Saturday, February 17, 2007

How and sounds

How you should learn the 2 Kana writhing methods? How I learned was by going by line of 5, since learning is writen in rows. You start with the A go to the I then U, E, O. Going by Vowel, K, S, T, N, H, M, R, Y, W and then "n" itself. Also, if you remember another symbol further on in the "Table", that's good. Also, I have a little note book that has every symbol, of the Kana, and my "Tests" and "Revisions". Everyday I jot down EVERYTHING I remember. Right now, I usually remember all Hiragana symbols and 40-46 Katakana symbols. When ever you think that yu know a whole section, wait a while without looking at any symbols, later on, open the book to a blank page, make a little graph:

A I U E O

K
S
T
N
H
M
R
Y
W
"N"

And Fill in as many blanks as you can.
On my first 2 Hiragana test I mde the same mistakes each time. I mixed up Ne and Re, and forgot Mo.

How to pronounce this stuff:
A: Imagine you were out in the cold, in your under-garments, for 3 hours, now, you find a hot spring. when you get in, you'd say a relaxing: Ahhhhhhh. Not screaming AHHHHHHHHHHH! But: ahhhhhhhh.
I: Not pronounced like in english I is pronounced as you would say E reciting the alphabet.
U: U is pronouced with flat lips, not as round lips as in english.
E: Ever been to Canada, eh? E is pronounced like the Canadien (I'm saying Canadian the french way cuz I like it better) Eh. Or if you are french, er, ais.
O: O is pronouced like oh.

Katakana


Hmmm, my internet crashed in the middle of my first try of this post. I have to start over now.

With these symbols, the same rules apply as Hiragana (Learn Hiragana first if you havn't). Although, you can do some sneaky stuff with Katakana.

Also if you cannot read these symbols, click the photo enlargen it.

First up in the sneakies: How to make Ti and Tu, remember now, there is only Chi and Tsu in the place of these, so how would you make these symbols appear? Easy, Add a small smybol of the Katakana I or Yu to the symbol Te. Also if u remember correctly there is a Tsu, in Katakana there is a way to change it to Tse. Can you guess what it is? It's Tsu+ small E!

Hmmm, if there is no Ti or Tu without special measures, then, wouldn't there not be Di and Du without special measures also? Te+Chong chongs+I or Yu= Di or Du.

More, eh? Well then! Shi+ small E= She. Chi+ small E= Che. Ji (Can you remember how to make Ji?)+small E= Je.

A few more. Fu+ small A I E or O= Fa Fi Fe Fo.

Last rule! The symbol U can have chong chongs in Katakana! but if u add chong chongs, you must add a small A I E or O, this will give you a Va Vi Ve or Vo!
Edit: Forgot something. A "-" can be used to emphasise a section of your writing, if you havn't go to the Megatokyo link in the top left corner. See how Megatokyo is spelt in Hiragana? See how the small Yo follows a normal Ki? See howthey are in two -. This means when you're reading this, to pause slightly, just like you would pause at a comma in the english language. Also, I neglected to mention in the Hiragana section, that if you are to put a small Ya Yu Yo after a syllable that ends with I, it will become a "The symbols consenent"Ya/Yu/Yo. This is For both Hiragana and Katakana.

All these rules only apply to Katakana. So be careful not to make a fool out of yourself in Japanese writing.

Hiragana


Ok, here are the Hiragana symbols, I copied and used this chart to learn Hiragana. Please notice that on the left the symbols have " and little circles. This is used to change the sound.


When you are to add " (Chong Chongs) to Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko, they become Ga Gi Gu Ge Go.


For the S section they become Sa -> Za, Su -> Zu, Se -> Ze, So -> Zo, but wait, where is Shi? Shi becomes the elusive Ji ( :P ).


Ta -> Da, Tsu -> Du, Te -> De, To -> Do, once again, where is Chi? It also becomes Ji. The "N" section never uses Chong Chongs.


The H section, accompanied by Fu, has Chong Chong and the little circle with it. Chong Chongs make these symbols "B". That little circle makes this section "P". That's it for Chong Chongs and the circle.


BUT WAIT! There's more to it. Ya Yu and Yo are fun symboles. When you are to add a smaller than normal sized Ya Yu or Yo to Shi, it will become Sha (With a small Ya), Shu (With a small Yu), and a Sho (Do i really need to explain?) Giving you a Sha Shi Shu and Sho =D. Now it gets even more complicaed!!!!!! Remember how Shi + Chong Chong = Ji? Right, Shi + Chong Chongs + Small Ya Yu or Yo = Ja (Must I explain? The small Ya), Ju (The small Yu) and Jo (Small Yo).


A I U E O

Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko

Ga Gi Gu Ge Go = K+Chong Chongs

Sa Shi Su Se So

Za Ji Zu Ze Zo = S+Chong Chongs

Ta Chi Tsu Te To

Da Ji Du De Do = T+Chong Chongs

Na Ni Nu Ne No

Ha Hi Fu He Ho

Ba Bi Bu Be Bo = H+ Chong Chongs

Pa Pi Pu Pe Po = H+ Chong Chongs

Ma Mi Mu Me Mo

Ra Ri Ru Re Ro

Ya Yu Yo

Wa Wo

N

These rules are the same for Katakana, which will be posted at another time. Although Katakana has some special surprises =D
Click on PHOTO to enlarge

Characters

Kanji is the most difficult, and important, part ofwriting in Japan. These symbols are complicated and usually depict a single word. Like the other kana (Hiragana and Katakana) symboles they can be mixed together to make new words, names of people, places, verbs and nouns. These characters are needed to be able to read fluent Japanese. The base need of Kanji needed to read is a whopping 1800 charecters. Get learning <(^-^)>

Characters

Katakana is the next for a young Japanese student. Katakana is usually used for names of people, borrowed words from other languages, company names and newly created Japanese words.

Characters

Hiragana is the first writig system people in Japan learn, it is mostly used for childrens books, endings of verbs, furigana (Having Kanji symbols with small hiragana symbols beside them), and such not.

Will post about Kanji.

Friday, February 16, 2007

It's the start of a new blog... First thing I gotta do is: Change it up! Oh yeah that's goood, wait? whadduh? K, who did this? I'll get you!!!!! Hey! Wait, that's actually pretty cool. I think I'll keep hat for now...