Japanese - English
1 coffee
2 sayonara - goodbye
3 hoteru - hotel
4 takushi -taxi
5 terebi - tv
6 deska - isn't it (so) / is that so? / really? (Universal question word at the end of a sentence, which does not have to agree with any other word unlike the English isn't it or aren't they)
7 mushi mushi - hello, hello (on the phone, memory aid think of it's me, it's me)
8 arigato - thank you
9 hello - konichiwa
10 tea - ocha (like the old fashioned English from Chinese, a cup of cha)
11 rajio - radio
12 basu - bus
13 kamera - camera
14 supa - supermarket
15 depato - department store
16 konpyuta - computer
17 kurimu - cream
18 miruku - milk
Katakana is simplified signs used for modern conversational Japanese or slang as opposed to formal Japanese. Formal words are more often Japanese or Chinese.
As Wikivoyage explains:
Japanese is written using a convoluted mix of three different scripts: kanji (漢字) or Chinese characters, together with "native" hiragana (ひらがな) and katakana (カタカナ) syllabaries. There are thousands of kanji in everyday use and even the Japanese spend years learning them, but the kana have only 46 characters each and can be learned with a reasonable amount of effort.
Of the two, katakana are probably more useful for the visitor as they are used to write loanwords from foreign languages other than Chinese, and thus can be used to figure out words like basu (バス, bus), kamera (カメラ, camera) or konpyūtā (コンピューター, computer). However, some words like terebi (テレビ, television), depāto (デパート, department store), wāpuro (ワープロ, word processor) and sūpā (スーパー, supermarket) may be harder to figure out. Knowing Chinese will also be a great head start for tackling kanji, but not all words mean what they seem: 大家 (Mandarin Chinese: dàjiā, Japanese: ōya), "everybody" to the Chinese, means "landlord" in Japan!
Japanese and Chinese writing
The written language uses the same signs as Chinese. So if you know or learn Chinese writing you can read Japanese. If you know or learn Japanese writing, you can read Chinese. A bit like the 'no smoking' sign consisting of the outline of a cigarette with a line through it, understood by everybody in Europe, although their spoken languages are different. Learn Chinese from Chineasy.
Below the top level centre sign is king. the lower level far left sign is hill.
Flag of Singapore
In Singapore I can recognize Chinese sign for Hillview station from the sign for the hill. I can recognize King Albert Park station from the sign for King.
Useful Websites
Free internet language learning for computer or mobile phone
duolingo
duolingo.com
google translate
wikipedia Japanese language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language
simple wiki
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language
Language and travel:
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Japan
To ask questions join facebook polyglots
https://www.facebook.com/groups/polygotcommunity/2286624571556302/?comment_id=2286632228222203&reply_comment_id=2286660528219373
Travel
https://www.jnto.go.jp/
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, Teacher of English to Toastmasters International clubs, colleges and businesses. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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