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Learn Japanese Language

TOP 10 Myths About Learning Japanese Language

1. Japanese is near-impossible for English speakers.

If you’ve been around enough multi-lingual speakers, you know this just isn’t true. While Japanese is definitely difficult (especially for English speakers), it’s not impossible to learn. Granted, you’ll have to learn a lot more concepts (especially grammar rules and new pronunciations) compared to if you’re learning Spanish or French; that just makes it more challenging and definitely not out of your reach.

What gives Japanese such a nasty rep as a difficult language? For the most part, it’s because Japanese is genetically unrelated to English whatsoever. You know how you can rely on cognates when learning German or Spanish? Not gonna happen here. Think you can use English-style grammar with Japanese? Nope, you’ll have to learn a new one entirely. Plus, you will likely discover some concepts that just don’t exist in the English vernacular.

Is it harder than other Romanic languages? Of course. That, however, just gives it a higher learning curve and, basing on the people I’ve seen who have learned Japanese, it really isn’t that steep.


2. Japanese writing is impossible.

While I can relate to the “overwhelm factor” of learning the Japanese writing system, “impossible” is an exaggeration. Sure, it’s mindblowing, especially if your only exposure thus far is to the Latin alphabet. I won’t kid you — it will take time and commitment (more so than learning the spoken language), but it can be done.

In fact, once you get around the initial shock, the top-to-bottom and left-to-right writing orientation should make it easy to pick out individual characters. Even with just knowledge of the basic hiragana and katakana, you can do reasonably well discerning grammatical structures. Sure, you might miss out on some of the central elements of the sentence, but that makes it very achievable.


3. You need to be young to learn a language as difficult as Japanese.

While I do believe a new language is easier to absorb while you’re young, that doesn’t make it impossible for the more advanced among us. In fact, it’s about as hard as studying anything new at whatever age you are, whether it be chemistry, drawing or writing bars for rap songs. Like we said above, spoken Japanese actually isn’t that hard once you learn the core sounds, so there’s really no valid basis for this myth.


4. Japanese words make no sense.

Of course, it doesn’t make sense — you don’t know the language. It just sounds as gibberish to you as English probably sounds gibberish to them. Spoken Japanese, in fact, is quite easy to make sense of early in your language learning — there’s only one final consonant, five vowels and very few sounds.

Japanese has a very simple phonology with a very small phoneme inventory. Even better, the sounds should be very familiar to English speakers with no exotic elements. There’s no tone (unlike Chinese) and while there’s a pitch accent, it rarely matters during actual conversations (yes, people can understand you for the most part).


5. You need to learn to speak very fast.

Life is fast-paced in Japan and when you listen to native speakers talk, they might sound like they’re rushing to spit words out of their mouth. In reality, that’s a testament to the simple sounds used throughout the language: you’ll likely be talking the same way once you gain some amount of fluency. Japanese is just like any other language — you can talk in a more deliberate pace without losing meaning.


6. Learning the language takes a lifetime.

Let’s be real: mastering any language probably takes a lifetime, too, even your native vernacular. But who among us is really learning a second language to become a national authority on it? Yeah, I thought so. If all you’re after is a reasonable level of skill in Japanese, a few months to a year is more than enough period to get there if you put in the time and effort.


7. You can learn Japanese from watching anime.

This is a strategy embraced by many people who want to use their anime fandom as a means to actually learn the language. Will it work? To a degree, I guess. I have a friend who did just that, although he mixed it in with some basic lessons he found for free online, especially during the early stages. He also got a translation dictionary and a basic phrasebook, which he would study sporadically. I’m not exactly sure how long he went from absolute zero to functionally competent at understanding the language, but he did make it. He can barely speak, but he can understand and read most of the anime content in the native language. To make it short, any skill he picked up isn’t likely to be of much help when actually conversing with people, but it’s better than nothing.


8. Japanese sounds ugly.

While it doesn’t have the grace of French, I don’t find Japanese ugly at all. Sure, there are some speakers who sound bad when using it, but Japanese can actually sound pleasing to the ears when spoken by someone whose language skills are crisp and precise, especially if they know how to color their language.


9. Japanese is very similar to Chinese.

Sure, they both have weird sounds spoken by Asians, but that doesn’t make them similar. At all. In fact, learning one won’t automatically make it easier learning the other. From my experience with both, I’d say the biggest sticking point in learning Japanese will happen when trying to understand how to put sentences together; for Chinese, that’s a little easier, with most of the difficulty occuring with your use of tones during speaking.


10. You need to bow and show politeness all the time.

No, that’s not true, although I do understand the misconception. We’re veering into cultural territory beyond language here. Although Japanese pragmatics are definitely complex, it’s something you are likely to pick up along the way, especially if you interact with people regularly so don’t let it scare you off. Yes, politeness and formality levels are integrated into the use of language, among other pragmatics, but being observant and listening to people should clue you in on which words to use when and for whom.

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Free Language Courses Learn Japanese Language

Free Japanese Language Courses

  • Foreign Service Institute Japanese – Web site
    • Student guide, textbook, glossary, flashcards (PDF) and nine audio lessons (MP3).
  • JapanesePod101.comOnline
    • Over 100 quality lessons aimed at beginners. Users give it high marks.
  • Kanji Characters – iTunes Free
    • Learn the proper form and stroke for several important Kanji characters. From Emory University.

  • Learn Japanese Symbols – Web Site
    • These lessons teach students how to work with Japanese symbols, such as Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana.
  • Let’s Speak Japanese Basic – YouTube
    • 26 video lessons produced by the Japan Foundation.
  • Let’s Learn Japanese Basic II – YouTube
    • 25 video lessons produced by the Japan Foundation.
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Learn Japanese Language

Learn Basic Japanese Language Guide

Japanese Beginners Guide

This guide was written for Japanese Beginners that don’t know where to start learning the Japanese language.

Why Learn Japanese?

Japanese has spoken by over 140 million in Japan alone and is also a natural second language for people in Chinese and Korean speaking countries. Despite Japan’s growth being outshined by neighbour countries like China and India.

Japan still has the second largest economy in the world following China.

Learning Basic Japanese

Learning Japanese isn’t an easy decision to make, as you know it isn’t something you can do overnight. Not only do you have to learn how to speak in Japanese, but you must learn a new alphabet and how its used in reading and writing. There is definitely more to learn this language than simply learning some new vocabulary words! But you shouldn’t feel that it’s something that’s impossible either. This is something you can definitely do if you make up your mind to do it. It is a lot simpler if you use some proven techniques in your course of study. The following suggestions will make it easier for you to get started.

Everyone learns differently.

One learning style that is best for some people is to listen to as much as possible and then phonetically write it out.
If you are more of a writer, you may want to first learn the alphabet and how to write in the new language. You are, however, better off sticking with one method or the other, as you have to familiarize yourself with this new way of both writing and speaking. If you switch back and forth, you will find that you’ll be making the process even more difficult than it has to be. All you have to do is start by taking your own learning preferences into account.

Start small with Japanese.
The easy route to learning a new language is to get a basic vocabulary established and then moving on to writing assignments and grammar later. Be careful of trying to learn all of the names of a particular object; all languages have lots of ways of saying the same thing. Many words people don’t use in everyday day language or sound strange when used in a conversation so your job is to use a small few of the most common words that get your thoughts across. When you start to recognize when it is appropriate to use one word over another in a given situation is the time that you can start to build a more complicated vocabulary. Being able to comprehend the small differences words that are similar is a major step in learning a language and is a signal that you have advanced past the beginner’s level.

Japanese Flash cards are a simple language learning tool that can really help. Japanese is a complicated language, and you will really need a few sets of flashcards for different purposes. You’ll want a set that helps you learn your vocabulary and grammar. Then you can get a set that teaches you the characters and how to start reading in Japanese.

Use Japanese on one side and then spell out the answers phonetically on the other side of the cards. Study one set of cards at a time and don’t get them confused, or you will make the process a lot harder on yourself!

It takes a certain amount of ambition and even courage to start learning Japanese. There is no denying that Japanese can be a hard language to learn, but once you do you’ll have a lifelong skill! It will also open all sorts of doors for you for travel and culture!

You’d be able to Visit Japan and experience Japanse Culture


Japanese Beginners Menu


Japanese Alphabet

Learning to read the Japanese Alphabet should be the first stop for Japanese beginners.

Japanese has probably the most confusing alphabet system for beginners.

Learn Japanese Alphabet consists of 3 different Alphabets that are used in different circumstances or sometimes used together to form words and phrases.

The Japanese alphabet is overall known as Kana, consisting of three alphabets:

  • Hiragana
  • Katakana
  • Kanji.

The Japanese alphabet overall is [su_highlight]phonetic alphabet where each symbol is a spoken syllable that represents a single sound[/su_highlight].

Essentially every Japanese word is written exactly how they are pronounced.

When to Use Hiragana Alphabet
• Hiragana expresses the grammatical relationship between them (endings of adjectives and verbs)
• Hiragana is used to represent native Japanese words.

Japanese Alphabet Hiragana is a phonetic alphabet that contains 48 syllables that be sounded out to pronounce the word. Hiragana has characteristic cursive characters.

Japanese Alphabets Hiragana Symbols

When to Use Katakana Alphabet
• Foreign names and words of foreign origin.
• Foreign places
• Words of Foreign origins.

Japanese Alphabet Katakana is also a syllabic alphabet. There are 48 Katakana symbols that have similar sounds to Hiragana.

It is no coincidence that there is the same number of characters in both the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets as they both represent exactly the same sounds (some of them even look quite similar).

Japanese Alphabets Katakana Symbols

When to Use Kanji Alphabet

There is a third form of Japanese Alphabet that borrows or modifies Chinese Characters called Kanji. Kanji was borrowed from Chinese writing at a time when there was no written Japanese language and it is still around. Japanese Kanji has different meanings than Chinese characters today.

There are over 8000 Kanji. Kanji are not syllabic and are used to represent abstract concepts as well as names and everyday words. An average adult Japanese speaker must know at least 2000 off by heart. Although you don’t need to memorizes all of the Kanji. Each Kanji has several different meanings and pronunciations.

Japanese Alphabets Kanji Symbols

Japanese words are pronounced exactly as the symbols show but one thing to pay attention to is if the character has a diacritic mark above it or not.

Make sure to practice pronouncing and writing the Japanese Alphabet whenever you can. As many times as you can.

Pronouncing Japanese Numbers

Because Japanese has three different alphabets: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana are pretty similar with roughly 48 symbols each( some used, some not. Hiragana is for general use while Katakana is used for foreign names, the names of foreign places and words of foreign origin. Kanji are characters that are burrowed or modified from Chinese. Japanese number system is a lot easier to learn.

Japanese Alphabet Examples

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Japanese Number System

Understanding how to write Japanese numbers should take very little time and effort to learn.

Understanding how to write Japanese numbers is really that simple to learn. Only takes an hour or two to fully memorizes the Japanese number system.

Japanese Numbers are written from Left to Right.

Japanese Numbers from 1 – 100

Japanese Numbers 1 to 100

You basically write the Japanese Characters in order. If the number is a double or triple digit number you write the Number times Position, Number times Position.

It’s actually pretty straightforward when it comes to learning how to use the Japanese number system. Pronouncing Japanese numbers is just as easy to learn.

Japanese number examples

You really just need to memorizes how to pronounce the base Japanese Numbers then you can easily pronounce any Japanese number. I personally choose to remember that Japanese numbers follow a “number-position” type pattern. Example of what I mean..

Japanese Numbers

Japanese Vocabulary and Phrases

The logical next step for Japanese beginners after learning the Japanese Alphabet would be to start developing your Japanese vocabulary with Japanese words and phrases.

Japanese Grammar

The Japanese grammar rules you must follow and understand to properly speak the Japanese language.

  1. Japanese Sentence Structure is usually put the Object of the sentence ahead of the Verb/Adjective or simpified to Subject-Object-Verb.
  2. Japanese nouns don’t have any gender associated with them. Japanese pronouns are rarely or never used.
  3. Japanese also takes into consideration the social status of the person you are speaking to.
  4. Japanese uses more verbs then any other language and they don’t change with number, gender, or person.
  5. There are two types of Japanese Adjectives. They are “-i adjectives” and “-na adjectives”.

Japanese Grammar Rules

The fun part of learning any language.. Grammar!

The “rules” you must follow to properly speak a language. But don’t worry about how hard learning Japanese Grammar might feel at first. Learning Japanese grammar rules is one of the most effective ways to speed up your ability to speak a language.

Keep in mind this is just a basic introduction to understanding how Japanese grammar works

Japanese Grammar Rules: Sentence Structure

• Japanese Sentence Structure is usually put the Object of the Sentence ahead of the Verb/Adjective.

Japanese Sentence Examples

Japanese Grammar Rules: Nouns and Pronouns

Japanese Nouns Examples

• Japanese Nouns don’t have a masculine or feminine form to remember.
• The Use of Pronouns in Japanese is very limited or almost non-exist
• Japanese uses more particles and verbs to deal with the loss of pronouns.


Japanese Grammar Rules: Verbs

• The Japanese have two tenses: The simple present and the simple past.
• Verbs in Japanese grammar also do not change with number, gender or person
• Verbs are the essence of Japanese Sentences. Using more verbs then any other language.

Japanese Verb Examples

Japanese Grammar Rules: Adjectives

• There are two types of Japanese Adjectives. They are “-i adjectives” and “-na adjectives”
• “-i adjectives” are original Japanese words while -na adjectives are burrowed from other languages.
• “-i adjectives” tend to blur the line between adjectives and verbs
• “-na adjectives” modifies nouns but not predicates

Japanese Adjective Examples

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Best Japanese Language Products at Amazon


Common Japanese Words

Japanese Words For Weather

Japanese Words For Vehicles

Japanese words for countries

Japanese Words For Homes Rooms

Japanese Words for Continents

Japanese Words For Times / Day

Japanese Words For Anatomy

Japanese Words for Animals
Japanese Words For Seasons / Year
Japanese Words for Colors

Japanese Words For Days / Week

Japanese Words for Emotions Feelings

Japanese Words For Family Members

Japanese Words For Meal times Food

Japanese Words for Months / Years

Japanese Words for Professionals

Consider Using a Japanese Language Learning Program

Try Japanese Language Software

If you are really serious about learning Japanese and want to maximize your time then you should consider using a Japanese language course to further aid you in your quest to learn Japanese.

There are several great programs out there that deliver a great language learning experience. The advantages of a language learning program in the organization and having a next step already lined up.

Most break down the lessons into 30-minute intervals that can fit into any type of schedule. Flexible to retry a lesson to make sure you understand what you are learning and give you confidence in succeeding.

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Learn Japanese Language

Japanese Swear Words List


Japanese Swear Words
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Learn Japanese Language

Japanese Basic Grammar Introduction – Japanese Grammar Rules

The Japanese grammar rules you must follow and understand to properly speak the Japanese language.

  1. Japanese Sentence Structure is usually put the Object of the sentence ahead of the Verb/Adjective or simpified to Subject-Object-Verb.
  2. Japanese nouns don’t have any gender associated with them. Japanese pronouns are rarely or never used.
  3. Japanese also takes into consideration the social status of the person you are speaking to.
  4. Japanese uses more verbs then any other language and they don’t change with number, gender, or person.
  5. There are two types of Japanese Adjectives. They are “-i adjectives” and “-na adjectives”.

Japanese Grammar Rules

The fun part of learning any language.. Grammar!

The “rules” you must follow to properly speak a language. But don’t worry about how hard learning Japanese Grammar might feel at first. Learning Japanese grammar rules is one of the most effective ways to speed up your ability to speak a language.

Keep in mind this is just a basic introduction to understanding how Japanese grammar works

Japanese Grammar Rules: Sentence Structure

• Japanese Sentence Structure is usually put the Object of the Sentence ahead of the Verb/Adjective.

Japanese Sentence Examples

Japanese Grammar Rules: Nouns and Pronouns

Japanese Nouns Examples

• Japanese Nouns don’t have a masculine or feminine form to remember.
• The Use of Pronouns in Japanese is very limited or almost non-exist
• Japanese uses more particles and verbs to deal with the loss of pronouns.


Japanese Grammar Rules: Verbs

• The Japanese have two tenses: The simple present and the simple past.
• Verbs in Japanese grammar also do not change with number, gender or person
• Verbs are the essence of Japanese Sentences. Using more verbs then any other language.

Japanese Verb Examples

Japanese Grammar Rules: Adjectives

• There are two types of Japanese Adjectives. They are “-i adjectives” and “-na adjectives”
• “-i adjectives” are original Japanese words while -na adjectives are burrowed from other languages.
• “-i adjectives” tend to blur the line between adjectives and verbs
• “-na adjectives” modifies nouns but not predicates

Japanese Adjective Examples

Common Japanese Words

Japanese Words For Weather

Japanese Words For Vehicles

Japanese words for countries

Japanese Words For Homes Rooms

Japanese Words for Continents

Japanese Words For Times / Day

Japanese Words For Anatomy

Japanese Words for Animals
Japanese Words For Seasons / Year
Japanese Words for Colors

Japanese Words For Days / Week

Japanese Words for Emotions Feelings

Japanese Words For Family Members

Japanese Words For Meal times Food

Japanese Words for Months / Years

Japanese Words for Professionals

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Learn Japanese Language

Learn Japanese Numbers. Learning Japanese Language Numbers

Understanding how to write Japanese numbers should take very little time and effort to learn. Understanding how to write Japanese numbers is really that simple to learn. Only takes an hour or two to fully memorizes the Japanese number system.

Japanese Numbers are written from Left to Right.


Japanese Number 1 to 10

Japanese Numbers

Japanese Numbers 1 to 100

Japanese Numbers 1 to 100

You basically write the Japanese Characters in order. If the number is a double or triple digit number you write the Number times Position, Number times Position.

It’s actually pretty straightforward when it comes to learning how to use the Japanese number system. Pronouncing Japanese numbers is just as easy to learn.

Japanese Number Examples

Japanese number examples

You really just need to memorizes how to pronounce the base Japanese Numbers then you can easily pronounce any Japanese number. I personally choose to remember that Japanese numbers follow a “number-position” type pattern. Example of what I mean..

Categories
Learn Japanese Language

Learn Japanese Alphabet – Japanese Language Alphabet Guide

Learning to read the Japanese Alphabet should be the first stop for Japanese beginners. Japanese has probably the most confusing alphabet system for beginners.

Learn Japanese Alphabet consists of 3 different Alphabets that are used in different circumstances or sometimes used together to form words and phrases.

Types of Japanese Alphabets

The Japanese alphabet is overall known as Kana, consisting of three alphabets:

  • Hiragana
  • Katakana
  • Kanji.

The Japanese alphabet overall is [su_highlight]phonetic alphabet where each symbol is a spoken syllable that represents a single sound[/su_highlight].

Essentially every Japanese word is written exactly how they are pronounced.


Hiragana Alphabet

• Hiragana expresses the grammatical relationship between them (endings of adjectives and verbs)
• Hiragana is used to represent native Japanese words.

Japanese Alphabet Hiragana is a phonetic alphabet that contains 48 syllables that be sounded out to pronounce the word. Hiragana has characteristic cursive characters.

Japanese Alphabets Hiragana Symbols

Katakana Alphabet

• Foreign names and words of foreign origin.
• Foreign places
• Words of Foreign origins.

Japanese Alphabet Katakana is also a syllabic alphabet. There are 48 Katakana symbols that have similar sounds to Hiragana.

It is no coincidence that there is the same number of characters in both the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets as they both represent exactly the same sounds (some of them even look quite similar).

Japanese Alphabets Katakana Symbols

Kanji Alphabet

There is a third form of Japanese Alphabet that borrows or modifies Chinese Characters called Kanji. Kanji was borrowed from Chinese writing at a time when there was no written Japanese language and it is still around. Japanese Kanji has different meanings than Chinese characters today.

There are over 8000 Kanji. Kanji are not syllabic and are used to represent abstract concepts as well as names and everyday words. An average adult Japanese speaker must know at least 2000 off by heart. Although you don’t need to memorizes all of the Kanji. Each Kanji has several different meanings and pronunciations.

Japanese Alphabets Kanji Symbols

Japanese words are pronounced exactly as the symbols show but one thing to pay attention to is if the character has a diacritic mark above it or not.

Make sure to practice pronouncing and writing the Japanese Alphabet whenever you can. As many times as you can.

Because Japanese has three different alphabets: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana are pretty similar with roughly 48 symbols each( some used, some not. Hiragana is for general use while Katakana is used for foreign names, the names of foreign places and words of foreign origin. Kanji are characters that are burrowed or modified from Chinese. Japanese number system is a lot easier to learn.

Japanese Alphabet Examples

Japanese Alphabet Examples

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Learn Japanese Language

Japanese Language Dialect List & Map

Japanese Dialects Map

Within any language or language group, there may be significant changes in speech, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The term used to describe these changes is called a dialect. Some words or phrases that exist in one dialect may exist or be absent from different dialect. The most common dialect is the Kansai dialect that includes the Osaka dialect. Osaka is the dialect of the Tokyo area and is considered the standard dialect for Japanese. Unlike other languages, Japanese dialects can be very different from each other, almost to the point where they could be considered different languages and need subtitles.


Japanese Dialects List

Kansai Japanese – Second biggest region of Japan and host of many dialects. This group contains the Osaka dialect, which can be considered the “standard dialect” of Japanese. Kansai dialects are characterizes by their Kyoto-Osaka-type accent, strong vowel, copula ya, negative form -hen, etc.
Hichiku Japanese – A group of dialects in the southern Fukuoka region of Japan. Also includes the Tsushima Islands.
Honichi Japanese – Dialects of eastern Fukuoka, North and South Oita, and Hyuga.
Chugoku Japanese
Shikoku Japanese – Similar to the Chugoku dialect in many ways but differet in accent.
Gifu-Aichi Japanese – Group of dialects in the Gifu Prefecture of Japan.
Hokuriku Japanese – Refers to the dialects spoken in the Hokuriku region of Japan.
Nagano Yamanashi Shizuoka Japanese – Named after the Prefectures in which they reside. This dialect is characterizes by a presumptive suffix -zura or -ra.
Echigo Japanese – Dialects of the Niigaga Prefecture.
West and East Kanto
North and South Tohoku Japanese – The Tohoku dialect is spoken in North and south Tohoku Region in the Northwestern part of Japan. The Tohoku dialects differs a lot from standard Japanese.
Hokkaido – Dialects spoken in the Hokkaido region. This is dialect is separated into different groups. First, spoken along the coastal areas of Hokkaido, closely related to the Tohoku dialect. Second, is more in line with standard Japanese dialects.
Unpaku Japanese – Group of dialects that include the Shimane and Tottori Prefectures. This dialect differs from the others by the use of high “i” and “u” vowels.

Different Japanese Dialects of the Japanese language are spoken in many different nations and regions around the world, most commonly throughout northern Asia. However, the differences in regional dialects may not make one Japanese speaker nearly incomprehensible to another. In most cases, the different Japanese dialects don’t have a specific written form of the language, but there’s usually a certain amount of literature that accompanies each Japanese dialects.


Japanese Dialects Map

Japanese Dialects Map
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