Kotoeri

ことえり is the Japanese language input software that came with my Mac. I know nothing of the software used for other operating systems, so I stick to detailing what I know about Kotoeri.

To enable Kotoeri, simply visit the System Preference panel. Next click Language and Text, select Input Sources and scroll to find Kotoeri. I suggest checking the boxes for Hiragana, Katakana and Romaji. Finally, save your changes by exiting the System Preference. In the menu bar on the desk top, click on the flag and a menu will extending offering input options. Choose the one you need and you can type in Japanese to your heart's content. The interface takes some adjustments. I highly suggest learning the keyboard short cuts, which make switching from one input source to the next very simple. Personally, I type the majority of my English in under the Romaji input because there neither exists, nor have I been able to create a short cut back to the English input. I have yet to encounter a problem with using this interface to type English.

There are no truly useful directions for Kotoeri. The help menu is of little help and what I have learned was mostly though trial and error. There are a few details that may be useful to know:

• General typing appears in which ever Kana you have chosen.
• Pressing the space bar or any punctuation enables Kotoeri to perform best guess kanji placement. Pressing the space bar once will open a dialog box with additional kanji and transliteration options.
• Under the Kotoeri menu, open Type Using Kana Table at your connivence.

Some of the Kana is not self explanatory in terms of typing any must be located by circuitous methods. For example:

• を　is typed: wo
• ん　is typed: nn
• づ　is typed: du
• つ　can be typed: tsu or tu
• ち　can be typed: chi or ti
• 「 ＆ 」is typed: Shift + [ & Shift + ]
• 待って　double consents are typed: motte

These are only a few examples. More will become apparent as you play with the inputs.

My Flashcards

As mentioned in the previous post, I employ flash cards in two different study methods. The Flashcard Exchange, a digital study community, and hand written index flash cards, have both aided in my memorization of the kanji. In the book, Heisig suggests a method for creating the flashcards. But, due the fact that he waited until his readers were a couple of lessons into the book before providing the details, I had already devised my preferred flash card set up. The following is an example of my flash cards:

The Flashcard Exchange

Flashcards are one of the best study methods, however, all those little pieces of paper can become troublesome. A few months into my use of Rosetta Stone, I decided it would be a good idea to go through and make flash cards for all of the vocabulary. As mentioned in a previous post, I made flashcards for the kana. This time, I thought a digital alternative might be a better option for the kanji which I had no clue how to draw correctly. A quick search in cyberspace led me to the Flashcard Exchange. On the site, a user can create an unlimited number of flashcards without installing any software on their end. I made digital flashcards for almost all of the first 2 levels of Rosetta Stone. They are currently available for anyone to access here along with the first 56 lessons of the Heisig Method made by other users. Search through all 4 pages to access all the content. Recently, I have found these specific cards to be an indispensable resource. Reinforcing Heisig's point that I should practice writing rather than recognizing the Kanji, I allow Flashcard Exchange to provide me with 25 or 50 random key words. I write each corresponding kanji out by hand and check it immediately with a single click. In using the Flash Card Exchange, I hope to lessen my chances of diminishing returns as I continuously learn new kanji each day while my ability to effectively review decreases

I will continue to make flashcards by hand for the Heisig Method because I personally learn best by taking the time to write the information out. Also, I often edit the stories Heisig offers to fit my memory. Nevertheless, The Flashcard Exchange represents a valuable study tool.

Revised Daily Study Routine

Due to the suggestions made by Heisig in Lesson 11 of the book, I have decided to revise my daily study routine. As he states, simply learning to recognize the kanji and remember their meaning is not sufficient. I must also be capable of producing the kanji handwritten with only the key word and no other reference.

1. As soon as I wake, between 6:30 and 7:00 am, I wash my face, brush my teeth and sit at my desk to make the day's flash cards. When they are complete, I run through them, looking at the kanji and reciting the key word and the short story.
2. Around noon, I attempt to draw the kanji by hand with only the key word as a reference. Any kanji done incorrectly, will be reshuffled and reattempted.
3. Around 5:00 pm, I run through the cards once more.
4. Around 8:00pm, I visit the Flash Card Exchange (This website will be detailed in depth in my next blog post). There I test myself with 50 cards from the current week's relevant lessons.

|Interestingly enough, this revised daily study routine is subject to revision|

The Heisig Study Method Is Not A "Crutch"

Short cuts are not the answer. Heisig makes this point clear from the start of Lesson 11. If I study from the key word to the kanji, the reverse will take care of itself. The following are the steps Heisig outlines which should be followed when confronting each new frame along with a few variations, additions and negations of my own:

1. Read the key word and take note of the particular connotation. Consider that most words have multiple meanings and associations. Think on that particular connotation and repeat it (aloud if needed, you may be surprized at how useful hearing your own voice can be to the learning process). Keep an online dictionary readily accessible.
2. Read the story related to the key work (aloud) and allow it to establish a clear picture in your head.
3. Close your eyes. Focus on the images that the story brings to mind, along with the key word and the primitive elements and let go of the controls. Allow your imagination time to do its job. You will know your work is done when you have succeeded in creating a memorable image that is both succinct and complete, faithful to the key word. Remember! At all times the key word should remain fixed. This is important because you do not wish to change a key word to fit your version of the kanji's definition, only to discover in lessons down the road that Heisig has already used that key word in another, more suitable definition. However, it is perfectly acceptable to change the story to fit you. I often find many of Heisig's references out dated and irrelevant in terms of my cultural references. In such cases, I always opt for simplification of all stories, but I always maintain the key word and include a reference to all relevant elements.
4. Open your eyes and repeat the key word and primitive elements, keeping the image in your mind. Clear away the fog and give it all time to stick in your mind.
5. Juxtapose the elements relative to one another in line with your image or the way they normally appear in the characters.
6. Take a pencil and write the characters once, retelling the story as you go.
7. Finally, create the flash card.

The most important thing in this review is not really to see whether you are remembering the characters, but to learn how to locate problems and deal with them. If you are having trouble remembering the locations of elements within a kanji, look for clues in the story. If there are none, revise the story until it works for you. If you are confusing one kanji for another, return to the key word and re-clarify one single connotation for that key word.

One final note, once you start making exceptions for the characters you "know" or "have no trouble with" or "do not need to run through all the steps with", you are headed for frustration that will take a great deal of trouble to dig yourself out of. In other words, if you start using the method as a "crutch" to help you only with the kanji you have trouble with, you will quickly be limping along worse than ever. What Heisig is offering here is not a crutch, but a different way of walking.

Lost In Translation

Translation sites seem to have difficulty working with Japanese and English. I'm sure the trouble stems from the profoundly different grammar. Most sites provide an incoherent jumble of words along with corresponding nouns, leaving me frustrated. The only semi-useful translation site, I've found is Google's, but even those are hit or miss.

Twitter - Learn Kanji

The creator of JapanDict has another incredibly useful study tool. Learn Kanji is the only Twitter feed I follow. Its sort of like one of those word of the day calendars. Each day, a new kanji, its kana pronunciation and definition are posted. A link is also provided to the corresponding Japan Dict page. I connected the RSS feed to my Safari tool bar, and therefore receive an alert as soon as a new post is made.

Katakana

Basic:

 a       i       u       e       o
ア      イ      ウ      エ      オ            

ka      ki      ku      ke      ko         ga       gi      gu      ge      go
カ      キ      ク      ケ      コ         ガ       ギ      グ      ゲ      ゴ

sa     shi      su      se      so         za       ji      zu      ze      zo
サ      シ      ス      セ      ソ         ザ       ジ      ズ      ゼ      ゾ

ta     chi     tsu      te      to         da     (dji)   (dzu)     de      do
タ      チ      ツ      テ      ト         ダ      (ヂ)    (ヅ)     デ      ド

na      ni      nu      ne      no
ナ      ニ      ヌ      ネ      ノ
     
ha      hi      fu      he      ho         ba       bi      bu      be      bo
ハ      ヒ      フ      ヘ      ホ         バ       ビ      ブ      ベ      ボ

ma      mi      mu      me      mo         pa       pi      pu      pe      po
マ      ミ      ム      メ      モ         パ       ピ      プ      ペ      ポ

ya              yu              yo
ヤ              ユ              ヨ

ra      ri      ru      re      ro
ラ      リ      ル      レ      ロ

wa     (wi)    (wu)    (we)    (w)o
ワ     (ヰ)     ウ     (ヱ)     ヲ

n'
ン

Palatalized:

kya            kyu             kyo         gya             gyu             gyo
キャ           キュ            キョ        ギャ            ギュ            ギョ

sha            shu             sho         ja              ju              jo
シャ           シュ            ショ        ジャ            ジュ            ジョ

cha            chu             cho        (dja)           (dju)           (djo)
チャ           チュ            チョ       (ヂャ)          (ヂュ)          (ヂョ)

nya            nyu             nyo
ニャ           ニュ            ニョ

hya            hyu             hyo         bya             byu             byo
ヒャ           ヒュ            ヒョ        ビャ            ビュ            ビョ

mya            myu             myo         pya             pyu             pyo
ミャ           ミュ            ミョ        ピャ            ピュ            ピョ

rya            ryu             ryo
リャ           リュ            リョ

Long Vowels & Geminates:

long vowel       :  ー        コーヒー   ケーキ

Double consonant :  ッ        セット  コップ

Innovative Combinations:

kwo   gwo

クォ  グォ

si    zi    ti    di    tu    du

スィ　ズィ　ティ　ディ　トゥ　ドゥ

fa    fi    fu    fe    fo    va    vi    vu    ve    vo

ファ　フィ　フ    フェ  フォ　ヴァ　ヴィ　ヴ　　ヴェ　ヴォ

wi    we    wo

ウィ　ウェ　ウォ

she   je    che    dje

シェ　ジェ　チェ   ヂェ

Hiragana

Basic:
 a       i       u      e       o
あ      い      う      え      お            
  
 ka      ki      ku      ke      ko         ga       gi      gu      ge      go
か      き      く      け      こ         が       ぎ      ぐ      げ      ご
 sa     shi      su      se      so         za       ji      zu      ze      zo
さ      し      す      せ      そ         ざ       じ      ず      ぜ      ぞ
 ta     chi     tsu      te      to         da     (dji)   (dzu)     de      do
た      ち      つ      て      と         だ      (ぢ)    (づ)     で      ど
 na      ni      nu      ne      no
な      に      ぬ      ね      の
         ha      hi      fu      he      ho         ba       bi      bu      be      bo
は      ひ      ふ      へ      ほ         ば       び      ぶ      べ      ぼ
 ma      mi      mu      me      mo         pa       pi      pu      pe      po
ま      み      む      め      も         ぱ       ぴ      ぷ      ぺ      ぽ
 ya              yu              yo
や              ゆ              よ
 ra      ri      ru      re      ro
ら      り      る      れ      ろ
 wa                             (w)o
わ                              を
 n'
ん
  
Palatalized:
kya            kyu             kyo         gya             gyu             gyo
きゃ           きゅ            きょ        ぎゃ            ぎゅ            ぎょ
 sha            shu             sho         ja              ju              jo
しゃ           しゅ            しょ        じゃ            じゅ            じょ
 cha            chu             cho        (dja)           (dju)           (djo)
ちゃ           ちゅ            ちょ       (ぢゃ)          (ぢゅ)          (ぢょ)
 nya            nyu             nyo
にゃ           にゅ            にょ
 hya            hyu             hyo         bya             byu             byo
ひゃ           ひゅ            ひょ        びゃ            びゅ            びょ
 mya            myu             myo         pya             pyu             pyo
みゃ           みゅ            みょ        ぴゃ            ぴゅ            ぴょ
 rya            ryu             ryo
りゃ           りゅ            りょ
Long Vowels & Geminates:
 long vowel       :  -ee  い       せんせい    えいが     めいし
                                  [exceptions: おねえさん  ねえ]
                    -oo  う       がっこう    きょうしつ
                                  [exceptions: おおきい  とおり  こおり  とおい]
 Double consonant :  っ            みっか      はっきり    ちょっと

Introduction to Japanese Writing:
Identify each hiragana
Irregular uses: particles wa は, e　へ, (w)o　を　　　　あのひとはなにをかいましたか。せんしゅうどこへいきましたか。
 　
Long vowels: 　　　　　　x-ee　-い, x-oo　-う　 　　　せんせい、きょうと、どうりょう 
 
Geminates: 　　　small tsu　っ                          はっぴょう、しっぱい、かっぱつ
Syllabic nasal:　　　　　　　ん                          こんばん、はんのう、べんきょう
Palatalized syllables: small ya　ゃ, yu　ゅ, yo　ょ　　　きゃくしゃ、きゅうりょう、しゅみ
Punctuation: ten　、 maru　。
Quotaion marks: 「いつきたの。」

Japan Dict

JapanDict.com is my favorite online Japanese dictionary. It has a simple no nonsense design. Definitions can be found for both words and independent kanji. And the best part about the site, is that each kanji is broken down into its radical elements which may be investigated for further clarification. This feature compliments the Heisig method greatly. In fact, I used it to understand kanji before I even discovered the Heisig method, and this prior knowledge weighed greatly in my decision to pursue the Heisig method.

Denshi Jisho is another useful online Japanese dictionary. However, its lack of simplicity is at times troubling. As a beginner with the the language, the simplest definition for a given kanji is often the best. This site often lists as many corresponding uses for any given kanji it can produce. This may be helpful for someone adept with the language, but to me, its overkill.

日本語: A Language Guide

Parts of Speech

Nominals

Nouns: Japanese nouns do not inflect for number, person, or (directly) case.

とうきょう (Tokyo); みかん (mandarin orange); くるま car

Although there is no true plural in Japanese, a number of nouns (generally those that refer to people) may take one of several collective suffixes.

たなかさん (Mr. Tanaka), たなかさんたち (Mr. Tanaka and his group)

A very limited number indicate the collective by reduplication.

ひと person → ひとびと people; ほし star → ほしぼし stars

Pronominals: Unlike many other languages, Japanese has no true pronouns; since words that are clear from context are usually elided, there is less need for them. (In general, natural-sounding Japanese tends to avoid the use of nouns that refer to people except when explicitly needed. This is often a point of confusion for beginners.) Pronominals are not grammatically distinct from ordinary nominals: notably, they may take adjectives, which pronouns cannot.

atashi, boku, ore, watashi I; anata, kimi, kisama, omae you

na-adjectives: These nominals almost invariably have a form of the copula (such as na) following them, to the point where they are often listed in dictionaries with the na included. They are generally adjectival in meaning as well.

へたな unskilled, "bad at"; げんきな healthy, energetic; おりじなるな original.

Verbals

Verbs: Japanese verbs inflect directly for tense, negation, mood, aspect, politeness, and honorific speech.

いく(to go), くる (to come), いる (existence of animate object, "there is/are"), ある (existence of inanimate object, "there is/are")

-i adjectives: These inflect for tense, politeness, and honorific speech as well (although not aspect or mood, as they are all stative verbs); an -i adjective will always end in -ai, -ii, -ui, or -oi. (Note that there are also stative -u verbs.)

うつくしい beautiful; いい good; すごい amazing; うれしい happy

Copula: Although the copula is not strictly a verb, most of its forms derive from である; it inflects somewhat irregularly, however. It retains an "attributive form", な, used to modify the noun it stands before: however, this form is almost exclusively used after na-adjectives.

Other　

Particles: Also called postpositions or jōshi, particles show the case of nouns in Japanese: that is, they mark nouns as being the subject, object, indirect object, etc. (English typically uses word order or prepositions for the same effect.) Particles follow the noun they modify.

は (topic); が (subject); を (direct object), の (possession), に (indirect object marker), to, etc.; から from; まで until, as far as; で using, at

Some particles are used after sentences instead:

か (question marker); よ (exclamatory marker); って (quotation marker)

Adverbs: Adverbs typically modify the entire sentence, although most Japanese quantifiers (including numbers) are actually adverbs, rather than adjectives as in English.

あいかわらず as always; sukoshi a little, few; もうすぐ soon, before long; そう thus, so

Conjunctions: Japanese conjunctions typically either apply to nominals (like English "except") or to predicates (like English "when"), not both (like English "and").

または or (n.); そして and then, and also (pr.); ga but (pr.)

Interjections: Common to every language.

wā! "wow!", are? "huh?", "wha?"; ē to "um, er"; anō "um"

Japanese Basics

The most basic sentence in Japanese consists of a predicate. The predicate must be a verbal, although a copula with a nominal suffices. More frequently, a subject, object, or other additional noun will also be used, but none is required. Note: the

Examples

おそい late [You're] late.

けれいだ pretty is [It] is pretty.

これ　は　ほんだ This TOPIC book is This is a book.

かのじょ　は　うつくしい She TOPIC is-beautiful The girl is beautiful.

きょう　は　あまり　さむくないです Today TOPIC very cold-NEG-POLITE It isn't very cold today. / Today isn't very cold.

うみ　を　みわした Sea OBJ look_out_on-PAST [I] gazed out at the ocean.

おかあさん　は　みせ　に　いきました Mother TOPIC store PLACE_TO went-PAST-POLITE [Her] mother went to the store.

なつ　が　きました Summer SUBJ come-PAST-POLITE Summer has come.

Basic Grammar

The Japanese language is often confusing for Westerners first learning it, since word order and syntax are strikingly different from most European languages. However, the following basic grammatical rules are almost always obeyed.

A modifying verbal or predicate comes before the nominal it modifies.

うつくしい　ひと (beautiful person)

きたない　へや (dirty room)

たいせつ　な　もんだい (important problem, lit. "problem which is important")

わたくし　の　かった　ほん[(1p) RELSUBJ buy-PAST book] (the book that I bought)

Postposition particles (joshi) always come after the word(s) they modify.

わたし　は　きた　 (I came)

おかあさん　に　あげた　 ([I] gave it to mom)

Example of Basic Japanese Sentence structure

Note the importance of the particles, verb tenses, and adjectives.

Mr. Sanger and Mr. Wales eat at a Japanese restaurant.

Sangaa: すみません　めんゆう　を　みせて　ください。(Please show us the menu)

Ueitoresu: はい　どうぞ。(Certainly sir. Here you are.) のみもの　は　なに　に　なさいますか。 (What would you like to drink?)

Weruzu: ビール　を　おねがいします。(I'd like a beer, please.)

Sangaa: すきやき　に　します。 (I'll have the "sukiyaki".)

Weruzu: ビール　を　二　ほん　と　すきやき　を　ください。 (Two bottles of beer and some sukiyaki, please.)

Sangaa: デサトー　は　めそん　が　いい　です。(For dessert we'll have melon.) Ueitoresu: はい　かしこまりました。 (I see, understood).

Notes

Vocabulary

Waitress (loanword)

ウエイトネス

excuse me

すみません

menu (loanword)

めんゆう

yes (in the sense of "that's correct", or "I agree")

はい

beverage

のみもの

what

何　（なに）

want (desire an object or outcome)

ほしい

good

いい

beer (loanword)

ビール

two

二

to count bottles (or any long object)

ほん

dessert (loanword)

デサトー

melon (loanword)

めろん

please do X for me

X おながいします

please give me X

X ください

Particles: は - indicates the topic.

が - indicates the topic with de-emphasis on the topic

を - indicates the direct object

か - indicates a question

と - and

Verbs: みせます - show です - to be (copula, as opposed to existence) わかります - to understand.

日本語: A Language Definition

History and Classification

Historical linguists agree that Japanese is a Japonic language, but do not agree further about the origin of the Japanese language; there are several competing theories (presented roughly in descending order of likelihood):

• Japanese is a relative of extinct languages spoken by historic cultures in what are now the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. The best attested of these is the language of Goguryeo (a.k.a. Koguryo), with the less-attested languages of Baekje (a.k.a. Paekche) and Buyeo (a.k.a Puyo) hypothesized to also be related, because of all these cultures' historic ties.
• Japanese is a relative of other Asian languages. This theory maintains that Japanese split from - or had large influences from - other East Asian languages such as Korean (and possibly the Sino-Tibetan languages).
• Japanese is a relative of the Altaic language family. Other languages in this group include Mongolian, Tungusic, Turkish, and sometimes, Korean. Evidence for this theory lies in the fact that like Turkish and Korean, Japanese is an agglutinative language. Japanese also has (phonologically distinctive) pitch (called pitch accent in linguistics), similar to Serbian/Croatian. Additionally, there are a suggestive number of apparently regular correspondences in basic vocabulary, such as ishi "stone" to Turkic daş, yo "four" to Turkic dört.
• Phonological and lexical similarities to Austronesian languages have been noted.
• Japanese is a kind of creole, with an Altaic grammatical substructure, and core Austronesian vocabulary.
• Japanese is related to southern Asian languages. Some researchers have suggested a possible relationship between Japanese and Tamil, a member of the Dravidian language family spoken in southern India.

Specialists in Japanese historical linguistics all agree that Japanese is related to the Ryukyuan languages (including Okinawan); together, Japanese and Ryukyuan are grouped in the Japonic languages. Among these specialists, the possibility of a genetic relation to Goguryeo has the most evidence; relationship to Korean is considered plausible but not demonstrated; the Altaic hypothesis has somewhat less currency. Almost all specialists reject the idea that Japanese could be related to Austronesian/Malayo-Polynesian languages or Sino-Tibetan languages, and the idea that Japanese could be related to Tamil is given no credence at all.

Geographic Distribution

Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has been and is still sometimes spoken in countries besides Japan. When Japan occupied Korea, Taiwan, parts of China, and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries were forced to learn Japanese. As a result, there are still many people in these countries who speak Japanese instead of or as well as the local languages. In addition, emigrants from Japan, the majority of whom are found in the United States (notably California and Hawaii), and Brazil also frequently speak Japanese. There is also a small community in Davao, Philippines. Their descendants (known as nikkei 日系, literally Japanese descendants), however, rarely speak Japanese fluently. There are estimated to be several million non-Japanese studying the language as well.

Official Status

Japanese is the only official language of Japan, and Japan is the only country to have Japanese as an official language. There are two forms of the language considered standard: hyōjungo 標準語 or standard Japanese, and kyōtsūgo 共通語 or the common language. As government policy has modernized Japanese, many of the distinctions between the two have blurred. Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications, and is the version of Japanese discussed in this article.

Because it is Japan's only official language and there are few foreign Japanese speakers, the language is heavily tied to Japanese culture and vice-versa. There are many Japanese words describing certain Japanese cultural ideas, traditions, and customs (e.g., wa, nemawashi, kaizen, seppuku), which do not have corresponding words in other languages.

Dialects

There are dozens of dialects spoken in Japan. The profusion is due to the mountainous island terrain and Japan's long history of both external and internal isolation. Dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent, morphology of the verb and adjectives, particle usage, vocabulary and in some cases pronunciation. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this is uncommon.

Of all the numerous dialects, the most well known are Kansai-ben spoken in the area surrounding Kyoto and Osaka, Tōhoku-ben spoken in northern Honshu, and Kantō-ben spoken in Tokyo and the surrounding area. Kantō-ben is very close to the standard language, and varies essentially in slang; some consider it to be equivalent to the standard language. Kansai-ben has within it a number of regional variations, but is usually characterized by the dialect prominent in Osaka. It is famous for being the dialect used by a large number of famous comedians, and its use in even serious situations outside of the Kansai region tends to elicit laughter. Tōhoku-ben is considered to be hopelessly inaka by most Japanese people, its use is supposedly a sign of rural backwardness.

Japanese dialects are typically mutually intelligible, although extremely geographically separated dialects such as Tōhoku-ben and Tsushima-ben may not be; in such cases speakers switch to the standard language with which all Japanese are familiar from school and from the media. The dialect used in Kagoshima in southern Kyūshū is famous for being unintelligible not only to speakers of standard Japanese but to speakers of nearby dialects in northern Kyūshū as well.

The Ryukyuan languages used in and around Okinawa are related to Japanese, but the two are mutually unintelligible. Due to the close relationship they are still sometimes said to be only dialects of Japanese, but linguists consider them to be separate languages.

Sounds

If considered as a system of morae instead of syllables, (as the katakana and hiragana phonetic writing systems explicitly do) the sound structure is very simple: The language is made of morae (or moras), each with the same time value and stress. Each mora consists of an optional consonant sound, followed by a vowel sound. The vowel sound may optionally begin with /j/. Consonants may be geminate (doubled) using the moraic /Q/, and vowels may be lengthened; each takes an extra time beat. Moraic /N/ is considered a full mora to itself. Hence all words are made up of atomic morae, each of which has a "V" or "CV" (or "jV" or "CjV") structure, or is /N/, or /Q/. Each kana would correspond to a mora in this system. The moraic /Q/ is shown as a small "tsu" symbol (subscript ツ in katakana, or っ in hiragana) which precedes a kana to double the consonant, and another special symbol (a horizontal long dash) follows a kana to double the vowel.

Vowels

Japanese vowels are "pure" sounds, similar to their Italian or Spanish counterparts. The only unusual vowel is the high back vowel, which is indicated as /u/ in the diagram. This vowel is often described as unrounded, but is actually pronounced with "compressed lips", which is a different articulatory gesture from either rounded or unrounded lips: it is unrounded, but with spreading. The "u=" to the right of the diagram are possible narrow transcriptions using IPA, as suggested by the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association.

In some English dialects, Japanese vowels can be approximated as follows:

/a/ as in father

/i/ as in feet

/u/ as in flute

/e/ as in etch

/o/ as in fort

Vowels have a phonetic length distinction (short vs. long). Cf. contrasting pairs of words like ojisan ("uncle") vs. ojiisan ("grandfather"), or tsuki ("moon") vs. tsūki ("airflow").

In most phonological analyses, however, all vowels are treated as occuring with the time frame of only one mora. Phonetically long vowels, then, are, treated as a sequence of two identical vowels, i.e. ojiisan is /oziisaN/ not /oziːsaN/.

In addition, Japanese has no diphthongs instead having sequences of two different vowels. These sequences of two vowels are perceptually (to the Japanese speaker) and phonetically different from the diphthongs that occur in languages like English. In English a diphthong such as in eye is pronounced as a vowel with a following off-glide: [aɪ̯] or [aj]; while in Japanese the sequence in ai 愛 'eye' is pronounced as [ai] where each vowel segment is of equal length. Glide plus vowel are analyzed as a sequence of consonant and vowel.

Japanese allows long sequences of vowels without intervening pauses or consonants, as in tōō wo ōu 東欧を覆う [toooooooɯ].

Consonants

The consonant /ɺ/ (an Alveolar lateral flap) is tricky for some English speakers. To an English speaker's ears, its pronunciation lies somewhere between an "r" /ɹ/, an "l", and a "d". The sound may be made by lightly placing the tongue on the back of the upper set of teeth and producing the sound /l/. Japanese "r" is somewhat close to the Spanish "r" or the flap in American English, i.e. the "t"s in be[tt]er and the "d"s in la[dd]er. Japanese "r" is rather close to Korean "l".

The consonant sound /ɰ/ transliterated "w" in Romaji, is not quite a /w/ since it's performed without lip rounding.

Note that this table does not cover all sounds in the Japanese language. Please refer below for the details of pronunciation.

Phonology

Japanese contains a number of allophonic processes which greatly alter its phonetic realization. This sometimes causes its phonemic inventory to appear larger than it actually is.

The palatal /i/ and /j/ palatalize the consonants they follow:

/s/ and /z/ become alveolo-palatal [ɕ] and [ɟʑ] or [ʑ];

/t/ becomes the alveolo-palatal affricates [cɕ];

/h/ becomes the palatal fricative [ç], as in German "mich";

other consonants are noticeably palatalized: [pʲ], [mʲ], [gʲ], etc.

The vowel /u/ also causes frication on consonants it follows:

/h/ becomes bilabial [ɸ] (like English "f" but considerably softer: it is not made by pressing the teeth against the lips; rather, it is made by closing one's lips slightly and lightly blowing);

/t/ and /d/ respectively become [ts] and [z] or [dz].

Archiphoneme /Q/, the moraic obstruent, assimilates to the following obstruent, resulting in a geminate (i.e. double) consonant. /Q/ cannont occur before vowels or nasal consonants. This archiphoneme has a wide variety of phonetic realizations.

Archiphoneme /N/, the moraic nasal, undergoes a variety of assimilation processes. Its "default" word-final pronunciation varies considerably from dialect to dialect, and is sometimes realized as bilabial [m] uvular [ɴ], or dental [n] (among other realizations). Within words, it variously becomes:

bilabial [m] before /p/ and /b/ (like English "ample", "umber);

dental [n] before coronals /d/ and /t/ (like English "and" and "ant");

velar [ŋ] before /k/ and /g/ (like English "sunk" and "sung");

[Ṽ] a nasalized vowel before a vowel, approximant (i.e. /j/ & /ɰ/), /h/, or /s/.

Elision is also a major factor in Japanese pronunciation, with /i/ and /u/ tending to be elided when between unvoiced consonants or at the end of sentences, except when they are in accented or lengthened syllables (as in inu or kami, for example). Often, preceding fricatives will replace the vowel altogether. For example, Matsushita is pronounced "MaTSUshta", and the common sentence-ending copula desu is pronounced "dess". Gender roles also play a part: it is regarded as effeminate to pronounce elided vowels, particularly the terminal "u" as in "arimasu". Basilectic varieties of Japanese can sometimes be recognized by their hyper-elision, and formal or archaic dialects by their tendency to pronounce every syllable.

Intonation

In English, stressed syllables in a word are pronounced louder and longer. In Japanese, all morae are pronounced with equal length and loudness. Syllables typically consist of one or two moras, depending on the presence or absence of a long vowel, a syllable-final "n", or a doubled consonant (often but not always pronounced with an accompanying glottal stop), each of which adds one mora to the syllable length, but some syllables have three (e.g., tōtta 'passed through') or even four (e.g., hōō 'phoenix') moras. Japanese is therefore said to be a mora-timed language.

In Japanese, an accented mora is pronounced with higher pitch than the following mora. This is part of the Japanese intonation pattern. See also Japanese pitch accent.

Japanese does have a distinct intonation pattern. This pattern can be heard not only in individual words, but also in whole sentences. Intonation is produced by a rise and fall in pitch over certain syllables. In the case of questions, the Japanese intonation patterns bear little resemblance to the English ones. This is a large source of confusion for many non-native speakers. On the other hand, since all syllables have equal stress in Japanese, some unstressed syllables in European languages tend to be inaudible to the Japanese ear, leading to confusion.

The Japanese intonation pattern varies with regional dialect.

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Grammar

Japanese grammar can be characterized by the following prominent features:

• The basic sentence structure of a Japanese sentence is topic-comment. For example, consider the sentence "kochira wa, Sangā san desu". Kochira is the topic of the sentence, indicated by the particle wa; this means "as for this person". The verb is desu ("be"). As a phrase, Sangā san desu is the comment. This sentence loosely translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mr. Sanger". So Japanese, like Korean and somewhat like Chinese, is often called a topic-prominent language, which means it marks topic separately from subject, and the two do not always coincide.
• Japanese nouns in general have neither number nor gender. Thus hon (book) can be used for the singular or plural. However, in the case of a small number of native words (of proto-Japanese rather than Chinese origin) plurality may be indicated by reduplication. For example, hito means "person" while hitobito means "people"; ware is a form of "I" while wareware means "we" (although the kunyomi "ware" may also be of Chinese origin, just more ancient than the Chinese onyomi readings). Sometimes suffixes may also indicate plurality. Examples include the suffixes -tachi and -ra: watashi, a form of "I", becomes watashitachi, meaning "we", and kare (him) becomes karera (them).
• With some exceptions Japanese is SOV (with the verb at the end of the sentence.) It also has an unmarked phrase order of Time Manner Place (the reverse of English order).
• Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (also called non-past tense, since the same form is used for the present and the future). The present tense in Japanese serves the function of the simple present and the future tense, while the past tense (or perfect tense) in Japanese serves the function of the simple past tense. The distinction is between actions which are completed (perfect) or are not yet completed (imperfect). The present perfect, present continuous, present perfect continuous, future perfect, future continuous, and future perfect continuous are usually expressed as a gerund (-te form) plus the auxiliary form imasu/iru. Similarly, the past perfect, past continuous, and past perfect continuous are usually expressed with the gerund plus the past tense of imasu/iru. For some verbs, that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form regularly indicates a continuous (or progressive) tense. For others, that represent a change of state, the -te iru form regularly indicates a perfect tense. For example, kite imasu regularly means "I have come", and not "I am coming", but tabete imasu regularly means "I am eating", and not "I have eaten". Note that in this form the initial i of imasu/iru is often not voiced, especially in casual speech and the speech of young people. The exact meaning is determined from the context, as Japanese tenses do not always map one-to-one to English tenses. In addition, Japanese verbs are also conjugated to show various moods.
• There are three types of words that correspond to adjectives in English: stative verbs (also called i-adjectives), copular nouns (na-adjectives), and the limited set of true adjectives in Japanese. Both copular nouns and stative verbs may predicate sentences, and both inflect, though they do not show the full range of conjugation found in other verbs. There is a regular way to turn the stative verbs into adverbs. The true adjectives are limited to modifying nouns.
• The grammatical function of nouns is indicated by postpositions. These include possession (no), subject (ga), direct object (o), indirect object (ni) and others. The topic is also marked by a postposed particle (wa). These particles play an extremely important function in Japanese.
• Japanese has many ways to express different levels of politeness, including a different conjugation for verbs, special verbs and pronouns, verbs indicating relative status, use of different nouns, etc., as shown above.
• The verb desu/da is the copula verb, though it doesn't play all the roles of the English "to be" and often takes on other roles. In the sentences above, it has played the copulative function of equality, that is: A = B. However a separate function of "to be" is to indicate existence, for which the verbs arimasu/aru and imasu/iru are used for inanimate and animate things respectively.
• Strictly speaking, desu is a contraction of -de, the particle indicating subject complement, (see copula) and su, an elision of gozaimasu (a polite copula). So an alternative, more accurate (though seldom seen) parsing of Kochira-wa, Sumisu-san desu is Kochira-wa, Sumisu-san-de su:

Kochira-wa This person, subject

Sumisu-san-de Mr. Smith, subject complement

su (=gozaimasu) is, (animate)

• The verb "to do" (suru, polite form shimasu) is often used to make verbs from nouns of action and state (aisuru "to love", benkyōsuru "to study", etc.). Japanese also employs regular compounding of verbs (e. g. tobidasu "to fly out, to flee" from tobu "to fly, to jump" + dasu "to go out").
• There are many derivative forms of words that may turn one part of speech into another. Nouns can be made into verbs, adjectives into nouns, gerunds, and other forms, and so on. Verbs, in addition to other derived forms, have one (the -tai form) which is an adjective meaning "want(ing) to do X"; e.g., tabetai desu means "I want to eat".
• Japanese has a lot of pronouns for use in different occasions, and different pronouns for men and women, younger or older, etc. These pronouns are not used all the time, but often elided when the reference has been established and is obvious from context. Japanese is therefore called a pro-drop language. For example, instead of saying "Watashi wa byōki desu" ("I am sick"), one would simply say "Byōki desu" ("Am sick"). A single verb can often constitute a complete sentence.

Politeness

Unlike most western languages, Japanese has an extensive grammatical system to express politeness and formality.

Broadly speaking, there are three main politeness levels in spoken Japanese: the plain form (kudaketa), the simple polite form (teinei) and the advanced polite form (keigo).

Since most relationships are not equal in Japanese society, one person typically has a higher position. This position is determined by a variety of factors including job, age, experience, or even psychological state (e.g., a person asking a favor tends to do so politely). The person in the lower position is expected to use a polite form of speech, whereas the other might use a more plain form. Strangers will also speak to each other politely. Japanese children rarely use polite speech until their teens, at which point they are expected to begin speaking in a more adult manner. See uchi-soto

The plain form in Japanese is recognized by the shorter, so-called dictionary (jisho) form of verbs, and the da form of the copula. In the teinei level, verbs end with the helping verb -masu, and the copula desu is used. The advanced polite form, keigo, actually consists of two kinds of politeness: honorific language (sonkeigo) and humble (kenjōgo) language. Whereas teineigo is an inflectional system, keigo often employs many special (often irregular) honorific and humble verb forms.

The difference between honorific and humble speech is particularly pronounced in the Japanese language. Humble language is used to talk about oneself or one's own group (company, family) whilst honorific language is mostly used when describing the interlocutor and his group. For example, the -san suffix ("Mr.", "Mrs." or "Ms.") is an example of honorific language. It should not be used to talk about oneself. Nor should it be employed when talking about someone from one's own company to an external person, since the company is the speaker's "group".

Most nouns in the Japanese language may be made honorific by the addition of お o- or ご go-; as a prefix. o- is generally used for words of native Japanese origin, whereas go- is affixed to words of Chinese derivation. In some cases, the prefix has become a fixed part of the word and is included even in non-honorific speech, such as gohan, or rice. Such a construction usually indicates deference to either the item's owner or to the object itself. For example, the word tomodachi ("friend"), would become o-tomodachi when referring to the friend of someone of higher status. On the other hand, a female speaker may sometimes refer to mizu (water) as o-mizu merely to show her cultural refinement, compared to more abrupt male speech patterns. See Japanese honorifics

Many researchers report that since the 1990s, the use of polite forms has become rarer, particularly among the young, who employ politeness to indicate a lack of familiarity. That is, they use polite forms for new acquaintances, but as a relationship becomes more intimate, they speak more frankly. This often occurs regardless of age, social class, or gender.

Vocabulary

Historically, Japanese has a large number of words that are borrowed from Chinese. (See further discussion below in the section on the Japanese writing system.) Japan also borrowed a number of words from Portuguese in the 16th century, and then with the reopening of Japan in the 19th century, borrowed from Dutch, German, French, and most recently English. Japanese also coined many neologisms (in kanji) to carry Western concepts; many of these were exported to Chinese and Korean via characters, in late 19th and early 20th century. In the past few decades, wasei-eigo (made-in-Japan English) has become a prominent phenomenon. Words such as wanpatan (one-pattern) and sukinshippu (skinship), although coined from English, are nonsensical in a non-Japanese context.

The words koko, soko, doko, and miyako were once kōkō, sōkō, iduku, and miyako respectively.

Learning Japanese

Learning Japanese involves understanding grammar, pronunciation, the writing system, and acquiring adequate vocabulary. While the sound system is simple compared with other languages, the writing system and certain words that have a close connection with Japanese culture usually prove to be difficult to master. A background in another language which uses Chinese characters may enhance the study of kanji. As for culture-specific terminology, study of translated works in Japanese philosophy and arts will simplify comprehension.

The Japanese government provides standard tests to measure spoken and written comprehension of Japanese for second language learners; the most prominent is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT).

The motivation to learn Japanese is usually due to a job opportunity in a Japanese organization, access to Japanese pop culture and its subcultures, or interest in traditional Japanese arts. Study of the language is enhanced by study of specific vocabulary and kanji used in such situations. Those with an interest in a specific aspect of Japanese culture usually have more success in learning the language than those with only a generalized interest in Japan.

Unlike languages like Italian in which knowledge of the standard language is sufficient for communication in almost any circumstance, it may be necessary to be familiar with local dialects of Japanese on some occasions. Many learners testify that reading manga and watching anime helps quite a lot, however the benefits of this are disputed.

Source

The Heisig Study Method

Without a clear study plan, I am going to fail miserably. With Rosetta Stone, the only clear goal I ever gave myself was to use the program everyday. This I have done. However, my progress has not been consistent because I never gave myself a deadline by which to complete the program. In cyberspace, I read many tales of defeat by people have attempted the Heisig method and gave up. I don't want to do the same. So I've chosen to follow a study plan I found by one of the few success stories. Heisig himself was able to learn the 2042 Kanji in one month and optimistically boasts that anyone can do the same. Obviously the is man in a little deluded in his belief, because most people have lives outside of academic pursuits and they don't have memories like a sponge. The successful study plan I will follow was written by a guy name Leo and it follows thus:

His study program took 300 hours total. On a macro-scale (30 weeks, approximately 10 hrs/week)

Week 1-5: Learn 1-500

Week 6: Review 1-500

Week 7-11: Learn 501-1000

Week 12-13: Review 501-1000

Week 14-18: Learn 1001-1500

Week 19-21: Review 1001-1500

Week 22-26: Learn 1501-2042

Week 27-30: Review 1-2024

Durning the learn weeks: Learn 20 Kanji per day, Monday thru Friday, review 100 on Saturday and Sunday.

During review weeks: Review 100 Kanji per day, Monday thru Friday, repeat toughest sets on weekend.

My study program will extend from 1 August 2010 - 1 March 2011. I am still in the process of refining my daily study routine. On study days, first thing in the morning, I will grab that week's sets of flash cards and review them quickly. Next, I grab the book and read through that days 20 new Kanji and their stories out loud as I practice the stroke orders on pen and paper. Then, I make the 20 flash cards for the day and I run through them once. I return to those 20 cards at least four times or more that day. Before I go to bed, I re-review the weeks sets of flash cards. I repeat this routine Monday - Friday on study weeks. On the review weekends, Saturday, I place the week's sets in one large pile, maintaining the order and review them. In a composition notebook, I copy each kanji and it keyword, the primitives it includes and an abbreviated definition. I am aware that I memorize best when I write and this notebook will be a consistent method for keeping track of my progress. Also, should I have to leave home for a period of time, this notebook will be far more convenient for travel over hundreds of flash cards. On Sunday, I mix the cards up for the first time and test myself with them out of order. One of the most important elements of the Heisig method is the order in which he introduces the elements. However, the most reliable way to test knowledge retention is to spend at least one day with the flash cards out of order. Finally, I test myself by turning the flash cards over, and with only a glance at the keywords, I write out the kanji in their correct stroke order. Each incorrectly answered flash card is place in a separate pile and re-reviewed.

The results of my first review week have been encouraging, however I find myself worrying about diminishing returns. I don't want to forget what I've learning between review sessions, however, as my piles of flash cards increase, my ability to review each and every single one will decrease. Despite this, each time I come across a kanji I recognize, I find my motivation for completing this task swelling. My biggest concern is the amount of time I expend each morning creating the cards. I am aware that academically, I am a morning person. I think most clearly and learn best before I allow my mind to become cluttered by the days distractions. Currently, my morning routine is stable, but should my schedule change, things may become problematic. On quite mornings, I make my cards in silence. However, if the house is noisy, I work to the sounds of film soundtracks or classical music radio stations in iTunes.

The Learning Process

The following is a record of my learning process. As stated before, I have made many mistakes along the way, however, mistakes are often the best learning aids.

My interest in actually learning Japanese came about after I finished my first manga series. I watch the anime version of Gravitation and found the ending unsatisfying. After a quick peek at Wikipedia, I discovered that the manga the anime was based on only took the story through seven out of a total of twelve volumes. About ten minutes later, I found myself on Amazon ordering a copy of volume one. My plan was to compare the first volume to the first episode of the series. If the content matched up, I would simply jump to volume eight and carry on. Of course, the original work differed greatly from the anime. The story in the manga began much earlier and introduced many additional fun characters. I flew through the first volume and after a stroke of intuition, decided to check if the series was available though less expensive means. I have never been more shock than when I discovered that within my county's library system all twelves volumes of the manga were available. Within eleven days, I finished the series and wanted more. I realize that, like with any medium of content, only a small portion of it makes it into foreign markets. There is a wealth of anime out there and only a fraction of it is translated and available in the US. I also despise watching dubbed content, particularly live-action. It makes me feel stupid, each time their lips move and the sound doesn't match. That's when I decided to attempt learning the Japanese language.

My language journey did not begin in the most noble of ways, but honestly, what in this world does. I acquired Rosetta Stone via BT Airlines (if you don't get the reference, you don't need to). With a bit of magic, I installed the program and began right away. Only, its all in Japanese! Here is the biggest problem with Rosetta Stone. It is the perfect program to get your feet wet in any given language, but little else. The programs teaches by showing and leaving you to use logic to figure out the language, the same way a child learns their native language. But when the first screens pops up with a sentence full of Kana and Kanji, its time to hit the breaks. Screen after screen and nothing but a bunch of squiggles and lines that look cool but I could not read a thing. After a day and a half of frustration, I shelve the program and do some reading on the web.

Cyberspace recommends learning the Kana before attempting to learn anything else. The Kana include Hiragana (ひらがな) and Katakana (カタカナ). These are essentially the Japanese alphabet, the foundation of the written language. To learn these, I used a number of methods:

• From the library I checked out 'Let's Learn Katakana' and 'Lets Learn Hiragana' by Yasuko Kosaka Mitamura. These books became a great resource for learning stroke order and comprehending the basic use of the Kana.
• I made flash cards for each Kana.
• I wrote the Kana out by hand as I learned them.
• (TIP) Split the Kana up into smaller groups. Learn one group, and the next, but continue to review everyday.
• To learn pronunciation, I watched and sang along with these silly, but cute songs every day: Hiragana Song and Katakana Song. Never underestimate the power of music.
• To practice recognition, I played games here and here.

After two weeks, I had the Kana learned. However, I continued to write out the Kana each morning. I began using Rosetta Stone. The program is fun and informative, however quite a bit of guess work is involved. (TIP) When learning Japanese NEVER look at Romaji unless you are at a loss for pronunciation or cannot distinguish in a sentence where one word ends and another begins. (TIP) When doing a core lesson with Rosetta Stone keep it set on Furigana and switch to Kanji for the remainder of the lesson. Revert to Furigana only as needed. I made the mistake of rarely looking at the Kanji until I was almost finished with level one before I realizing what a terrible mistake I was making. Kanji is the biggest hurdle to learning Japanese and I was putting it on the back burner. I've spent the past five months slowly making my way through Rosetta Stone, learning Kanji by recognition but not how to write them. Another major problem with Rosetta Stone is that it implies only a single meaning of a given Kanji, when Kanji can have multiple meanings and combinations and pronunciations. Rosetta Stone also fails with grammar. It gives examples of Japanese grammar, however it does not explain its principles.

Up until a week ago, my progress has been stagnate. I was learning, but not retaining the language as I would have like. In my travels in cyberspace, I have come across a number of very useful sites, many of which I will share in future posts. However, the most inspiring find I have come across is the work of James Heisig, 'Remembering the Kanji: Volume 1'. His book has re-inspired my drive to learning this language. He approaches Japanese a language unique to any other. He insists it is best to learn the written language independent of the spoken one. And from a foreigner's perspective, this is entirely logical. Any single Kanji can have multiple meanings and pronunciations and when combined with another kanji or radical, it can have entirely new meanings and pronunciations. Obviously, this complicates matters. Heisig drops the pronunciation and instead breaks each Kanji into its fundamental elements and asks the reader to memorize an English meaning. This method affords a deeper understanding of the Kanji. Employing the lesson plan of a success story I found in cyberspace, Heisig's method will take seven months if I stick to this very very rigorous lesson plan. It requires that I learn twenty Kanji a day, five days a week and spend the weekend reviewing. If all goes as planned, I should know the meanings of 2046 Kanji by March 1. That is an optimistic goal I truly hope to reach, however, I a too much the realist to believe it will be met. Lets just say, I want to believe.

Introductions

I have never had much luck with learning foreign languages. Recently, I've come to discover my problem. It can be perfectly summed up as: The only languages that should be taught in schools are dead ones. It is impossible to learn a second language without proper motivation, nevertheless, schools insist on force feeding them to students. Learning a second language has great merit. It opens ones eyes to other cultures, improves the perception of grammar and the meaning and concepts behind words in one's native language. However, without a way to use that second language on a regular basis throughout the learning process and after, retention is impossible. For three years of high school and two semesters in college, I studied Spanish. I passed all my classes, barely, yet I would be at a loss if you asked me to string more than a few sentence together. I constantly found myself reading the Spanish and translating it into English in my head, rather than truly comprehending the Spanish.

I decided to make a clean break and begin with a language that (other than borrowed words) has no relation to English. Japanese seemed an excellent choice. I've been a fan of anime for years, and only recently discovered the wondrous world of manga. Japanese content is both readily accessible online and an interest of mine. Japanese pronunciation is a breeze, however, the biggest problem with the language is its difficultly to read. I am currently five months in to my language journey. I have made many mistakes along the way. In this blog, I will share my triumphs and my successes. Doubtless no one other than myself will ever actually read this blog. I have no delusions of grandeur in cyberspace. But this will be a good place to document my progress in order to keep myself motivated. My goal is to learn all 2131 kanji recommended by the Japanese Ministry of Education. I'm not insane enough to attempt to learn every kanji there is, most Japanese don't. I would simply like a comfortable understanding of the language. I would like to be capable of reading manga and watch anime and Japanese films without subtitles.

I realize this is a massive undertaking. Personally, I'm considering it a new hobby. Some people collect stamps, I plan to collect a language. For the time being, this blog will be a record of what I have done thus far, what I plan to do in the future, and a place to post my work as I go. By the end, I expect this blog will be completely written in Japanese.

About Me: I prefer to maintain a fairly anonymous presence in cyberspace. I will not post my whole life story up for the world to see, its boring as hell.