-go and -jin!

Last week was my last japanese course.
I'm most likely starting a new one in september, so there won't be much useful here for a while.
I will ofcourse practice my japanese, and will try to post something here once in a while.
(I have so much to do in school!)

わたしわにほんごがとてもすきです。
watashi wa nihon-go ga totemo suki desu.
I like japanese very much!
Lit: I japanese(language) very much like.

-go is a particle to show that you are speaking of languages.

Example
Noruee-go: Norwegian (language)
Supein-go: Spanish (language)

if you change the -go with -jin you are now speaking of nationalities or persons, because jin means person. Example: Directly transalated chugoku-jin means chinese person.

Example
Nihon-jin : Japanese (Person/Nationality)
Noruee-jin: Norwegian(Person/Nationality)
Supein-jin: Spanish(Person/Nationality)

I hope this helpes a little! The japanese have a lot of these particles/suffixes to show different things.

Easter shukudai!

Easter homework!

My homework this week is to write five short sentences!
That will be kind of tricky i guess. Well, at least to get them interesting!
I will post the sentences i write, ofcourse :)

Some help from japanesepod101 and i may even impress my senseii! (teacher)!
And once again i really recomend this site for everyone!
I listen to the podcasts whenever i use my MP3player.

Short one this time ;)
Jaa mata!

Review!

こんいちわ！
Konnichiwa!
Good day!

Well. I haven't got much homework in my japanese class this time. Just practicing hiragana and reading the old lessons. I will post a review from the first lesson!

INTRODUCTION

わたしわアンナです
watashi wa Anna desu.
I am Anna.
Directly translated: I Anna am.
(Anna is written in katakana, since it is a foreign word.)
Please note that foregneris always write their names with katakana. Not hiragana or kanji!

わたしわにほんじんでわありません
watashi wa nihon-jin dewa arimasen
I am not japanese.
Directly translated: I japanese am not.

わたしわノルエエじんです
watashi wa noruee-jin desu.
I am norwegian.
Directly transalated: I norwegian am.

These are some key sentences you should learn!
I will explain the words and sentences as well as i can.

Watashi means I. Wa is a particle you use together with watashi. could mean "as for". Wa can be exchanged by for example no or mo.

desu is the verb "to be".

dewa arimasen is a form of denial.

-jin is a suffix for person, nationality. Ex: amerika-jin(American), chuugoku-jin(chinese).

Norway is a foreign word, and therefor written in katakana. A good way to find out if a word is to be written in katakana is to listen to it. If it sounds like an english word (with a japanese pronounsication) it is probably to be written in katakana.

Ok. I don't know if this made any sense at all, but i hope you got something out of it :P
Now i really have to get back to reading for my (not japanese) exam!

Jaa mata!

Days of the week!

This weeks homework is to learn the weekdays.
I will also give you some sentences on how to introduce oneself.

But first some pronouncing guidelines! If there is an u after an o, the word is pronounced with a long o sound. Youbi is therefore pronounced yoobi.

げつようび　- getsu-youbi - Monday
かようび - ka-youbi - Tuesday
すいようび - sui-youbi - Wednesday
もくようび - moku-youbi - Thursday
きにょうび - kin-youbi - Friday
どようび - do-youbi - Saturday
にちようび - nichi-youbi - Sunday

As you probably see, youbi is the same for every day. As you may have figured out, youbi means day.

Now i will show some selfintroduction!

はじめまして。
Hajimemashite.
nice to meet you

わたしわ your name here です。
Watashi wa "your name here" desu.
I am "your name here".
Directly transalated: I "your name here" am.

Wasn't that easy?

If you want to hear how this is pronounced this podcasting site is great.
You have to pay for a membership there, but you get 7 days free if you sign up. (you don't have to buy a subscription after the 7 days).
This is a great way to check out the site! I find i very helpful. There are good explanations and conversations, and there are PDFs with the romanji, hiragana/katakana and kanji.

Practice your hiragana/katakana! If you already know it, you should try to read some simple words, and se if you can do it with out having to stop to think. :)
Practice writing them as well! Preferably every day.

Practice makes perfect ;)

じゃあまた！
jaa mata!
See you!

Introduction

はじめまして！
hajimemashite!
Pleased to meet you!

I got an idea about writing a blog about my road to learning japanese. When i was starting to learn japanese i would have loved something like that to help me! So maybe this will be helpful for someone :)

This is going to be a little introduction post on what i already know.

I have (finally) learned all the hiragana!
My tip for you to learn these are to practice 5-10 of them every week. Write them every day before you go to bed, in class, whenever you don't have anything else to do.
I also wrote the hiragana i was supposed to learn on a pice of paper and but it on my wall besides my bed. That way i saw it everytime i woke up ;)

To learn hiragana there are lots of websites to help you. The best one i found is realkana

Here is a hiragana chart you can use as a wallpaper :) (its just the basic hiragana, not the "special" ones)















It is also very useful to have a studybook, so that you can bring it with you wherever you go ;)
For this i used:
Japanese for young people! Book 1
Japanese for young people! Kana workbook

This is my tips on learning hiragana. I assume that you should do the same with katakana. But since i have yet to master this, i will show you how i do that, and you can do it with me!
I will post my homework here every week, and also give updates on how and when i do them.

さようなら！
Sayounara! (pronounced sayoonara)
Good bye!