Time to dust this off.

おはようございます！

It's time to dust off this blog I think...I see that, somewhere along the road, I picked up some followers for my intermittent Japanese studies. Neato. That said, I'm going to be really picking up on some study notes that I post here, since I'm going to combine my continued self-teaching with some extra classes. If anyone's still watching this thing...I'll try to keep it updated properly now :p

Let's take a step back...

For some alphabet practice! This is easy, but I'm bored and don't have much time...so here we go. Simple organation: Romaji - Hiragana - Katakana. Some notes, any letter where you see something like (w)O means that it's typed differently on a US keyboard when you try to make the letter. So, を is actually typed "wo" when you make the letter, even though the letter itself is just "O". For (d)Ji and (d)Zu, you would type those just "Di" and "Du" to make the characters, but they are still pronounced the same as Ji and Zu. For your reading pleasure, I've enlarged them a bit so that you can see the characters a bit better.

A I U E O - あいうえお - アイウエオ
Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko - かきくけこ - カキクケコ
Sa Shi Su Se So - さしすせそ - サシスセソ
Ta Chi Tsu Te To - たちつてと - タチツテト
Na Ni Nu Ne No - なにぬねの - ナニヌネノ
Ha Hi Hu He Ho - はひふへほ - ハヒフヘホ
Ma Mi Mu Me Mo - まみむめも - マミムメモ
Ya Yu Yo - やゆよ - ヤユヨ
Ra Ri Ru Re Ro - らりるれろ - ラリルレロ
Wa (w)O N - わをん - ワヲン

Ga Gi Gu Ge Go - がぎぐげご - ガギグゲゴ
Za Ji Zu Ze Zo - ざじずぞぞ - ザジズゼゾ
Da (d)Ji (d)Zu De Do - だぢづでど - ダヂヅデド
Ba Bi Bu Be Bo - ばびぶべぼ - バビブベボ
Pa Pi Pu Pe Po - ぱぴぷぺぽ - パピプペポ

Kya Kyu Kyo - きゃきゅきょ - キャキュキョ
Sha Shu Sho - しゃしゅしょ - シャシュショ
Cha Chu Cho - ちゃちゅちょ - チャチュチョ
Nya Nyu Nyo - にゃにゅにょ - ニャニュニョ
Hya Hyu Hyo - ひゃひゅひょ - ヒャヒュヒョ
Mya Myu Myo - みゃみゅみょ - ミャミュミョ
Rya Ryu Ryo - りゃりゅりょ - リャリュリョ

Gya Gyu Gyo - ぎゃぎゅぎょ - ギャギュギョ
Ja Ju Jo - じゃじゅじょ - ジャジュジョ
Bya Byu Byo - びゃびゅびょ - ビャビュビョ
Pya Pyu Pyo - ぴゃぴゅぴょ - ピャピュピョ

So, there's your alphabet in a nutshell for Japanese. IMO, the Hiragana is actually incredibly easy to learn, and once you get used to it you can actually blaze through anything written purely in Hiragana script. However, Kanji and Katakana are generally what trip me up the fastest, as those can be remarkably confusing when you're not as proficient at them (at least for me).

That's all I have time for right now, keep your eyes open later for more.

Continuing on...

Unit 3, Lesson 6

Note: Starting with this lesson, I'll also be using Microsoft IME to also type things up in Japanese. I may do this retroactively as well. For Windows XP and Vista users who want to know how to do this, follow this link. http://www.coscom.co.jp/japanesefont/inputjapanese/installime.html

haiiro no sakana ga nihiki oyoide imasu - There are two grey fish swimming (haiiro = grey, nihiki = the counter for the number of fish) - 灰色の魚が二匹泳いでいます。
haiiro no sakana ga ippiki oyoide imasu - There is one grey fish swimming - 灰色の魚が一匹泳いでいます。
shiroi inu ga aruite imasu - The white dog is walking　-　白い犬が歩いています。
neko ga aruite imasu - The cat is walking　―　根が画歩いています。

kangaruu - kangaroo. If you missed this, shut down the program, and close the blog :p You've failed.　カンガルー
yagi no mure - A herd of goats (yagi = goat while mure = a group, crowd, mob, throng, or herd, among other things)　ヤギの村
ushi no mure - A herd of cows　牛の群れ
ushi ga nitoo hashitte imasu - Two running cows (could be wrong here, but "nitoo" (or "nitou" in hiragana) doesn't seem to have any other definitions that I can find that fit the picture)　牛が二等走っています

hitsuji ga takusan tatte imasu - The large group of sheep are standing (hitsuji = sheep)　羊がたくさん立っています
ippiki no kame - One turtle (kame = turtle)　一匹の亀
raion - Lion.　ライオン
kuroi hakuchoo - Black swan (note, spelled "hakuchou" in hiragana, 白鳥)

hakuchoo - Swan 白鳥
tori wa suwatte imasu - The bird is sitting. - 鳥輪座っています
kirin - Giraffe - キリン
tori ga tonde imasu - The bird is flying - 鳥が飛んでいます

nihiki no buta - Two pigs (two little piggies...this little piggy...erm...sorry) - 二匹の豚
ittoo no kuma - One bear - 一等の熊 (note, the first word is "ittou" in hiragana not "ittoo")
nitoo no ushi - Two cows - 二等の牛 (same thing here, it's "nitou" in hiragana)
ittoo no tora - One tiger - 一等のトラ

hitsuji - sheep - 羊
zoo - Elephant - 像 ("zou" in hiragana)
rakuda wa sambon no ashi de tatte imasu - The camel is standing on 3 feet - ラクダ輪三本の足で立っています (rakuda = camel, sambon = the counter for 3 (sanbon in hiragana), ashi = foot)
rakuda wa yonhon no ashi de tatte imasu - The camen is standing on 4 feet. - ラクダ輪四本の足で立っています

kono uma wa hommono dewa arimasen - This horse is not the real thing - この馬輪本物出羽ありません。(Ok...hommono has a few notes. First, it's spelled "honmono" in hiragana, and second, it means "the genuine article" or "the real thing")
kono uma wa hommono desu - This horse is the real thing - この馬輪本物です
kono tori wa hommono dewa arimasen - This bird is not the real thing - この鳥輪ほっもの出羽ありません。
kono tori wa hommono desu - This bird is the real thing - この鳥輪本物です

kono nitoo no ushi wa hommono dewa arimasen - These two cows are not the real thing - この二等の牛輪本物出羽ありません。
kono nitoo no ushi wa hommono desu - These two cows are the real thing - この二等の牛輪本物です
kono uma wa hommono desu - This horse is the real thing - この馬輪本物です
mokuba wa hommono no uma dewa arimasen - The wooden horse is not a real horse - 木馬輪本物の馬出羽ありません。(mokuba = lit. "wooden horse")

dono neko ga hommono desu ka - Which cat is the real thing? - どの猫が本物ですか。
dono neko ga hommono dewa arimasen ka - Which cat is not the real thing? - どの猫が本物出羽ありませんか。
dono hitsuji ga hommono dewa arimasen ka - Which sheep is not the real thing? - どの羊が本物出羽ありませんか。
dono hitsuji ga hommono desu ka - Which sheep is the real thing? - どの羊が本物ですか。

shiroi tora wa aruite imasu - The white tiger is walking - 白いトラ輪歩いています
shiroi tora wa yoko ni natte imasu - The white tiger is laying on its side - 白いトラ輪横になっています。
shiroi tora wa nobotte imasu - The white tiger is climbing - 白いトラ輪上っています
ryuu - dragon - 竜

That's all for now...wanted to do more lessons, but I need to run ;) Enjoy the kanji!