Hello everyone

The some of you who read my previous post know what's going but to the some that don't:
I am going to start a new thing where I make a post about one japanese word per day.

But before I do that, you guys need to know a few things about the language so that you can understand at least 50% of the future posts. If you have any questions, then please ask me. I will be happy to answer😊

First off

japanese is a highly phonetic language.

Which means that japanese uses the same set sounds for pretty much every word in their language. Unlike English, where "tough, cough, through" all have somewhat different pronunciations, japanese just uses a consistent set of syllables.

Next,

The writing system

The japanese writing system consists of 3 alphabets
They are: Hiragana, katakana and kanji

Hiragana and katakana are both original japanese alphabets. Their pronunciations are the same, but they do use different symbols when writing. (I.e: あ and ア are both pronounced as "a", but the first one is hiragana and the second one is katakana)

Hiragana is used for japanese words and particles*, while katakana is used for loan words. Mainly from English, but there are some other languages mixed in there.
Both alphabets have 46 letters which are called kana

As for kanji, that is a borrowed writing system from china. It consists of over 2000 characters that are used in newspapers and other formal settings. (though you and I both don't have to worry about that may characters for now)
Each character represents a concept. I.e 優 represents the concept of kindness. Most of the japanese that you will see will be written in kanji. Usually some hiragana characters follow after a kanji in order to form full meaning. I.e: 優しい mean kind (person, adjective). Two or more kanji can come together to form a specific meaning as well. I.e: 大学生 means school with the first kanji meaning big and the second kanji meaning studies and third meaning life, all three combined means "university student".

Japanese language proficiency test

The japanese language proficiency test or JLPT for short, is a standardized, international exam used to evaluate and certify the Japanese language skills of non-native speakers.
This test has 5 levels, which are: N5, N4, N3, N2, N1.
If you want more information on this than just look up JLPT. For now, keep in mind that almost all of us, including me, are pre-n5 which is the lowest level.

*particels: are hiragana characters that are used kinda like conjunction, prepositions and interjections in English. Basically they work as connectors between words. Japanese writing system also doesn't use spaces, so particles are important to distinguish words.


For now, these are all the things that you would need to know as "the basics", next I am actually going to break down a word, so you might be able to understand somethings better. This post is also going to referenced in every one of my japanese word of the day posts in the future. If I make any fixes to this post or add new details, I will tell you guys in the next post.

This post was a little boring, but thanks for learning

next up, the word of the day is 好き

New things

As per primordialreze's advice, here is a list of all the kana:

Hiragana:

あ　い　う　え　お　＝ a (ah), i (ee), u(oo), e (eh), o. (these are the five vowel sounds)
か　き　く　け　こ　 = Ka, ki, ku, ke, ko
さ　し　す　せ　そ　= sa, shi, su, se, so
た　ち　つ　て　と　= ta, chi, tsu, te, to
な　に　ぬ　ね　の　= na, ni, nu, ne, no
ま　み　む　め　も　= ma, mi, mu, me, mo
は　ひ　ふ　へ　ほ　= ha, hi, hu/fu, he, ho
や　ゆ　よ　= ya, yu, yo
ら　り　る　れ　ろ　= ra, ri, ru, re, ro
わ　を　= wa, wo
ん　＝ n
Other hiragana sounds are know as dakuon, handakuoon and yoon
dakuoon: are just the same hiragana characters with two small lines added in, they are voiced pronunciations of their original. Only K, S, T and H rows get dakuoon
が　ぎ　ぐ　げ　ご　= ga, gi, gu, ge, go
ざ　じ　ず　ぜ　ぞ　= za, ji, zu, ze, zo
ば　び　ぶ　べ　ぼ　= ba, bi, bu, be, bo
だ　ぢ　づ　で　ど　= da, di, tzu, de, do
hanDakuoon: Literally same as dakuoon, but with a circle and only H row gets handakuoon
ぱ　ぴ　ぷ　ぺ　ぽ　＝ pa, pi, pu, pe, po
Yoon: characters that end with "I" sound can get a small や　ゆ　よ character added to form new pronunciation, this also applies to dakuoon and handakuoon
きゃ　きゅ　きょ　= kya, kyu, kyo
しゃ　しゅ　しょ　= sha, shu, sho
ちゃ　ちゅ　ちょ　= cha, chu, cho
にゃ　にゅ　にょ　= nya, nyu, nyo
ひゃ　ひゅ　ひょ　= hya, hyu, hyo
みゃ　みゅ　みょ　= mya, myu, myo
りゃ　りゅ　りょ　= rya, ryu, ryo
ぎゃ　ぎゅ　ぎょ　= gya, gyu, gyo
じゃ　じゅ　じょ　= ja, ju, jo
びゃ　びゅ　びょ　= bya, byu, byo
ぢゃ　ぢゅ　ぢょ　= ja, ju, jo
ぴゃ　ぴゅ　ぴょ　= pya, pyu, pyo

Katakana:

as I have said before, katakan pronunciations are the same as hiragana, just the symbols are different
ア　イ　ウ　エ　オ　= a (ah), i (ee), u (oo), e (eh), o
カ　キ　ク　ケ　コ　= ka, ki, ku, ke, ko
サ　シ　ス　セ　ソ　= sa, shi, su, se, so
タ　チ　ツ　テ　ト　= ta, chi, tsu, te, to
ナ　ニ　ヌ　ネ　ノ　= na, ni, nu, ne, no
ハ　ヒ　フ　ヘ　ホ　= ha, hi, fu, he, ho
マ　ミ　ム　メ　モ　= ma, mi, mu, me, mo
ヤ　　　ユ　　　ヨ　= ya, yu, yo
ラ　リ　ル　レ　ロ　= ra, ri, ru, re, ro
ワ　　　　　　　ヲ　= wa, wo
ン　　　　　　　　　= n

Katakana dakuoon, handakuoon and yoon are also the same
Dakuoon:
ガ　ギ　グ　ゲ　ゴ　= ga, gi, gu, ge, go
ザ　ジ　ズ　ゼ　ゾ　= za, ji, zu, ze, zo
ダ　ヂ　ヅ　デ　ド　= da, ji, zu, de, do
バ　ビ　ブ　ベ　ボ　= ba, bi, bu, be, bo
Handakuoon:
パ　ピ　プ　ペ　ポ　= pa, pi, pu, pe, po
yoon:
キャ　キュ　キョ　= kya, kyu, kyo
シャ　シュ　ショ　= sha, shu, sho
チャ　チュ　チョ　= cha, chu, cho
ニャ　ニュ　ニョ　= nya, nyu, nyo
ヒャ　ヒュ　ヒョ　= hya, hyu, hyo
ミャ　ミュ　ミョ　= mya, myu, myo
リャ　リュ　リョ　= rya, ryu, ryo
ギャ　ギュ　ギョ　= gya, gyu, gyo
ジャ　ジュ　ジョ　= ja, ju, jo
ビャ　ビュ　ビョ　= bya, byu, byo
ヂャ　ヂュ　ヂョ　= ja, ju, jo
ピャ　ピュ　ピョ　= pya, pyu, pyo

Since katakana is used for foreign words, it has some additional sounds, that are written with base symbol and a small vowel symbol:
ファ　フィ　フェ　フォ　= fa, fi, fe, fo
ウィ　ウェ　ウォ　　　　= wi, we, wo
ティ　トゥ　　　　　　　= ti, tu
ディ　ドゥ　　　　　　　= di, du
チェ　　　　　　　　　　= che
ジェ　　　　　　　　　　= je
ヴァ　ヴィ　ヴ　ヴェ　ヴォ = va, vi, vu, ve, vo
(V sounds are made with adding dakuoon lines to "u" and then adding small vowel)

Small っ / ッ (Sokuon)
Used to double the following consonant. Ex-
がっこう = gakkou (school)
きって = kitte (stamp)

Long vowel sounds
For hiragana: when a vowel is added to a letter, it is usually pronounced in the same beat as the first letter. Ex-
かあああ would be pronounced 'kaaa" instead of breaking down each "a" sound and pronouncing like "ka a a a"
for syllables that end with あ　 and 　い and う , if they are followed by あ and い and う respectively
for syllables that end with 　え　and 　お if they are followed by い　and　う respectively

Katakana is much easier because you just add Long vowel mark "ー". Ex-
コーヒー would be pronounced "koo hii"


Happy learning everyone😊