[L2JP] (~Hiragana~) Pre-Lesson

Minna-san!

O Genki Desu Ka。

Lessons have officially started! (Well, pre-lesson) This lesson is just to overview the basic sounds of the Japanese language and to expose us to some common phrases. (Keep your ears open in your anime!)

Japanese is based around sounds and there are a few key sounds to remember when trying to learn Japanese. Listed below are the sounds for both vowels and double vowels.

Basic Sounds

a, aa, a- : 'ah' as in Father
i, ii, i- : 'ee' as in see
u, uu, u- : 'oo' as in too
e, ei, ee, e- : 'eh' as in meh
o, ou, oo, o- : 'oh' as in show

Examples:

okaasan - mother
ojiisan - grandfather
kuma - bear
oneesan - older sister
otousan - father

Common Phrases

Spoiler: Common Phrases

Hajimemashite - Nice to meet you. / How do you do?

Ohayou Gozaimasu (Formal) / Ohayou (Informal) - Good morning.

Konnichiwa - Good afternoon.

Konbanwa - Good evening.

Oyasuminasai (Formal) / Oyasumi (Informal) - Good night.

Sayounara - Goodbye.

Mata ne - Commonly used as 'Goodbye' with the intention of 'See you again'.

Arigatou Gozaimasu (Formal) / Arigatou (Informal) - Thank you.

Do(u) Ittashimashite - You're welcome.

Itte Kimasu - I'll be back / I will leave and then come back.

Itterashai - Take care / Have a safe trip / Have a good day.

Tadaima - I'm home / I'm back.

Okaerinasai (Formal) / Okaeri (Informal) - Welcome back / Welcome back home

Vocabulary
Kuchi - Mouth
Me - Eye
Mimi - Ear
Hana - Nose
Kao - Face
Te - Hand
Ashi - Foot/Leg
Yubi - Finger
Atama - Head
Ha - Tooth/Teeth

Makura - Pillow
Beddo - Bed
Futon - Futon
Moufu - Blanket
Taoru - Towel
Ofuro - Bath
Sekken - Soap
Haburashi - Toothbrush
Kagami - Mirror
Mado - Window

Homework

Practice pronunciation so you can be ready to apply these basic sounds to Hiragana characters and other words! There may or may not be a pop quiz about vocabulary and phrases as well ;D

 

I got all the basic sounds down already. Time to study the vocabulary!

 

I expect all A's on your tests and quizzes kiri (lol)

 

POP QUIZ!? Man this feels like I'm back is school, now I'm stressing out lol

 

I can get pronunciation and such, what scares me [i admit it] is the writing system.

 

The hiragana/katakana or kanji?

 

Yeah, I need to work on strokes too. I usually just write it however I can and hope it looks decent haha.