Who, what, when, where and why? In Japanese!

So This is going to be the first official Short Japanese lesson posts.

In the first post, I am going to explain the questions, Who, What, When, Where and Why.

Lets face it, you are definitely going to need to know how to ask a question when your in Japan, or be able to ask where or who someone is.

These will be written in Hiragana, as Hiragana is the character set used when writing Japanese native words.  Katakana on the other hand is the character set used when spelling words that are not originally from japan. For example the name Aron. Aron would be spelled as アロン not あろん.
Whilst you may be able to get away with spelling a foreign name in Hiragana, it really isn't advised to do that as Katakana is used for foreign words.

The first column down is the characters in Hiragana, whilst the second is the characters in Katakana.


あ　A　　ア
ろ　RO　  ロ
ん　N　　ン


Where

どこですか (doko desu-ka)

Do　ど
ko　こ
de　で
su　す
ka　か

どこ refers is translated into "Where" whilst ですか  is translated into "Is it"

What

なんですか　(Nan desu-ka)

na 　な
n　　ん
de　で
su　す
ka　か

なん refers to "What" whilst ですか again refers to "is it".

When

ときですか (Toki desu-ka)

To　 と
ki　き
de　で
su　す
ka　か

とき Refers to "when" and once again ですか refers to "is it"

Why

なぜですか (Naze desu-ka)

Na　 な
ze　ぜ    (Ze, is actually the DakuOn of the せ (se) character)
de　で
su　す
ka　か

なぜ refers to "why"

Who
だれですか　(dare desu-ka)

da　 だ   ( だ is actually the DakuOn of the た (ta) character)
re　れ
de　で
su　す
ka　か

だれ refers to "who"

Most of these phrases when in a conversation with a friend, do not need the "ですか" added to the end. However, it is much more polite to actually use the ですか ending when asking someone for information.

Once again; I hope this helps out anyone trying to learn some Japanese.

I will be trying to make 2-3 posts a week with a quick Japanese lesson (not so much a lesson as it is a little "did you know").

I encourage anyone who is learning Japanese to memorize the Hiragana and Katakana charts, as Romaji is truly horrendous and no one in japan will be able to read it.

Cheers

~Azazel

Welcome! 歓迎

Greetings!

I would just like to quickly sum up the point of this blog, and then go on to give a short summary of myself.

The main purpose of this blog is to catalog and keep a record of everything I am going to be trying to accomplish in the coming years, I will most likely also put up a few movie reviews and anime reviews as well. I am also going to be teaching some words and phrases in Japanese. I will teach what I learn as I learn it!

Over the next five years, I am going to be studying Japanese at an accelerated pace in order to pass the N1 fluency test after i graduate university (I will be starting to attend St. Mary's university in Halifax this coming September) My goal in life is to become completely fluent in the Japanese language, both written and spoken, in order to achieve my goal of teaching English in Japan for the JET program. I am someone who truly appreciates the various cultures of the world, however, I have always had a soft spot for the culture of Japan (日本) due to its rich and deep and proud culture. Japan has always been a country that has been coated in a mist of romanticism for myself. I always find myself reading folk tales and stories getting lost in the moment.  I have always been deeply intrigued with the society and wanted to experience it for myself.

I am currently living in the Bahamas, which is an island country (しまぐに) like 日本, however it is situated in the Caribbean region of the world.

I grew up in this country, and always felt out of place here. Most of my family is from Canada, so we are considered foreigners in that sense. I always dreamed about traveling the world and meeting new people and experiencing the true beauty of the world. I was introduced to Japanese media and culture through the show FLCL and the band who did the soundtrack; The Pillows.

Ever since that day I  have binged myself on all Japan has to offer to the world, Music, Anime, drama, books and food. However, it's not enough. I desire to actually go there and experience what "real" Japanese culture is like, not the fantasy representation of it in anime.

I have developed a love for languages, and am aiming to utilize them as a gateway to my universe. 
"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world" - Ludwig Wittgenstein

Anyway. Hopefully someone out there see's my blog (Even though that is highly unlikely) and has a similar goal and finds solace and advice in my blog. I will be including Japanese kanji and Kana/Hiragana in my blog for certain words. Which I will then translate at the end of my blog (Yay education, am i right?)

Feel free to request an anime review if you so desire. If i have seen it or have the intention to, I will most definitely give it a review. 


しまぐに (Shimaguni) Island country (the normal く is changed to ぐ in this case. ぐに meaning country in this phrase and しま meaning island)

this is pronounced as
She-Ma-Goo-Knee
Shi　し
ma　ま
gu　ぐ
ni　に

日本（にほん) (Nihon)  This is the kanji for Japan. The first set of characters in brackets are the Hiragana for "Nihon" which means "Japan"

This is pronounced as Knee-hon

Ni　に
Ho　ほ
N　ん

Hopefully anyone who read this learned a little something about the Japanese language and a bit about myself and the reason for the blog.
I am going to try to put a super simple way to pronounce each word and phrase next to each word as-well. Be careful not to accidentally confuse the pronunciations as the actual spelling of the word.

I hope to meet some wonderful people through this, and make some long lasting friendships!

~Azazel