I made this world because I decided I wanted to continue to learn Japanese. I took Japanese I, II, and III in high school, under the instruction of the one the best teachers I’ve ever had ( We miss ya Mr. Bryan!). Since then, two years have passed, and I haven’t used even a little bit of what I’ve learned in these classes; it would be an understatement to say I’m a bit rusty. This world is more for me, a place to gather what I remember, and keep track of my progress. I really want to be able to speak and read Japanese as best as I possibly can, and I figured their might be a few people on the Otaku who feel the same way. Hopefully you’ll find my notes useful.

I welcome any questions anyone has, and I will try to answer to the best of my abilities; no guarantee here. I also welcome any help anyone might want to give; please if I make a mistake by all means correct me.

* If anyone is really interested in learning Japanese, and dosen't even know the basics, let me know and I'll post lessons, old vocabulary and grammar test and such that may help ya out. If theres not, then I'll just continue to post what I'm studying (which will mostly be Kanji Characters).

My Goals
1. Learn (be able to read and somewhat write) the 1, 945 recommended Kanji
characters (there are actually way more than 2,000 O_o)
2. Relearn Katakana & Hiragana
3. Work on Grammar
4. Build up my vocabulary
5. Watch an anime in Japanese without subtitles

Where I get my information:
- old notes I took in class
- a Japanese/English, English/Japanese dictionary I bought at the book store
- 3 text books, (Jap. I, II & III) given to my sister and I when our Japanese
teacher retired, and the school decided to cancel the class T-T
- and of course, the internet XD

Instead of Kanji........

Instead of boring you with Kanji, I've decided today that I shall do a vocabulary dump XD

How do you do? - Hajimemashite

"a" makes the "ah" sound like in father
"i" makes the "ee" sound like in leep
"e" makes the "eh" sound like in ledge
"u" makes the "oo" sound like in oops
"o" makes the "oh" sound like in Oh! or obey

So it would be said like:

Ha (Like in "Happen") - Ji (pronounced like "gee") - Me (like in met) -
Ma (like in "Mama!") - Shi (pronounced like "she") - Te (like in "tent")

Note: make sure you treat every syllable (I think thats the right word...maybe not) the same......in other words don't stress one part of the word over the others. ex: like saying it, "Haa-jimemashite" Yeah don't do that, cuz it could change the word entirely and bring about awkward misunderstandings.

Funny Example:

Husband is Shujin and,
prisoner is Shuujin.

Thats enough for today.....I know I only did like one vocab word, but its thundering and lighting outside like mad, so I have to get off the computer XD

Kanji of the Day: 2 of 1,945

Reading: Otsu, Oto~(not sure if the second reading is correct)

Meaning: Second, Young (not sure of corectness)

From now on I think I'm just going to give the reading I find in my japanese dictionary, and skip what they actually mean in english, unless I know already what it means. I'm really just learning these characters so I'll beable to write the Japanese words I learn corectly in Japanese. The Japanese infact have 3 diffrent "alphabets".

Katakana is used for foreign (non-japanese) words and names.
Hiragan is used for some Japanese words, and is most often used along side the Kanji. Unlike Kanji, the Hiragana and Katakana characters represent sounds, rather than full words. There are about 38 didfferent charcters in each, which can be altered by combing them, or adding another symbol, such as " (tick marks)or a small circle.

If anyone is interested in learning either Katakana, or Hiragana, I can help, just let me know.

Hiragana and Katakana Chart: Click Here

Kanji of the Day: 1 of 1,945

On-reading (Chinese reading): Ichi, Itsu

Kun-reading (Japanese reading): Hito (tsu)

Meaning: One, unity

Examples (Words that use the Kanji):

January: Ichigatsu

One time: Ichido

General, universal: Ippan

One person: Hitori