Learn Katakana
- Learn Katakana: Japanese Computer Terms
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July 29th, 2010
I’ve gathered a handful of common computer and internet terms with their Japanese equivalents. They’re a great way to learn new Japanese words plus get your head around the occasionally complicated Katakana involved. A good way to sharpen your skills in this area is to switch your whole computer over to the Japanese for a day.
- Japanese Terms Explained for Beginners
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July 12th, 2010
So you just started learning Japanese and you’re wondering what all these crazy new terms are that you’ve never heard of before? To get you started I’ll kick you off with a quick explanation of some of the more popular terms.
- Learning Japanese: Do It Your Own Way
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June 10th, 2010
Everyone learns a different way. It’s an obvious statement but one that bears thinking about when you’re attempting to learn a language. For example, if you’re studying at school I guarantee that no-one bothered to ask you about how you wanted to learn Japanese?
- Learning Japanese: Never Give Up
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May 25th, 2010
Whether you’re a beginner, advanced or somewhere in between, at some point in your Japanese studies you’ve probably “hit the wall”. I’m sure you know the feeling – you’re over it, you don’t want to see another kanji or verb conjugation as long as you live.
- Japan Signs: Tokyo Fruit Juice Bar
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April 23rd, 2010
I stumbled on this juice bar at a train station in Tokyo and thought it would make a perfect image for my Japan Sign series. There’s a great mixture of hiragana, katakana and kanji although I’ll mainly be looking at the katakana in today’s example. First up on the left we have Banana Juice (バナナジュース), which is entirely in Katakana. Banana is written as バナナ (ba-na-na) and juice is ジュース (ju-u-su).
- Japan Signs: Ameyoko Fruit Stall
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February 16th, 2010
This was shot somewhere along the busy market streets of the famous Ameyoko in Ueno, Tokyo. There is all sorts of produce available including seafood, fruit and vegetables right through to shoes, t-shirts and jeans. The markets are always packed, which makes for an exciting place to visit when you’re next in Tokyo.
- Japan Signs: Going Overseas?
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February 9th, 2010
I took this shot of an ad hanging on a train somewhere on the Yamanote line in Tokyo. I think it’s a great real-life example of the use of Katakana for foreign city or country names.
To start you off I’ll go through the first line and then you can take it from there. We put all the first line together and get “Rondon” or London as it is known in English.
- Learn Katakana: The Starter Kit
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January 13th, 2010
Rows upon rows of laundry detergent all written in katakana – imagine the horror when your partner asks you to grab brand X and you come home with brand Y because you can’t read katakana – oh the shame!
- The Tale of the Little Tsu
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November 27th, 2009
When you’re just starting to learn Japanese and in particular hiragana and katakana, the small tsu (っ/ッ) is one of those tricky little buggers that may get you a little confused. Every time I saw something like がっこう (gakkou), I thought it was reading as が (ga) っ (tsu) こ (ko) う (u).
- WTF….$70 Grapes!
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November 25th, 2009
We came across these white grapes for sale at a large department store in Kashiwa, a northern suburb of Tokyo.
While they look very tasty, I’m not quite sure they’re worth the approx. AUD$70 they worked out to be against the Aussie dollar at the time.