Category Archives: Japan

Moving on to Katakana

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I have learned the Hiragana syllabollary.  Now it is time to learn the Katakana.  There is a one to one correspondence between the Katakana and Hiragana.  So, this does not involve learning any new sounds.  Hiragana is used for Japanese words, so it made sense to learn that first.  Katakana is for foreign words and emphesis.

There are several Katakana characters that are extremely similar.  Consider the following:

ã‚· – shi

ツ – tsu

 

ソ – so

ン – n

There is a subtle difference in the slant of the bottom line and the shorter lines at the top.  It is very easy to comfuse these.

There are two characters that look almost like their Hiragana equivalent.

Romaji: ri

Hiragana:　　り

Katakana:　リ

–and–

Romaji: he

Hiragana:　　へ

Katakana:　　ヘ

 

 

Lists of resources to help you learn Japanese

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DMOZ.org page: dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Linguistics/Languages/Natural/Japanese/Learning/

About.com: japanese.about.com/

Google Directory: www.google.com/Top/Science/Social_Sciences/Linguistics/Languages/Natural/Japanese/Learning/

 

Yahoo: dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/Linguistics_and_Human_Languages/Languages/Specific_Languages/Japanese/Lessons_and_Tutorials_Online/

Excite:

www.excite.co.uk/directory/Science/Social_Sciences/Linguistics/Languages/Natural/Japanese/Resources

Yahoo (canada) ca.dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/Linguistics_and_Human_Languages/Languages/Specific_Languages/Japanese/Lessons_and_Tutorials_Online/

WannaLearn.com:

www.wannalearn.com/Academic_Subjects/World_Languages/Japanese/

 

Software and sites for learning Japanese

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www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/japanese.html

free software here that people (especially students) interested in Japanese may find useful. Additionally, I have placed some vocabulary files here that people studying Japanese at UCLA may find interesting. Finally, I have included links to other sites that produce Japanese software, or other related topics.

 

 ftp.cc.monash.edu.au/pub/nihongo/00INDEX.html#win_r

 

www.gy.com/www/ww1/ja_e.htm

www.humanjapanese.com/home.html

Kanji-a-day

www.kanji-a-day.com/index.php

 Kanji Alive

 kanjialive.lib.uchicago.edu/main.php?page=overview&lang=en

 loquela-education.net/course/view.php?id=21

 www.dartmouth.edu/~damell/Japanese/exercise.html

 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning Japanese -random links

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www.grandgent.com/tom/j/

 

www.euroasiasoftware.com/english/japanese/learn/hiraganatable.htm

 

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