Hello everyone!
Here I want to share with you a list of the Japanese Kanji I'm learning this week.
I will be giving a try to studying with a book that is arranged with the 2,000 common use Kanji, rather than just studying Kanji I find interesting.
I think a methodical approach like this one might work better for me, since I'm usually quite busy, but we'll see!
Here they are:
1- 曜 You - Day of the week
2- 売 Bai, u(ru) - To sell
3- 主 Shu, su, nushi, omo, aruji - Master, owner, main
4- 筆 Fude, hitsu - Writing brush
5- 文 Bun, mon, fumi - Writing, letters
6- 仕 Shi, ji, tsuka(eru) - Serve, do
This is the first set I will be practicing this week; I intend to practice two sets of six.
I have to mention that I had studied these before, so more than learning, this will be reviewing. I had forgotten how to write at least four of these, and the others, I didn't remember well the meaning, so I decided to start here.
I will update to tell you how it's going, and if I manage to practice the other six this same week.
I hope you can learn something with me, too!
Until next time!
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Sunday, March 29, 2015
The word 'Meccha' (めっちゃ)
This is a word I learned recently, and it surprises me that I would only learn it by now, since it's used a LOT in the Japanese language.
'Meccha' is short for 'mechakucha', and it means 'extremely', so when you add it to an expression, basically what you do is that you emphasize what you're trying to say, or more like, you exaggerate it.
Some equivalent translations can be: super, absurdly, extremely, mega, ridiculously, very, amazingly
Some examples on how to use this word:
めっちゃ寒い！- Meccha samui! - It's extremely cold!
めっちゃあつい - Meccha atsui - It's ridiculously hot!
めちゃくちゃかわいい - Mechakucha kawaii - Super cute!
めちゃくちゃ小さい - Mechakucha chiisai - Extremely small
I hope you learned something with me today! This word is used all the time, and you can add it to enlarge pretty much anything you want to describe.
Today I can say it's meccha atsui over here! The heat is on where I live, and it's not even summer yet!
How will you use this word today? Make sure you practice!
Until next time!
'Meccha' is short for 'mechakucha', and it means 'extremely', so when you add it to an expression, basically what you do is that you emphasize what you're trying to say, or more like, you exaggerate it.
Some equivalent translations can be: super, absurdly, extremely, mega, ridiculously, very, amazingly
Some examples on how to use this word:
めっちゃ寒い！- Meccha samui! - It's extremely cold!
めっちゃあつい - Meccha atsui - It's ridiculously hot!
めちゃくちゃかわいい - Mechakucha kawaii - Super cute!
めちゃくちゃ小さい - Mechakucha chiisai - Extremely small
I hope you learned something with me today! This word is used all the time, and you can add it to enlarge pretty much anything you want to describe.
Today I can say it's meccha atsui over here! The heat is on where I live, and it's not even summer yet!
How will you use this word today? Make sure you practice!
Until next time!
Saturday, March 28, 2015
I'm going to start this week a new method to learn Japanese Kanji.
Or more like, try out an old method that I didn't really dedicate myself to, before; this time, I will focus.
I might give a try to some Mandarin, too, but at the moment, I'm more focused on Japanese.
Japanese is the first Asian language I started learning, and the one I currently have more knowledge of, but not knowing the Kanji is holding me back.
I have to admit I've been very lazy. I have decided to be more focused, and sharing my experience through this blog, and helping readers study too, I think it will make a difference.
We can learn together :)
This coming week I will see if I can learn twelve Kanji, in two sets of 6.
Next post, I will share which ones I will start with!
By the way, did you check out my previous post? Are you studying your Hiragana?
You can start on the next set if you dominated the first one (あ，い，う，え，お) !
The next set is: か，き，く，け，こ (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko)
Study!
Or more like, try out an old method that I didn't really dedicate myself to, before; this time, I will focus.
I might give a try to some Mandarin, too, but at the moment, I'm more focused on Japanese.
Japanese is the first Asian language I started learning, and the one I currently have more knowledge of, but not knowing the Kanji is holding me back.
I have to admit I've been very lazy. I have decided to be more focused, and sharing my experience through this blog, and helping readers study too, I think it will make a difference.
We can learn together :)
This coming week I will see if I can learn twelve Kanji, in two sets of 6.
Next post, I will share which ones I will start with!
By the way, did you check out my previous post? Are you studying your Hiragana?
You can start on the next set if you dominated the first one (あ，い，う，え，お) !
The next set is: か，き，く，け，こ (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko)
Study!
Thursday, March 26, 2015
The Hiragana Syllabary
As promised, here I bring you the full Hiragana syllabary!
As I told you in the previous post, the Hiragana is the first writing system you should learn when you start learning the Japanese language. It is composed of syllables that make every sound in Japanese.
I wrote the pronunciation in parenthesis to the side of each character.
First the vowels:
a あ (ah)
i い (ee)
u う (oo)
e え (eh)
o お (oh)
Next, the characters that start with 'K'. Remember, this is a Syllabary, so the consonants will be paired with a vowel to make syllables:
ka か ('Kah')
ki き ('Kee')
ku く ('Koo')
ke け ('Keh')
ko こ ('Koh')
Now the characters that start with 'S':
sa さ (sah)
shi し (shee)
su す (soo)
se せ (seh)
so そ (soh)
The characters that start with 'T':
ta た (tah)
chi ち (chee)
tsu つ (tsoo)
te て (teh)
to と (toh)
Notice that there is no 'ti' (tee) or 'tu' (too) character; instead, there is 'chi' and 'tsu'.
The characters that start with 'N':
na な (nah)
ni に (nee)
nu ぬ (noo)
ne ね (neh)
no の (noh)
The ones that start with 'H':
ha は (ha)
hi ひ (hee)
fu ふ (foo; hoo)
he へ (heh)
ho ほ (hoh)
The ones that start with 'M':
ma ま (mah)
mi み (me)
mu む (moo)
me め (meh)
mo も (moh)
The ones that start with 'r':
ra ら (rah)
ri り (ree)
ru る (roo)
re れ (reh)
ro ろ (roh)
The 'r' sound in Japanese is a bit rolled, and sometimes may resemble an 'l' sound.
Now, the following ones are special, since they create more sounds by being combined with other characters, which you will see in a moment:
ya や
yu ゆ
yo よ
And finally, the characters that start with 'w' and the consonant 'n', which is the only character that stands alone in the syllabary:
wa わ
wo を
n ん
There are additional sounds, created by adding diacritical marks to the Hiragana characters:
ga が pa ぱ da だ za ざ ba ば
gi ぎ pi ぴ ji ぢ ji じ bi び
gu ぐ pu ぷ zu づ zu ず bu ぶ
ge げ pe ぺ de で ze ぜ be べ
go ご po ぽ do ど zo ぞ bo ぼ
More sounds are created by combining や, ゆ, and よ with other characters. They have to be written smaller:
kya きゃ sha しゃ cha ちゃ nya にゃ hya ひゃ
kyu きゅ shu しゅ chu ちゅ nyu にゅ hyu ひゅ
kyo きょ sho しょ cho ちょ nyo にょ hyo ひょ
rya りゃ mya みゃ pya ぴゃ
ryu りゅ myu みゅ pyu ぴゅ
ryo りょ myo みょ pyo ぴょ
gya ぎゃ ja じゃ bya びゃ
gyu ぎゅ ju じゅ byu びゅ
gyo ぎょ jo じょ byo びょ
If your don't write them smaller, and instead write them side by side, then the new sound is not created; for example, if you write しや instead of しゃ, you are writing and saying 'Shiya' and not 'Sha'.
This is it for the Hiragana. Previously I told you that the best number of characters to learn at a time is five, and surely you can tell why now after seeing the Hiragana. You can practice each set of five and end with the six ones that are set apart, the や, ゆ, よ, わ, を, and ん characters.
Start today with the vowel sounds あ い う え お, and progress from there!
Here are five practice words with these characters so that you test yourself and learn some vocabulary on the way:
あい - Love
あお - Blue
おおい - Many, Much, Numerous
いう - To say
いいえ- No
I hope you enjoyed this post. Share with your friends!
Until next time!
As I told you in the previous post, the Hiragana is the first writing system you should learn when you start learning the Japanese language. It is composed of syllables that make every sound in Japanese.
I wrote the pronunciation in parenthesis to the side of each character.
First the vowels:
a あ (ah)
i い (ee)
u う (oo)
e え (eh)
o お (oh)
Next, the characters that start with 'K'. Remember, this is a Syllabary, so the consonants will be paired with a vowel to make syllables:
ka か ('Kah')
ki き ('Kee')
ku く ('Koo')
ke け ('Keh')
ko こ ('Koh')
Now the characters that start with 'S':
sa さ (sah)
shi し (shee)
su す (soo)
se せ (seh)
so そ (soh)
The characters that start with 'T':
ta た (tah)
chi ち (chee)
tsu つ (tsoo)
te て (teh)
to と (toh)
Notice that there is no 'ti' (tee) or 'tu' (too) character; instead, there is 'chi' and 'tsu'.
The characters that start with 'N':
na な (nah)
ni に (nee)
nu ぬ (noo)
ne ね (neh)
no の (noh)
The ones that start with 'H':
ha は (ha)
hi ひ (hee)
fu ふ (foo; hoo)
he へ (heh)
ho ほ (hoh)
The ones that start with 'M':
ma ま (mah)
mi み (me)
mu む (moo)
me め (meh)
mo も (moh)
The ones that start with 'r':
ra ら (rah)
ri り (ree)
ru る (roo)
re れ (reh)
ro ろ (roh)
The 'r' sound in Japanese is a bit rolled, and sometimes may resemble an 'l' sound.
Now, the following ones are special, since they create more sounds by being combined with other characters, which you will see in a moment:
ya や
yu ゆ
yo よ
And finally, the characters that start with 'w' and the consonant 'n', which is the only character that stands alone in the syllabary:
wa わ
wo を
n ん
There are additional sounds, created by adding diacritical marks to the Hiragana characters:
ga が pa ぱ da だ za ざ ba ば
gi ぎ pi ぴ ji ぢ ji じ bi び
gu ぐ pu ぷ zu づ zu ず bu ぶ
ge げ pe ぺ de で ze ぜ be べ
go ご po ぽ do ど zo ぞ bo ぼ
More sounds are created by combining や, ゆ, and よ with other characters. They have to be written smaller:
kya きゃ sha しゃ cha ちゃ nya にゃ hya ひゃ
kyu きゅ shu しゅ chu ちゅ nyu にゅ hyu ひゅ
kyo きょ sho しょ cho ちょ nyo にょ hyo ひょ
rya りゃ mya みゃ pya ぴゃ
ryu りゅ myu みゅ pyu ぴゅ
ryo りょ myo みょ pyo ぴょ
gya ぎゃ ja じゃ bya びゃ
gyu ぎゅ ju じゅ byu びゅ
gyo ぎょ jo じょ byo びょ
If your don't write them smaller, and instead write them side by side, then the new sound is not created; for example, if you write しや instead of しゃ, you are writing and saying 'Shiya' and not 'Sha'.
This is it for the Hiragana. Previously I told you that the best number of characters to learn at a time is five, and surely you can tell why now after seeing the Hiragana. You can practice each set of five and end with the six ones that are set apart, the や, ゆ, よ, わ, を, and ん characters.
Start today with the vowel sounds あ い う え お, and progress from there!
Here are five practice words with these characters so that you test yourself and learn some vocabulary on the way:
あい - Love
あお - Blue
おおい - Many, Much, Numerous
いう - To say
いいえ- No
I hope you enjoyed this post. Share with your friends!
Until next time!
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Hiragana and Katakana: The Japanese Syllabaries
Hello everyone, and welcome to this Blog!
This is my first Blog post here, and so I thought I'd start by providing you with a nice little tip from my experience with learning the Japanese syllabaries Hiragana and Katakana, in addition to some information about these writing systems. Japanese is the first Asian language I decided to learn, and the one I have the most experience with among the other languages I study.
A syllabary is a writing system that consists of symbols that represent syllables. The Japanese language is written with two syllabaries, called Hiragana (ひらがな) and Katakana (カタカナ), in addition to characters from Chinese origin, called Kanji (漢字) in Japanese. These syllabaries contain all the sounds of the Japanese language.
The Hiragana syllabary is used in children's books, since it's the one children first learn, and in any word that isn't commonly written with Kanji. You will also see Hiragana for the function words or 'particles', and for other words that use uncommon or outdated Kanji.
The Katakana syllabary is used for writing some names, like vegetable, plant, and animal names, for example; it's also used for writing words borrowed from other languages, and names from other languages.
When I first became interested in learning Japanese, after doing a little research, I knew the first thing I had to do was to learn to write the syllabaries. And I had to start with the Hiragana.
The Hiragana is the first writing system taught to children in Japan, and so, it is the first one we learn when we start learning Japanese as a second language as well.
I went online and downloaded a chart that showed the Hiragana and Katakana characters, and decided on a daily goal to accomplish learning them. This was my first step in my introduction to the Japanese language.
I would take five Hiragana characters and get familiarized with them before proceeding to learn five more.
I didn't exactly learn five characters daily, but by setting the five at a time goal, I managed to learn in about a week. I did the same with the Katakana, and I have to admit the Katakana was a bit harder for me, since there are a couple characters that are almost identical! Like for example マ and ム ('ma' and 'mu'). At first I saw them as a sort of upside-down version of each other, and I kept getting them mixed up. (I have to admit I sometimes still do.)
But keeping a five at a time goal, I managed.
This is my little tip for you to learn the syllabaries: set a goal, a small one, and work for it day by day. Five characters a day is a good amount, perfect actually (and you'll see why on my next post) so this is what I recommend. For Kanji, I'm currently doing six at a time.
This is something I want to do with this Blog. I love helping others, and I love the process of learning new languages, so I want to provide my readers here with something they can find useful in their learning, sharing my experiences learning, giving them what has worked for me and what I'm trying new to continue learning. I'm going to be posting lesson type posts here, in which I not only talk about my experience learning, but also provide something to help readers learn. From student to student.
In my next Blog, I will provide you with the full Hiragana syllabary, and the five you should start with. I'll make follow up posts, and include some reading practice for you.
See you here!
This is my first Blog post here, and so I thought I'd start by providing you with a nice little tip from my experience with learning the Japanese syllabaries Hiragana and Katakana, in addition to some information about these writing systems. Japanese is the first Asian language I decided to learn, and the one I have the most experience with among the other languages I study.
A syllabary is a writing system that consists of symbols that represent syllables. The Japanese language is written with two syllabaries, called Hiragana (ひらがな) and Katakana (カタカナ), in addition to characters from Chinese origin, called Kanji (漢字) in Japanese. These syllabaries contain all the sounds of the Japanese language.
The Hiragana syllabary is used in children's books, since it's the one children first learn, and in any word that isn't commonly written with Kanji. You will also see Hiragana for the function words or 'particles', and for other words that use uncommon or outdated Kanji.
The Katakana syllabary is used for writing some names, like vegetable, plant, and animal names, for example; it's also used for writing words borrowed from other languages, and names from other languages.
When I first became interested in learning Japanese, after doing a little research, I knew the first thing I had to do was to learn to write the syllabaries. And I had to start with the Hiragana.
The Hiragana is the first writing system taught to children in Japan, and so, it is the first one we learn when we start learning Japanese as a second language as well.
I went online and downloaded a chart that showed the Hiragana and Katakana characters, and decided on a daily goal to accomplish learning them. This was my first step in my introduction to the Japanese language.
I would take five Hiragana characters and get familiarized with them before proceeding to learn five more.
I didn't exactly learn five characters daily, but by setting the five at a time goal, I managed to learn in about a week. I did the same with the Katakana, and I have to admit the Katakana was a bit harder for me, since there are a couple characters that are almost identical! Like for example マ and ム ('ma' and 'mu'). At first I saw them as a sort of upside-down version of each other, and I kept getting them mixed up. (I have to admit I sometimes still do.)
But keeping a five at a time goal, I managed.
This is my little tip for you to learn the syllabaries: set a goal, a small one, and work for it day by day. Five characters a day is a good amount, perfect actually (and you'll see why on my next post) so this is what I recommend. For Kanji, I'm currently doing six at a time.
This is something I want to do with this Blog. I love helping others, and I love the process of learning new languages, so I want to provide my readers here with something they can find useful in their learning, sharing my experiences learning, giving them what has worked for me and what I'm trying new to continue learning. I'm going to be posting lesson type posts here, in which I not only talk about my experience learning, but also provide something to help readers learn. From student to student.
In my next Blog, I will provide you with the full Hiragana syllabary, and the five you should start with. I'll make follow up posts, and include some reading practice for you.
See you here!
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Welcome to my Blog!
This little Blog was born out of my passion to learn languages, particularly Asian languages. I'm currently learning Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and some Italian on the side! I know, Italian is not an Asian language, but it's my little challenge and it resembles my native language, Spanish.
As you can tell, I'm really into learning languages.
I've studied Japanese for years on my own, and recently started Korean after discovering Korean dramas (by the way, if you know some interesting ones, tell me in the comments!).
I've only studied very little Mandarin, but the language fascinates me.
I want to learn more about all of these languages, and help others learn on the way.
I will be posting the Japanese Kanji I'm currently studying, and what I'm doing to learn some Korean and Mandarin. You will also be seeing some tidbits of my Italian learning adventure, and some bits of info and tips about learning languages.
I hope you enjoy reading this Blog, and that there's useful and fun info here for you!
Until next time! The Blog will officially start next Tuesday. See you here!
As you can tell, I'm really into learning languages.
I've studied Japanese for years on my own, and recently started Korean after discovering Korean dramas (by the way, if you know some interesting ones, tell me in the comments!).
I've only studied very little Mandarin, but the language fascinates me.
I want to learn more about all of these languages, and help others learn on the way.
I will be posting the Japanese Kanji I'm currently studying, and what I'm doing to learn some Korean and Mandarin. You will also be seeing some tidbits of my Italian learning adventure, and some bits of info and tips about learning languages.
I hope you enjoy reading this Blog, and that there's useful and fun info here for you!
Until next time! The Blog will officially start next Tuesday. See you here!
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