Friday, February 29, 2008

Translating Hug by 東方神起: Part 4

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

  • なんとなく - just because (unable to explain specifically)
  • だけど - but; however

言葉にすることで

  • 言葉に - to put into words (言葉 - ことば)
  • るこ - to try
  • ことで - thing

なにもかも消えてしまいそうで Wow wow

  • なにもかも - anything and everything
  • 消えて - disappear (消 - き)
  • しまい - end
  • そうで - because it seems

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.

Source
Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Server

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Translating Hug by 東方神起: Part 3

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

  • なぜか - somehow
  • 素直 (すなお) - obedient; meek; docile; unaffected
  • に - to
  • 声 (こえ) - voice
  • 出せない - cannot (出 - で)
  • いえないよ - cannot say

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!

Source
Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Server
Google

Translating Hug by 東方神起: Part 2

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...

  • この - this/these
  • 想い - feelings; affection (想 - おも)
  • を - (particle)
  • 伝えたい - wanting to show feelings (伝 - つた)
  • の - (posessive)
  • に - to

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!

Source
Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Server

Translating Hug by 東方神起: Part 1

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

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Kanji express meaning, NOT sounds

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

Monday, February 25, 2008

Kanji Numbers (4-10)

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
(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
    (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
    (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
    (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
    (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
    (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
    (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

    Sunday, February 24, 2008

    Kanji Numbers (1-3)

    Let's start with the most basic kanji characters: numbers.

    Number 1
    (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
    (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
    (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

    Japanese Writing System Part 3: Kanji

    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:

    • tōge (mountain pass)

    • sakaki (sakaki tree, genus Camellia)

    • hatake (field of crops)

    • tsuji (crossroads, street)

    • 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:

      • oki (offing, offshore)

      • 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 (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 . 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

        Japanese Pronunciation

        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:

          1. Sometimes syllables are made up of a combination of a consonant and a semi-vowel (ya, yu, yo) as in Tōkyō, Kyōto, gyūniku (beef), etc. These are NOT pronounced Tokiyo, Kiyoto, giyuniku. The consonant plus semi-vowel sound should be a single syllable. Think of kyu in the English word “cute.”
          2. The pronunciation of the Japanese “R” one is the source of the stereotypical difficulties that some Japanese have with pronouncing “L” and “R”.

          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:

          1. The "U" is pronounced with no forward movement of the lips.
          2. "U" is often weak at the end of syllables. In particular, the common endings "...desu" and "...masu" are pronounced as "des'" and "mas'" respectively.


          Source

          About.com
          Foreign Cultures 84, Tokyo

          Saturday, February 23, 2008

          Japanese Writing System Part 2: Katakana

          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:

          • dakuten marker ゛ - changes k to h, s to z, t to d, and h to b
          • handakuten marker ゜ - changes h to p


          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.


            Sources

            Wikipedia
            Japanese in 20 Weeks

            Practice with Useful Japanese Phrases

            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!

            Friday, February 22, 2008

            Hiragana Practice Games

            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...

            • Hiragana Drag-n-drop - this game is great for beginners, since it's very simple. Just drag and drop the hiragana characters into their correct spot on the table. Correctly dropped characters stick while wrong ones get dumped back to the bottom.

            • Hirargana and Katakana practice - this one's a bit tougher. You can choose to include either or both hiragana and katakana characters. The game flashes a random character and you have to type in the correct romaji in the box at the bottom. This game includes all configurations of hiragana and/or katakana.

            Source
            Usagi-Chan's Genki Resource Page
            Phil Gyford’s website

            Thursday, February 21, 2008

            The Immersion Environment

            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!

            Source
            All Japanese All The Time

            More Hiragana Practice

            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
            • konnichiwa (hello) - こんにちわ
            • hai (yes) - はい
            • iie (no) - いいえ
            • sumimasen (excuse me) - すみません
            • sayōnara (goodbye - long term) - さよおなら
            • sore dewa (goodbye - informal) - それでわ
            • konbanwa (good evening) - こんばんわ
            • ohayō gozaimasu (good morning) - おはよおございます

            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.

            Wednesday, February 20, 2008

            Hiragana Practice

            Here are some basic Japanese words in the following format:

            romaji (english meaning) - hiragana
            • wakaru (understand) - わかる
            • tabemono (food) - たべもの
            • taberu (to eat) - たべる
            • kuruma (car) - くるま
            • ashita (tomorrow) - あした
            • hiru (midday) - ひる
            • satto (quickly) - さっと
            • dekiru (be able to) - できる

            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.

            Japanese Writing System Part 1: Hiragana

            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:

            • dakuten marker - changes k to h, s to z, t to d, and h to b
            • handakuten marker - changes h to p


            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.


            Double consonants
            And lastly, double consonants occur in hiragana as a small tsu っ. (See the difference: っ <-> つ) It's used before the consonant that is doubled, here are some few examples:

            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.

            Sources
            Wikipedia
            Japanese in 20 Weeks