#most of these are in katakana. but the 'ba ba' is hiragana 'tsu' is katakana. 'ni-pa' is both hiragana

[orcelito]

i do love how i Can read the sound effects in trigun. bc even tho theyre untranslated, i can read katakana & hiragana lol. but also my eyes tend to just glaze over them bc theyre very japanese sound effects, so the sound transcriptions arent exactly what i'd attribute the sounds to (just by virtue of being an english speaker)

but like. here, from right to left, we have "don-don-don", "ga-gigi", and "ba-kan". which i can infer what those sounds are... but also it's simpler to just fill in myself based on what i See what sounds would be here. the only real reason the sound effects are useful (to me) are for knowing how many shots Vash fires (like the "don-don-don" showing that vash shoots 3 times)

other examples of sound effects:

"go go go go", "kyuru kyuru kyuru kyuru" (kyuru being the sound of wheels turning i guess, tho i got No Idea what the go go go go is)

"GAN", "do do do do" (a clang, then four shots fired by Vash)

"BA-BA-TSU", "ni-pa", "ba-tan!!" (sound of rolling??, sound of smile?? then a door shut)

see what i mean lol about the sounds being very Japanese? i can read them, but what they read to is still not very useful if you're not familiar with most Japanese depictions of sound effects (like me)

still nice to be able to supplement my reading with my katakana & hiragana knowledge tho

[flowerakatsuka]

denki!kuroba has plagued my mind for the past 24 hours so it's time to drop their design & lore. ( bonus + more lore under the cut! )

( ya'll knew i had to find a way to shoehorn kurokara into this au SOMEHOW. )

while they don't meet during the events of six idol statues of taboo, kuroha does eventually get to meet chorosuke's recently reunited brothers afterwards. strangely enough, it seems that karatsugu knows who they are. kuroha's life before the accident was much like the one kuroba lives ; having attended college for horticulture and working at their grandfather's floral shop. karatsugu and kuroha had known each other for a long time, having become friends in high school and staying quite close into adulthood. because of this, he was absolutely devastated when they suddenly disappeared a year and a half ago while on the way to visit family in yokohama. there were no reports of any crashes or deaths, no missing people found, nothing. it was as if they were spirited away, never to be heard of again. upon learning this, kuroha is rather distraught. even though his face is so familiar to them, the past he recounts to them refuses to come back to them. something they had been keeping a secret from the others at the midorito estate was that they had begun to recollect some things, but what they remembered seemed more like strange dreams than any memories they should have. memories of traveling with mononoke, fighting in gang wars, fending off youkai, a life much like what karatsugu described but not exactly the same... and in all of those memories, the six same faces, so eerily similar yet unsettling different. the most prominent of them all being the faces just like karatsugu's. they aren't sure why these strange memories are all they can recall, perhaps they're finally losing it, but with the brothers' help, kuroha might be able to figure out the true meaning behind them and even remember their life in this universe along the way.

ALSO, a quick explanation of denki!kuroba's name!

( fair warning : my understanding of japanese is very rudimentary so i may have made some mistakes in my translation or how names are written. please let me know if that's the case and i'll correct anything i've gotten wrong! )

kuroba / クロバ -> kuroha / 黒葉 ( くろは )

kuroba's name is written in katakana while kuroha's is written in kanji ( with furigana written in hiragana. )

kuroba's first name comes from クローバー ( kurōbā ) meaning clover. when the dakuten from バ ( ba ) is removed, it becomes ハ ( ha. ) the equivalent of ハ in hiragana is は, which is used in the furigana for kuroha's name. the kanji used for kuroha is 黒 ( kuro ) meaning black and 葉 ( ha ) meaning leaf.

yotsubana / 四つ花 ( ヨツバナ ) -> shinigusa / 死に草 ( しにグサ )

yotsubana comes from 四つ葉 ( yotsuba ) meaning four-leaved, notably used in the japanese for four-leaved clover / 四つ葉のクローバー ( yotsuba no kurōbā. ) the kanji for ba in youtsuba is swapped for 花 ( hana, ) which can be read has bana like in the surname tachibana. as a result, their surname can be read as " four flowers. "

the 四 ( yo ) from yotsubana, which can also be read as shi, becomes 死 ( shi, ) meaning death. the adverbializer に ( ni ) replaces つ ( tsu. ) the kanji for hana is replaced with 花 ( kusa, ) which is lifted from a synonym for clover, 詰草 ( tsumekusa. ) kusa becomes gusa as an instance of rendaku. their surname can be roughly read as " dead(ly) grass. "

[nihongo-lets-go]

Lesson　１, Pt. 1　：仮名［かな］

『　Scroll to the bottom for a glossary and resource links！ 』

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A brief summation of Kana 仮名:

Almost every language in human history has a written form. Romance languages and Germanic languages have the Roman alphabet. Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, and Russian have the Cyrillic alphabet. Korean has 한글. Japanese is, of course, no exception to this.

仮名［かな］are the syllabaries used for the Japanese written language. Each kanji, hiragana, and katakana character represents a word or sound in Japanese. Although each 仮名 has a different purpose, when combined they make up the whole of written Japanese, and are a must-know for everyday life, especially if your goal is to live in , work in, or visit Japan.

From reading menus, to shopping, to navigating transportation, to reading housing and apartment contracts, it is essential to learn the written language in order to fully grasp Japanese as a whole. (Side note: 仮名 can refer to solely hiragana and katakana.)

As stated before, the whole of the Japanese writing system is a combination of two kinds of 仮名:

～ Kanji (lit. “Han characters”), derived from written Chinese

～Hiragana and Katakana (the syllabic kana)

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KANJI

漢字 ［かんじ］ ー The original 仮名, or 真仮名 [まがな］(lit. “true kana”).

汉字 [hànzì] (Chinese characters) that are used to phonetically transcribe Japanese. The most prominent is 万葉仮名［まにょうがな］, from which hiragana and katakana are derived. Although certain 漢字 retain their meaning in 汉字, many more are used in a purely phonetic context, and thus the original meaning does not always hold. (Although, you'll have a great head-start if you're learning to read Mandarin!)

There tens of thousands of 漢字 used today, but the minimum number that learners are encouraged to remember is 2000-2200 (I would actually recommend learning closer to 3000).

『　Six 漢字, and their meanings. Only 1994 more to go!　』

Because the amount to be learned is so extensive, it's often easier to become comfortable reading and writing in hiragana [平仮名] and katakana [片仮名] before moving onto tackling 漢字 en masse. Although, it never hurts to learn a few in the beginning, especially those written for commonly used words!

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HIRAGANA

平仮名［ひらがな］ー The writing system used for native Japanese. It is used to write 送り仮名［おくりがな］, which are kana suffixes following a kanji root (e.g. to inflect nouns and verbs); to write particles; written for emphasis, and for misc. native words with no kanji, or with kanji that is too obscure or formal for writing.

平仮名 is also used to write 振り仮名［ふりがな］, also known as 読み仮名［よみがな］, and rubi ［ルビ ］. 振り仮名 is written above 漢字 to indicate proper pronunciation. Books aimed at children often include 振り仮名 .

平仮名 can be broken up into three sub-categories:

~Chart 1 includes all of the base 平仮名, including the a, i , u, e, o vowels ［あ、い、う、え、お］and the n/ng［ん］consonant.

~Chart 2 includes the dakuten and handakuten characters. Dakuten [ ﾞ] and handakuten [ ﾟ ] are marks that modify the sound of the 平仮名 they are placed after. For example: a dakuten after the character ha [は], changes the sound to ba [ば]. Adding a handakuten after は changes the sound to pa [ぱ].

~Chart 3 is a combination chart that includes 平仮名 , dakuten, handakuten, and 促音 [そくおん] . Sokuon [促音], known more casually as chiisai tsu/chiisai kana [小さいつ | 小さいかな] or chiisana tsu [小さなつ] , are the small 平仮名 that aid in altering the character's sound. For example: take は, ば, and ぱ, and add a smaller version the character ya [や] after them. By doing this, や becomes the sokuon , [ゃ］, turning は, ば, and ぱ into hya［ひゃ］, bya [びゃ] , and pya [ぴゃ] .

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KATAKANA

片仮名［カタカナ］ ー　This writing system has many uses, primarily for foreign loan words ( 外来語［がいらいご］) and onomanopoeia. It is also used for technical and scientific terms; for the names of plants, animals, and minerals, and for Japanese companies.

As with 平仮名, 片仮名 is also used for word emphasis.

Other than the differences in appearances, 片仮名 are functionally identical to 平仮名. There are the base characters, the dakuten/handakuten characters, and the combination characters, all which produce the different sounds of Japanese.

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The Japanese writing system can seem overwhelming at first, especially if your native tongue is part of a completely different linguistic family. Just remember that learning anything new takes time. Practice makes for a practiced person!

To round out this lesson, included below is a glossary of all the words mentioned. If you have any questions, feel free to use that 'Ask Me Anything!' button.

Happy learning!

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LESSON 1 VOCABULARY LIST:

仮名 ー　Kana［かな] , the name for the Japanese writing system. Kana can also refer to only hiragana and katakana.

真仮名 ー Magana [まがな］literally translates into “true kana”. Another term for kanji.

漢字 ー Kanji［かんじ］, the character system based off of the Chinese written characters 汉字 [hànzì］. Kanji is also known as man'yōgana ( まにょうがな [万葉仮名 ] ), the magana writing system that hiragana and katakana descended from.

平仮名 ー Hiragana［ひらがな］, the writing system used for native Japanese.

送り仮名 ー Okurigana［おくりがな］, hiragana suffixes following the kanji stems of written Japanese.

振り仮名 ー Furigana［ふりがな］is small hiragana that is written above kanji to indicate proper pronunciation. Furigana also known as yomigana ( 読み仮名［よみがな］), and rubi ［ルビ ］ .

片仮名 ー Katakana［カタカナ] is the writing system used for foreign loan words, the names of Japanese companies, and much more.

外来語 ー Gairaigo［がいらいご] is the term for foreign names and loan words--essentially any non-native Japanese words.

Dakuten [ ﾞ] and handakuten [ ﾟ ] ー written marks that alter the sound of the hiragana or katakana they are placed after.

小さいつ 、 小さいかな 、小さなつ ―　chiisai tsu, chiisai kana, and chiisana tsu are all terms used for small hiragana that, like dakuten and handakuten, alter a kana character's sound.

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

WIKIPEDIA:

Kana

Hiragana

Katakana

Furigana

Sokuon (chiisai tsu)

OTHER SITES:

Dakuten, Handakuten

Origins of Gairaigo

[hotaru987sensei]

Hiragana and Katakana Part. 2

I hope everything is comming along well with your studies! Are you guys ready for part 2, because I know I am!

So lets get started.

Now that we’ve got a handling on the sounds that are the foundation of being able to speak Japanese its time to expand on that a little bit. As some of you may have noticed the letters that would make up the sounds for

D, G, P, B, J, and Z are missing. Theres just one group of sounds for us to learn after this so lets not waste any more time!

First of all take a few seconds to look at the chart above and see which characters are and aren’t included. Also look and see whats different between these characters and how they normally look.

Are you back? What did you notice?

The first thing you should’ve seen is that not all of the characters are included. It’s only the characters from the H, S, K, and T groups. The second should be the symbols on top of these letters. It's these two symbols that give us our second variety of sounds.

Those symbols are called Dakuten and Handakuten.

Dakuten

This is the quotation looking symbol that you see over the letters. Of our special letters most of them use this with the exception of one. The term for little quotations being added is usually shortened to Tenten. So if someone says you’re missing a tenten in this sense they’re probably referring to the quotation like symbol on the character.

The ones that use this are our K, S, T, and H line. So for example:

1) か Ka with the the dakuten becomes が Ga. Same with eveything else in the line.

かKa ぎGIぐGu げGe ごGo

2) さSa gets changed to ざZa. There is an exception with is (shi)し. It instead gets changed to (Ji)じ.

ざZa じJi ずZu ぜZe ぞZo

3) (Ta)た goes to (Da)だ. There are two special ones in this row, which is (chi)ち and (tsu)つ.

Chi with the dakuten is hardly used(I could be wrong), but I’ve rarely if ever come across it in this form. I cant even think of any words that use this. If you do come across it then it would be read similar to how (ji)じ. When typing it in on a keyboard you would write it as Du

As for the second one there are two ways it could be spelled out when writing it in English: (zu) or (dzu). When learning it I personally like the (dzu) one because it sounds closer to how the letter should sound, but for spelling purposes it probably looks better with the (zu) reading. When typing it on a keyboard you’d write it as Du.

だTa *ぢJi/Di *づ Zu/Dzu/Du でDe どDo

4) The last one in this list is our good friend the ‘H’ family. Now unlike the other groups, the ‘H’ family is pretty big. Of course we have the one that adds the tenten. It changes our はHa to ばBa

ばBa びBi ぶBu べBe ぼBo

This also brings us to the second symbol that changes the sound.

2. Handakuten

Luckily this symbol is only attached to one group, and that’s our ‘H’ group. Which is pretty nice since we don’t have to remember too much lol. It’s already a lot to take in. So if you see a small little circle on the letter it changes ‘H’ to ‘P’.

For example:

ぱPa ぴPi ぷPu ぺPe ぽPo

For this one, similar to how the first one had a shortened form of tenten, in this case if you forgot to write the circle on the character people might start saying maru. Maru is the Japanese word for circle.

Of course, all of this can be translated to the katakana characters too.

カキクケコ　ガギグゲゴ

サシスセソ　ザジズぜぞ

タチツテト　ダヂヅデド

ハヒフヘホ　バビブベボ　パピプペポ

We still have one more set of character combinations to learn and then we can get into some sentence and basic grammar stuff! I know it’s taking a while but please bare with me lol. You can always send me asks for any sorts of questions if you’re doing self study ^^

Hiragana and Katakana part 1

Hiragana and Katakana part 3

[kitsunenonihongo]

Writing System

This is super important, before we begin with learning words and sentences.

Japanese has 3 writing systems so to speak. Two of them are syllabaries, you may refer to them as "Alphabets", and the third writing system is sort of symbol based, like Chinese.

There's also ROMAJI. Which we'll be using to help you learn sounds and to speak. But please, work on learning the syllabaries as soon as possible. Romaji is terrible for many reasons, including the fact that everyone and their mother writes Romaji in a different way. You may notice that my Romaji is different than some others you've come across. So again. Try to get away from it as soon as possible. Don't be afraid. I know you can do it!

We'll start with Kana, namely Hiragana as you'll be seeing it the most.

HIRAGANA

Hiragana is used mainly for native Japanese words. You will see Hiragana everywhere. So you'll be wanting to learn that first.

A:あ　I:い　U:う　E:え　O:お

Ka:か　Ki:き　Ku:く　Ke:け　Ko:こ

Sa:さ　Shi:し　Su:す　Se:せ　So:そ

Ta:た　Chi:ち　Tsu:つ　Te:て　To:と

Na:な　Ni:に　Nu:ぬ　Ne:ね　No:の

Ha:は　Hi:ひ　Fu:ふ　He:へ　Ho:ほ

Ma:ま　Mi:み　Mu:む　Me:め　Mo:も

Ya:や　Yu:ゆ　Yo:よ　*yes there are only 3 of these

Ra:ら　Ri:り　Ru:る　Re:れ　Ro:ろ

Wa:わ　Wo:を　*yes there's only 2 of these

N:ん

Okay, now some of these characters get whats called a "Dakuten" that's a little " or ゜that's next to the Hiragana that changes it's sound. those are as follows:

Ga:が　Gi:ぎ　Gu:ぐ　Ge:げ　Go:ご

Za:ざ　Ji：じ　Zu:ず　Ze:ぜ　Zo:ぞ

Da：だ　Zi:ぢ　Dzu:づ　De:で Do:ど

Ba:ば　Bi:び　Bu:ぶ　Be:べ　Bo:ぼ

Pa:ぱ　Pi:ぴ　Pu:ぷ　Pe:ぺ　Po:ぽ

ぱ　ぴ　ぷ　ぺ　ぽ are the only ones that use the ゜dakuten.

You'll notice that 「ぢ」sounds like "zi" ... or "dzi"... and not "di" and that 「づ」sounds like "dzu" and not "du" ... that's.... that's a pain in the butt but it is what it is. In order to get the "di" sound it's written 「でぃ」"de" and a little "i" makes "di" ... and actually you'll probably only ever see that written in Katakana 「ディ」

Which brings me to the next part. Little vowels and Little Y sounds.

We covered some of the little y sounds last lesson. You'll see more little Ys than little vowels. The biggest thing you need to remember about little Ys is that they're always stuck to an "-i" character.

Kya:きゃ���Kyu:きゅ　Kyo:きょ　Gya:ぎゃ　Gyu:ぎゅ　Gyo:ぎょ

Sha:しゃ　Shu:しゅ　Sho:しょ　Ja:じゃ　Ju:じゅ　Jo:じょ

Cha:ちゃ　Chu:ちゅ　Cho:ちょ

Nya:にゃ　Nyu:にゅ　Nyo:にょ

Hya:ひゃ　Hyu:ひゅ　Hyo:ひょ　Bya:びゃ　Byu:びゅ　Byo:びょ

Pya:ぴゃ　Pyu:ぴゅ　Pyo:ぴょ

Rya:りゃ　Ryu:りゅ　Ryo:りょ

You'll notice some of these don't have "y"s in the romaji reading. Don't freak. That's just how it works. And is part of the reason I don't like Romaji.

Like I said you'll also see little vowels: ぁ ぃ　ぅ　ぇ　ぉ but like with 「ディ」"di" you'll probably only ever see them in Katakana. Here's a few anyway:

Fa:ふぁ　Fi:ふぃ　Fe:ふぇ　Fo:ふぉ

She:しぇ Je:じぇ　Che:ちぇ　Ti:てぃ　Di:でぃ

Finally there's little "tsu" っ this little symbol DOUBLES the next consonant!

っか = kka っさ = ssa

etc. a っ can be near any other kana it doesn't really have a restriction besides not coming before あ, い, う, え, お, or ANY of the "N"s

If you come across a double n it will be written with the lone N first 「ん」 followed by one of the Ns with a vowel next to it.

Ex: Konnichiwa = こんにちは

Like English the double consonant doesn't change the sound, it just lengthens it by a fraction (if even that).

っき = "kki" pronounced the same as "ki" って= "tte" pronounced the same as "te"

Does that make sense? :)

KATAKANA (less explanation here because it's the same rules and sounds)

Katakana is used mainly for loan words. Words borrowed from other languages. It's also used in some names.

A:ア　I:イ　U:ウ　E:エ　O:オ

Ka:カ　Ki:キ　Ku:ク　Ke:ケ　Ko:コ

Sa:サ　Shi:シ　Su:ス　Se:セ　So:ソ

Ta:タ　Chi:チ　Tsu:ツ　Te:テ　To:ト

Na:ナ　Ni:ニ　Nu:ヌ　Ne:ネ　No:ノ

Ha:ハ　Hi:ヒ　Fu:フ　He:ヘ　Ho:ホ

Ma:マ　Mi:ミ　Mu:ム　Me:メ　Mo:モ

Ya:ヤ　Yu:ユ　Yo:ヨ

Ra:ラ　Ri:リ　Ru:ル　Re:レ　Ro:ロ

Wa:ワ　Wo:ヲ

N:ン

Ga:ガ　Gi:ギ　Gu:グ　Ge:ゲ　Go:ゴ

Za:ザ　Ji:ジ　Zu:ズ　Ze:ゼ　Zo:ゾ

Da:ダ　Dzi:ヂ　Dzu:ヅ　De:デ　Do:ド

Ba:バ　Bi:ビ　Bu:ブ　Be:ベ　Bo:ボ

Pa:パ　Pi:ピ　Pu:プ　Pe:ペ　Po:ポ

Kya:キャ　Kyu:キュ　Kyo:キョ　Gya:ギャ　Gyu:ギュ　Gyo:ギョ

Sha:シャ　Shu:シュ　Sho:ショ　Ja:ジャ　Ju:ジュ　Jo:ジョ

Cha:チャ　Chu:チュ　Cho:チョ

Nya:ニャ　Nyu:ニュ　Nyo:ニョ

Hya:ヒャ　Hyu:ヒュ　Hyo:ヒョ　Bya:ビャ　Byu:ビュ　Byo:ビョ

Pya:ピャ　Pyu:ピュ　Pyo:ピョ

Mya:ミャ　Myu:ミュ　Myo:ミョ

Rya:リャ　Ryu:リュ　Ryo:リョ

Ti:ティ　Di:ディ　She:シェ　Je:ジェ　Che:チェ

Va:ヴァ　Vi:ヴィ　Vu:ヴ　Ve:ヴェ　Vo:ヴォ

ッコ= kko ッソ= sso ッタ=tta ッシ=sshi

... there are probably other possibilities I've left out, but these are all the common ones you should see. and even if that's not true I trust that you can see and understand the pattern here. :)

KANJI There's thousands of Kanji, so I'm not going to list. I will have Kanji in with the lessons, but learn them at your own pace. No worries. :) I've found that once I got to the point where I could start learning Kanji it's made reading a lot easier for me.

Sorry if this is a HELLISH ammount. Just write the syllabaries down and come back to them now and then as reference. You don't have to learn them all today, or this week, or even this month. I just want you to be familiar with them. :)

[kitsunenonihongo]

DUOLINGO Japanese Lesson 2: Writing Systems

This is super important, before we begin with learning words and sentences.

Japanese has 3 writing systems so to speak. Two of them are syllabaries, you may refer to them as "Alphabets", and the third writing system is sort of symbol based, like Chinese.

There's also ROMAJI. Which we'll be using to help you learn sounds and to speak. But please, work on learning the syllabaries as soon as possible. Romaji is terrible for many reasons, including the fact that everyone and their mother writes Romaji in a different way. You may notice that my Romaji is different than some others you've come across. So again. Try to get away from it as soon as possible. Don't be afraid. I know you can do it!

We'll start with Kana, namely Hiragana as you'll be seeing it the most.

HIRAGANA

Hiragana is used mainly for native Japanese words. You will see Hiragana everywhere. So you'll be wanting to learn that first.

A:あ　I:い　U:う　E:え　O:お

Ka:か　Ki:き　Ku:く　Ke:け　Ko:こ

Sa:さ　Shi:し　Su:す　Se:せ　So:そ

Ta:た　Chi:ち　Tsu:つ　Te:て　To:と

Na:な　Ni:に　Nu:ぬ　Ne:ね　No:の

Ha:は　Hi:ひ　Fu:ふ　He:へ　Ho:ほ

Ma:ま　Mi:み　Mu:む　Me:め　Mo:も

Ya:や　Yu:ゆ　Yo:よ　*yes there are only 3 of these

Ra:ら　Ri:り　Ru:る　Re:れ　Ro:ろ

Wa:わ　Wo:を　*yes there's only 2 of these

N:ん

Okay, now some of these characters get whats called a "Dakuten" that's a little " or ゜that's next to the Hiragana that changes it's sound. those are as follows:

Ga:が　Gi:ぎ　Gu:ぐ　Ge:げ　Go:ご

Za:ざ　Ji：じ　Zu:ず　Ze:ぜ　Zo:ぞ

Da：だ　Zi:ぢ　Dzu:づ　De:で Do:ど

Ba:ば　Bi:び　Bu:ぶ　Be:べ　Bo:ぼ

Pa:ぱ　Pi:ぴ　Pu:ぷ　Pe:ぺ　Po:ぽ

ぱ　ぴ　ぷ　ぺ　ぽ are the only ones that use the ゜dakuten.

You'll notice that 「ぢ」sounds like "zi" ... or "dzi"... and not "di" and that 「づ」sounds like "dzu" and not "du" ... that's.... that's a pain in the butt but it is what it is. In order to get the "di" sound it's written 「でぃ」"de" and a little "i" makes "di" ... and actually you'll probably only ever see that written in Katakana 「ディ」

Which brings me to the next part. Little vowels and Little Y sounds.

We covered some of the little y sounds last lesson. You'll see more little Ys than little vowels. The biggest thing you need to remember about little Ys is that they're always stuck to an "-i" character.

Kya:きゃ　Kyu:きゅ　Kyo:きょ　Gya:ぎゃ　Gyu:ぎゅ　Gyo:ぎょ

Sha:しゃ　Shu:しゅ　Sho:しょ　Ja:じゃ　Ju:じゅ　Jo:じょ

Cha:ちゃ　Chu:ちゅ　Cho:ちょ

Nya:にゃ　Nyu:にゅ　Nyo:にょ

Hya:ひゃ　Hyu:ひゅ　Hyo:ひょ　Bya:びゃ　Byu:びゅ　Byo:びょ　

Pya:ぴゃ　Pyu:ぴゅ　Pyo:ぴょ

Rya:りゃ　Ryu:りゅ　Ryo:りょ

You'll notice some of these don't have "y"s in the romaji reading. Don't freak. That's just how it works. And is part of the reason I don't like Romaji.

Like I said you'll also see little vowels: ぁ ぃ　ぅ　ぇ　ぉ but like with 「ディ」"di" you'll probably only ever see them in Katakana. Here's a few anyway:

Fa:ふぁ　Fi:ふぃ　Fe:ふぇ　Fo:ふぉ

She:しぇ Je:じぇ　Che:ちぇ　Ti:てぃ　Di:でぃ

Finally there's little "tsu" っ this little symbol DOUBLES the next consonant!

っか = kka っさ = ssa

etc. a っ can be near any other kana it doesn't really have a restriction besides not coming before あ, い, う, え, お, or ANY of the "N"s

If you come across a double n it will be written with the lone N first 「ん」 followed by one of the Ns with a vowel next to it.

Ex: Konnichiwa = こんにちは

Like English the double consonant doesn't change the sound, it just lengthens it by a fraction (if even that).

っき = "kki" pronounced the same as "ki" って= "tte" pronounced the same as "te"

Does that make sense? :)

KATAKANA (less explanation here because it's the same rules and sounds)

Katakana is used mainly for loan words. Words borrowed from other languages. It's also used in some names.

A:ア　I:イ　U:ウ　E:エ　O:オ

Ka:カ　Ki:キ　Ku:ク　Ke:ケ　Ko:コ

Sa:サ　Shi:シ　Su:ス　Se:セ　So:ソ

Ta:タ　Chi:チ　Tsu:ツ　Te:テ　To:ト

Na:ナ　Ni:ニ　Nu:ヌ　Ne:ネ　No:ノ

Ha:ハ　Hi:ヒ　Fu:フ　He:ヘ　Ho:ホ

Ma:マ　Mi:ミ　Mu:ム　Me:メ　Mo:モ

Ya:ヤ　Yu:ユ　Yo:ヨ

Ra:ラ　Ri:リ　Ru:ル　Re:レ　Ro:ロ

Wa:ワ　Wo:ヲ

N:ン

Ga:ガ　Gi:ギ　Gu:グ　Ge:ゲ　Go:ゴ

Za:ザ　Ji:ジ　Zu:ズ　Ze:ゼ　Zo:ゾ

Da:ダ　Dzi:ヂ　Dzu:ヅ　De:デ　Do:ド

Ba:バ　Bi:ビ　Bu:ブ　Be:ベ　Bo:ボ

Pa:パ　Pi:ピ　Pu:プ　Pe:ペ　Po:ポ

Kya:キャ　Kyu:キュ　Kyo:キョ　Gya:ギャ　Gyu:ギュ　Gyo:ギョ

Sha:シャ　Shu:シュ　Sho:ショ　Ja:ジャ　Ju:ジュ　Jo:ジョ

Cha:チャ　Chu:チュ　Cho:チョ　

Nya:ニャ　Nyu:ニュ　Nyo:ニョ

Hya:ヒャ　Hyu:ヒュ　Hyo:ヒョ　Bya:ビャ　Byu:ビュ　Byo:ビョ

Pya:ピャ　Pyu:ピュ　Pyo:ピョ

Mya:ミャ　Myu:ミュ　Myo:ミョ

Rya:リャ　Ryu:リュ　Ryo:リョ

Ti:ティ　Di:ディ　She:シェ　Je:ジェ　Che:チェ　

Va:ヴァ　Vi:ヴィ　Vu:ヴ　Ve:ヴェ　Vo:ヴォ

ッコ= kko ッソ= sso ッタ=tta ッシ=sshi

... there are probably other possibilities I've left out, but these are all the common ones you should see. and even if that's not true I trust that you can see and understand the pattern here. :)

KANJI There's thousands of Kanji, so I'm not going to list. I will have Kanji in with the lessons, but learn them at your own pace. No worries. :) I've found that once I got to the point where I could start learning Kanji it's made reading a lot easier for me.

Sorry if this is a HELLISH ammount. Just write the syllabaries down and come back to them now and then as reference. You don't have to learn them all today, or this week, or even this month. I just want you to be familiar with them. :)

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