Learn Hiragana

January 8th, 2010

The T line consists of ta (た), chi (ち), tsu (つ), te (て), to (と) and the changes to the aiueo rule happen in two places. The first difference comes with chi (ち), which replaces the expected “ti” and is a mirror image of さ (sa) so don’t get confused there.

The other change is tsu (つ), which comes in place of what you may have assumed would be “tu”.

Should You Take The JLPT?

December 7th, 2009

The JLPT is over for another year. Some of you attended, some may have missed it, others didn’t know it was on and the rest. Well, care factor = 0.

If you spend any time reading around the interwebs this time of year, you’ll notice the great unwashed coming out of their caves and denouncing the JLPT as a waste of money and/or time.

Japan Vocab: Weather Words

December 2nd, 2009

Visiting Japan and want to discuss the weather? Or maybe you’re just looking for a few lame hook up lines for a new Japanese girlfriend.

These weather-based words will make sure you’re good to go at any time.

The Tale of the Little Tsu

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).

Hiragana: The S Line

October 23rd, 2009

The S line signals the first of what will be many rule-breaker moments that you’ll experience as you learn Japanese, or any language really.

It consists of sa (さ), shi (し), su (す), se (せ), so (そ). The changes to our aiueo rule happens with shi (し), which takes the place of what would be “si”, however the rest of the line remains as is.

Hiragana: The K Line

August 22nd, 2009

Welcome to the exciting (?) second installment of our hiragana lessons. Today I’ll be taking you through the second line of the hiragana table, which adds a “k” to the front of the vowel (a-i-u-e-o) pattern that we’ve already learnt.

Romaji Is Evil

August 1st, 2009

Okay so maybe that’s a little bit over the top but one of the things I have learnt the hard way is to avoid romaji when you are learning Japanese. When you get to Japan you will realise there is nothing (or very little) written in romaji except for the usual train station names, some street names, store names and a few other things that are there to make life easier for foreigners.

Hiragana: The A Line

August 1st, 2009

Welcome to our very first hiragana lesson. I’ll be taking you through the first five hiragana characters, which are equivalent, in terms of letters, to the vowels in English eg a, e, i, o, u.