Japanese Lesson 2: Asking a Question

Good morning! Today's Japanese word of the day is: "ocha".
おちゃ
お茶
Ocha is the Japanese word for "tea" -- although it doesn't usually include teas other than variations on green tea. The first part of the word "o" is a polite prefix. It can be used with nouns, verbs and even adjectives to "express the speaker's respect, modesty or politeness" (S. Makino & M. Tsutsui, A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar 343 (1989)). The latter part of the word, "cha" is "tea", but it is also the kanji used for the color "brown." Why is green tea described using the word for the color brown? Sorry, that's beyond my ken.
Oftentimes in Japanese, kanji have multiple pronunciations. In this case, the kanji for "cha" has two pronunciations: "cha" and "sa." The latter is used in the word for "tea ceremony" -- "sado." The "do" means "way," "path" or "road" -- as in "bushido," "aikido" or "judo." "Sado" literally means "the Way of Tea."

Japanese Grammar Lesson 2: Asking a Question
Last time, we learned how to make some simple Japanese sentences. For those who want to check your homework, here are the answers to the questions at the end of the previous lesson.
1. "You are a cat." --> "Anata wa neko desu."
2. "Wan-chan is a dog." --> "Wan-chan wa inu desu."
Let's take these sentences and make them into questions! It's easy... just add the word "ka" to the end of the sentence.
So, "Anata wa neko desu." becomes "Anata wa neko desu ka?" Congratulations! You just asked someone if they are a cat!! Your homework:
1. Ask yourself if you're American.
2. Ask someone else if they're Japanese (hint: the word for Japanese is "nihonjin" -- "nihon" is the Japanese word for Japan, and "jin" means person).
Enjoy!