Link: YouTube
Particles in the Japanese language confuse the bejessus out of me. And since they're used so often in spoken and written Japanese, I have to learn them and learn them soon if I want to proceed in my quest to learn the language. That's why I'm going to make it my mission today to understand particles.
Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide looks like a nice place to start...
Particles:
Generally, particles are used to associate a noun with another noun. It's one or two hiragana characters that attach to the end of a word to define what grammatical function that word is serving in the sentence. Using the correct particles is very important because the meaning of a sentence can completely change just by changing the particles.
The 「は」 topic particle
The topic particle essentially identifies what it is that you're talking about, basically the topic of your sentence. It is written with the character 「は」. Now, while this character is normally pronounced /ha/, it is pronounced /wa/ only when it is being used as the topic particle.
The 「も」 inclusive topic particle
Another particle that is very similar to the topic particle is the inclusive topic particle. It is essentially the topic particle with the additional meaning of "also". Basically, it can introduce another topic in addition to the current topic. The inclusive topic particle is the 「も」 character.
The 「が」 identifier particle
Ok, so we can make a topic using the 「は」 and 「も」 particle. But what if we don’t know what the topic is? What if I wanted to ask, “Who is the student?” What I need is some kind of identifier because I don’t know who the student is. If I used the topic particle, the question would become, “Is who the student?” and that doesn’t make any sense because “who” is not an actual person.
This is where the 「が」 particle comes into play. It is also referred to as the subject particle but I hate that name since "subject" means something completely different in English grammar. Instead, I move to call it the identifier particle because the particle indicates that the speaker wants to identify something unspecified.
***
Dummies.com gets into the nitty gritty without being too technical. Think of it as a mini-Japanese Particles for Dummies book. Here's an exerpt which describes particles in the simplest way possible...
Forming Sentences in Japanese:
The basic word order in English is subject-verb-object, but the order in Japanese is subject-object-verb. Instead of saying I watched TV, you say I TV watched. Instead of saying I ate sushi, say I sushi ate. Now you know the pattern. So repeat after me: Put the verb at the end! Verb end! Verb end! Go ahead and try it! I sake drank, I karaoke did, and I money lost! Good, you the basic word order in Japanese have.
Introducing particles
Subject-object-verb is the basic word order in Japanese, but object-subject-verb is also okay. As long as the verb is at the end of the sentence, Japanese grammar teachers are happy. For example, if Mary invited John, you can say either Mary John invited or John Mary invited in Japanese. Like I said, as long as the verb is at the end, the order of other phrases doesn't matter.
Although it sounds great, a smart person like you may be saying, "Wait a minute! How do you know who invited whom?" The secret is that Japanese use a little tag called a particle right after each noun phrase. The particle for the action performer is ga, and the particle for the action receiver is o. So, both of the following sentences mean Mary invited John:
Marî ga Jon o sasotta.
Jon o Marî ga sasotta.
Actually, ga is the subject-marking particle, and o is the direct object-marking particle. They can't be translated into English. Sorry, it's just Japanese.
Other Japanese particles include kara, made, ni, de, to, and ka. Luckily, they can be translated into English words like from, until, to, with, by, at, in, on, and, and or. But each particle is translated differently depending on the context. For example, the particle de corresponds to in, by, or with in English:
Bosuton de benkyôsuru. (I'll study in Boston.)
Takushî de iku. (I'll go by taxi.)
Fôku de taberu. (I eat with a fork.)
Translation is not always the best way to figure out a foreign language, so remember the particles in terms of their general functions, not their exact English translations.
Here's my English translation of Hug by 東方神起. It's my very own translation; I phrased each line so that it would still match the music (so that you can still sing it), but I tried to stick to the original structure of the Japanese lyrics as much as possible.
It's not final yet, since I'm still revising some lines. :-)
I wanna let you know how I feel about you, oohh baby
But somehow I can't get the courage to say it to you, cannot say a word
I don't know how, can't explain
I can't say it out loud, can't proclaim
Cause it seems like everything's gonna fade away, wow wowI'm right here with wide open arms
I'm right here entirely for you
Take you in my arms, never let you go
Can't tell you how much I want to
Despite everything that I do
I'm still missing, longing for you
And when I'm with you, I just start to shake
Can't tell you what's in my heart
I love you
If I just wait around, love won't come to me, oh baby
I feel like I'm gonna lose you if I don't do a thing, must show you my loveRight now I feel so anxious
Can you even tell that I'm nervous?
What is your heart feeling, can you let me know? Wow wowI'm right here with wide open arms
For you and your innocent smile
Wrap you in my arms, never let you go
Can't tell you how much I want to
Always and forever baby
From within your beautiful eyes
Make them shine for me, so that I will be
Born again just because
I love you
In my arms, in my soul
I wanna hold you baby
I know my heart is not lying, really baby
My feelings overflow, I'm drowning in my love
Forever and a day
I'm right here with wide open arms
I'm right here entirely for you
Take you in my arms, never let you go
Can't tell you how much I want to
Don't want us to ever part
Won't let anyone take you from me
Now I realize, I can't let you go
And whisper because baby,
I love you
Here's the original Japanese lyrics of Hug by 東方神起:
この想いを伝えたいのに Ooo baby
なぜか素直に声に出せない、いえないよ
なんとなくだけど
言葉にすることで
なにもかも消えてしまいそうで Wow wow
両手を広げて
キミのそのすべてを
この腕で受けとめて
抱きしめたいんだ
でもまだぼくには
なにかが足りなくて
頼りなく揺れている
いえない想いは
I love
you
愛はきっと移ろうもので Ooo baby
待たせてばかりいたら 必ずなくすから
焦るこの気持ち
気づいてるのかな？
その胸はなにを思ってるの Wow wow
両手を広げて
むじゃきなその笑顔
この腕に包み込み
抱きしめたいんだ
いつも、いつまでも
その瞳の中で
輝いていれるように
生まれ変わるから
I love you
In my arms
In my soul
抱きしめたいんだ
いつわりのないこの心で
あふれていくキミへの想い
止まらない
両手を広げて
キミのそのすべてを
この腕で受けとめて
抱きしめたいんだ
決して離さない
誰にも渡さない
気がつけば抱きよせて
囁いてたんだ
Here are the last two verses of Hug by 東方神起. After I translate these, I'll look over my translation of the whole song again to make sure that everything goes well together.
This next verse is exactly the same with the one from part 5.
両手を広げて
キミのそのすべてを
この腕で受けとめて
抱きしめたいんだ
Literal translation for this verse would be:
I'll widen both hands
For the whole of you
I'll take you in my arms
I want to hug you
After polishing it up a bit here's my version:
I'm right here with wide open arms
Right here entirely for you
Take you in my arms, never let you go
Can't tell you how much I want to
Next up is the very last verse!
決して離さない
誰にも渡さない
気がつけば抱きよせて
囁いてたんだ, I love you
I have a correction to that last line... It's actually...
囁いて + いた + のだ
short-te form + past tense + reasonI'm modifying my translation below and my final translation. Thanks to Kyoufu for helping me with this one.
Whew! Most of these words aren't in dictionaries and I had a terribly hard time translating them. I hope I got them all right. Anyway, here's the translation...
We will never part
I cannot hand you over to anybody
I realize and hug you
I whispered because, I love you
So, my version for that would be...
Don't want us to ever part
Won't let anyone take you from me
Now I realize, I won't let you go
And whisper because baby, I love you
Whoohoo! That's the last one! :-) Yay, I just finished translating my first song. In my next entry, I'll post my whole translation, and maybe change things around a bit.
I've got just a few more verses to go. :-) Here's the next verse of Hug by 東方神起...
いつも、いつまでも
その瞳の中で
輝いていれるように
生まれ変わるから I love you
Based from those definitions here's the translation that makes most sense...
Always, forever
Inside those eyes
Make them shine so that
I will be born again because I love you
My version for this verse would be...
Always and forever baby
Within your beautiful eyes
Make them shine for me, so that I will be
Born again just because, I love you
Here's the next verse...
In my arms, In my soul
抱きしめたいんだ
いつわりのないこの心で
あふれていくキミへの想い
止まらない
I'm kinda getting the hang of this. So based on these, the translation would be...
In my arms, in my soul
I want to hug you
My heart is not lying
It is overflowing with feelings for you
It does not stop
Now here's my personal version...
In my arms, in my soul
I wanna hold you baby
I know my heart is not lying, really baby
My feelings overflow, I'm drowning in my love
Forever and a day
I'm kinda sad that I'm almost done. But at least I can start a new song after this one.
Here's part 7 of my translation of Hug by 東方神起. Why am I taking so long? Basically it's because I've just started to learn Japanese last week. Months (or years) from now I hope translating something like this won't even take 30 minutes. Then again that's just wishful thinking. Let's start...
焦るこの気持ち
気づいてるのかな
その胸はなにを思ってるの Wow wow
So the translation would be the following:
This feeling of being impatient
Can you notice it?
What is your heart feeling?
I changed the words around to make it sound a bit better. Here's my translation...
Right now I'm so anxious
Can you tell the difference?
What is your heart feeling, can you let me know?
Next up...
両手を広げて
むじゃきなその笑顔
この腕に包み込み
抱きしめたいんだ
Given those definitions the translation would be...
I'll widen both hands
For that innocent smiling face
Wrap you up in my arms
I want to hug you
My translated version of this verse would be the following...
I'm right here with wide open arms
For you and your innocent smile
Wrap you in my arms, never let you go
Can't tell you how much I want to
This one's a bit similar to this other verse, so it was easier to translate. Anyway, that's it for now. 'Till next time... じゃあまたあした!
"~ desu （～です）" is equivalent to English "am," "are," or "is." Unlike English, it doesn't change its form according to the subject. "~ desu" always comes at the end of a sentence.
私は学生です (Watashi wa gakusei desu.) - I am a student.
こちらは山田さんです (Kochira wa Yamada-san desu.) - This is Ms. Yamada.
私達は友達です (Watashitachi wa tomodachi desu.) - We are friends.
When it is obvious to the other person what the topic is, it is generally omitted.
（私は）ひろ子です [(Watashi wa) Hiroko desu.] - I am Hiroko.
（私は）学生です [(Watashi wa) gakusei desu. ] - I am a student.
The negative form of "~ desu （～です）" is "~ ja arimasen （～じゃありません）" or "~ dewa arimasen （ではありません）." "~ dewa arimasen" is more formal, and "~ ja arimasen" is common in casual conversation.
学生ではありません (Gakusei dewa arimasen.) - I am not a student.
日本人じゃありません (Nihon-jin ja arimasen.) - I am not Japanese.
Source
About.com
I can do this... Here are the next lines up for translation...
愛はきっと移ろうもので Ooo baby
愛 (あい) - love
きっと - no doubt
移ろう - to move (移 - うつ)
もの - object; thing
で - in; at; on
待たせてばかりいたら 必ずなくすから
待たせ - to wait
ばかり - approximately; only; just
いたら - being
必ず (かならず) - certainly
なくす - to lose someone
から - because
So that would translate to...
Love is a thing that no doubt will move
Losing someone because of just waiting is a certainty
So to match it up to the beat I'll change it to...
If I just wait around love won't come to me, Ooo baby
I feel like I'm gonna lose if I don't do a thing, must show you my love
The English translations end up to be so much shorter than the original Japanese lyrics that I have to elaborate a lot to match it to the music. But I'm not done yet. I still have around halfway to go. Bye bye for now. :-)
I can't believe how long this is taking me. I guess it's because I'm attempting to translate a song in a language I'm not even close to being good at. Anyway, I'm going to try to translate more lines today. Here's the next verse of Hug by: 東方神起.
両手を広げて
キミのそのすべてを
この腕で受けとめて
抱きしめたいんだ
Literal translation for this verse would be:
I'll widen both hands
For the whole of you
I'll take you in my arms
I want to hug you
After polishing it up a bit here's my version:
I'm right here with wide open arms
Right here entirely for you
Take you in my arms, never let you go
Can't tell you how much I want to
I'm not totally happy with the second line of this verse but my creative juices are all squeezed out. That'll have to do for now. On to the next verse...
でもまだぼくには
なにかが足りなくて
頼りなく揺れている
いえない想いは, I love you
So literally, that would mean...
But still for me
Something is missing
I continue to shake
Cannot say my feelings
I love you
My version for this verse would be...
Despite everything that I do
I'm still missing, longing for you
But when I'm with you, I just start to shake
Can't tell you what's in my heart
I love you
Whoa, that like went to a totally different direction. Hmmm, I'll see if I can some up with something better later but I'll keep this translation for now. I'm just too obsessed with keeping the rythym consistent with the Japanese lyrics. Oh well.
I'm back from work and back to translating this song (Hug by: 東方神起). So far, I've managed to translated the first two lines (line 1, line 2). I hope this time I can do a whole lot more. So here are the 3rd, 4th and 5th line...
なんとなくだけど
言葉にすることで
なにもかも消えてしまいそうで Wow wow
Literal translation (based from the definitions above) would be...
But I can't explain this
Or try to put this thing into words
Because it seems everything will disappear and end
So, my personal translation for this verse would be...
I don't know how, can't explain
I can't say it out loud, can't proclaim
'Cause it seems like everything's gonna fade away
Whew, that last line was tough, since I'm not a songwriter after all. But, I'm having a lot of fun! I've got a long way to go before I finish translating the entire song, but at least I'm going to have a lot of fun during the process.
I'm going to squeeze in translating this second line of Hug by 東方神起 (Tohoshinki) before I go off to work...
なぜか素直に声に出せない、いえないよ
It took me awhile to figure out 出せない (dasenai) and いえないよ (ienaiyo) since the online dictionaries didn't have them on. I had to scour Google and figure out the meaning from their context in sentences. Despite that I'm not even 100% sure yet that my translation is correct.
But anyway here goes... literal translation would be "Somehow meek, I cannot voice, I cannot say." What a load of jiberish! But from the context of the first line, I could reword this line to this... "But somehow I can't get the courage to say it to you, cannot say a word."
Of course when I get the whole song down, I'll tweak things here and there, just to make the translation perfect. じゃあまたあした!
Ok here's the very first line of the song Hug by 東方神起 (Tohoshinki).
この想いを伝えたいのに Ooo baby
With the help of Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Server and my Berlitz Japanese Compact Dictionary, I've managed to work out these translations for the first line...
Taking into consideration that in the Japanese language, "I" and "you" are understood based from the context, I figured out that the literal translation should be "I want to show you these feelings of mine." But, if I follow this translation, the syllable count would be totally off compared its Japanese counterpart. Since this is a song, I'm giving myself a bit of artistic licence.
Here's my translation for the first line: "I wanna let you know how I feel about you."
That's it for now, I'll continue this over the weekend. じゃあまたあした!
Ok, enough lessons for now. It's time for some leisurely practice. I'll try to translate this song in the coming days. I just hope I don't totally butcher the translation. After all, this is no easy feat. What's going to give me trouble I think, is that there are no spaces between words. Figuring out the words would be trial and error, I guess. Oh well, wish me luck!
Hug (by 東方神起)
この想いを伝えたいのに Ooo baby
なぜか素直に声に出せない、いえないよ
なんとなくだけど
言葉にすることで
なにもかも消えてしまいそうで Wow wow
両手を広げて
キミのそのすべてを
この腕で受けとめて
抱きしめたいんだ
でもまだぼくには
なにかが足りなくて
頼りなく揺れている
いえない想いは
I love you
愛はきっと移ろうもので Ooo baby
待たせてばかりいたら 必ずなくすから
焦るこの気持ち
気づいてるのかな？
その胸はなにを思ってるの Wow wow
両手を広げて
むじゃきなその笑顔
この腕に包み込み
抱きしめたいんだ
いつも、いつまでも
その瞳の中で
輝いていれるように
生まれ変わるから
I love you
In my arms
In my soul
抱きしめたいんだ
いつわりのないこの心で
あふれていくキミへの想い
止まらない
両手を広げて
キミのそのすべてを
この腕で受けとめて
抱きしめたいんだ
決して離さない
誰にも渡さない
気がつけば抱きよせて
囁いてたんだ
I love you
Source
Jpop Asia
The following is from the About.com: Japanese Language site. This site is a great resource for newbies studying Japanese. The concepts are explained in a way that is very easy to understand.
To understand the concept of kanji, it is important to keep in mind this rule: Kanji express meaning, NOT sounds. Kanji take the form of outlines; the meaning is understood from its form. To illustrate, here are some kanji characters:
'temple'
じ (on reading)
てら (kun reading)
'village'
そん (on reading)
むら (kun reading)
'cherry blossom'
おう (on reading)
さから (kun reading)
'to learn'
がく (on reading)
まな (kun reading)
Source
About.com
Based on the first three numbers in my last post, the on and kun reading gets kinda confusing at times. I'm not sure when I'm supposed to use one or the other. I hope things get clearer in the future. Anyway, here are the rest of the numbers.
Number 4
四 (kanji)
し (on reading)
よっ(つ) (kun reading)
Useful compounds:
四角 (しかく) shikaku - square
四月 (しがつ) shigatsu - April
四季 (しき) shiki - four seasons
四時 (よじ) yoji - four o'clock
Number 5
五 (kanji)
ご (on reading)
いつ(つ) (kun reading)
Useful compounds:
五十 (ごじゅう) gojuu - 50
五階 (ごかい) gokai - fifth floor
五月 (ごがつ) gogatsu -May
五日 (いつか) itsuka - 5 days, 5th day of the month
Number 6
六 (kanji)
ろく (on reading)
むっ(つ), むい (kun reading)
Useful compounds:
六時 (ろくじ) rokuji - six o'clock
六月 (ろくがつ) rokugatsu - June
六日 (むいか) muika - 6 days, 6th day of the month
Number 7
七 (kanji)
しち (on reading)
なな (kun reading)
Useful compounds:
七月 (しちがつ) shichigatsu - July
十七日 (じゅうしちにち) juushichinichi - 17 days, 17th day of the month
七百 (ななひゃく) nanahyaku - 700
Number 8
八 (kanji)
はち (on reading)
やっ (つ), よう (un reading)
Useful compounds:
八十 (はちじゅう) hachijuu - 80
八日 (ようか) youka - 8 days, 8th day of the month
Number 9
九 (kanji)
きゅう, く (on reading)
ここの(つ) (kun reading)
Useful compounds:
九十 (きゅうじゅう) kyuujuu - 90
九回 (きゅうかい) kyuukai - nine times
九月 (くがつ) kugatsu - September
九日 (ここのか) kokonoka - 9 days, 9th day of the month
Number 10
十 (kanji)
じゅう (on reading)
とお (kun reading)
Useful compounds:
十時 (じゅうじ) juuji - ten o'clock
十日 (とおか) tooka - 10 days, 10th day of the month
Source
About.com
Let's start with the most basic kanji characters: numbers.
Number 1
一 (kanji)
いち (on reading)
ひと(つ) (kun reading)
Useful compounds:
一月 (いちがつ) ichigatsu - January
一度 (いちど) ichido - one time
一人 (ひとり) hitori - one person
Number 2
二 (kanji)
に (on reading)
ふた(つ) (kun reading)
Useful compounds:
ニ十 (にじゅう) nijuu - 20
ニ月 (にがつ) nigatsu - February
ニ人 (ふたり) futari - two people
Number 3
三 (kanji)
さん (on reading)
みっ(つ) (kun reading)
Useful compounds:
三角 (さんかく) sankaku - triangle
三脚 (さんきゃく) sankyaku - tripod
三日 (みっか) mikka - 3 days; 3rd of the month
So far, so good. The first three numbers are a piece of cake. Who can forget 一, ニ and 三? Anyway, I'll continue with the rest of the numbers (until 10) tomorrow. じゃあまたね
Source
About.com
Now that I'm confident with reading and writing hiragana and katakana (I'm not that good with katakana yet but I'm working on it), it's time to learn Kanji. I've been dreading this moment, mainly because kanji seems so complicated, but there's no better time than right now.
What is Kanji?
Kanji (漢字, literally "characters from Han China") are Chinese characters used in Japanese. However, while some kanji and Chinese characters are mutually readable, many more are not. In addition to characters that have different meanings in Japanese, and characters that have identical meanings but are written differently, there are also characters peculiar to Japanese known as kokuji (国字; literally "national characters"). Kokuji are also known as wasei kanji (和製漢字; literally "Chinese characters made in Japan"). There are hundreds of kokuji, and although some are rarely used, many others have become important additions to the written Japanese language. These include:
峠 tōge (mountain pass)
榊 sakaki (sakaki tree, genus Camellia)
畑 hatake (field of crops)
辻 tsuji (crossroads, street)
働 dō, hatara(ku) (work)
In addition to kokuji, there are kanji that have been given meanings in Japanese different than their original Chinese meanings. These kanji are not considered kokuji but are instead called kokkun (国訓) and include characters such as:
沖 oki (offing, offshore)
森 mori (forest)
椿 tsubaki (Camellia japonicus)
The same kanji character can sometimes be written in two different ways, 旧字体 (kyū-jitai; lit. "old character") and 新字体 (shin-jitai; "new character"). The following are some examples of kyū-jitai followed by the corresponding shin-jitai:
國 国 kuni (country)
號 号 gō (number)
變 変 hen, ka(waru) (change)
Kyū-jitai were used before the end of World War II, but after the war the government introduced the simplified shin-jitai. Some of the new characters are similar to simplified characters used in the People's Republic of China, but the two are essentially different things.
There are also Chinese characters that are only used phonetically in Japanese (当て字 ateji), and many Chinese characters that are not used in Japanese at all.
Readings
A kanji character may have several (in rare cases ten or more) possible pronunciations, depending on its context, intended meaning, use in compounds, and location in the sentence. These pronunciations, or readings, are typically categorized as either onyomi or kunyomi (often abbreviated on and kun).
Onyomi
The onyomi (音読み) of a kanji (also called its on reading or Chinese reading) is based on the Japanese approximation of the original Chinese pronunciation of the character at the time it was introduced. Some kanji were reintroduced from different parts of China at different times, and so have multiple onyomi (and often multiple meanings as well). Contrariwise, wasei kanji typically have no onyomi at all.
Onyomi are phonologically characterized by their tendency toward single-syllable readings, since each character expressed a single Chinese syllable. However, tonality aside, most Chinese syllables did not fit the largely consonant-vowel syllables of Japanese. Thus most onyomi are composed of two moras (syllables or beats), the second of which is either a lengthening of the vowel in the first mora or one of the syllables ku, ki, tsu, chi, or syllabic n, chosen for their approximation to the final consonants of Middle Chinese.
Onyomi primarily occur in multi-kanji compound words (熟語 jukugo), many of which are the result of the adoption (along with the kanji themselves) of Chinese words for concepts that either didn't exist in Japanese or could not be articulated as elegantly using native words.
Kunyomi
The kunyomi (訓読み) of a kanji (also called its kun reading, Japanese reading, or somewhat misleadingly its native reading) is a reading based on the pronunciation of a native Japanese word, or yamatokotoba, that closely approximated the meaning of the Chinese character when it was introduced. Again, there can be multiple kun readings for the same kanji, and some kanji have no kunyomi at all.
For instance, the kanji for east, 東, has the on reading tō. However, Japanese already had a word for east, pronounced higashi (or sometimes azuma). Thus, the kanji character 東 had the latter pronunciations grafted onto it as kunyomi. However, the kanji 寸, denoting a Chinese unit of measurement (slightly over an inch), had no native Japanese equivalent; thus it has only its onyomi, sun.
Kunyomi are characterized by the strict (consonant)vowel syllable structure common to yamatokotoba, passingly similar to that of the nearby Polynesian languages. Most noun or adjective kunyomi are two to three syllables long, while verb kunyomi are more often one or two syllables in length (not counting trailing hiragana called okurigana, although those are usually considered part of the reading).
Other readings
Some kanji also have lesser-known readings called nanori, which are mostly used for people's names, and are generally closely related to the kunyomi. Place names sometimes also use nanori (or, occasionally, unique readings not found elsewhere).
Gikun (義訓) are readings of kanji combinations that have no direct correspondence to the characters' individual onyomi or kunyomi, but are instead connected by the meaning of the written and spoken phrases. For example, the compound 一寸 might be read issun, meaning "one sun", but it is more often used to write the indivisible word chotto, "a little". Gikun also feature in some Japanese family names.
Many ateji (kanji used only for their phonetic value) have meanings derived from their usage: for example, the now-archaic 亜細亜 ajia was formerly used to write "Asia" in kanji; the character 亜 now means Asia in such compounds as 東亜 tōa, "East Asia". From the written 亜米利加 amerika, the second character was taken, resulting in the semi-formal coinage 米国 beikoku, literally "rice country" but meaning "United States of America".
When to use which reading
The division between onyomi and kunyomi can seem arbitrary and unnecessarily difficult to the learner of Japanese. Words for similar concepts, such as east (東), north (北) and northeast (東北), can have completely different pronunciations: the kun readings higashi and kita are used for the first two, while the on reading tōhoku is used for the third. However, the situation is actually no less coherent than the similar mixture of pronunciations in English which resulted from similar borrowings from other languages.
To complicate the matter, there are two basic guidelines for determining the pronunciation of a particular kanji in a given context. First, and most simply, kanji occurring in compounds are almost always read using onyomi. These sorts of words are sometimes called jukugo (熟語). For example, 情報 jōhō "information", 半月 hangetsu "half-moon", and 革命家 kakumeika "[a] revolutionary" all follow this pattern.
Secondly, kanji occurring in isolation -- that is, written adjacent only to kana, not to other kanji -- are typically read using their kunyomi. Together with their okurigana, if any, they generally function either as a noun or as an inflected adjective or verb: e.g. 月 tsuki "moon", 情け nasake "sympathy", 赤い akai "red", 建てる tateru "to build". The rare kanji compounds that also have okurigana, such as 空揚げ karaage "fried" and 名無し nanashi "nameless", also fall into this category.
There are numerous exceptions to both rules. 赤金 akakane "copper", 日傘 higasa "parasol", and the famous 神風 kamikaze "divine wind" all use kunyomi despite being simple kanji compounds. Fortunately, most exceptions to the second rule are simple nouns: 愛 ai "love", 禅 Zen, 点 ten "mark, dot".
The situation is further complicated by the fact that many kanji have more than one onyomi: witness 説明 setsumei "explanation" versus 灯明 tōmyō "light offered to a god".
There are even kanji compounds that use a mixture of onyomi and kunyomi, known as jūbako (重箱) words. The word jūbako itself is an example: the first character is read using onyomi, the second kunyomi. Other examples include 金色 kiniro "golden" (on-kun) and 影法師 kagebōshi "silhouette" (kun-on-on).
Some famous place names, including those of Tokyo (東京 Tōkyō) and Japan itself (日本 Nihon or rarely Nippon) are read with onyomi. However, by far the vast majority of Japanese place names are read with kunyomi (e.g. 大阪 Ōsaka, 青森 Aomori, 箱根 Hakone). Family names are also usually read with kunyomi (e.g., 山田 Yamada, 田中 Tanaka, 鈴木 Suzuki). Personal names, although they are not typically considered jūbako, often contain mixtures of kunyomi, onyomi, and nanori, and are generally only readable with some experience (e.g., 大助 Daisuke [on-kun], 夏美 Natsumi [kun-on]).
Pronunciation assistance
Because of the ambiguities involved, kanji will often have their pronunciation for the given context spelled out in ruby characters known as furigana (small kana written above the character) or kumimoji (those printed to the side). This is especially true in texts for children or foreign learners and manga (comics). It is also used in newspapers for rare or unusual readings and for characters not included in the officially recognized set of essential kanji.
Whew, now I'm really scared (and excited at the same time)! That was just an introduction to kanji. In future posts, I'll be learning each individual character and it's meaning. There are 1945 characters the Japanese government recommends as a guideline for the Japanese press and for the general writing of Japanese by both native and non-native speakers. I can hardly wait.
Source
Japan Reference
Spoken Japanese consists of simple syllables, generally consisting of a vowel, or a consonant plus a vowel. Japanese is not a tonal language like Chinese or Thai, and is comparatively easy to pronounce. There are few complex consonant clusters and all vowels and consonants have consistent pronunciation.
Consonants
Consonants are crisply pronounced. The consonant sounds are:
k = as in cat
g = as in gourd
s = as in Sue
sh = as in seashore
z = as in zoo
j = as in Jack
t = as in tick
ts = this is one of the tricky ones; think tsetse fly.
ch = as in chicken
n = as in new
h = as in have
f = another slightly tricky one; think of “who” with an f sound
b = as in Boeing
p = as in party, pea, Poe
m = as in mama
ya = as in yahoo, yeoman,
r = like 'r' in "row" (actually a sound between 'l' and 'r', but closer to 'r') [2]
w = as in wander
Notes:
Vowels
The Japanese language has only 5 vowels: A, I, U, E, O. They are terse vowels, pronounced clearly and sharply. If there are two or more vowels one after the other, each vowel is pronounced individually.
ex. ai (love) ~ ah ee
If one pronounces the vowels in the following sentence one will have their approximate sounds.
Ah (a), we (i) soon (u) get (e) old (o).
Notes:
On to the next lesson... Katakana...
What is Katakana?
Like hiragana, katakana is a Japanese syllabery and another component of the Japanese writing system. It also has 46 basic characters and is built in the same way as hiragana. However, the individual characters are different. Compared to hiragana, katakana characters are more angular and geometrical. They are the simplest of Japanese scripts.
Usage
Katakana is mainly used for foriegn words and names. For example, "television" is written terebi (テレビ). Katakana are also used for onomatopoeia (words used to represent sounds). Some examples include pinpon (ピンポン) and the "ding-dong" sound of a doorbell. Words imitating a sound and scientific terms are also usually written in katakana.
Katakana chart
Here are the basic katakana characters and their corresponding romanizations. As with hiragana, shi (シ), chi (チ), tsu (ツ) and fu (フ) are irregular to the pattern of pronounciation in katakana. Shi (シ) and tsu (ツ) are easily confused with each other, the small difference is the two strokes in the upper left corner in different angles.
Dakuten (濁点) and handakuten (半濁点) markers
Like with hiragana, you can modify katakana characters with a dakuten marker (゛) or a handakuten marker (゜) as seen below:
Yōon modifiers (拗音)
Youon katakana follows the same pattern as with youon hiragana.
Double consonants
Double consonants are written the same way as hiragana, but with a small ッ (tsu) in katakana instead. Taking the examples from hiragana to demonstrate it in use:
カッタ - katta
ハッパ - happa
Additional resources
So now I have to memorize these. Katakana symbols are harder to memorize because they aren't used very often. Here are some resources that might help...
Real Kana is a very simple yet effective tool for learning hiragana and katakana symbols.
I found another set of hiragana and katakana mnemonics.
Typing katakana symbols isn't easy without a Japanese keyboard or specialized software. With the newbie-friendly "copyable" katakana symbols from Japanese in 20 Weeks, you can just copy and paste the characters you need. This isn't the best solution, but it'll do if you're just starting to learn katakana.
Guess what? The hiragana practice games I found were really effective. I almost have all the characters memorized. Sa (さ) and chi (ち) kinda confuse me though. But I'll try to figure out a way to remember which is which.
Anyway, I found phrases in hiragana and translated them to romaji and english. I had a bit of trouble figuring out where the spaces should go since I'm not that familiar with all the Japanese words yet. But, I still got through it with the help of Google.
おっす (ossu) - hello (used between close male friends)
もしもし (moshi moshi) - hello (used on the phone)
ようこそ (youkoso) - welcome
どこからですか (doko kara desu ka) - Where are you from?
どちらからですか (dochira kara desu ka) - Where are you from? (formal)
おやすみなさい (oyasumi nasai) - good night
さようなら (sayounara) - good bye
じゃあまたね (jaa mata ne) - see you later
どうぞめしあがれ (douzo meshiagare) - enjoy your meal (said by the cook)
ごきげんよう (gokigen you) - good bye/good luck
わかりません (wakarimasen) - I don't understand
すみません (sumimasen) - excuse me
いくらですか (ikura desu ka) - How much is this?
ごめんなさい (gomen nasai) - sorry
どうもありがとうございます (doumo arigatou gozaimasu) - thank you very much
Whew, that was a lot! I'm getting the hang of it though. :-) 'Till next time... さようなら!
Memorizing hiragana characters can not only be difficult, it can also be pretty boring. Maybe people with photographic memories can do much better, but I'm going to need something more than a table of characters. These two "hiragana games" might do the trick...
Source
Usagi-Chan's Genki Resource Page
Phil Gyford’s website
All Japanese All The Time is a great blog for learning Japanese.
I've read a great post from this site about immersion to prepare yourself and to make the transition into speaking and writing the Japanese language smoother. The suggestions in the article might be too severe and hardcore for some people but they're still food for thought.
I'm going to quote a few sentences here and there, just because I'm so crazy about the article. You can read the whole article at this link, but here's the gist...
Before you jump, make sure you have somewhere to land - "When you want to Japanize your environment/de-English your environment, you need something to de-English to. If you give up watching non-Japanese movies, do you have Japanese movies to watch? If you give up non-Japanese music, do you have Japanese beats to which to bop your head in rhythmic fashion?"
I don't know about giving up English movies but I do have a pile of Japanese animes just waiting to be watched. I already love Japanese music and I don't mind giving up English music for the time being so that wouldn't be a problem at all.
Do one thing at a time, one day at a time - "So change out all your music one day, and nothing else. Next day, do the movies. Then, the posters on your wall. The books on your shelf. Et cetera! Either way, make sure you do something every day, just don’t try to do too much in one day."
One day at a time... ok that makes sense. Hey wait a minute... the books on my shelf? Get rid of them? No way! I'm willing to ignore them for a while but definitely not get rid of them.
Don’t just put it away, get rid of it - "So where do you put the artifacts of your pre-immersion life? Where do you put your English-language stuff? In a closet somewhere? No. You get rid of it. Mp3s? Delete them. DVDs? Scratch, sell or slice them apart. Posters? Post them to someone else. Get rid of it. Delete, destroy, dispose."
Like I said, no freaking way. But, I'm willing to compromise and just pretend that I got rid of them! Ok, moving on...
If you don’t yet know all the dialogue and the lyrics, then it’s still worth repeating - "Remember, if you still don’t know all the dialogue to that one movie or all the lyrics to that one song by heart, then it still warrants repeating. I don’t care if you’re bored and have seen or watched it a thousand times. Listen to it more carefully; try to pick out something new; I guarantee you’ll learn something."
Ok, my goal from now on is to translate all the Japanese songs I know. Of course, I'll post all my translations here. This is definitely something to look forward to.
Get it - "Is it in Japanese? Then get it. Get the book, get the movie. Even if you don’t understand it yet. At first, just having it around you will be motivating. It’ll be another reminder of your goal and your future."
I said I was going to learn Japanese on a budget, so let's see how this one goes. Although, I wouldn't mind buying a few things that I really like every now and then. This is another thing I can look forward to. :-)
I probably won't follow every advice written above to the letter, but some people might find this to be very helpful in learning Japanese. I however, don't intend to make learning Japanese a chore, so I'll do whatever sounds like fun to me.
So... bring on the anime, manga, Japanese songs and books!
I found more basic Japanese words and phrases. Looks like it's time for more hiragana practice. I'll use the same format as before for consistency:romaji (english meaning) - hiragana
Technically, written Japanese has no spaces between groups of characters that constitute words. Because of this, it would be really hard to read Japanese text if everything is in hiragana. That's where kanji comes in. But, I'll save that for another lesson.
Here are some basic Japanese words in the following format:
romaji (english meaning) - hiragana
Hey, hiragana is quite easy once you get the hang of it. I want to do more exercises but I'm too sleepy to think straight at this point.
At first, I wasn't convinced I had to learn written Japanese. I figured being able to carry out a conversation in Nihongo (which is what the Japanese call their language) would be enough if and when I visit Japan.
However, I realized that without learning the symbols that comprised written Japanese, all the words and sentences I knew would be useless while trying to navigate the busy streets of Tokyo with a Japanese map, while looking at Japanese street signs and Japanese building names. So no matter how long it took, I had to learn written Japanese too.
So first thing's first... Hiragana...
What is Hiragana?
Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary and one component of the Japanese writing system. It is similar to the western alphabet in that you can spell out words with it. Therefore, you can write a whole sentence in hiragana without involving kanji at all since every kanji can be written with one or several hiraganas.
Note: The other two components of the Japanese writing system are called Katakana (used for borrowed words) and Kanji (adopted Chinese characters).
Usage
The hiragana syllabary consists of 48 syllables and is mainly used to write word endings, known as okurigana in Japanese. Hiragana are also widely used in materials for children, textbooks, animation and comic books. It is also used to write Japanese words which are not normally written with kanji, such as adverbs and some nouns and adjectives, or for words whose kanji are obscure or obselete.
Hiragana chart
Here are the basic hiragana symbols and their corresponding romanizations. Note that the 46 basic hiragana symbols follow the pattern of one consonant (k, s, t, n, h, m, (y), r, w) plus one vowel (a, i, u, e, o) as can be seen below. The only exception is the first line in the table, which consist of only vowels.
Dakuten (濁点) and handakuten (半濁点) markers
There are additional hiragana characters and they are formed using the characters from the chart above by adding the following symbols:
Yōon modifiers (拗音)
Youon hiragana are hiragana with an "i" vowel (ki き, shi し, chi ち, ni に etc.) plus a small version of ya ゃ, yu ゅ or yo ょ.
かった - katta
はっぱ - happa
Additional resources
Whew, that's a handful of symbols to memorize! Unfortunately, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer (but hey, I'm not the dullest either). Anyway, here are a few useful resources...
Real Kana is a very simple yet effective tool for learning Hiragana and Katakana symbols.
This is a PDF file you can print out and practice writing Hiragana on. Make sure to follow the correct stroke order when writing.
Typing hiragana symbols isn't easy without a Japanese keyboard or specialized software. With the newbie-friendly "copyable" hiragana symbols from Japanese in 20 Weeks, you can just copy and paste the characters you need. This isn't the best solution, but it'll do if you're just starting to learn hiragana.
And if all else fails, here's a great mnemonic system relating Hiragana symbols to English words. Click the graphic below to view a larger version of the table.
