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Studying Japanese
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Studying Japanese is actually not that difficult a language for English speakers to get to grips with. For an Asian languague, the pronunciation is fairly straightforward. There are very few sounds that English speakers would have difficulty reproducing. The word order is little different - but you will soon get used to putting the verb at the end of the sentence. Admittedly, the reading and writing is a bit more complex.
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Three Alphabets?
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Yes, the Japanese have 3 different writing systemsalphabets for writing with. Hiragana and Katakana reproduce exactly the same sounds but are used in different contexts. Katakana is used specifically for reproducing words borrowed from foreign languages. Hiragana can be used for writing all other Japanese words. However, the Japanese themselves prefer to use the far more compex Chinese characters (called Kanji) for representing their words. This is mainly due to the fact that there are a large number of Homonyms in Japanese . (A homonym is where a word with the same pronunciation can have different meanings). The Kanji helps explain what kind of word illustrate is being referred to. Unfortunately there, are 2,000 of these Chinese characters
being used in Japan. So, Obviously, these will take some time to learn!
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Writing your Name
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As your name is unlikely to be Japanese, it is usually going to be written in Katakana. Unfortunately, because the Japanese do not use all the letters and sounds that we do in English, it is likely to sound a little unusual. Remember that there are likely to be more vowels inserted into your name - and unless your name finishes in the letter 'n' it is likely to have an extra vowel tagged onto the end as well.
There is a great website called JapaneseTranslater.co.uk that will convert most English names into its Japanese Katakana equivalent.
If you would like to know how your name would translate into Hiragana or even into Kanji then you can try Takase Studios
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Geography of Japan
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Japan has four main islands but many smaller islands dotted around. It is mainly mountainous and forested although most of the population of Japan is squeezed onto the few flat plains available. Japan is subject to many natural hazards, mainly due to the fact that it is located on tectonic fault lines.
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Hiragana
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Katakana
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Online Resources
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Mangajin
In the 1990s, this was a great magazine that helped you to study Japanese through the medium of Manga. Unfortunately, the magazine is no more, but they have put a lot of their content up at this website. There are also some nice articles on general aspects of Japanese culture. Well worth a look.
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Web Japan
Web Japan is a site to introduce aspects of cultural life in Japan. It is designed with younger students in mind.
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Hiragana Practice
actually shows you how to write the hiragana characters. Stroke order is very important in Japanese.
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Hiragana Flash Cards
Once, you think you have learnt the characters, you can use this page to test yourself.
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Katakana Practice
Click on the Katakana characters to see how they are drawn
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Kanji Practice
This site actually shows you a video of how to write each of the individual Kanji. Beware, there are lots of them...
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Learn Japanese Role Playing Game
How about playing a role playing game to help you with your Japanese! You can try it out for free - although later on there are some registration costs involved.
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Nihongo Resources page
Nihongo Resources page has everything; reading, writing, grammar etc... There is plenty to keep you busy here.
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Downloadable Resources
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Japan Now
the Japanese Embassy in London has made a factsheet about Japan available.
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Fonts
You will find here a free font to allow your computer to type in Japanese. The site also has some other useful learning resources for downloading.
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Study Books
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Kanji de Manga
You can learn Katakana, Hiragana and some Kanji using these Manga to guide you.
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Japanese in Mangaland
You can learn some Japanese grammar through examples in Manga. An example lesson can be found here. There is also a book 2 and book 3 available.
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Japanese the Manga Way
This is probably the best of the Manga learning books available.
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Oxford Starter Dictionary
So you can look up all the new vocabulary that you have to learn.
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Remembering the Kanji
For those with a good pictorial memory, this is an interesting way to learn all of the Kanji using Heisig's very precise methods. Be warned though, it requires dedication and for you to stick to his methods.
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