Baseball basics
Baseball is the sport people in Japan talk about most: at work, with the neighbours, with the TV on at dinner. This lesson covers the positions, innings, outs and the score, so you can follow a game and ask (what's the score?). Tap to hear any line. The bar at the bottom plays a hands-free drill for walking.
25 baseball words
Each card shows the word, the form used and a sentence you'd say while watching or playing. Many baseball words are katakana from English, with a kanji word you'll see in the news. Seven reuse words from Everyday Japanese 1 and 2.
Positions, innings and the score
Each position has a number used in scoring, an everyday katakana name and a kanji name used in the news. An inning is : the top is and the bottom is .
| English | Say it | News word / note |
|---|
- Score, then win or lose. = we won 3–2. Say your own team's score first.
- Outs. ワンアウト, ツーアウト, then スリーアウト、チェンジ: three out, and the teams swap.
- Two words for one thing. People say フォアボール for a walk; the news writes . A home run is ホームラン, or in the paper.
Four patterns to use today
Say it in Japanese
Say each one out loud before you reveal the answer. Getting close counts.