beginner
- 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.
- Hiragana: The N Line
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March 23rd, 2010
Welcome to the fifth instalment of our hiragana lessons on zonjineko.com – the hiragana N line. The N line consists of na (な), ni (に), nu (ぬ), ne (ね) and no (の). There are a few important hiragana in this line that you’ll frequently see in any Japanese sentences.
- Hiragana: The T Line
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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?
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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.
- Hiragana: The S Line
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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
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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.
- Hiragana: The A Line
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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.