EPTLEARNING JAPANESE WITH RAPTOR: MY EXPERIENCES
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![[image loading]](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/graphics/flags/large/ja-lgflag.gif)
WHY?
Since I was very little, I've always been fascinated by the way the Japanese people live their lives.
Their culture is simply fascinating; like the way they greet each other based on hierarchy, the conciseness and flexibility of their language, their strong connection to spiritual and natural life, their marvelous calligraphy and really mysterious ancient history, that is just to name a few.
They tend to live in small homes since Japan is constantly growing and the fact that it is an island, thus you will always see these huge buildings (specially in Tokyo) called danji which are like a big complex of crammed up apartments. This increases the coziness of one's home (which may or may not be a good thing for some people) but that I've always found to be very comforting! (call me weird).
Then comes their food! OMG, there's nothing better in this world than seafood, I love seafood, hell I could live on seafood for the rest of my life (which I think would prove to be a tough challenge though) I mean, who doesn't like their little wiggly - tailed underwater friends on their plate? x3 (ok, that was gay).
Then it comes their art; simple water paintings and badass deep - dark - ink calligraphy. I could fill my entire home with those you know, there's something about their simplicity that simply draws my attention in so much!
Then comes their manga of course (and some anime), Japanese cartoons are so unique you can see the difference between Ed, Edd & Eddy and Bleach lol (but most manga tend to be all quite the same tho, that's the only downer).
To keep this short, I will stop here, but there are still many more other things that have caught my love for the country and the people in it. That's why I will be moving there once I graduate!
![[image loading]](http://www.capilanou.ca/Assets/continuing-education/North+Van/Languages+Home-Japan.jpg)
Beautiful architecture
HOW?
I'm an independent Japanese - language student as my university doesn't offer any other foreign language courses other than Spanish (which is my native tongue) and I don't want to spend the money on some other place I would have to go to so I can learn it.
I'm currently viewing a TV series on YouTube that was made like two years ago called Let's Learn Japanese! which features some dude called Yan whom traveled to Japan to learn about it's business (the skits are very entertaining though they can get a bit repetitive). I think there are a total of 28 episodes, each in which they teach you various ways of using Japanese sentences and words to help you survive in the country (I don't think it gets truly specific, but they mostly teach you stuff you would want to memorize to help you if you happen to travel there someday).
Google is my Japanese teacher. It has a lot of pros, but there's nothing like actually speaking and hearing the language with truly fluent people to help you get a good grasp on how it works. This, of course, has to be done pretty much everyday, which is something that simply won't happen here, in the U.S.
But something is better than nothing isn't it?
![[image loading]](http://i37.tinypic.com/168zqix.jpg)
He can kick your ass
WHEN AND WHERE?
I use any free time I get, anywhere I am, to further my Japanese horizons the best I can. This includes doing it at the university (which is good since I don't have a printer and can print out a good deal of material such as hiragana tables or kanji). I don't have any set scedules or topics, but rather I do a lot of research and find whatever I can and learn as much as I can from it (the internet is a very powerful tool my friends!)
![[image loading]](http://i36.tinypic.com/258o0mt.jpg)
We don't need to train at the Eiffel tower to kick this much ass
INTRODUCTION
The Japanese language is really tough! Mostly, though, when it comes to figuring out the meaning of kanji, using the correct sentence structure, and knowing the correct use of the damn particles.
The pronunciation was very easy to learn, though, I think this was due to the fact that I can speak both English and Spanish fluently, and our Spanish vowels are extremely close, if not 100% to those the Japanese pronunciation.
Also, the hiragana alphabet was somewhat tricky to memorize, but it could be done, and now I'm at the point where I can read and write it with no problem (unless I happen to stumble upon some weird kanji out of the 20 or so that I already know. Yes, sad). I don't know katakana yet and I'm still confused on how the hell to use kanji; they have like 10 meanings each, some which are totally unrelated, as well as different pronunciations for it depending on context. Also, I never know whether they are verbs, adjectives or nouns though I'm sure you have a lot of those for each.
HIRAGANA TABLE
Hiragana is the most common writing system the Japanese employ.
Here's the hiragana table for future reference:
あ - a い - i え - u う - e お - o
か - ka き - ki く - ku け - ke こ - ko
さ - sa し - shi す - su せ - se そ - so
た - ta ち - chi つ - tsu て - te と - to
な - na に - ni ぬ - nu ね - ne の - no
は - ha ひ - hi ふ - fu へ - he ほ - ho
ま - ma み - mi む - mu め - me も - mo
や - ya ゆ - yu よ - yo
ら - ra り - ri る - ru れ - re ろ - ro
わ - wa を - wo
ん - n
が - ga ぎ - gi ぐ - gu げ - ge ご - go
ざ - za じ - ji ず - zu ぜ - ze ぞ - zo
だ - da ぢ - dji づ - du で - de ど - do
ば - ba び - bi ぶ - bu べ - be ぼ - bo
ぱ - pa ぴ - pi ぷ - pu ぺ - pe ぽ - po
きゃ - kya きゅ - kyu きょ - kyo
しゃ - sha しゅ - shu しょ - sho
ちゃ - cha ちゅ - chu ちょ - cho
にゃ - nya にゅ - nyu にょ - nyo
ひゃ - hya ひゅ - hyu ひょ - hyo
みゃ - mya みゅ - myu みょ - myo
りゃ - rya りゅ - ryu りょ - ryo
ぎゃ - gya ぎゅ - gyu ぎょ - gyo
じゃ - ja じゅ - ju じょ - jo
ぢゃ - dja ぢゅ - dju ぢょ - djo
びゃ - bya びゅ - byu びょ - byo
ぴゃ - pya ぴゅ - pyu ぴょ - pyo
KATAKANA TABLE
Katakana is used by the japanese to accentuate words of foreign descent.
Here's the katakana table for future reference:
I haven't memorized it yet.
KANJI
+ Show Spoiler [grade1] +
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Strokes: 1
Meaning: one, unity
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Strokes: 2
Meaning: two, second
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Strokes: 3
Meaning: three, third
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Strokes: 5
Meaning: four
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Strokes: 4
Meaning: five, fifth
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Strokes: 4
Meaning: six, sixth
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Strokes: 2
Meaning: seven, seventh
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Strokes: 2
Meaning: eight, eigth, many
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/13.gif)
Strokes: 2
Meaning: nine
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/35.gif)
Strokes: 2
Meaning: ten, tenth, complete, cross
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Strokes: 6
Meaning: hundred, various
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/49.gif)
Strokes: 3
Meaning: thousand
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/3.gif)
Strokes: 8
Meaning: rain, rainfall
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Strokes: 8
Meaning: to study, educational institution, student
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Strokes: 5
Meaning: right, right wing
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Strokes: 4
Meaning: circle, yen, round, smooth
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/5.gif)
Strokes: 4
Meaning: king, monarch
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Strokes: 9
Meaning: sound, noise, music, tone
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/7.gif)
Strokes: 3
Meaning: down, under, low, below
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Strokes: 4
Meaning: fire, tuesday
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Strokes: 7
Meaning: flower, blossom
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/10.gif)
Strokes: 7
Meaning: shellfish, shell
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/12.gif)
Strokes: 6
Meaning: gas, spirit, vitality, atmosphere
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/14.gif)
Strokes: 6
Meaning: to rest, holiday, to suspend
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/15.gif)
Strokes: 5
Meaning: gem, jewel, ball, coin suffix
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/16.gif)
Strokes: 8
Meaning: metal, gold, money, friday
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/17.gif)
Strokes: 8
Meaning: sky, air, empty
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/18.gif)
Strokes: 4
Meaning: moon, month, monday
![[image loading]](http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/graphics/19.gif)
Strokes: 4
Meaning: dog
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Strokes: 7
Meaning: see, look, view, examine, show
PARTICLES
I know the particles are like the cement of the japanese - word bricks, without them, you wouldn't be able to express a single Japanese thought at all! I learned that there are some rules for the use of each which apply in many cases but not necessarily in some other cases (T.T). I also learned that all of them are postfix (meaning that they always go after the word they emphasize). Here's a list of the particles (Warning, they may not be 100% correct):
WA - Written HA - Indicates subject but places emphasis of what you're going to say (as for the flowers, I love them!)
GA - Indicates subject but places emphasis on the subject itself (I was the one who killed him)
NO - It shows possession (this is my car)
O - Written WO - Shows us what the direct object is (shall we get a pizza?)
NI - Shows us what the indirect object is, who or what an action is directed to. Also used to show destination, places, dates and times. (the children play in the park)
DE - Shows us where an action takes place, is used to mean "among", indicate a method, say something is good or sufficient as it is, and sometimes combined with WA to show something is done within the subject.
MO - "Includer" plays the same role as and or too (that's a car too!)
E - Similar to NI but not as used and empasizes destination.
KA - Equivalent to a question mark; put at the end of a sentence. (What the hell are you?)
YA - Works like "and" when listing relevant things while leaving others out (here are the spoons, forks, etc)
TO - Works like "and" as well but this time you use it to mention everything on the list (here are the pencils, sharpeners, erasers, crayons and pens). Also used for quotes (Mario said this and that).
YO - Used at the end of a sentence to call someone's attention forcefully, (Alex, look at this!!!)
NE - Used at the end of a sentence to mean "right?" or "isn't it?" or something along those lines (overused)
This is a bit straightforward, but you can always go here and check the whole thing out.
WHAT AM I WATCHING?
I'm currently watching this program (the one I mentioned up there in the HOW section) about this dude called Yan and his adventures in Japan. They're very entertaining but are somewhat scratching the surface of the language. However, like I said again, something is better than nothing at all, and these videos besides providing for some good entertainment, they also let me hear people talking normal Japanese using the sentences I'm learning during each lesson.
Here's lesson 1 for those who are interested:
Enjoy their little heart catching music!
UPDATES
I will be adding more stuff to this as I learn the language, please feel free to post whatever you find useful or send me a PM. Thanks! Arigato Gozaimasu!
