Teach Yourself Japanese - How to get started

Learn to write Japanese - How to get started

If you are learning the Japanese language to be able to communicate in real life situations at work or for your school project, you must know how to write Japanese.

You probably already know that to learn Japanese writing, start with hiragana and katakana, then kanji. Hiragana and katakana are simpler than kanji, and have only 46 characters each. It is possible to write an entire Japanese sentence in hiragana. Imagine what it would be like if you could like many children's books write in hiragana only.

Japanese children start to read and write in hiragana before making an attempt to learn some of the two thousand kanji commonly used so knowing how to write Japanese will help improve your understanding of the language.

While learning Japanese, many people think that learning to speak the language is more difficult than learning to write it. The kind of scripts you use depends on the kind of sentence you want to write.

Some Japanese textbooks state that the Hiragana symbol comes to use only when a particular thing cannot be written in Kanji and that the Katakana symbol comes to use only for writing foreign words or words that were adopted by the Japanese system gradually.

Hiragana Chart

There are 46 hiragana characters for 46 different sounds.

Hiragana are used for expressing grammatical elements such as particles, and endings of adjectives and verbs which show tenses.

Kanji are used for expressing meaningful elements such as nouns and stems of adjectives and verbs.

Japanese is written in a combination of three scripts:

• hiragana,
• katakana,
• kanji.

Kanji represents ideas or objects.

Hiragana expresses the grammatical relationships between them.

Katakana is used for words of foreign origin.

Hiragana and Katakana characters represent one syllable and have no meaning other than the representation of sound. Japanese sentences can be written in either hiragana or katakana only even though Japanese is usually written in a combination of three scripts, There are 46 basic hiragana characters (see chart).

The Japanese language is spoken by more than 130 million people including people in Japan, residents of a number of other countries with some of the larger Japanese speaking communities are found in

• Australia
• Brazil
• Peru
• The Philippines
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• United States of America
• The state of Hawaii

Resource: http://www.japaneselearning.com/At this site learn about Japan Hiragana Katakana Kanji and Japanese Culture, ask questions in the forum.

Some Japanese Words and Phrases:

Hello. こんにちは。Konnichiwa. (kon-nee-chee-WAH)

How are you? お元気ですか。O-genki desu ka? (oh-GEN-kee dess-KAH?)

Fine, thank you. 元気です。Genki desu. (GEN-kee dess)

What is your name? お名前は何ですか。O-namae wa nan desu ka?　(oh-NAH-mah-eh wah NAHN dess-KAH?)

My name is ____ . 私の名前は ____ です。 Watashi no namae wa ____ desu. (wah-TAH-shee no nah-mah-eh wa ____ dess)

Nice to meet you. 始めまして。Hajimemashite. (hah-jee-meh-MOSH-teh)

Please. (request) お願いします。Onegai shimasu. (oh-neh-gigh shee-moss)

Please. (offer) どうぞ。 Dōzo. (DOH-zo)

Thank you. どうもありがとう。Dōmo arigatō. (doh-moh ah-ree-GAH-toh)

You're welcome. どういたしまして。 Dō itashi mashite. (doh EE-tah-shee mosh-teh)

Yes. はい。 Hai. (HIGH)

No. いいえ。 Iie. (EE-eh)

Excuse me. すみません。 Sumimasen. (soo-mee-mah-sen)

I'm sorry. 御免なさい。 Gomen-nasai. (goh-men-nah-sigh)

Goodbye. (long-term) さようなら。 Sayōnara. (sa-YOH-nah-rah)

Goodbye. (informal) それでは。 Sore dewa. (SOH-reh deh-wah)

I can't speak Japanese [well]. 日本語「よく」話せません。 Nihongo [yoku] hanasemasen. (nee-hohn-goh [yo-koo] hah-nah-seh-mah-sen)

Do you speak English? 英語を話せますか。 Eigo o hanasemasuka? (AY-goh oh hah-nah-seh-moss-KAH?)

Is there someone here who speaks English? だれか英語を話せますか。 Dareka eigo o hanasemasuka? (dah-reh-kah AY-goh oh hah-nah-seh-moss-KAH?)

Help! たすけて! Tasukete! (tah-soo-keh-teh!)

Look out! あぶない! Abunai! (ah-boo-NIGH!)

Good morning. おはようございます。 Ohayō gozaimasu. (oh-hah-YOH go-zigh-moss)

Good evening. こんばんは。 Konbanwa. (kohm-bahn-wah)

Good night (to sleep) おやすみなさい。 Oyasuminasai. (oh-yah-soo-mee-nah-sigh)

I don't understand. わかりません。 Wakarimasen. (wah-kah-ree-mah-sen)

Where is the toilet? トイレはどこですか。 Toire wa doko desu ka? (toy-reh wah DOH-koh dess kah?)

Resource list of japanese words. http://www.takase.com/Names/JapaneseWordList.htm