Japanese Weekly: An introduction (Lesson I)

[=X-Sparker + AquaKiller=]

Hey everyone! I've been given the honor to post up weekly lessons in this guild, so here goes!

First of all, let me introduce myself:
You can call me X-Sparker. I've been taking four years of Japanese in high school, and will be taking the CollegeBoard AP exam for Japanese this May. Personally I've been to and won the 16th annual Japan Bowl for Level II, and I will be participating again this year for Level IV.
If you have any questions about my credentials, please PM me.

And now, on with the lesson!

This is the lesson of basics of the basics. You will learn about the basic structure of Japanese writing and speaking system, and some useful expressions for beginners.

First of all, the Japanese writing system contains 50 alphabets in three different forms:
1) Romaji
2) Hiragana
3) Katakana

Romaji is a scripted version of Japanese alphabets using English characters. Most of the beginner lessons will be taught in Romaji. Hiragana is the basic Japanese writing; most of the nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc. are in this system. It looks something like this: ひらがな Notice the smooth curves of this writing. Katakana is a more rigid-looking alphabetic system, used mostly for foreign loanwords: カタカナ

The following are the 50 alphabets:
a (as in Arch)
i (as in Sleeve)
u (as in Clue)
e (as in Egg)
o (as in Orchid)
ka (as in Car)
ki (as in Key)
ku (as in Cushion)
ke (as in Ketchup)
ko (as in Call)
sa (as in Salsa)
shi (as in She)
su (as in Soup)
se (as in Section)
so (as in Socks)
ta (as in Attack)
chi (as in Cheap)
tsu (as in Zoo)
te (as in Techno)
to (as in Tall)
na (as in Nachos)
ni (as in knee)
nu (as in knew)
ne (as in Internet)
no (as in Naughty)
ha (as in Hut)
hi (as in He)
fu (as in Who)
he (as in Hell)
ho (as in Hall)
ma (as in Momma)
mi (as in Me)
mu (as in Movie)
me (as in Message)
mo (as in Mop)
ya (as in Yacht)
yu (as in You)
yo (as in York)
ra (as in Lacrosse)
ri (as in Leader)
ru (as in Lunatic)
re (as in Letter)
ro (as in Law)
wa (as in Watch)
wo (as in Walk)
n (as in Hung)

As demonstrated, these are the basic writing (and pronunciation) of the Japanese alphabets. Now, let's use it on some real expressions:

A is/am/are B.
I am Takashi.
Watashi ha* Takashi desu.

*There is a strange exception about this "ha" particle. Although I have stated previously that "ha" is pronounced as the "hu" in "hut", this is not the case when "ha" is used as the equivalent of "is/am/are/to be" in English. When "ha" is used as "is/am/are", it is pronounced as "wa". Therefore, the previous sentence actually sounds like:

Watashi wa Takashi desu.

Even though when written, it is written as "ha".

"desu" is part of the "is/am/are" verb when used in a simple sentence like stating "A is B" and is put behind the object. "de" is pronounced as "de" in "Death". I will explain more about these special pronunciation in the next lesson.

To better illustrate my point about "ha", here is another useful expression:

Nice to meet you. I am Takashi. [I will] thank you in advance [for your patience with me].
Hajimemashite. Watashi ha Takashi desu. Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu.

Here, the "ha" in "Hajimemashite" is pronounced as its original "hu" in "hut", but the "ha" in "Watashi ha Takashi desu" is pronounced as "wa". This is a very important thing to remember. Whenever "ha" is used as "is/am/are", it is pronounced as "wa", otherwise, it is just simply "ha".

You may have noticed that "Hajimemashite" also contains "ji", which I have not yet explained. I will explain this in the next lesson. For now, just know that it is pronounced as "Ji" in "Jeep".

Another useful expression:

My name is Takashi.
Watashi no namae ha Takashi desu.

Notice that in Japanese, instead of "my", there is an extra "no" after "watashi". This is because there are no pronoun types in Japanese. Instead, they use particles to indicate the type of the pronoun. Obviously, "watashi" is "I", and by adding "no", the possessive particle, after "watashi", "watashi" is changed from "I" to "My". Therefore, the real equivalent is this:

I = watashi
My = watashi no

This works also for other pronouns, like:

He = kare
His = kare no

That's it for first lesson!

Summary
Key terms:
watashi = I
namae = name
hajimemashite = Nice to meet you (lit. Meeting you the first time)
yoroshiku onegaishimasu = Thank you in advance (lit. Please regard me with patience)
kare = he
Verbs:
____ ha (pronounced "wa") **** desu = ____ is/am/are ****
Particles:
no = 's/possessive particle
Sentence structures:
A ha ("wa") B desu = A is/am/are B
A no B ha ("wa") C desu = A's B is/am/are C

Any questions? Post a reply!

 

[=X-Sparker + AquaKiller=]

Also, here is a picture of the romaji chart (it's actually hiragana, but it's got the romaji's next to it):

 

[Amyroth]

This is definitely helpful and informative, but I'd have to disagree with some of your pronunciations.
I think it'd be best to describe the typical difference in pronunciation of vowels, and try not to relate some of those to english words. Especially the syllables that end in 'u'. I really don't think we have a similar sound.  

[=X-Sparker + AquaKiller=]

Amyroth

This is definitely helpful and informative, but I'd have to disagree with some of your pronunciations.
I think it'd be best to describe the typical difference in pronunciation of vowels, and try not to relate some of those to english words. Especially the syllables that end in 'u'. I really don't think we have a similar sound.

I have thought about doing that in the beginning, just describing the vowels and then talk about the consonants, but then I realized there are too many irregularities like "shi" and "chi" and stuff, which will be confusing to beginners, so I just list them all out.

The 'u' ones don't sound alike?? Do you have better suggestions?

I think the pronunciation will come naturally to the learner once they familiarize themselves with the chart. They'll realize, "ah, it follows a pattern of five vowels with 9 consonants." That's why I put up the picture of the chart.  

[Amyroth]

=X-Sparker + AquaKiller=

Amyroth

This is definitely helpful and informative, but I'd have to disagree with some of your pronunciations.
I think it'd be best to describe the typical difference in pronunciation of vowels, and try not to relate some of those to english words. Especially the syllables that end in 'u'. I really don't think we have a similar sound.

I have thought about doing that in the beginning, just describing the vowels and then talk about the consonants, but then I realized there are too many irregularities like "shi" and "chi" and stuff, which will be confusing to beginners, so I just list them all out.

The 'u' ones don't sound alike?? Do you have better suggestions?

I think the pronunciation will come naturally to the learner once they familiarize themselves with the chart. They'll realize, "ah, it follows a pattern of five vowels with 9 consonants." That's why I put up the picture of the chart.

I already said I don't have a better word that would rhyme with it, because I don't think there are any.
English speakers, myself included, struggle with this, because we innately attach a 'w' sound at the end, to drag it out.
A japanese 'u' ends abruptly, as if you're getting punched in the stomach.
The approach of relating sounds to english can work, but I think the oddly pronounced ones, like 'u's and 'r's, should be expanded on.
I don't want to tell you how to do your job; you're definitely more qualified than me.
I just think this should be stressed early on, so they don't struggle with it later.
I also understand this can be difficult to do over the internet, but there a websites you could link to, to help with pronunciation.  

[=X-Sparker + AquaKiller=]

Amyroth

=X-Sparker + AquaKiller=

Amyroth

This is definitely helpful and informative, but I'd have to disagree with some of your pronunciations.
I think it'd be best to describe the typical difference in pronunciation of vowels, and try not to relate some of those to english words. Especially the syllables that end in 'u'. I really don't think we have a similar sound.

I have thought about doing that in the beginning, just describing the vowels and then talk about the consonants, but then I realized there are too many irregularities like "shi" and "chi" and stuff, which will be confusing to beginners, so I just list them all out.

The 'u' ones don't sound alike?? Do you have better suggestions?

I think the pronunciation will come naturally to the learner once they familiarize themselves with the chart. They'll realize, "ah, it follows a pattern of five vowels with 9 consonants." That's why I put up the picture of the chart.

I already said I don't have a better word that would rhyme with it, because I don't think there are any.
English speakers, myself included, struggle with this, because we innately attach a 'w' sound at the end, to drag it out.
A japanese 'u' ends abruptly, as if you're getting punched in the stomach.
The approach of relating sounds to english can work, but I think the oddly pronounced ones, like 'u's and 'r's, should be expanded on.
I don't want to tell you how to do your job; you're definitely more qualified than me.
I just think this should be stressed early on, so they don't struggle with it later.
I also understand this can be difficult to do over the internet, but there a websites you could link to, to help with pronunciation.

Actually, I don't agree with you. The Japanese 'u' does not end abruptly as I know it. It is pronounced just as long as the other ones are pronounced. I don't know where you learned your Japanese, but as far as my experience goes, they should sound just fairly close to the '-ou' in English. Maybe you can record your pronunciation and upload it on youtube? (Actually, maybe I should do that, huh?? sweatdrop )