Environmental Issues

Talking about the planet

Japanese is written with kanji, hiragana and katakana, and this module gives you core words to talk about the environment and looking after it. You will learn words like 環境 かんきょう (kankyou), the environment, and リサイクル (risaikuru), recycling, then practise recognising them before writing about an environmental issue in English.

Nature, recycling, rubbish

Learn each word. Where a word has kanji, the hiragana and the kanji are both shown, then the romaji and the meaning:

Match each word to its meaning

What risaikuru means in Japanese

What does the Japanese word リサイクル (risaikuru) mean in English?

• Recycling
• The environment
• Nature
• Rubbish

Kanji and katakana

Notice how these words are written. 環境 かんきょう (kankyou), the environment, and 自然 しぜん (shizen), nature, use kanji, meaning-based characters that often carry the core idea of a word. But リサイクル (risaikuru), recycling, is written in katakana, the script Japanese uses for words borrowed from other languages, here from the English 'recycle'. Spotting katakana is a clue that a word is a loanword.

Which are about the environment?

Select the TWO Japanese words that are about the environment.

• リサイクル (risaikuru)
• 環境 かんきょう (kankyou)
• 本 ほん (hon)
• 切符 きっぷ (kippu)

Nature and looking after it

Some words name the natural world; others name how we look after it.

The natural world in Japanese

The world of plants, animals, seas and mountains is _____. Everything around us that we must look after is the _____. Sorting waste so it can be used again is _____. The waste we throw away is _____. Two beautiful parts of the natural world are the sea and the _____.

Spot the environment words

Tap the TWO Japanese words that are about the environment.

• リサイクル (risaikuru)
• 本 ほん (hon)
• 環境 かんきょう (kankyou)
• 切符 きっぷ (kippu)
• 電車 でんしゃ (densha)

Choose the right word

Which Japanese word means 'recycling'?

• リサイクル (risaikuru)
• 環境 かんきょう (kankyou)
• 自然 しぜん (shizen)
• 本 ほん (hon)

Writing about the environment

You can now recognise the key words. In the exam you might write about an environmental issue, and you can weave these terms in. A strong answer names something to protect (such as the しぜん / 自然 しぜん, nature, or the かんきょう / 環境 かんきょう, environment) and an action (such as リサイクル, recycling, or reducing ごみ, rubbish).

Help the environment

Three ways to help the environment. Choose the best action each time.

• You want to help with リサイクル (recycling) at home. What should you do?
• You want to reduce ごみ (rubbish). What helps?
• You want to protect the 自然 しぜん (nature) near your town. What fits?

Write about an issue, in Japanese

Write two or three sentences IN JAPANESE about looking after the environment. Write in kana and kanji - the romaji in brackets is a reading aid only and earns no marks in the exam.

• Name the topic: 環境 かんきょう (kankyou) or 自然 しぜん (shizen)
• Say you like it with 私は〜が好きです。(わたしは〜がすきです - I like ...)
• Name an action: リサイクル (risaikuru) or ごみ (gomi)
• Say where you go using 〜に行きます。(〜にいきます - I go to ...)- 海 うみ (umi) or 山 やま (yama)