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Hi! 0.1171875 11.7% [ 15 ]
Hej! 0.03125 3.1% [ 4 ]
Hola! 0.0234375 2.3% [ 3 ]
Hallo! 0.0703125 7.0% [ 9 ]
Terve! 0.0390625 3.9% [ 5 ]
Konnichiwa! 0.71875 71.9% [ 92 ]
Total Votes:[ 128 ]
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Japanese School!!!
Introduction

Hi! I'm Colander! 4laugh

Are you interested in the japanese language? Or do you luv anything that has do to with Japan? Then come here talk about japanese stuff and learn a little about the language! 4laugh
Also, I hope you'll make new friends here!

If there is anything you'd like me to add or anything that I've forgotten then please tell me here or pm me! wink


[UPDATES] There are now kana charts for those who want to learn them:
Hiragana and Katakana!
Personally I know all the signs in both of them! 4laugh

Index

Post 1: Introduction (You Are Here!)
Post 2: Rules
Post 3: Banners and Links
Post 4: The Japanese language
Post 5: Useful phrases
Post 6: Wordlist
Post 7: Students and Teachers
Post 8: Lessons
RULES

exclaim No flaming!
exclaim No cybering!
exclaim Don't stretch the page!
exclaim Follow the rules of Gaia!
exclaim Have fuun!

exclaim To become a student you must fill in the application first! Then I'll put you in the list of students.

Name: -----
Occupation: -----
What do you luv with Japan: -----


exclaim To become a teacher you must fill in the application! Then you must make a little test to see if ur good enough. then I'll put you in the list of teachers.
Name: -----
Occupation: -----
What do you luv with Japan: -----
For how long have you studied japanese: -----
BANNERS & LINKS


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THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE

The Japanese language is a member of the Tungasic-Altaic language group which includes Mongolian and Korean. Japanese is structurally quite different from Chinese. However, since they didn't have a writing system of their own, the Japanese began using Chinese characters (kanji) between the 5th and 9th centuries. In the 9th century the Japanese devised a phonetic syllabary called kana to supplement the idoegraphic kanji with Japanese verb inflections and particles. To make matters even more complicated, two different kana syllabaries evolved: hiragana for writing native words and katakana for writing foreign words.
Although some Japanese tend to be suspicious of foreigners who speak their language too fluently, they greatly appreciate any effort by visitors to use their language. Many Japanese speak at least a little English and bewildered-looking foreigners will often be approached with an offer of help.

Word order: Unlike English, where the word order is subject-verb-object, the word order of a Japanese sentence is subject-object-verb. Example:
Who hit the ball? (this is what we say in english)
Who the ball hit? (this is the equivalent of what a Japanese would say)

Verbs: The verb is the most important part of the sentence. The Japanese penchant for omitting superflous information often leaves the verb clause as the entire sentence. Verbs remain unchanged no matter how many people are being talked about. So ikimasu can mean: I go, you go he (she, it) goes, we go and they go.

Adjectives: As in English, adjectives (and adverbs) precede the words they modify. Example:
A cheap hotel.
=====yasui hoteru

Particles:
wa
the particle wa indicates that the preceding noun is the subject of the sentence.
ka
A ka at the end of a sentence indicates a yes or no question. Simply add the particle after the verb.
no
The particle no, placed between nouns, indicates that the second noun belongs to the first.
o
A word followed by o, is the object of the sentence.

Good luck in your travels! Umuka iku you ni!
WORDLIST


Pronouns:
I, me = watashi / watakushi
you = anata
he, she (that person) = ana hito
we, us = watashitachi
you (plural) = anatatachi
they (those persons) = ano hitotachi


Verbs:
to go = iku, go = ikimasu, went = ikimashita, doesn't go = ikimasen
to come = kuru, come = kimasu, came = kimashita, doesn't come = kimasen
to drink = nomu, drink = nomimasu, drank = nomimashita, doesn't drink = nomimasen
to eat = taberu, eat = tabemasu, ate = tabemashita, doesn't eat = tabemasen
to have = aru, have = arimasu, had = arimashita, doesn't have = arimasen
to understand = wakaru, understand = wakarimasu, understood = wakarimashita, doesn't understand = wakarimasen


Questions:
who = donata (polite), dare (informal)
which = dochira (polite), dore (informal)
what = nan*, nani
where = doko
when = itsu
how = d�
How many = ikutsu
How much = ikura
Why = naze
*nan before b, p, d, t, n, r, z and nani before others.


Domenstratives:
this/these = kore
that/those (close to you) = sore
that/those (far from you) = are
here = koko
there (close to you) = soko
there (far from you) = asoko


[CHECK THIS] Find all the "Random Japanese words with signs" here:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
TEACHERS

arrow Colander
arrow Kyrisa
arrow ashlyn62442
arrow o0+hotoko+0o


STUDENTS

arrow Midori_Kusanago (Midori)
arrow Mr. Katsume
arrow ichigo_rukia (Ruki)
arrow ES_Sixer (Sixer)
arrow Nightsgale (Night)
arrow Karimeiyah (Kaiah)
arrow Kitnami
arrow Kuroi_Toushi_Kaminari
arrow INVALIID
arrow Tala_of_the_azure_sky
arrow japan_rulz (Janice)
arrow Kagomeglitter
arrow prestwitch
arrow Yoshimi Matsuba
arrow whitgrl_x6x
arrow Emikome Umetoko
arrow kaitlyn13
arrow Eternal_Seraphim
arrow Kaze Hyuuga
arrow EVA~05
arrow Chun_Le
arrow N o n o k a
arrow Tanapa
arrow Wrath.Riceball
Lesson 1 (Colander): The Basics!
Pronunciation:
I'ts fairly easy for English speakers to pronounce Japanese. There is also very little variance in stress. Equal weight is given to every syllable of a word unless it has a lengthened vowel sound, in which case the duration of the sound is doubled.
Vowels:
"a" as i "father"
"i" as in "macaroni"
"u" as in "flu"
"e" as in "get"
"o" as in "more"
Vowels with a bar over them are pronounced long.
Examples:
A vital difference between the words komon (adviser) and koumon (a**s)!
The "u" in the common polite verb desu (am, is, are) is muted and hardly pronounced.

Consonants:
f = where "f" sometimes is romanised as "h" it should be pronounced much lighter.
g = in the beginning of a word it's pronounced very hard like "goal" but in the middle of a word it's nasalised almost as "ng".
n = is much more nasal than in English when it's the final consonant.
r = is pronounced like somewhere between "l" and "r".
s = always given as a hard sound like "saw".

Greetings:
When you're meeting someone say "Hi"! There is actually no word for "Hi" so konnichiwa (good day) is well enough! Example:
1. Hi Mr. Yamada! Yamada-san konnichiwa!
2. Hi! Konnichiwa!
1. How are you? Ogenki desu ka?
2. Not too bad. He mama.
1. This is a friend of mine. Ms. Suzuki! Kochi da wa watashi no tomodachi desu. Suzuki-san desu!
2. I'm Yamada. How do you do? Yamada desu. Hajimemashite?
3. Hajimemashite?...


Lesson 2 (Kyrisa): Colors, Numbers and Special Occasion Greetings!
Colors:
Red = Aka
Orange = Orenji
Yellow = Ki'iro
Green = Midori
Blue = Ao
Purple = Murasaki
Pink = Momoiro
Black = Kuro
White = Shiro
Gray = Hai'iro
Brown = Cha'iro
Gold = Kin'iro
Silver = Gin'iro

Numbers:
One = Ichi
Two = Ni
Three = San
Four = Yon / Shi
Five = Go
Six = Roku
Seven = Nana / Shichi
Eight = Hachi
Nine = Kyuu
Ten = Juu

* Greetings for Special Occasions *

~ As some of you may already know, greeting someone with appropriate words is important, especially, when socializing. Here are some phrases to help you. ~

= Celebration =
Omedetou gozaimasu. (Formal) = Congratulations.
Omedetou. (casual)
(Gozaimasu is used for when you are speaking to someone who is not a family member or a close friend.)

~ In response: Arigatou gozaimasu or arigatou is used ~

O-tanjyobi omedetou gozaimasu. (Formal) = Happy Birthday.
Tanjyobi omedetou. (Casual)

("O" and "Go" are honorifics that can be attached before some nouns, as a formal way of saying.. "Your".. it is very polite.)

= To someone who is sick =

Guai wa ikaga desu ka? = How are you feeling? (Lit. How is your condition?)
Kaze wa dou desu ka? = How is your cold?

Okagesama de yoku narimashita. = Thanks to your help, I have gotten better.

(Okagesama de - can be used when announcing good news to someone's inquiry.)

Odaiji ni. = Please take care of yourself.
~ In response = Arigatou gozaimasu. is used. ~


Lesson 3 (Colander): Kanas and Kanji.
As you should know by now, the Japanese language has three different alphabets: hiragana, katakana and kanji. We are now gonna learn how they work.

Hiragana
Hiragana is the first alphabet and is used to represent actual Japanese words. Words like ringo (apple) and daitai (almost).

Katakana
Katakana is used to write so called "loan words", in Japanese. Words like "News" and "Internet" is english words, not Japanese.
Foreign names are also written in katakana. Like George, James, Shannon, Eva, etc.

Kanji
The third alphabet, kanji, was imported over the centuries from China. Kanji are more complex than hiragana and katakana and alos have different reading and meanings depending on how they are combined with other kanji.
It's not uncommon to see a kanji with its reading spelled out in very small kana, written just above it. Kana used in this way, to show you how to pronounce a kanji, are known as "furigana".
Kanji have two sorts of readings: "on" readings and "kun" readings. The "on" readings are based loosely on the original Chinese pronunciation of the kanji, and are typically used when a kanji is part of a compound, i.e. written with at least one other kanji to form a word. The "kun" reading is used when kanji are used on their own, either as complete nouns in their own right or as adjective and verb stems.
on-readings
1) given in capitals
2) used to form compounds
3) based on Chinese pronunciation
kun-readings
1) given in lower-case
2) used individually as nouns
3) used as adjective and verb stems with hiragana suffixes

Example of on-readings:
User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.FUU / FU / kaze
wind, manner.

User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show. taifuu = typhoon. User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show. kofuu = old-fashioned.

Example of kun-readings:
User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.kaze = wind.
User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.KO / furu(i) / furu(su)
old.

User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.furu
i = old. User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.furusu = to wear out. User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.furushita = wore out.
* the red letters represents the hiragana syllables.

There's nothing to stop you writing a kanji word (be it a compound, adjective or verb) entirely in hiragana - in fact, until you learn all the kanji you need, you won't have much choice.
User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show. and User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show. are the same word. If you read the hiragana then you know how to pronounce it but you might not know what it means. But if you read it with kanji then you might not know how to pronounce it but you will know the meaning of the word.
So I can talk now cause there is eight!!...??

P.s. just delete it if I can't!!!
Sorry, I can post now!!
User Image
Freddy is SO smexy!!
Konnichiha, min'na! Ogenki desu ka? Watashi ha genki desu. biggrin

Konnichiha, Col-kun.. nante subarashii no..
4laugh

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