Woo! I made it back 今夜 (kon'ya - tonight!) I almost put it off but I pressed on and here I am. :)
今夜, I studied dakuten. Dakuten are either the sideways quotation marks or circles added to certain ひらがな lines to expand the 46 symbols and create even more sounds.
Dakuten only apply to the K, S, T, and H lines of ひらがな. The H line is special in that both types of dakuten can be applied. If a 仮名 in the H-line has the sideways quotes it turns from an H sound to a B sound. On the flip side, if a 仮名 in the H-line has the circle it turns from an H sound to a P sound.
As far as the K, S and T lines, only the sideways quotation dakuten is used. This changes the sounds to G, Z and D respectively.
The 'magical pattern' is still followed as before but there are a few exceptions to the pronunciation. They are:
In the S-line, し becomes じ - pronounced ji.
In the T-line, ち becomes ぢ - pronounced dzi and つ becomes づ - pronounced dzu.**
**Koichi-san says the ぢ and づ 仮名 are rarely used, but still a good idea to know how to pronounce them in the event that you come across them.
I watched the videos for the dakuten lines 三 times each and then played the T-line ones a few more times to try and get that dzi and dzu pronunciation down. I learned most of this already with My Japanese Coach on the DS, however I don't remember there being stress on the fact that these two were really a D+Z sound. Probably not covered due to their rare usage but yea.
That's about it for tonight. I just keep rattling through the lines over and over out loud. Practice makes perfect. ;)
またね!
Showing posts with label magical pattern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label magical pattern. Show all posts
11.11.2011
10.03.2011
Japanese alphabets - Part 二.二
ひらがな Exceptions to the pattern
Picking up where I left off last night, there are a few exceptions in ひらがな pronunciation that don't *exactly* fit the magical pattern.
They are:
し (shi): Second かな in the S-line. Pronounced like 'she'
ち (chi): Second かな in the T-line. Pronounced like the 'chee' in 'cheese'
つ (tsu): Third かな in the T-line. Pronounced 'tsoo' (TextFugu mentions there will be more on this pronunciation going forward because it is virtually unlike anything in 英語)
ふ (fu/hu): Third かな in the H-line. Can apparently be pronounced fu or hu, most of the time will be fu (TextFugu mentions that when just reading off the ひらがな chart, it's best to pronounce as 'hu' and there will be notation going forward as to which way something should be pronounced)
The entire Y-line starting with や (ya): The exception exists here because 二 かな are missing - there is no yi or ye
The entire R-line starting with ら (ra): Not really an exception but column that is most problematic in terms of pronunciation. (This will be covered in more detail later according to TextFugu)
The entire W-line starting with わ (wa): Like the Y-line, there are missing かな in this column. There are only 二, わ (wa) and を (wo). を is *ONLY* used as a particle. Also, the 'w' sound is not pronounced so when using を and sounds almost like just simply お.
ん (n): Only single-consonant かな in ひらがな. Sounds like nnnnn, like the 'n' in 'man.' Easy to pronounce but an exception since it doesn't really fit the magical pattern
Those are the exceptions. I definitely learned a few new things or possibly a refresher on things I hadn't remembered. Either way beneficial.
Until next time...
またね!
Picking up where I left off last night, there are a few exceptions in ひらがな pronunciation that don't *exactly* fit the magical pattern.
They are:
し (shi): Second かな in the S-line. Pronounced like 'she'
ち (chi): Second かな in the T-line. Pronounced like the 'chee' in 'cheese'
つ (tsu): Third かな in the T-line. Pronounced 'tsoo' (TextFugu mentions there will be more on this pronunciation going forward because it is virtually unlike anything in 英語)
ふ (fu/hu): Third かな in the H-line. Can apparently be pronounced fu or hu, most of the time will be fu (TextFugu mentions that when just reading off the ひらがな chart, it's best to pronounce as 'hu' and there will be notation going forward as to which way something should be pronounced)
The entire Y-line starting with や (ya): The exception exists here because 二 かな are missing - there is no yi or ye
The entire R-line starting with ら (ra): Not really an exception but column that is most problematic in terms of pronunciation. (This will be covered in more detail later according to TextFugu)
The entire W-line starting with わ (wa): Like the Y-line, there are missing かな in this column. There are only 二, わ (wa) and を (wo). を is *ONLY* used as a particle. Also, the 'w' sound is not pronounced so when using を and sounds almost like just simply お.
ん (n): Only single-consonant かな in ひらがな. Sounds like nnnnn, like the 'n' in 'man.' Easy to pronounce but an exception since it doesn't really fit the magical pattern
Those are the exceptions. I definitely learned a few new things or possibly a refresher on things I hadn't remembered. Either way beneficial.
Until next time...
またね!
10.02.2011
Japanese Alphabets - Part 二.1
ひらがな Continuing the Pattern
Picking up where I left off, oh so long ago, ひらがな has that magical pattern effect where you learn the pronunciation of the vowels and then the rest of the characters are cake.
Most ひらがな characters (all of them except the vowels and 'n') consist of 二 components:
consonant - k, g, s, z, t, d, n, h, b, p, m, y, r or w in most cases; and
vowel - the 五 (go - five) 仮名 learned previously.
To copy directly from TextFugu regarding the magical pattern and the K-line of ひらがな:
か → ka → This is just K + あ (a), therefore it has a “kah” sound.
き → ki → This is just K + い (i), therefore is identical to the word “key” in English
く → ku → This is just K + う (u), therefore has a “koo” sound, like “kublai khan” or cool.
け → ke → This is just K + え (e), therefore has a “keh” sound, like “kettle”
こ → ko → This is just K + お (o), therefore has a “koh” sound like comb.
If you look at this TextFugu Hiragana Chart, you'll see that the pattern continues pretty consistently for the most part. There are some *minor* exceptions to note which I will cover in Part 二.2, hopefully tomorrow.
I already know ひらがな quite solidly but I think it's important to document this stuff for my benefit down the line or maybe someone else's if anyone ever reads this. Trying to go through the different lessons on TextFugu with a fine tooth comb a bit.
Well, my 30 minutes is about up but in closing I'm going to throw out a few vocab words just to sort of test myself from the adjectives I've learned in My Japanese Coach lately.
あつい - hot, うつくしい - beautiful, よい - good, いたい - painful,
つよい - strong, さむい - cold, よわい - weak, みにくい - ugly
Wooo!!! I'm actually getting these committed to memory. Always happy when that happens!
またね!!
Picking up where I left off, oh so long ago, ひらがな has that magical pattern effect where you learn the pronunciation of the vowels and then the rest of the characters are cake.
Most ひらがな characters (all of them except the vowels and 'n') consist of 二 components:
consonant - k, g, s, z, t, d, n, h, b, p, m, y, r or w in most cases; and
vowel - the 五 (go - five) 仮名 learned previously.
To copy directly from TextFugu regarding the magical pattern and the K-line of ひらがな:
か → ka → This is just K + あ (a), therefore it has a “kah” sound.
き → ki → This is just K + い (i), therefore is identical to the word “key” in English
く → ku → This is just K + う (u), therefore has a “koo” sound, like “kublai khan” or cool.
け → ke → This is just K + え (e), therefore has a “keh” sound, like “kettle”
こ → ko → This is just K + お (o), therefore has a “koh” sound like comb.
If you look at this TextFugu Hiragana Chart, you'll see that the pattern continues pretty consistently for the most part. There are some *minor* exceptions to note which I will cover in Part 二.2, hopefully tomorrow.
I already know ひらがな quite solidly but I think it's important to document this stuff for my benefit down the line or maybe someone else's if anyone ever reads this. Trying to go through the different lessons on TextFugu with a fine tooth comb a bit.
Well, my 30 minutes is about up but in closing I'm going to throw out a few vocab words just to sort of test myself from the adjectives I've learned in My Japanese Coach lately.
あつい - hot, うつくしい - beautiful, よい - good, いたい - painful,
つよい - strong, さむい - cold, よわい - weak, みにくい - ugly
Wooo!!! I'm actually getting these committed to memory. Always happy when that happens!
またね!!
8.23.2011
Japanese Alphabets - Part 二
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!!
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!!
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