Jezyk japonski

1. 

2. Introduction to Kanji

This lesson introduces the non-phonetic writing system of Japanese, kanji. Kanji literally means "Chinese characters," and they're used to build content words like nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Kanji Readings

So how do you read kanji? Most kanji have at least two possible readings. Typically, one reading is derived from a native Japanese word, and one reading is derived from a Chinese loanword. These are called "kunyomi" ("meaning reading") and "onyomi" ("sound reading") respectively.

Let's take the kanji for "country," 国。On its own, we use the Japanese "kunyomi" reading, くに。In Japanese, くに means "country." However, in compounds, we use the "onyomi" reading of こく。Therefore, China, 中国or "middle country," is read as ちゅうごく。

Rendaku

So why isn't it ちゅうこく？This is due to a phenomenon known as "rendaku" or "sequential voicing." Syllables that come later in a word are sometimes voiced and marked with a dakuten. This is often rather unpredictable, so rendaku words should be memorized individually.

Example Kanji

Below is a table of the six kanji that are introduced in this lesson, complete with possible readings.

Kanji	Meaning	Kunyomi Reading	Onyomi Reading
人	Person	ひと	じん、にん
中	Middle	なか	ちゅう
国	Country	くに	こく
日	Sun, Day	ひ	にち、じつ
本	Origin, Book	もと	ほん
田	Rice Paddy	た	でん

You may have noticed that the word Japan, or 日本 is composed of the kanji meaning "sun" and "origin." This word was first adopted by the Chinese, and to them, Japan was off to the east, the place where the sun rose or "originated."

Katakana Pronunciation

This lesson also introduces katakana, the phonetic Japanese writing system used for foreign words. See their pronunciation below.

Basic Katakana

Japanese	IPA, Notes
ア	[a]
イ	[i]
ウ	[ɯ], like the oo in food
エ	[e]
オ	[o]
カ	[ka]
キ	[ki]
ク	[kɯ]
ケ	[ke]
コ	[ko]
サ	[sa]
シ	[ɕi], like the shee in sheep
ス	[sɯ], although it can shorten to more of a [s] at the end of a word
セ	[se]
ソ	[so]
タ	[ta]
チ	[tɕi], like the tch in itchy
ツ	[tsɯ], like the ts in cats
テ	[te]
ト	[to]
ナ	[na]
ニ	[ni]
ヌ	[nɯ]
ネ	[ne]
ノ	[no]
ハ	[ha]
ヒ	[çi], like the h in human
フ	[ɸɯ], roughly between a short "hoo" and "foo"
ヘ	[he]
ホ	[ho]
マ	[ma]
ミ	[mi]
ム	[mɯ]
メ	[me]
モ	[mo]
ヤ	[ja]
ユ	[jɯ]
ヨ	[jo]
ラ	[ɾa], like the t in the American pronunciation of butter
リ	[ɾi]
ル	[ɾɯ]
レ	[ɾe]
ロ	[ɾo]
ワ	[ɰa]
ヲ	[wo] or [o], although it's used very rarely
ン	[n] or [ŋ], like the n in pink, producing a [m] when combined with a bilabial stop, hence "tempura" and not "tenpura"
ー	long vowel mark, used to extend the vowel sound that precedes it

Katakana with Dakuten

Japanese	IPA, Notes
ガ	[ga]
ギ	[gi]
グ	[gɯ]
ゲ	[ge]
ゴ	[go]
ザ	[za]
ジ	[dʑi], like the jee in jeep
ズ	[zɯ]
ゼ	[ze]
ゾ	[zo]
ダ	[da]
ヂ	[dʑi], like the jee in jeep
ヅ	[zɯ]
デ	[de]
ド	[do]
バ	[ba]
ビ	[bi]
ブ	[bɯ]
ベ	[be]
ボ	[bo]
パ	[pa]
ピ	[pi]
プ	[pɯ]
ペ	[pe]
ポ	[po]