる (someone gives to me); て-form plus these marks favours received or conferred.

Politeness levels map to social distance and formality: 丁寧語 (です・ます), 尊敬語 (elevates other), 謙譲語 (lowers self); mixing levels within one utterance is an error.

Cultural calendar anchors: 入学式 in April, お花見 in spring, 七夕 7 July, お盆 mid-August, 年末年始 with 初詣 and 年賀状.

Counter system: 〜つ (general 1–10), 〜個 (small objects), 〜人 (people), 〜枚 (flat things), 〜本 (long thin), 〜冊 (books), 〜台 (machines/vehicles).