By Peter Hanami
● Japanese has five vowels A, I, U, E, O
Japanese words with English meanings followed by pronunciation and written in Japanese script hiragana
Okonomiyaki = Japanese style pancake
O/ko/no/mi/ya/ki
おこのみやき
Futon = Mattress
Fu/to/n
ふとん
Arigatou gozaimasu = Thank you very much
Arigatou gozaimasu = Thank you very much
A/ri/ga/tou Go/za/i/ma/su
ありがとうございます
Sentence construction
English: I am looking for the book
Japanese: Hon o sagashite imasu
Translation: Book looking am
Subject: I Object: book Verb: looking
Scripts
1. Hiragana - 50 symbols
Sentence construction
English: I am looking for the book
Japanese: Hon o sagashite imasu
Translation: Book looking am
Subject: I Object: book Verb: looking
Scripts
1. Hiragana - 50 symbols
Words of Japanese origin are written in this script, for example:
a, i, u, e o
あ、い、 う、え、お
a, i, u, e o
あ、い、 う、え、お
Okonomiyaki おこのみやき
ka, ki, ku, ke, ko
ka, ki, ku, ke, ko
Futon ふとん
か、き、 く、け、こ、
か、き、 く、け、こ、
Arigatou Gozaimasu ありがとうございます
sa, shi, su, se, so
さ、し, す、 せ、そ
2. Katakana - 50 symbols
Words of foreign origin are written in this script, for example:
a, i u e o English, Written, Pronuciation
ア、イ、ウ、エ、ｵ
sa, shi, su, se, so
さ、し, す、 せ、そ
2. Katakana - 50 symbols
Words of foreign origin are written in this script, for example:
a, i u e o English, Written, Pronuciation
ア、イ、ウ、エ、ｵ
Ice Cream = アイスクリーム aisukuree-mu
カ、キ、ク、ケ、コ
カ、キ、ク、ケ、コ
Notebook= ノート no-to
サ、シ、ス、セ、ソ
サ、シ、ス、セ、ソ
Mechanical pencil シャーペン sha-pen
3. Kanji - thousands of Chinese characters
Characters with a Chinese origin used to convey sounds, words, pictures and ideas
Dog 犬 (inu)
3. Kanji - thousands of Chinese characters
Characters with a Chinese origin used to convey sounds, words, pictures and ideas
Dog 犬 (inu)
Newspaper 新聞 (shinbun)
Desk 机 (tsukue)
Desk 机 (tsukue)
Company 会社 (kaisha)
Written Japanese combines the three scripts into one when writing
For Example: Do you like ice cream?
Aisukuree mu wa suki desu ka?
アイスクリーム は 好き ですか
● Japanese is written in columns starting at the top right hand corner of the page and continues to the left hand side of the page. Newspapers, books and magazines are read from the back page to the front page.
Written Japanese combines the three scripts into one when writing
For Example: Do you like ice cream?
Aisukuree mu wa suki desu ka?
アイスクリーム は 好き ですか
● Japanese is written in columns starting at the top right hand corner of the page and continues to the left hand side of the page. Newspapers, books and magazines are read from the back page to the front page.
© Copyright Peter Hanami. 2004. All Rights Reserved.
