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About the Japanese Language |
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| Basic Japanese Phrases--|- JLPT Grammar--|- Japanese Lessons--|- Grade 1 Kanji |
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Congratulations! You are on your way to learning Japanese. Japanese is a fun and rewarding language and fairly simple to learn. Spoken by over 130 million people, Japanese creates many opportunities. Below is a chart that explains the basics of the language: |
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Essentials of Japanese |
| Writing Systems: |
Three |
Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji (Chinese characters) |
| Sentence Order: |
SOV |
Subject + Object + Verb, verbs/adjectives can stand alone |
| Future Verb Tense: |
No |
Past, Present, and Progressive only |
| Plural Nouns: |
Rarely used |
Plurism is mostly understood due to the setting of the content |
| Word Gender: |
No |
Words are neuter |
| Pronouns: |
Rarely used |
Japanese use individual names instead of pronouns |
| Speech Levels: |
Four |
Vulgar, Informal, Formal, Humble |
| Loanwords: |
Many |
Loanwords are written in Katakana |
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| Looking for Japanese study books? Browse our Book Store! |
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How to Learn Japanese |
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| We recommend learning Japanese in the following order: |
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1. |
Phonetics: |
How to pronounce Japanese words |
2. |
Expressions: |
How to greet and say basic expressions |
3. |
Hiragana: |
How to read and write the 46 symbols of the alphabet |
4. |
Vocabulary: |
How to use more words in conversation |
5. |
Katakana: |
How to read and write the 46 symbols of the loan-words alphabet |
6. |
Grammar: |
How to create complex sentences using grammar |
7. |
Kanji : |
How to read and write over 2,000 Chinese characters |
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Japanese Writing Systems |
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| Japan has 3 writing systems, not including Arabic numerals and the Roman alphabet: |
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Hiragana |
Native to Japan |
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There are 46 hiragana characters. (Hiragana Chart) |
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Used for learning kanji (Chinese characters). |
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Used for words that do not have a kanji character. |
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Used for grammatical purposes (ex. the ending of verbs) |
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Used in exchange of unknown kanji characters to the writer/reader. |
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Example: |
ひらがなはとてもべんりです。 |
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Katakana |
Native to Japan |
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There are 46 katakana characters. (Katakana Chart) |
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Used for writing words borrowed from other languages (such as English) |
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Used to write certain words to express a point. |
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Used for names of foreignors. |
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Example: |
カタカナモベンリデスヨ。 |
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Kanji |
Native to China |
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Over 2,000 kanji characters are learned by the end of high school. |
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Every kanji has a unique symbolic meaning. |
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Kanji is used in compounds to create words. (日本＋語＝日本語) |
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Kanji placement changes word meaning. |
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Combinations of kanji characters change the sound of the word. |
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Used for Japanese names. |
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Example: |
全てを漢字で書いては出来ないね。 |
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