こいちは　everyone!  It’s been quite some time since I wrote a new カタカナ post, but things have been so hectic for me here. Between end of semester projects, the WOTLK expansion & other RL emergencies, this had to be put on the back burner. Anyway, I’m back & ready to roll!  Moving on from the 1st 8 lines of katakana (a-ka

, or sa-ta, na-ha, ma-ya) we’ll now finish up the main 46 with ra, wa & n. I’ll get the tenten & contracted sounds posts out soon (I hope!)

Just note the differences between ソ(so) & ン (n).
So is a down stroke & n is an up stroke.

ラ　リ　ル　レ　ロ
ra  ri   ru   re   ro

ワ　　　　　　　　ヲ**
wa                    wo

ン
n

**While the same pronunciation as を, ヲ is rarely used in formal writing. Most books list it only as reference.

Some words using these kana:
ロボット
robotto - robot

ワンピース
wanpiisu- one piece dress (I think it’s like a jumper for girls /shrug)

Practice!

がんばって
Ganbatte!

Ko-S-A-Do Words, are what make up pronouns & the w5 (If you never watched Nick News W5 on nickelodeon, W5 are the Who, What, Where, When & Why. How is also in there too.)

For Now, I’m only going to cover 3 endings. There are 5 or so more, but we didn’t cover those in class.

The table below shos the 4 bases (ko, so, a, do) with the 3 endings (ko, no, re). Do is always a question word. こ Ko talks about someone/something you’re holding or are very close to.  そ So describes something that you are close to but it is farther away than こ.  あ A is always talking about something/someone away from you, say across the room, but is also far from the other person you’re talking to. These change depending on the location of the object to the speaker.

Say I have a pen ぺん.   I would say　これは　なですか？ (Korewa nandesuka?)
The answer would be そらは ぺんです。 (Sorawa pen desu.)

The only one that needs a special note is の.  No is always used with a noun as if to say where is THAT book, not just where are the books. When you’re talking about a specific noun vs that noun in general, you’d use no.

Other than that, they’re just used like in the example above.

I’ve used this program for years- It’s called the NJStar Japanese Word Processor. It’s totally free to try… and the best alternative if you can’t get the Global IME for whatever reason.  (You can’t get the IME, it’s not your computer, you run linux, etc) You can download it here: http://www.njstar.com/cms/njstar-japanese-word-processor-download.

When you open it, there’s a bunch of text showing off other font samples. I assume that if you were to purchase the software, it’d go away. It says it’s a 30 day trial, but you can continue to use it once 30 days is up. ( I installed this version 9/30… more than 30 days ago. It still works fine for me!)

So delete the demo text & you’re ready to start!

Make sure that the option for Romaji is selected in the bottom left corner. If it’s not, just keep clicking it until it is. This is the input selection method, and what allows us to type in Japanese with a non-Japanese keyboard!

So lets type “Hello, My name is ____.”
こにちわ、わたしは　＿＿＿です。
Konnichiwa, watashi wa (ha) _____ desu.

As you begin to type Konni… just to the right of the romaji button a box shows what you typed, and the Japanese it has come up with.

Generally, box 1 is hiargana & 2 is katakana, but it changes with what you type. Finish typing Konnichiwa & then click box 1.
It’s as easy as that! You just typed in Japanese!

But lets finish our sentance. Put a space after こんにちわ, and type watashi. when you do the 2 boxes will be back, one with hiragana & one with the kanji for watashi. When you mouse over the boxes it gives you a dictionary of all the uses of the parts of the word. Sometimes it’s overkill & not always what you’re looking for in the definition, even though what you put in is correct. Add は (ha) to the end of watashi. (It’s a subject particle, but we’re not going to get in to grammar in this post. Just take my word for it ^_^)

Now you need to add your name. Unless you are Japanese, you name will almost always be in Katakana.  Mine in Japanese is キャシ.
To switch to Katakana, just click the button in the right bottom corner that says  カナ(kana).

If you don’t know your name in Japanese, this site can help: http://japanesetranslator.co.uk/your-name-in-japanese/ it’s pretty reliable.

When that’s done, click off the kana button & add desu.

You’re finished! You just typed a whole sentence in Japanese!
There’s so many more features of this application (even the trial version!) that I just can’t cover here. Just note the dictionary function is really handy (Tools Menu –> Dictionary).

But that’s it!

がんばって!

I finally got My Japanese Coach a week or so ago, & I absolutely love it! It starts off with a placement quiz, and I just played dumb to just start at the beginning. Others have said that if you’re not good with hiragana, then you’ll just start at lesson 1. I’ve also read that it’s not good at placing advanced speakers. (My thought is that if you’re that good, you won’t need this game. Use it as refresher perhaps…)

You start off with a few vocab lessons, then some kana, and some grammar. In order to unlock the next lesson, you must master each word from the lesson you are currently in by playing games & earning points. If while playing the game,  you get an answer wrong or mess up, you’ll get less points for that word. Makes sense.

Each lesson will give you new words, with a chance to listen to them being said, you can then either write them, of record your own voice to compare to the speakers’.

The 1st section of lessons goes from 1-29 (of 1000 total!) As of this posting, I’m only up to Lesson 21.

1. Basic Words
2. Pronunciation
3. Numbers
4. Colors
5. Days of the Week
6. Kana 1
7. Months
8. Kana 2
9. Pronouns
10. Kana 3
11. Desu
12. Desu Tenses
13. Kana 4
14. Questions
15. Numbers 2
16. Number 3
17. Kana 5
18. Greetings
19. Verbs in Sentences
20. Kana 6
21. Informal Verbs

As you progress through the lessons you “travel” across Japan, and while on the map screen picking you lessons, there’s a paragraph of info on the top. (Lessons 16-20 are at Puroland!)

Also as you progress you unlock new games. The first ones you get are Multiple Choice, a Whack-a-mole game, and a word search.  By lesson 21, I have 5 or 6 games to pick from.

There’s also a reference section with lots of great phrases if you’re goin to travel in Japan.

All in all, it’s a great game for beginners, & It’s supplementing my class nicely. We’re covering different things in class, but the game is really helping with my writing. The Write Cards games make me think. ^_^;

My only beef with it currently is that when playing any of the games that require you to write kana, you can’t erase. Once you make a mistake, you can’t correct it & will have to do a game again to get the points needed to master the word.

Score:
4/5 Kitties

We’ve covered 6 lines of Katakana
a-ka, or sa-ta, na-ha, and now we’re up to the  ma & ya

I was waiting to do this lesson because I had nothing relevant to say about the kana. Luckily, today I found my topic. Well, won it I should say. In class today, we played a round of Katakana bingo.  Last time we played the Winners got 2 little bags of Japanese Candy & everyone else just got a single piece. Today, I won the bingo game & was given a bottle of Ramune, a Japanese soda. (Tastes like THIS, if you’ve tried either.) It’s kind of a pain to open, but there were several of my classmates that knew how it worked. The neat thing about this soda is the bottle. It’s called a codd-neck bottle, and is sealed by a marble & the pressure from the soda, very clever. A quick youtube search will get you TONS of how to “open ramune,” but most of them pronounce it wrong. It’s not  “RAMOON” it’s ra-mu-ne like all good Japanese students know.

When I get more, I”ll make my own “How-to video.” Now I just need to get the marble out…

But on with the Show!

One of the biggest problems I’ve encountered with Katakana is that ア (a), マ (ma) & ヤ (ya) look so similar. Just note the angles of the vertical straight lines, & if & where they cross the top part.

マ   ミ   ム   メ   モ
ma mi mu me mo
ヤ ユ   ヨ
ya yu yo

hiragana my-ya

Some words using these Kana:
ラ ム ネ
ramune

ニューヨーク
Nyuu- Yo-ku
New York

Practice!

がんばって
Ganbatte!

I watched the H*R halloween special… King of Town was dressed as Hello Kitty!

Lol!

The big `08 election is just around the corner. Yay. I absolutely despise politics, especially now since the candidates have been campaigning for over a year. The worst part is, I barely know where they stand on any of the big issues. All they do is tell you whay not to vote for the other guy. At this moment I haven’t the foggiest on who I’m going to vote for. But I have been doing some homework.

 Foxnews.com has a nifty election tracker following votes as they come in, and it covers all teh various elections going on as well.  Of course, there’s other info there as well, but this caught my eye.

Who should I vote for Quiz - Not an official tool by any means, but if you have no clue about what any of the candidates think of any of the big issues (health care, Iraq, environment, etc…) this will point you in the right direction. DON’T let this be your only guide on how you vote.

Time.com- THIS is what I’ve been looking for. About mid-page there a section entitled “Where do they stand on the important issues?” It put all their big issues in a big list. I’m thinking this will be far more efficient than the utterly unimformative campaign ads.

A Google search for election 08 will yield all kinds of good stuff too.

I want this, but can’t seem to get my paws on it:
wetseal.com

I love Halloween!

So have a Happy one! Don’t eat too much candy!

Japan is the home of super cute & crazy, so it should be no big shock that they made a cat head of a train station. Tama had been living in a grocery store near the station where the owner Toshiko Koyama fed her & other stray cats. The store owner was the station master until the train line switched to unmanned stations in April 2006 to cut costs. With no where else to go Tama stayed at the station anyway.

In January 2007, railway officials decided to officially name Tama the station master. As station master her primary duty is to greet passengers. The position comes with a stationmaster’s hat; in lieu of a salary, the railway provides Tama with free cat food. Word got out about the new station master, and tourists now flock to Kinokawa to see Tama in her uniform, thus helping the financial crisis of the Kishigawa Line.
Read more »

This lesson will cover the na & ha lines, but if you need a review of a-ka, or sa-ta, they’re always available.

Something I’ve noticed as my class has been getting into katakana more is that when using foreign words, vowels tend to be stretched.

The word Hamburger in Katakana is
ハ ン バー ガー
ha n baa gaa
My initial thought was to put ア (a) in there (like ハンバアガア), but that is incorrect even though it’d be pronounced very similarly if not the same way.
Coffee is the same way:
コーヒー
ko- hi-
I keep feeling like I should put the extra letter in there, but it’s not necessary. The ー covers it nicely. It doesn’t appear to be as common in Hiragana, at least from what I’ve seen. It does happen though.

On with the show!

ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ
na ni nu ne no

ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ
ha hi fu* he ho

These are all said the same as in Hiragana.

**Don’t forget that fu is still irregular.

When I was cramming for my quiz, I had a good thought on how to remember

ホ.  When ho is drawn, you draw the part that looks like a cross 1st. I thought to myself that a cross gives HOpe to alot of people.

But that’s it for now! Practice hard! http://www.realkana.com/katakana/

がんばって ください - Please try your best!