Let's talk in Japanese!

(NIHON- JAPAN)

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Hi everyone! Today I would like to introduce you some basic information about the Japanese language. Don't worry, I'm not going to go into details but only give some of the most important information and interesting facts for all of you who never had the opportunity to learn this language :).  So here we go :

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Basic information :

• Japanese language is spoken by approximately 130 million people in Japan (it's necessary to also include Japanese emigrants on all continents)
  
• The oldest texts come from the fifth century, but the language in which they were written is not alike in any way to the modern Japanese. The alphabet was borrowed originally from China, whose modified version today we call the Japanese alphabet KANJI. Learning this alphabet is really difficult and it even causes problems for the Japanese people. There is 50,000 kanji characters in use, but in fact, the japanese government established an official list of basic kanji, which contains 2136 characters. In short we can say that in the kanji alphabet usually one character corresponds to one word. Here we go with example : 
  
•  No worries! To the rescue for all learners of the Japanese language come two additional alphabets. Although it might seem that it's a lot harder to learn 3 alphabets, hiragana and katakana is a great help in learning the Japanese language. Both alphabets are syllabic, where one character corresponds to one syllable. Hiragana is used while learning the Japanese language and for transcription of the more difficult kanji characters. Hiragana ->
  

• About katakana, this alphabet is used to write words borrowed from another language especially from English. :) The appearance of the characters is very similar to hiragana, which helps in learning it. Katakana ->
  

At the end I prepared for you a little nihongo-eigo kuizu (日本語 - 英語クイズ). Let's test if you are able to guess the meaning of borrowed Japanese words? All of the words comes from English and the answers will be posted in the link below. Good luck! :)

1. オーシャン (Ōshan) ->
2. ベッド (Beddo) ->
3. エアコン (Eakon) ->
4. ドア (Doa) ->
5. オンライン (Onrain) ->
6. Tシャツ (Tshatsu) ->
7. カレンダー (Karendā) ->
8. シャワー (Shawā) ->
9. サラダ(Sarada) ->
10. サーカス (Sākasu) ->
11. タクシー (Takushī) ->
12. メール (Mēru) ->
13. ヨーロッパ (Yōroppa) ->
14. And my favourite : エスカレーター (Esukarētā)->

CLICK TO GET ANSWERS! :)

I HOPE YOU LIKE IT! BYE BYE SEE YOU NEXT WEEK ;D