Thursday, August 21, 2008

Katakana

KATAKANA

Katakana is used when writing down foreign names, places, and words of foreign origin (If you are not from Japan,your name can be written in katakana). Without knowing katakana, one might find it almost impossible to order fast food in Japan, or read billboards on the street. This is because Japan uses so many words borrowed from other languages.

The structure of katakana is similar to hiragana(if you know one the other is easy to learn). The main difference between the two is katakana is composed of straight lines, where hiragana uses curved lines.

This week I will show you some countries as large as Japan with their katakana spellings.

Japan's land area is approximately 378,000 km². It is often said that Japan is a small country. However, the archipelago stretches some 3,500 km from the northernmost end to the southernmost end, which means that climate and scenery vary gre

atly from region to region. A fact that is not very well known is that Japan is smaller than California in the United States, which has a land area of about 411,000 km².


Doitsu (Germany)
ドイツ
357,000 km²
Furansu (France)
フランス
547,000 km²
Igirisu (United Kingdom)
イギリス
244,000 km²
Itaria (Italy)
イタリア
301,000 km²
Nyuujiirando (New Zealand)
ニュージーランド
269,000 km²
Betonamu (Viet Nam)
ベトナム
330,000 km²

They didn't exist until relatively recently. Nowadays the Japanese use many borrowed words from English and other foreign languages (please refer the previous article "Borrowed Words" and "Borrowed English"). Since it is hard to express all sounds by the basic 46 characters or their regular combinations, the Japanese have developed new combinations that are formed by adding a small "a, i, u, e, o" for several foreign syllables.

sample words ::

amerika
アメリカ
America
igirisu
イギリス
United Kingdom
ukuraina
ウクライナ
Ukraine
ejiputo
エジプト
Egypt
oranda
オランダ
Holland
kanada
カナダ
Canada
kyanpu
キャンプ
camp
kuizu
クイズ
quiz
kenia
ケニア
Kenya
koohii
コーヒー
coffee
sakkaa
サッカー
soccer
shawaa
シャワー
shower
suisu
スイス
Switzerland
seetaa
セーター
sweater
sofaa
ソファー
sofa
takushii
タクシー
taxi
chesu
チェス
chess
tsuaa
ツアー
tour
tenisu
テニス
tennis
tomato
トマト
tomato
naifu
ナイフ
knife
nyuusu
ニュース
news
nugaa
ヌガー
nougat
nekutai
ネクタイ
tie
noruuee
ノルウェー
Norway
haapu
ハープ
harp
hinto
ヒント
hint
furansu
フランス
France
heburai
ヘブライ
Hebrew
hoteru
ホテル
hotel
mareeshia
マレーシア
Malaysia
myuujikaru
ミュージカル
musical
muudo
ムード
mood
mekishiko
メキシコ
Mexico
monako
モナコ
Monaco
yankii
ヤンキー
Yankee
yudaya
ユダヤ
Judea
yooroppa
ヨーロッパ
Europe
rajio
ラジオ
radio
riigu
リーグ
league
rubii
ルビー
ruby
rebanon
レバノン
Lebanon
roketto
ロケット
rocket
wain
ワイン
wine
rondon
ロンドン
London

Hiragana

HIRAGANA

There are 46 hiragana characters for 46 different sounds. Hiragana are used for expressing "grammatical" elements such as particles, and endings of adjectives and verbs which show tenses, etc. Kanji are used for expressing "meaningful" elements such as nouns and stems of adjectives and verbs.

It is possible to write entire Japanese sentences in hiragana. If an adult forgets certain kanji which are rarely used, he/she may substitute hiragana for them. Since the basic 46 hiragana symbols and some modifications of the suffice for all Japanese sounds, Japanese children start to read and write Japanese all in hiragana before making an attempt to learn some of the two thousand kanji currently used.

Japanese is written in a combination of three scripts:hiragana,katakana, and kanji. Kanji represents ideas or objects, hiragana expresses the grammatical relationships between them.katakana is used for words of foreign origin. Like romaji, both hiragana and katakana characters represent one syllable and have no meaning other than the representation of sound. Though Japanese is usually written in a combination of three scripts, Japanese sentences can be written in either hiragana or katakana only. I think learning hiragana and katakana is a good start for Japanese writing.

I will show 46 basic hiragana characters this time, and in the following lessons I will introduce how to write them.


asa
あさ
morning
inu
いぬ
dog
umi
うみ
the sea
eki
えき
station
okane
おかね
money


sample words ::



kasa
かさ
umbrella
ki
tree
kuruma
くるま
car
kemuri
けむり
smoke
koe
こえ
voice
sakana
さかな
fish
shio
しお
salt
sushi
すし
sushi
sekai
せかい
world
sora
そら
sky
take
たけ
bamboo
chi
blood
tsuki
つき
moon
tenki
てんき
weather
tokei
とけい
watch, clock
namae
なまえ
name
nihon
にほん
Japan
numa
ぬま
marsh
neko
ねこ
cat
nohara
のはら
field
hata
はた
flag
hikari
ひかり
light
fune
ふね
ship
heya
へや
room
hoshi
ほし
star
makura
まくら
pillow
mise
みせ
store
mushi
むし
insect
me
eye
momo
もも
peach
yama
やま
mountain
yuki
ゆき
snow
yoru
よる
night
rakuda
らくだ
camel
risu
りす
squirrel
rusu
るす
absence
rekishi
れきし
history
rousoku
ろうそく
candle
wata
わた
cotton
mon
もん
gate
haru
はる
spring
natsu
なつ
summer
aki
あき
fall
fuyu
ふゆ
winter
higashi
ひがし
east
nishi
にし
west
minami
みなみ
south
kita
きた
north
aka
あか
red
ao
あお
blue
midori
みどり
green
shiro
しろ
white

sample greetings ::

Hajimemashite.
はじめまして。
How do you do?
Douzo yoroshiku.
どうぞよろしく。
Nice to meet you.
Ohayou gozaimasu.
おはようございます。
Good morning.
Oyasuminasai.
おやすみなさい。
Good night.
Arigatou.
ありがとう。
Thank you.
Dou itashimashite.
どういたしまして。
You are welcome.
Sumimasen.
すみません。
I am sorry, Excuse me.