Hey, just thought I'd get a topic going here. Even though I'm only in Japanese 1, I'd figured I'd teach you what I know :lol: I don't have my Japanese class notes with me, but I'll recall as many things as I know.

Lesson One (ƒŒƒbƒXƒ“�@ˆê)


For those of you who don't know the vowel sounds

‚ �@"a" as in "father"
‚¢�@"i" as in "macaroni" (or as in "YUI"! XD)
‚¤�@"u" as in "sushi"
‚¦�@"e" as in "extra"
‚¨�@"o" as in "solo"

Okay.. let's get started with greetings! ^_^

Good Morning!- Use these greetings until about 10 or 11

‚¨‚͂悤�@Ohayou (oh-ha-yo)[hold out the "o" sound at the end)- to your friends

‚¨‚͂悤‚²‚´‚¢‚Ü‚·�@Ohayou gozaimasu (oh-ha-yo goh-zai-mas)[don't pronounce the ending "u" sound at the end of "su"]- to your teacher/other adults except your parents


Good Afternoon!- Start this greeting at about 11, use it until about 5

‚±‚ñ‚¢‚¿‚Í�@Konnichiwa (kohn-ni-chi-wah)- to everyone


Good evening!- use this from about 5pm till morning

‚±‚ñ‚΂ñ‚Í�@Konbanwa (kohn-bahn-wah)- to everyone


Lesson Two (ƒŒƒbƒXƒ“�@“ñ�j

There are four types of writing in the Japanese system:

‚Ђ炪‚È�@Hiragana- this is a basic phonetic alphabet. There are 46 characters in all. A distinct characteristic about these characters is that they are curved, for lack of better term. You use these characters for words of Japanese origin

ƒJƒ^ƒJƒi�@Katakana- this is also a basic phonetic alphabet. There are also 46 basic characters in this system, but there are a few characters that aren't used that often for sounds such as "vi" etc;

漢字　Kanji- this writing system is the most elaborate. The characters are somewhat like pictograms. There are 2,000+ characters, and they are usually more complicated than hiragana and katakana.

roomaji- this writing system is just writing Japanese words in Roman letters (our letters)

~

Self Introduction

‚Í‚¶‚ß‚Ü‚µ‚Ä�I Hajimemashite! (hah-jee-meh-mah-sh-te)[note:you don't pronounce the "i" sound in "shi" in this word; just make the "sh" sound]-- You say this when you meet someone for the first time. "Nice to meet you". Literally, "It's the first time for us to meet"

(your name) ‚Å‚·�B [your name] desu. (dehs)[note:you don't pronounce the "u" sound at the end of the "su"]-- "My name is ____"; "I'm ____"

‚Ç‚¤‚¼‚æ‚낵‚­�B Douzo yoroshiku. (doh-zoh-yoh-roh-sh-ku)[note:you don't prounounce the "i" in the "shi" in this word]-- "Nice to meet you"; Literally, "Please treat me well"

Yea! This is the basic things I have learned once. But thanx, I gotta memorize it again. ;)

um...may i ask a question?If you are just starting on the japanese language where should we begin?Should we begin learning hiragana first?Then katakana?I dunno where to begin>________________<

It's good start with hiragana first.. cause that's the basic writing system. Then katakana and kanji :)

Well Anna-sensei I guess it's decided you'll be the core beginner Japanese teacher...then I'll just teach whatever the heck I want to :lol: .

Oh it's already started..good...can't wait for the next lesson ^^

おはよう - Ohayou
おはようございます - Ohayou Gozaimasu
こんにちわ - Konnichiwa
こんばんわ - Konbanwa

Here are the greetings typed in basic hiragana, based on Anna-sensei's teaching. I'd like to make my own threads for you guys to learn, but I don't think now is not the time...

Hey, I have a question.. how did you type in Japanese?! I've always wanted to know!

Thanks for typing them out! :D

There are three ways to do so:

1. Use a computer with Japanese OS
2. Find a program which inputs Japanese.
3. Use Microsoft's Japanese IME.

You can google things which you dunno...

‚ ‚肪‚Æ‚¤�@‚²‚´‚¢‚Ü‚·�Aanimeallen-‚¿‚á‚ñ�I

Thanks alot, animeallen-chan! hehe, I'm gonna have lots of fun with this~! :lol:

it's animeallen-kun not chan! lol I have a felling you think I'm a shoujo haha... btw, in Japanese you're not supposed to write a dash when using suffixes like kun, chan etc. well that's how I know it though...

Lesson Two is up! ^_^

Very nice! ^_^ Maybe if I study enough I might LEARN something! :lol:

Anna-chan, I can't read your Jp Symbols though! :(

You have to right-click, go to 'Encoding', then select 'Japanese'. But that's only if your computer is compatible with reading Japanese characters.

I think it's better to write "Hiragana" as "平仮名" in kanji instead of the usual hiragana, that way people who'll learn can already familiarize themselves with some kanji letterings ^_^ don't you think so, ne? Not just the word Hiragana...

Hiragana --> 平仮名
Katakana --> 片仮名
Kanji --> 漢字

and I think you got the wrong kanji for kanji lol you used "感じ" which means "to feel or sense"...

btw, can anyone view my Japanese characters without changing the encoding thing? Cause I also can't view Anna's without changing it but can view mine ^_^

Thanks for the kanji for that ^_^ But I meant to write 'hiragana' in hiragana and 'katakana' in katakana, so people can see what the characters look like.

lol, thanks for noticing the 'kanji' mistake :lol:

Yeah, that's really weird about the encoding thing.. :huh: