Introduction to Essential Japanese : Lesson 2 - Katakana

Hi again~ XD

Now, it's time for Lesson 2!

Hope everyone has gotten a rough understanding of Hiragana that was taught last lesson...

After Hiragana, the next crucial building block of Japanese is none other than Katakana.Katakana would be much easier to use for most of you, since it "borrows" words from other languages such as English, French, and Chinese.

Referring to the image, the small numbers with arrows that you see indicate the stroke order (or how to "draw" the character")

It's pronunciation is exactly the same as Hiragana, and please note that wi and we are obsolete and not used in Japanese. The katakana wo (ヲ) is rarely used, as o (オ) has the same pronunciation as it, and オ is used way more often.

Just a recap....

Hiragana | Katakana (Romaji) --- pronunciation

あ｜ア　(a) --- ah (short and quick)

い｜イ　(i) --- e as in bee, but quicker

う｜ウ (u) --- u as in blue (but quicker)

え｜エ (e) --- air (shorter and quicker)

お｜オ　(o) --- o as in tore (but much quicker)

Characters in Japanese are pronounced much shorter than what you would have in English. :)

Referring to the image, you would see many other characters.

Each of them are just a consonant together with the above characters. This is pretty much similar to English, and you pronounce them similarly. 

Example: カ (ka)This is just the k sound with ア, so you pronounce it like "car", but shorter.

Finally, katakana has this dash-like "ー" symbol, which means an extension of the previous vowel.Example: ケーキ (Cake)Pronunciation: Ke-ki (you drag the e sound a little longer), so it sounds like "kAIRkey"

(In case anyone is wondering, vocabulary will come later)

Something nice for all of you who've followed me through...

http://alzhuware.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/kumpulotakupetunjukhurufkatakanadengananime.jpg

Happy learning all~ :D

Introduction to Essential Japanese : Lesson 1 - Hiragana

So.. Hi again~
Sorry for the very very long hiatus and inacvtive me u,u

I found an interesting topic for all of you xD
But remember, i found this and want to share it with you, so.. I don't own this..

Let's begin~ \o\

-Hiragana-

To make use of anything in the following lessons to come, the building blocks of Japanese are a must. As fellow otakus, I'm sure each and every one of you would have grasped at least a number of these "building blocks" -- Hiragana (ひらがな）

As for the pronunciation, it's quite different from what you would expect in English, so try not to use your phonics to memorise these...

Character (Romaji) --- pronunciation 

あ　(a) --- ah (short and quick)

い　(i) --- e as in bee, but quicker

う (u) --- u as in blue (but quicker)

え (e) --- air (shorter and quicker)

お　(o) --- o as in tore (but much quicker)

If you had noticed, characters in Japanese are pronounced much shorter than what you would have in English.

Referring to the image, you would see many other characters.

Each of them are just a consonant together with the above characters, あ,い,う,え and お.

This is pretty much similar to English, and you pronounce them similarly. 

Example: か (ka)This is just the k sound + あ, so you pronounce it like "car", but shorter.

Some characters look similar, so be sure to distinguish them carefully!

And finally, as a reward to anyone who has followed me thus far, here is some moe-licious voice to start off your learning.

http://youtu.be/9m4aChUgeoE?t=24sVideo starts at 0:24, and you'll be in for some treat at 0:45!

And for all fans running Android, you can download this software (for free) to learn Hiragana on the go with Kugimiya Rie.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.htcheng.comichiragana

Happy learning!