The Great Kanji Matchup!!!

Tonight I did some matching of kanji from my charts.
I stopped, because I had to get to bed, but I have several marked in red that are vocab.

I haven't studied kanji in a while - vocab is more important usually, but I want to list my 180-something iKnow vocab to my charts.

I printed out new charts I'm going to find a way to hang up on my wall, and I'm using the old ones to mark what's been done.

I'm going to eventually start marking off the ones I have fully memorized on the new ones, eventually.

I need to learn to write them, too. I may get a stack of blank paper to keep and just write some of them over and over everyday.

I may just start learning to duplicate the charts!

The charts in question are Kanji grades 1,2, and 3 at Nihongo no Narau ("learn-japanese.com")

Teasing Translations

My roommates got people pumpkins for the night we carved them... he left a note on the dry erase board afterward...

I need money
for the pumpkins ($5)
Thanks!

I erased and replaced it with Japanese, just to be annoying...

わたしは南瓜の
金をください ($5)
ありがとう！

I got some kinda threat about spreading my jibberish... lol...
in doing so, I discovered a new word - kabocha, or pumpkin.
the kanji for it is 南瓜, southern+melon. Interesting, huh?

I also got down the word for fountain/spring. It's izumi, 泉 .

I never did look up the word "Halloween"... I'll probably make a list of all the holidays sometime soon.
In the meantime, I need to work on my areas of discipline, that I covered previously.

If anyone is curious, I'm beginning to translate whole sentences. If you want you can submit sentences and I'll translate them for you and post them here.
ではまた！

A Student Of...

I've been learning a few words of education and profession.
my sentence for the day:
彼は医学の学生だ。
かれはいがくのがくせいだ。
kare wa igaku no gakusei da.
He is a medical student.

the knowledge/discipline of medicine is igaku, 医学。
student, a rather common and important word to know, is gakusei, 学生。
so I'm a student of japanese, 日本語の学生。

I've been looking at areas of knowledge, and found these:

(forensic)medicine is (法)医学, (hou)igaku.
physiology is 生理学, seirigaku.
psychology is 心理学, shinrigaku.
nutritional science is 栄養学, eiyougaku.
anatomy is 解剖学, kaibougaku.

science is 科学, kagaku.
chemisty is 化学, also pronounced kagaku.
biochemistry is 生化学, seikagaku. (the kanji 生 means life)
physical science(physics) is (物)理学, (butsu)rigaku.
biology is 生物学, seibutsugaku.
astronomy is 天文学, tenmongaku.

history is 私学, shigaku.
law is 法学, hougaku.
humanities is 人文科学, jinbunkagaku.

language(linguistics) is (言)語学, gengogaku.
lierature is 文学, bungaku.

geometry is 幾何学, kikagaku.
mathematics(algebra) is (代)数学, (dai)suugaku.

Grammar Particles and Pointlessness.

I have a new pointless Japanese sentence.
何のサンドイッチが欲しい？
nan no sandoicch ga hoshii?
What kind of sandwich do you want?

何の (nanno) means "what kind".
欲しい (hoshii) is an adjective, meaning "wanted" or "desired"
欲 (yoku) as a noun means greed or desire

And now I've learned something. So it's not totally pointless.


In Japanese, they have nouns, verbs, and adjectives. To explain how these relate, they use particles.

There are several, and I'll cover just a few for now.

が (ga) identifies a subject; it's used very often. don't confuse it with は.

は (WA) identifies a topic; it's usually used at the beginning of a conversation. it's the equivalent of "speaking about ___, ......". It's the symbol "ha", but pronounced "wa" when used in this way.

と (to) is "and". 左と右 (hidari to migi) means "left and right". it is used after each list object, where in english only commas would be used.

や (ya) is "and" and "etc.". you use it in place of と, and it will denote that the list is not complete.

に (ni) shows direction. It works very much like "to" and "towards". it also can be used for "by", and is used with time.

の (no) shows ownership. it's much like " 's ". for example, 私 (watashi) is "I" or "me". 私の (watashi no) is "my".

The First 80 Kanji

These are the Grade 1 Jouyou kanji. They're the first ones those learning Japanese need to know. It's important you learn them in order of frequency; Something like 20% of the kanji out there are used for 80% of the words. Moral of the story:
Learn the most common ones first.

Kanji	訓	音	Meaning
一	ひと（つ）	イチ	one
二	ふた（つ）	ニ	two
三	み（つ）	サン	three
四	よ（つ）	シ	four
五	い（つ）	ゴ	five
六	む（つ）	ロク	six
七	なな（つ）	シチ	seven
八	や（つ）	ハチ	eight
九	ここの（つ）	ク	nine
十	と（う）	ジュウ	ten
百	もも	ヒャク	hundred
チ	ち	セン	thousand
日	ひ	ニチ	sun,day
月	つき	ゲツ、ガツ	moon,month
火	ひ	カ	fire
水	みず	すい	water
木	き	モク、ボク	tree,wood
金	かね	キン、コン	gold
土	つち	ト、ド	earth,ground
上	うえ	ショウ	up,above,rise
下	した	カ、ゲ	down,below,fall
右	みぎ	ユウ	right
左	ひだり	サ	left
大	おお	タイ、ダイ	big
中	なか	チュウ	middle,within
小	ちい（さい）	ショウ	small
入（る）	はい（る）	ニュウ	(to) enter
出（る）	で（る）	シュツ	(to) exit
男	おとこ	ダン	man,male
女	おんあ	ジョ	woman,female
子	こ	し	child
人	ひと	ジン	person
口	くち	コウ	mouth
目	め	ボク	eye,look,viewpoint
手	て	シュ	hand
耳	みみ	ジ	ear
足	あし	ソク	foot,leg
白	しろ	ハク	white
赤	あか	シャク	red
青	あお	ショウ、セイ	blue, green
学	まな（ぶ）	ガク	learning,study
校		キョウ、コウ	correction,exam
先	さき	せん	ahead,before,future
生	う（まれ）（る）、なま（る）	セイ	life,birth
年	とし	ネン	year
山	やま	サン、セン	mountain
川	かわ	セン	river
花	はな	カ、ケ	flower
雨	あめ	ウ	rain
田	た	デン	rice (field,paddy)
石	いし	コク、セキ	stone
貝	かい	バイ	shellfish
林	はやし	リン	forest(grove)
森	もり	シン	forest(woods)
見（る）	み（る）	ケン	(to) see
立（つ）	た（つ）	リ（ツ）	(to) stand
休（み/む）	やす（み/む）	キョウ	(/to) rest
天	あめ	テン	heaven,sky
気	いき	キ	spirit,air
本	もと	ホン	book,source
犬	いぬ	ケン	dog
虫	むし	キ（ュウ）	insect
草	くさ	ソウ	grass
車	くるま	シャ	vehicle
名	な	ミョウ,メイ	name,reputation
正（す）	ただ（す）	セイ	(to) correct
音	ね	イン、オン	sound,noise,note
早	はや	ソウ	early,quick,fast
王		オウ	king,ruler
村	むら	ソン	town,village
町	まち	チョウ	town,neighborhood
竹	たけ	チク	bamboo
空	から、そら	クウ	emptiness,sky
糸	いと	シ	string,thread
字	あざ（な）	ジ	character,letter
夕	ゆう	セキ	evening
玉	たま	ギョク	ball,jewel
文	ふみ	ブン	text,sentence,literature
力	ちから	リキ、リョク	strength,effort
円	まる	エン	yen,circle

Pronouncing Japanese

I've been teaching myself Japanese, and have found many useful materials along the way.
In Japanese, there are two sets of pronunciation characters, Hiragana, and Katakana.

Hiragana are for words of their native language, and grammar particles.

Katakana are for food names, and foreign words and names.

Collectively, they are known as kana.
The following charts are credited to http://www.freejapaneselessons.com

Hiragana - ひらがな

あ a い i う u え e お o か ka き ki く ku け ke こ ko が ga ぎ gi ぐ gu げ ge ご go さ sa し shi す su せ se そ so ざ za じ ji ず zu ぜ ze ぞ zo た ta ち chi つ tsu て te と to だ da ぢ ji づ zu で de ど do な na に ni ぬ nu ね ne の no は ha ひ hi ふ fu へ he ほ ho ば ba び bi ぶ bu べ be ぼ bo ぱ pa ぴ pi ぷ pu ぺ pe ぽ po 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/m

Combinations きゃ kya きゅ kyu きょ kyo ぎゃ gya ぎゅ gyu ぎょ gyo しゃ sha しゅ shu しょ sho じゃ ja じゅ ju じょ jo 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 びゃ bya びゅ byu びょ byo ぴゃ pya ぴゅ pyu ぴょ pyo みゃ mya みゅ myu みょ myo りゃ rya りゅ ryu りょ ryo

Katakana - カタカナ

ア a イ i ウ u エ e オ o カ ka キ ki ク ku ケ ke コ ko ガ ga ギ gi グ gu ゲ ge ゴ go サ sa シ shi ス su セ se ソ so ザ za ジ ji ズ zu ゼ ze ゾ zo タ ta チ chi ツ tsu テ te ト to ダ da ヂ ji ヅ zu デ de ド do ナ na ニ ni ヌ nu ネ ne ノ no ハ ha ヒ hi フ fu ヘ he ホ ho バ ba ビ bi ブ bu ベ be ボ bo パ pa ピ pi プ pu ペ pe ポ po マ ma ミ mi ム mu メ me モ mo ヤ ya ユ yu ヨ yo ラ ra リ ri ル ru レ re ロ ro ワ wa ヲ wo ン n/m

Combinations キャ kya キュ kyu キョ kyo ギャ gya ギュ gyu ギョ gyo シャ sha シュ shu ショ sho ジャ ja ジュ ju ジョ jo チャ cha チュ chu チョ cho ニャ nya ニュ nyu ニョ nyo ヒャ hya ヒュ hyu ヒョ hyo ビャ bya ビュ byu ビョ byo ピャ pya ピュ pyu ピョ pyo ミャ mya ミュ myu ミョ myo リャ rya リュ ryu リョ ryo

In the future, I'll discuss kanji, and spell them out with these kana.