#romaji

Practice reading and identifying kana

Stories in Kana

Sample text from hiragana times

http://www.tofugu.com/2012/08/28/japanese-reading-practice-for-beginners/

http://joechip.net/extensivereading/tag/free-japanese-kids-stories/

It’s time to begin our Japanese learning plan

Step 1: Learn the alphabet and correct pronunciation

• To do: (1) learn 10 kana a day (reading, writing, pronunciation, usage), (2) listen to native Japanese speakers and shadow their sounds for better pronunciation. Listen to the news, real life stuff not anime. Unless you want to sound cartoony. After you get the correct sound down then feel free to go watch your favorite anime.
• Time limit: 2 weeks- 1 month

“The Alphabet" 

The Japanese language has 3 writing systems:

• Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts. There are two kana scripts: hiraganaandkatakana.  Japanese children start to read and write in hiragana before making an attempt to learn some of the two thousand kanji commonly used.   

• Hiragana are sometimes used to write words which would normally written with katakana to make them appear more “feminine”, particularly in comic books and cartoons for young girls. In children’s video games texts are often written entirely in hiragana or katakana.

• Kanji are ideograms, i.e. each character has its own meaning and corresponds to a word.

Japanese is sometimes written in Romaji. Romaji is primarily used for the convenience of foreigners. With Romaji, one can read Japanese without knowing any Japanese writing system. Although there are several systems of Romaji, the most widely used is a modified Hepburn system.

How many kana are there? 

46 (basic set-green), 36 (combined-blue), 25 (dakuten-orange)= 107 each

So to learn 214 kana  doing 10 a day=21.4 days (22 days)

Or if you just focus on the basic set you would be done in about 10 days. Look at the chart and you will see the combined and dakuten are just variations of the basic set.

However you want to learn it is on you. But I want to complete this in 2 weeks. Feel free to use mnemonics and flashcards (widely used program is ANKI)

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Check point:

• Can you identifyall the hiragana and katakana 
• Can you writethem all?
• Can you pronouncethem all?
• Can you translate kana to romaji and vice versa? (side note: once you understand kana don’t use romaji – use your kana- Tell you why later…)
• Can you read a passage in kana or with kanji but with furigana on top. Furigana is the small kana above a kanji to help read.

If you cleared this level move to the next one…Meet the Kanji! Don’t cry. 

-Nisha

Mirei Touyama - Dear My Boo [MV Subbed]

Shimizu Shouta - “My Boo” Answer Song

Now way it could last, he’ll soon say bye bye
That’s what I thought, but I wished for eternity
Different colored T shirts, but matching shy smiles
Making memories together

I was afraid of losing you
So I ran away from love
But the straight-forward feelings you gave me
Gave me the courage to face it

My boo Don’t you go anywhere
Don’t touch anyone else
Cause I’m right here, Cause I’m by your side
Hey boo I’m so happy
If it’s for you then I can be your Jasmine
I’m too embarrassed to ever say it, but…
I love you

Let’s wait for the next bus
Taking the long way home
Holding hands in your pocket
When we walk side-by-side it’s no longer cold
To your left is where I belong
Now and forever

Whenever I’m next to you
I’m too shy to ever say it
How much I like you, now I want you to hear it
Don’t laugh, just listen close when I say…

My boo Don’t you go anywhere
Don’t touch anyone else
Cause I’m right here, Cause I’m by your side
Hey boo I’m so happy
If it’s for you then I can be your Jasmine
I’m too embarrassed to ever say it, but…
I love you

Little misunderstandings turn into big fights
Without even thinking
I spit out words like “Let’s break up”
But still I love you, I’m just clumsy
No matter how painful it gets I want to be by your side

My boo You don’t have to say anything
Just hug me when you get home
Cause from today I will always support you
Hey boo I’m so happy
That you found me, thank you
When you’re sleeping, when you’re down, when you’re laughing
I’m so in love with you

My boo Don’t you go anywhere
Don’t touch anyone else
Cause I’m right here, Cause I’m by your side
Hey boo I’m so happy
If it’s for you then I can be your Jasmine
I’m too embarrassed to ever say it, but…
I love you

(Credits: JPNtoENG.tumblr.com)