こんにちは！

ごめんなさい。(I'm sorry)

Sorry it has been so long since the last lesson. I, in all my adulting brilliance, forgot to pay the internet bill...

So, in review. Again, keep in mind the romaji is in parenthesis. The pronunciation is NOT the same as English. And make sure you keep the sound short.

あ = (a) ah     か = (ka)     が = (ga)     さ = (sa)     ざ = (za)
い = (i) ee      き = (ki)      ぎ = (gi)      し = (shi)     じ = (ji)
う = (u) ou       く = (ku)     ぐ = (gu)     す = (su)     ず = (zu)
え = (e) eh      け = (ke)     げ = (ge)     せ = (se)     ぜ = (ze)
お= (o) oh       こ = (ko)     ご = (go)     そ = (so)     ぞ = (zo)

Awww, aren't they so pretty, all lined up in a row? And you can read them! It's okay, do the happy dance in the chair. I'll wait.

Done? A little more?

Okay.

The 't' kana.

た = ta
ち = chi (Another tricksey one. There is no 'ti' in the Hiragana. There is in the Katakana.)
つ = tsu (Another one! This kana is going to be very important in words so pay attention to it!)
て = te
と = to (For some reason, I had the hardest time with 'te' and 'to'. Hopefully, you won't have the same.)

Now for some vocabulary.

とおい = (tooi) = far.  This is a long 'o' as you can see from the romaji.
あつい = (atsui) = hot (air)
とき = (toki) = time, when used by itself.
たかい = (takai) = expensive
いたい = (itai) = hurt, painful (physical)
あたたかい = (atatakai) Warm. (That is a fun one to say!)
あつい = (atsui) thick, flat object. (I know, it also means hot, that is where kanji comes in.)
うすい = (usui) thin, flat object
おいしい = (oishii) = tasty, delicious.
ぎんこう = (ginkou) = bank

さよなら！ (sayonara)

Number 5

こんにちは！

Right to it, shall we?

あ = (a) ah     か = ka     が = ga     さ = sa
い = (i) ee     き = ki      ぎ = gi       し = shi (tricky one, there is no 'si' in the Japanese language)
う = (u) oo     く = ku      ご = gu      す = su
え = (e) eh     け = ke     げ = ge      せ = se
お = (o) oh     こ = ko     ご = go      そ = so

Now, for more dakuten fun! The one's we learned yesterday and going to don them, and hello! 'Z' kana!

ざ = za
じ = ji (except this tricky one) gee
ず = zu
ぜ = ze
ぞ = zo

Now, for some vocabulary!
Unfortunately, I can't find any vocabulary that doesn't include kana that we haven't gone over.
So, just some more basic words.

かお = (kao) face
き = (ki) tree. I know, I said before that it was soul, spirit. And it is! This is where Kanji comes in. And the context in which the words is used...
じかん = (jikan) time. I FOUND ONE! This じ was one we learned today!
あさ = (asa) morning
そこ = (soko) there (close to the person being spoken to)
あそこ = (asoko) over there (away from speaker and listener)
じ = (ji) letter, character
すうじ = (suuji) numbers
かぎ = (kagi) key, door bolt
おいしい = (oishii) delicious, tasty.

And ten new shiny words to use!
Have fun with them! Say them! They are going to feel awkward and strange, but trust me, you do get used to it. And using them will make them stick. Well, will help anyway, lol.

And if anyone has any question, please feel free to ask. IF I mess something up, please point it out! I am still learning this too!

さよなら！ (sayonara)

Lesson 4

こんにちは！

ごめん！ (gomen)
Sorry I skipped yesterday, but I hope you had time to review and go over the dakuten. We will be using it again tomorrow.

But for now, let's review.

あ = (a) ah          が = (ga)
い = (i) ee           ぎ = (gi)
う = (u) oo           ぐ = (gu)
え = (e) eh           げ = (ge)
お = (o) oh          ご = (go)

か = (ka)
き = (ki)
く = (ku)
け = (ke)
こ = (ko)

Awwww, look, 15 bright and shiny kana! And you know them! You can read them! Woot!

Time to add 5 more!
Here are the 's' kana.

さ = (sa) sah
し = (shi) (oops! it broke the pattern... ) she
す = (su) sue
せ = (se) like 'set' without the t.
そ = (so) so

Bam! An even twenty!

Now for some words...
さく = (saku) = to blossom (pretty, right?)
すし = (sushi) = sushi (see what I did there? Hehe)
すき = (suki) = like or love (not THAT love)
せんせい = (sensei) = teacher (School teacher is different)
さか = (saka) = hill, slope
すごい = (sugoi) = Wow! or Awesome! BUT (kicker here) it can also mean awful, depending on the context. Most common as awesome, however.
せい = 9sei) = cause, or reason
そくそく = (sokusoku) = keenly, or heartily.

Okay, I have to call it a night as work calls.
See you tomorrow!
さよなら！(sayonara)

Lesson 3

こんにちは！

Again, my computer is acting goofy, so hopefully, I will get this done today.

So far, we have done the 5 base sounds, the exception, and the 'k' sounds. But a quick review:
Romaji is shown before the pronunciation.
あ= (a) ah
い = (i) ee
う = (u) oo
え = (e) eh
お = (o) oh

ん = (n) the 'n' sound in sung. Don't forget, this is a back of the tongue sound.

か = ka
き = ki
く = ku
け = ke
こ = ko

Yeah! Progress!

But now for something tricky. We are going to learn the dakuten also known as tenten.
With this tenten, we are going to make 'g' sounds. To write the 'g' form of a kana, you add the tenten to the 'k' kana.

Thus...

か + dakuten = が

And I will make all of these larger so you can see the placement. The placement is important because, and I know this from experience, when you are writing Hiragana, if it's wrong, it can make it difficult to read.

が = ga
ぎ = gi
ぐ = gu
げ = ge
ご = go

Noticing a pattern with the sounds? Pretty easy huh?

Let's learn some words.

えがお = egao = smile, or a smiling face
ごご = gogo = afternoon
えいご =eigo = English language.
ご = go = five
げんき = genki= healthy, lively. But, really it's more than that. It something that has no English translation. More like a feeling of positiveness. This is part of a common Japanese greeting. The longer version is げんきですか？ Genki desu ka? Basically, "Are you well?"

Okay, that is it for the vocabulary today. The dakuten the five there should keep you busy until tomorrow.

Happy learning!

Lesson 2

こんにちは！

I mean to have this posted before I go to work, but my computer is acting flakey when I switch to the Japanese keyboard, so... we will see.

Last lesson we learned the 'base' kana. Remember, every sounds ends with these sounds, except the exception.

Quick review.
あ= ah (read as'a'in romaji, but pronounced as 'as')
い = ee (reads as 'i' in romaji, but pronounced as 'ee')
う = oo (read as 'u' in romaji, but pronounced as 'oo')
え = eh (read as 'e' in romaji, but pronounced as 'eh')
お = oh (read as 'o' in romaji, but pronounced as 'oh')

I realized I should include the romaji reading, and there is quite a bit of it in the US. But keep in mind, in Japan, you would rarely see it. And it is NOT like reading in English as the sounds are so different.

Now, on to the 'k' sounds. Remember what I said about the above Kana.

か = 'ka'
き = 'ki'
く = 'ku'
け ='ke'
こ ='ko'

And there are 5 more! And in the list there, are more vocabulary words.

か = ka = mosquito.
け = ke = fur
ここ= koko = here
かく = kaku = to write (one of my favorites)
き = ki = soul, spirit. (It actually has quite a few menings, but those are just a couple.)
あか = aka = red
あき = aki = fall, autum
えき = eki = station
きく = kiku = to listen
かう = kau = to buy.

And there you go! Another 10 words.

Please keep in mind, the verbs up there ( the to words) are in dictionary form. To be used in a sentence, they need to be conjugated to the correct form. It's surprisingly easy, but we will wait until after the Hiragana.

I hope that after a couple of days, I will be able to upload pronunciation clips, but in the meantime, you can find videos all over Youtube.

Happy learning and さよなら！(sayonara)

A tiny lesson.

おはようございます！

I meant to do this earlier, but I figured that post was long enough.

I was considering something based on a conversation I was having with someone who was curious about Japanese.

I was thinking I could give lessons as I was learning them. Not anything heavy, more like just the hiragana.

Now, I know what you may be thinking. There are so many sites out there that will teach what I know. But, heck, I may do something different or explain something in a different way that might help. Or, maybe this will just help me. Who knows.

First, in this post, just the base sounds. I say base, because every Kana (hiragana and katakana) will end with these sounds. All but one. Yes, there are exceptions to everything. But in this, there is only one exception. Let me go ahead and get this out of the way.

ん = n. Easy enough, right? When you see ん, you make an 'n' sound. There is a trick to this sound however. and if you mess it up, it's fine. I think it only helps to sound more native, but you will never be laughed at if you don't do it. When you make the sound, you say it like the 'n' in sung. As in, you use the base of the tongue. It take practice to get it, but believe me, if a southerner, such as myself, can get it, so can you!

Now, on to the base sounds.

あ = a. Pronounced like "ah" but short.
い = i. Pronounced like 'ee' like the sound in see, but short.
う = u. Pronounced like 'oo', like the sound in pool, but short. (Seeing a pattern here? All sounds are short.)
え = e. Pronounced like the 'eh', in egg, but, of course short.
お = o. Pronounced like 'oh', but... you guessed it, it's a short sound.

There, that wasn't so hard, was it?

And what is better, is that with those few Hiragana, you can already start working on your vocabulary. RIGHT?

Here are a few:

え = Picture. WHAT? THAT? Yep! It can be used for anything drawn or painted. A photograph is different.
いう = To say, to tell, to talk.
あい = Love. Well, there is more to it that than, but we will get into that later. ai means love. Let's just go with that for now.
いえ = House, as in household. Not the actual HOUSE house, but what it contains. Or home.
いい = Good. When you see two of the same base hiragana together, it makes the long sound. いい would be read or said as 'eeee'
いいえ = No.
あう = To meet.
ええ = A less formal yes. Everyone knows Hai.
うえ = Up, Above.
One last one. You can do it!
うん = Ah ha! There is that ん！ This, dear friends, is the even LESS formal yes. Essentially, it means 'yeah.'

There, that wasn't too hard, was it?

10 words from 5 kana. Imagine what can be done after another 5 tomorrow?

Happy learning!

こんにちは！

げんきですか？

It's been a while, no? Sorry about that. I found a few amazing tools to help me with learning. 

One being this site. Memrise. 

It's amazing! 

In a few days, I learned so many new words. There are TONS of courses for Japanese, and if you are learning a different language, I am sure there are tons from that language as well. The lessons are created by users and they way it's done makes the learning seem very natural. I pushed myself, like I always do, and I went through the Introduction into Japanese course in a couple of days. 

Probably not the smartest thing I could have done, but a lot of is was Hiragana, which I already know. I do think that it helped with the speed at which I read, so....

I have only used the PC website. I know they have mobile apps, but I have never used it. I have no idea if there is a fee or not.

But I HIGHLY recommend it!

And for listening practice, I found this on Youtube. It's kind of addicting. And the hour flies by! It's easy to hear the rhythm and it so rewarding when you hear things you know, and I hear a surprising amount that I know.

And of course, everyone knows about Anki, the amazing SRS flashcard program. I don't think I would be where I am without it....

Now, on to my most favorite part. This guy! He is simply amazing. I got verb conjugation SO fast. the polite for anyway. But that is all I have really watched. And it's really the most important, in my opinion. I would rather speak politely to my friends then casual to my boss... I will learn the others next, but ます is SO easy!

Now, I need to learn more verbs, lol. 

I am considering creating a Youtube channel to document my progress, also, I need practice speaking. I would use one of those sites that let you Skype call with someone, but I am INCREDIBLY shy. Maybe one day I will have a couple of drinks and try it. Once I learn how to make longer sentences than わたしはねくすきです。<---- I like cats. 

So, anyway, what are some things that you use to help learn this?

さよなら！

こんにちは！

げんきですか？

Yeah, so, I still don't have conversation skills yet, but I think I will work on that next.

I am up to about 百 Kanji. So, maybe I should start using them. Once I learn how. I need vocabulary. I need particles. I need so many things.

No, I am not frustrated, because everyday brings me that much closer to speaking this beautiful language.

On the Kanji front, I know that most of the time, when you have too or more, you use the Onyomi reading, but my question is what if there is more than one Onyomi? That's where the vocabulary comes in handy, I believe.

I know, mostly, how to conjugate verbs. Next up is nouns.

So, this is going to be my new game plan.

いち: Learn two Kanji. Review the ones I know.
に: Learn three particles.
さん: Learn 5 verbs.
よん: Learn 5 nouns.

In theory, as I do this, I increase my vocabulary, right? And I think it is particles holding me back in forming sentences. I am terrified of making a mistake. And I don't know why. Why be terrified?

I am learning a language! I am going to make mistakes!
Hell, even Japanese people mess up!
I speak English and I still mess that up.
I am a writer, and I mess up.

Don't be afraid.
Don't let fear hold you back.
Acknowledge that you WILL make mistakes and learn from them.
Be fearless in moving forward!

Now, it's time to take my own advice!

またね！

こんにちは！

I haven't posted lately because, well, while I have been learning a lot, I really don't have the conversation skills that I want.

I know that will come in time and while I am in a hurry to be able to speak the language, I want to be able to do it correctly.

Slow and steady wins the race, right?

So, I did find the really long instructional video on Youtube that I believe is helping with my listening skills. It is also helping boost my speaking speed. But I think what I really need now is just more vocabulary and Kanji.

My reading is very slow.

Or, what I consider to be very slow.

Which I am sure is slow.

I do have to keep reminding myself that it has only been a few months, and I do have a tiny bit of life outside of studying. I also have no idea what to study first. This is where a classroom setting could (maybe) be beneficial.

Alas, I do not have the funds for that, and I do kind of enjoy the freedom to choose when and how I am going to study.

I also have no text books. Everything I have learned so far has been free of charge. Aside from the cost of paper, ink, and notebooks.

I learn best by writing things down. And I have written a LOT!

I claim to have about 150 vocabulary under my belt, but I only realized just last night, that I can recognize far more.

I can listen to interviews and pick out many more that I know. So, there is that. And the same is true for Kanji. I recognize more that I 'know'. I know what they mean, though I don't know the readings. So, I don't feel so bad now.

Unfortunately, I cannot do the immersion thing, but I am doing what I can. The previously mentioned interviews and songs are the best I can do. I don't read anime or manga, I don't even know the difference. But I do what I can, and surprise, I feel like it is working!

Anyway, that is my update!
I hope you are still enjoying your journey!