Showing posts with label nihongo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nihongo. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Lets Learn Japanese II

Hi there!!^_^

This section will give you an overview on how to speak, write and read the Japanese language. This segment is added to help and aid those who would love to learn the language and are unable to join professional courses due to lack of time for proper class or other reasons, for those who would like to get a feel of the language and would be motivated to join proper classes later on.


Before we begin, however, one needs to understand that the best way to learn ANY language, is to join a proper course with trained professional teachers.:) As I am neither, what I say here doesn't make it absolute.:). Also, if this is your first time here, you're advised to first check out  "Part-I".:)
Dewa, hajimemasu.:)

Writing Hiragana and Katakana.

It would be better if you visit these links to learn about it better. :D:D


あたらしい ことば (new words)

ペン(Phen) - Pen
ロビー(robii) - Lobby
コーヒー(Koohii) - Coffee
 フランス(furansu) - France

JAPANESE NAME FOR BODY PARTS

 て(Te) - Hand 
みみ(mimi) - ears
はな( hana) - Nose
くび( kubi) -Neck
のど( nodo) - Throat
ゆび( yubi) - Fingers
くち( kuchi) - Mouth
あし( ashi) - Legs
はら( hara) - Stomach
せなか( senaka) - back
かみ( kami) - Hair
め ( me) - eyes.

Click on the play button to find out how the pronunciations are.:)




In this post, you'll also learn how to introduce yourself formally in Japanese. This set of phrase, that you are about to learn, is used one time only , i.e. when meeting a person for the first time.


はじめまして、
わたし は ______________ です。
どうぞ よろしく。


Hajimemashite,
watashi wa  ____________ desu.
Douzo yoroshiku.


(Pleased to meet you,
My name is _________.
I hope we have a pleasant relationship from now on.)


NOTE : I'll explain more about "yoroshiku" later. ^^.


A few things you have to remember while you're starting out with Japanese language :


Sama, dono, san, chan, kun, etc are the honorifics you use for the second or third person. You're never to use it as a suffix when you talk about yourself. for example, you'll never say " I am Mr. Lucky Singh," would you? >__<.
Same here, you are not supposed to use "___san desu" because it is not correct and sounds weird.


Click on the play button to hear how to speak these three lines.:3



Right at the start, I said :

こんにちは みんな、
ごあいさたす しよう か。
では、 はじめます。

konnichwa - Here used as "hello"
Minna - Everyone (minasan when being very formal)
(go) aisatsu - greetings
shiyou - lets do (shimashou when being formal)
hajimemasu - starting.

"Hi everyone, lets do some greetings shall we? Well then, starting off." 

[Note : Japanese sentences cannot be translated literally into english most of the time because of the sentence structure. It is easier if you think in terms of how you say it in Bangla or Hindi.]

Now let's do a bit of grammar - 

you might have noticed me writing "ha" and pronouncing it as "wa". Well, its time to tell you about the "particles"
Particles are alphabets that acts like cement to bind words in a sentence together. Depending on the complexity of the sentence, more than one particles can be used.:)...when alphabets are used as particles, "は" is pronunced as "wa","へ" as "e" and "を" as "o ".

That's all for this post. See you next time.:3

Friday, December 2, 2011

Let's Learn Japanese - I

Hi there!!^_^

This section will give you an overview on how to speak, write and read the Japanese language. This segment is added to help and aid those who would love to learn the language and are unable to join professional courses due to lack of time for proper class or other reasons, for those who would like to get a feel of the Language and would be motivated to join proper classes later on.


I would also try my level best in helping out those of you who’ve already been taking classes and are about to or will be taking the JLPT exams. However, before we begin, one needs to understand that the best way to learn is always to find a professional teacher who has attained a degree in the language and as a teacher. Since I have neither, I hope you understand that my knowledge is limited.^^”. You are always welcome to share your views, ask questions when in doubt and I will do my best to answer as fast as I can.>o<. With that, let us begin! ^o^

FACTS That you will need to know :
  • The Japanese language is called “nihongo”in Japanese, where Nihon means Japan and “go” means language.  :) 
  • The Japanese language has three scripts, viz
    1. Hiragana - This script is used to write any word that has Japanese origins. Like, “tamago”(egg). 
    2. Katakana - This script is used to write any word that has foreign origins. Like, “Pascon” (Personal Computer) 
    3. Kanji - This script is used to pictorially depict any word. The Japanese language has many similar sounding words but different Kanji to explain the difference in meaning. Kanji might sound like a curse, but as you slowly learn to be at home with the language you will start to appriciate the benifits of having Kanji. 
    4. Romaji” is the term used when Japanese is written using the Roman/Latin script. I will be using Romaji along with the other three scripts, using each at appropriate places. If all goes well, you too will be able to read and undersand all four soon. :)

Unlike any of the tutorials on the net, I want to teach you guys how to write and read along with how to speak. ^_^. After all, wouldn’t  you just love to be able to stare at those Japanese alphabets you see while watching anime and exclaim “HEY,I KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!!”? During my initial days of learning, every time I could recogonise a Kanji, it used to give me a thrill! :D. So while learning, let's learn it properly!

Pronunciation of alphabets




The Japanese language has 46 basic alphabets, 25 modified alphabets and a few combined alphabets. This is true for both Hiragana and Katakana script. However, these are very easy to learn and remember. So, let us begin. ^o^
Basic alphabets:

a
i
u
e
o
ka
ki
ku
ke
ko
sa
shi
su
se
so
ta
chi
tsu
te
to
na
ni
nu
ne
no
ha
hi
fu
he
ho
ma
mi
mu
me
mo
ya

yu

yo
ra
ri
ru
re
ro
wa



wo
n






 Modified alphabets:

ga gi gu ge go
za ji zu ze zo
da ji zu de do
ba bi bu be bo
pa pi pu pe po

The combined alphabets are made adding “ya, yu and yo” to the “ki, gi, shi, ji, chi, ji, ni, hi, bi, pi, mi and ri” alphabets.  This will look and feel easier after you’ve practiced a fair few times. Don’t be afraid and give it a try.

Combined alphabets:

kya kyu kyo
gya gyu gyo
sha shu sho
jya jyu jyo
chya chyu chyo
jya jyu jyo
nya nyu nyo
hya hyu hyo
bya byu byo
pya pyu pyo
mya my myo
rya ryu ryo

Here are the Japanese counterparts of the above, In both Hiragana and Katakana.



Now, you need to know that Japanese language has five vowels “a,i,u,e,o” and the remaining alphabets barring “n” are consonants that have been combined with the five vowels. “n” is a standalone consonant and sometimes its pronunciation changes to “m”. However, at all times, the written form remains “n”.

How to write:


Today on how to write, we we learn how to correctly write the first five alphabets in the Hiragana script. The five vowels. Please note the stroke orders as it is important to follow the strokes at all times. Just press play to begin ^^.


That was easy enough wasn’t it?^_^

Some new words:

Let us learn some words in Japanese.^__^. Later, I will also teach you how to form simple sentences using these words.
n.b. - “ou” is to stress on the elongation of “o”.
(Press the button to listen to the pronunciations.:)





VEGETABLES yasai
FRUITS kudamono
ANIMALS doubutsu
PLANTS shokubutsu
BIRDS tori
YEAR toshi, nen
MONTH getsu, gatsu
DAY hi, bi, nichi
SUPERMARKET suppa
APARTMENT        apaato

I know at this point you are all thinking “boring words” but stocking up your vocabulary on these words will come in handy later on.^_^.

This is all for this tutorial. In the next one, We will be learning how to form simple sentences and Japanese greetings, so till then, practice hard, ne!^__^.
I hope you found this tutorial helpful, fun and easy to learn. I didn’t know how best to teach so I took a lot of references from how my sensei teaches in class. Many thanks to Ruma sensei.:3

Thankyou,

Nia Dutta.