Introduction #
I’m in Japan for 3 month and started to learn japanese to understand things. Thie issue is that japanese are not very good at english (sorry for them x), so learning japanese really helps. My goal is not to be able to read or speak freely, but to get the maximum I can in 3 month, giving me the ability to understand written and spoken sentences with context.
Japanese basics #
Alphabet #
Yes, you may already know that but japanese does not use the latin alphabet. They have their own alphabet, well multiples:
- Hiragana: Used to write words in a simple form (for children) and for links between words (more later)
- Katakana: Used to write words coming from a foreign language (usually english). For example, the word カメラ (kamera) is written using katagana.
- Arabiasuji: These are the latin number, used as a majority in japanese to write dates for example.
Note that romaji are not a japanese alphabet but are a way for foreigners to read japanese using latin alphabet.
Combinations #
Ok, we have a lot of sounds to work with. But how are we supposed to write 牛乳 (gyuunyuu, milk) or 東京 (Tokyo, East capital city) if we only have 46 hiragana and 46 katakana?
To “extend” the available sounds, we can use combinations of hiragana or katakana. We can combine all the hiragana or katakana that ends in -i with a small や (ya), ゆ (yu), or よ (yo) to create new sounds.
Here is a table to write down every hiragana combinations:
| Base kana | ゃ (ya) | ゅ (yu) | ょ (yo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| き (ki) | きゃ (kya) | きゅ (kyu) | きょ (kyo) |
| ぎ (gi) | ぎゃ (gya) | ぎゅ (gyu) | ぎょ (gyo) |
| し (shi) | しゃ (sha) | しゅ (shu) | しょ (sho) |
| じ (ji) | じゃ (ja) | じゅ (ju) | じょ (jo) |
| ち (chi) | ちゃ (cha) | ちゅ (chu) | ちょ (cho) |
| ぢ (ji) | ぢゃ (ja) | ぢゅ (ju) | ぢょ (jo) |
| に (ni) | にゃ (nya) | にゅ (nyu) | にょ (nyo) |
| ひ (hi) | ひゃ (hya) | ひゅ (hyu) | ひょ (hyo) |
| び (bi) | びゃ (bya) | びゅ (byu) | びょ (byo) |
| ぴ (pi) | ぴゃ (pya) | ぴゅ (pyu) | ぴょ (pyo) |
| み (mi) | みゃ (mya) | みゅ (myu) | みょ (myo) |
| り (ri) | りゃ (rya) | りゅ (ryu) | りょ (ryo) |
Pauses #
In Japanese, we can use a small つ (tsu) to indicate a pause in the word. This is called a “sokuon” and is used to indicate a double consonant. For example, the word きって (kitte, stamp) has a pause between the き (ki) and the て (te). This is written with a small つ: きっ (ki) + て (te).
Kanji #
Kanji are a way to write words using ideograms. So, in a Japanese sentence, you usually will have kanji or katakana combined with hiragana.
e.g. 私がカメラいる (watashi wa kamera motte iru). Here, 私 (watashi) is written in kanji, カメラ (kamera) is written in katakana, and the rest is written in hiragana.
A kanji can have multiple readings, depending on the context. For example, the kanji 日 can be read as にち (nichi) when it means “day” or as ひ (hi) when it means “sun”.