Learning japanese help??

Question

OK, I'm starting to learn japanese and I have some question about it:
1. What is the proper using of hiragana, katakana, and kanji characters? Because I sometimes find then mixed in one sentence.
2. is the reading of japanese kanji characters the same with chinese? I know chinese, so I ask this.
3. do you know any good sites for learning japanese? and tips for learning it?
Thhx very much!!!

Answer 1

ok, im american but i know cuz i went to a japanese school for 5years. katakana is like japanese/english. for example, say gum in english right? in japanese you say gum too so its an english word so you put it in katakana. so you have to know which words are the same in english to write it in katakana. my name is michael lane so when i right it in japanese i gotta put it in katakana.ﾏｲｹﾙ ﾚｲﾝ. and kanji is for like so you dont have to right out all of the words. for example, mori=woods.森 is easier to write then writing もり. and no chinese is not the same as japanese and theyre pronounced differently. but japanese did come from china so some of the kanji`s mean the same thing but they are pronounced different. hope you pick me as best cuz that took me lots of time : p

Answer 2

1. A simplistic answer: Hiragana and kanji are mostly used, but I've found that many Japanese shy away from using complex kanji and will use hiragana instead. Katakana is used for foreign words, scientific words, and is used like italics for emphasis.
2. Sometimes they are similar, but the pronunciation is different.
3. I don't know any sites, but the best advice I can give is to use it everyday. That means studying, watching movies, or reading.

Answer 3

hiragana is used for original japanese words, while katakana is used for foreign words adapted by them, like handkerchief it becomes hankachi..and kanji are chinese characters adapted by the japanese people from the chinese...it is used also for chinese words which can be found in the japanese language...loads of them...that's why you see them all mixed up in one writing...depends on the words. go to kanjisite.com

Answer 4

All of your questions have been pretty much covered by the other users, but I just wanted to add one thing. Hiragana is used to conjugate adjectives and nouns. The kanji carry the meaning of the word. If you see a word like 暑い (atsui) [hot], the hiragana are used in the conjugations 暑くない (atsukunai) [is not hot] and 暑かった(atsukatta) [was hot] for example.

Answer 5

1. Katakana for all foreign words, kanji for just about any Japanese word, hiragana for particles or "special" Japanese words that are rarely--if ever--seen in kanji. Though it's never good for you to use kanji if you are not familiar with it because then you're just trying to seem intelligent and no one likes prats.

2. No. Japanese has it's own set of readings as well as Chinese ones.

3. http://www.thejapanesepage.com and http://www.guidetojapanese.org , but you shouldn't try to learn any language (especially Japanese) online. You'll just waste a few hours of your time before giving up.

Answer 6

That is great that you are trying to learn Japanese. Hopefully you can come over to Japan and use what you have learned in a practical manner. I'll try to answer you questions for you.

1. Kanji has two pronunciations. The onyoumi and the kunyoumi. Kunyoumi has what they call Okurigana. For example, In English we say RUN (as in a person can run), Japanese uses the Kunyoumi HASHIRU. When you write it in Japanese it looks like this: 走る。But when you use the onyoumi the pronunciation changes for the same kanji. In English we say traveling, or RUN (but for a car). In Japanese we say 走行 (soukou). In this form it is a noun. But to turn it into a very you have to add SURU. So "to run" or "to travel" would look like this 走行する。

2. No. they have totally different pronunciations. Sometimes they are close, but usually they are totally different. The inherent meanings are the same, though.

3. If you want to learn Japanese via email. I can help, sort of. I teach at a university in Japan. Many of my students are studying to be Japanese teachers for Foreigners. If you message me your email address, I can pass it on to my students and they will teach you via email. I have given this opportunity to several in Yahoo! Answers, and they have taken me up on it. Now, they are studying Japanese with my students via email. If you want to give it a go, let me know.

Good luck to you!

Answer 7

Another good resource is www.about.com and search for Japanese. Lots of good stuff there.

Answer 8

Dude, learn to speak it first. There are 20,000 words in the written languange.

Answer 9

try visiting these sites... you'll learn there.. I hope it helped you...

http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/language.html
http://www.uni.edu/becker/japanese222.html
http://www.kanjistep.com/en/jlinks/
http://www.geocities.com/noble28_2000/
http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/KellyPark/japanese.html
http://college.hmco.com/languages/japanese/resources/japanese.htm

I'm sure it will help you!!!