I'm switching!

毎週一日本語クラス！ 第一：Greetings, Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji

Hi all~
notice that some of you have got interest in picking up Japanese in the future so I have decided to do a mini every week Japanese class~
I don't how long I can maintain this class but I hope to update as often as weekly and but it also depends on my classes and assignments as well as the responds.. wahaha

I will be using romaji (ロマジ), meaning English alphabets to help you in pronouncing words together with Japanese characters but I hope that one day you might get used to it enough that I would not have to use them.

Firstly lets begin with the interesting everyday stuff!

Greetings
Good morning おはよう ohayoo

Good morning (formal) おはよう　ございます ohayoo gozaimasu

Good afternoon こんにちは　konnichiwa

Good evening こんばんは konbanwa

Goodnight　おやすみなさい oyasuminasai

Thank you　ありがとう arigatoo

Thank you (formal)　ありがとう　ございます arigatoo gozaimasu

Excuse me/ I'm sorry　すみません sumimasen

No/ not at all　いいえ iie

Yes　はい hai

Thank you for the meal (before eating)　いただきます itadakimasu

Thank you for the meal (after meal)　ごちそうさま gochisoosama

How do you do?　はじめまして hajimemashite

Nice to meet you　どうぞ　よろしく doozo yoroshiku

Most of the terms are self-explanatory. I'll just make a quick explanation on the usage of iie (いいえ). I sure most people know that iie has the same usage as "no" in English. On top of that, iie can be used as a "don't mention it" kind of situation. Eg. if someone who steps on you says sumimasen (すみません), you can also reply with いいえ.

These are some handy terms that might be useful for some everyday instances. As much as I wish it was, Japanese language is not about learning funny and interesting terms. However boring things like grammar and some other stuff are usually the important things that make up the important parts of the Japanese language. So minnasan, gambatte kudasai.

Besides these terms, I would like to introduce everyone to the different writing styles that Japanese uses. I'm sure some of you are familiar with these, particularly those who did Japanese language in poly. but for the benefit of those who do not know, I'll explain them. For those who know, this might be a good time to re-memorise them again~ hohoho.

Hiragana
The hiragana writing style is the writing style that is most commonly used. It shares the same system as the English alphabets system. When reading however, Japanese language is much easier. One example is "mi". In English, "mi" can be read as me or ma (as in mine) and many others. However me (め) in the Japanese system will always be read as め**.

There are a total of 46 characters and each of them mean a specific sound. You can see the whole chart here. I do not expect you guys to memorize them all since there is not a practical use of them for you guys as of yet. However, when reading through words that I used hiragana, please try to identify them instead of completely ignoring them. It really helps and one day I'm sure you will be able to read paragraphs of hiragana with no problem.

**The pronunciation of the "e" column is not similar to English. e sounds like eh, ke sounds like keh, me sounds like meh. For the actual sound, please follow the link to the hiragana chart that I have provided. There is an option that allows you to hear the sound of the character so please make use of it when in doubt.

Katakana
The katakana writing system is entirely similar to the hiragana but it is generally reserved for loan words and foreign names such as television (terebi テレビ) and Singapore (shingapooru シンガポール）. Katakana characters appears to be straighter and sharper when compared to hiragana, which appears to be rounder. Therefore, if you ever encounter katakana characters, you can be sure it is likely an imported word.
Here is the link to the katakana chart.

Kanji
Kanji or 漢字, as the characters suggest, are words that are borrowed from Chinese characters. They are used together with hiragana for the ease of reading. For example "to eat" can be written as たべます or 食べます. The latter would give the reader that it has something to do with food in a glance.

They usually share similar meanings but often differ in reading. Also, unlike Chinese characters, each kanji often has several different ways to read. How it is to be read depends on how it is used in a sentence. However, I don't think there is a need to understand that far yet.

And I'm done! This concludes the lesson one of my mini Japanese class! See you next week! じゃあ　また　らいしゅう！

御飯

Onigiri 御握り

korokke コロッケ

David Cook- Always be my baby

fantastic version.. please enjoy!




we were as one babe
for a moment in time
and it seemed everlasting
that you would always be mine
now you want to be free
so I'm letting you fly
cause I know in my heart babe
our love will never die no

you'll always be a part of me
I'm a part of you indefinitely
girl don't you know you can't escape me
ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby
and we'll linger on
time can't erase a feeling this strong
no way you're never gonna shake me
ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby

i ain't gonna cry no
and i won't beg you to stay
if you're determined to leave girl
I will not stand in your way
but inevitably you'll be back again
cause ya know in your heart babe
our love will never end no
you'll always be a part of me
I'm part of you indefinitely
girl don't you know you can't escape me
ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby
and we'll linger on
time can't erase a feeling this strong
no way you're never gonna shake me
ooh darlin cause you'll always be my baby

I know that you'll be back girl
when your days and your nights get a little bit colder ooohhh
I know that, you'll be right back, baby
oh, baby believe me it's only a matter of time

you'll always be a part of me
I'm part of you indefinitely
girl don't you know you can't escape me
ooh darlin cause you'll always be my baby
and we'll linger on
time cant erase a feeling this strong
no way you're never gonna shake me
ooh darlin cause you'll always be my
my baby

you'll always be a part of me (you will always be)
i'm part of you indefinitely
girl don't you know you can't escape me
ooh darlin cause you'll always be my baby
and we'll linger on (we will linger)
time cant erase a feeling this strong
no way you're never gonna shake me
ooh darlin cause you'll always be my baby

always be my baby

Just a thought

maybe if i become a psychologist one day, i will do a research titled: "Reasons why some people blog for 3months and give up while others write forever."

Crea Scoopy

09' Sem 1!

Hi all, I'm back again..

After my 3mths break, I'm back at this little aussie kampong. My term started off pretty rough, almost causing me to be stuck at the airport and loaded with toilet paper.

Just some tips when traveling:

• Always carry the currency of the country you are traveling to.
• Even if you do not, AT LEAST carry currency of you own country.
• If you own the ATM card of the country you are going to, please remember you PIN.
• If you think that you will not remember the PIN, please write it down and keep it save.
• If you do, please remember that you have wrote it down before trying to block your card by having too much wrong tries.
• Sorrowful and anguish emotions will embrace you if you happen to find your PIN after you block your card.
• Prepaid phone cards, be it your home country or the destination country, will never work without credit balance.

Yes and that pretty much sums up all the possible mistakes you could make, all of which I have made. Only through a godsent miracle did I manage to get out of Brisbane International Airport and safely arrive at Goldcoast.

The rest of the week was not smooth flowing too.. I have been hungry, ill and embarrassed a couple of times accompanied by many hot and sleepless nights. Thank goodness, however, that things are taking a turn for the better.

Not sure if it was featured in the the Singapore news but a cyclone named Hamish appeared near the shores of Queensland around a week ago. It started with an intensity rating of 4/5 and travelled south towards Goldcoast. After a few days however, Hamish changed course back north and died down. Peace and justice prevails yet again.

I've taken up basic japanese again! Hopefully this would be the very last time I will ever have to again. My japanese education have had a long history that dated back to when I was in primary school which I begin my first self-taught japanese lessons online. Up to date, I have had 3-4 formal basic japanese lesson but unfortunately, have never proceeded to Advance Japanese due to the fact that i nv mastered reading and writing. This time, I'll make sure I do.. yoroshiku!