Learning Japanese

Well, here we will be wondering through the Japanese language. I'll start but don't expect much from me since I'm in the proces of learning myself.

1) Formality

I would like to start with the diference between formal and informal talking/wrighting.

We, in the western world, also have that diference. You know you wouldn't talk as "freely" with a teacher/company owner/president/high status person as you would with a friend.
But the line is wary blured.

In the west it usualy doesn't matter if you say "Thanks", "Thank you" or "Thank you wary much" to a teacher or the mail man. You know there is a different "waight" to the words but it doesn't make a difference.

In Japan the difference is wery clear and wery inportant. Social status and politenes is wary inportant.
You can't say "Thank you wary much" to a mail-man(someone "bellow" you) just like you can't say "Thanks" to someone "abowe" you.
(Okay, tahnicaly you can. But in the first case the person would be confused and in the other case the person would think that you're beeing offencive/inpolite)


The diference, just like with us, is easy to distinguishe.
More words = more formal
Less words = less formal

e.g. - Dōmo = thanks
Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu = thank you wary much

Formal talk/writing is used in used when your trying to be polite and writing in general.
Informal is used mostly on TV, "street talk", somethimes on the net, ect. Animes use mostly informal way of speaking(exsept when a caracter goes out of his way to be polite)

2) Writing

The Japanese LANGUAGE is(as far as I know) considered easy.
The wrighting on the other hand ... not so easy(read "hard").

Modern Japanese wrighting sistem uses three main scripts:

• Kanji, caracters of Chinese origin
  
• Hiragana, a syllabary
  
• Katakana, a syllabary
  

To a lesser extent, modern written Japanese also uses the Latin alphabet. Examples of such usage include abbreviations such as "CD" and "DVD".
It is also possible to represent spoken or written Japanese entirely in the Latin alphabet. Romanized Japanese, called rōmaji is frequently used by foreign students of Japanese, who have not yet
mastered the three main scripts, and by native speakers for computer input.

Lets start with Kanji.

Kanji are the Chinese characters that are used in modern Japanese writing along with hiragana (ひらがな, 平仮名), katakana (カタカナ, 片仮名), and Arabic numerals.

All tougether there are abouth 50,000 to 80,000 kanji if not more.

There are 1,945 so called Jōyō kanji that everyone learns in elementary and middle scool. There are aditional 983 kanji used in names, bringing it up to 2,928.

These 2,000 + some kanji are the "main" (so to say) kanji and the ones used in everyday life.

The otheres are more detailed/specific and if thay aren't relevant to your carear you don't have to know them. Similar to our "techno babble". If you're not an engenear you wouldent understand haf the things an engenear sais just like non-doctors don't understand what half the things in a medic book meen.

Every(most) kanji have more than one reading. The On'yomi(Chinese reading) and Kun'yomi(Japanese reading).

e.g.
"日" the kanji for Sun/day
Kun'yomi: hi[bi] - day, sun; ~ka - suffix for counting days
On'yomi: nichi; jitsu

Now, when to use which reading.

Although there are general rules for when to use on'yomi and when to use kun'yomi, the language is littered with exceptions, and it is not always possible for even a native speaker to know how to read a character without prior knowledge.

In general, kanji occurring in isolation, i.e. a character representing a single word unit, are typically read using their kun'yomi.

e.g. if standing alone "月"(the moon, month) will always be read "tsuki"

Kanji occurring in compounds(more than one kanji tougether) are generally read using on'yomi.

e.g. 月曜日 (Monday) is read "getsuyōbi" (月 - getsu, 曜 - yō, 日 - bi)

Kanji are used for:

• nouns
  
• stems of adjectives and verbs
  
• Japanese names
  

Hiragana

Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, one
component of theJapanese writing system, along with katakana and kanji.
Hiragana and katakana are both "kana" systems, in which each symbol represents one mora. Each kana is either a vowel (such as a あ);a consonant followed by a vowel (such as ka か); or n ん, a nasal sonorant which, depending on the context, sounds either like English m, n, or ng.

Hiragana are used for words for which there are no kanji, including particles such as kara から "from," and suffixes such as ~san
さん "Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms." Hiragana are also used in words for which the
kanji form is not known to the writer nor the readers or is too formal
for the writing purpose. Verb and adjective inflections, as, for example, BE MA SHI TA (べました) in tabemashita (食べました, tabemashita"ate"), are written in hiragana. In this case, part of the root is alsowritten in hiragana. Hiragana are also used to give the pronunciation
of kanji in a reading aid called furigana.

あ - a, い - i, う - u, え - e, お - o

か ka	き ki	く ku	け ke	こ ko	きゃ kya	きゅ kyu	きょ kyo
さ sa	し shi	す su	せ se	そ so	しゃ sha	しゅ shu	しょ sho
た ta	ち chi	つ tsu	て te	と to	ちゃ cha	ちゅ chu	ちょ cho
な na	に ni	ぬ nu	ね ne	の no	にゃ nya	にゅ nyu	にょ nyo
は ha	ひ hi	ふ fu	へ he	ほ ho	ひゃ hya	ひゅ hyu	ひょ hyo
ま ma	み mi	む mu	め me	も mo	みゃ mya	みゅ myu	みょ myo
や ya		ゆ yu		よ yo
ら ra	り ri	る ru	れ re	ろ ro	りゃ rya	りゅ ryu	りょ ryo
わ wa	-		-	を wo
				ん n
が ga	ぎ gi	ぐ gu	げ ge	ご go	ぎゃ gya	ぎゅ gyu	ぎょ gyo
ざ za	じ ji	ず zu	ぜ ze	ぞ zo	じゃ ja	じゅ ju	じょ jo
だ da	-	-	で de	ど do	ぢゃ (ja)	ぢゅ (ju)	ぢょ (jo)
ば ba	び bi	ぶ bu	べ be	ぼ bo	びゃ bya	びゅ byu	びょ byo
ぱ pa	ぴ pi	ぷ pu	ぺ pe	ぽ po	ぴゃ pya	ぴゅ pyu	ぴょ pyo

Spelling rules

~ Long vowels in hiragana are expressed by adding the vowel letter

あ

い

う

え

お

e.g. おかあさん - okaa-san(mother); おおきい - ōki(big)

The extended ō is in some(most) cases expressed by adding う instead of お.
e.g. おとうさん - otō-san(father)

~ When a syllable ends in a consonant, a small っ(tsu) is used to express the consonant if it is not ん.
e.g. いった - itta; がっこう - gakkō; いっち - itchi

~ The Postpozitions e, o, and wa are, respectively, expressed by へ, を, and は insted of え, お, and わ.

Hiragana are used to write::

• inflectional endings for adjectives and verbs (okurigana 送り仮名)
  
• grammatical particles (joshi 助詞)
  
• Japanese words that have no kanji, or where the kanji are difficult to read, or where the kanji is not known, or where the reader is unlikely to know them
  
• indications of how to read kanji (furigana 振り仮名).
  

Katakana

Katakana are characterized by short, straight strokes and angular corners, and are the simplest of the Japanese scripts.

Katakana are used to write:

• foreign words and names
  
• commonly
  used animals, plants or objects whose kanji are uncommonly used, such
  as "tokage" (lizard), "bara" (rose), "rōsoku" (candle)
  
• onomatopoeia
  
• emphasized words, much like italicized words in English text
  
• technical and scientific words, such as plant, animal, and mineral names.
  

ア a イ i ウ u エ e オ o

カ ka	キ ki	ク ku	ケ ke	コ ko	キャ kya	キュ kyu	キョ kyo
サ sa	シ shi	ス su	セ se	ソ so	シャ sha	シュ shu	ショ sho
タ ta	チ chi	ツ tsu	テ te	ト to	チャ cha	チュ chu	チョ cho
ナ na	ニ ni	ヌ nu	ネ ne	ノ no	ニャ nya	ニュ nyu	ニョ nyo
ハ ha	ヒ hi	フ fu	ヘ he	ホ ho	ヒャ hya	ヒュ hyu	ヒョ hyo
マ ma	ミ mi	ム mu	メ me	モ mo	ミャ mya	ミュ myu	ミョ myo
ヤ ya		ユ yu		ヨ yo
ラ ra	リ ri	ル ru	レ re	ロ ro	リャ rya	リュ ryu	リョ ryo
ワ wa				ヲ wo 1
				ン n
ガ ga	ギ gi	グ gu	ゲ ge	ゴ go	ギャ gya	ギュ gyu	ギョ gyo
ザ za	ジ ji	ズ zu	ゼ ze	ゾ zo	ジャ ja	ジュ ju	ジョ jo
ダ da			デ de	ド do	ヂャ (ja)	ヂュ (ju)	ヂョ (jo)
バ ba	ビ bi	ブ bu	ベ be	ボ bo	ビャ bya	ビュ byu	ビョ byo
パ pa	ピ pi	プ pu	ペ pe	ポ po	ピャ pya	ピュ pyu	ピョ pyo

Spelling rules

~ Long vowels in katakana are expressed by ー
e.g. ユーヒー - kōhii (cafee)

The extended ō is in some(most) cases expressed by adding う instead of お.
e.g. おとうさん - otō-san(father)

~ When a syllable ends in a consonant, a small ッ(tsu) is used to express the consonant if it is not n.
e.g. ﾏッチ - matchi

~ The Postpozitions e, o, and wa are, respectively, expressed by ヘ, ヲ, and ハ insted of エ, オ, and ワ.

Numbers, Time, Months

At this tutorial, I will learn you how to say all numbers in Japanese, also Months and Days of a Week. At the need of the tutorial, you will find some practicing, to see did you get what I said.

Numbers

The numbers after ten are also very easy to say/write. So, let's continue... Eleven is Ten plus One, so in Japanese, you write it Juuichi (十一). Twelve is Ten plus Two, so it's Juuni (十二), and so on... But, it's important to know that numbers Four ans Seven don't keep the same writing/reading. So, Fourteen is Ten plus Four, but after Ten, number Four is written/read Yon (Kanji sign stay the same, but Hiragana changes - see the picture for details). So, 14 is Juujon (十四), and the same is with Seventeen - Juushichi (十七). Next, number as 28 are written as Two-Ten-Eight (二十八 - Nijuuhachi).

Time
Once you learn numbers, time will be piece of cake. With adding 時 (reading: Ji), the character used for time, you will get the hour number. So, one o'clock would be Ichiji (一時), two o'clock'd be Niji (二時), etc. When it's 2:30, you'd say Nijihan (二時半 (半 (rading: Han) means half)). When it's 2:45, you'd say Nijiyonjuugofun (二時四十五分 (分 (reading: Fun) means minute)).

Months
Monts are also very easy. They are actually First Month, Second Month, etc. So, you write months like this: write a number of a month in front of Gatsu (月), and you get a month! So, January would be Ichigatsu (一月), February - Nigatsu (二月), etc...

Practicing
Now, after you've learned everything about Numbers, Time and Moths, youd be able to do the following exersizes:

1. Write the following times in Kanji:
a) one o'clock ______________________
b) four o'clock ______________________
c) nine o'clock ______________________
d) eleven o'clock ______________________

2. Write the following times in Kanji in both ways (using minutes and half):
a) 14:30 _____________________, _____________________
b) 19:30 _____________________, _____________________
c) 23:30 _____________________, _____________________
d) 01:03 _____________________, _____________________

3. Using Kanji, write these times:
a) 17:54 _____________________
b) 03:19 _____________________
c) 15:37 _____________________

4. Fill in the sentence with Kanji, using the sentence in Englsih below.
Date: ________________
Time: ________________

Today it's 3rd May, 10:04.



Lesson by Raph95

Alright, let's say that I'm not too lazy to write something that I got about Japanese only by looking watching Naruto...

Ni Naru

Alright, today we're going to discuss about phrase ni naru, meaning become, get, change into, etc. So, we're going to have some basic sentences for examples and for practice, mostly from anime/manga Naruto.

Hokage Ni Naru (Hiragana: ほかげ に なる)

This phrase basically doesn't mean anything special, because it doesn't have subject. So, this means "Become Hokage" (if you don't know what Hokage is, because you're nto into Naruto, let's just say that's a greatest ninja of all times). But, if we aadd something more, we're going to get the real meaning of this.

Watashi wa Hokage ni naru

This means "I become hokage". OK, it can mean "i will become Hokage", and that is what I emant it to eman, but as Japanese (as I noticed!) doesn't relaly have different verbs for future, they reconize is something future or present by the sense of the sentence. but I'm not sure about it,s o don't realyl lsiten to me. Let's just say it means "I will become Hokage".

So, what you need to remember is that it goes like this: Subject - Object - Verb. So, it's not like in English (Subject - Verb - Object).

If you'd like to say that someone will ebcome something, than you only need to change "Watashi" and "Hokage", meaning that you will leave "wa" and "ni naru" as they are. For example, "Sasuke will get gay" (don't kill me, Sasuke fans!) will be Sasuke wa gei ni naru.

Now, let's pratice this a bit. I will give you sentence in English adn you should write them in Japanese (or otherwise)

1. Watashi wa kuuru ni naru. (kuuru = cool; at least I tihnk so, don't mind if it's different)
2. Naruto wa Kyuubi ni naru. (Kyuubi is... let's say it's name)
3. Orochimaru wa suneiku ni naru. (OK, I don't knwo how is 'snake' said, so that's the english word in japanese style... I hope...)

Now, some english:

1. Sasuke's older brother will become evil. (don't mind if you don't knwo how to say 'evil'. I also don't know, jsut write it iviru. Older brother is "nii-san")
2. I will become idiot. (idiot = baka)

OK, that's it from me for today. I told you, i'm not expert, but learning japanese only by watching some kids show is really great and I'm really pround of what I know.

See ya later with new lesson~!