Newbie the alphabet
- scarmar
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Newbie the alphabet
Hi I'm newbie here and I started to learn Japanes few days ago, I'd like ask a question, what alphabet I have to learn? Kanji Hiragana oe katakana? could you explain me when I have to use one or another? Thanks
I wanna learn Japanese, please help me up!
- astaroth
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
Ciao scarmar,
short answer: all of them. There's no way around you need the two syllabaries (hiragana and katakana) and the kanji to read Japanese, but as a starter I'd suggest you study hiragana first, then katakana and once you master those two start tackling kanji.
Comunque ... benvenuto nel forum ed in bocca al lupo nei tuoi studi!
short answer: all of them. There's no way around you need the two syllabaries (hiragana and katakana) and the kanji to read Japanese, but as a starter I'd suggest you study hiragana first, then katakana and once you master those two start tackling kanji.
Comunque ... benvenuto nel forum ed in bocca al lupo nei tuoi studi!
ー 流光 ー
花地世
小 見獄の
林 かの中
一 な上は
茶 の
花地世
小 見獄の
林 かの中
一 な上は
茶 の
- scarmar
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
thanks a lt, maybe you are italian also, but what's the main difference? I guess Kanji is one simble one word? one simble to say home?
I wanna learn Japanese, please help me up!
- astaroth
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
Yup Italian too.
I guess you meant the difference between the two syllabaries (hiragana and katakana) and the kanji. The short answer is that hiragana and katakana represent syllabic sounds, that is か is ka, け ke and so on, while kanji are ideogram so "they represent concepts" though this is quite reductive as few words are represented by just one kanji. For instance river is 川 while brook is 小川 (sort of literally little 小さい river 川).
I guess you meant the difference between the two syllabaries (hiragana and katakana) and the kanji. The short answer is that hiragana and katakana represent syllabic sounds, that is か is ka, け ke and so on, while kanji are ideogram so "they represent concepts" though this is quite reductive as few words are represented by just one kanji. For instance river is 川 while brook is 小川 (sort of literally little 小さい river 川).
ー 流光 ー
花地世
小 見獄の
林 かの中
一 な上は
茶 の
花地世
小 見獄の
林 かの中
一 な上は
茶 の
Re: Newbie the alphabet
Another important difference is that while a hiragana or katakana character always represents the same sound, the pronunciation (reading) of a kanji can differ depending on the word it's in. For instance, 頭 is read "atama", but in the word 頭脳/zunou it's read "zu". In the word 冒頭/boutou it's read "tou".
You might think that this makes things pretty difficult, but you can think of reading kanji like trying to pronounce unfamiliar words in English, which can be just as tricky. Who could come across words like enough, cough, through, bough for the first time and immediately know how to pronounce them? The pronunciation of the symbols "ough" differs wildly and there's no readily discernible pattern.
To get over this problem, first you learn how to say those words, then you learn they're spelt with "ough" - or, you learn the spelling and the pronunciation of the words at the same time.
You can handle kanji like that too; either you learn the words "atama" and "zunou" and "boutou" and later memorize that they all contain the kanji 頭 - or you learn 冒頭 and its reading at the same time.
You might think that this makes things pretty difficult, but you can think of reading kanji like trying to pronounce unfamiliar words in English, which can be just as tricky. Who could come across words like enough, cough, through, bough for the first time and immediately know how to pronounce them? The pronunciation of the symbols "ough" differs wildly and there's no readily discernible pattern.
To get over this problem, first you learn how to say those words, then you learn they're spelt with "ough" - or, you learn the spelling and the pronunciation of the words at the same time.
You can handle kanji like that too; either you learn the words "atama" and "zunou" and "boutou" and later memorize that they all contain the kanji 頭 - or you learn 冒頭 and its reading at the same time.
- scarmar
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
thanks averybody, another question how can I type the Japanese simbols on my keyboard?
I wanna learn Japanese, please help me up!
- phreadom
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
http://thejapanesepage.com/w/index.php? ... y_computerscarmar wrote:thanks averybody, another question how can I type the Japanese simbols on my keyboard?
猿も木から落ちる
- scarmar
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
thanks, how much time I have to spend to work on japanese for beeing fine? It's just couple days that I started it's tough at starting! I'm using an assimil's book
I wanna learn Japanese, please help me up!
- astaroth
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
"Rome wasn't built in a day" (...「ちりも積もれば山となる」でしょうか)
It takes years to master any language, a bit more for something as alien as Japanese. Though the grammar is pretty straightforward and no declinations, almost no irregular verbs. Take one step at a time ...
It takes years to master any language, a bit more for something as alien as Japanese. Though the grammar is pretty straightforward and no declinations, almost no irregular verbs. Take one step at a time ...
ー 流光 ー
花地世
小 見獄の
林 かの中
一 な上は
茶 の
花地世
小 見獄の
林 かの中
一 な上は
茶 の
- Yudan Taiteki
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
ローマは一日にして成らずastaroth wrote:"Rome wasn't built in a day" (...「ちりも積もれば山となる」でしょうか)

-Chris Kern
- Yudan Taiteki
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
Of course that's taken from Western languages but it should be in most Japanese dictionaries.
-Chris Kern
- Ben Bullock
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
Most people learn hiragana first. You might be interested to find out about how Japanese children learn their language to get a hint.scarmar wrote:Hi I'm newbie here and I started to learn Japanes few days ago, I'd like ask a question, what alphabet I have to learn? Kanji Hiragana oe katakana? could you explain me when I have to use one or another? Thanks
-
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
Just to be contrary, I think one could learn Kanji first (writing and recognition in one's native language), but one can also learn both the kana sets at the same. Recommended path is the "Kanji Lite" variant of Remembering the Kanji (essentially the JLPT 2 kanji and supporting kanji), plus Remembering the Kana. It's about 100 hours of effort, but it does pay off quickly as the kanji in Kanji Lite list account for 89.7% of Kanji used in the Japanese Wikipedia, (based off scans from a few months ago) and likely 100% of whatever early learning material you'll use.
- Yudan Taiteki
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Re: Newbie the alphabet
And you can find more information about RTK Lite, SRS, and other helpful stuff over at forum.koohii.com if you choose to pursue that route.
-Chris Kern