My First Lesson w/ TextFugu

1. Summary Notes for the different "alphabets" used in Japanese - Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, Romaji

ROMAJI 

1. Not very useful
2. Japanese words spelled in the roman alphabet

HIRAGANA

1. the "native" japanese alphabet 
2. used to spell out most Japanese words
3. can be used to spell out difficult to write kanji.  
4. used for prefixes, suffixes, conjugations

KATAKANA

1. Same sounds as Hiragana
2. Used to spell out foreign words
3. Used for emphasize (like italicizing something)
4. Used for scientific names

KANJI

1. Words borrowed from Chinese -- spelled out using chinese characters
2. Different pronounciations came over during different dynasties
3. Japanese kept ALL of them and added to them
4. Need to learn between 2000-2500 to be literate in Japanese

ALSO

1. Should I bother to learn romaji? NO

2. Which “alphabet” is used to write all the “vocabulary words.” KANJI

3. Where did kanji come from? CHINA.  Bonus: It came from China from people reading burnt turtle shell cracks as messages from the Gods.

4. Which “alphabet” do you use to write foreign words? KATAKANA

5. Which “alphabet” tends to be more “boxy shaped” and “rigid.” KATAKANA

6. Do Hiragana & Katakana consist of the same sounds? YES

7. Which “alphabets” are you going to learn on TextFugu? EVERYTHING EXCEPT ROMAJI

8. Which “alphabet” would you use to write the “Roma” in Romaji (Roma = Rome) KATAKANA