Eh, while true in the strictest sense, it’s a little more complicated than “is = to be”. “Is” is the verb you use where nothing else goes. It’s the function that it’s playing in the sentence rather than it’s actual form.

Though I do agree that this is Koichi trying a little too hard to be philosophical. =P

@Yann: I can see your point, but I don’t think it’s a huge issue.

With English as my first language, I skipped English 0.01. In fact, before learning a second language, I had forgotten what things like ‘verbs’ and ‘adjectives’ were. So even if is not entirely correct, the lesson still helps a begginer with understanding particles. You got the point anyway right?

Perhaps there are better words than ‘is’ and ‘are’, but I can’t think of any that would relate to the particles that have been introduced by that point in the TextFugu-book.

Actually, I think you’re all right. The function of a copula is to link (or “couple” see what I did there ;) ) a subject and a predicate. “To be” is definitely a verb in English. However, it also just so happens to act as a copula.

… “Doesn’t seem professional”? Where else in TextFugu does Koichi actually seem professional? =P

In any case, English doesn’t have particles. Sure, it’s a shade specious to explain Japanese in terms of English grammar, but at this point, we’re talking about learners who may have had no exposure at all to Japanese. If you think it could do with tweaking, then how would YOU explain it?

The thing with desu is that, when you start off, you learn about in VERY basic terms (which could be classed as slightly “wrong” since it’s not the full story) because it’s easier that way. But as you get more into the language, you come to learn what kind of beast desu REALLY is. It’s the same with wa and ga. Or it’s like learning that acceleration due to gravity is 10m/s/s, and then told later it’s actually 9.8m/s/s, and then later that it’s 9.81m/s/s (is it 9.81? I can’t remember) – it’s easier to think of it as 10m/s/s in the first place, even though that’s inaccurate. Or like being told an electron has no mass (it does, it’s just negligible when you’re only doing basic physics/chemistry).

Also, I’ve never known Koichi to be professional :P

I agree with Michael.

I’m really new to all this Japanese language stuff, and when I got to the です part I also noticed that. Even so, the way it was explained made me understand really well how it works and what it does…maybe there’s more to discover about です, but that explanation got me trough until now.

Also, I know how hard it can be to translate grammar points to other languages…my main language is Spanish, and there’s a TON of grammar points that are soo different compared to English or Japanese…In my opinion, sometimes it’s better ( just like Michael said ) to give a “wrong” meaning to something, as far as it lets you advance with ease, so later on you can give the “correct” meaning to it without messing anything, but helping to link things instead.

I hope you understand my point, my brain is just dead tired trying to translate Spanish into English and trying to explain Japanese stuff at the same time haha

I think the point was made many times that this is not a course for grammar nazis. If you are already bothered by the definition of is and be perhaps you should ask for a refund and try another study medium.