Katakana and Kanji charts ❤️

So I was on WeHeartIt.com again and I came across the adorable Japanese character charts again! They're handy to keep on your phone just in case you need a 'lil help with your Hiragana and Katakana!

1. 

Here's the Hiragana chart I posted up a few days ago

2. 

Here's a Katakana chart with a little guest appearance from Totoro-San from My Neighbour Totoro!

3. 

This is a pretty handy chart for learning basic kanji you'd end up using quite a lot. All of them except for 曜(よう) are on the Leaving Cert Japanese course. The kanji 日 and 本 make up 日本 which is Japan! Kanji such as 月 and 火 are used with 曜日 to make days of the week! E.g. 月曜日(げつようび) is Monday! It's meaning is actually Moon Day.

Ten-tens

Now that you know your basic Hiragana and Katakana, you should now learn the Ten-ten for the characters. Ten-ten are added to characters to make a new one, for example, か(Ka) becomes が(Ga). Here's a list of what lines take Ten-ten and what they turn into :

Ks turn into Gs with Ten-ten

か-が    カ-ガ

Ss turn into Zs with Ten-ten

さ-ざ     サ-ザ

An exception to this is し/シ(Shi). Adding Ten-ten makes this じ/ジ(Ji)

Ts turn into Ds

た-だ     タ-ダ

*THE H LINE*

The H line is very special. It takes Ten-tens but it also takes a different symbol, a little dot at the top of the character. This is called a Handakuten. The Hs are the only characters that take this.

Hs turn to Bs 

は-ば    ハ-バ

Hs turn to Ps

は-ぱ ハ-パ

Katakana Part 2 (Ms,Hs, Ys, Rs, Ws and N)

こんにちは！ Welcome to Part 2 of the Katakana alphabet. My next post will be about adding Ten-ten to characters and then I'll begin posting topics. Stay tuned for my post on countries!

The 'Ms' Line

Ma = マ someone is opening their mouth! This is Ma for mouth.

Mi = ミ Oh no, it looks like a cat scratched me! This is Mi for me.

Mu = ム this was a lovely piece of Toberone until a moose came along and took a big bit out of it. This is Mu for moose.

Me = メ this looks like a metal sword. This is Me for metal.

Mo = モ I put worms on my fishhook so I hope I get more worms. This is Mo for more.

The 'Hs' Line

Ha = ハ haha someone broke this stick! This is Ha for haha

Hi = ヒ Look at this man. He is sitting. This is Hi for he.

Fu = フ this is the fool's hat. This is Fu for fool.

He = ヘ This is an arrow pointing to Heaven. This is He for heaven.

Ho = ホ this is a Holy Cross. This is Ho for Holy.

The 'Ys' Line

Ya = ヤ this is one hairy Yak. This is Ya for Yak.

Yu = ユ who's number 1? You are! This is  Yu for you.

Yo = ヨ look at this lovely carton of yoghurt. This is Yo for yoghurt.

The 'Rs' Line

Ra = ラ Look at this random piece of random floating up over the bowl! Ra is for Ramen.

Ri = リ these are reeds in a river. Ri is for reeds.

Ru = ル your rude friend tries to push you into a volcano. Ru is for rude.

Re =  レ You decide to take a rest. Re is for rest.

Ro = ロ look at this lovely round rock! Ro is for rock.

The 'Ws' Line

Wa = ワ Your baby sister got a new tooth and she won't stop crying! Wa is for wah.

Wo = ヲ you got some new dentures. Oh wow, you're getting old! O is for old.

N

N = ン This is a ship with only one sail. This is N for one sail.

This is the end of Katakana! From now on, I will using a mixture of Hiragana and Katakana in my posts so keep practising your characters! Thank you to everyone in my Japanese class last year who came up with these ways of remembering Katakana. さようなら for now!

Katakana part 1 (Vowels, Ks, Ss, Ts and Ns)

Katakana is the second Japanese alphabet you'll be learning! The pronunciations and Ten-tens will be the exact same, just the characters will be different. Katakana is much more angular than Hiragana so it will be easy to tell the two apart. You'll also notice that some Katakana are similar to their Hiragana counterparts.

Vowels

A = ア this is someone sticking their tongue out at the doctors saying 'Aah' This is A for Aah

I = イ this looks like an eagle. This is I for eagle.

U = ウ this is an old woman bending over  . A twig falls from a tree and hits her on her back. She says 'Ooph!' This is U for Ooph.

E = エ this looked like closed curtains ath the end of a performance. This is E for end.

O = オoh look! The boy is kicking the ball! This is O for oh.

The 'K' Line

Ka = カ oh no the car's gone off the cliff! This is Ka for car.

Ki = キ this look like a key. This is Ki for key.

Ku = ク this looks like a cook's hat. This is Ku for Cook.

Ke = ケ this reminds me of a kettle. If you  look at it closely, it also reassembles a K. This is K for kettle.

Ko = コ This is your half of the tennis court! Ko for court.

The 'S' Line

Sa = サ This character has 3 lines. The Japanese word for 3 is San (三) this is Sa for San.

Shi = シ it looks like she is smiling! This is Shi for she.

Su = ス the soup spoon is hanging out of your mouth! This is Su for soup spoon.

Se = セ The couple broke up so now he's watching the sunset all alone. This is Se for sunset.

So = ソ this looks like a needle and thread you'd use for sewing. This is So for sewing.

The 'Ts' line

Ta = タ *no example yet*

Chi = チ oh look it's a chicken feather! This is Chi for chicken.

Tsu = ツ *no example yet*

Te = テ this looks like a television antenna. This is Te for television.

To = ト this looks like a totem pole. This is To for totem pole.

The 'Ns' Line

Na = ナ this is the cross your Nana was praying at but she went away shopping. This is Na for Nan.

Ni = ニ this looks like the Kanji for two!Ni is Japanese for two. This is Ni for the Kanji ニ (Ni)

Nu = ヌsomebody's a messy eater! There's a noodle sticking out of their mouth! This is Nu for noodle.

Ne = ネ Aw no, looks like this person will never get a hug! This is Ne for Never.

No = ノ this is just a line. It makes no sense. This is no for no sense.

Hiragana Part 2 (Hs, Ms, Ys, Rs, Ws and N)

Hello and welcome to part 2 of my posts :) today I'll be looking at the rest of the Hiragana alphabet. Soon, I'll do a post of the alphabet with ten-ten added. Hope you enjoy! 

The 'H' Line

Ha = は This looks like a keg with a hole in it. Ha! The keg is broken. This is Ha for Ha! The keg is broken.

Hi = ひ this looks like a man's mouth while he is laughing. This is Hi for he is laughing. 

Fu = ふ this looks like Mount Fuji. This is Fu for Fuji.

He = へ This is an arrow pointing to Heaven. This is He for heaven.

Ho = ほ this is Ha with a hat on. Why would he put on a hat when it's hot? This is Ho for hot.

 

The 'M' line

Ma = ま This looks like a telephone wire. You need this to call home to your Mam. This is Ma for Mam.

Mi = み This looks like no sense to me. This is Mi for me.

Mu = む This looks like a cow. A cow goes moo. This is Mu for moo.

Me = め this character looks like you messed up の. This is Me for mess.

Mo = も This looks like a fishhook. If we put more worms on it, we'll catch more fish. This is Mo for more worms.

The 'Y' Line

*this line only has 3 characters*

Ya = や this looks like a yak. This is Ya for yak.

Yu = ゆ Oh, it looks like you need to do a u- turn! This is yu for you.

Yo = よ This looks like a yo-yo. This is Yo for yo-yo.

The 'R' line

Ra = ら if you add whiskers and an extra ear, this looks like a rabbit! This is Ra for rabbit.

Ri = り these are reeds in a river. This is Ri for reeds.

Ru = る look at this beautiful ruby! This is Ru for ruby.

Re = れ I've just climbed a mountain so I think I need a rest. This is Re for rest.

Ro = ろ Oh no where's the ruby gone? Someone must have robbed it! This is Ro for rob.

The 'W' line

*only has 2 characters* 

Wa = わ Look at this magic wand! This is Wa for wand.

Wo = を This has the same pronunciation as お. This is an Olympic disc thrower. This is O for Olympic.

N

*only has one character*

N = ん This looks like a h. It also like a n in end.

Well, that's the end of the Hiragana alphabet! Next week I'll look at ten-ten characters and then I'll move onto Katakana. さようなら till then!

Alphabets - Different Types

There's 4 different types of alphabets in Japanese. 

1. Kanji

 Kanji are Chinese characters that the Japanese have adopted for their language. There are over 10,000 characters in this alphabet. There are two different types of pronunciation, the Chinese pronunciation(Onyomi/おんよみ) and the Japanese pronunciation.(Kunyomi/くよみ)

E.g. - 山 (mountain)

2. Hiragana

Hiragana is the basic Japanese phonetic alphabet. It contains 46 characters. This alphabet is used most often and is used for native Japanese words that don't have kanji. 

E.g. - やま (mountain)

3. Katakana

Katakana is used for translating foreign words into Japanese, such as 'anime'  into 'アニメ'. It also has 46 characters. 

E.g. - ヤマ (mountain)

4. Rōmaji

This is Japanese words written in English, for example, 日本語(Japanese) would be written as Nihongo in Rōmaji. This alphabet is targeted towards non-Japanese speakers or beginners. 

E.g. Yama (mountain)

Leaving Cert 2016

Hi, my name is Emma and I'm a leaving cert Japanese student! (^.^) I'm currently bogged down with studying so I thought I would make this blog to revise the basics of the language to help other learners like myself. I hope this helps a little!

Emma X