The Difference Between Anime and Anime

It would be pointless to go any further with this blog without first introducing correct pronunciations of Japanese "syllables." The Japanese language isn't hard to grasp and once you have the basics, you'll be able to say any word correctly. First, the vowels (A, I , U, E, O) are the same as the English vowels, but with a different diction and order.

"A" あ is said like the "aw" in thaw or saw. 

"I" い is said like the "ee" in seek or creep.

"U" う is said like the "ou" in coup or soup.

"E" え is said like the "e" in elephant or ever.

"O" お is said like it sounds. 

A Japanese word like karaoke, for example is not pronounced care-ee-oh-kee, but instead, caw-raw-oh-keh. Another misarticulated word is anime. It is not ah-nih-may, but aw-nee-meh. The consonants in Japanese are dictated just like the consonants in English. The only exceptions are N and J.

"N" ん is said like "unn" and is more of a sound instead of a syllable. It's similar to humming, but with an "n" instead of an "m."

The only time "J" is spoken is with "ji" じ or "gee."

Two consonants will never be together and are always separated by a vowel. "N" is the exception to this again and can be put next to other consonants. However, "N" is usually used at the end of the word to tie it off. For example, futon or foo-toe-n. 

Two vowels can be next to each other. It is just pronounced with the elongated vowel instead of the short one. 

Whenever a sentence or phrase in Japanese ends with "su" or す it isn't pronounced as Sue would be, but rather just a "ss" noise. For example, the "ss" in pass. 

There are four "alphabets" in the Japanese language: romaji, katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Romaji is used to translate Japanese words into English readings. For example, romaji would be written as ろまじ in Japanese, but spelled romaji to read in English. Romaji isn't used that often in Japan because Japanese people can obviously read the characters and don't need it. The next alphabet of characters  is katakana. Katakana is used for writing English words in Japanese. For example, ミルク for milk and in romaji, miruku. Katakana is popular amongst the Japanese when used in other Japanese words. Ramen noodles is a Japanese meal and is usually written in katakana as ラーメン. In katakana there will be a "bar character." When you see this, you elongate the previous "syllable." For example, raamen instead of ramen. Hiragana is the third alphabet of characters. These characters are seen everyday in Japanese arts, schools, and culture. Words written in hiragana are actual Japanese words, like おはようございます or ohayou gozaimasu for good morning. The final character alphabet is kanji. Kanji is seen everywhere in Japan. The characters were derived from Chinese characters and each character can be broken down into its hiragana parts and of course its romaji parts. 

For example:

To eat

Taberu

たべる

食べる

One kanji can have many different meanings. In order to discern which meaning is appropriate, context must be taken into count. There are thousands of different kanji characters, but none of them are necessarily used in everyday life. One hiragana character doesn't necessarily equal one kanji character. Many hiragana characters can equal one kanji character. Kanji is important because it provided the Japanese an easier and more efficient way of integrating and writing their language. 

This is the basic overview of the language and hopefully, when reading further blog posts, you can pronounce each of the Japanese words that I will be introducing to you correctly.