Tricks for learning Japanese

 I am learning Japanese on Duolingo. Japanese is a challenging language if your first language is English. The verb goes at the end, like in German. If your native language is German, or you have ever started learning German, this concept will be more familiar to you. 

Useful Websites

I am also looking at all sort of other websites. To name a few, well, let's start with one, Wikitravel phrasebook. it gives the Japanese words in the same alphabet as English, which the Japanese call Romanji. (Just like we talk about Roman numerals, I II III, the Japanese talk about the Roman alphabet, a b c.)  the Japanese like to add a vowel on the ends of words. So Roman becomes Romanji. 

Loan Words

You will find two types of loan words.. First, easiest to pronounce are English words borrowed from Japanese.  Second, similar sounding Japanese words borrowed from English

First, Japanese words we already know and use are from clothing and food and drink. Clothing words include kimono.  Food words include sushi. The start sounds like Susan. Susan and Sue like Soo-shi, Sushi. Drinks include Sake, which is rice wine.  

When looking for easy to remember Japanese words, one of the first things I look for is words which are almost identical in English and Japanese.  I can recognize them quickly which gives me a sense of achievement and success. 

For example, checking I find taxi and menu are almost the same. So is toilet! And bus. In Japanese, Bas. Computer is an adapted word. 

Duolingo teaches you simple sentences and useful words. For example, She is a teacher. He is a doctor. She is a nice teacher. He is a nice doctor. At first sight the words are challenging. I find it easier to relate them to a sentence or phrase in English which sounds similar. for exmaple, isha is doctor. I rmember, I shall see the doctor. Isha = doctor. The word for teacher looks like sen-say, same sound twice. What does the sensible teacher say twice? I clock on the little megaphone symbol to hear the letters said. The exercise offers the translation of Japanese into English and English into Japanese. I can now quickly pick the right word each time and hear it said correctly. 

 Useful Websites

Duolingo Japanese

Wikitravel Japanese Phrasebook

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