5 Most Effective Ways to Study Japanese

Konnichiwa!! Do you find NIhonggo a difficult to study?? Well, don't worry because I will give you 5 most effective ways on how to study Japanese language. Like I have said in my previous blog, learning Japanese language is not easy. You need to go back to zero like you were a kinder garden learning ABC and 123. For you to help learning Japanese, here are the 5 tips you may keep while studying the Nihonggo.

1. Learn each word carefully. While studying Japanese language, you need to listen to some CD/Tapes and learn these words, and paying attention to the correct pronunciation and accent. Listening to the conversation in the tape/cd will help you be familiarize with the accent and pronunciation. It is important that you memorize not only the word itself but its use in a sentence.

2. Practice the sentence pattern. Once you start listening to the conversation drill, try to practice what you have learn. Make sure you understand the meaning of the sentence pattern. Conversation drill contains continues talking between two persons speaking Japanese language. Practice and speak like a Japanese people but remember that you understand what you are saying.


3. Listen to the cassette tape/CD repeatedly. It is not enough to just practice it once. You must do it repeatedly. While listening, try to speak together with the person in the cassette tape. By doing this, your listening ability also improves.

4. Review your lessons and always prepare. Don't limit your learning in the classroom. You must review your lesson on the same day so that you may not forget what you have learn. Always prepare for the next lesson. Advance study is a nice way to do. Reviewing your lesson will test what you have learn.

5. Use what you have learnt. Try to talk to someone who knows how to speak Japanese. If there's no one knows how to speak Nihonggo, try to speak together with the speaker in the CD/tapes. Using what you have learn is the best what to progress.

These 5 ways may somehow help you learn the Japanese language. You may use this as we go along with our next lessons. So, ja ne... kiwo tsukette kudasai.. ^_^

Lesson 1: Learning the Japanese Hiragana Characters

Konnichiwa!!! Did you practice the commonly used Aisatsu? I will be more surprise if you do. Anyway, in this next lesson, I am going to introduce the Japanese character that Japanese people are using. But if you want to know how to speak Japanese, you must be know first to write the Japanese characters.

There are three kinds of  letters in Japanese, the Hiragana, Katakana and the Kanji (Chinese characters). Hiragana and Katakana are phonetic representations of sounds and each letter basically corresponds to one mora (a unit of sounds). Kanji convey meanings as well as sounds.

In Japanese script, all three types of letters are used together. Katakana are used to write foreign names and loan words. 1945 kanji letters are fixed essential for daily use. Hiragana are used to write particles, the infelctibles parts of words, etc.

As of now, it is better to memorize the hiragana characters first.  It will be easy for you memorize the katakana if you know how to read and write the hiragana letters. Below, is a chart of hiragana characters. Practice it and memorize each letters.

While practice writing Hiragana, it is better if you will do it properly. Every letter has its own arrangement and form of writing. One thing to remember is try to pronounce it while writing so that it will be easy for you to memorize it in writing and speech form. For now, that will be our topic for lesson 1. Looking forward to see you on our next lesson which I will give you some vocabulary words related to the Hiragana characters. Ja`ne..

The Basic Nihonggo Greetings

Konnichiwa!! Hello everyone!! I made this blog site to share my knowledge about Nihonggo. At first, studying Nihonggo is not that easy. Aside from its characters, which are so difficult to write, there are some rules that you need to apply in every words. But don't worry, I will teach those rules as we go along with our lesson.

Because this is my first blog, I will teach you the basic Nihonggo greetings. These greetings or in Nihonggo is 'aisatsu', are the commonly use greetings in Japan. If you will learn these basic aisatsu, you can somehow greet your friends in Nihonggo.

Basic Nihinggo Greetings: (Aisatsu)

• ohayou/ohayou Gozaimasu - Good Morning
• konnichiwa - Good Afternoon; Hi or Hello
• konbanwa - Good Evening
• hajimemashite - how do you do? (use as introduction to oneself)
• douzo yoroshiku - literally meaning nice/pleased to meet you
• sayounara - goodbye
• oyasuminsai - good night
• tadaima - I'm back (literally meaning have returned just now) usually said by the person returning home and   ocassionaly used at work
• okaerinasai - welcome home (reply to "tadaima")
• itadakimasu - said before eating (literally meaning accepting the food)
• gochisousama deshita - said after eating (literally meaning thank you for the food)
• sumimasen - excuse me
• doumo arigatou gozaimasu - thank you very much
• arigatou - thank you
• doumo - thanks
• duo itashimashita - you're welcome
• gomen nasai - I'm sorry
• chotto matte kudasai - wait for a moment please
• mou ichido onegaishimasu - one more please
• ki wo tsukete kudasai - take care/be careful please
• odaiji ni - get well soon
• ogenki desu ka/ogenki? - are you fine?
• daijoubu desu ka/daijoubu? - are you okay?

These greetings are the basic and the usual 'aisatsu' of the Japanese. You can use these greetings while talking to your friends, or when you see a Japanese. The Japanese loves to greet people. It's their way of being polite to the people.