Whoo hoo that's another week!
Welcome back to Japanese Weekly!
Let's review what we did last lesson:
1) We learned the 3 alphabet systems of Japanese: Romaji, Hiragana, and Katakana.
2) We learned two basic sentence structures, and how to introduce yourself.
3) We learned some basic vocabs.
First, before I start with anything new, please make sure you have memorized most romaji's. It will be helpful if you already know how to pronounce the sounds before we continue.
Objectives of this lesson:
-To learn about special rules in the pronunciation systems
-To learn more greeting sentences and other basic phrases
-Begin memorizing hiragana
Special rules in pronunciations:
In addition to the fifty alphabets I have shown last lesson, there are two notations that can be written on the hiragana to change the pronunciation of several alphabets. They are:
1) Dakuten: ゛,Two small diagonal dashes on the upper right hand corner of an alphabet, such as: ど or び
This notation changes:
-k to g (therefore, ka --> ga, ku --> gu),
-s to z (therefore, sa --> za, so --> zo, with exception: shi --> ji),
-t to d (therefore, ta --> da, to --> do, with exception: chi --> di (pronounced ji, rarely used), tsu --> du (pronounced zu, rarely used except in "to be continued, つづく")),
-h to b (therefore, ha --> ba, hu --> bu)
-This notation comes on its own fairly frequently, but it is also often used on the latter word when two separate words are put together, especially in names: 着 (ki, meaning wear (clothes)) and 替え (kae, meaning change), when combined, is 着替え (kigae, meaning change clothing), or, 山 (yama, meaning Mountain) and 田 (ta, meaning field), when combined, is 山田 (Yamada, a surname).
-However, these are not always the case, and there is no absolute rule. You'll just have to learn to memorize it over time.
2) Handakuten: ゜, a small circle also on the upper right hand corner, like ぱ
-This changes h to p, therefore: ha --> pa, hi --> pi
On top of these two notations, there are also subscript sounds, made with the alphabets from the "i" row, with a subscript of one of the three alphabets from the "y" column:
Kya, kyu, kyo
Gya, gyu, gyo
Sha, shu, sho
Ja, ju, jo
Cha, chu, cho
Nya, nyu, nyo
Hya, hyu, hyo
Bya, byu, byo
Pya, pyu, pyo
Mya, myu, myo
Rya, ryu, ryo
The fundamental pronunciation of all these special alphabets are very much alike, since the vowels are still the same. Basically, you pronounce the consonant very slightly, for example for 'kya', pronounce 'ki' at first, but very slight, as if you're chopping the sound up, then add in 'ya', then you get 'kya', if you still don't understand, you can try searching on youtube for pronunciation videos, or if you have ever heard of the "fangirl scream: Kyaaaaaaa!", it's pretty close, except of course not as drawn out as their scream is...
Thirdly, there is that ever-important small 'tsu'. A small 'tsu' (っ) indicates that the consonant of the alphabet immediately following it must be repeated, often resulting in a choked consonant sound.
For example: Chotto (ちょっと). You first read "Cho" with a silent "t" at the end (NOTE: IT'S VERY SILENT, ALMOST INAUDIBLE, but people must still be able to hear that you've choked the "to"), then you pronounce "to", getting "chotto".
LASTLY (oh man!), there are drawn-out pronunciations in Japanese.
Sometimes if you look at romaji, you may see a dash on a 'u' or 'o', that means that u or o sound is drawn-out.
For example: Uchū. This is pronounced as 'Uchuu'.
A strange rule about this though, is that even if the dash is on 'o', it is still written as 'u':
For example: Kenzō. This is pronounced as 'Kenzoo', however, when written, it is written as "Kenzou".
These drawn-out pronunciations are also present in foreign loanwords, and can also be on 'a' or 'i' or 'e', depending on the needs of the sound.
Just one more tiny note, when the 'n' alphabet is directly in front of an alphabet from the "n" column, for example, Konnichiw(h)a, it will be denoted as kon'nichiw(h)a to avoid confusion.
Phew! That wasn't too bad, was it??
Now, more greeting stuff:
In Japan, it is customary to exchange business cards upon meeting each other for the first time (actually, it's a custom everywhere =P).
Business card = meeshi
Other basic greeting phrases:
Good morning = Ohayōgozaimasu (I prefer writing it as: Ohayougozaimasu)
Good afternoon = Kon'nichiha (ha pronounced as wa)
Good evening = Kon'banha (ha pronounced as wa)
Hello (formal); very much = Doumo
Go ahead; please (don't hesitate) = douzo
Thank you (casual) = Arigatou
Thank you = Arigatougozaimasu
Thank you (formal) = Doumo Arigatougozaimasu
You can now form your own self-introduction:
Hajimemashite. Watashi ha [your name here] desu. Kore ha watashi no meeshi desu. Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
Notice I used "kore". It means "this".
This = kore
That one over there (next to speaker) = sore
That one over there (very far from speaker or abstract, from memory) = are
Can you translate that self-introduction? Try it! =)
Summary
Vocabs:
Business card = meeshi
Good morning = Ohayougozaimasu
Good afternoon = Kon'nichiha (ha pronounced as wa)
Good evening = Kon'banha (ha pronounced as wa)
Hello (formal); very much = Doumo
Go ahead; please (don't hesitate) = douzo
Thank you (casual) = Arigatou
Thank you = Arigatougozaimasu
Thank you (formal) = Doumo Arigatougozaimasu
This = kore
That (object next to speaker) = sore
That one over there (very far from speaker or abstract, from memory) = are
New pronunciations and rules - memorize them!
Homework o.O?!
Memorize hiragana and new pronunciations!
