Ha, Hi, Fu, He, Ho....What you chucklin' 'bout?

こんにちは、

Today has been alright. But I really can't wait to start learning more Japanese! :D

Review:
ーーーーーなたさかあ
　ー　ーーにちしきい
　ーーーーうつすくう
　ー　ーーねてせけえ
ーーーーーのとそこお
ー

So we've learned all this, practiced combining some characters to make words, and are over half way done with the basic Hiragana system. Right on! Let's get going shall we?

は:When trying to say ha, think of the ha ha form of laughter.
ひ:Hi is pronounced closer to he, as in he or she, a gender definitive.
ふ:Fu can be sounded out like foot or food. Just cut it short and that's close.
へ:He is also similar to the laughter or snicker he he.
ほ:When thinking of ho, think of Santa and his jolly demeanor. :)

ーーーーはなたさかあ
　ー　ーひにちしきい
　ーーーふうつすくう
　ー　ーへねてせけえ
ーーーーほのとそこお
ー



There's only a すこし (sukoshi:little) bit left to get down now. Great work! Your moving right along.

Since I have a bit of free time today, I'm going to make a tutorial on how you can start writing にほんごが (japanese language) The が is ga, a particle like wa or ne. We haven't covered particles yet so don't worry too much. We'll cover that at a later date. Just know for now that, が is used when your talking about japanese, as in the language.

Find out more about particles, here.

JWoTD:
Kanji:
質問Hiragana: しつもん
Romaji: shitsumon
Definition: a question; an interrogation; a inquiry
Site: Click here for more information on the JWoTD



I'll throw up the tutorial later today, maybe tomorrow. Hope to see you then.

じゃまた。


デボン

Na, Ni, Nu, Ne, No...no she didn't!

(Good Afternoon)
こんにちは、

I hope everyone has had a good afternoon so far. It's getting close to application time for my Undergraduate scholarship to Japan. I'm getting excited, hopefully I have a shot. Anyway, lets learn some Japanese.

Let's get started shall we?

Review:

ーーーーーーたさかあ
　ー　ーーーちしきい
　ーーーーーつすくう
　ー　ーーーてせけえ
ーーーーーーとそこお
ー

な (Na), sounds like the na when you sing and fill in words, the a is pronounced soft rather than hard.　に (Ni), sounds like knee. Really easy one.　う (Nu), think of something new.　ね (Ne), sounds like the ne, in net.　の (No), this one is easy. Just say it as you would in English.

ーーーーーなたさかあ
　ー　ーーにちしきい
　ーーーーうつすくう
　ー　ーーねてせけえ
ーーーーーのとそこお
ー

Easy, huh? If your having trouble remembering what the characters look like, try repeatedly writing them down. It's a pain, but it does work.

JWoTD:
Kanji: 得意
Hiragana: とくい
Romaji: tokui
Definition: pride; triumph; one's forte
Site: Click here for more information on the JWoTD

One last thing for today, go to the google language tools. (Here) Then set it up for Japanese, and then English. Now type in some of the characters you know. Please have your language bar set up to hiragana or visit this site to turn you romaji into hiragana. Then copy and paste into the google translator. Try different combonations and see what you get.

Examples:

のこ= Buttress
つての= The influence
ちき= Childishness

Thanks for your time and hope this helped. :)


じゃまた。


デボン

Ta, Chi, Tsu, Te, To...to. We're Not In Kansas Anymore?

(Good evening)
こんばんは、

I hope everyone's doing well. My time is short right now so let's get started; shall we?

Heres a review:

ーーーーーーーさかあ
　ー　ーーーーしきい
　ーーーーーーすくう
　ー　ーーーーせけえ
ーーーーーーーそこお
ー


Today we'll be covering た (Ta)、ち (Chi)、つ (Tsu)、て(Te)、と(To)。た reminds me of ta da! Without the da of course. ち is pretty easy for most folks but if your having trouble, think cheese without the -se at the end. つ as in tsunami. It looks like a wave so that one is easy. てsounds like the te in tennis. と is sounded out just like your big and little toe's. :P

Ok, so we did a quick run down on the "T" consonants. Here's what we have as of now.

ーーーーーーたさかあ
　ー　ーーーちしきい
　ーーーーーつすくう
　ー　ーーーてせけえ
ーーーーーーとそこお
ー


JWoTD:
Kanji: 途端
Hiragana: とたん
Romaji: totan
Definition: just as; in the act of; the moment
Site: Click here for more information on the JWoTD

I'm sorry for the rush in this lesson but I should probably get to studying for my class. Hope you all have a good day tomarrow and be safe.


じゃまた。


デボン

Sa, Shi, Su, Se, So...here's to what's next?

Alright,

Let's get started shall we. Last time we talked we learned about the K consonants, next is S.

What we've learned before starting the lesson:

ーーーーーーーーかあ
　ー　ーーーーーきい
　ーーーーーーーくう
　ー　ーーーーーけえ
ーーーーーーーーこお
ー

Lesson:

Ok, さ. (Sa) Think of a making the symbol sound like the word saw, as in, Leo saw a bird. Next し, (Shi) it sounds like the word she in regards to referencing a gender. Then there's す(Su). Think of the name Sue. せ (Se) can be pronounced to the likeness of the first two letters of sell. Just cut it off short before the l's. Finally, theres そ. (So) This is closesly pronounced to the english so, just remember that and you should be alright. (Remember, I have links to audio pronounciations for all the hirigana we've learned, just click on the hirigana and you'll be taken to a site that will play the file for you.)

So now our chart looks like this.

ーーーーーーーさかあ
　ー　ーーーーしきい
　ーーーーーーすくう
　ー　ーーーーせけえ
ーーーーーーーそこお
ー


Look at that eh, we're getting there.

JWoTD:
Kanji: 繕う
Hiragana: つくろう
Romaji: tsukurou
Definition: To repair; to mend; to patch; to trim; to keep up; to save.
Site: Click here for more information on the JWoTD


Thanks for your time and hope to read what you have to say.



じゃまた。


デボン

Ka, Ki, Ku, Ke, Ko...Yo!

Hey,

Today we're going to be going over the first column of consonants and vowels. These groupings of symbols are associated to the sounds that they make and when we combine these sounds, we form words, which hopefully form meaning.

か or ka sounds like your imitating a crow. "Caw! Caw!" Or maybe an Eastern based US accent saying car? :P

き or ki sounds like key. Yea, um, that's pretty much it for that one.

くor ku sounds like cool, without the l. It can also be likened to that annoying bird. Coo! Coo!

け or ke kinda sounds like 'kay and 'eh combined.

こor ko. Think hot coco. :)

What we've learned up to now.


ーーーーーーーーかあ
　ー　ーーーーーきい
　ーーーーーーーくう
　ー　ーーーーーけえ
ーーーーーーーーこお
ー

When we're all done the table above will be filled out completely. Nice work guys and gals!

JWoTD:
Kanji: N/A
Hiragana: つかる
Romaji: tsukaru
Definition: To be soaked in; to steeped in; to be submersed in.
Site: Click here for more information on the JWoTD

I added the word's definition to the JWoTD format. Also, look at the hiragana. Do you see a familiar symbol? :D


じゃまた。


デボン

Turning the Pages: A,E,I,O,U, style.

Alrighty, lets get started!

Ok, I hope you all took a minute to go over to thejapanesepage.com and look at some of the hiragana lessons. If not, no biggie, I probably wouldn't have and ended up doing the same thing your doing right now...staring at the text wondering how he's possibly going to get us to understand Japanese if we haven't learned the basic structure. So I'll write it down here to show you what I mean as well as enforce it for those that did visit the site. What I'm about to share with you all is so groundbreaking and revolutionary, it's gonna take the world by storm.The vowel A and the symbol A are paired, but there really is no symbolic connection between the two. Yet that is what languages are based on; symbols and sounds. In Japanese the vowel we would relate to A is actually written like this, あ (It is also written as ア but that's katakana and we'll work on that later). This vowel is pronounced like the a in father. Get more information and help on pronouncing this vowel here.

Next is the vowel, い. This vowel sounds like the ea in eat. The third vowel is う, and it sort of sounds like the u in dude but is pronounced with a staccato and is cut short. The fourth is え. This vowel is pronounced like the e in met. Like almost all the other vowels it follows the same soft staccato pronunciation. Lastly is お, spoken like oh.


So, in summary we learned about the Japanese vowels あ、い、う、え、お and what they sound like. But we never learned about these symbols 、。, these are the basic punctuation; 、is used as a comma and 。 could be likened to a period. Visit Wikipedia if you wish to learn more about Japanese punctuation (And yes, when used with discretion, like so many things that should be in life, Wikipedia is a fine resource).

English/Japanese vowels:
A/あ
I/い
U/う
E/え
O/お

(Yes I know most people sound out vowels in the A, E, I, O, U, order but for simplicity and correlation I did it this way.)

JWoTD:
Kanji:抱く
Hiragana:だく
Romaji:Daku
Click here for more information on the JWoTD

Next update I'll probably go over the K consonant formation.

じゃまた。

デボン

First Few Days

Hi, Devon here.

So I came up with a plan for this blog. What I plan to do is practice writing in Japanese and sort of keep a journal of my learning process with a hopeful end result of writing in all Japanese. What I'm going to do so that you can all understand is introduce words here daily and only use the words we all know. These words will not be under the JWoTD but will be considered as remembered words. Now the first step; before we learn how to write words we need to know how they're formed. This is where http://www.thejapanesepage.com comes in. If you could click here you'll be taken to a page where you'll be introduced to Hiragana, one of the three character scripts used in Japan. That site is an excellent resource. Take your time over there and check back here in a couple of days or so. We'll be able to start learning together!

JWoTD:
Hiragana:たくわえる
Romaji:Takuwaeru
Click here for more information on the JWoTD

じゃまた。

デボン