The Japanese language is very different from any western one. Also, it has three different writing systems. However, learning it is not as difficult a task as it seems. The language is both extremely beneficial, and practical. Three categories of words that exist in Japanese are -The native Japanese words constitute the largest category, followed by words originally borrowed from China in earlier history, and the smallest but a rapidly growing category of words borrowed in modern times from Western languages such as English. This third category also contains a small number of words that have come from other Asian languages.
So let’s get started with some basics
Basic Greetings – Aisatsu
Here is a list of some very common greetings and words in english & japanese. The japanese words have been written in english based on the pronounciation.
Hello – Konnichiwa
Yes – Hai
No – Iiye
Good Morning – Ohayo Gozaimas
Good Afternoon – Konnichiwa
Good Evening – Konbanwa
Good Night – Oyasumi Nasai
Good Bye – Sayonara
See you – Dewa mata/Jaa mata
How are you – Ogenki Des Ka
I am fine – Hai, Genki Des
Thank You Very Much – Domo Arigato Gozaimas
Thanks – Domo (used mostly by men)/Arigato
You’re Welcome – Do Itashi Mashite
Sorry – Gomen Nasai
Excuse Me (I’m Sorry) – Shitsurei Shimas
Excuse Me (in a crouded train) – Sumimasen
Hello (on the phone) – Moshi Moshi
Cheers – Kampai
There you go!!! Now, wasn’t that easy. These basic greetings can get you through your first 30 seconds of conversation with a Japanese person or at your local Sushi restaurant. Read on, you’ll love it.
Few great Books you can buy from Amazon:
Japanese Scripts
Here’s an introduction to written japanese.
Japanese is written with a combination of three scripts. It may take a while to master all the scripts, so I recommend starting with the first two.
1. Hiragana
This is a phonetic script consisting of 46 characters. Hiragana is mainly used for non-kanji words, particles and prepositions for instance are written in hiragana. However, you can write a complete sentence in hiragana. Children’s books are written in hiragana and kanji’s are introduced as they grow older.
2. Katakana
This too is a phonetic script and consists of syllables, just like hiragana. However, katakana is used for writing ‘foreign’ words. There are several words which have non-japanese origin and are borrowed from other languages. Words like ‘computer’ or ‘beer’ for instance are written using the katakana script.
3. Kanji
This is a pictoral script. The kanji script consists of over 5000 characters, often used alone or in conjunction with other kanji’s to form words. Learning kanji can be very addictive, so let’s leave that for another lens.
“Romaji” (english alphabets) is a variation of script used in modern japanese for inputting the characters into the computer and writing names.
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