Studying Katakana - For first time students
Katakana is a phoenetic alphabet now used in Japanese to write foreign words in Japanese. Words that are part of regular japanese speech like stereo, steak, computer are always written using the katakana symbols. This is our recommended starting point because you can quickly identify meanings with the katakana words. Look at the symbols and say su-te-re-o. You can learn the symbols with words you already know the meanings of.
Here's how - Studying Katakana
There are two Lists for studying Katakana in the Nihongo Machine and 71 characters are represented.
1. Click Load Word List
2. From the Nihongo Machine folder, select Katakana1.cst
3. Click Open
4. Click on Preferences
5. In the box labeled Front, select Kanji and English*
6. Ignore the Back setting for now.
7. In the Auto Flash Mode box, select Manual
8. Select Front Only in the box labeled Flash
9. If you have never studied Japanese before, close your eyes and click OK.
10. Open you eyes and begin an amazing journey to the very heart of Japan!
11. Oh yeah, and then you can use the next button to see the katakana symbols in their "government approved order" along with the English pronunciation of the symbol.
After you have browsed through a few times and think you may have some of them down, go to the Test Mode and see.
1. Click the Test Mode Button tab in thetitle area.
Click the Preferences button
Select Kanji as the Question type
Select English as the Answer type
Set the Number of Answer to 4
Select Hide Timer
Click OK
Click on Start Test
Each Test is 10 questions long and when you are finished you are presented with some stats and all of the questions you had. You can toggle the Questions and Answers making it easy to see the ones you had trouble with.
* Kanji is selected because characters are rendered larger in the kanji field and it makes it easier to see and read.
A few notes on Pronunciation
Vowels:
There are basically only 5 vowel sounds in Japanese a, i, u, e, o:
- a sounds like calm, hot
- i sounds like ear, eel
- u sounds like do, flew
- e sounds like end, Ed
- o sounds like go, show
These vowel sounds vary only slighly across all of Japan so remember then and be deliberate with them. Clear enunciation of the vowel tones is very critical for sounding convincing.
Elongation:
Another critical thing to remember is that Japanese vowel sounds do not not get elongated or diphthongal. Symbols when they are pronounced by themselves sound short and chopped to an English speakers ear. Normal Japanese speech is also more choppy feeling than natural English. It is common to over elongate Japanese vowels, but easy to overcome that tendancy.
Accenting:
Japanese also lacks a distinct, accented rhythmic patterns that English has. It is much more even keeled with the use of accents. Shinjuku for example has no natural accent - all syllables are given equal treatment. Common pronunciation mistake is to say shin-JU-ku, like fan-TAS-tic or Man-HAT-tan.
T -
T sounds in Japanese are distnct and deliberate, not the lazy T that sounds like a D. Karate does not sound like kaRAdy it isounds like ka-ra-te.
R -
The Japanese R sound is similar to the spanish R. I call it a Single Tap R. Your tounge taps to roof of your mouth once - very similar to a D sound - you could write the pronunciation of karate as kadate and be closer reading it that way than pronouncing it with a standard english R.
F -
In English F is pronounced by pushing the lower lip up, to touch the bottom of the upper front teeth. Japanese does not have this sound. The F is more like a strong H.
Rya, Ryu, Ryo -
Yeeee! I practiced these a lot. These are the toughest because they are sounds not used in English. Listen to the sound clips and try to emulate that sound as best as you can, but don't labor over it too much!
Final thoughts on pronunciation - The key to good Japanese pronunciation is to listen and imitate. Pay attention to the details of the sounds and make your mouth spit out the same thing. Karate is a great word to begin practicing and breaking potentially bad habits before they develop. Learn to control your mouth by practicing the basic Japanese sounds and words repeatedly, deliberately and with speed. BUT remember that the single most important thing is to be understood! In the end your accent doesn't matter as long as your are being understood.
Studying Hiragana - For beginner students
There are two Lists for studying Hiragana in the Nihongo Machine and 71 characters are represented. These are the stand alone characters - there are no combinations here.
1. Click Load Word List
2. From the Nihongo Machine folder, select Hiragana1.cst
3. Click Open
4. Click on Preferences
5. In the box labeled Front, select Kanji and English*
6. Ignore the Back setting for now.
7. In the Auto Flash Mode box, select Manual
8. Select Front Only in the box labeled Flash
9. Click OK to return to the Flash Card screen
10. Use the Next button to see the hiragana symbols in their "government approved order" along with the english pronunciation of the symbol.
11. After a few cycles through the list,
After you have browsed through a few times and think you may have some of them down, go to the Test Mode and see.
1. Click the Test Mode Button tab in thetitle area.
Click the Preferences button
Select Kanji as the Question type
Select English as the Answer type
Set the Number of Answer to 4
Select Hide Timer
Click OK
Click on Start Test
Each Test is 10 questions long and when you are finished you are presented with some stats and all of the questions you had. You can toggle the Questions and Answers making it easy to see the ones you had trouble with.
* Kanji is selected because characters are rendered larger in the kanji field and it makes it easier to see and read.
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