Lesson 4~ Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji

Hello again!!

Hey, you guys see where at the top of the page it says "Home, Hiragana Chart, Katakana Chart"? Well, right now we're gonna use them.
I can't teach you Japanese properly unless you're writing the stuff as well. I mean, you could survive if I just taught you to speak it, but I might as well get you used to writing it along the way.
Now, I do mean WRITE IT-- like get a pen and paper out and start scribbling.

Now, in case you don't know, in Japan the kids learn to write using hiragana first, and in case you haven't noticed, it's all over in Japan. it's one of those scripts you see the most on signs, books, TV shows-- I mean everywhere! The second is kanji, Which we won't be using until WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY down the road! That's one of the hardest ones you see written. I kid you not, there are OLD PEOPLE who are still learn new kanji everyday, because there are over 2500 characters to pick up!

So, of course, we're not going to touch that.

Then there's katakana. It may not be the most used in the written language, but it is the most frequently seen on signs around town, so it is really useful when you're new to the place. There are many, many, MANY  words borrowed from the English language into Japanese, and all of them when written are in katakana.

Little rule of thumb; if you're in Japan, and you still can't read or understand the language, if you learn katakana and sound out the characters, you can figure out what it is.

Okay, here's your assignment;

I'm gonna give you a set of words and phrases and sentences and you're going to use the hiragana chart to translate the "romaji" into hiragana.... on paper. Like I said, get a pen and paper and write these bad boys!!

(By the way, "Romaji"-- Roma= roman, ji= written word, romaji. There, now you know.)

Eki

Doko

Kare

San

Sato

Sato San

Hai

Ie

Arigato

Gozaimasu

Hai, Arigato gozaimasu!

Desu

Watashi

Tomodachi

no

now these two, I want you to write in katakana;

Hoteru

Pen

And, now back to hiragana;

Yamaguchi

Wa

Watashi wa Yamaguchi desu.

Kare wa Sato San desu.

Hoteru wa doko desu ka? (BE CAREFUL, NOW.)

Eki wa doko desu ka?

Ookii (hint: o-u-ki-i-- look for those.)

Hoteru ni ikimasu. 

By the way, you don't have to separate the hiragana into groups like you letters. Just write them out like they're one big word.

Sato San wa Ookii desu.

Yamaguchi San wa chiisai desu.

Watashi no tomodachi wa ookii desu.

Watashi no pen wa ookii, demo, Kare no pen wa chiisai desu.

Okay, I think that's enough.
Keep practicing! As a matter of  fact, write it twice! Get the hang of writing it as much as you can. And I'll see you later!