Hi(こんにちは), welcome back to the complete beginner course of learning Japanese. In this post, I’m trying to write both in Japanese and in English to enhance your understanding of the Japanese language. However, 漢字（kanji), one of three writing systems in Japanese, is difficult for the absolute beginners, I will write it down using only ひらがな and カタカナ. こんにちは、にほんごちょうしょしんしゃコースへようこそ。こんかいから、みなさんのにほんごへのりかいをふかめるために、にほんごとえいご２かこくごひょうきでかいてみます。ただし、にほんごの３つのひとつである漢字（かんじ）はしょしんしゃにはむずかしいのでひらがなとカタカナでかいてみます。 Until the last lesson, we have learned ひらがな (hiragana). If you have no idea about ひらがな or not sure about reading hiragana, please take a look at this page. ぜんかいまでに、ひらがなをがくしゅうしました。もし、まだひらがなのことがよくわからない、またはよむのにじしんがないかたは、このページをみてください。 Moreover, since カタカナ(katakana), the topic of this post, and ひらがな correspond to each other exactly, I strongly recommend that you should review ひらがな. So, without further ado, let’s learn about カタカナ. それにくわえて、こんかいのトピックであるカタカナとひらがなは、それぞれがたいおうするので、ひらがなをふくしゅうすることをつよくすすめます。さて、まえおきはこれくらいにして、カタカナをまなびましょう。 The history of カタカナ (katakana) and its usage In this lesson, we are going to learn カタカナ（katakana), one of three writing systems in Japanese. カタカナ was historically started to be utilized to read Chinese in Japanese sentence structure since nine century. このレッスンからはじまるカタカナはみっつのにほんごのひょうきほうのうちのひとつです。カタカナはれきしてきには、９せいきからちゅうごくごをにほんごのぶんぽうでよむために、つかわれはじめました。 Nowadays, カタカナ（katakana）is mainly used when you describe some words which are initially from foreign language ones into Japanese. げんだいでは、カタカナはおもにがいこくごにゆらいするたんごをひょうげんするのにつかわれています。 For instance, ラーメン（Ramen）is written in katakana because it is originally from China. Though it has been […]
Welcome back to the complete beginner course of Japanese. After all, this is the last lesson of hiragana. Yay! If you haven’t seen the previous post, here is the link. After finishing this lesson, you can understand theoretically every single word written in hiragana. So, take it easy, and here we go! Learning hiragana (ひらがな) ③(っ, ゃ, ゅ, ょ) and essential Japanese words（にほんご) in 3 minutes How to use and type (っ, ゃ, ゅ, ょ)? The reason why I said it is easy is that technically, you have already learned about つ、や、ゆ、よ in the very first lesson of hiragana. So, you need to recognize that (っ, ゃ, ゅ, ょ) are just a small version of (つ、や、ゆ、よ). When you type (っ, ゃ, ゅ, ょ), you need to add “x” in front of つ(tsu)、や(ya)、ゆ(yu)、よ(yo). To put it differently, you can type like っ(xtsu), ゃ(xya), ゅ(xyu), ょ(xyo). You can download Japanese IME from here. “っ” can only make sense between other hiragana. For instance, まって(matte); wait We don’t use ( ゃ, ゅ, ょ) solely, but they are only put down after （き、し、ち、に、ひ、み、り、じ、び、ぴ.） In other words, only the following patterns exist. きゃ(kya), きゅ(kyu), きょ(kyo) しゃ(sha), しゅ(shu), しょ(sho) ちゃ(cha), ちゅ(chu), ちょ(cho) […]
July 18th, in 2019 has become an unforgettable day for the people who love Anime around the world. 令和元年7月18日は、世界中のアニメファンにとって忘れない日となってしまいました。 京アニにできることはまだあるかい (Is there anything that we can do for KyoAni?) 京アニ放火事件の概要と影響 (The facts about Kyoto Animation arson attack and its impacts) Kyoto Animation, widely known as 京アニ（KyoAni）, was set fire and 35 people were killed, according to the Police of Kyoto. You may have heard on the news from the BBC or even the CEO of Apple tweeted about the incident even if you have no interests in Anime. 京都警察によると、京アニとして広く知られている京都アニメーションは2019年７月18日に放火され、35人が帰らぬ人となりました。もし、あなたがアニメに興味を持っていないとしても、世界中のメディアで報道されたり、AppleのCEOさえこの事件についてつぶやいているのを見たことがあるかもしれません。 Kyoto Animation is home to some of the world’s most talented animators and dreamers — the devastating attack today is a tragedy felt far beyond Japan. KyoAni artists spread joy all over the world and across generations with their masterpieces. 心よりご冥福をお祈りいたします。 — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) July 18, 2019 ”京都アニメーションは世界で最も才能のあるアニメーターや夢想家の本拠地です – 今日の壊滅的な攻撃は日本をはるかに超えて感じられる悲劇です。 京アニのアーティストは世界中にそして彼らの傑作と共に世代を超えて喜びを広めています。心よりご冥福をお祈りいたします。 ”— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) That is because though it is a relatively small company, but KyoAni has been known one of the most influential and world-class high-quality anime production company. It was also the most devastating massacre since the Showa era in Japan. Many talented animators are dead. But only ten people’s name was revealed yesterday, considering the privacy […]
Welcome back to a beginner course in learning Japanese（にほんご）. If you have not seen my previous post, here is the post. When you have finished reading this post, you can read and understand most of the Japanese words written in ひらがな(hiragana) in Japanese(にほんご). Learning hiragana (ひらがな) ② (゛,゜) and basic Japanese words（にほんご) in 5 minutes You have already learned most of the ひらがな(hiragana) in the previous post, but there are some exceptions, such as “ ゛,゜ “. How to read and pronounce ひらがな（hiragana）with (゛) words? First, let’s learn about (゛). I think some of you may have already wondered that ひら “が（ga）” な includes “ ゛” on the upper-right corner of か（ka）. (゛) is called “濁音（dakuon）”, which you don’t need to remember, all you have to do is to remember 20 consonant-vowel unions below. They are “か(ka)き(ki)く(ku)け(ke)こ(ko)“, “さ(sa)し(shi)す(su)せ(se)そ(so)”, “た(ta)ち(chi)つ(tu)て(te)と(to)”, “は(ha)ひ(hi)ふ(hu)へ(he)ほ(ho)”. They are converted to “が(ga)ぎ(gi)ぐ(gu)げ(ge)ご(go)”, ”ざ(za)じ(ji)ず(zu)ぜ(ze)ぞ(zo)”, “だ(da)ぢ(ji)づ(zu)で(de)ど(do)”, ”ば(ba)び(bi)ぶ(bu)べ(be)ぼ(bo)”. To sum up, it is easy to remember that they are basically converted like this. k→g、 s→z、 t→d、 h→b How to read and pronounce ひらがな（hiragana）with (゜) words? Next, let’s take a look at (゜). But, do not worry, there are only 5 hiragana. (゜) is called “半濁音（han-dakuon）”, which […]
If you are an absolute beginner of the Japanese language and do not know where to start, this video is for you. In your case, you should learn to read Hiragana(ひらがな). Even if you have zero knowledge about the Japanese language, after watching this video, you can become to read and understand some essential Japanese words.
Hi(こんにちは), welcome to a beginner course of learning Japanese. In recent years, Japanese cultures have attracted a lot of attention because of its foods and cultural heritages, and pop cultures such as Anime and Manga(Comics) and so on. In fact, the number of tourists to Japan is tripled in the last 5 years. On the other hand, learning the Japanese language is often considered very difficult especially for westerners. Surely, remembering a lot of Kanji（漢字）may needs hard work. However, learning the Japanese language systematically would lessen your burden for mastering Japanese. Learning hiragana(ひらがな) and basic Japanese words in 5 minutes Basic knowledge about the Japanese language If you are an absolute beginner of the Japanese language and do not know where to start, this post is for you. In your case, you should learn to read Hiragana(ひらがな). Even if you have zero knowledge about the Japanese language, after reading this article, you can become to read and understand some basic Japanese words. The Japanese language is composed of 3 types of characters, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Hiragana(ひらがな) is nearly equal to the English alphabet. It is taught at the very beginning in Japanese elementary schools. Basically, hiragana(ひらがな) consists of […]
