Watashi no namae wa danieru desu.
danieru desu ka? omoshiroi. Itsu kara danieru wa nihongo o benkyoshimashita ka?
Etto....
In case you don't speak Japanese, the conversation above is translated below
My name is Daniel!
Daniel huh? Interesting. When did you start studying Japanese Daniel?
Uhmmm....
You might think the point I'm trying to make is that I should have studied more before talking to this random stranger, but then you'd be dead wrong.
The point is that I did talk to this stranger, and that he is no longer a stranger, and that even if I made a fool of myself, it's better to try and fail, than to fail to try.
9/19/14
7/18/11
Kanji - The letters that are pictures... yet letters
一 -one, one line
二 -two, two lines
三 -three, three lines 一 + 二 = 三
四 -four, symbol for mouth 口 + human legs
五- five, looks like a five with five extra lines
六- six, top hat with animal legs
七 -seven, hook with a cut, slash can also mean cut or diced
八- eight, small line + big line. like our eight 8 small circle + big circle
九 - nine, think of a baseball team, 9 players,
十 - 10, can also mean needle, turn it 45 degrees and it looks like roman numeral10
口- mouth, mouth of cave,river,head,bottle
日- sun, round the corners and it looks like the sun, right?
月- month, can also mean moon, round the corners and think of the 2 lines as the eye and mouth of the mythical man in the moon
check out remembering the kanji
its a great book, and its wear I learned these symbols, the link goes too their website which has a free chapter.
ok, so these are some of the basic kanji. kanji are letters with meanings, kanji are used in conjunction with hirigana too make up words and sentences. they can also be used in conjunction with eachother too make compound words.
well. just wanted to get a brief introduction too kanji out. good luck with your learning process!
二 -two, two lines
三 -three, three lines 一 + 二 = 三
四 -four, symbol for mouth 口 + human legs
五- five, looks like a five with five extra lines
六- six, top hat with animal legs
七 -seven, hook with a cut, slash can also mean cut or diced
八- eight, small line + big line. like our eight 8 small circle + big circle
九 - nine, think of a baseball team, 9 players,
十 - 10, can also mean needle, turn it 45 degrees and it looks like roman numeral10
口- mouth, mouth of cave,river,head,bottle
日- sun, round the corners and it looks like the sun, right?
月- month, can also mean moon, round the corners and think of the 2 lines as the eye and mouth of the mythical man in the moon
check out remembering the kanji
its a great book, and its wear I learned these symbols, the link goes too their website which has a free chapter.
ok, so these are some of the basic kanji. kanji are letters with meanings, kanji are used in conjunction with hirigana too make up words and sentences. they can also be used in conjunction with eachother too make compound words.
well. just wanted to get a brief introduction too kanji out. good luck with your learning process!
7/5/11
Grammer!!!
1.0 - of I and We
1.1 - of ways too use them
1.2 - of you and you(plural)
1.0
watashi - this translates as roughly I
tachi - an ending used for some pronouns making them plural
watashitachi - the final i in watashi becomes silent, sounding more like wa-ta-sh-ta-chi
this roughly translates too we
1.1
watashi wa ---- desu - I ---- am, you may insert many different things in this structure.
japanese is a SOV (subject object verb) language, so sentances are organized slightly different then you may
be used too
watashi wa samui desu - I cold am (I am cold)
watashi wa sakura desu - I sakura am (I am sakura) replace sakura with your name. watashi wa daniel desu :)
watashi wa amerika jin desu - I american person am (Im american)
watashitachi wa amerika jin desu - we american person am (we are americans)
note: boku is a masculine form of watashi, it is also less formal, use boku in informal situations
1.2
anata - roughly means you
anata wa samui desu - you cold are
anatatachi wa samui desu- you(plural) cold are
1.1 - of ways too use them
1.2 - of you and you(plural)
1.0
watashi - this translates as roughly I
tachi - an ending used for some pronouns making them plural
watashitachi - the final i in watashi becomes silent, sounding more like wa-ta-sh-ta-chi
this roughly translates too we
1.1
watashi wa ---- desu - I ---- am, you may insert many different things in this structure.
japanese is a SOV (subject object verb) language, so sentances are organized slightly different then you may
be used too
watashi wa samui desu - I cold am (I am cold)
watashi wa sakura desu - I sakura am (I am sakura) replace sakura with your name. watashi wa daniel desu :)
watashi wa amerika jin desu - I american person am (Im american)
watashitachi wa amerika jin desu - we american person am (we are americans)
note: boku is a masculine form of watashi, it is also less formal, use boku in informal situations
1.2
anata - roughly means you
anata wa samui desu - you cold are
anatatachi wa samui desu- you(plural) cold are
6/1/11
Speaking and Comprehension
Ok. So today I'm going to write how I learned most of my vocabulary.
The website I've found most helpful for this purpose is
www.Japanesepod101.com
Make a quick account, check it out, try the first couple begginer lessons.
This websites is a podcast which teaches mainly by audio lessons.
it also has a great dictionairy and some other cool features.
so here is how I have learned so far.
Listen, Read, Write, Listen, Read
this method has been invaluable to me In learning to comprehend and produce Japanese
Start off listening to a lesson on japanesepod101.com
(they also have a writen transcript of that days dailog you can toggle on)
after the lesson is over, read through the dialog in both the kanji+kana form
the romajii form, and the kana form, then write it out in the kana form.
also if you can, try making up some more sentances using words learned in the lessons.
this will help you with gaining confidence in the language.
after that listen to the lessons dialog again, it should make much more sense,
a couple hours latter i sugguest you reread through the Japanese you wrote out.
this is a great way to review and keep it fresh in your mind.
do atleast 2-3 lessons a day. otherwise it may become stagnant in your mind and you might forget some.
although since im studying seriously ill be doing 10-12 a day.
The website I've found most helpful for this purpose is
www.Japanesepod101.com
Make a quick account, check it out, try the first couple begginer lessons.
This websites is a podcast which teaches mainly by audio lessons.
it also has a great dictionairy and some other cool features.
so here is how I have learned so far.
Listen, Read, Write, Listen, Read
this method has been invaluable to me In learning to comprehend and produce Japanese
Start off listening to a lesson on japanesepod101.com
(they also have a writen transcript of that days dailog you can toggle on)
after the lesson is over, read through the dialog in both the kanji+kana form
the romajii form, and the kana form, then write it out in the kana form.
also if you can, try making up some more sentances using words learned in the lessons.
this will help you with gaining confidence in the language.
after that listen to the lessons dialog again, it should make much more sense,
a couple hours latter i sugguest you reread through the Japanese you wrote out.
this is a great way to review and keep it fresh in your mind.
do atleast 2-3 lessons a day. otherwise it may become stagnant in your mind and you might forget some.
although since im studying seriously ill be doing 10-12 a day.
5/31/11
The kana
learning the alphabet
the japanese alphabet is made up into 3 sections
katakana and hirigana are the first 2.
they are collectively called the kana
and are just letters that corrospond to sounds
much like our own english alphabet.
the kanji however is an alphabet containing thousands of charecters
where each individual charecter has several ways of being pronounced
Ok lets go
katakana
the katakana is probably the easiest of the 3 alphabets
for beginners to learn, this is because it is used
only for importated words. and the majority of these
words come from english other imported words come from french and germen.
for example the japanese word バイソン meaning bison
is pronounced baison
バ ba
イ i
ソ so
ン n
just a quick explanation on how the letters work
the consanants are each attatched to a vowel
e.g they have a letter for each of the following
a i u e o
pa pi pu pe po
ka ki ku ke ko
etc.
Hirigana
hirigana is structured the same way katakana is
however this alphabet is only use for words that come directly from japanese
すごい
pronounced sugoi means amazing (this, unlike the hirigana words, is not a word imported from another language)
how to learn these alphabets
I learned the kana (katakana and hirigana are collectively called kana)
using the tips and instructions given in
www.123japanese.com
under the kana section.
they have a really intutive way to show you how to write and remember all the letters!
so check it out.
once you finish that you can test yourself using
www.realkana.com
i use this every day or other day to keep myself sharp on these alphabets.
well, folks ive run out of time for right now, so it looks like im going to have to make another post
later telling you about the kanji
ア イ ウ エ オ
the japanese alphabet is made up into 3 sections
katakana and hirigana are the first 2.
they are collectively called the kana
and are just letters that corrospond to sounds
much like our own english alphabet.
the kanji however is an alphabet containing thousands of charecters
where each individual charecter has several ways of being pronounced
Ok lets go
katakana
the katakana is probably the easiest of the 3 alphabets
for beginners to learn, this is because it is used
only for importated words. and the majority of these
words come from english other imported words come from french and germen.
for example the japanese word バイソン meaning bison
is pronounced baison
バ ba
イ i
ソ so
ン n
just a quick explanation on how the letters work
the consanants are each attatched to a vowel
e.g they have a letter for each of the following
a i u e o
pa pi pu pe po
ka ki ku ke ko
etc.
Hirigana
hirigana is structured the same way katakana is
however this alphabet is only use for words that come directly from japanese
すごい
pronounced sugoi means amazing (this, unlike the hirigana words, is not a word imported from another language)
how to learn these alphabets
I learned the kana (katakana and hirigana are collectively called kana)
using the tips and instructions given in
www.123japanese.com
under the kana section.
they have a really intutive way to show you how to write and remember all the letters!
so check it out.
once you finish that you can test yourself using
www.realkana.com
i use this every day or other day to keep myself sharp on these alphabets.
well, folks ive run out of time for right now, so it looks like im going to have to make another post
later telling you about the kanji
ア イ ウ エ オ
Welcome
Well this marks the first article of my blog
showing my progress in a new langauge
after about 2 months of casual study and whatching animes
ive decided to get serious about studying
my intentions in the creation of this blog are
to keep myself accountable
and to inspire and teach others who decide to learn japanese
the websites and tools I have found and used so far are as follows
www.japanesepod101.com
www.123japanese.com
www.livemocha.com
www.realkana.com
www.realkanji.com
these websites, all used in various ways, are the resources and tools
I have used so far in my journey to master the Japanese language.
showing my progress in a new langauge
after about 2 months of casual study and whatching animes
ive decided to get serious about studying
my intentions in the creation of this blog are
to keep myself accountable
and to inspire and teach others who decide to learn japanese
the websites and tools I have found and used so far are as follows
www.japanesepod101.com
www.123japanese.com
www.livemocha.com
www.realkana.com
www.realkanji.com
these websites, all used in various ways, are the resources and tools
I have used so far in my journey to master the Japanese language.
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