Help Japan!

Today, I write with incredible sorrow because of the tragedy that Japan is suffering now. I have some friends and their families and I don't know anything about them yet. The last day I had contact with them was the last Saturday and they were ok, but worried.
In addition to the devastation of the tsunami and the earthquake, now there are under a nuclear threat. 180 workers have decided to stay in the nuclear plant even though the radiation levels are deadly, I must say I respect them deeply, they are heroes and I hope their effort will be useful and the reactor can be shut down.

Those who love the Japanese language, love the culture as well and I am pretty sure that we have a profound admiration for the country. They are needing our help, please let us not be indifferent to this tragedy and let us pray for Japan. For those who can give a little more, the red cross is helping and the donations can be done online, they start from 10 USD, which I am sure is not going to make us poor but will help people who are needed.

I hope everything gets better and I am sure the Japanese will overcome this situation, but meanwhile they do let us help them with whatever we can.

Kanji Goi 1

Hello.
Sorry, I have been busy and have not been able to update the blog as I would like.
We have seen our first 15 kanjis, but there are many words that can be formed with these 15 kanjis. Let's take a look:

These are words written by a single kanji:

人:ひと: Person

木: き: Tree

本: ほん: Book

水: みず: Water

目: め: Eye

山: やま: Mountain

口: くち: Mouth

川: かわ: River

竹: たけ: Bamboo

手: て: Hand

耳: みみ: Ear

言う: いう: To say

車: くるま: Car

語る: かたる: To tell

And these are written from a combination of kanji:

日+本=日本: にほん: Japan

日+本+日=日本日: にほんじつ: Today (formal) , (Japan+sun=today)

日+本+人=日本人: にほんじん: Japanese (people) , (Japan+person=person of Japan)

日+本+語=日本語: にほんご: Japanese (language), (Japan+language=Japanese)

言+語=言語: げんご: Language, (to say+language=language)

口+語=口語: こうご: Spoken Language, (language+mouth=language spoken)

人+口=人口: じんこう: Population

水+車=水車: すいしゃ: Watermill, (Water+Car= car moved by water... watermill!)


Ok, I hope you learn them by heart.

See you soon!

Kanji # 1:

Ok. Just as I promised: KANJI!!!

So here is the first 15 kanjis that you must know:

WORD	KANJI	KUNYOMI	ONYOMI
Person	人	ひと	ジン、ニン
Day, Sun	日	ひ、か	ニチ、ジツ
Tree	木	き	モク
Book, Origin	本	ほん	ホク
Water	水	みず	スイ
Eye	目	め	モク、 ボク
Mouth	口	くち	コウ
River	川	かわ	セン
Bamboo	竹	たけ	チク
Hand	手	て	ジュ、 ズ
Mountain	山	やま	サン
Ear	耳	みみ	ジ
Car	車	くるま	シャ
To tell	言	いう	ゲン、 ゴン
Language, to tell	語	かたる	ゴ

And here are the videos so you can see the correct way to write them:

Lesson 7: Verb to be

Hello...
It's time to learn the first verb in every language: to be.
In English this verb has two meanings. For example:
1. I am from Colombia.
2. I am in a restaurant.

In Japanese there is a verb for the first sentence and other for the second, so let's focus on the first sentence. For this meaning the verb is である
And the grammatical structure for this meaning is:

person,thing は complement です
Let's see some sentences:

わたし は ともみ です。I am Tomomi.

わたし は ころんびあんじん です。I am from Colombia

Now, let's see how it is conjugated:

です                                 AM/IS/ARE

ではありません                       AM NOT/ IS NOT/ ARE NOT

でした                               WAS/WERE

ではありませんでした                 WAS NOT/ WERE NOT

For example:

わたし は ともみ です。I am Tomomi.
わたし は おとこのひと ではありません。I am not a man.

わたし は がくせい でした。I was a student.

わたし は わるいがくせい ではありませんでした。I was not a bad student.

I'll post some sentences later to help you with this.

If there are any questions, please leave a comment...

Bye!

Writing Japanese in your computer :)

Oops! Sorry, I've been busy...
Today's post is short but interesting.

Haven't you ask "How do I write in Japanese in my computer?" Well, here is the solution: It is called NJSTAR and is a word processor for Japanese and Chinese. All you have to do is download it from this link http://www.njstar.com/cms/njstar-japanese-word-processor-download
And then install it.

When the installation is ready, launch it and this screen should be displayed:

This is just to show you that you can write in different sizes, fonts, colors, etc... Now, there are three ways to write in NJSTAR: you can write in Romanji (our alphabet), Kana (Hiragana and Katakana) and Kanji.
Here is a video of how it works.

Hope you like it!

Exercises I: Particles Answer

Hi there!

I hope you are doing well with the Particles. Like I promised here are the answers:

The girl goes to the school by bus. The girl は school に bus で goes.

The birds fly to the south in winter. The birds は south へ winter に fly.

Inside the drawer there are 2 notebooks. Drawer の inside に 2 notebooks が there are.  2 notebooks は drawer の inside に there are.

The swallows come from the south. The swallows は south から come.

My tennis class is the Saturday from 8 am to 10 am. Tennis の class は Saturday に 8am から 10am まで is.

Mi sister practices Judo in the park every Saturday. My sister は park に Saturday に Judo を practices.

Today, I came from my school to the mall by bus. Today, I は school から mall まで bus で came.

I study Hiragana and Katakana. I は Hiragana と Katakana を study.

This dog is bigger than that dog. This dog は That dog より bigger is.

The garden of my house is bigger than the garden of Zac's house. My house の garden は Zac の house の garden より bigger is.

My dog bit Lila's leg. I の dog は Lila の leg に bit.

My brother and my sister play tennis every Sunday in the main court of the Simon Bolivar park. My brother と My sister は tennis を Sunday に Simon Bolivar Park の main court で play.

In my nephew's apartment there are 5 chairs, 2 tables, 1 bed and 1 tv. I の nephew の apartment に 5 chairs と 2 tables と 1 bed と 1 tv が there are.

If there is ant questions, please write a commentary.

Bye bye.

Tongue - Twister!

Hi, I found this tongue twister... Can you say it? It means raw wheat, raw rice and raw egg.

なまむぎ、なまごめ、
なまたまご。