Learn Japanese FAQ

Archive for August, 2008

Q: I heard that it is correct to use the fingers for some parts of a sushi meal. Please could we receive some guidance for which kind of pieces it is correct to use the fingers for?

A: Here you go!

Q: are their alphabet songs and sounds? – destiny

A; There are indeed here’s the katakana alphabet song and the hirgana alphabet song.  And here are the katakana and hiragana sounds.

Q: how do you say moon in japan –   mercedes

A: Moon is 月　tsu ki.  It’s supposed to look like a picture of the moon.   You also use it when writing months of the year e.g. January is ichi gatsu 一月　(using the alternative reading of 月)

Q: Hi! I was just wondering, when writing japanese, do you use kanji, katakana or hiragana?? Or all three? -  John

A: All three!   There are rules as to which one to use where, and you just learn these with lots of reading practice.

Q: Is there a word for Gerbil in Japanese and what is it and what is the script for it?  – Sophie

A: To be honest I don’t think I’ve ever used the word gerbil in Japanese before.  So I just did a quick dictionary check and it comes out as アレチネズミ a re chi ne zu mi (”nezumi” is mouse).   But there’s also a description of what it means so I don’t think anyone would understand what you mean even if you used the Japanese.   Maybe you could pretend it’s a hamster (ハムスター　ha mu su taa) as everyone knows what they are!

Q: Is there a place I can get all of these Hiragana sheets in a handy pdf like the wonderful Katakana ones that came in my purchase of your mp3 folder?

A: Thanks for the suggestion, I’ve now put the katakana sheets in the download pack as well!  ( And sent you a complimentary copy for making such a good suggestion!)

Please make some more stuff available. I would like to see songs about different members of the family (including grandparents and parent siblings), colors, animals, and plants.

Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll see what I can do!

This adds a perfect candy coating to some of the more dense Japanese audio I have to study!
Helps the workday pass too! Chaarii

That’s what it’s there for! If it’s fun it’s easier isn’t it!

Q: Hi im also trying to learn japanese your pages help a lot thanks another way i’m learning is by watching dramas and animes with subtitles it really fun and you eventually catch on and im gettin pretty fluent at it now.

A: Cool, keep going and good luck!

Q: could you put a hiragana chart just like this one up? because the one you have now is confusing. . . even though it is for kids, he he heh. Thanks. -  Krista

A: If you have a look at the talking katakana chart, the black symbols are hiragana and are pronounced the same!

Q: hey could u make it easier to learn how to read in japanese? -  nami

A: That’s quite a tough question!  : )

What I’d suggest is…

1. Find something that you really want to read, something that even if it was in English you’d read and read it over again.

2. Getting something with “furigana” with the reading above the kanji is really useful for looking up words.  Anything that is written/rewritten for teenagers or tweens will have a furigana version.

3. Skip any words you don’t understand.

4. Unless that word comes up three times or more, in which case look it up in an electronic dictionary ( they are so much faster!).

Hopefully that should help you out!

Be genki,

Richard