Wtf! four different alphabets?! sounds so hard :'( I guess I'll stick with Korean than, it's so much easier...*sulks away with all dreams of learning japanse shattered*
No wonder Japanese kids are so smart their language is at least ten times harder! The only bonus I can possible see is the pronunciation is very phonetically regular, English is chaos when it comes to pronunciation, its not regular at all so words have to be learned and you cant assume what words sound like or how they are spelt.
thank you, can i mix the alphabets when i write japanese (in the same sentence)? if the english name i want to write has all its letters in hiragana, can i write it in hiragana not in katakana?
I've been using UTAU to learn hiragana. Thing is to run it you'll need applocale or change your compulers non-unicode format to Japanese... Which can be pretty awkward with some programs. Still, give it a go if you can!
ok out of the three is there a main alphabet? like if i went 2 japan would there be like just hiragana or just kanji on for example on a sign or would there be a jumble of the three?
@Gingababe123 What type of signs? If you mean place names, in the main places they have romaji, hiragana and kanji. But there's no main one because they all do different things.
when he said not to look up the kanji of your name i had a strong desire to.......maybe i'll going through a rebellous phase. Thanks for the info ^^ i've started learning japanese, first with romaji, then kanji but now moved over to hiragana. eheheh.....
I'm finding Japanese is a lot easier than English. Rosetta stone is 'ok' but resources like this can supplement and add to your education. I started practicing my writing a week ago. Believe it or not it's starting to sink in. :) when studying I will usually have a Japanese movie or anime on. You have to immerse yourself into it if you really want to learn.
Macadanorodo! Bwahahaha! But seriously feel sorry for someone who has to look something up in alphabetical order like in a dictionary or something. 2000-3000 letters?!?! Which letter comes first, ching or chong?
@smokey04200420 It's actually impossible to find a japanese word that dosn't end in 'a, i, u, e, o, n' so 'ching' and 'chong' don't actually exist in japanese. Your talking about chinese ;)
Romaji is not using the english alphabet. It use the latin alphabet. Romaji is romanization of Japanese, it is not englishization. You are a ignorant amerifag. Fuck off!
@newtubetubetube Romaji uses the English alphabet. Same letters because English uses the Latin/Germanic alphabet system. Just because you go to Wikipedia doesn't make you a genius. You are such a douche nozzle.
@visini14 I didn't went to wikipedia, you did to verify my facts. Since i was right you could only respond me with personal attack. LOL.
I speak french, and i use that alphabet! Are you saying that french use the english alphabet?
By now, you should have realized that "roma" in "romaji" stand for roman. That right, the very same roman that was speaking fucking latin. Romaji use the latin alphabet. You are just yet a other example of how amerifags can be so stupid. Fuck off!
@newtubetubetube Actually no, I haven't used Wikipedia since it said that the president of Germany was Sean Connery. I had my friend that it OBSESSED with Japan explain the different forms of the Japanese alphabets. She even said what I said. I said and I quote "English uses the Latin/Germanic alphabet system." I never said that French uses the English alphabet. You are such a douchefag. You should be the one to "Fuck Off"
@visini14 I don't give a fuck that you said "English uses the Latin/Germanic alphabet system.". I also don't give a fuck that you have weeaboo friends. These facts are completely irrelevant.
What matter is that you said "Romaji uses the English alphabet.". This is wrong. I accept your denial as admittance because you wont do it on your own. Amerifags are well know for their arrogance and stubbornness. I am done toying with you. Farewell.
@visini14 English is a Germanic language, but there is no such thing as a Germanic alphabet, Germans, like Americans and all other English speakers, use a Latin based alphabet plus four extra letters that are not found in the Latin alphabet (nor the English alphabet for that matter). And yes, I did go to Wikipedia, to confirm what I learned in Cultural Geography class.
why can't hiragana be used for foreign words (instead of katakana) as well as standard japanese? why do they still use kanji rather than just words with katakana or hiragana?
@18Kauri My only advice to you is learn all the Kanji radicals first and learn Kanji by radicals not strokes it'll save you LOTS of time in the long run. As well as get you used to figuring out Kanji you don't know and their meaning.
It puzzles me what kind of a person thought of making alphabets so hard 2000 - 3000 years ago when nobody could spell and/or was prepared to spend time studying let alone studying something hard. Was it like: "Well, no one can spell so lets use this strange and hard to learn letters to spell". Also I've been looking at chinese and jap alphabets and it seems to me that sound and spelling have nothing that connects them so if you know the sound you most likely can't spell it....
Thanks m8 cleard up a lot! But i have some questions
Im 15 nearly 16 and im dutch just started learning japanese how long wil it take for me to be good enough to keep a good conv cuz im willing to go to tokyo this summer or next
And how much money will i need do you think? Is stuff expensive there? Mgonna work hard for the money
And wil one of these languages help me i speak dutch arabic french inglish and lil bit of spanish? Pkz answr someone
@kingtardthur Well it all depends on how much you study. If you study your Japanese for a solid 3-4 hours a day then I'd say you could hold important (tourist-y) conversations in a month. As for actual conversations, 3-4 hours a day should get you speaking well enough for a kinda shaky conversation in about 6 months.
The money situation, Japan is kinda expensive but it all depends on where you're going and what you wanna get. Look it up.
And Spanish will help alot with the Japanese R sound
I just learnt how to read and write Hiragana with no teacher but myself and I have no family or friends that are Japanese or know it. if you wanna know I went on Amazon and got Lets learn Hiragana- it cost me £6.00 and free delivery I really recommend this as it helps you how to write the symbols with the strokes. PM me if you want more info.
@steelkobra1 Another faggot that gos around talking shit.Why did you even click on his video if you aren't interested in learning? You must think he's cute faggot bitch.
hey just a quick tip on your English... (im only telling you because you're a teacher and you may use this word very often)... the word 'pronunciation'... remember that it is not spelled the same was as 'pronOUnce'... it is spelled 'pronUnciation'... and is therefore pronounced as such (NUN not NOUN).
Luckily you're a Japanese teacher mispronouncing this English word.. i actually knew an English teacher who mispronounced it.. lol and he said it about 20 times a day. Oh the frustration! hahaha
@axius18 What the hell dude, no he doesnt!!! >:(....What the heck is wrong with a little humor in the video >_>.....he just taught u about all 4 alphabets, and he was funny. If you dont have anything nice to say, dont write it in the comments! ....idiot..
@vamplexie1143 Why the hell would you need to learn romaji, you're can speak english can't you? Just learn hiragana and katakana first kanji is a pain in the ass. I'm a native speaker and I don't even know all the characters but theres atleast around 50,000. you need atleast 2,000 to 3,000 to read a newspaper and if you want to live in Japan the legal documents are all written in Kanji.
@ZTATION It's like Japanese, you type the pronunciation (Romaji) and out comes Kanji or Hiragana or Katakana. The Chinese equivalent of Romaji is Pinyin. You just type the Pinyin and out comes Chinese characters,
@ZTATION Both Japanese and Chinese use English keyboards and spell the words out i.e. using the word "いきます" you literally type using the English alphabet, ikimasu, on your keyboard however it comes out as hirigana and can allow you to change the words to kanji or keep it as hirigana as you see fit. I.e. 行きます。
sigh...one of the biggest problem I have now is the Kanji. Since I'm Chinese, I can understand most of the kanji, but when it comes to reading the word out loud...well...lets just say I tend to say the Chinese pronunciation instead of the Japanese ....it's a great headache trying to switch at times....
2:06 I understand that much, but what I don't get is why it's possible for the letters to combine in a way to make a whole new letter basically in some sentences? 0_o In 2:06 it's sa and ke together, but sometimes in sentences all the letters are mixed up and I don't recognize any of them!
@GamerBlueX: Japanese is a combination of Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana and Roumaji. For example:
私は２つのコミックを読んでいます。
Watashi-wa futatsu no komikku-wo yonde-imasu.
I am reading 2 comics.
It all depends on your sentence and what words you want, to what you would write in. Though most of the time you will be using Hiragana and Kanji, with some Katakana, and if you really want to, roumaji.
Hey! very interresting. I already know my Hiragana and my Katakana but Kanji... I seen somewhere that Japanese had around 50'000 Kanji.
But very nice video. If you're looking for an idea of video, I also read that Japanese where learning kanji by level. I'm not sure, level 4 (the easiest) contain 80 basic kanji, and so it goes. Making a video of this would be very interresting !!!
I am learning German right now and it's easy for me. Japanese will be an amazing achievement for me to learn...I doubt I'll learn it but I will try very hard and harder than I've trying to learn German.
You are so helpful, and well-spoken! Thanks alot. I'm definitely going to be checking out your other videos. Although, you lost me at the Kanji bit. LOL. No need to explain... I rather not have my mind spontaneously combust prematurely. Welp. TO HIRAGANA
thanks for the help bro. needed that. Japanese is a great language to learn and i want to make sure its fun as i continue to learn it. and this helps a lot. Japanese rule.i hope this is kantan.
Kurtstix19, actually even though っ is a small version of つ (tsu), it's not the same thing. It's used for repeating the first letter in the next character. For example: なんちやって = nanchatte. It just mimics the first letter of the next character ("t" from te 「て」in this case). The same goes for the katakana counterpart of tsu「ツ」(example: コップ = Koppu (cup).
I learned all the katakana in sixth grade (or was it 5th?) I learned the Hiragana this year and am starting to work on Kanji. I only know simple ones like sun, tree, water, entrance, flower, ect. But I'm getting there! Thanks for the vid Shuichi-kun!
Sorry to crush your confidence, but, first of all, spanish is not an easy language to learn. Its easy to PRONOUNCE, as it is a phonetic language but it has even more tenses than english 25 or so, mind you, which we DO use on a regular basis,
not to mention that spanish, a rich language as it is, has got many ways to express a single idea
it's actually a good thing to have several different alphabets to use within a sentence because there are no spaces in between letters in japanese writing. it's extremely hard to read a sentence written all in hiragana with no spaces.
ah this is confusing me, if you were tutoring, I'd be asking so much question like which one to use when Im writing or when im speaking D: *my heeaad*
cool video i memorize all the hiragana pronunciations, so should i learn katakana next or kanji? btw are you making any more tutorial video (the books i bought told me that katakana is printed alphabet and hiragana is cursive =_=) is there anything else that i might need to know about that most book/teacher wont address?
Kanji: 100% Koichi Approved! 8D lol nice lesson ive been wanting to learn japanese for a long time but my school doesnt offer it...only spanish, german, french, and chinese (which i call the japanese off-brand XD)
Oh now you have done it Koichi, you have finally gotten me to actually try and learn some Japanese! I have always kinda wanted to learn, since it's a very interesting language and I got so much respect for Japanese culture, but I never managed to actually start. But now I have! So thank you very much for that Koichi.
haha,Chinese is my mother language,learning Kanji in japanese is just like learning chinese words but different meaning for me,so it's not as difficult as he said~Your explaination is detailed and useful!Thanks for posting~~
8000? LOL. I would like to hear you produce 8000 different sounds.
No, the sounds in the English phonetic alphabet are about 50. What you call 'Japanese sounds' are basically syllables, usually made up by a consonant and a vowel, so the total 'real' sounds are actually a lot less. It's hard for Japanese people to learn English because its phonetic sounds are hard for them to pronounce.
Well, the key thing is not taking things you "hear" for granted; just think about it for a second, and you'll immediately realise that 8000 is an impossible figure.
I give up. I suggest you go on and find a phonetic symbol for each and every one of your 8000 English sounds; then please update the Wikipedia entry at IPA_for_English and add the missing 7950 sounds. The world will be grateful to you, and will elect you "Master of Phonetics". Heck, you may even get a Nobel Prize for that.
Wtf! four different alphabets?! sounds so hard :'( I guess I'll stick with Korean than, it's so much easier...*sulks away with all dreams of learning japanse shattered*
JanuaryBlack1996 5 days ago
No wonder Japanese kids are so smart their language is at least ten times harder! The only bonus I can possible see is the pronunciation is very phonetically regular, English is chaos when it comes to pronunciation, its not regular at all so words have to be learned and you cant assume what words sound like or how they are spelt.
patsybob 2 weeks ago
The edufire website says no Japanese classes are available?
jcali619 3 weeks ago
I only click because I saw Koichi's face. LOL
lovelyslickyvixenLSV 1 month ago
The punctuation looks tough though, there's no paces between letters as far as I can see.
Phavonic 1 month ago
This was made in 2008? God I should have met this guy earlier. Thanks for the explanations.
melbertchihiro 2 months ago
thats easy for me xD because i speak arabic
DzAlgeria1 3 months ago
thank you, can i mix the alphabets when i write japanese (in the same sentence)? if the english name i want to write has all its letters in hiragana, can i write it in hiragana not in katakana?
3ikrimah 4 months ago
I've been using UTAU to learn hiragana. Thing is to run it you'll need applocale or change your compulers non-unicode format to Japanese... Which can be pretty awkward with some programs. Still, give it a go if you can!
Faliat 4 months ago
I accidentally learnt Katakana first (for some reason) and can read it fine, but Hiragana.... :(
Tharthan 5 months ago
The English alphabet? xD Does that exist? You meant the Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet :)
SpanishHunkyGuy 5 months ago
ok out of the three is there a main alphabet? like if i went 2 japan would there be like just hiragana or just kanji on for example on a sign or would there be a jumble of the three?
Gingababe123 6 months ago
@Gingababe123 What type of signs? If you mean place names, in the main places they have romaji, hiragana and kanji. But there's no main one because they all do different things.
eliisekate 4 months ago
when he said not to look up the kanji of your name i had a strong desire to.......maybe i'll going through a rebellous phase. Thanks for the info ^^ i've started learning japanese, first with romaji, then kanji but now moved over to hiragana. eheheh.....
IIChobitsII 6 months ago
If anybody is fluent in the japanese language and feel they can help me I would appreciate it.
Kajarts 6 months ago
wow amazeing
iggymydog 6 months ago
Hi, Im from Portugal.
And I heard that Romaji was based on the Portuguese orthography.
Is this true?
wewantdreamcast2 7 months ago
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wewantdreamcast2 7 months ago
Nothing is hard in Kanji. Foreigners are just too lazy to learn. i learn 500 in 2 weeks.
KatsumotoYamada 8 months ago
what is so hard in Kanji?. i learn 500 characters in one 2 weeks
KatsumotoYamada 8 months ago
I'm finding Japanese is a lot easier than English. Rosetta stone is 'ok' but resources like this can supplement and add to your education. I started practicing my writing a week ago. Believe it or not it's starting to sink in. :) when studying I will usually have a Japanese movie or anime on. You have to immerse yourself into it if you really want to learn.
jcali619 8 months ago
brilliant! btw ...there's a little typo in the title...I know picky ;)
gordonm1126 8 months ago
Tx!!!!
Toyon95 9 months ago
Comment removed
smokey04200420 9 months ago
Macadanorodo! Bwahahaha! But seriously feel sorry for someone who has to look something up in alphabetical order like in a dictionary or something. 2000-3000 letters?!?! Which letter comes first, ching or chong?
smokey04200420 9 months ago
@smokey04200420 It's actually impossible to find a japanese word that dosn't end in 'a, i, u, e, o, n' so 'ching' and 'chong' don't actually exist in japanese. Your talking about chinese ;)
TheMayusama 9 months ago
Romaji is not using the english alphabet. It use the latin alphabet. Romaji is romanization of Japanese, it is not englishization. You are a ignorant amerifag. Fuck off!
newtubetubetube 9 months ago
@newtubetubetube Romaji uses the English alphabet. Same letters because English uses the Latin/Germanic alphabet system. Just because you go to Wikipedia doesn't make you a genius. You are such a douche nozzle.
visini14 9 months ago
@visini14 I didn't went to wikipedia, you did to verify my facts. Since i was right you could only respond me with personal attack. LOL.
I speak french, and i use that alphabet! Are you saying that french use the english alphabet?
By now, you should have realized that "roma" in "romaji" stand for roman. That right, the very same roman that was speaking fucking latin. Romaji use the latin alphabet. You are just yet a other example of how amerifags can be so stupid. Fuck off!
newtubetubetube 9 months ago
@newtubetubetube Actually no, I haven't used Wikipedia since it said that the president of Germany was Sean Connery. I had my friend that it OBSESSED with Japan explain the different forms of the Japanese alphabets. She even said what I said. I said and I quote "English uses the Latin/Germanic alphabet system." I never said that French uses the English alphabet. You are such a douchefag. You should be the one to "Fuck Off"
visini14 9 months ago
@visini14 I don't give a fuck that you said "English uses the Latin/Germanic alphabet system.". I also don't give a fuck that you have weeaboo friends. These facts are completely irrelevant.
What matter is that you said "Romaji uses the English alphabet.". This is wrong. I accept your denial as admittance because you wont do it on your own. Amerifags are well know for their arrogance and stubbornness. I am done toying with you. Farewell.
newtubetubetube 9 months ago
@visini14 English is a Germanic language, but there is no such thing as a Germanic alphabet, Germans, like Americans and all other English speakers, use a Latin based alphabet plus four extra letters that are not found in the Latin alphabet (nor the English alphabet for that matter). And yes, I did go to Wikipedia, to confirm what I learned in Cultural Geography class.
smokey04200420 9 months ago
why can't hiragana be used for foreign words (instead of katakana) as well as standard japanese? why do they still use kanji rather than just words with katakana or hiragana?
maxgunn555 10 months ago
@maxgunn555 it's faster to read kanji then hiragana. Japanese don't space words so it would take a few mins. to read 1 sentence without it.
kyokun21 9 months ago
I reccomend kanja/just kidding) :roll: ,thank you very much ! :)
Cropp16 10 months ago
oh i LOVE my English, 26 letters and THAT IS IT.
BlackRash1989 10 months ago
日本語って難しいね。
zion11173 10 months ago
thank youuu :)
GGGIRLGGG8181 10 months ago
hi im dekoichi the battlechanted locomotive
2887466 11 months ago
not anymore...
ah man i just finished learning katakana T.T
18Kauri 11 months ago
@18Kauri My only advice to you is learn all the Kanji radicals first and learn Kanji by radicals not strokes it'll save you LOTS of time in the long run. As well as get you used to figuring out Kanji you don't know and their meaning.
Emoanimeotaku 11 months ago
Awesomeee >:'3
EasyNorwegian 1 year ago
You're a natural teacher! Your tutorial was the first one that made the light bulb go on over my head. Plus, you're freakin' adorable. :-)
UltraDeb 1 year ago 6
what sound does a video blogger make who's just lost all his self-respect? *silence*
rofl :D
kawaiiluna99 1 year ago
actually Romaji its the roman alphabet :)
MillyVanillification 1 year ago
It puzzles me what kind of a person thought of making alphabets so hard 2000 - 3000 years ago when nobody could spell and/or was prepared to spend time studying let alone studying something hard. Was it like: "Well, no one can spell so lets use this strange and hard to learn letters to spell". Also I've been looking at chinese and jap alphabets and it seems to me that sound and spelling have nothing that connects them so if you know the sound you most likely can't spell it....
kotapaka 1 year ago
Kanji is the bane of my existence.
XxThePurpleMangoxX 1 year ago
its like if Japanese was created by children with randomness dissorders or ADHD
ImJustKindaHere 1 year ago
Haha. I love you! You're freakum amazing. :)
MushyCats 1 year ago
tried to escape at the kanji part, but i was still wearing my headphones attched to the compuer wen i tried to run.
nekochibi135 1 year ago
Very! Healpful! :)
dmcpopp 1 year ago
this helped me so much! thank you:D
DanceKingx3 1 year ago
Thanks m8 cleard up a lot! But i have some questions
Im 15 nearly 16 and im dutch just started learning japanese how long wil it take for me to be good enough to keep a good conv cuz im willing to go to tokyo this summer or next
And how much money will i need do you think? Is stuff expensive there? Mgonna work hard for the money
And wil one of these languages help me i speak dutch arabic french inglish and lil bit of spanish? Pkz answr someone
kingtardthur 1 year ago
@kingtardthur Well it all depends on how much you study. If you study your Japanese for a solid 3-4 hours a day then I'd say you could hold important (tourist-y) conversations in a month. As for actual conversations, 3-4 hours a day should get you speaking well enough for a kinda shaky conversation in about 6 months.
The money situation, Japan is kinda expensive but it all depends on where you're going and what you wanna get. Look it up.
And Spanish will help alot with the Japanese R sound
HanaiiMuffin 1 year ago
"What's the sound does a video blogger make who's just lost all of his self-respect?"
...
me: LOL
Tehpillowstar 1 year ago 5
SO WHAT SHOULD I LEARN KANJI???
Sleepover1997 1 year ago
Thats interesting. Any tips on learning the language faster??
P.s. All you idiots running your mouths are dumb. Go eat some donuts and be fat on xbox live. Haha, OWNED! :P
NOiSER 1 year ago 2
@steelkobra1 Being on Youtube uses a vast supply of my Troll food. So I won't be feeding you, sorry
(I Won't be replying to you again so feel free to insult away)
TheDrakaan 1 year ago
i want to learn japanese so bad.I just got yakuza portable and i dont unerstand a damn word.
PurestPanda 1 year ago
I just learnt how to read and write Hiragana with no teacher but myself and I have no family or friends that are Japanese or know it. if you wanna know I went on Amazon and got Lets learn Hiragana- it cost me £6.00 and free delivery I really recommend this as it helps you how to write the symbols with the strokes. PM me if you want more info.
ctea34y 1 year ago
You speak english really good!
mnae007 1 year ago
you're a fucking faggit kid go eat a cat orsomething like all your other chink friends are doing
steelkobra1 1 year ago
@steelkobra1 Another faggot that gos around talking shit.Why did you even click on his video if you aren't interested in learning? You must think he's cute faggot bitch.
PurestPanda 1 year ago
french is definitly much easier...
TheKitteyKat 1 year ago
What sound does a Dog make; Wan-Wan-Wan.
What sound does a Cat make Nya-Nya-Nya.
What sound does a Video Blogger make who's just lost all his self respect............
ROFL XD
TheDrakaan 1 year ago
@TheDrakaan why quote something that makes him look like a faggit? hahahah that wasn't funny...
steelkobra1 1 year ago
Comment removed
TheDrakaan 1 year ago
can i go to japan and only know the hiragana or do i need katana and kanji ?
yoyomagicman614 1 year ago
hey people is the korean language easyer
dalia19950407 1 year ago
@dalia19950407 no not really
yoyomagicman614 1 year ago
but thanks it really helped
michael789able 1 year ago
i was hoping for u to show us the Alphabets
michael789able 1 year ago
More than 20,000 people have learned to speak Japanese with our videos, visit it and learn today! - youtube.com/watch?v=wfseANZtMNg
EricPolynice 1 year ago
0:37 yesssss, I like that :)
great post
qtiestudio 1 year ago
Kanji makes me want to cry...a lot....
13christian73 1 year ago
thank you for you help
lLadyMusik 1 year ago
why is jap. so hard to learn?????!!!!!
67shelbygt5001 1 year ago
ok im officially confused
xxBrownSugarxx1 1 year ago
hey just a quick tip on your English... (im only telling you because you're a teacher and you may use this word very often)... the word 'pronunciation'... remember that it is not spelled the same was as 'pronOUnce'... it is spelled 'pronUnciation'... and is therefore pronounced as such (NUN not NOUN).
Luckily you're a Japanese teacher mispronouncing this English word.. i actually knew an English teacher who mispronounced it.. lol and he said it about 20 times a day. Oh the frustration! hahaha
mogur00 1 year ago
Im learning hiragana first, thank gosh....i started with that anyways xD
iAn1me 1 year ago
dude im learning japanese... and its verry nice.. but you speak english verry good for a jap people dude.. good job.. you're great :)
Lighttkun 1 year ago
Dude!!! Love you!!!!
blackkinu23 1 year ago
Koichi-san, anata wa ichiban ii Nihongo no sensei desu.
Tottemou jousu!
Grufian 1 year ago
romaji sucks
Kendokita 1 year ago
me caes bien..
mrmofin 1 year ago
ew romaji
:x
It would have been easier for me if I never had to classify hiragana with romaji.
meh
Numner 1 year ago
Im sorry man... I appreciate your video, but just dont try to be funny...
you look stupid :(
axius18 1 year ago
@axius18 What the hell dude, no he doesnt!!! >:(....What the heck is wrong with a little humor in the video >_>.....he just taught u about all 4 alphabets, and he was funny. If you dont have anything nice to say, dont write it in the comments! ....idiot..
iAn1me 1 year ago 2
@iAn1me everybody has the right to say whatever the hell they want... If you have a problem with that, keep it to yourself...IDIOT...
PS. he is not funny at all... and if you think he is... I feel pity for you...
axius18 1 year ago
ok so i have to learn romaji first
vamplexie1143 1 year ago
@vamplexie1143 Why the hell would you need to learn romaji, you're can speak english can't you? Just learn hiragana and katakana first kanji is a pain in the ass. I'm a native speaker and I don't even know all the characters but theres atleast around 50,000. you need atleast 2,000 to 3,000 to read a newspaper and if you want to live in Japan the legal documents are all written in Kanji.
sgtodeath 1 year ago
@sgtodeath I agree, but .......i think the only legal document ill be reading is my own xD
iAn1me 1 year ago
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU ive been looking for this sorta video!
AsheTheWolfe 1 year ago
hehehe
i cracked up on mcdonald
pary16 2 years ago 2
in the video it was romaji, i thought it was romaNji. so does it have the n/ん or no?
AJJohnston87 2 years ago
Can you Imagine a Chinese Keyboard ?? HUUUGE >:O
ZTATION 2 years ago 32
@ZTATION It's like Japanese, you type the pronunciation (Romaji) and out comes Kanji or Hiragana or Katakana. The Chinese equivalent of Romaji is Pinyin. You just type the Pinyin and out comes Chinese characters,
silvertang2lol 1 year ago
@ZTATION look at google search, they are humongous
zubhanwc3 10 months ago
@ZTATION If I'm not wrong, when you type a certain combination of letters, you get a Kanji.
Example in Japanese: Type in: さかな and you will automatically get: 魚 which means fish.
KnekkePower 5 months ago
@ZTATION Both Japanese and Chinese use English keyboards and spell the words out i.e. using the word "いきます" you literally type using the English alphabet, ikimasu, on your keyboard however it comes out as hirigana and can allow you to change the words to kanji or keep it as hirigana as you see fit. I.e. 行きます。
VictoriaFTW66 3 months ago
aaahhh!!! not Kanji!!! DX And Romanji is just the english version of it...
zaldude 2 years ago
You can talk like motor mouth but you haven't taught anything......rubbish
TomRyder2002 2 years ago
First of all, Thank you for this video. Even if I know about the alphabets, your explanation was very good ^-^
But.. Japanese isn't THAT hard as many ppl think. You can learn every language you want to. Just work for it :)
I'm also learning Japanese, English, French, Spanish, Finnish, Chinese, Korean and Thai.
But I have the most problems w/ my own native language: german XDD
If you want to learn Japanese, just do it. The beginning will be hard but it's getting better :)
Good luck <3
AikoKyoko 2 years ago 11
i think tht it makes the alphabet tht uses aieuo w/e easier to learn if u know spanish
sh is actually a letter in spanish so yea i may learn fast
gallademan12 2 years ago
sigh...one of the biggest problem I have now is the Kanji. Since I'm Chinese, I can understand most of the kanji, but when it comes to reading the word out loud...well...lets just say I tend to say the Chinese pronunciation instead of the Japanese ....it's a great headache trying to switch at times....
yotada 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
cool video :D
LadyBubblePop 2 years ago
2:06 I understand that much, but what I don't get is why it's possible for the letters to combine in a way to make a whole new letter basically in some sentences? 0_o In 2:06 it's sa and ke together, but sometimes in sentences all the letters are mixed up and I don't recognize any of them!
LittleKittyWitty 2 years ago
Hiragana didn't take me that long :P
you just need to find the right tools :D
I've been using smart(dot)fm
it's like flashcards on crack XD
TheReasonWhyGuy 2 years ago
i know you also japan know love carefull listen people can with you help japan
psychopath888 2 years ago
So what I gathered from that is...
Hiragana does sounds that make up words.
Katakana is used to represent foreign words, that almost sound engrish. And Kanji represents a word with each character.
So I'm assuming the way everything is written in Japan is in Hiragana, right?
GamerBlueX 2 years ago
@GamerBlueX: Japanese is a combination of Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana and Roumaji. For example:
私は２つのコミックを読んでいます。
Watashi-wa futatsu no komikku-wo yonde-imasu.
I am reading 2 comics.
It all depends on your sentence and what words you want, to what you would write in. Though most of the time you will be using Hiragana and Kanji, with some Katakana, and if you really want to, roumaji.
I hope that clarified things.
isausol 2 years ago
Hey! very interresting. I already know my Hiragana and my Katakana but Kanji... I seen somewhere that Japanese had around 50'000 Kanji.
But very nice video. If you're looking for an idea of video, I also read that Japanese where learning kanji by level. I'm not sure, level 4 (the easiest) contain 80 basic kanji, and so it goes. Making a video of this would be very interresting !!!
marcxb 2 years ago
this is harder then learning french
megazt6 2 years ago 37
I am learning German right now and it's easy for me. Japanese will be an amazing achievement for me to learn...I doubt I'll learn it but I will try very hard and harder than I've trying to learn German.
intellaricovision 2 years ago
@megazt6 I beg to differ xD French can get ridiculous at times...
colloyd 9 months ago
You are so helpful, and well-spoken! Thanks alot. I'm definitely going to be checking out your other videos. Although, you lost me at the Kanji bit. LOL. No need to explain... I rather not have my mind spontaneously combust prematurely. Welp. TO HIRAGANA
Miniie 2 years ago
This is both funny and helpful.
Notokayipromise 2 years ago
thanks for the help bro. needed that. Japanese is a great language to learn and i want to make sure its fun as i continue to learn it. and this helps a lot. Japanese rule.i hope this is kantan.
osamasamurai 2 years ago
4 alphabets? And they have to be used together to make sense? This IS the hardest language to learn.
Spikezx7 2 years ago
check out polish... you'll change your mind :)
neo92vip 2 years ago
nah, i'd like to keep my sanity. looking at this video nearly threw me off the edge.
Spikezx7 2 years ago
I know that ん is the only lone consonant in hiragana, but what about = っ or "t" as in "Katta" >.>? It looks just like a smaller version of Tsu. :/
kurtstix19 2 years ago
Kurtstix19, actually even though っ is a small version of つ (tsu), it's not the same thing. It's used for repeating the first letter in the next character. For example: なんちやって = nanchatte. It just mimics the first letter of the next character ("t" from te 「て」in this case). The same goes for the katakana counterpart of tsu「ツ」(example: コップ = Koppu (cup).
Hope this clears things up for ya.
ohsilv3r 2 years ago
Oh, I misspelled nanchatte. Should be: なんちゃって
Sorry!
ohsilv3r 2 years ago
makudonarudu LOL
hardlyknown79 2 years ago
he looks like the singer from trivium!
barrdogg2000 2 years ago
"Now is when I start crushing your confidence." xD I love that part! Good thing I already started so my confidence was already partially crushed.
This really helps to distinguish the difference. Thanks! :)
Hamim 2 years ago
the part where u said "everyone's favorite : kanji" was so sexy!
anyway, can u explain when I use the konyomi and the onyomi reading? theyre confusing me
3aiz3rbi 2 years ago
Romaji is almost same as Serbian. If you know to read Romaji, you will now to read Serbian.
AcaRainski 2 years ago
Keep up the good teaching. It will come in handy soon
opoqu 2 years ago
I learned all the katakana in sixth grade (or was it 5th?) I learned the Hiragana this year and am starting to work on Kanji. I only know simple ones like sun, tree, water, entrance, flower, ect. But I'm getting there! Thanks for the vid Shuichi-kun!
OjamajoHana3 2 years ago
Sorry to crush your confidence, but, first of all, spanish is not an easy language to learn. Its easy to PRONOUNCE, as it is a phonetic language but it has even more tenses than english 25 or so, mind you, which we DO use on a regular basis,
not to mention that spanish, a rich language as it is, has got many ways to express a single idea
beusin 2 years ago 3
hooray for confidence crushing ! :D..... ?
*scurries away to learn hiragana*
MSreprise 2 years ago
Why is that? o-0
smittens888 2 years ago
this guy is good!
ration10 2 years ago
T_T Kanji scares me.
Reaper478 2 years ago 3
Y_Y
you crushed my confidence.
*sob*
MushyCats 2 years ago
funyn vid
soulstar005 2 years ago
But wait... where can i learn the kanji's?
eirinbe 2 years ago
Great video, You are a very good speaker.
Thanks for posting.
Felix1085 3 years ago
"easy right? Good, cuz' now is where I start crushing your confidence." XD, no kidding.
FelineFantsy 3 years ago 30
@FelineFantsy why quote something that makes him look like a faggit?
steelkobra1 1 year ago
lmao Onomotopeoia! XD
[wa wa wa]
[nya nya nya]
Chocholate0chip0chan 3 years ago
Hey Koichi, what is your own account? I found it once before but forgot to subscribe to your other lessons/rants.
Zulatooka 3 years ago
His own account is called tofugu.
blabberjaws8 3 years ago
kanji is a bitch!!!
SANAO777 3 years ago
OH NOES! *head explodes*
dondons1987 3 years ago
Your good at explaining, i have books to teach me how to write all this, but they dont explain they just have me write over and over haha.
Ladida555 3 years ago
I have learned Hiragana, what now?
CatzDaLegit 3 years ago
you should learn Katakana if you haven't already by now lol since you left that comment 3 months ago.
koolaboy 3 years ago
Oh, so in a sentence you alternate between alphabets. I didn't know... I guess I should have.
Memorandumi 3 years ago
it's actually a good thing to have several different alphabets to use within a sentence because there are no spaces in between letters in japanese writing. it's extremely hard to read a sentence written all in hiragana with no spaces.
kmah88 3 years ago
Thank you so much.
I think I'm catching on. I put notes on a peice of paper in my notebook that will help me in the later run.
VERY GOOD! Keep up the videos!
Smither911 3 years ago
Great vid! I can't wait to get started on learning those thousands of kanji! LOL
...no seriously, I'm pretty stoked ;D
peppermintkitty87 3 years ago
Koichi got SASSY in that Kanji photoshoot!!!
HimeNoKuri 3 years ago
mindblowingness!!!
pinecone2654 3 years ago
Nicely said. =]
Seranyx 3 years ago
ah this is confusing me, if you were tutoring, I'd be asking so much question like which one to use when Im writing or when im speaking D: *my heeaad*
DarkSaborComa 3 years ago
well...you wouldn't use any of them while speaking :P
tofugu 3 years ago 2
cool video i memorize all the hiragana pronunciations, so should i learn katakana next or kanji? btw are you making any more tutorial video (the books i bought told me that katakana is printed alphabet and hiragana is cursive =_=) is there anything else that i might need to know about that most book/teacher wont address?
dudewitgunz 3 years ago
I usually speak in Arial 12pt, but when I want to say something really incisive, I speak in Times New Roman 14 Italics.
michelecant 3 years ago 4
Kanji: 100% Koichi Approved! 8D lol nice lesson ive been wanting to learn japanese for a long time but my school doesnt offer it...only spanish, german, french, and chinese (which i call the japanese off-brand XD)
narutoroxoutloud 3 years ago 2
Domo Arigato gozaimasu! This is very helpful! I like how you teach in your videos, so thank you!
HeirOfTheClan 3 years ago
my western name in kanji was Leg and Love ROFL!!
Jashintoubara 3 years ago
I almost had a heart attack when you said 4 alphabets because I forgot about Romaji because since we speak English we all Know that one. XD
Knuckles194 3 years ago
I used flash cards for hiragana and katakana. They were a huge help, and I managed to learn them all in a couple of days.
Use flash cards.
SirHat 3 years ago
im learning japanese in school right now. pretty easy for me since i got good motivation.
Kanji? Bring it on
pf91rodman 3 years ago
Kanji SO EASY.
Jashintoubara 3 years ago
Hahaha. Wait until you continue it in uni (that is, if you choose to continue it in uni).
Seranyx 3 years ago
Oh now you have done it Koichi, you have finally gotten me to actually try and learn some Japanese! I have always kinda wanted to learn, since it's a very interesting language and I got so much respect for Japanese culture, but I never managed to actually start. But now I have! So thank you very much for that Koichi.
Smigablow 3 years ago
Very nice koichi!
Thank you
erikhiraide 3 years ago
haha,Chinese is my mother language,learning Kanji in japanese is just like learning chinese words but different meaning for me,so it's not as difficult as he said~Your explaination is detailed and useful!Thanks for posting~~
games4life 3 years ago
Thanks for making these Videos. :)
Natas999 3 years ago
I have heard that it is harder for Japanese people to learn English.
There is only like 110 sounds in the Japanese alphabet
(correct me if im wrong)
and in English there is like 8000 something
but they have like a SHITload of characters in the alphabet.
EricOfBodomMan 3 years ago
More like 200 for english, most pronoucniation isnt english its french and such.
Jashintoubara 3 years ago
8000? LOL. I would like to hear you produce 8000 different sounds.
No, the sounds in the English phonetic alphabet are about 50. What you call 'Japanese sounds' are basically syllables, usually made up by a consonant and a vowel, so the total 'real' sounds are actually a lot less. It's hard for Japanese people to learn English because its phonetic sounds are hard for them to pronounce.
michelecant 3 years ago
The key word is that I "heard" that it was 8000 sounds.
EricOfBodomMan 3 years ago
Well, the key thing is not taking things you "hear" for granted; just think about it for a second, and you'll immediately realise that 8000 is an impossible figure.
michelecant 3 years ago
apparently not
i also heard it from a program that teaches Japanese
EricOfBodomMan 3 years ago
I give up. I suggest you go on and find a phonetic symbol for each and every one of your 8000 English sounds; then please update the Wikipedia entry at IPA_for_English and add the missing 7950 sounds. The world will be grateful to you, and will elect you "Master of Phonetics". Heck, you may even get a Nobel Prize for that.
michelecant 3 years ago