The Japanese language is spoken by more than 130 million people. This includes, of course, people in Japan itself (where the majority of Japanese speakers live), but also residents of a number of other countries. Some of the larger Japanese speaking communities are found in Australia, Brazil, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, as well as the United States of America (and especially the state of Hawaii).
Obviously people in Japanese-speaking communities usually learn the language from a young age, however there are also many people who learn the language as an adult. For adult learners, the principal reasons for learning the language are usually business related - it's a lot easier to engage in business and trade with Japanese people and companies if you can communicate with them in their own language.
If you want to learn Japanese there are several options available:
1. You can go to Japanese classes. Of course, this is only possible if your work schedule allows it.
2. You can buy books or tapes that teach Japanese. Some people find this to be an approach that suits them, whereas others find they lack the self-discipline to learn in this way.
3. There is now a variety of computer software and Internet web sites that teach Japanese. A big advantage of these over going to classes (and to some extent as compared to working through a book or tape in linear order), is that most packages are designed so that you can learn at your own pace and work through the materials as best suits you. Additionally, since modern computers now have powerful multimedia capabilities, including playing back audio, displaying graphics, showing videos, etc., and computer-based activites can be highly interactive, many people find this to be an enjoyable and engaging way to learn, Some computer-based packages are delivered in a box containing one or more CD-ROMs, but there are also packages that are delivered entirely over the Internet - if you were to choose one of the latter type, you could even sign-up and start learning immediately.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sunil_Tanna
Showing posts with label how to learn japanese language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to learn japanese language. Show all posts
Sounds | free japanese language learning
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.
All Japanese vowels are pure—that is, there are no diphthongs. The only unusual vowel is the high back vowel /ɯ/ listen (help·info), which is like /u/, but compressed instead of rounded. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, so each one has both a short and a long version.
Some Japanese consonants have several allophones, which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the twentieth century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi], approximately chi listen (help·info); however, now /ti/ and /tɕi/ are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status".
The "r" of the Japanese language (technically a lateral apical postalveolar flap), is of particular interest, sounding to most English speakers to be something between an "l" and a retroflex "r" depending on its position in a word. The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, most speakers pronounce it like the ng in "singer".
The syllabic structure and the phonotactics are very simple: the only consonant clusters allowed within a syllable consist of one of a subset of the consonants plus /j/. These type of clusters only occur in onsets. However, consonant clusters across syllables are allowed as long as the two consonants are a nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Consonant length (gemination) is also phonemic.
source : wikipedia
All Japanese vowels are pure—that is, there are no diphthongs. The only unusual vowel is the high back vowel /ɯ/ listen (help·info), which is like /u/, but compressed instead of rounded. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, so each one has both a short and a long version.
Some Japanese consonants have several allophones, which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the twentieth century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi], approximately chi listen (help·info); however, now /ti/ and /tɕi/ are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status".
The "r" of the Japanese language (technically a lateral apical postalveolar flap), is of particular interest, sounding to most English speakers to be something between an "l" and a retroflex "r" depending on its position in a word. The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, most speakers pronounce it like the ng in "singer".
The syllabic structure and the phonotactics are very simple: the only consonant clusters allowed within a syllable consist of one of a subset of the consonants plus /j/. These type of clusters only occur in onsets. However, consonant clusters across syllables are allowed as long as the two consonants are a nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Consonant length (gemination) is also phonemic.
source : wikipedia
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