Posts

Getting to Know the Japanese Alphabets!

Image
 Hi there! We are going to take a look at the Japanese alphabets and the basic pronunciations! We already know how to say "Japanese language" in Japanese: Kanji: 日本語 However, note that this is only one way to write this word. In Japanese, we have three alphabets: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. This is how to write Nihongo in Hiragana and Katakana: Hiragana: にほんご Katakana: ニホンゴ But what is the difference among these alphabets? Hiragana : A phonetic script used for native Japanese words and grammatical elements. It has 46 basic characters. Katakana : Another phonetic script, primarily used for foreign words, names, and loanwords . It also has 46 basic characters. Kanji : A logographic script derived from Chinese characters, used for most nouns, verbs, and adjectives . There are over 2,000 commonly used Kanji characters. You can try to search for how Kanji characters have been created through time, but these characters basically seemed to represent well the concepts that the an...
Post a Comment
Read more

Let's NihonGo!

Image
Hi there, This is the first post from my new blog where I will try to often show what I am studying about the Japanese language. In this first post I will just give some directions of how I am going to study this new language. Please, give me your feedback commenting just below the post. Tell me your ideas, favorite Japanese songs, poems, books, writers, scientists... let us walk together in this language learning path. :D First things first. Here you see three Kanji forming the word Nihongo (日本語, in kanji; にほんご, in hiragana). Calm down... it may seem strange in the beginning, but we will go point by point. Nihongo literally means "Japanese Language". Each 'symbol' has a meaning, and 'combined symbols' also have meanings themselves! The first symbol is named "nichi" (日), meaning "Sun"  or "day". The second symbol is "hon" (本), meaning "origin" or "root" (or even "book"). Finally, the third s...
Post a Comment
Read more