Basic Japanese Greetings

Submitted by admin on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 17:46

This Flash file is part of a much larger $5 download product at The Japan Shop. If you like this file, please consider purchasing the full version for ONLY $5! We have packed well over 500 sounds files into this cross platform Flash program. Hundreds of extremely useful vocabulary are grouped into categories for ease of learning. (again only $5 to get a cool download AND support TheJapanesePage.com!)

Asian laguages

Submitted by mostpopular on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 02:42.

Wow. Amazed to see this page. First time I felt that Japanese could be explained/learnt in a simple way.
I feel that in some sense, there is an inherent similarity in the grammar rules of Asian languages. (How far its true between Hindi/Japanese I cannot tell as I am total noob with Japanese).

Anyways, digging/stubleuponing this page now.

New Year Greetings to all readers here. Have a joyful, blissful 2012!

-- JP

Explanation of Wa vs. Ha

Submitted by online321321 on Sat, 04/24/2010 - 10:10.

To explain when to read "wa" vs. "ha", wa is used when the character は is a particle. When it's just part of a word, it's read as "ha".

watashi wa americanjin desu (わたし　は　アメリカじん　です。）

This sentence means "I'm an American." You would read the character は　like wa in this sentence, because the character is representing a particle. The particle means "is".

However, the number 8 in Japanese is "hachi."　（はち） It's the same character は, but because it's part of a word and not a particle, you'll read it as "ha".

Hope this answered your question.

It Skipped

Submitted by EmilioFox on Tue, 04/05/2011 - 21:54.

I have a supplementary explanation.

"konnichi" (こんにち/Kanji:今日) means "Today". So こんにちは means "Today is".
In old Japan, people said:
"Today is nice (or some greeting words)."
こんにちは was skipped over that.

Similarly, "konban wa" (こんばん(Kanji:今晩)は) means "This night is ..."

In the present day, almost Japanese people use "こんにちは" and "こんばんは" without being aware those.
Some young Japanese miss-write こんにち"わ". (>_<;)