Lesson one of Real Japanese looks at the basics of learning Japanese. Simple greetings, introductions, and the writing system. Don't get discouraged by the amount of Hiragana and Katakana! Just enjoy learning Japanese!

Note: To read the Japanese font you need to apply "(Japanese) - Shift_ JIS" to your browser.To do this go to the menu bar select "View > Character Encoding > (Japanese) - Shift_ JIS. If you don't see it there select View> Character Encoding's > More Encoding's > East Asian > (Japanese) Shift_ JIS. I

1. Greetings (Basic)

2. Giving Thanks

Thanks
Thank you

3. Introducing your self (Conversation)

Note: "Hajimemashite" is used only when greeting someone for the first time.

Person 1: Hajimemashite. (Watashi wa) John desu. How do you do. I am John.
Person 2: Hajimemashite. (Watashi wa) Yamada desu. How do you. I am Yamada
Person 1: Douzo yoroshiku. Nice to meet you.
Person 2: Kochirakoso. Nice to meet you too.

4. Hiragana

Hiragana Table 1

all Japanese charters work off of the 5 vowels "AEIOU". They are pronounced a little different and are usually spoken in a different order. "AIUEO" Pronunciation is as follows:

A - "Awww" I wanted a blue one, mommy!
I - "ee" as in Bee (buzz buzz)
U - "ooh" that feels good!
E - "eh" You are Canadian, Eh?
O - "Oh" Canada our home and... "OH!" my god don't sing please

With these basic sound we just ad the consonant. ie.

K + A = Ka (K Aw) Is that "KaKa" on your shoe!
N + I = Ni (N ee) Like "Knee" neat huh?

Ok you get the gist of it now start studying!

Hirigana table 2

Like the above. Notice that the characters are the same except for some added marks. ”。
These should be easy to memorize!

Watch out for a couple of them though. zu, ji, ju

Hirigana table 3

Here we ad a "ya, yu, or yo" to th original to make a new character.

Also we always change the original character to the "I" form Ka= Ki, Ga=Gi, Ba=Bi then add "ya, yu, or yo"

Example:

Ka becomes Ki + Ya = Kya (like the karate chop "Kyaaaa!"
Na becomes Ni + Ya = Nya ( sounds like Niyaaa) (Also this is the sound of a cat or girls trying to be sexy)

Note: I missed adding the "R" ones please add them accordingly

Rya, Ryu, Ryo Sorry for the incontinence.

5. Katakana

Note: I missed adding the "R" ones in the table below.

Please add them accordingly Rya, Ryu, Ryo Sorry for the inconvenience.

6. Reading

Try reading these.

"ー" elongates the preceding character.