issue 11

iJapanese Newsletter
2ndiLanguage Exchange
Meeting

September

2013

Japanese Writing System
The Japanese language relies on three different alphabets — hiragana, katakana and kanji.
They all differentiate from each other not only the way they look but how they are used.

Everyone is welcome as every
person can help
one another to improve theirlanguage skills.
Date : 21st Sep, Saturday
Time : 3:30pm – 5:30pm

During the earlier years of Japan there wasno particular characters used for writing.
‘Manyogana’, a Chinese-based model wasadopted during the Nara period (710-794)
which helped formed the basics of theJapanese language writing. It took
Japanese predecessors great effort toadapt the Chinese character. The basic
differences between Chinese and JapanesePlace : iJapaneseare, for example, Chinese relies primarily
on ideographic characters while Japanese

Cost : $5 (includes drinks)

EndofT
ERM
3words are usually phonogram.

DATE :
Saturday 21st Sep
TIME :
6:30pm - 8:30pm
To create an representative symbol for
PLACE:
Maedaya
400 Bridge Rd,Richmond
COST : $25

every Japanese word was deemed not
efficient, so a distinct Japanese writing
system was developed named ‘hiragana’.
Hiragana was created during the Heianperiod (794-1192) replacing the difficult

Manyogana system.

RSVP :
Saturday, 7th Sep

Hiragana was formed into a simple style

Payment essential
beforehand.

by women. At the same time we had

Event

2013

compared to kanji, it’s shapes morerounded simplified and predominantly usedkatakana just to make life more difficult oreasier?

Katakana was devised to write charactersmore easier, which was formulated usingparts of kanji. Used by men the shapes
were more angular and simplified.
At present, Japanese is written with amixture of all three.
Hirangana is used for ending of verbs andadjectives and particles. Where katakana isused for foreign words and onomatopoeia.
Technically, it is possible to write asentence by the use of only hirangana
which is what Japanese children first lean atschool as well as the first alphabet students
would learn when they took a beginner
Japanese course. However the sentence of
only hiragana characters will be difficult toread and understand.
The average Japanese school childmemorises 80 Kanji by the end of their 2nd
grade and will master around 2,000characters (a number found in an averagenewspaper) when they graduate from highschool.
Most educated Japanese people canrecognise about 5,000 characters.
Then how do Japanese children learn kanji?
No different to the rest of us. Study,
memorise, more study, more memorisingand patience!

iJapanese Newsletter issue 11

Page 2 of 4Students from iJapaneseFlorence Liaw san
こんにちは
みなさん。

Konnichiwa from Japan
Konnichiwa
I have now been living in Japan for one
month and I am so happy to be here. The
natural beauty of Akita is very impressive.
And summer time in Japan is so green
and peaceful. I love it! The students are
beginning school this week so I will finallybe meeting the teachers and classes I will
be teaching with. So far, the people ofJapan have been very welcoming andhelpful. I am still trying to practice mynihongo (Japanese) and have had many
opportunities to try putting the little I do
know into practice.

My name is Florence, in Japanese isフローレンス.
I am a masters student in RMIT University,studying biotechnology.
iJapanese is a lovely language school. I
love my class, I enjoy studying with myI remembered the first time I got to know classmates, I love the way how theabout Japanese language was throughteachers teach and interact with students.
watching anime. After that, I decided totake Japanese as one of my subjects back At iJapanese, I get to learn Japanese in a
in my bachelor year. Unfortunately things fun way, we learnt how to speak
were not gone well and I didn’t continue. Japanese in class, we learnt new
vocabulary via flashcards.
Patrick
Even though I had never been to Japan
before that, Japan is just a place that is
Finally in July, I had a chance to go to
full of curiosity for me. Plus I have met aJapan for the first time. I realize that I have a lot more confidence to speak andfew numbers of Japanese friends;
communicate, even though I am still in the beginner class. What I have learned attherefore last November I decided to join iJapanese is actually helping me a lot when I was in Japan. My goal is to masteriJapanese to start learning JapaneseJapanese especially in speaking and probably I can go to work and stay in Japan oneagain.
day!

Let’s Welcome Ayano
Hajimemashite!
My name is Ayano Kaji. I’m from the northern part of Tokyo, called Adachi-ku. People think myhome town is not such a big city, compare to Shibuya or Shinjuku. There is not a lot to do there,
but I think it’s a lively and fun place to live because of the shopping malls, restaurants, Izakaya(Japanese style bar) and of course Karaoke.
I came to Melbourne in May 2012 and started to teach at iJapanese in July this year. I’m glad tobe living in such a beautiful country and I enjoy teaching Japanese. One of the biggest reasons
why I like Australia is its nature.
I was impressed when I saw many stars at night, and the cute possums running around. As forstars, I had not seen so many stars like this before. In Tokyo there are a lot of high rise buildings, which obscure the sky line andmakes it difficult to view the night sky with the added shroud of the polluted air. Apart from this I do love my country very much!
Japan is a historical county. There are many beautiful places to visit and I think Japanese hospitality and service is one of the best inthe world.
I would like to see many people visit and experience many things that Japan has to offer and immerse themselves and live like wedo. I think the more you understand the language the more you can enjoy the Japanese experience. Japanese is said to be one of
the more difficult languages to learn but not to worry, because Noriko sensei, Kisai sensei and I are here to help you. If you havean interest in Japan, I am more than happy to introduce Japanese culture, not only the language.
So let’s study Japanese together and have fun.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

www.Japanese.com.au

Page 3 of 4
Recommended App

Patrick Polestar sanformer student

AnkiDroid
Flashcards
application forAndroid
This free app helps you to improveupon your Japanese language
skills through flashcards.
Just download any of the 1000

The Summer Festivals of Japan: Nebuta Matsuri

Japanese flashcards files available
online, including vocabulary for
Genki textbook.

JET Program in Odate City, Akita

Photos from JapanThe wonderful world of Vending Machines
Did you know that for every 23 people in Japan there is 1
vending machine available, which works out to beapproximately 5.5 million vending machines in Japan alone!
Vending machines in Japan have played their part since the50’s providing an interesting array of products ranging from
fresh eggs to a pair of running shoes. Everything imaginable
has been place into a vending machine from hot food likenoodles, burgers, hot dogs to fresh vegetables and live lobster.
But for what purpose you may ask? Simple convenience andefficiency, two words that define the Japanese culture. You canfind them on just about every street corner. If it’s raining and you
forgot your umbrella, “Not a problem” just find you’re nearest
umbrella vending machine.
A record number of sales via vending machines was recorded inJapan in 2007 topping the ¥7 trillion or about $78.5 billion. A
flourishing industry you may say, yet sales around the world do
not even compare to Japan. So what make Japan so different?
Its society, with a low petty crime rate and vandalism being
almost unheard of; the security of the machines is no issue.
Sadly in other countries the location of a vending machine isimportant and typically limited to indoors due to vandalism.

Another reason why vending machines are so successful inJapan, is the affiliation with robots. To most Japanese people
vending machines are like robots, undertaking chores for thebenefit of all humans. In Japanese culture robots have always
been looked upon as being positive, let just look at Japanese
animation and you will see characters such as Astro Boy andDoraemon, robots to help humanity in a positive way.

By Phillip

www.iJapanese.com.au

Page 4 of 4

Japanese Anime
I have loved anime since I was a child and grew up watching Japanese anime and reading comics.
I am proud that Japanese anime is loved by the world including Australia and know that many of you are also
anime-lovers, probably even watching more anime than I do. Regardless, there’s no harm in sharing a list of myfavorite anime with you. But note - to watch Anime properly you must watch it in Japanese !

幽☆遊☆白書Yu yu hakusyo
Yusuke Urameshi suddenly
finds himself dead, he has sucha bad personality, that even inthe Spirit World they werecaught off guard that hewould sacrifice himself to save another. Yusuke finds out that hewas not supposed to die and has a chance for resurrection.

進撃の巨人〜Attack on Titan
Shingekino kyojin〜Attack on Titan
Hundreds of years ago, The human race was nearly wiped outby giants. The non intelligent giants, standing several stories
high devour humans.
A small number of humanity
survived and took refuge behind thecity walls, walls taller than thegiants themselves.

“It is from the same author as Hanter×Hanter.
It is a legendary anime which must be
brought back to popularity as this anime isthe best example of the very best of Japanese
anime’s basics”

Set 100 years later, no giants havebeen seen until one day a mega
giant appears.

☆☆☆☆

“This anime is so popular in Asia now. Even
though it is a little disgusting, I want to see
the continuation of this anime”

銀の匙〜Silver spoon
Gin no Saji〜Silver spoon☆☆☆

Yugo Hachiken tired of his stressful
life, he moves away from the cityand enrolls into Oezo Agricultural
High School. Not familiar with hisnewsurroundings he tries his best to
adapt to the agricultural world
which he never thought he would
ever live in.

Hanter×Hanter
Gon Freecs is abandoned at birth by
his father to become an elite class ofhunters with a license to go or doanything. Now 12 years old, Gonwishes to follow in his father'sfootsteps and become a great Hunter.

“This new anime is currently considered as
one of the very popular ones in Japan. The
author of this anime is the same as the author
for Full Metal Alchemist”☆☆☆

“This anime is from one of the best animeauthors. His story is very simple yet it has adeep meaning”☆☆☆

by Kisai
iJapanese Language & Culture School
Suite 3, Mezzanine floor257 Collins Street
0401 886 629
Info@ijapanese.com.au
www.ijapanese.com.au