Introduction
This is documentation of my progress in learning Japanese, I will post updates on this same post.
I tried to learn Japanese before but stoped because LIFE. Also this is an updated journey, I had old content on this post that I deleted, because it was failure attemp, basically I was trying to learn Japanese using a game on steam, the progress was so slow and unproductive.
Date format is dd-MM-yyyy
Journey
This time I decided to enroll in a course because learning Japanese by myself was a failure, so I enrolled in Japanese class with Nour the class targets JLPT N5.
Hopefully, I can achieve N3 in upcoming years and enjoy some anime/manga in Japanese!
05-11-2024
On this course we are following the genki 3rd edition book, we started with reading the hiragana table. No memorization until now, just reading and pronounciation correction.
Then we were assigned to practice hiragana until next week session
09-11-2024
Because I was sick, I was able to practice Hiragana, so I had to do it on same day of the session, I practiced the hiragana table, all of them except na,ha,ma,ra
I was able to play the quiz with few errors, and over time I started guessing them right.
I used this website, which helped a lot, https://kana-quiz.tofugu.com/
in the session we started practicing hiragana, Nour started sending me Hiragana words and I started reading them, because I didn’t memorize the na,ha,ma,ra I placed the hiragana for these in front of me, was able to guess all the others with 0.1% error rate.
In the 20 mins break, I memorized the remaining hiraganas with errors here and there.
After the break, We learned about Japanese Particles respectively: wa, ga, wo, ni, de, no, to
Notes from the class:
wa
は (wa) - Topic Marker
Usage: Marks the topic of the sentence (often the subject, but not always).
How to Use: Place after the topic you want to talk about. Commonly translated as “as for…”
Example Sentences:
私は学生です (Watashi wa gakusei desu) – I am a student.
犬はかわいいです (Inu wa kawaii desu) – Dogs are cute.
ga
が (ga) - Subject Marker
Usage: Emphasizes the subject of a sentence, often indicating a new or important subject.
How to Use: Used to highlight the subject as particularly significant or new information.
Example Sentences:
猫が好きです (Neko ga suki desu) – I like cats.
誰が来ましたか？ (Dare ga kimashita ka?) – Who came?
wo
を (wo) - Object Marker
Usage: Marks the direct object (the item or person receiving the action).
How to Use: Place after the object of a verb.
Example Sentences:
本を読みます (Hon o yomimasu) – I read a book.
コーヒーを飲みます (Koohii o nomimasu) – I drink coffee.
ni
に (ni) - Direction, Time, or Location Marker
Usage: Indicates time, location, or direction of movement.
How to Use:
To show time: 来週に (raishuu ni) – next week.
To show direction/location: 駅に行きます (Eki ni ikimasu) – go to the station.
de
で (de) - Location or Means Marker
Usage: Indicates the location of an action or the means by which an action is performed.
How to Use:
Location: Used to indicate where an action takes place.
Means: Used to show how something is done (e.g., by bus, by hand).
Example Sentences:
学校で勉強します (Gakkou de benkyou shimasu) – I study at school.
電車で行きます (Densha de ikimasu) – I go by train.
no
の (no) - Possessive Marker
Usage: Links two nouns, showing possession or association.
How to Use: Think of it as the English equivalent of “’s” or “of.”
Example Sentences:
私の本 (Watashi no hon) – My book.
友達の猫 (Tomodachi no neko) – Friend’s cat.
to
と (to) - “And” or “With”
Usage: Connects nouns or indicates companionship.
Examples:
犬と猫が好きです (Inu to neko ga suki desu) – I like dogs and cats.
友達と映画に行きます (Tomodachi to eiga ni ikimasu) – I go to the movies with a friend.
noun+to(と)+noun
