Introduction/s

Self Introduction

To introduce yourself, you can follow pattern below.

 - こんにちわ (konnichiwa) *** you can say a different greeting, see lesson "greetings".

 - はじめまして (hajimemashite) *** how do you do? or how are you?

 - わたしは NAMEです　(watashiha anjerinです）*** I am "name"

 - どうぞ　よろしく(douzo yoroshiku) *** please take care of me / please be good to me

 - どうぞ　よろしく　おねがいします (douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu) *** more polite form of the above statement.

Introducing a friend

 - This is Ms. Marie
   こちら   は　マリーさん　です。          
　 (kochira ha   mari san   desu.

Greetings

Below are some of the most useful greetings / phrases which can be used in everyday conversation.

Every day greetings:

 - Good morning おはよう (ohayou)
 - Good afternoon / Hello こんにち (konnichiwa)
 - Good evening こんばんわ (konbanwa)
 - Good bye さようなら (sayounara)
 - Thank you ありがとう (arigatou)

Making apologies:

 - Excuse me / I'm sorry / Thank you すみません (sumimasen) / すいません (suimasen)

Japanese Human Relations

The Japanese are very particular with politeness. There are words which are used to make your sentence polite, more polite and humble. For now, we will use the normal polite expressions as these are the most commonly used (aside from slang japanese)

In Japan, age is relative to the status of a person thus, when referring to elders, seniors, boss, or an outsider, you will have to use polite words. However, to children, pet, subordinate, or someone younger than you, it is alright to sound not so polite.

Aside from that very important note, you will have 3 more possible human

Acknowledgement

First and foremost, I would like to mention that the system that will guide this journey is the ILPD / MISJ Program developed by Mikiko Iwasaki. You can view more about this topic at http://www.ilpd.jp/index_e.html

There will be words form MISJ Program that might appear in this blog, but I will try to express each lesson based on my understanding of the lesson, and not the actual program itself.

Also, this blog will only serve as a diary of my every learning, which is also a great review for me while creating everlasting notes of all that needs to be learned as I aspire to become an "almost" or "a" native Japanese speaker.

Thank you!

Japanese Katakana

The second writing system that the Japanese use is the Katakana.

This is often used to write foreign words.

Words in English such as cup, ticket, computer, and names are written using this system.

Next step is to memorize the Katakana characters in a week.
I have attached an image of the Katakana chart

Japanese Hiragana

The first step to take in this journey is to know their writing system.

I chose to know Hiragana first.

Do not forget that our long term goal is to become an "almost" or  "a" native Japanese speaker in the near future.

And the short term SMART goal we are going to set is:

Learn how to write the 46 Hiragana characters in a week.

This is the first challenge.

I have here attached the Hiragana characters and their stroke

Japanese Writing System

There is no such thing as a "letter" in the Japanese writing system, they only have somewhat like: Characters or Syllables. And these characters could be categorized into three types:

1. Hiragana

(Derived from Chinese characters) Hiragana is the basic writing system used by the Japanese. They are the first characters introduced to children in class. They are basically the same with the Roman Alphabet in their system. All words can be written using Hiragana. They  are also used like subtitles (except that they are written above the character) for Kanji characters.

2. Katakana

(Derived from Chinese characters) Katakana syllabary is only used when

Go Nihongo

This online journal is created to keep record of every lesson I learn in this Nihongo learning journey I decided to take up.

From the basic of the basics until I become an almost native Japanese language speaker, I will never give up.

Surely there will  be those rocky days, but rest assured I will be back on track with my eyes still on the goal.

This journal will not only motivate me, but also will help me keep track of my achievements, stepping stones, miles stones and all the stones that could block my way..


でわ、　がんばってください　アンジェりンさん！