risa-sensei

[risa-sensei]

Japanese writing system

Though I assume people may already know this, here are 3 types of characters in Japanese: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji. All these characters can be seen in a single sentence. 

For example,,,

私はサッカーが好きです。　　I like soccer.

私 (I) and 好(stem of like as a verb) are Kanji,

サッカー (soccer) is Katakana,

and the rest are Hiragana.

【How the characters used】

Hiragana and Katakana are like the alphabet in English, and they represent sounds. (The sounds never change, yay).   Hiragana looks roundish and used for conjugation endings, function words, and native Japanese words not covered by Kanji.

Katakana, written with rather straight lines, is usually used for foreign words and names. As I wrote the example sentence above soccer is written in Katakana as サッカー(sakkaa, pronounced like suck-ah).  

Kanji, which Japan imported from China, represent not only sounds but also meanings. (One single Kanji has multiple sounds.) Mostly, kanji are used for nouns and the stems of verbs and adjectives. 

[risa-sensei]

Konnichiwa!!!

Welcome to my blog and I hope this will help you learn Japanese. :)

Here I’d like to introduce basic phrases, expressions, and simple grammar as well as our culture/tradition.

(I have my own language school in Nagasaki, Japan, where I teach both Japanese and English. So I’m not a random person who wrote this out of nowhere.)

Before I start, I wanted to share something beautiful as the world is kind of depressing right now because of COVID-19.

These are pictures I took at a Hanami (花見) picnic in the past.  

Hana means flower, mi means to see (root of the verb).  When we say Hanami, it usually refers to cherry blossom viewing.  We have picnics under cherry blossom trees with our family, friends, and sometimes co-workers as the company’s official event!

Hope you enjoy the pics. :)  *Japanese phrases follow after pictures.

Since this is the first post, I’ll introduce some greeting phrases.

Inside ( ) is additional to make it polite.

 Good morning. - Ohayou (gozaimasu).  

Good afternoon. - Konnichiwa.

Good evening. - Konbanwa.

Good bye. - Sayounara.

Good night. - Oyasumi (nasai).

Thank you. - Arigatou (gozaimasu).

Greeting when leave home - Itte kimasu.

Response to Itte kimasu - Itte rasshai.

I’m home. - Tadaima.

Welcome home. - Okaeri (nasai).

Thanks for the meal. (Said before eating) - Itadaki masu.

Thanks for the meal. (After eating) - Gochisou sama (deshita)

Nice to meet you. - Hajime mashite.

I refer to a textbook called ‘Genki’ which I use in actual classes.

Please send me a message if you would like to try our online classes.

Questions about Japan or the Japanese language are also welcome.