What should you know before learning Japanese?

Look at the picture above, this bread has some Japanese written on it. Let’s see what’s available!

First of all, Kobeya (こうべや), Tannen Maturity (たんねんじゅくせい), and expiry date (しょうひきげん), these are the kanji parts in Japanese.

いちご This is the Japanese hiragana, which means strawberry.

ジャムThis is the katakana in Japanese, which means jam.

Okay, let’s look at the picture below. This is Umeda Station on the subway. Above the Chinese character "Umeda" is written the Hiragana "うめだ", and below the Chinese character is written the Roman character "Umeda" .

We can see from all aspects of daily life: Japanese is composed of: kana, kanji, and romaji. Kana is divided into hiragana and katakana.

Why does Japan have so many kinds of characters? Where did these words come from?

In ancient times, the Japanese only had oral communication language and no written text. It was probably during the Sui and Tang Dynasties in China that advanced Chinese civilization, including Chinese language and Chinese characters, were introduced to Japan in large quantities, and Japan began to systematically utilize them. Chinese characters record one’s own language.

In the beginning, the Japanese used Chinese characters directly, but when people looked at Chinese, they still had to read it into Japanese, which is equivalent to us looking at English and reading Chinese at the same time. It is very difficult. high. Moreover, there are many Chinese characters and there are many strokes in Chinese characters, which makes it very inconvenient to use.

Later, these Chinese characters gradually evolved into kana. "Fake" means "borrow", and "name" means "word". It means that kana only borrows the sounds and shapes of Chinese characters without using its meaning, so it is called "kana". Those Chinese characters that directly follow their sounds, shapes and meanings are called real names, and are called "kanji" (かんじ) in Japanese.

Kana is phonetic, which means you can know how to pronounce it by looking at it. Pronunciation characteristics: The opening is relatively small during pronunciation, the mouth shape changes little, the pronunciation is short, and one kana only takes up one beat.

Hiragana evolved from the cursive script in Chinese characters and records Japanese inherent words and grammar. When writing, the strokes are smooth, round and full, with a sense of lines. For example, the last stroke of "あ" should be drawn quickly and lightly. It gives the beauty of lines when written like this.

Katakana comes from a part of regular script. It is written horizontally and vertically, and is mostly used to record foreign words. It corresponds one-to-one to hiragana, with the same pronunciation, but different writing methods.

Kanji is an important part of the Japanese language and is mainly used to record important information. The writing methods of Chinese characters in Japanese are somewhat different from those in Chinese. There are two ways of reading: phonetic reading and training reading. And what about the meaning? Some are the same, some are different.

The Chinese characters used by China and Japan were originally traditional Chinese characters. But later both countries carried out writing reforms. The degree, scope, and content of simplification of Chinese characters are different between the two countries, so there are differences between Chinese Chinese characters and Japanese kanji.

When writing, be sure to write Japanese kanji, not simplified Chinese kanji. Otherwise the Japanese would not be able to understand it.

There are two ways to read Chinese characters, phonetic reading and training reading.

Phonetic pronunciation refers to imitating the pronunciation of ancient Chinese characters.

Training refers to reading Chinese characters using the original Japanese pronunciation.

Romaji is an annotation of pronunciation, which is equivalent to pinyin in Chinese, or equivalent to phonetic symbols in English. It can help us learn the pronunciation of Japanese kana. Mainly used to record place names, personal names, brand names, etc.

Japanese language expression is divided into simplified and respectful styles. The predicate used in simplified sentences is called ordinary type.

The predicate with "です"? "ます" in the sentence is called polite style. Generally use respectful style when writing letters.

Honorifics are used to show the speaker's respect for the person he is talking to. Available to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Therefore, respectful gestures are more commonly used among non-close friends. Use respectful manners when speaking to people you meet for the first time, your boss, your elders, or your peers but not familiar with them.

Simplified Chinese is only used when talking among close friends and family.

If you mistake the occasion for using Simplified Chinese, it will be very rude to the other party, so it is safer for beginners to use honorifics when they are not sure.

There is a complete system of honorifics. It is further subdivided into "respectful language", "qianxiao language" and "dingning language" (polite language).

Private はレモンです. privy to the words います. "です" and "ます" in the sentence are both polite words.

Generally speaking, nouns and adjectives end with +です. The suffix of the verb +ます.

Respectful language is used to express respect for the other party. It is used to elevate the other party's status and existence. The subject is the other party.

For example: President がおっしゃっていました. (What the president said)

Qianye language is to express respect for the other party by lowering one's own speaking status, and the subject is oneself.

For example: privy はレモンと神し上げます. (I am a lemon)

The typical Japanese thinking is not to cause trouble to others, to speak tactfully and politely, and to have a clear hierarchy. When expressing this kind of politeness, Japanese people often use respect. Express with words and modesty.

Simplified Chinese is generally used for written language, such as newspapers, books, papers, diaries, etc. Simplified Chinese can be used.

For example:

privy to words. It means my name is Lemon, this is simplified Chinese. Ending with the common form of the word.

Print fonts are used in books, newspapers, etc. The kana in Japanese textbooks are all printed fonts. Usually we use script when writing.

In expressions when learning Japanese, the subject is often omitted. For example (private)レモンです. The "private" here can be omitted and just say "レモンです"

In the 50-sound chart, when "は (ha)" is used as a particle, it is pronounced "wa", and "へ (he)" is used as a particle Pronounce "e"

Japanese is an agglutinative language. Each sentence component must be followed by a particle to indicate whether its function is subject or object, such as:

privy (wa )レモンです. (I am a lemon)

明日は（wa）土曜日です. (Tomorrow is Saturday)

When "は" appears in a word, pronounce "ha", such as

はち(ha chi): eight

はる（ha ru）：spring

ハサミ（hasami）：scissors

When "へ" appears in a word, pronounce "he", such as

へいきん（heikin）：average

ヘビ（he bi）：snake

ヘア（he a）：hair

And the vowels あ, い, う, Compared with え and お, the long sound is twice as long as the vowel.

あ is one beat

ああ is two beats.

Long sounds will affect the meaning of the word, so everyone should pay attention.

Such as:

おばさん (aunt), おばあさん (grandma)

ゆき (snow), ゆうき (yong気)

Long sound Rules:

(1) Long sound notation of hiragana:

For the long sound of あdan, add "あ" after あdankana

For example: お mother さん(おかあさん),

おばあさん (grandma, grandma)

Add "い" after the いdan kana for いdan long sound

For example: お哥さん（おにいさん)

The long sound of うdan is added with "う" after the kana of うdan

For example: Tongfan (つうやく)

The long sound of えdan is in the えdan Add "い" after the kana

For example: Mr. (せんせい)

Exceptions: ええ (Yes), ねえ (Hello),

おねえさん (Sister) )

Add "う" after the おdan kana for the long sound of おdan

For example: おfatherさん（おとうさん）,

( 2) Notation of long sounds in Katakana

In foreign words, "ー" is used to indicate long sounds. For example: ノート, all long sounds must occupy one beat.

The romanization of Hiragana "ん" is marked as "n". This sound does not always sound the same, but when it is pronounced, the airflow always passes through the nasal cavity and occupies the length of a whole syllable. This is not true. Changed. Depending on the status, n can be pronounced as one of the following sounds:

3 pronunciations:

(1) in た行, だ行, ら行, The "n" sound is pronounced when the name is preceded by な行Kana.

はんたい (opposite)? みんな (everyone)

(2) Pronounce the "m" sound in front of ま行, ば行 and ぱ行kana.

しんぶん (newspaper)? , えんぴつ (pencil)

(3) The "ng" sound is pronounced when it comes before か行 and が行Kana and when it ends with a dial tone.

てんき (weather), けんがく (visit and study)

The sound (そくおんsokuon) is a symbol used to express pause in Japanese, and the hiragana writing is the small character "っ" , katakana small letters "ッ".

The consonant "っ" is a reduced version of "つ". The consonant "っ" itself has no pronunciation, but when the word contains the consonant, the consonant will occupy one beat.

The accelerating sound "っ" is just a special sound that appears in front of か行, さ行, た行 and ぱ行.

1. When connecting the か line (か, き, く, け, こ) after the consonant sound っ, pause for a beat at the consonant sound (just make a K mouth shape without making a sound).

せっかく: Deliberately, with great difficulty

がっき (gakki) musical instrument

2. Connect the さ line (さ, し, す, (せ, そ)) After pronouncing the kana before the accelerating sound, immediately pause for a beat and reveal the s sound during the pause.

いっさい: one year old

3. た行 (た, ち, つ, て, と)

いったん: once

もっと: more~

4. The pronunciation of ぱ行 (ぱ, ぴ, ぷ, ぺ, ぽ) is pronounced with a beat of p.

いっぱい: A cup

サッポロ: Sapporo City

The pronunciation is expressed by the following consonants in the romaji pinyin. The input method is to type the initial letter behind the consonant twice. For example: if you enter "ikkai", "いっかい" will appear. If you enter only one k, it will become "いかい"

In foreign words, the accent can be placed at any position to indicate a pause.

For example:

タッチ（tacchi）

ベット（betto）

Silent, that is, clear.

In Japanese, kana spelled with vowels (i) or (u), such as: き, し, ち, く, す, つ, ひ, ふ, etc. The following consonants are p, t, s, ts When pronouncing kana, k, h, etc., the phenomenon of vowel weakening often occurs, that is to say, the vowel (i) or (u) must be pronounced very softly or silently, that is, the vocal cords do not vibrate. This is called the silencing of vowels.

In Japanese, small ァ, ィ, ゥ, ェ, ォ are commonly used together with the previous kana to spell out sounds that are not included in the Japanese 50 yin chart. They are often used to supplement the spelling of foreign words, onomatopoeia, ancient languages ??or dialects, etc. .

ヴァ(va), ヴィ(vi), ヴ(vu), ヴェ(ve), ヴォ(vo)

ファ(fa), フィ(fi), フュ( fyu), フェ(fe), フォ(fo)

ツェ(tse), チェ(che), シェ(she), ジェ(je), イェ(ye)

クァ(qwa)、クォ(qwo)、ウィ(wi)、ウェ(we)、ウォ(wo)

トゥ(tu)、ドゥ(du)、ホゥ(hu)、ツァ(tsa) , ヂャ(zha)

ティ(ti), テュ(tyu), ディ(di), デュ(dyu), クヮ(kwa)

Japanese tenses are divided into the past There are two tenses: past tense and non-past tense (present tense, future tense).

Past tense: ご饭を食べました (Have eaten)

Present tense: ご饭を食べています (Having eaten)

Future Formula: ご饭を食べに行きます (going to eat)

The grammatical structure of Japanese is, subject + object + predicate

For example: 比はご饭を食べています. (He is eating)

"比" is the subject, placed at the beginning of the sentence, "ご饭" is the object, followed after the subject, and the predicate (verb, etc.) is at the end of the sentence.

The grammatical function is expressed by the function word after the noun. The important ones are が(ga), は(wa), を(o), に(ni) and の(no). The function word は (wa) is particularly important because it marks the topic or theme of a sentence.

This requires everyone to accumulate slowly and pay attention.

For example:

"Qiang" is a Chinese character, but when written in Japanese it is written as "Qiang", and the upper part on the right is different.

Although there are many Chinese characters in Japanese, the meanings of some Chinese characters are completely different from what people think of when they see them. If you are not careful, you will make a joke.

Now let’s talk about these commonly used Chinese characters in Japanese that have completely different meanings from Chinese. Everyone must remember these, because these are some words that are often used in daily life.

Mother? (むすめ) means: daughter

private motherは9 years old. This sentence refers to my daughter being 9 years old, not my mother being 9 years old.

Reluctantly (べんきょう) means: learning

That is reluctant to do well. (He likes to study)

Japanese "アクセント" (accent) and Chinese "tone" (tone) both belong to "high and low stress" in a broad sense, that is, the stress is expressed by different pitches of the sound. The fake name only has one beat, and the tone only has two levels: high and low.

The tone rules of words

The pronunciation of Japanese words is relatively simple. Except for the obsessive sound, each kana has a beat, including long tones, dialed tones, and short tones. One shot. When reading a word, read it one kana, one kana for the length of one beat.

For example: おかあさん is 5 syllables pronounced 5 beats in length, there are long tones and plucked tones.

ちょっとThere are obsessive and auspicious sounds, which are 3 beats in length.

Japanese tone characteristics:

1. The first two sounds of Japanese words must have different pitches, either high or low, or low or high.

2. The tone of a word can fall at most once, and it will never rise again after it falls.

The types of stress are as follows:

Type 0: low and high

Only the first beat is low, and all other beats are high.

No matter how many syllables a word has, it starts from the bass, rises on the second beat, and does not drop until the last beat.

ないよう? Content

①Type: High and Low

It means that only the first beat is high, and all the following beats are low.

Starting from the high note, the second beat drops, and it does not rise until the last beat.

ある

Type 2: low high low

It means that only the second beat is high, and the first and third beats are all low.

はやい

③ type: low, high, high and low

It means the second beat, the third beat is high, and the first and fourth beats are all low. .

ちいさい

Type 4: low, high, high, low

It means the second to fourth beats are high, and the first and fifth beats are all high. Low.

初めまして

Type 5: low, high, high, high, low

It means the second to fifth beats are high, and the first and sixth beats are high. Shooting is low.

あさめしまえ (before breakfast)

...and so on.

Rain①、祴；あめ

Bridge②、箸①；はし

帰る①、変えるかえる

Most questions The words are all ①, such as: なに, だれ, いくつ, etc.

For example:

The Tokyo pronunciation of はな (花) is ②, and the Osaka pronunciation is ①

The speech is mixed with various emotions, such as: surprise , anger, doubt, anxiety, etc., the tone of voice will change.

Interrogative sentences are in rising intonation, declarative sentences and other sentences are in flat intonation.

Falling intonation is used to express agreement or disappointment.

Japanese can be roughly divided into Eastern dialects, Western dialects and Kyushu dialects. It can be further divided into Hokkaido dialect, Tohoku dialect, Kanto dialect, Kinki dialect (Kansai accent), Shikoku dialect, etc.

①Japanese Language Proficiency Test

The new Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) is divided into 5 levels: N1, N2, N3, N4, and N5***. N1 is the same as the original Japanese Level 1 in the proficiency test is equivalent, N2 is basically the same as the level 2 of the original Japanese Language Proficiency Test; N3 is between the level 2 and level 3 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (newly established); N4 is the same as the original Japanese Language Proficiency Test. The Level 3 level of N5 is basically the same as the Level 4 level of the original Japanese Language Proficiency Test.

The five levels from N1 to N5 are as shown in the figure.

②Practical Japanese Language Identification Test

The J.TEST test is called the Practical Japanese Language Identification Test. Its main function is to test the Japanese language proficiency of non-Japanese speakers. .