BEGINNERS JAPANESE | JLPT N5

Welcome to チョコレート!

ようこそ (yo u ko so)(welcome) to チョコレート (Cho ko re to ) (Chocolate) , which is 日本語 (ni ho n go) (japanese) for beginners!

Before we begin learning, i will give you a brief introduction to the Japanese language!

[I got all the information in this chapter from  from jpninfo.com]

Japanese has three different sets of characters: Hiragana, Katakana and the dreaded Kanji.

Hiragana

I will have a chapter with each script.
Hiragana is the basic of all the Japanese writing systems one must master to learn the language, consists of forty-six characters.

Some of the characters look similar, especially to the foreign eye, with just a difference of a line or a curve (i.e. the characters さ-sa and き-ki, は-ha and ほ-ho, ぬ-nu and め-me). And if you miss to write two small strokes or a small circle, the sound will change completely (i.e. は-ha, ぱ-pa and ば-ba). Also be careful with は, read both as ha and wa.

Once mastered, a learner can basically speak, read (provided there is Furigana) and write all Japanese words by using Hiragana. It is called Furigana if used to represent the sound of a kanji character. Take note, however, that "Hiragana Only" in writing is normally only used when a word has no kanji equivalent.

Katakana

I will have a separate chapter with the script.
The same with Hiragana, Katakana also has 46 characters representing the same set of syllabic sounds. They differ in shape with Katakana and are more angular and straight while Hiragana is more cursive.
Foreigners must learn Katakana because this is the characters used to write their names in Japanese.
Basically, Katakana is used for foreign and borrowed words. Few examples are as follows:
レストラン – resutoran- restaurant
サラリーマン-sarariman- salary man (office worker)
マックドナルド- makudonarudo- Mc Donald

However, even some Japanese words which are not foreign or borrowed, are purposely written in Katakana to stand out and catch the attention of readers or viewers. This mostly can be seen in TV programs and cartoons.

Kanji

The most complicated and most challenging part of learning the Japanese language is learning Kanji. Originally from China, there are thousands of Kanji, too many that no one can tell how many Kanji are there in all (Normally around 3000 are used in daily life). Unlike Hiragana and Katakana, Kanji represents the meaning rather than sound. Take for example 木(ki) which means tree and 車(kuruma) which means car. What makes it more complicated is that it has two(sometimes more) kinds of reading, the Chinese reading 'onyomi' and Japanese reading 'kunyomi'. To add to the difficulty, a single kanji can have more than two readings. Three, four, five or sometimes even six or worse, more than that. Not only the reading but also the meaning is multiple. Let's take a look at the kanji 生. It means life, birth, raw, pure. It is read as sei, shou, nama, umareru, ikeru, ikasu... (but there is normally hiragana added to kanji if used as a verb, giving you a hint how to read it).

Kanji is synonymous to hard work in studies. Why? Because every Japanese starts to become a hardworker by learning Kanji at a young age. From first grade elementary up to high school, Japanese students write many pages of Kanji as their homework almost everyday.

Romaji

When you first start learning Japanese, you most likely start out with romaji. Romaji is using the English alphabet, or another alphabet you already know to write and read Japanese.

there are a lot of problems with romaji that nobody tells you about when you first start learning Japanese. Romaji definitely has its place in learning the language, but it won't be too long before romaji starts making your life hard.

Any language has sounds, including English. When we see letters, we will pronounce them as they are in English. Guess what?? Some of the sounds are silent in certain words!

look at this word: desu
Did you pronounce it as it looks? de•su?
WRONG!! it's pronounced des.. desu has a silent u.

Hard right? Using romaji to learn the syllabaries is okay, but try not to use them afterwards.

thank you for being interested in Japanese!