Introduction

If you want to learn the Japanese language (or "Nihongo" as it's called in Japanese) online, you've come to the right place! Our
lessons can get you well on your way to learning how to speak, read, and write Nihongo. On this site you will find such things
as the Japanese alphabet (including Hiragana and Katakana) as well as Kanji (Chinese
characters), vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and common words and phrases. What sets us apart from other
Japanese language courses or tutorials is that we actually teach you how to conjugate verbs and how to build your own
sentences - things critical to learning how to speak fluently!

The Japanese language is actually very simple but so unlike English that many English speakers find it difficult to learn. The
goal of this 10 free lesson course is to help you study the basics of the language and to teach you how to learn Japanese in a
way that is, hopefully, fast and easy to understand.

These public lessons start with basic Japanese and additional beginner lessons as well as intermediate and advanced
lessons can be found in our Members Area. Our Members Area contains new lessons (on Japanese grammar, kanji, the most
useful Japanese phrases, writing hiragana, etc.), audio files, and more! Access is FREE so register now!

IMPORTANT: While learning how to speak Japanese, do not rely too heavily on Romanized Japanese or romaji (Japanese
written in English letters). It is not used in Japan nor is it widely known in Japan. It is very important to learn Kana (the Japanese
alphabets - Hiragana and Katakana) to avoid many issues that can come from using romaji as a crutch.

What is my name in Japanese?

You might be wondering "what is my name in Japanese?" or "how do I say my name in Japanese?". If so, this
lesson should be able to help. Once you know your name in Japanese, we will also teach you how to introduce
yourself in Japanese.

There aren't direct equivalents of foreign names in Japanese but foreign names can be sounded out using the
sounds in the Japanese language creating a "closest pronunciation equivalent". It doesn't matter how the name is
spelled but only how it is pronounced. Below are a number of common names sounded out in Japanese. Foreign
names are written out in Katakana which is covered in Lesson 2. The ー character (called a "bou") elongates the
vowel sound of the character in front of it. Remember, these are not actual Japanese names. Please don't name
your son "ma-ku" because you love Japan and the name "Mark".

Note: You may notice certain combinations (such as シェ (she) or ティ (ti)) that aren't part of the standard Katakana
character set. These are special exceptions for foreign names only.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Name Katakana Romaji Name Katakana Romaji
Aaron アーロン a-ron Amber アンバー amba-

Abdul アブドゥル abuduru Amy/Aimee エイミー eimi-

Adam アダム adamu Andre アンドレ andore

Adrian エイドリアン eidorian Andrea アンドレア andorea

Adriana エイドリアナ eidoriana Andrew アンドリュー andoryu-

Ahmed アーメド a-medo Andy アンディー andi-

Alan/Allan アラン aran Angel エンジェル enjeru

 Albert アルバート aruba-to Angela アンジェラ anjera

Alejandro アレハンドロ arehandoro Angelica アンジェリカ anjerika

Alex アレックス arekkusu Anita アニタ anita

Alexander アレキサンダー arekisanda- Anna/Ana アンナ anna

Alexandra アレキサンドラ arekisandora Anne/Ann アン an

Alexandria アレキサンドリア arekisandoria Annie アニー ani-

Alexis アレクシス arekushisu Anthony アンソニー ansoni-

Ali アリ ari Antonio アントニオ antonio

Alice アリス arisu April エイプル eipuru

Alicia アリシア arishia Ariel アリエル arieru

Allison/Alison アリソン arison Arthur アーサー a-sa-

Alyssa アリサ arisa Ashley アシュリー ashuri-

Amanda アマンダ amanda Austin オーステン o-suten

Now, how do you introduce yourself using your name? Many places teach "watashi wa ______ desu." but this has
a problem:

"watashi wa ______ desu." means both "I am ______." and "I am a ______." Unless the Japanese person you are
introducing yourself to is familiar with your name (which isn't always too likely) they won't know that you are telling
them your name. This is particularly a problem with names that have the same sound as actual words in the
Japanese language. For instance, "jimu" (Jim) means "business" and "gym/gymnasium" in Japanese (depending
on the context) so "watashi wa jimu desu." could also mean "I am a business." or "I am a gymnasium."

So what is the better way to introduce yourself? "watashi wa ______ to iimasu." means "I am called ______." and
makes it very clear that the "______" is your name. It can be either your first name, last name, or nickname -
whatever you want them to call you by.

Lesson 1
The Japanese Alphabet

Hiragana - ひらがな
The first step to learning the Japanese language is to learn the alphabet. Or, at least, to learn the sounds that exist
in the language. There are absolutely no "tones" in Japanese like in many other asian languages and there are only
2 exceptions within the alphabet which will be explained later. The Japanese alphabet does not contain letters but,
instead, contains characters and, technically, they are not alphabets but character sets. The characters in the chart
below are called Hiragana. Hiragana is the main alphabet or character set for Japanese. Japanese also consists of
two other character sets - Kanji (Chinese characters), which we will get into later, and another alphabet/character
set, Katakana, which is mainly used for foreign words. Katakana will be covered in Lesson 2. Don't wait to move
on until you have all Hiragana characters memorized - learn them as you continue to go through the other lessons.

There are 5 vowels in Japanese. (a), pronounced "ahh", (i), pronounced like "e" in "eat", (u), pronounced like "oo"
in "soon", (e), pronounced like "e" in "elk", and (o), pronounced "oh". All Hiragana characters end with one of these
vowels, with the exception of (n). The only "consonant" that does not resemble that of English is the Japanese "r".
It is slightly "rolled" as if it were a combination of a "d", "r", and "l".

Combinations
あ い う え お
a i u e o
きゃ きゅ きょ
か き く け こ kya kyu kyo
ka ki ku ke ko
ぎゃ ぎゅ ぎょ
が ぎ ぐ げ ご gya gyu gyo
ga gi gu ge go
しゃ しゅ しょ
さ し す せ そ sha shu sho
sa shi su se so
じゃ じゅ じょ
ざ じ ず ぜ ぞ ja ju jo
za ji zu ze zo
ちゃ ちゅ ちょ
た ち つ て と cha chu cho
ta chi tsu te to
にゃ にゅ にょ
だ ぢ づ で ど nya nyu nyo
da ji zu de do
ひゃ ひゅ ひょ
な に ぬ ね の hya hyu hyo
na ni nu ne no
びゃ びゅ びょ
は ひ ふ へ ほ bya byu byo
ha hi fu he ho
ぴゃ ぴゅ ぴょ
ば び ぶ べ ぼ pya pyu pyo
ba bi bu be bo
みゃ みゅ みょ
ぱ ぴ ぷ ぺ ぽ mya myu myo
pa pi pu pe po
りゃ りゅ りょ
ま み む め も rya ryu ryo
ma mi mu me mo

や ゆ よ
ya yu yo
 ら り る れ ろ
ra ri ru re ro

わ を ん
wa wo n/m

Exceptions:
1. The Hiragana は (ha) is pronounced "wa" when it immediately follows the topic of the sentence. This character
is usually only pronounced "ha" when it is part of a word.
2. The Hiragana へ (he) is pronounced "e" when it immediately follows a place or direction. Both of these are very
simple to detect.

Note: You probably noticed in the chart above that there are 2 characters pronounced "zu" and 2 characters
pronounced "ji". The characters づ (zu) and ぢ (ji) are very rarely used. づ (zu) only occurs when there is a つ (tsu)
in front of it like in つづく (tsuzuku - to continue) or when a Kanji (Chinese character) that has a reading which starts
with つ (tsu) is paired at the end with another character changing the つ (tsu) to a づ (zu). The same applies for the
Hiragana ぢ (ji). Since they are used so rarely I wouldn't worry about them too much. I will let you know whenever
we come upon a word in which they are used.

Some people wonder why "yi", "ye", "wi", "wu", and "we" are missing. There aren't characters for "yi", "ye", or "wu".
There is a ゐ (wi) and a ゑ (we) but these were deemed obsolete in 1946 and were replaced by い (i) and え (e)
respectively.

Lesson 2
The Other Japanese Alphabet

Katakana - カタカナ
As mentioned in Lesson 1, Katakana (as seen in the chart below) is mainly used for foreign words such as foreign
names and words that have been borrowed from other languages such as コンピューター (kompyu-ta- =
computer). Katakana is the least frequently used of the three character sets in Japanese. The Japanese language
does not have as many sounds as the English language so, when creating a name in Katakana, for instance, the
name must be sound out to the closest Japanese equivalent. Katakana, Hiragana, and Furigana (when Hiragana
is written small next to a Kanji character to show how that character is read) are collectively known as Kana. Don't
worry too much about Katakana (beyond maybe learning your name) for now.

There are some special Katakana characters that exist only for foreign names (such as シェ (she) or ティ (ti)).
These special characters are not in the chart below (which contains only the standard set of Katakana characters)
but can be seen in our Names in Japanese lesson. There are also the characters ヰ (wi) and ヱ (we) which were
deemed obsolete in 1946.
 Combinations
ア イ ウ エ オ
a i u e o
キャ キュ キョ
カ キ ク ケ コ kya kyu kyo
ka ki ku ke ko
ギャ ギュ ギョ
ガ ギ グ ゲ ゴ gya gyu gyo
ga gi gu ge go
シャ シュ ショ
サ シ ス セ ソ sha shu sho
sa shi su se so
ジャ ジュ ジョ
ザ ジ ズ ゼ ゾ ja ju jo
za ji zu ze zo
チャ チュ チョ
タ チ ツ テ ト cha chu cho
ta chi tsu te to
ニャ ニュ ニョ
ダ ヂ ヅ デ ド nya nyu nyo
da ji zu de do
ヒャ ヒュ ヒョ
ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ hya hyu hyo
na ni nu ne no
ビャ ビュ ビョ
ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ bya byu byo
ha hi fu he ho
ピャ ピュ ピョ
バ ビ ブ ベ ボ pya pyu pyo
ba bi bu be bo
ミャ ミュ ミョ
パ ピ プ ペ ポ mya myu myo
pa pi pu pe po
リャ リュ リョ
マ ミ ム メ モ rya ryu ryo
ma mi mu me mo

ヤ ユ ヨ
ya yu yo

ラ リ ル レ ロ
ra ri ru re ro

ワ ヲ ン
wa wo n/m