ひらがな Pronunciation
There is a magical pattern to learning ひらがな pronunciation. Basically by learning the pronunciation of 5 仮名, (kana - 'character' in ひらがな 'alphabet') you will be able to pronounce most other things too.
Those 仮名 are the vowel sounds. They are also organized in a different order than were learned in 英語 (English language) and that is important. The order in 日本語 is A, I, U, E, O.
**Random observation/brain pick: I just made a little connection! :)
I noticed when comparing the kanji for 日本語 and 英語, the last 漢字 is the same. I initially interpreted that it would mean language, (I guess it still does in a way when using them in the traditional non-formal sense like Japanese and English) but low and behold the 漢字 for "language" itself is not the same. :/ Another let down is that with 日本語, the initial two 漢字 are plain and simply Japan (日本 - Nihon), but if you try to look up say England, the 漢字 still don't match up with 英語. Grrr.**
Oh 漢字, you are going to kick my ass. I just hope you don't scare me away like most other scholars. Did you know there is a 90% failure rate in learning 日本語?**
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. So you've got the five 仮名, the vowels. A, I, U, E, O or more accurately あ, い, う, え and お.
They are pronounced as follows:
あ - "ah" like in "car"
い - "i" like in "key"
う - "u" like in "moo"
え - "eh" like in "edge"
お - "oh" like in "joe"
I know these fairly well considering time spent elsewhere with 日本語 but will spend some time practicing since that's where I'm at with TextFugu right now. Anyway, I'm going to try to spend at least 30 minutes a day here in my cubby working on my study(ies). Ha! I spent too much time on my blog post tonight so I didn't make it very far but fortunately for me, that's kind of the point. It's going to be an interesting journey. :)
That's all for tonight folks.
またね!!
8.23.2011
8.22.2011
Japanese Alphabets! (Four of them!) - Part One
Revisiting the Japanese Alphabets (syllabifies) lesson in Season 一 (ichi - one), 今晩 (konban - tonight.)
There are four 'alphabets.' They are ひらがな (hiragana), カタカナ (katakana), 漢字 (kanji) and romaji. Although he doesn't endorse spending a lot of time with it, I wanted to paste in this little blip from Koichi @ TextFugu about Romaji:
Fun Fact: You can break “Romaji” into two pieces. “Roma” (ローマ) is “Rome” in Japanese. “Ji” (字) means “character” or “letter.” Combine the two, and you get ローマ字, which literally means “Rome Characters.” Makes a lot of sense, right?
**Random observation/brain pick: It always feels funny to me when I'm trying to learn any subject and the introductory stuff are things I already know. Throws me off a little. I've tried a few different approaches with 日本語 so far, but I think that's OK considering that it's easily the hardest thing I've ever tried to learn. So anyway, feeling a little funny because I learned ひらがな (hiragana) by memory and My Japanese Coach on the Nintendo DS at an earlier point in my 日本語 studies. A little bit of カタカナ too but not so good with those. Ah well, don't see how it could hurt me too much. ;)**
In summary:
ひらがな - used for difficult 漢字, words with no 漢字, particles, suffixes and verb & adjective inflections
カタカナ - used foreign words, scientific words, onomatopoeia, emphasis and food
漢字 - most all vocabulary: nouns, adjectives and verbs; makes up a VERY large part of 日本語 written language
romaji - 日本語 written with Roman characters
I feel great about slowly but surely getting back in here. My brain is crowded but I occasionally write out the ひらがな chart still to make sure I remember it and I do pretty well for the most part. Really want to stick with this thing to the end and make my dreams come true. Sometimes it seems like I'll never get there and sometimes I don't even feel motivated to change that but I try to remind myself that this computer and language log are just sitting here waiting for me. Ready for moar!!!
Helpful tip from Koichi: Making tasks "actionable" - Components of a good to do list
1) Actionable tasks - don't be general; things you can actually act upon to get you closer to your goal
2) Short Term - Plan for the short term and make adjustments from there. Think about what you can do today!
3) Do Two, Maybe Three IMPORTANT things daily
I think I'm about spent for tonight. Hope to pick this back up 明日 (ashita - tomorrow)!!!!
またね!!
There are four 'alphabets.' They are ひらがな (hiragana), カタカナ (katakana), 漢字 (kanji) and romaji. Although he doesn't endorse spending a lot of time with it, I wanted to paste in this little blip from Koichi @ TextFugu about Romaji:
Fun Fact: You can break “Romaji” into two pieces. “Roma” (ローマ) is “Rome” in Japanese. “Ji” (字) means “character” or “letter.” Combine the two, and you get ローマ字, which literally means “Rome Characters.” Makes a lot of sense, right?
**Random observation/brain pick: It always feels funny to me when I'm trying to learn any subject and the introductory stuff are things I already know. Throws me off a little. I've tried a few different approaches with 日本語 so far, but I think that's OK considering that it's easily the hardest thing I've ever tried to learn. So anyway, feeling a little funny because I learned ひらがな (hiragana) by memory and My Japanese Coach on the Nintendo DS at an earlier point in my 日本語 studies. A little bit of カタカナ too but not so good with those. Ah well, don't see how it could hurt me too much. ;)**
In summary:
ひらがな - used for difficult 漢字, words with no 漢字, particles, suffixes and verb & adjective inflections
カタカナ - used foreign words, scientific words, onomatopoeia, emphasis and food
漢字 - most all vocabulary: nouns, adjectives and verbs; makes up a VERY large part of 日本語 written language
romaji - 日本語 written with Roman characters
I feel great about slowly but surely getting back in here. My brain is crowded but I occasionally write out the ひらがな chart still to make sure I remember it and I do pretty well for the most part. Really want to stick with this thing to the end and make my dreams come true. Sometimes it seems like I'll never get there and sometimes I don't even feel motivated to change that but I try to remind myself that this computer and language log are just sitting here waiting for me. Ready for moar!!!
Helpful tip from Koichi: Making tasks "actionable" - Components of a good to do list
1) Actionable tasks - don't be general; things you can actually act upon to get you closer to your goal
2) Short Term - Plan for the short term and make adjustments from there. Think about what you can do today!
3) Do Two, Maybe Three IMPORTANT things daily
I think I'm about spent for tonight. Hope to pick this back up 明日 (ashita - tomorrow)!!!!
またね!!
8.14.2011
First things first
Hmm. Last time I posted was on a Sunday too. Maybe I can make this a regular thing. Sure beats making plans that end up falling through! Anyway. Getting back to textfugu! I completed Season 1 Chapter 1 awhile back but I wasn't really committed yet and knew it would be awhile so revisiting tonight.
First off, I learned (though can't really recognize plainly yet) the kanji for forward (like opposite of backward) and it is 前 (mae). To me it looks like it's capped by a 侍 (samurai) helmet then underneath on the left hand side is I believe maybe whole or in part the kanji for 'gate' and what looks like 'ri' on the right. Pretty interesting. On the contrast, backward is 後ろ (ushiro? - confusing considering the back and forward buttons only show one kanji each - like it instead says ushi but the kanji for that one is different. Hmmm.)
There are some great quotes mixed in this chapter. I'm going to share a few of them but first I just must say that I really like how textfugu is written so far. Koichi-san is funny and it's written SPECIFICALLY FOR the self-learner. I couldn't think any higher of the preparatory/precaution steps he has you take before getting started. They feel like they will ultimately help you succeed. I feel like Koichi-san genuinely wants to help people learn 日本語 and that's a new feeling considering all the other ways I've employed so far to help me learn the language. Did you know that 90% of all self-learners quit 日本語 studies in the first two weeks?? All the more reason you start off with precautions.
Here's that first quote. Maybe at some point down the line in my studies I will try to convert these to real 日本語!! “The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” – Sven Goran Eriksson
Question 1: Why are you learning Japanese?
Well, I'm learning 日本語 because I want to live and work in 日本 someday! Anyway I can and the sooner the better!!
Question 2: What excuses could hold me back from studying 日本語?
Time (don't have enough of it now)
No one to study with
$$ (hopefully this will become less and less of an issue as I move 前)
Can I put it to use right away?
Afraid I won't finish or reach my goal
Not very good at it so far
Task 1: Decide on your '日本語' study space.'
I'm writing from here now! This is my exclusive Japanese study cubby. I call it a cubby because it's a built-in desk in between my bedroom and dining room. I never used it for anything before designating it for my textfugu learnings. I've got my netbook, a monitor, my 日本語 dictionary and some tofugu printouts on the walls. I'll try to post a picture sometime.
Task 2: Tell someone you talk to often that you're studying 日本語
Task 3: Tell the world you're studying 日本語
Well, I guess that's about it for now. Stay tuned for moar!
またね!!
P.S. Moar quotes from Chapter 一 (ichi)
“The greatest amount of wasted time is the time not getting started.” - Dawson Trotman
“No one ever excused his way to success.” – Dave Del Dotto
“Try and fail, but don’t fail to try.” – Stephen Kaggwa
First off, I learned (though can't really recognize plainly yet) the kanji for forward (like opposite of backward) and it is 前 (mae). To me it looks like it's capped by a 侍 (samurai) helmet then underneath on the left hand side is I believe maybe whole or in part the kanji for 'gate' and what looks like 'ri' on the right. Pretty interesting. On the contrast, backward is 後ろ (ushiro? - confusing considering the back and forward buttons only show one kanji each - like it instead says ushi but the kanji for that one is different. Hmmm.)
There are some great quotes mixed in this chapter. I'm going to share a few of them but first I just must say that I really like how textfugu is written so far. Koichi-san is funny and it's written SPECIFICALLY FOR the self-learner. I couldn't think any higher of the preparatory/precaution steps he has you take before getting started. They feel like they will ultimately help you succeed. I feel like Koichi-san genuinely wants to help people learn 日本語 and that's a new feeling considering all the other ways I've employed so far to help me learn the language. Did you know that 90% of all self-learners quit 日本語 studies in the first two weeks?? All the more reason you start off with precautions.
Here's that first quote. Maybe at some point down the line in my studies I will try to convert these to real 日本語!! “The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” – Sven Goran Eriksson
Question 1: Why are you learning Japanese?
Well, I'm learning 日本語 because I want to live and work in 日本 someday! Anyway I can and the sooner the better!!
Question 2: What excuses could hold me back from studying 日本語?
Time (don't have enough of it now)
No one to study with
$$ (hopefully this will become less and less of an issue as I move 前)
Can I put it to use right away?
Afraid I won't finish or reach my goal
Not very good at it so far
Task 1: Decide on your '日本語' study space.'
I'm writing from here now! This is my exclusive Japanese study cubby. I call it a cubby because it's a built-in desk in between my bedroom and dining room. I never used it for anything before designating it for my textfugu learnings. I've got my netbook, a monitor, my 日本語 dictionary and some tofugu printouts on the walls. I'll try to post a picture sometime.
Task 2: Tell someone you talk to often that you're studying 日本語
Task 3: Tell the world you're studying 日本語
Well, I guess that's about it for now. Stay tuned for moar!
またね!!
P.S. Moar quotes from Chapter 一 (ichi)
“The greatest amount of wasted time is the time not getting started.” - Dawson Trotman
“No one ever excused his way to success.” – Dave Del Dotto
“Try and fail, but don’t fail to try.” – Stephen Kaggwa
8.07.2011
Pretty much ready!
I got the last few things I needed all set up in my new 'Japanese Study Cubby!' I'm writing from here now! Very cool! I know this is going to be really hard but I really want to do this and I've been putting it off for too long. This endeavor can really only bring me closer to my 夢(yume:dream), so I feel like I need to get serious. I'm not getting any younger over here. Who knows? Since I know I'm probably DECADES away from actually being able to move, I hope in the short(er) term, that I could use Japanese to supplement my income. This won't happen overnight of course but neither will 日本 according to the very vague plan that I have. LOL. You've got to start somewhere however so here I am. I am ready to get serious and see what kind of damage I can do.
P.S. I'm probably going to try to write most anything I can using Japanese Words that I know now. Hopefully this will progressively help me out.
P.P.S. I am probably insane for starting this now because my job is about to be changing and getting very complicated so I'm definitely headed for brainstrain 7000. Woo!
Oh yes, またね!!!! (Mata ne)
(*^_^*)
P.S. I'm probably going to try to write most anything I can using Japanese Words that I know now. Hopefully this will progressively help me out.
P.P.S. I am probably insane for starting this now because my job is about to be changing and getting very complicated so I'm definitely headed for brainstrain 7000. Woo!
Oh yes, またね!!!! (Mata ne)
(*^_^*)
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