Word of the Day #2

Today's word is 'Day'. It has many pronunciations but I will focus the one that is used to specify days of the month. This kanji can also be used to represent the word 'Sun' but is generally used with other characters when referring to the sun.

Kanji: 日
Kana: にち
Romaji: nichi

Example
Kanji: １１日は暇です。
Kana: １１にちはひまです。
I'm free on the 11th.

Word of the Day #1

First word of the day! I will be starting off with words that use either a single Kanji or none. Kanji can have multiple pronunciations depending on the word they're used in. I will also follow each word with an example of how it can be used in a sentence.

Today's word is 'Now'.

Kanji: 今
Kana: いま
Romaji: ima

Example
今何時ですか？
いまなんじですか？
What time is it now?

Pronunciation: Consonants Part 4

Hello again everyone. Sorry for the delay. I managed to catch a bug a couple of days ago. In this section, we will be covering the use of characters combined with other characters to make different sounds. After this, we will go on to studying vocabulary.

Pronunciation: Consonants Part 3

This is part 3 of Pronunciation: Consonants. Tomorrow we will finish up with combined sounds. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave it in the comments section below or contact me via email. Good luck with your studying!

Pronuncation: Consonants Part 2

This is a continuation on pronouncing Japanese consonants. If you have any questions or feedback, you can leave it in the comments section or send me an email. Happy studies!

Pronuncation: Consonants Part 1

This section will be divided into 3 parts so that you have time to practice each sound. Japanese is very different from English in how consonants work because all their characters are phonetic. Also, all but one of their consonant characters end in one of the five vowel sounds. One very important thing to note about consonants and vowels in Japanese is vowels dictate the shape and movement of the lips, whereas consonants dictate the movement of the mouth and tongue. Try to be mindful of this when trying to say these sounds:

Pronuncation: Vowels

I think that before you begin to learn a language, it's best to learn what sounds it's capable of. Although English has many sounds, it does not use all of the sounds used in other languages. The same is true for other languages as well. Before I list any words for you to study, I would like to go over the sounds used in the Japanese language before posting any vocabulary. I will go over vowels first and then consonants in my next blog.