About a month ago I stated I would be going to Japan for a couple of weeks. It's starting to look like the Summer of 2010 may be the ticket. Time, circumstances, and money seem to be making a perfect cross at that time (either June or August).
So I began to memorize the Japanese Alphabet (first step in learning any language). First 10 Hiragana were a piece of cake, so I kept at pace of memorizing 5 a day. I'm memorizing up to number 20 today and I began to hit some memory block. Forgetting some between "ka" and "ko", one's I had learned on day 2!
Did this happened to anyone else? How did you get over it?
a - looks like an antenn'a'
i - looks like two of the letter i, spelling the sound 'i'
u - looks like a rock hitting the back of a hunchbacked old lady in the rice paddies causing her to make the sound 'uuu'
e - [i forget this one]
o - looks like a golf putting green, with the ball landing in the h'o'le
ka - looks like a 'car' going over a cliff
ki - looks like a 'key'
ku - beak of a 'koo'kaburra
ke - takes the shape of a beer 'ke'g
ko - a mouth 'co'ughing
sa - looks like a 'sa'murai sword
shi - 'She' has long hair (look at the shape)
su - the seed and roots of a plant that is 'soo'n to grow
se - a couple sitting watching the sun 'se't
so - messy 'so'cks (this is a bad one, I know)
ta - looks like it is spelling 'ta'
chi - a sitting 'chi'cken
tsu - looks like a nose about to sneeze aaaaa-'tsuuuu'
te - looks like a snapped 'te'nnis racket
to - a spinning 'to'p
na - looks like a 'nu'n crouched and praying to a cross
ni - the shape of a 'knee'
nu - 'noo'dles through a chopstick
ne - a tennis 'ne't that has sprung loose
no - forming a 'kno't
ha - ho without his 'ha't [see below]
hi - the shape of someone's gaping jaw as he laughs 'hee'heehee
fu - looks like Mt 'Fu'ji
he - an arrow pointing to 'he'aven
ho - a crouching man wearing a hat because it is 'ho't
ma - [i forget this one]
mi - 21 that is 'me'
mu - looks like the face of a 'moo' cow
me - ra'me'n noodles without the loop present in nu
mo - [i forget this one]
ya - [i forget this one]
yu - [i forget this one]
yo - an unretracted 'yo'-yo
ra - the face outline of a 'ra'bbit (see bugs bunny)
ri - the character for i, only 're'versed
ru - no ruby is stolen [see ro below]
re - a man sitting down with knees up 're'sting
ro - the 'ro'bber stole the ruby
wa - the open mouth and teary eye of a crying baby 'waaaaaaa'
wo - [i forget this one]
lol, that is just what we were taught for school grade Japanese.
Name:
Anonymous2009-11-06 7:52
や - looks like oddly rotated handwritten cyrillic я
ゆ - looks like cyrillic ю
よ - looks like latin yo
Name:
Anonymous2009-11-06 15:26
hello /lang/
help needed...
i dont know "world domination" in japanese
i've got セケン の セイハ -> seken no seiha
and i dont know if its correct...
Name:
Anonymous2009-11-06 15:27
opps sorry wrong post :(
Name:
Anonymous2009-11-06 16:05
use can use flashcards, or Anki (it's pretty similar) http://ichi2.net/anki/
download a hiragana library and you're set.
Rosetta Stone 3 also has mnemonic alphabet lessons that can really help.
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Anonymous2009-11-06 16:33
>>9
Yes, "world domination" is 世界制覇 (sekai seiha), so ditch the の.
Name:
Anonymous2009-11-06 21:30
>>12
Be aware that he said セケン, which is 世間 rather than 世界.
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Anonymous2009-11-07 9:45
One method that has worked for me so far is kind of "force feeding" your brain. I write down the hirigana character and the pronunciation for like fifty times. Additionally if you can relate that particular shape to something familiar that will greatly help you to remember the hirigana, it is also possible to make association between shapes and particular hirigana. After excercise make sure to regulary try to recall those hiriganas you have learnt.
Also I don't know about how quickly you are expecting to memorize all the hirigana, but from my expirience taking it bit easier may produce even better results. Well I think most important thing here is to familiarize your mind with new shapes and try to find a way to relate them to meaningful things.
So altought force feeding will work, regular recalling of the hirigana is more important on a daily basis.
Name:
Anonymous2009-11-07 17:54
>>13
Oh, didn't remember that. Well yeah, it's 世界制覇, not 世間制覇.