Japanese Language

Japanese is the official language of Japan. Japanese is spoken by 128 millions of people. 

 Grammar rules and conjugation (verbs) :

Japanese contains many grammatical particles (wa, ni, wo, de....) Example :  Watashi wa nihonjin desu (I'm Japanese) :  "wa" is between the subject (watashi) and the object (nihonjin). "wa" is used to connect/link the subject and the object. Japanese is a SOV language (Subject + Object + Verb).

Verbs in Japanese are conjugated depending on the person you're talking to. The verb can change depending on if you talk to a doctor or old person, (formal verbs/speech) than if you talk to  your family members or close friends (informal verbs). Verbs in japanese also have tenses:  Present, Past, Progressive, Imperative, Passive, Causative, Conditional, Potential and Volutional. Those 2 last ones are not very common in English language. Potential form in Japanese indicates a ability/potential. For exemple:  I Speak Japanese:  Nihongo ga hanasu. But "I CAN Speak Japanese" =  Nihongo ga hanasemasu. 

As for volutional form, it is like in english:  Let's + Verb. Example: I'm eating = Tabete imasu. Let's eat!! =  Tabemashou !!  

 

Writting: 


The writting is composed of 3 different writting systems :  Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. Kanji, derivated from chinese characters, is used to write important japanese words (names, or words that are used a lot). Kanji are more than 1000 different characters. Hiragana, is used to write words that don't have kanji. Example : the word "wa" does not exist in Kanji. It is then written in Hiragana. Katakana is used to write foreign words (especially English ones) that are in Japanese language. Example :  Chokoreto (from English "Chocolate") is only written in Katakana. Because it's from a foreign word. Japanese people use the three writting systems all at once in a phrase or text. 


Hiragana and Katakana are SYLLABIC writting systems, that are different from Kanji, because they are 46 letters, (kanji is more than 1000 characters), and the strokes of Hiragana and Katakana are easier to write than the strokes of Kanji. (kanji have lot of strokes)
The way of writing is different too. 
Example :

中 is ONE character and is read "naka".  Whereas Hiragana, is read in SYLLABIC PARTS. Example :   あたし is read :  "atashi". The あ is "a",  the た is "ta", and finally "shi" is し . then, あ - た -し is read :  A - TA - SHI

Katakana is also read like that.

 

Kanjis means one word (thats why theres many kanjis, because there is many words in a language). Whereas hiragana and katakana (called kanas) just translate syllabic SOUNDS (like an alphabet) thats why kanas are only 46 letters while kanjis is more numerous (around 2000 of them). 

 

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Japanese pronounciation :

U is pronounced as  "oo" like in "book"

E = eh

SH = sh

CH = tch 

R = rolled like in Spanish but once. Close to L.

H : Like in English

G : always "gu" ( gi = gui , not "ji" )

J : "dj"  (ji = dji)

S :  always "ss" (wasabi is then pronounced wassabi)

Now, here's a list of phrases and words in Japanese : 

My Name is [Name] : Watashi no namae wa [Name] desu.

I'm 25 year old :  Watashi wa 25 (ni-ju-go) sai desu.

How old are you? :  Nan sai desu ka?

What's your name?  Anata no namae wa nan desu ka?

How much does it cost? :  kore wa ikura desu ka?

Japan :  Nihon

France :  Furansu

Cold : Samui

Hot : Atsui

How are you? :  O genki desu ka?

Good morning:  Ohayo Gozaimasu (when the "u" is after the "s" at the end of a word, the "u" is mute. Gozaimasu = Gozaimass')

Good afternoon :  Konnichi wa

Good evening :  Konban wa

Good night :  Oyasuminasai

Sorry :  Gomen nasai

Please :  Onegai shimasu

Thank you : Arigato

I love you :  Daisuki da yo (OR : Aishiteru [more romantic] )

See you later :  Mata ne

Goodbye/Farewell :  Sayonara

I feel hot :  Atsui desu

I'm cold : Samui desu

I'm hungry : Onaka suita

I would like a coffee please :  Kohi wo kudasai

Coffee : Kohi

Water : Mizu

Orange Juice :  Orenji jyusu

Orange : Orenji

Pink : Pinku

Red : Aka

Blue : Ao

Green : Midori

Black : Kuroi

White :  Shiroi

I wanna go to Japan :  Nihon ni ikitai !